UPI Almanac for Saturday, April 27, 2019

Today is Saturday, April 27, the 117th day of 2019 with 248 to follow.

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

Those born on this date are under the sign of Taurus. They include English historian Edward Gibbon in 1737; philosopher Mary Wollstonecraft in 1759; Samuel F.B. Morse, American artist/inventor of magnetic telegraphy, in 1791; Ulysses S. Grant, 18th president of the United States/Civil War general, in 1822; Wallace Carothers, inventor of nylon in 1896; cartoonist Walter Lantz in 1899; English poet C. Day-Lewis in 1904; actor Jack Klugman in 1922; Coretta Scott King, wife of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., in 1927; radio/TV host Casey Kasem in 1932; actor Sandy Dennis in 1937; playwright August Wilson in 1945; rock musician Ace Frehley in 1951 (age 68); basketball Hall of Fame member George Gervin in 1952 (age 67); pop singer Sheena Easton in 1959 (age 60); Dutch King Willem-Alexander in 1967 (age 52); political journalist Dana Milbank in 1968 (age 51); rock singer Patrick Stump in 1984 (age 35); actor Jenna Coleman in 1986 (age 33); actor William Moseley in 1987 (age 32).

On this date in history:

In 1521, Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan was killed by natives of the Philippine Islands during his attempt to be the first to circumnavigate the world. His co-leader, Juan Sebastian de Elcano, completed the voyage in 1522.

In 1749, George Frideric Handel's "Fireworks Music" was first performed.

In 1810, Ludwig van Beethoven composed "Fur Elise."

In 1865, the steamboat Sultana, heavily overloaded with an estimated 2,300 passengers, most of them Union soldiers on their way home, exploded on the Mississippi River just north of Memphis. The death toll in the worst maritime disaster in U.S. history was set at 1,450.

In 1897, the cornerstone was laid for Grant's Tomb in New York City's Riverside Park. A holiday had been declared for the occasion and an enormous crowd turned out in honor of Ulysses S. Grant, the 18th president and Civil War general who died 12 years earlier.

In 1932, prohibition and birth control were to be raised during the formal business meeting of the League of Women Voters in the run-up to the 1932 elections.

In 1937, the first Social Security payment was made in the United States.

In 1978, communist rebels overthrew and killed Afghan President Mohammed Daoud Khan, a precursor to the Soviet-Afghan War.

In 1991, an estimated 70 tornadoes hit Kansas, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Nebraska and Iowa, killing 23 people and leaving thousands homeless.

In 1993, Kuwait said it foiled an Iraqi plot to assassinate former President George H.W. Bush during his visit earlier in the month.

In 1994, Virginia executed a condemned killer in the first case in which DNA testing was used to obtain a conviction.

In 2008, police said a 73-year-old Austrian man, Josef Fritzl, had been accused of fathering several children with his daughter while holding her captive in a cellar for 24 years. Fritzl was eventually sentenced to life in prison.

In 2009, General Motors announced it would drop the Pontiac line.

In 2011, a record outbreak of 358 tornadoes carved a devastating path through parts of 21 states from Texas to New York and on into Canada, hitting southern states hardest. Nearly 300 fatalities were reported, mostly in Alabama, over a four-day period.

In 2014, tens of thousands of people gathered at the Vatican for the canonization of two former popes, John XXIII and John Paul II.

In 2018, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in met during a historic summit to discuss full denuclearization.

A thought for the day: "The earth will not continue to offer its harvest, except with faithful stewardship. We cannot say we love the land and then take steps to destroy it for use by future generations." -- Pope John Paul II