UPI Almanac for Sunday, March 18, 2018

Today is Sunday, March 18, the 77th day of 2018 with 288 to follow.

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

Those born on this date are under the sign of Pisces. They include John C. Calhoun, the first U.S. vice president to resign that office, in 1782; Grover Cleveland, 22nd and 24th president of the United States, in 1837; Russian composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov in 1844; German engineer Rudolf Diesel, inventor of the engine that bears his name, in 1858; British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain in 1869; actor Edward Everett Horton in 1886; winemaker Ernest Gallo in 1909; actor Peter Graves in 1926; author John Updike in 1932; former South African President F.W. de Klerk in 1936 (age 82); country singer Charley Pride in 1934 (age 84); singer/songwriter Wilson Pickett in 1941; actor Brad Dourif in 1950 (age 68); Olympic gold medal-winning skier Ingemar Stenmark in 1956 (age 62); singer Irene Cara in 1959 (age 59); TV personality Mike Rowe in 1962 (age 56); actor/singer Vanessa Williams in 1963 (age 55); Olympic champion speed skater Bonnie Blair in 1964 (age 54); singer/actor Queen Latifah in 1970 (age 48); comedian/actor Dane Cook in 1972 (age 46); singer-songwriter Adam Levine in 1979 (age 39); actor Lily Collins in 1989 (age 29).

On this date in history:

In 1922, Mahatma Gandhi was sentenced to six years in prison for civil disobedience against the British rulers of India.

In 1925, the worst tornado in U.S. history roared through eastern Missouri, southern Illinois and southern Indiana, killing 695 people, injuring thousands of others and causing $17 million in property damage.

In 1937, a natural gas explosion at a public school in New London, Texas, killed almost 300 people, most of them children.

In 1962, France and Algeria signed a cease-fire agreement ending a seven-year civil war and bringing independence to the North African country.

In 1965, Soviet cosmonaut Alexey Leonov became the first person to walk in space.

In 1992, hotel queen and convicted tax cheat Leona Helmsley was sentenced to four years in prison.

In 1995, "I'm back." Superstar Michael Jordan announced he was returning to professional basketball and the Chicago Bulls after a 17-month break, during which he had tried a baseball career.

In 2002, a 13-year-old girl died two days after being struck in the head by a puck at a Columbus Blue Jackets-Calgary Flames game. The incident forced the National Hockey League to have teams install 18-foot nets behind all goals to protect spectators.

In 2003, on the eve of war with Iraq, the U.S. State Department listed 30 countries as members of a "coalition of the willing" supporting military intervention, but only the United States, Britain and Australia were known to be providing troops.

In 2005, doctors removed the feeding tube keeping Terri Schiavo alive after a wide-ranging fight over the brain-damaged Florida woman's care that involved U.S. President George Bush and Congress.

In 2010, U.S. President Barack Obama signed a jobs-stimulus measure into law. It provided $17.5 billion in tax cuts and other employer incentives and shifted $20 billion to boost transit programs.

In 2014, the U.S. State Department ordered Syria to close its embassy in Washington, D.C., and consulates in Michigan and Texas, and expelled all diplomats without U.S. citizenship or lawful permanent residency status.

A thought for the day: "There just isn't any pleasing some people. The trick is to stop trying." -- Robert Mitchum