The moon is waning. The morning star is Uranus. The evening stars are Neptune, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Mars and Saturn.

Those born on this date are under the sign of Virgo. They include Czar Ivan IV (Ivan the Terrible) of Russia, in 1530; Allan Pinkerton, founder of the private detective agency, in 1819; author Bret Harte in 1836; dancer/actress Ruby Keeler in 1909; Pogo cartoonist Walt Kelly and bandleader/singer Bob Crosby both in 1913; actors Van Johnson in 1916 (age 92) and Mel Ferrer in 1917; composer/conductor Leonard Bernstein in 1918; former Alabama Gov. George Wallace in 1919; Monty Hall, host of Let's Make A Deal, in 1921 (age 87); actor Sean Connery in 1930 (age 78); talk-show host Regis Philbin in 1931 (age 77); actress Anne Archer in 1947 (age 61); actor John Savage and rock singer Gene Simmons of KISS, both in 1949 (age 59); singer/songwriter Elvis Costello in 1954 (age 54); country singer Billy Ray Cyrus (Achy Breaky Heart) and actress Ally Walker, both in 1961 (age 47); actors Blair Underwood and Joanne Whalley, both in 1964 (age 44); and supermodel Claudia Schiffer in 1970 (age 38).

In 1718, the city of New Orleans was founded.

In 1875, Matthew Webb, a 27-year-old British merchant navy captain, became the first person known to successfully swim the English Channel.

In 1944, U.S. troops liberated Paris from the Nazis in World War II.

In 1967, a sniper assassinated American Nazi leader George Lincoln Rockwell in Arlington, Va.

In 1985, Samantha Smith, 13, was killed with her father and six other people in a plane crash in Maine. Her 1983 letter to Soviet President Yuri Andropov about her fear of nuclear war earned her a visit to the Soviet Union.

In 1990, the U.N. Security Council voted 13-0 to authorize use of minimal force against ships breaking the economic embargo of Iraq.

In 1991, the Soviet republic of Byelorussia declared independence.

In 1992, researchers reported that cigarette smoking significantly boosts the risk of developing cataracts, a leading cause of blindness.

Also in 1992, right-wing extremists, egged on by Berlin residents, set fire to a hostel for Vietnamese asylum seekers during a third night of violence against foreigners.

In 1993, Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman was indicted by a federal grand jury in New York in connection with a number of terrorist activities, including the bombing of the World Trade Center.

Also in 1993, on Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at an all-time high of 3,652.09.

In 1999, the FBI admitted it fired pyrotechnic tear-gas canisters at the Branch Davidian cult compound near Waco, Texas, on the day in 1993 that the standoff came to a fiery end, but said the containers bounced away harmlessly.

In 2003, at least 45 people died and more than 61 were injured when two car bombs exploded in a crowded area of Mumbai.

In 2004, a U.S. Army investigation concluded that military intelligence units played a major role in the Abu Ghraib prison abuses in Iraq.

Also in 2004, the World Health Organization warned that polio was on the verge of becoming a major epidemic in Africa as it spread to new countries.

In 2005, residents of south Florida prepared for the arrival of Tropical Storm Katrina, which forecasters said was likely to become a hurricane.

In 2006, Pulkova Ailines Flight 612 crashed near the Russian border in Ukraine, killing 171 people.

In 2007, the Democratic National Committee voted to strip Florida of its delegates to the 2008 presidential nominating convention for rescheduling its primary for Jan. 29 in violation of party policy. Michigan received a similar penalty.

Also in 2007, back-to-back explosions thought to be set by terrorists killed at least 44 people and injured more than 50 in Hyderabad, India. Authorities uncovered explosives at 16 other locations in and near the city, officials said.

The moon is waning. The morning star is Uranus. The evening stars are Neptune, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Mars and Saturn.

Those born on this date are under the sign of Virgo. They include British statesman Robert Walpole in 1676; French scientist Antoine Lavoisier, the founder of modern chemistry, in 1743; Lee De Forest, known as the father of radio, in 1873; Charlie Chan detective series author Earl Derr Biggers in 1884; poet/novelist Christopher Isherwood in 1904; bacteriologist Albert Sabin, discoverer of an oral vaccine for polio, in 1906; Geraldine Ferraro, Democratic vice presidential candidate and first woman to seek so high a position on a major U.S. political party ticket, in 1935 (age 73); jazz musician Branford Marsalis in 1960 (age 48); and actor Macaulay Culkin (Home Alone) in 1980 (age 28).

