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UPI Almanac for Wednesday, May 13, 2015

Gunman wounds pope, ex-PM sentenced to prison ... on his date in history.

By United Press International
Pope John Paul II waves to a huge crowd from a gallery at St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican following Easter services April 19, 1981. Less than a month later, on May 13, a gunman wounded the pope in St. Peter's Square, the plaza in front of the basilica.	 File Photo/UPI
1 of 9 | Pope John Paul II waves to a huge crowd from a gallery at St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican following Easter services April 19, 1981. Less than a month later, on May 13, a gunman wounded the pope in St. Peter's Square, the plaza in front of the basilica. File Photo/UPI | License Photo

Today is Wednesday, May 13, the 133th day of 2015 with 232 to follow. The moon is waning. Morning stars are Neptune, Uranus and Saturn. Evening stars are Jupiter, Mars, Mercury and Venus.


Those born on this date are under the sign of Taurus. They include composer Arthur Sullivan, of Gilbert and Sullivan, in 1842; French cubist painter Georges Braque in 1882; English novelist Daphne du Maurier in 1907; former heavyweight boxing champion Joe Louis in 1914; singer Mary Wells in 1943; actor/singer Bea Arthur in 1922; cult leader Jim Jones in 1931; actor Harvey Keitel in 1939 (age 76); actor Senta Berger in 1941 (age 74); singer Ritchie Valens in 1941; singer Stevie Wonder, born Stevland Hardaway Judkins, in 1950 (age 65); basketball Hall of Fame member Dennis Rodman in 1961 (age 54); comedian Stephen Colbert in 1964 (age 51); singer Darius Rucker in 1966 (age 49); actor Robert Pattinson in 1986 (age 29).
On this date in history: In 1607, Jamestown, the first permanent English colony in North America, was founded near the James River in Virginia. In 1846, the United States declared war on Mexico. In 1912, Britain established its air force -- the Royal Flying Corps. In 1981, Turkish gunman Mehmet Ali Agca wounded Pope John Paul II in St. Peter's Square in Vatican City. (Later, the pope, from his hospital bed, forgave his assailant.) In 1985, a Philadelphia police helicopter bombed the fortified house of a radical organization, MOVE, to end a 24-hour siege. Eleven people died and the ensuing fire destroyed 53 homes. In 1994, U.S. President Bill Clinton nominated Judge Stephen Breyer to succeed Justice Harry A. Blackmun on the U.S. Supreme Court. (Breyer joined the court in August.) In 2005, Colombian authorities said they made the biggest drug raid in the nation's history, seizing 12 tons of cocaine valued at $300 million. In 2009, astronauts on a 14-day servicing mission embarked on the first of five planned spacewalks to repair and update the 19-year-old Hubble Space Telescope. The project included installation of a wide-field camera and a Cosmic Origins Spectograph. In 2011, in a reported retaliation to the slaying of terrorist chief Osama bin Laden, two suicide bombers killed 80 Pakistani recruits at a training center. In 2012, The mutilated bodies of 49 people, apparently victims of an escalating war between the Zetas gang and Sinaloa drug cartel, were found along a highway between Monterrey, Mexico, and McAllen, Texas. In 2013, psychologist and longtime newspaper columnist Joyce Brothers died in Fort Lee, N.J., at age 85. In 2014, in Israel former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was sentenced to six years in prison for taking bribes while he was mayor of Jerusalem. In western Turkey, an explosion and fire in a coal mine killed more than 300 people and injured dozens of others.
A thought for the day: "Knowing what's right doesn't mean much unless you do what's right." -- Theodore Roosevelt
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