UPI Almanac for Sunday, March 26, 2017

Today is Sunday, March 26, the 85th day of 2017 with 280 to follow.

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

Those born on this date are under the sign of Aries. They include poet Robert Frost in 1874; mythologist/writer Joseph Campbell in 1904; playwright Tennessee Williams in 1911; U.S. Army Gen. William Westmoreland in 1914; French composer/conductor Pierre Boulez in 1925; former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor in 1930 (age 86); actor Leonard Nimoy in 1931; actor Alan Arkin in 1934 (age 82); actor James Caan in 1940 (age 76); former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., in 1940 (age 76); author Erica Jong in 1942 (age 74); author/journalist Bob Woodward in 1943 (age 73); singer Diana Ross in 1944 (age 72); singer/musician Steven Tyler in 1948 (age 68); actor Vicki Lawrence in 1949 (age 67); actor Martin Short in 1950 (age 66); singer Teddy Pendergrass in 1950; TV personality Leeza Gibbons in 1957 (age 59); actor Jennifer Grey in 1960 (age 56); country singer Kenny Chesney in 1968 (age 48); actor Keira Knightley in 1985 (age 31).

On this date in history:

In 1830, the Book of Mormon was published.

In 1953, U.S. Dr. Jonas Salk announced he had successfully tested a vaccine against poliomyelitis, the virus that causes polio.

In 1971, East Pakistan achieved independence as Bangladesh.

In 1975, the city of Hue in South Vietnam fell to the North Vietnamese army.

In 1979, Israel and Egypt signed a peace treaty at the White House, ending 30 years of hostilities.

In 1991, Mali's dictator, Gen. Moussa Traore, was overthrown in a violent overnight military coup. Fifty-nine people died.

In 1992, former heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson, convicted of raping a teenage beauty pageant contestant, was sentenced to six years in prison. Tyson was released after three years.

In 1997, 39 members of the Heaven's Gate religious cult were found dead in a large house in Rancho Mirage, Calif., in what authorities said was a mass suicide.

In 1998, Bill Clinton became the first U.S. president to visit South Africa.

In 1999, Dr. Jack Kevorkian, the euthanasia advocate, was convicted of second-degree murder in an Oakland County, Mich., courtroom for the videotaped "medicide" of a man suffering from Lou Gehrig's disease.

In 2000, acting Russian President Vladimir Putin was elected president by a more than 20 percent margin. Putin won a third term in 2012.

In 2006, Ukraine's opposition Regions Party won the parliamentary elections, with former Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych returning to his post under President Viktor Yushchenko.

In 2010, officials in South China said a drought had become so severe that wells dried up and 18 million people were left without drinking water.

In 2014, a National Labor Relations Board regional director ruled that Northwestern University scholarship football players were employees of the school and entitled under federal law to form a union.

A thought for the day: "In politics, If you want anything said, ask a man. If you want anything done, ask a woman." -- Margaret Thatcher