The almanac

Today is Tuesday, June 12, the 164th day of 2012 with 202 to follow.

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

Those born on this date are under the sign of Gemini. They include John Augustus Roebling, designer of the Brooklyn Bridge, in 1806; film and television producer Irwin Allen in 1916; cartoonist Dave Berg in 1920; former U.S. President George H.W. Bush in 1924 (age 88); singer Vic Damone in 1928 (age 84); Anne Frank, whose diary told of hiding from the Nazis in occupied Holland, in 1929; actor/singer Jim Nabors in 1930 (age 82); author Rona Jaffe in 1932; jazz musician Chick Corea and sportscaster Marv Albert, both in 1941 (age 71); actor Timothy Busfield in 1957 (age 55); musician John Linnell and comedian Scott Thompson, both in 1959 (age 53);and software developer Blake Ross in 1985 (age 27).

On this date in history:

In 1939, the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum was dedicated at Cooperstown, N.Y.

In 1963, a sniper killed civil rights leader Medgar Evers in Jackson, Miss.

In 1967, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that states couldn't outlaw interracial marriages.

In 1971, Tricia Nixon, daughter of U.S. President Richard Nixon, married Edward Finch Cox in the first wedding in the Rose Garden of the White House.

In 1979, Bryan Allen, 26, pedaled the 70-pound Gossamer Albatross 22 miles across the English Channel for the first human-powered flight across that body of water.

In 1982, an estimated 700,000 people gathered in New York's Central Park to call for world nuclear disarmament.

In 1989, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that white workers who claim to be treated unfairly as a result of affirmative action programs can sue for remedies under civil rights legislation.

In 1990, the Russian republic's legislature, under Boris Yeltsin, passed a radical declaration of sovereignty, proclaiming Russia's laws take precedence over those of the central Soviet government in the republic's territory.

In 1991, the Russian republic had its first direct presidential elections with Boris Yeltsin winning. The event is celebrated in Russia as a national holiday known as Independence Day.

In 1992, amid extremely tight security and criticism of his administration's stand on environmental issues, U.S. President George H.W. Bush addressed the Earth Summit, urging rich nations to take specific action on a climate treaty by year's end.

In 1993, U.S. helicopters and gunships destroyed four of Somali warlord Mohammed Farah Aidid's arms depots, one week after his forces allegedly killed 23 Pakistani members of the U.N. peacekeeping forces in a series of firefights.

In 1994, special counsel Robert Fiske took sworn depositions from U.S. President Bill Clinton and first lady Hillary Clinton about the Whitewater land deal in Arkansas. It was believed to be the first time a sitting president responded directly to questions in a legal case relating to his official conduct.

In 1999, Texas Gov. George W. Bush, son of the former president, announced his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination for the 2000 election.

In 2000, 50 years after the Korean War began the leaders of North and South Korea met in Pyongyang for the first series of talks.

In 2003, television news pioneer David Brinkley, one half of the legendary Huntley-Brinkley evening news team and host of the long-running Sunday public affairs program "This Week," died at his home in Houston. He was 82.

Also in 2003, at least 70 Iraqis were killed in a U.S. attack on a terrorist camp near Saddam Hussein's hometown.

In 2007, Sudanese government officials agreed to allow a joint peacekeeping force of about 19,000 troops from the African Union and the United Nations to be deployed in war-torn Darfur.

Also in 2007, scavengers looking for scrap metal at an old Japanese World War II base in China came across 3,500 buried bombs.

In 2008, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that prisoners at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba have a right to challenge their detention in federal court.

Also in 2008, severe weather in the U.S. Midwest spawned a tornado that killed four Boy Scouts and injured 48 others at a scout ranch in western Iowa and the worst flooding in history at Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where 8,000 were evacuated.

In 2009, the U.S. Congress voted to give the U.S. Food and Drug Administration the power to regulate tobacco with ability to set product standards and possibly ban some chemical additives in cigarettes.

In 2010, Abby Sunderland, the 16-year-old California girl trying to sail solo around the world, was rescued by a French fishing ship when her boat lost its mast in rough weather in the Indian Ocean some 2,000 nautical miles off western Australia.

Also in 2010, the interim leader of Kyrgyzstan called for Russian peacekeepers to help halt ethnic violence that he said could lead to civil war in the Central Asian nation. At least 50 people died in early stages.

In 2011, at least 32 people were killed and scores more injured when two bombs were detonated within four minutes at a supermarket in Peshawar, Pakistan.

Also in 2011, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's Justice and Development Party won a third term with 50 percent of the vote in a parliamentary election.

A thought for the day: T.S. Eliot said, "In my beginning is my end."