In 1964, Democrats nominated U.S. President Lyndon Johnson and Hubert Humphrey to face the Republicans in November.

In 1974, Charles Lindbergh died at the age of 72.

In 1978, Cardinal Albino Luciani was elected the 263rd pope and chose the name John Paul I. He died 33 days later.

In 1992, Hurricane Andrew's deadly winds roared ashore in Louisiana bayou country.

Also in 1992, U.S. President George H.W. Bush announced a ban on Iraqi military flights over southern Iraq to protect the Shiite Muslims. He said any planes that violate the order would be shot down by U.S.-led coalition forces.

In 1996, a court in South Korea sentenced former president Chun Doo-hwan to death for the coup that put him in power. His successor, Roh Tae-woo, was sentenced to prison for taking bribes.

In 1998, U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno asked for a 90-day preliminary investigation into alleged illegal campaign fundraising phone calls Vice President Al Gore made from the White House.

In 2002, Iraq will have nuclear weapons fairly soon, U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney said in a speech favoring U.S. military action.

In 2003, NASA was severely criticized on several counts by a federal board investigating the Feb. 1 Columbia shuttle disaster.

Also in 2003, the U.N. Security Council denounced as a grave violation of human rights the killings of Kuwaiti prisoners, believed to be in the hundreds, by Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's regime.

In 2004, a leader in the U.S. Army panel investigating prisoner abuse at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison said the team had discovered serious misconduct and a loss of moral values.

Also in 2004, a mortar attack on a mosque in Koufa in central Iraq killed 40 people and injured another 70.

In 2005, Hurricane Katrina struck Florida's Atlantic coast, causing flooding that claimed 11 lives. The massive storm then moved into the Gulf of Mexico where it picked up strength and sent thousands of Gulf Coast residents fleeing its expected onslaught.

Also in 2005, a Gallup Poll showed U.S. President George W. Bush's approval rating at 40 percent -- the lowest Gallup rating of his presidency.

In 2006, Iran rebuffed the U.N. edict to stop its nuclear project or face sanctions and went ahead with expansion steps instead.

In 2007, the latest unofficial estimate of people killed in flooding in North Korea ballooned to 600, media sources said.

Also in 2007, wildfires, all believed to be the act of arsonists, raged in Greece, fanned by gale force winds, killing at least 59 people and destroying thousands of acres of crops, pasture land and forest.

The moon is waning. The morning star is Uranus. The evening stars are Neptune, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Mars and Saturn.

Those born on this date are under the sign of Virgo. They include German philosopher Georg Hegel in 1770; novelist Theodore Dreiser in 1871; English automaker Charles Rolls in 1877; novelist C.S. Forester in 1899; Lyndon Baines Johnson, 36th president of the United States, in 1908; Nobel Peace Prize winner Mother Teresa in 1910; singer/actress Martha Raye in 1916; singer/actor Tommy Sands in 1937 (age 71); actress Tuesday Weld in 1943 (age 65); actor Paul Reubens (Pee-Wee Herman) in 1952 (age 56); and actress Sarah Chalke in 1976 (age 32).

In 1859, the first successful oil well in the United States was drilled near Titusville, Pa.

In 1883, the most powerful volcanic eruption in recorded history occurred on Krakatoa, a small, uninhabited island located west of Sumatra in Indonesia.

In 1928, the Kellogg-Briand Pact, outlawing war as a means to settle international disputes, was signed by 15 nations in Paris. World War II began 11 years later.

In 1939, Adolf Hitler served notice on England and France that Germany wanted Danzig and the Polish Corridor.

In 1977, IRA terrorists killed Louis Mountbatten, a cousin of the queen, by blowing up his boat. It was the IRA's first attack on the royal family.

In 1991, the Soviet republic of Moldavia declared independence and the European Community recognized Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania as independent nations.

In 1992, Serbian leaders at the Yugoslav peace conference pledged to close the prisoner-of-war camps, end ethnic cleansing and work toward peace.

Also in 1992, Canada's Supreme Court struck down as unconstitutional a law that would have prevented a man from claiming the Nazi Holocaust was a hoax.

In 1999, two Russian cosmonauts and a French astronaut left Mir to return to Earth, leaving the orbiting Russian space station unmanned for the first time in 13 years.

