The almanac

Today is Tuesday, June 18, the 169th day of 2013 with 196 to follow.

The moon is waxing. Morning stars are Neptune and Uranus. Evening stars are Mercury, Saturn and Venus.

Those born on this date are under the sign of Gemini. They include Cyrus Curtis, founder and publisher of the Ladies' Home Journal, in 1850; journalist and publisher Edward W. Scripps in 1854; British mountain climber George Mallory in 1886; singer-actor Jeanette MacDonald in 1903; actor Keye Luke in 1904; legendary Tin Pan Alley composer Sammy Cahn, vintner Robert Mondavi and financial journalist Sylvia Porter, all in 1913; actors E.G. Marshall in 1914 and Richard Boone in 1917; noted firefighter Red Adair in 1915; baseball Hall of Fame member Lou Brock in 1939 (age 74); film critic Roger Ebert in 1942; South African President Thabo Mbeki and singer/composer Paul McCartney, also in 1942 (age 71); actors Carol Kane and Isabella Rossellini, both in 1952 (age 61); and singer Jemma Griffiths, known by stage name Jem, in 1975 (age 38).

On this date in history:

In 1812, the United States declared war on Britain.

In 1815, England's Duke of Wellington and Prussian Field Marshal Gebhard von Blucher defeated Napoleon at Waterloo in Belgium.

In 1975, Saudi Arabian Prince Museid was publicly beheaded in Riyadh for the assassination of King Faisal.

In 1979, U.S. President Jimmy Carter and Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev signed a strategic arms control treaty in Vienna, Austria.

In 1983, Sally Ride became the first American woman in space as the space shuttle Challenger was launched from Cape Canaveral, Fla.

In 1990, James Edward Pough, 42, whose car had been repossessed, killed eight people and wounded five more before committing suicide at a General Motors Acceptance Corp. loan office in Jacksonville, Fla. He was believed to have killed two others a day earlier.

In 1996, Unabomber suspect Theodore Kaczynski was charged with two killings in California; he pleaded innocent. Charges from New Jersey would come later.

In 1997, Turkish Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan resigned under pressure after his governing coalition lost its majority in Parliament.

In 2004, U.S. hostage Paul Johnson Jr., 49, was killed by his Saudi captors despite pleas from senior Muslim clerics.

In 2007, U.S. and EU officials announced they would resume aid to Palestinians.

In 2009, Texas billionaire R. Allen Stanford surrendered to the FBI after a federal grand jury indicted him on charges of running a Ponzi scheme that allegedly defrauded about 30,000 investors out of $7 billion.

In 2010, Hartford, Conn., Mayor Eddie Perez was convicted of bribery, extortion and conspiracy.

In 2012, Presidents Barack Obama of the United States and Vladimir Putin of Russia issued a statement on the conflict in Syria. It said, "We are united in the belief that the Syrian people should have the opportunity to independently and democratically choose their own future."

A thought for the day: Jose Ortega y Gasset defined civilization as "nothing else than the attempt to reduce force to being the last resort."