UPI Almanac for Friday, July 17, 2020

Today is Friday, July 17, the 199th day of 2020 with 167 to follow.

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

Those born on this date are under the sign of Cancer. They include English clergyman/author Isaac Watts in 1674; financier John Jacob Astor in 1763; actor James Cagney in 1899; TV personality Art Linkletter in 1912; comedian Phyllis Diller in 1917; actor Donald Sutherland in 1935 (age 85); actor/singer Diahann Carroll in 1935; musician Peter Schickele in 1935 (age 85); Supreme Leader of Iran Ali Khamenei in 1939 (age 81); rock musician Spencer Davis in 1939 (age 81); basketball Hall of Fame member Connie Hawkins in 1942; Camilla Parker Bowles, duchess of Cornwall, in 1947 (age 73); actor Lucie Arnaz in 1951 (age 69); actor David Hasselhoff in 1952 (age 68); singer Nicolette Larson in 1952; singer Phoebe Snow in 1952; German Chancellor Angela Merkel in 1954 (age 66); filmmaker Wong Kar-wai in 1958 (age 62); TV producer Mark Burnett in 1960 (age 60); actress Beth Littleford in 1968 (age 52); motorcycle racer Carey Hart in 1975 (age 45); country singer Luke Bryan in 1976 (age 44); actor Billie Lourd in 1992 (age 28).

On this date in history:

In 1918, Russian Czar Nicholas II and his family were killed by Bolsheviks who had held them captive for two months. Though the whereabouts of their bodies was unknown for years, later DNA tests confirmed their identities and they were buried together in a St. Petersburg cathedral in 1998.

In 1936, the Spanish Civil War began with an army revolt led by Gen. Francisco Franco.

In 1955, Arco, Idaho, a town of 1,300 people, became the first community in the world to receive all its light and power from atomic energy.

In 1955, Disneyland opened in Anaheim, Calif.

In 1975, three U.S. and two Soviet spacemen linked their orbiting Apollo and Soyuz spacecraft for historic handshakes 140 miles above Earth.

In 1981, 114 people were killed and 200 injured in the collapse of two suspended walkways at the Hyatt Regency hotel in Kansas City, Mo.

In 1996, TWA Flight 800, New York to Paris, crashed off the Long Island coast, killing all 230 people aboard the Boeing 747.

In 2006, an earthquake under the Indian Ocean triggered a tsunami that struck the Indonesian island of Java, killing about 700 people.

In 2007, a Brazilian Airbus airliner skidded off a runway as it landed at Sao Paulo's Congonhas Airport and crashed into a building. Authorities placed the death toll at 200.

In 2009, Walter Cronkite, television news broadcaster often referred to as the most trusted man in America, died at age 92.

In 2014, Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 carrying 298 people was shot down over rebel-controlled territory in eastern Ukraine near the Russian border. All aboard the Boeing 777 were killed, including dozens of children.

In 2018, Dallas Wings center Liz Cambage broke the WNBA's single-game record for points scored -- 53 -- in a 104-87 win against the New York Liberty in Arlington, Texas.

In 2019, Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman was sentenced to life in U.S. prison for conspiracy to commit murder, drug trafficking and money laundering. The drug kingpin had twice escaped from Mexican prisons.

A thought for the day: "The truth isn't always beauty, but the hunger for it is." -- South African writer Nadine Gordimer