UPI Almanac for Sunday, Dec. 11, 2022

Today is Sunday, Dec. 11, the 345th day of 2022 with 20 to follow.

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

Those born on this date are under the sign of Sagittarius. They include Pope Leo X in 1475; U.S. statesman George Mason in 1725; New York Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia in 1882; actor Vampira, born Maila Nurmi, in 1922; football Hall of Fame member Doc Blanchard in 1924; blues Hall of Fame member Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton, in 1926; actor Rita Moreno (first performer to win an Oscar, Tony, Emmy and Grammy) in 1931 (age 91); singer David Gates in 1940 (age 82); actor Donna Mills in 1940 (age 82); U.S. special envoy for climate John Kerry in 1943 (age 79); actor Teri Garr in 1944 (age 78); singer Brenda Lee in 1944 (age 78); actor Bess Armstrong in 1953 (age 69); Rock and Roll Hall of Famer member Jermaine Jackson in 1954 (age 68); rock musician Nikki Sixx, born Frank Carlton Serafino Feranna, in 1958 (age 64); actor Mo'Nique, born Monique Angela Hicks, in 1967 (age 55); actor Mos Def, born Yasiin Bey, in 1973 (age 49); author Colleen Hoover in 1979 (age 43); actor Rider Strong in 1979 (age 43); actor Karla Souza in 1985 (age 37); actor Alexa Demie in 1990 (age 32); actor Hailee Steinfeld in 1996 (age 26); actor Chloe Coleman in 2008 (age 14).

On this date in history:

In 1816, Indiana joined the United States as its 19th state.

In 1936, Britain's King Edward VIII abdicated to marry American divorcee Wallis Warfield Simpson. His brother succeeded to the throne as King George VI.

In 1941, four days after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, Germany and Italy declared war on the United States.

In 1946, UNICEF was established.

In 1951, Joe DiMaggio announced his retirement from baseball.

In 1964, Ernesto "Che" Guevara addressed the United Nations General Assembly.

In 1972, Apollo 17 landed on the moon. It was the final Apollo lunar landing. Ron Evans was the command module pilot and Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt walked on the surface during the mission. Cernan was the last to re-enter their lunar module -- the last man on the moon.

In 1984, a nativity scene was displayed near the White House for the first time since courts ordered it removed in 1973.

In 1994, up to 40,000 Russian troops invaded Chechnya, a semi-autonomous Republic on Russia's border with Georgia, to put down a secessionist rebellion.

In 1995, two Japanese cult members admitted they released toxic sarin gas in Tokyo subway trains that killed 12 people in March.

In 2001, the United States filed its first charges in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, accusing Zacarias Moussaoui, a French citizen of Moroccan descent, of conspiring with others to carry out the assault.

In 2004, Vienna doctors treating the mystery illness of Ukrainian opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko determined he was poisoned with dioxin while campaigning for president.

In 2006, Jewish groups worldwide expressed anger as Iran opened a two-day conference in Tehran to determine if the Holocaust was reality or myth.

In 2008, Bernard Madoff, an investment manager, was arrested and charged with defrauding clients of up to $50 billion in what may have been the largest swindle in Wall Street history. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission officials said he ran a multibillion-dollar Ponzi scheme. In June 2009, Madoff was sentenced to 150 years in prison.

In 2010, police said Mark Madoff, the 46-year-old eldest son of convicted multibillion-dollar Wall Street swindler Bernard Madoff, hanged himself in his New York apartment on the second anniversary of his father's arrest.

In 2020, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued emergency use authorization for Pfizer-BioNTech's COVID-19 vaccine, the first given approval in the United States.

In 2021, Alabama sophomore quarterback Bryce Young won the Heisman Trophy.

A thought for the day: Russian writer/dissident Alexander Solzhenitsyn said, "Woe to that nation whose literature is cut short by the intrusion of force. This is not merely interference with freedom of the press but the sealing up of a nation's heart, the excision of its memory."