UPI Almanac for Saturday, July 11, 2015

Today is Saturday, July 11, the 192nd day of 2015 with 173 to follow.

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

Those born on this date are under the sign of Cancer. They include Scottish King Robert the Bruce in 1274; John Quincy Adams, sixth president of the United States, in 1767; author E.B. White in 1899; actor Yul Brynner in 1920; actor Tab Hunter in 1931 (age 84); critic Harold Bloom in 1930; Italian fashion designer Giorgio Armani in 1934 (age 81); soul singer Bonnie Pointer in 1950 (age 65); former heavyweight boxing champion Leon Spinks in 1953 (age 62); actor Sela Ward in 1956 (age 59); musician Richie Sambora in 1959 (age 56); singer Suzanne Vega in 1959 (age 56); TV host John Henson in 1967 (age 48); TV naturalist Jeff Corwin in 1967 (age 48); rapper Lil' Kim in 1974 (age 410).

On this date in history:

In 1804, U.S. Vice President Aaron Burr killed longtime political foe Alexander Hamilton, the first treasury secretary, in a duel at Weehawken, N.J.

In 1847, songwriter Stephen Foster's first major hit, "Oh! Susanna," was performed for the first time, in a Pittsburgh saloon. (It soon became a standard for minstrel shows.)

In 1859, Charles Dickens' "A Tale of Two Cities" was published.

In 1952, U.S. Army Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower was nominated as the Republican presidential candidate, with Richard Nixon as his running mate. (They were elected that November.)

In 1955, the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado was dedicated, with 300 cadets in its first class.

In 1960, Harper Lee's "To Kill a Mockingbird" was published.

In 1979, Skylab, the United States' first space station, fell to Earth after six years in orbit, scattering tons of debris across the Australian desert.

In 1995, the United States resumed diplomatic relations with Vietnam.

In 2006, more than 200 people were killed and another 700 injured in coordinated rush-hour terrorist attacks on the transit system in Mumbai.

In 2008, Tony Snow, who was press secretary under U.S. President George W. Bush and a Fox News Channel host, died of cancer at age 53.

In 2011, an overloaded Russian cruise ship with a malfunctioning engine capsized in the Volga River during a thunderstorm and quickly sank, killing 122 people. There were 79 survivors.

In 2013, Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane said she wouldn't defend the state's ban against same-sex marriage. Kane, a Democrat, said, "It is now the time here in Pennsylvania to end another wave of discrimination." (In May 2014, a federal judge struck down the Pennsylvania ban.)

In 2014, NBA superstar LeBron James, who left Cleveland for Miami in 2010 and led the Heat to two titles, announced he was returning to the Cavaliers. James, who grew up in Akron, Ohio, said on Sports Illustrated's website: "My relationship with northeast Ohio is bigger than basketball. I didn't realize that four years ago. I do now."

A thought for the day: French novelist Marcel Proust said, "As long as men are free to ask what they must, free to say what they think, free to think what they will, freedom can never be lost ... ."