In 2003, the United States and North Korea met privately in Beijing during the six-nation talks on Pyongyang's nuclear program. Diplomats said there was no breakthrough in the talks.

In 2004, Russian authorities said traces of explosives were found in the wreckage of two airliners that crashed within minutes of each other after takeoff earlier in the week in Moscow, heightening suspicion of terrorism. A total of 89 people died in the crashes.

In 2005, the Gulf Coast between New Orleans and the Florida Panhandle was battening down for the second landfall of Hurricane Katrina, a Category 3 storm and strengthening.

In 2006, reports said hundreds of tribal chiefs signed a pact supporting reconciliation and an end to sectarian strife in Iraq while bombs and gunfire killed 100 Iraqis over a two-day period.

In 2007, beleaguered U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales announced his resignation, effective Sept. 17. He had been embroiled in several controversies including the firings of nine U.S. attorneys, treatment of detainees, surveillance and other issues.

The moon is waning. The morning star is Uranus. The evening stars are Neptune, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Mars and Saturn.

Those born on this date are under the sign of Virgo. They include German poet, novelist and dramatist Johann von Goethe in 1749; Elizabeth Ann Seton, first U.S.-born saint of the Roman Catholic Church, in 1774; actor Charles Boyer in 1899; psychologist Bruno Bettelheim in 1903; actor/dancer Donald O'Connor in 1925; actor Ben Gazzara in 1930 (age 78); former Secretary of Defense William S. Cohen in 1940 (age 68); singer/actor David Soul in 1943 (age 65); actor Daniel Stern in 1957 (age 51); ice skater Scott Hamilton in 1958 (age 50); actors Emma Samms in 1960 (age 48) and Jason Priestley in 1969 (age 39); and country singers Shania Twain in 1965 (age 43) and LeAnn Rimes in 1982 (age 26).

In 1922, a New York City realty company paid $100 for the first radio commercial, on station WEAF.

In 1955, while visiting family in Money, Miss., 14-year-old Emmett Till, an African-American from Chicago, was slain for flirting with a white woman four days earlier. His alleged killers were acquitted.

In 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his famous I have a dream speech from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial before more than 200,000 people gathered for the Freedom March in Washington.

In 1968, the Democratic Party nominated Hubert Humphrey for president as thousands of anti-Vietnam War demonstrators battled police in the streets and parks of Chicago.

In 1986, Soviet spy Jerry Whitworth was sentenced in San Francisco to 365 years in prison and fined $410,000.

In 1988, more than 50 people were killed in the Philippines in an unsuccessful coup attempt against President Corazon Aquino.

In 1990, at least 27 people died and more than 350 were injured when a tornado struck Will County, Ill., southwest of Chicago.

In 1992, federal relief got under way for the South Florida victims of Hurricane Andrew with the arrival giant C-5A military transport at devastated Homestead Air Force Base.

In 1996, after four years of separation, Prince Charles, heir to the British throne, and his wife, Princess Diana, were formally divorced.

In 1997, Proposition 209, California's controversial anti-affirmative action measure approved by the state's voters a year earlier, officially took effect.

In 2002, four men, three of them working at the airport, were indicted in Detroit as suspected terrorists. Another man, suspected of trying to set up a terrorist training camp in Oregon, was indicted in Seattle.

In 2003, North Korea said it would prove it had nuclear weapons by conducting a test. The warning came at the conclusion of talks in Beijing with other nations over North Korea's weapons program.

In 2004, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell canceled plans to attend closing ceremonies at the Summer Olympics in Athens after protests against U.S. foreign policy.

In 2005, Hurricane Katrina picked up strength as it roared toward the Gulf Coast, reaching Category 5 status, with winds of almost 150 miles an hour, touching off one of the largest evacuations in U.S. history. The mayor of New Orleans issued a mandatory evacuation order while fleeing residents clogged highways in other parts of Louisiana and in Mississippi and Alabama.

In 2006, U.S. schoolteacher John Mark Karr was returned to the United States to face charges of killing JonBenet Ramsey, the 6-year-old Colorado beauty queen 10 years earlier and whose slaying he had admitted. But, the case against him quickly crumbled when DNA tests showed he wasn't involved.

In 2007, Abdullah Gul was elected president in the third round of parliamentary voting in Turkey, reported to be the nation's first Islamist chief in modern history.

