The almanac

Today is Monday, Oct. 19, the 292nd day of 2009 with 73 to follow.

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

Those born on this day are under the sign of Libra. They include English physician and scholar Thomas Browne in 1605; abolitionist Cassius Marcellus Clay in 1810; historian and city planner Lewis Mumford in 1895; actress LaWanda Page ("Sanford and Son") in 1920; newspaper columnist Jack Anderson in 1922; English spy novelist John Le Carre, whose real name is David Cornwell, in 1931 (age 78); pop artist Peter Max in 1937 (age 72); actor John Lithgow and feminist Patricia Ireland, both in 1945 (age 64); former heavyweight boxing champion Evander Holyfield in 1962 (age 47) and Amy Carter, daughter of former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, in 1967 (age 42).

On this date in history:

In 1781, Britain's Lord Charles Cornwallis surrendered with more than 7,000 troops to Gen. George Washington at Yorktown, Va., effectively ending the American War of Independence.

In 1812, Napoleon's beaten French army began its long, disastrous retreat from Moscow.

In 1982, carmaker John DeLorean was arrested in Los Angeles and charged in a $24 million cocaine scheme aimed at salvaging his bankrupt sports car company. He was tried and acquitted.

In 1987, the New York stock market suffered its biggest setback, with the bellwether Dow Jones industrial average nose diving 508 points in one session.

In 1993, a U.N. oil-and-arms embargo against Haiti was reinstated in an effort to return the exiled Jean-Bertrand Aristide as president of Haiti.

In 1994, more than 20 people were killed in the terrorist bombing of a bus in Tel Aviv, Israel. Islamic militants claimed responsibility.

In 2000, independent counsel Robert Ray said in his final report about the White House travel office scandal dubbed "Travelgate" that first lady Hillary Clinton gave "factually false" sworn testimony. But, he said, there was not enough evidence to bring criminal charges.

In 2003, Pope John Paul II beatified Mother Teresa before hundreds of thousands of pilgrims packed into St. Peter's Square in Vatican City, the last formal step to sainthood.

In 2005, a defiant Saddam Hussein pleaded innocent as he went on trial in Baghdad on charges of murder and torture during his reign as president of Iraq. The initial session, with the former dictator questioning the court's legitimacy and scuffling with guards, lasted three hours before the judge ordered an adjournment.

In 2006, courts-martial were ordered for four U.S. soldiers accused of raping a teenage Iraqi girl and killing her and her family in a town south of Baghdad.

In 2007, former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto said she was warned of an assassination plot by four groups against he, but chose to return home anyway. An attack upon her arrival in Karachi killed a reported 139 people and injured hundreds of others.

In 2008, two weeks before the national election, Colin Powell, a Republican and former secretary of state in the George W. Bush administration, gave his endorsement to Democrat Barack Obama, whom he referred to as a "transformational figure."

Also in 2008, Taliban insurgents pulled 30 men from a bus in Afghanistan and beheaded them, authorities reported. A Taliban spokesman said they were members of the Afghan army but the Afghan government said they were civilians looking for work.

A thought for the day: Greek playwright Euripides wrote, "Do not consider painful what is good for you."