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The Almanac

By United Press International
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Today is Friday, Feb. 9, the 40th day of 2007 with 325 to follow.

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

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Those born on this date are under the sign of Aquarius. They include William Henry Harrison, ninth president of the United States, in 1773; former Secretary of State Dean Rusk in 1909; exotic dancer Gypsy Rose Lee in 1914; Irish playwright Brendan Behan in 1923; actress Kathryn Grayson in 1922 (age 85); television journalist Roger Mudd in 1928 (age 79); singer Carole King in 1942 (age 65); author Alice Walker in 1944 (age 63); actors Joe Pesci in 1943 (age 64), Mia Farrow in 1945 (age 62), Judith Light in 1949 (age 58) and Charles Shaughnessy ("The Nanny") in 1955 (age 52); and country singer Travis Tritt in 1963 (age 44).

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On this date in history:

In 1825, after no presidential candidate won the necessary majority, the House of Representatives elected John Quincy Adams the sixth president of the United States.

In 1900, the solid silver trophy known as the Davis Cup was first put up for competition when American collegian Dwight Filley Davis challenged British tennis players to compete against his Harvard team.

In 1943, in a major World War II strategic victory, the Allies retook Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands from the Japanese.

In 1950, U.S. Sen. Joseph McCarthy, R-Wis., charged the U.S. State Department was infested with communists.

In 1971, an earthquake shook Los Angeles and killed 64 people.

In 1984, Soviet President Yuri Andropov, in power 15 months, died at age 69.

In 1987, Robert McFarlane, former Reagan administration national security adviser, was hospitalized for an overdose of Valium just hours before he was to testify to a presidential commission about the Iran-Contra scandal.

In 1990, the U.S. stock of Perrier water was recalled because of levels of benzene in violation of EPA standards. The recall was later extended worldwide.

In 1991, Lithuanians overwhelmingly voted to secede from the Soviet Union in an independence plebiscite ruled illegal by Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.

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In 1992, 30 people were reported killed in Senegal in the crash of a plane chartered by Air Senegal for Club Mediterranean.

In 1993, violence erupted following the Dallas Cowboys' Super Bowl victory parade. 14 people were arrested.

In 1994, in Cairo, PLO chief Yasser Arafat and Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres initialed an agreement that resolved some contentious issues in the Middle East peace talks.

In 1996, a bomb exploded in a London rail station, killing two and wounding 100. The IRA announced that the Northern Ireland cease-fire was over.

In 2001, nine people were killed when the American submarine USS Greenville collided with a Japanese fishing boat off the coast of Hawaii. The accident took place during a surfacing drill.

In 2003, Egypt said the upcoming Arab League summit would not ask Iraq's Saddam Hussein to step down as some Arab nations had urged. The Egyptian foreign minister said he did not think any Arab country would "interfere in Iraq's internal affairs."

In 2004, U.S. officials in Iraq said they have obtained a 17-page letter written to senior members of al-Qaida seeking reinforcements.

In 2005, Bush administration officials disputed reports that the Medicare prescription drug program would cost $1.2 trillion over the next decade, about $600 billion above original estimates.

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Also in 2005, hospitalized Pope John Paul II, recovering from flu-related respiratory problems, missed celebrating mass to begin Lent for the first time in 26 years.

In 2006, U.S. President Bush said international cooperation had derailed a terrorist plot to fly an airplane into the 73-story Library Tower in Los Angeles.


A thought for the day: U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson said, "Yesterday is not ours to recover, but tomorrow is ours to win or lose."

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