UPI Almanac for Friday, Oct. 20, 2017

Today is Friday, Oct. 20, the 293rd day of 2017 with 72 to follow.

The moon is waxing. Morning stars are Mars and Venus. Evening stars are Jupiter and Saturn.

Those born on this date are under the sign of Libra. They include English astronomer and architect Christopher Wren in 1632; French poet Arthur Rimbaud in 1854; James Robert Mann, Illinois congressman and author of the "White Slave Traffic Act," also known as the "Mann Act," in 1856; educator John Dewey in 1859; actor Bela Lugosi (Dracula) in 1882; jazz composure Jelly Roll Morton in 1890; longtime Yankee Stadium announcer Bob Sheppard in 1910; country singer Grandpa (Louis Marshall) Jones in 1913; humorist Art Buchwald in 1925; baseball Hall of Fame member Mickey Mantle in 1931; actor William Christopher in 1932; actor Jerry Orbach in 1935; baseball Hall of Fame member Juan Marichal in 1937 (age 80); poet Robert Pinsky in 1940 (age 77); writer Lewis Grizzard in 1946; Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member Tom Petty in 1950; film director Danny Boyle in 1956 (age 61); actor Viggo Mortensen in 1958 (age 59); political commentator Michelle Malkin in 1970 (age 47); singer Dannii Minogue in 1971 (age 46); rapper Snoop Dogg in 1971 (age 46); actor John Krasinski in 1979 (age 38); actor Alona Tal in 1983 (age 34); actor Jennifer Freeman in 1985 (age 32).

On this date in history:

In 1818, the United States and Britain agreed to establish the 49th parallel as the official boundary between the U.S. and Canada.

In 1918, Germany accepted U.S. President Woodrow Wilson's terms to end World War I.

In 1944 American troops landed on the eastern coast of Leyte Island in the Philippines. Gen. Douglas MacArthur, forced off the island two years earlier said as he strode ashore, "I have returned."

In 1947, the U.S. House of Representatives Un-American Activities Committee opened public hearings into alleged communist influence in Hollywood.

In 1968, former first lady Jacqueline Kennedy marries Greek shipping tycoon Aristotle Onassis on the Greek island of Skorpios.

In 1973, during the Watergate scandal, U.S. President Richard Nixon dismissed two officials for refusing to fire special prosecutor Archibald Cox. The incident became known as the "Saturday Night Massacre."

In 1977, members of Lynyrd Skynyrd, including lead singer Ronnie Van Zant and guitarist Steve Gaines, were killed in the Mississippi crash of a plane chartered by the rock band. Twenty people survived the crash.

In 1982, up to 340 soccer fans were crushed to death in a stampede on icy steps in a Moscow stadium passageway during a match between Soviet and Dutch players.

In 1994, Hollywood star Burt Lancaster died at the age of 80.

In 2004, retired Gen. Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was sworn in as Indonesia's sixth president after winning the country's first direct elections for head of state.

In 2010, more than 1 million ballots in the Afghan parliamentary election were disqualified for fraud, electoral officials said two days after the vote.

In 2011, deposed Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi was killed as he tried to escape from his hometown hideout in the coastal city of Sirte while troops, including NATO forces, closed in. Gadhafi, 69, ousted from power in a massive revolt two months earlier, had ruled Libya for 42 years.

In 2012, opposition activists in Syria said the bodies of more than 75 people, mostly women, children and elderly people, many showing signs of torture, were found in the city of Deir Ezzor.

In 2013, Arab League Secretary-General Nabil al-Araby said an international conference aimed at ending the civil war in Syria would be conducted in November. Within hours of his announcement, a sucide bomber killed more than 30 people in the Syrian city of Hama. In 2 1/2 years, the war had claimed more than 100,000 lives and 2 million Syrians had fled to other countries.

In 2014, a Chicago fatally shot 17-year-old Laquan McDonald, who, though he was holding a knife, was walking away from police officers. McDonald's death, coming in the midst of a nationwide debate over police use of excessive force, sparked protests and resulted in a first-degree murder charge against officer Jason Van Dyke.

A thought for the day: "Trust your hunches. They're usually based on facts filed away just below the conscious level."-- Dr. Joyce Brothers