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The Almanac

By United Press International
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Today is Wednesday, Dec. 12, the 346th day of 2001 with 19 to follow.

The moon is waxing, moving toward its new phase.

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The morning star is Jupiter.

The evening stars are Mars and Saturn.

Those born on this date are under the sign of Sagittarius. They include John Jay, first chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, in 1745; abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison in 1805; French novelist Gustave Flaubert in 1821; Norwegian painter Edvard Munch in 1863; actor Edward G. Robinson in 1893; singer Frank Sinatra in 1915; TV game show host Bob Barker in 1923 (age 78); former New York Mayor Edward Koch in 1924 (age 77); singers Connie Francis in 1938 (age 63) and Dionne Warwick in 1941 (age 60); talk show host Rush Limbaugh in 1951 (age 50); former Olympic gymnast Cathy Rigby in 1952 (age 49); musician Sheila E in 1959 (age 42); former tennis player Tracy Austin in 1962 (age 39); and actress Mayim Bialik ("Blossom") in 1975 (age 26).

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On this date in history:

In 1870, Joseph Hayne Rainey of South Carolina was sworn in as the first black to serve in the U.S. House.

In 1901, a radio message was transmitted across the Atlantic Ocean for the first time.

In 1937, Japanese planes bombed and sank the U.S. gunboat Panay in the Yangtze River north of Nanking, China. Japan later said it was a mistake.

In 1975, Sara Jane Moore said she willfully tried to kill President Ford. She is serving a life prison sentence.

In 1981, martial law was imposed in Poland.

In 1985, the crash of an Arrow Air DC-8 military charter on takeoff from Gander, Newfoundland, killed all 256 aboard, including 248 U.S. soldiers.

In 1989, five Central American presidents, including Nicaragua's Daniel Ortega, called for an end to the rebel offensive against El Salvador's U.S.-backed government.

In 1990, 15 people were killed and more than 260 injured in a pileup on a foggy Tennessee highway.

In 1991, the Russian parliament ratified a commonwealth treaty linking the three strongest Soviet republics in the nation's most profound change since the 1917 revolution.

Also in 1991, North and South Korea concluded an historic agreement to reunify peacefully after 46 years of division and animosity.

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In 1992, Princess Anne, the only daughter of Queen Elizabeth II of Britain, became the first divorced royal in the inner circle to remarry when she wed Cmdr. Timothy Laurence.

In 1993, Russian voters approved a new Constitution.

In 1996, a French gunman took 35 hostages in a Paris office. The standoff ended without injuries.

In 1998, President Clinton began a trip to the Middle East that included a visit to the new Gaza International Airport in Palestinian territory.


A thought for the day: Leon Blum wrote, "I have often thought morality may perhaps consist solely in the courage of making a choice."

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