The Almanac

Today is Sunday, Nov. 9, the 313th day of 2003 with 52 to follow.

The moon is full. The morning stars are Jupiter and Saturn. The evening stars are Mercury, Mars, Venus, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto.

Those born on this date are under the sign of Scorpio. They include astronomer Benjamin Banneker in 1731; Russian author Ivan Turgenev in 1818; architect Stanford White in 1853; actor-comedian Ed Wynn in 1886; actor Claude Rains in 1889; actresses Marie Dressler in 1869 and Hedy Lamarr in 1913; Sargent Shriver, first director of the Peace Corps, in 1915; Spiro T. Agnew, the only U.S. vice president forced to resign because of criminal acts, in 1918; actress Dorothy Dandridge in 1923; astronomer Carl Sagan in 1934; and muscleman/actor Lou Ferrigno (TV's "Incredible Hulk") in 1952 (age 51).

On this date in history:

In 1918, German Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicated as World War I drew to a close.

In 1933, President Roosevelt set up the Civil Works Administration as an emergency depression agency to provide jobs for the unemployed.

In 1938, mobs of Germans attacked Jewish businesses and homes throughout Germany in what became known as Kristallnacht, or Crystal Night.

In 1953, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled major league baseball is not within the scope of federal anti-trust laws.

In 1965, a massive power failure left more than 30 million people in the dark in the northeastern United States and eastern Canada.

In 1984, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington was completed by the addition of the Frederick Hart statue called "Three Servicemen."

In 1985, Gary Kasparov, 22, became the youngest world chess champion, ending the 10-year reign of Anatoly Karpov in Moscow.

In 1989, East Germany announced free passage for its citizens through border checkpoints. The announcement rendered the Berlin Wall, the most reviled symbol of the Cold War, virtually irrelevant 28 years after its construction.

Also in 1989, aging Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping resigned from his last official position as chairman of the powerful Central Military Commission.

In 1991, Hong Kong reinitiated its controversial program of forced repatriation when it deported 59 Vietnamese refugees.

In 1992, violence escalated along the Israeli-Lebanese border one day before the resumption of Middle East peace talks in Washington.

In 1994, opening arguments began in New York in rapper/actor Tupac Shakur's sexual assault trial. He would be convicted.

In 1995, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat visited Israel for the first time to offer his personal condolences to the widow of slain Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.

In 1996, President Clinton blasted the liquor industry for resuming broadcast ads.

In 1997, Congress approved a new charter for the Food and Drug Administration that will allow the agency to streamline and speed up its procedures for approving new drugs.

In 2002, the death toll from West Nile virus on this date was at least 148 in 2,796 cases, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported.

Also in 2002, James Kilgore, the final fugitive member of one of the most notorious radical organizations of the Vietnam era, the Symbionese Liberation Army, awaited extradition from South African to the United States to face 27-year-old bomb-possession and murder charges.

A thought for the day: Edgar Watson Howe wrote, "What people say behind your back is your standing in the community."