Also in 2007, U.S. Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, admitted he pleaded guilty without consulting a lawyer to disorderly conduct in a Minneapolis airport men's room incident in June but insisted he had done nothing wrong.

The moon is waning. The morning star is Uranus. The evening stars are Neptune, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Mars and Saturn.

Those born on this date are under the sign of Virgo. They include English philosopher John Locke in 1632; author and poet Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. in 1809; Henry Bergh, founder of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, in 1811; automotive inventor Charles Kettering in 1876; Jack Teagarden, jazz great known as king of the blues trombone, in 1905; actor Barry Sullivan in 1912; actress Ingrid Bergman in 1915; jazz saxophonist Charlie Bird Parker in 1920; British filmmaker Richard Attenborough in 1923 (age 85); jazz and pop singer Dinah Washington in 1924; Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., in 1936 (age 72); actor Elliott Gould in 1938 (age 70); filmmaker William Friedkin (The Exorcist) in 1935 (age 73); TV personality Robin Leach (Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous) in 1941 (age 67); pop singer Michael Jackson in 1958 (age 50); and actress Rebecca De Mornay in 1962 (age 46).

In 1533, Atahualpa, last of the Inca rulers, was strangled under orders of Spanish conqueror Francisco Pizarro. The Inca Empire died with him.

In 1949, the Soviet Union exploded its first atomic bomb at a remote test site at Semipalatinsk in Kazakhstan.

In 1965, U.S. astronauts Gordon Cooper and Charles Conrad landed safely to end the eight-day orbital flight of Gemini 5.

In 1973, U.S. District Judge John Sirica ordered U.S. President Richard Nixon to turn over secret Watergate tapes. Nixon refused and appealed the order.

In 1991, in Kiev, the republics of Russia and Ukraine signed an agreement to remain in the Soviet Union and negotiate a loose federation.

In 1994, Israel and the PLO signed a new agreement to shift West Bank administrative functions to the Palestinian National Authority.

In 1995, Eduard Shevardnadze, the head of state in the former Soviet republic of Georgia, was slightly injured when a bomb exploded near his motorcade in Tbilisi.

In 2003, a car bomb explosion killed more than 80 worshippers at the Imam Ali Mosque in the Iraqi Shitte holy city of Najaf.

In 2004, the Summer Olympics came to a close in Athens, Greece. The United States won 103 medals, 35 of them gold, led by swimmer Michael Phelps who took home six gold and two bronze medals.

In 2005, downgraded to a Category 4 but packing high storm surges and sustained winds of more than 140 miles an hour, Hurricane Katrina slammed ashore on the Gulf Coast, its eye crossing northeast Louisiana, just east of New Orleans, inflicting severe damage in New Orleans and along coastlines of Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana, with high winds and killer floods, becoming the costliest storm in history with reports of more than $125 billion in damage and more than 1,800 killed.

Also in 2005, the average U.S. pump price for a gallon of unleaded regular gasoline rose to a record $2.60.

In 2006, a report said hurricane damages were soaring to new levels and causing insurance companies, staggered by Hurricane Katrina, to abandon homeowners in high-risk coastal areas.

In 2007, South Korea negotiators said the Taliban would release 19 hostages held in Afghanistan for 41 days after South Korea promised to pull its troops from Afghanistan by year's end and ban its Christian missionary work there.

In 2007, The U.S. Census Bureau reported that median household income in the United States increased to $48,201 in 2006, an increase of about $800 more than the previous year.

The moon is new. The morning star is Uranus. The evening stars are Neptune, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Mars and Saturn.

Those born on this date are under the sign of Virgo. They include author Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (Frankenstein) in 1797; Louisiana Gov. Huey Long in 1893; actor Raymond Massey in 1896; journalist/author John Gunther and civil rights leader Roy Wilkins, both in 1901; actor Fred MacMurray in 1908; actresses Shirley Booth in 1898 and Joan Blondell in 1906; baseball legend Ted Williams in 1918; country music singer Kitty Wells in 1919 (age 88); singer John Phillips of the Mamas and the Papas in 1935; actress Elizabeth Ashley in 1939 (age 69); French Olympic champion skier Jean-Claude Killy in 1943 (age 64); and actors Timothy Bottoms in 1951 (age 57), Michael Chiklis in 1963 (age 45), Michael Michele in 1966 (age 42) and Cameron Diaz in 1972 (age 36).

