UPI Almanac for Wednesday, Jan. 31, 2018

Today is Wednesday, Jan. 31, the 31st day of 2018 with 334 to follow.

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

Those born on this date are under the sign of Aquarius. They include Gouverneur Morris, who wrote sections of the U.S. Constitution, in 1752; Austrian composer Franz Schubert in 1797; western novelist Zane Grey in 1872; actor Tallulah Bankhead in 1902; boxer Jersey Joe Walcott in 1914; Baseball Hall of Fame member Jackie Robinson, the first African American to play Major League Baseball, in 1919; actor Carol Channing in 1921 (age 97); actor Joanne Dru in 1922; novelist Norman Mailer in 1923; civil rights leader Benjamin Hooks in 1925; Baseball Hall of Fame member Ernie Banks in 1931; actor Suzanne Pleshette in 1937; Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands in 1938 (age 80); actor Jessica Walter in 1941 (age 77); baseball Hall of Fame member Nolan Ryan in 1947 (age 71); actor Anthony LaPaglia in 1959 (age 59); television news commentator Martha MacCallum in 1964 (age 54); actor Minnie Driver in 1970 (age 48); actor Portia de Rossi in 1973 (age 45); Kerry Washington in 1977 (age 41); actor Bobby Moynihan in 1977 (age 41); singer/actor Justin Timberlake in 1981 (age 37); singer Marcus Mumford (Mumford & Sons) in 1987 (age 31); country singer Tyler Hubbard (Florida Georgia Line) in 1987 (age 31).

On this date in history:

1917, Germany announces it will wage unrestricted submarine warfare against all ships, including passenger carriers, in war-zone waters.

In 1924, self-important senators, making pompous speeches for home consumption, delayed action on the Teapot Dome scandal.

In 1929, the Soviet Union expelled communist revolutionary Leon Trotsky. He was assassinated in Mexico in August 1940.

In 1945, U.S. Army Pvt. Eddie Slovik, 24, was executed by firing squad for desertion. His was the first U.S. execution for desertion since the Civil War.

In 1953, nearly 2,000 people died when the North Sea flooded the Netherlands.

In 1958, Explorer 1, the first successful U.S. satellite, was launched from Cape Canaveral, Fla.

In 1961, NASA launched a rocket carrying Ham the Chimp into space.

In 1968, Viet Cong guerillas raided the U.S. Embassy in Saigon, the Tan Son Nhut airbase and five hotels housing American officials as part of the Tet Offensive during the Vietnam War.

In 1982, the Israeli Cabinet agreed to a multinational peacekeeping force to act as a buffer between Israel and Egypt in the Sinai Peninsula.

In 1990, Moscow's first McDonald's restaurant opened.

In 1991, Iraqi forces crossed into Saudi Arabia engaging allied troops in a firefight before being driven back across the border. Eleven U.S. Marines died and two were injured in another battle. They were the first Americans to die in the Gulf War ground combat.

In 1996, a suicide bombing at Sri Lanka's main bank killed nearly 100 people and injured more than 1,000.

In 2000, Illinois Gov. George Ryan halted executions in the state after several death row inmates were found to be innocent of the crimes for which they were to be put to death.

In 2001, a Scottish court meeting in the Netherlands convicted a Libyan man, Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi, in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103. The plane exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing 270 people, including 11 on the ground. The convicted bomber died in 2012.

In 2006, Samuel Alito was confirmed by the U.S. Senate as an associate justice on the U.S. Supreme Court by a 58-42 vote. He succeeded retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.

In 2012, a U.S. congressional report accused the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives of bungling a sting operation called "Fast and Furious" in which guns were sold to illegal "straw buyers" in an effort to catch drug cartel leaders, but some of the weapons were used in crimes, including the killing of a U.S. Border Patrol agent.

In 2013, an explosion caused by a gas leak at the Mexico City offices of state oil company Pemex killed nearly 40 people and injured scores of others.

In 2014, the Dow Jones industrial average closed at 15,698.52, ending its worst January in five years. The Dow fell more than 5 percent during the month.

A thought for the day: "A competitor will find a way to win. Competitors take bad breaks and use them to drive themselves just that much harder. Quitters take bad breaks and use them as reasons to give up. It's all a matter of pride." -- Nancy Lopez