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The almanac

By United Press International
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Today is Monday, Jan. 20, the 20th day of 2014 with 345 to follow.

This is Martin Luther King Jr. Day in the United States.

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


Those born on this date are under the sign of Aquarius. They include Richard Henry Lee, American patriot and signer of the Declaration of Independence, in 1732; Harold Gray, creator of the comic strip "Little Orphan Annie," in 1894; comedian George Burns in 1896; Greek businessman Aristotle Onassis in 1906; Austrian naturalist Joy Adamson in 1910; Italian film director Federico Fellini and actor DeForest Kelley, both in 1920; country singer Ottis "Slim" Whitman in 1924; actors Patricia Neal in 1926 and Tom Baker in 1834 (age 80); comic Arte Johnson in 1929 (age 85); astronaut Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin, the second man to set foot on the moon, in 1930 (age 84); director David Lynch in 1946 (age 68); Rock and Roll Hall o Fame member Paul Stanley (KISS) in 1952 (age 62); TV host Bill Maher in 1956 (age 58); actor Lorenzo Lamas in 1958 (age 56); and former Major League Baseball manager and player Ozzie Guillen in 1964 (age 49).

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On this date in history:

In 1265, Britain's House of Commons, which became a model for parliamentary bodies, met for the first time.

In 1783, U.S. and British representatives signed a preliminary "Cessation of Hostilities," which ended the fighting in the Revolutionary War.

In 1801, John Marshall was appointed the chief justice of the United States.

In 1892, the first officially recognized basketball game was played at the YMCA gym in Springfield, Mass.

In 1936, Edward VIII became king of the United Kingdom.

In 1945, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the only president to be elected to four terms in office, was inaugurated to his final term. He died three months later and was succeeded by Harry Truman.

In 1961, John Fitzgerald Kennedy began his presidency with inauguration ceremonies on the newly renovated east front of the Capitol.

In 1981, 52 American hostages were released by Iran after 444 days in captivity.

In 1993, Oscar-winning actress Audrey Hepburn died of cancer at her home in Switzerland. She was 63.

In 1995, a strike-shortened National Hockey League season opened with teams to play a 48-game schedule instead of the usual 84.

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In 1996, Yasser Arafat was elected president of the Palestinian Authority with 88 percent of the vote.

In 2006, Lawrence Franklin, a former U.S. State Department analyst and Iran expert, was sentenced to 12 years in prison for passing classified information to Israel and two pro-Israeli lobbyists.

In 2007, U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., became the first former first lady to seek the U.S. presidency when she entered the race for the 2008 Democratic nomination.

In 2009, Barack Obama was sworn in as the United States' 44th president and the nation's first African-American chief executive.

In 2010, senior Hamas Commander Mahmoud al-Mabbouh was assassinated in his hotel room while on a visit to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.

In 2011, U.S. and local law officers arrested more than 100 suspected mobsters among seven families in New York, New Jersey and Rhode Island on a variety of charges, including murder, racketeering and extortion.

In 2013, U.S. President Barack Obama was sworn in for his second term by Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts.


A thought for the day: Martin Luther King Jr. said, "Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity."

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