UPI Almanac for Sunday, July 2, 2017

Today is Sunday, July 2, the 183rd day of 2017 with 182 to follow.

The moon is waxing. Morning star is Venus. Evening stars are Jupiter and Saturn.

Those born on this date are under the sign of Cancer. They include German novelist Hermann Hesse in 1877; King Olav V of Norway in 1903; former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall in 1908; singer/actor Ken Curtis (Gunsmoke's Festus) in 1916; French fashion designer Pierre Cardin in 1922 (age 95); civil rights activist Medgar Evers in 1925; Imelda Marcos, wife of former Philippine President Fernando Marcos, in 1929 (age 88); Dave Thomas, Wendy's fast-food restaurant chain founder, in 1932; actor Polly Holliday in 1937 (age 80); former race car driver Richard Petty in 1937 (age 80); actor/director Ron Silver in 1946; writer/actor Larry David in 1947 (age 70); actor Jimmy McNichol in 1961 (age 56); former baseball star Jose Canseco, first to hit 40 home runs and steal 40 bases in the same major league season, in 1964 (age 53); figure skater Johnny Weir in 1984 (age 33); actor Ashley Tisdale in 1985 (age 32); actor Lindsay Lohan in 1986 (age 31); actor Margot Robbie in 1990 (age 27).

On this date in history:

In 1776, the Second Continental Congress formally adopted a resolution for independence from Britain.

In 1788, it was announced in the U.S. Congress that the new Constitution had been ratified by the required nine states, the ninth being New Hampshire.

In 1839, slaves being shipped to Cuba revolted and seized the ship Amistad, leading to an eventual end of the African slave market.

In 1881, U.S. President James Garfield was shot by Charles J. Guiteau, a mentally unstable lawyer and office-seeker. Garfield died Sept. 19 and was succeeded by Vice President Chester Arthur. Guiteau was convicted and hanged in 1882.

In 1900, the world's first rigid airship was demonstrated by Ferdinand Graf von Zeppelin in Germany.

In 1934, 6-year-old Shirley Temple signed a contract with Fox Film Corp. She went on to become one of the biggest movie stars of the era.

In 1937, U.S. aviator Amelia Earhart and navigator Frederick Noonan were reported lost over the Pacific Ocean. They were never found.

In 1962, the first Walmart store opened -- in Rogers, Ark.

In 1964, the U.S. Civil Rights Act of 1964 became law with the signature of President Lyndon B. Johnson.

In 1976, North and South Vietnam reunited, forming the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

In 1986, the U.S. Supreme Court endorsed numerical hiring goals for minorities, rejecting the Reagan administration view that affirmative action be limited to proven victims of race discrimination.

In 1990, a stampede in a pedestrian tunnel at the Muslim holy city of Mecca during the annual hajj killed 1,426 pilgrims.

In 1993, South African President F.W de Klerk and African National Congress leader Nelson Mandela announced that the country's first election open to all races would be April 27, 1994.

In 2000, Vicente Fox was elected president of Mexico.

In 2002, American Steve Fossett completed the first round-the-world solo flight in a balloon, reaching Queensland in the Australian outback to finish a 13-day, 19,428-mile trip that began in Western Australia.

In 2009, India's ban on homosexuality, in effect since 1861, was overturned by New Delhi's highest court. On December 11, 2013, India's Supreme Court reinstated the ban, re-criminalizing homosexuality.

In 2013, in announcing an Affordable Care Act delay, U.S. officials said a mandate that larger employers provide health coverage for their workers, or pay penalties, would not be enforced until 2015.

In 2014, U.S. officials announced that security would be tightened for some flights headed to the United States from the Middle East and Europe because intelligence reports indicated an increased threat by terrorists.

In 2015, 62 people were killed in the Philippines when a crowded ferry carrying nearly 200 people abruptly capsized -- just minutes after it left port.

In 2016, Elie Wiesel, the Jewish author, Nobel laureate, academic and Holocaust survivor whose writings on unthinkable Nazi brutality brought the reality of the world's largest genocide into stark relief, died. He was 87.

A thought for the day: "Guns and bombs, rockets and warships are all symbols of human failure." -- Lyndon B. Johnson