UPI Almanac for Saturday, July 25, 2020

Today is Saturday, July 25, the 207th day of 2020 with 159 to follow.

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

Those born on this date are under the sign of Leo. They include Revolutionary War Gen. Henry Knox in 1750; first lady Anna Harrison in 1775; artist Thomas Eakins in 1844; scientist Rosalind Franklin in 1920; actor Estelle Getty in 1923; actor Barbara Harris in 1935; civil rights figure Emmett Till in 1941; percussionist Jose Areas in 1946 (age 74); folk singer/songwriter Steve Goodman in 1948; football Hall of Fame member Walter Payton in 1954; model/actor Iman Abdulmajid in 1955 (age 65); actor Matt LeBlanc in 1967 (age 53); actor Wendy Raquel Robinson in 1967 (age 53); Louise Joy Brown, the first "test-tube" baby, in 1978 (age 42); actor Juan Pablo Di Pace in 1979 (age 41); actor Shantel VanSanten in 1985 (age 35); actor Brad Renfro in 1982; actor Mason Cook in 2000 (age 20); actor Meg Donnelly in 2000 (age 20).

On this date in history:

In 1909, French pioneer aviator Louis Bleriot became the first person to fly a "heavier-than-air machine" across the English Channel. It took him 36 minutes.

In 1917, Mata Hari was sentenced to death in France as a spy for Germany in World War I. She was executed by firing squad less than three months later and her name became a synonym for a seductive female spy.

In 1934, Austrian Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss was assassinated by Nazis during a failed coup attempt.

In 1952, Puerto Rico became a self-governing U.S. commonwealth.

In 1956, the Italian luxury liner Andrea Doria and Swedish liner Stockholm collided at night in heavy fog off Nantucket, Mass. The accident had a death toll of 52. Hundreds of people were rescued. The Andrea Doria sank the next morning.

In 1965, folk legend Bob Dylan performed for the first time with electric instruments, so upsetting his fans that they booed him.

In 1978, the world's first "test-tube" baby, Louise Brown, was born in Oldham, England.

In 1986, former Navy radioman Jerry Whitworth was convicted of selling U.S. military secrets to the Soviets through the John Walker spy ring. The government called it the most damaging espionage case since World War II. Whitworth was sentenced to 365 years in prison.

In 1994, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Jordan's King Hussein signed a declaration that ended the 46-year state of war between their countries.

In 2000, an Air France Concorde supersonic jet crashed on takeoff from Paris, killing 113 people, including four on the ground. It was the first crash of a Concorde.

In 2007, as Iraqis celebrated their national soccer team's victory over South Korea in the Asian Cup semifinals, two suicide bombers attacked crowds in Baghdad, killing at least 50 people and injuring about 140.

In 2008, California banned the use of trans fats in all restaurants and retail bakeries in the state, beginning in 2010.

In 2012, North Korea announced its leader, Kim Jong Un, had married Ri Sol Ju.

In 2019, U.S. Attorney General William Barr ordered the federal Bureau of Prisons to resume capital punishment 16 years after the last federal execution. After a yearlong series of court battles, the government carried out its first execution on July 14, 2020, on Daniel Lewis Lee.

A thought for the day: "I don't understand art for art's sake. Art is the guts of the people." American artist/educator Elma Lewis