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The almanac

By United Press International
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Today is Thursday, June 20, the 171st day of 2013 with 194 to follow.

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

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Those born on this date are under the sign of Gemini. They include author-playwright Lillian Hellman in 1905; actor Errol Flynn in 1909; musician Chet Atkins and actor, World War II hero Audie Murphy, winner of the Medal of Honor, both in 1924; actors Martin Landau in 1928 (age 85), Olympia Dukakis and James Tolkan, both in 1931 (age 82), Danny Aiello in 1933 (age 80) and John Mahoney in 1940 (age 73); football Hall of Fame member Len Dawson in 1935 (age 78); songwriter Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys in 1942 (age 71); singer Anne Murray in 1945 (age 68); TV handyman Bob Vila and concert pianist Andre Watts, both in 1946 (age 67); singer Lionel Richie in 1949 (age 64); Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in 1950 (age 63); Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member Michael Anthony (Van Halen), in 1954 (age 59); actors John Goodman in 1952 (age 61), Nicole Kidman in 1967 (age 46) and Michael Landon Jr. in 1965 (age 48).

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On this date in history:

In 1214, the University of Oxford in England is chartered.

In 1893, a jury in Fall River, Mass., acquitted Lizzy Borden in the ax murders of her father and stepmother.

In 1898, the U.S. Navy seized Guam, the largest of the Mariana Islands in the Pacific, during the Spanish-American War. The people of Guam were granted U.S. citizenship in 1950.

In 1900, in response to widespread foreign encroachment upon China's national affairs, Chinese nationalists launched the so-called Boxer Rebellion in Beijing.

In 1963, the United States and the Soviet Union agreed to establish a hot line communications link between Washington and Moscow.

In 1967, the American Independent Party was formed to back George Wallace of Alabama for president.

In 1977, oil began to flow through the $7.7 billion, 789-mile Alaska pipeline.

In 1991, the German Parliament voted to move its capital from Bonn to Berlin.

In 1994, O.J. Simpson pleaded "100 percent not guilty" to charges he killed his ex-wife and her friend.

In 1997, four major U.S. tobacco companies and several state attorneys general, after months of negotiations, agreed to a $368.5 billion settlement to recover the costs of smoking-related illnesses.

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In 1999, NATO formally ended its bombing campaign of Yugoslavia as Serb forces completed their withdrawal from Kosovo.

In 2004, Pakistan and India reached agreement on banning nuclear testing.

In 2006, former White House official David Safavian was convicted on four counts of lying to investigators and obstruction of justice in dealings with lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

In 2007, U.S. President George W. Bush blocked legislation to permit expanded federal funding for stem cell studies. He vetoed a new proposal to lift restrictions on funding for the research.

In 2009, Iraqi insurgents, striking in a series of attacks as U.S. troops pulled out of Iraq as planned, set off a truck bomb near a Shiite mosque in northern Iraq, killing 82 people and injuring 250.

In 2010, Juan Manuel Santos easily defeated former Bogota Mayor Antanas Mockus to become Colombia's president.

In 2011, the U.S. Supreme Court threw out a class-action lawsuit against Walmart that alleged sex discrimination against up to 1.5 million women.

In 2012, a motorcyclist set off a bomb that killed at least 29 people, including three U.S. soldiers, in eastern Afghanistan.

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A thought for the day: Plutarch said, "Character is simply habit long continued."

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