UPI Almanac for Monday, Dec. 26, 2016

Today is Monday, Dec. 26, the 361st day of 2016 with five to follow.

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

Those born on this date are under the sign of Capricorn. They include English poet Thomas Gray in 1716; English inventor Charles Babbage, who developed the first speedometer, in 1791; Adm. George Dewey, the U.S. naval hero of Manila, in 1837; British writer and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Norman Angell in 1872; writer Henry Miller in 1891; Mao Zedong, leader of the Chinese communist revolution, in 1893; actor Richard Widmark in 1914; entertainer Steve Allen in 1921; College Football Hall of Fame member Frank Broyles in 1924 (age 92); comedian Alan King in 1927; puppeteer Caroll Spinney in 1933 (age 83); "America's Most Wanted" creator John Walsh in 1945 (age 71); baseball Hall of Fame member Carlton Fisk in 1947 (age 69); TV journalist Candy Crowley in 1948 (age 68); baseball Hall of Fame member Ozzie Smith (age 62) and dogsled racer Susan Butcher, both in 1954; writer David Sedaris in 1956 (age 60); and actor Jared Leto in 1971 (age 45).

On this date in history:

In 1776, American forces under Gen. George Washington, having crossed the Delaware River on Christmas night, defeated Hessian mercenary troops fighting for the British at the Battle of Trenton, N.J.

In 1908, Jack Johnson, with a 14th-round KO of Tommy Burns in Australia, became the first African-American to win the world heavyweight boxing title.

In 1917, the federal government took over operation of U.S. railroads for the duration of World War I.

In 1972, Harry S. Truman, 33rd president of the United States, died at age 88.

In 1974, legendary comedian Jack Benny died of cancer. He was 80.

In 1990, Nancy Cruzan, the focus of a right-to-die case that went to the U.S. Supreme Court, died in a Missouri hospital.

In 1996, child beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey, 6, was found slain in a basement room of her family's Boulder, Colo., home.

In 2003, more than 26,000 people were killed and thousands injured when an earthquake struck the ancient city of Bam in southeastern Iran, and the death toll was reported at 135 after a Boeing 727 crash in the West African country of Benin.

In 2004, an earthquake-triggered tsunami raced across the Indian Ocean with 40-foot-high waves slamming into India, Thailand, Indonesia and several other countries, killing at least 225,000 people, and leaving thousands injured. It was one of the world's worst natural disasters.

In 2006, Gerald R. Ford, 38th president of the United States, died at his home in Rancho Mirage, Calif., at the age of 93.

In 2010, a suicide explosion that killed at least 46 people at a U.N. food distribution point in Pakistan was set off by a teenage girl, an official reported.

In 2012, Brian Schatz, 40, was chosen to succeed U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, who died Dec. 17 of respiratory complications at age 88. Hawaii Gov. Neil Abercrombie picked Schatz, who had been the state's lieutenant governor.

In 2013, African leaders met in Juba, South Sudan, to try to end hostilities that killed hundreds of people in the country since mid-December.

A thought for the day: "We are bound together by the most powerful of all ties, our fervent love for freedom and independence, which knows no homeland but the human heart." -- U.S. President Gerald R. Ford