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UPI Almanac for Wednesday, Dec. 26, 2018

On Dec. 26, 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.

By UPI Staff
On December 26, 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. File Photo by Library of Congress
1 of 2 | On December 26, 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. File Photo by Library of Congress

Today is Wednesday, Dec. 26, the 360th day of 2018 with five to follow.

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

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Those born on this date are under the sign of Capricorn. They include Adm. George Dewey, the U.S. naval hero of Manila, in 1837; writer Henry Miller in 1891; Mao Zedong, leader of the Chinese communist revolution, in 1893; College Football Hall of Fame member Frank Broyles in 1924; puppeteer Caroll Spinney in 1933 (age 85); America's Most Wanted creator John Walsh in 1945 (age 73); baseball Hall of Fame member Carlton Fisk in 1947 (age 71); TV journalist Candy Crowley in 1948 (age 70); baseball Hall of Fame member Ozzie Smith in 1954 (age 64); dogsled racer Susan Butcher in 1954; writer David Sedaris in 1956 (age 62); drummer Lars Ulrich (Metallica) in 1963 (age 55); actor Jared Leto in 1971 (age 47); rock musician Chris Daughtry in 1979 (age 39); actor Beth Behrs in 1985 (age 33); actor Kit Harington in 1986 (age 32); actor Eden Sher in 1991 (age 27).

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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, President Woodrow Wilson signed an order giving the federal government control over operation of U.S. railroads for the duration of World War I.

In 1966, the first Kwanzaa, created by Maulana Karenga, was observed. The seven-day holiday celebrates African and African-American history and culture.

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.

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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.

In 2003, 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, China opened the world's longest high-speed railway connecting Beijing to the southern city of Guangzhou.

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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

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