UPI Almanac for Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2017

Today is Wednesday, Sept. 13, the 256th day of 2017 with 109 to follow.

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

Those born on this date are under the sign of Virgo. They include English novelist Daniel Defoe in 1660; U.S. Army bacteriologist Walter Reed in 1851; Hershey Co. founder Milton Hershey in 1857; Gen. John "Black Jack" Pershing, World War I hero, in 1860; author Roald Dahl in 1916; singer Mel Torme in 1925; actor Barbara Bain in 1931 (age 86); TV producer Fred Silverman in 1937 (age 80); "Miss Manners" Judith Martin in 1938 (age 79); actor Richard Kiel in 1939; Costa Rican Nobel Peace Prize laureate Oscar Arias in 1940 (age 76); singer David Clayton-Thomas in 1941 (age 75); singer/songwriter Peter Cetera in 1944 (age 73); actor Jacqueline Bisset in 1944 (age 73); singer/actor Nell Carter in 1948; actor Jean Smart in 1951 (age 66); musician Randy Jones (The Village People) in 1952 (age 65); musician Don Was in 1952 (age 65); talk show host Tavis Smiley in 1964 (age 53); reality star Michelle Duggar in 1966 (age 51); Olympic track gold medalist Michael Johnson in 1967 (age 50); entertainment entrepreneur Tyler Perry in 1969 (age 48); fashion designer Stella McCartney in 1971 (age 46); country musician Joe Don Rooney in 1975 (age 42); singer Fiona Apple in 1977 (age 40); actor Ben Savage in 1980 (age 37); pop singer Niall Horan in 1993 (age 24); actor Lili Reinhart in 1996 (age 21).

On this date in history:

In 1814, during a British attack on Fort McHenry, Md., Francis Scott Key wrote the lyrics of "The Star-Spangled Banner."

In 1922, the temperature at El Azizia, Libya, reached 136 degrees Fahrenheit, generally accepted as the world's highest recorded atmospheric temperature.

In 1940, the chapel at Buckingham Palace was destroyed in the German Blitz on London. The palace came under attack nine times during World War II. Ten days later, King George VI condemned the "wickedness against which we fight."

In 1971, New York state forces stormed and regained control of Attica state prison in a riot that killed 43 people.

In 1993, in a ceremony at the White House, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat signed a declaration of principles for Palestinian self-rule.

In 1996, the Dow closed at more than 5,838, a record high.

In 1996, rapper Tupac Shakur died in Los Vegas after he was shot in an ambush on Sept. 7.

In 1998, George Wallace, former Alabama governor, presidential candidate and one of the most controversial politicians in U.S. history, died in Montgomery, Ala., at the age of 79.

In 1999, at least 118 people were killed in the bombing of a Moscow apartment building. The blast was the latest in a series of explosions blamed on terrorists from the breakaway republic of Chechnya.

In 2001, U.S. carriers were allowed to resume flights and airports were under strict new security requirements in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

In 2008, Hurricane Ike battered Galveston and Houston with heavy rain and 110-mph winds, forcing about 1 million people to flee and leaving millions without electricity. Officials later said deaths caused by Ike included more than 100 in the United States and about 75 in Haiti.

In 2009, a fire at a clinic for drug addicts in the former Soviet republic of Kazakhstan killed 38 people. Forty others were rescued.

In 2012, turmoil sparked by an amateurish U.S.-made movie disparaging the Prophet Muhammad spread to Sanaa, Yemen, where hundreds of protesters stormed the U.S. Embassy.

In 2013, an Indian court convicted four men on charges they raped and murdered a 23-year-old student on a private bus in Delhi -- a December 2012 attack that caused nationwide outrage. They were sentenced to death.

A thought for the day: Baseball's Casey Stengel said, "The secret of managing is to keep the guys who hate you away from the guys who are undecided."