UPI Almanac for Monday, Sept. 26, 2016

Today is Monday, Sept. 26, the 270th day of 2016 with 96 to follow.

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

Those born on this date are under the sign of Libra. They include frontier nurseryman "Johnny Appleseed" Chapman in 1774; German researcher Ivan Pavlov in 1849; poet T.S. Eliot in 1888; German philosopher Martin Heidegger in 1889; actor George Raft in 1895; Pope Paul VI in 1897; composer George Gershwin in 1898; bandleader Ted Weems in 1901; fitness expert Jack LaLanne in 1914; actor Julie London in 1926; country singer Marty Robbins in 1925; former Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in 1932 (age 84); actor Donna Douglas in 1932; film producer Jerry Weintraub in 1937; actor Kent McCord in 1942 (age 74); country singer Lynn Anderson in 1947 (age 69); actor Mary Beth Hurt in 1948 (age 68); singer Olivia Newton-John in 1948 (age 68); author Jane Smiley in 1949 (age 67); actor Linda Hamilton in 1956 (age 60); actor Melissa Sue Anderson in 1962 (age 54); actor Jim Caviezel in 1968 (age 48); tennis star Serena Williams in 1981 (age 35).

On this date in history:

In 1777, British troops occupied Philadelphia.

In 1950, U.N. troops took the South Korean capital of Seoul from North Korean forces.

In 1960, the first televised presidential debate aired from a Chicago TV studio. It featured candidates John F. Kennedy and Richard M. Nixon.

In 1983, the yacht Australia II won the America's Cup from the United States, ending the longest winning streak in sports -- 132 years.

In 1984, China and Britain initialed an accord to return Hong Kong to Chinese control when Britain's lease expired in 1997.

In 1990, the Motion Picture Association of America, under pressure from filmmakers, adopted the "NC-17" rating -- no children under 17 allowed -- to replace the "X" rating exploited by the porn industry.

In 1991, four men and four women entered the huge, airtight greenhouse Biosphere II in Arizona. They remained inside for two years, emerging on this date in 1993.

In 1996, the space shuttle Atlantis landed, returning astronaut Shannon Lucid to Earth. At the time, her six-month tour aboard the Mir space station was the longest stay in space for an American.

In 2005, U.S. Army Pfc. Lynndie England, photographed in widely distributed pictures with inmates at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison, was convicted of conspiracy and prisoner abuse. She was sentenced to three years in prison and paroled in March 2007.

In 2007, ending a walkout that lasted less than two days, the United Auto Workers union and General Motors reached a deal in which GM agreed to create a $38.5 billion trust to administer health benefits for retirees.

In 2009, Typhoon Ketsana swept across the Philippines, killing about 500 people and causing the country's worst flooding in almost half a century. The storm then slammed into Southeast Asia and killed163 people in Vietnam.

In 2011, the U.S. Army announced a plan to reduce its number of soldiers by nearly 50,000 during a five-year span. Lt. Gen. Thomas P. Bostick, the service personnel chief, said the reductions would bring the total to 520,400 active-duty soldiers by Sept. 30, 2016.

In 2013, Bud Selig, Major League Baseball's commissioner for 21 years, announced that he would retire after the 2014 season.

A thought for the day: "A good hockey player plays where the puck is. A great hockey player plays where the puck is going to be." -- Wayne Gretzky