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UPI Almanac for Saturday, April 19, 2014

By United Press International
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Today is Saturday, April 19, the 109th day of 2014 with 256 to follow.

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

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Those born on this date are under the sign of Aries. They include statesman Roger Sherman, a signer of the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution, in 1721; music patron Augustus Juilliard in 1836; U.S. federal agent Eliot Ness, head of the "untouchables" team that brought down Al Capone, in 1903; actors Hugh O'Brian in 1925 (age 89), Dick Sargent in 1930, Jayne Mansfield in 1933, Dudley Moore in 1935, Elinor Donahue in 1937 (age 77), Tim Curry in 1946 (age 68), Ashley Judd in 1968 (age 46), James Franco in 1978 (age 36), Kate Hudson in 1979 (age 35) and Hayden Christensen in 1981 (age 33); auto racer Al Unser Jr. in 1962 (age 52); record producer Suge Knight in 1965 (age 49); singer Dar Williams in 1967 (age 47); television personality Jesse James in 1969 (age 45); and tennis player Maria Sharapova in 1987 (age 27).

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On this date in history:

In 1775, the American Revolutionary War began at the Battle of Lexington, Mass. Eight Minutemen were killed and 10 wounded in an exchange of musket fire with British Redcoats.

In 1861, one week after the Civil War began, the first Americans died, the result of a clash between a secessionist mob in Baltimore and Massachusetts troops bound for Washington. Four soldiers and 12 rioters were killed.

In 1943, Jewish residents of the Warsaw Ghetto revolted when Germans tried to resume deportations to the Treblinka concentration camp. (When the uprising ended on May 16, 300 Germans and 7,000 Jews had died and the ghetto lay in ruins.)

In 1956, U.S. actress Grace Kelly married Prince Rainier III of Monaco.

In 1971, the Soviet Union launched its first Salyut space station.

In 1987, the first "Simpsons" cartoon appeared on "The Tracey Ullman Show."

In 1989, an explosion in a gun turret aboard the battleship USS Iowa killed 47 sailors.

In 1993, a 51-day Branch Davidian standoff near Waco, Texas, ended when fire destroyed a fortified compound after it was tear-gassed by authorities. Cult leader David Koresh and 85 followers, including 17 children, were killed.

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In 1994, a federal jury awarded police beating victim Rodney King $3.8 million in compensatory damages from the city of Los Angeles.

In 1995, a bomb exploded outside a federal office building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people and injuring more than 400.

In 2000, a federal appeals court ruled in a high-profile case that 6-year-old Cuban refugee Elian Gonzalez could stay in the United States until judges heard a full appeal from his relatives who sought to retain custody of the boy. (Eventually, he was returned to his father in Cuba.)

In 2005, German Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, already a major power in the Roman Catholic Church, was elected pope to succeed John Paul II. He chose the name of Benedict XVI.

In 2011, an air traffic control error was blamed for a "near miss" incident at Andrews Air Force Base in Washington in which a plane carrying first lady Michelle Obama and Jill Biden, wife of the vice president, flew too close to a military cargo aircraft while landing.

In 2012, Syria, torn by a yearlong insurgency, agreed to accept a 30-person team of U.N. observers.

In 2013, one Boston Marathon bombing suspect was killed by police and his brother was arrested. The city had been in a virtual lockdown.

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A thought for the day: "If there is any one secret of success, it lies in the ability to get the other person's point of view and see things from that person's angle as well as from your own." -- Henry Ford

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