The Almanac

Today is Saturday, Oct. 25, the 298th day of 2003 with 67 to follow.

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

Those born on this date are under the sign of Scorpio. They include British historian Thomas Macaulay in 1800; Austrian composer Johann Strauss in 1825; French composer Georges Bizet in 1838; artist Pablo Picasso in 1881; explorer Richard Byrd in 1888; comedian Minnie Pearl in 1912; actors Tony Franciosa in 1928 (age 75) and Marion Ross in 1936 (age 67); basketball coach Bobby Knight in 1940 (age 63); author Anne Tyler and pop singer Helen Reddy, both in 1941 (age 62); and violinist Midori in 1971 (age 32).

On this date in history:

In 1825, the Erie Canal, America's first man-made waterway, was opened, linking the Great Lakes and the Atlantic Ocean via the Hudson River.

In 1854, in what's known to history as the Charge of the Light Brigade, 670 British cavalrymen fighting in the Crimean War attacked a heavily fortified Russian position and were wiped out.

In 1881, Pablo Picasso, one of the greatest and most influential artists of the 20th century, was born in Malaga, Spain.

In 1929, during the Teapot Dome scandal, Albert B. Fall, who served as interior secretary in President Warren G. Harding's cabinet, was found guilty of accepting a bribe while in office, first individual convicted of a crime committed while a presidential cabinet member.

In 1971, the United Nations admitted China as a member, ousting the Nationalist Chinese government of Taiwan.

In 1983, American troops, supported by six Caribbean nations, invaded the tiny, leftist-ruled island of Grenada. 19 Americans died in the fighting.

In 1986, the International Red Cross ousted South African delegates from a Geneva meeting because of Pretoria's policy of apartheid. It was the first such ejection in the organization's 123 years.

In 1990, employees struck the New York Daily News, the nation's largest general-circulation daily newspaper.

In 1993, Canadian voters ousted the Progressive Conservative party of Prime Minister Kim Campbell and gave the Liberal Party, led by Jean Chretien of Quebec, a firm majority in Parliament.

In 1994, Susan Smith reported to police in Union, S.C., that her two young boys had been taken in a carjacking. Nine days later, she confessed she'd rolled the car into a lake, drowning the children.

In 1995, seven high school students were killed when their school bus was hit by a commuter train in the Chicago suburb of Fox River Grove, Ill.

In 2000, AT&T announced it would break itself into four separate businesses in a bid to renew investor support.

In 2001, the Senate, by a 90-1 vote, approved a final package of anti-terror reforms designed to help law enforcement monitor, observe and detain suspected terrorists. The bill was sent to the president who was expected to quickly sign it.

Also in 2001, a Massachusetts soccer dad was charged with assaulting an opposing player during a boys' high school soccer game.

In 2002, Liberal Democratic Sen. Paul Wellstone of Minnesota and seven others were killed in the crash of a small plane near the Eveleth-Virginia Municipal Airport, about 180 miles northeast of Minneapolis.

Also in 2002, Maryland authorities, who will be the first to prosecute Washington area sniper suspects John Muhammad, 41, and John Lee Malvo, 17, say they will seek the death penalty.

A thought for the day: Pablo Picasso said, "I am only an entertainer who has understood his time."