The almanac

Today is Monday, June 16, the 168th day of 2008 with 198 to follow.

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

Those born on this date are under the sign of Gemini. They include film comedian Stan Laurel (of Laurel and Hardy) in 1890; publisher Katharine Graham in 1917; authors Erich Segal in 1937 (age 71) and Joyce Carol Oates in 1938 (age 70); actress Joan Van Ark in 1943 (age 65); boxer Roberto Duran in 1951 (age 57); and actress Laurie Metcalf ("Roseanne") in 1955 (age 53).

On this date in history:

In 1883, the New York Giants had the first Ladies' Day baseball game.

In 1917, the first Congress of Soviets was convened in Russia.

In 1958, the leader of the unsuccessful Hungarian uprising against Soviet rule, former Premier Imre Nagy, was executed.

In 1963, the Soviet Union put the first woman into space, cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova.

In 1977, Leonid Ilich Brezhnev, first secretary of the Soviet Communist Party since 1964, was elected president of the Supreme Soviet, thereby becoming both head of party and head of state.

In 1986, South African blacks marked the 10th anniversary of the Soweto uprising with a one-day strike. Eleven blacks were killed in the resulting violence.

In 1987, the last surviving dusky seaside sparrow died at Walt Disney World.

In 1992, U.S. President George H.W. Bush and Russian President Boris Yeltsin met at the White House for the first U.S.-Russian summit.

Also in 1992, former U.S. Defense Secretary Casper Weinberger was indicted on five felony counts of lying to Congress and investigators in connection with the Iran-Contra scandal.

In 1993, the U.N. Security Council voted to impose a worldwide ban on oil shipments to Haiti.

In 1998, Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic indicated a willingness to resume peace talks with ethnic Albanian leaders about the rebellious Serbian province of Kosovo.

In 1999, U.S. Vice President Al Gore announced his candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination.

In 2003, the militant Palestinian group Hamas reportedly was ready to agree to a cease-fire with Israelis.

In 2004, the U.S. commission investigating the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks said Iraq played no role in the attacks and the CIA knew of a plot in June.

In 2005, the U.S. Army awarded the first Silver Star for bravery in combat to a female soldier in the Iraq war, Sgt. Leigh Ann Hester, 23, of Bowling Green, Ky.

In 2006, the U.S. House of Representatives rebuffed a mostly Democratic effort to set a timetable for returning U.S. troops home from Iraq. The Senate, which had defeated a similar amendment the day before, backed up the House action the next week.

In 2007, the bodies of 13 members of the Iraqi Olympic tae kwon do martial arts team were found near Ramadi, over a year after the athletes were abducted while driving to a Jordan training camp.

Also in 2007, leaders of the Episcopal Church in the United States rejected demands they adopt a stronger stand against homosexuality.

A thought for the day: "Neither a borrower nor a lender be" comes from "Hamlet." And the line about a bank being "a place that will lend you money if you can prove that you don't need it" comes from Bob Hope.