The almanac

Today is Friday, April 26, the 116th day of 2013 with 249 to follow.

The moon is waning. The morning stars are Saturn, Neptune and Uranus. The evening star is Jupiter.

Those born on this date are under the sign of Taurus. They include Scottish philosopher David Hume in 1711; naturalist John James Audubon in 1785; German industrialist Alfred Krupp in 1812; landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted in 1822; author Anita Loos in 1893; Rudolf Hess, Adolf Hitler's deputy, in 1894; inventor Charles Richter, responsible for the Richter scale of earthquake measurement, and baseball Hall of Fame member Hack Wilson, both in 1900; writers A.E. van Vogt in 1912 and Bernard Malamud in 1914; architect I.M. Pei in 1917 (age 96); actor/comedian Carol Burnett in 1933 (age 80); pop guitarist Duane Eddy in 1938 (age 75); pop singer Bobby Rydell in 1942 (age 71); and actors Giancarlo Esposito in 1958 (age 55), Joan Chen in 1961 (age 52) and Kevin James in 1965 (age 48).

On this day in history:

In 1607, the first British colonists to establish a permanent settlement in America landed at Cape Henry, Va.

In 1937, during the Spanish Civil War, German-made planes destroyed the Basque town of Guernica, Spain.

In 1964, Tanganyika and Zanzibar merged, forming the country of Tanzania.

In 1986, a fire at the Soviet Union's Chernobyl nuclear reactor north of Kiev resulted in the world's worst nuclear disaster.

In 1993, gunmen seized the Costa Rica Supreme Court, holding 17 judges and five other people hostage. The assailants freed their hostages three days later and were captured en route to the airport.

In 1994, South Africans began going to the polls in the country's first election that was open to all. Four days of voting would elect Nelson Mandela president.

In 2002, a German youth who had been expelled from the Gutenberg school in Erfurt, Germany, returned to the school and shot 16 people to death.

In 2005, the last of Syria's troops left Lebanon, ending a 29-year military presence.

In 2006, solemn commemorative events in Ukraine and Russia marked the 20th anniversary of the nuclear disaster at Chernobyl. The United Nations said about 9,000 people died from the accident but environmental groups contend the real toll is at least 10 times higher.

In 2007, New Hampshire lawmakers approved a measure legalizing civil unions between gay and lesbian couples.

In 2008, officials in Morocco said at least 55 people were killed and 12 injured in a fire that swept through a Casablanca mattress factory.

In 2010, a Gulf of Mexico oil slick created by a drilling rig blast had covered 1,800 square miles in less than one week while officials sought to cap a leak estimated at 42,000 gallons a day.

Also in 2010, Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, sought by the International Criminal Court in connection with reputed crimes against humanity in the Darfur section of western Sudan, was re-elected in a controversial vote.

In 2011, Mexican authorities announced the discovery of mass graves containing nearly 300 bodies. The dead were believed to be victims of drug wars that had claimed close to 35,000 lives since 2006.

In 2012, a U.N.-backed court convicted former Liberian President Charles Taylor of war crimes, including murder, acts of terrorism, rape, sexual slavery and use of child soldiers, for aiding rebels in neighboring Sierra Leone. He was sentenced to 50 years in prison.

A thought for the day: "The best proof of love is trust." Joyce Brothers said that.