UPI Almanac for Friday, July 17, 2015

Today is Friday, July 17, the 198th day of 2015 with 167 to follow.

The moon is waxing. 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 English clergyman/author Isaac Watts in 1674; financier John Jacob Astor in 1763; mystery writer Erle Stanley Gardner in 1889; actor James Cagney in 1899; TV personality Art Linkletter in 1912; comedian Phyllis Diller in 1917; Olympics movement official Juan Antonio Samaranch in 1920; actor Donald Sutherland in 1935 (age 80); actor/singer Diahann Carroll in 1935 (age 80); musician Peter Schickele in 1935 (age 80); Supreme Leader of Iran Ali Khamenei in 1939 (age 76); rock musician Spencer Davis in 1939 (age 76); basketball Hall of Fame member Connie Hawkins in 1942 (age 73); actor Lucie Arnaz in 1951 (age 64); actor David Hasselhoff in 1952 (age 63); singer Nicolette Larson in 1952; singer Phoebe Snow in 1952; German Chancellor Angela Merkel in 1954 (age 61).

On this date in history:

In 1936, the Spanish Civil War began with an army revolt led by Gen. Francisco Franco.

In 1938, Douglas Corrigan took off from Floyd Bennett Field in New York for a return flight to California but lost his bearings in the clouds, he said, and flew instead to Ireland. He became an instant celebrity called "Wrong Way" Corrigan.

In 1955, Arco, Idaho, a town of 1,300 people, became the first community in the world to receive all its light and power from atomic energy. Also, Disneyland opened in Anaheim, Calif.

In 1975, three U.S. and two Soviet spacemen linked their orbiting Apollo and Soyuz spacecraft for historic handshakes 140 miles above Earth.

In 1981, 114 people were killed and 200 injured in the collapse of two suspended walkways at the Hyatt Regency hotel in Kansas City, Mo.

In 1996, TWA Flight 800, New York to Paris, crashed off the Long Island coast, killing all 230 people aboard the Boeing 747.

In 2006, an earthquake under the Indian Ocean triggered a tsunami that struck the Indonesian island of Java, killing about 700 people.

In 2007, a Brazilian Airbus airliner skidded off a runway as it landed at Sao Paulo's Congonhas Airport and crashed into a building. Authorities placed the death toll at 200.

In 2009, Walter Cronkite, television news broadcaster often referred to as the most trusted man in America, died at age 92.

In 2012, the Boy Scouts of America announced a policy of banning homosexuals from membership would remain in effect. (The restriction was removed in 2013.)

In 2014, Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 carrying 298 people was shot down over rebel-controlled territory in eastern Ukraine near the Russian border. All aboard the Boeing 777 were killed, including dozens of children.

A thought for the day: "Democracy must be our answer to terrorism." -- Angela Merkel