In 30 B.C., Cleopatra, queen of Egypt and lover of Julius Caesar and Mark Antony, committed suicide following the defeat of her forces by Octavian, the future first emperor of Rome.

In 1780, Gen. Benedict Arnold betrayed the United States when he promised secretly to surrender the fort at West Point to the British army. He later fled to England and died in poverty.

In 1941, German forces began the 900-day siege of Leningrad. When it ended, the Russian city lay in ruins and hundreds of thousands of people had died.

In 1983, Guion Bluford became the first black astronaut in space.

In 1992, at least 15 people were killed and 31 wounded when an artillery shell exploded in a crowded Sarajevo market.

In 1994, the Lockheed and Martin Marietta corporations agreed to a merger that would create the largest U.S. defense contractor.

In 1997, the Houston Comets defeated the New York Liberty, 65-51, to become the fledgling Women's National Basketball Association's first champions.

In 2003, more than 120 people, including prominent Shiite cleric Ayatollah Mohammad Baqir al-Hakim, were killed in a bombing attack on Iraq's Imam Ali Mosque.

In 2004, at least 240 people were arrested during a New York anti-Bush demonstration two days before the National Republican convention.

In 2005, on the day after Hurricane Katrina struck, 80 percent of New Orleans was under water. Electric, water, sewage, communication and transportation systems were out. Three-fourths of all houses were reported damaged or destroyed. Thousands were rescued, many plucked from rooftops and some sought shelter in the Superdome stadium.

In other areas along the Gulf, meanwhile, Katrina flattened much of Gulfport and Biloxi, Miss., flooded Mobile, Ala., and heavily damaged smaller towns in between. The death toll report eventually would top 1,800, most of those dying in New Orleans, with more than $100 billion in damages.

In 2006, Hurricane John, moving north-northwest along the southwest coast of Mexico, was upgraded to a Category 4 storm with 135 mph winds.

Also in 2006, one year after Hurricane Katrina triggered the devastation of New Orleans, authorities said bickering was holding up almost $1 billion in relief from the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency.

In 2007, the U.S Justice Department expanded its investigation into whether outgoing Attorney General Alberto Gonzales had intentionally misled Congress on the dismissal of nine U.S. attorneys and government surveillance programs.

Also in 2007, a state inquiry said the Virginia Tech massacre in April would have been smaller if the school had acted more quickly in warning students. Tech senior Cho Seung-hui killed 27 students and five faculty members, injured 17 others and committed suicide.

The moon is waxing. The morning star is Uranus. The evening stars are Neptune, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Mars and Saturn.

Those born on this date are under the sign of Virgo. They include Italian educator Maria Montessori in 1870; actor Fredric March in 1897; entertainer Arthur Godfrey in 1903; writer William Saroyan in 1908; astronomer Alfred Bernard Lovell in 1913; journalist Daniel Schorr in 1916 (age 92); lyricist Alan Jay Lerner in 1918; comedian Buddy Hackett in 1924; actor James Coburn in 1928; baseball star/manager Frank Robinson, first black to manage a major league team, in 1935 (age 73); black militant Eldridge Cleaver, also in 1935; violinist Itzhak Perlman and rock singer Van Morrison, both in 1945 (age 63); actor Richard Gere in 1949 (age 59); Olympian track star Edwin Moses in 1955 (age 53); and singer/actress Debbie Gibson in 1970 (age 38).

In 1897, Thomas Edison was awarded a patent for his movie camera, the Kinetograph.

In 1888, prostitute Mary Ann Nichols became the first reported victim of the notorious London serial killer known as Jack the Ripper.

In 1903, a Packard automobile completed a 52-day journey from San Francisco to New York, becoming the first car to cross the nation under its own power.

In 1986, an Aeromexico DC-9 collided with a single-engine plane over Cerritos, Calif., killing 82 people, including 15 on the ground.

In 1991, the Soviet republics of Uzbekistan and Kirghizia declared independence, leaving five republics in the Soviet Union.

Also in 1991, Serbia accepted a European Community proposal that included international observers to oversee a cease-fire in Croatia.

In 1992, white separatist Randy Weaver surrendered, ending an 11-day siege of his Idaho mountain cabin that cost the lives of his wife and teenage son and a U.S. marshal.

In 1993, the Israeli government agreed in principle a plan for interim Palestinian self-rule of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank town of Jericho.

In 1994, the Irish Republican Army declared a cease-fire following six months of secret talks with Britain.

In 1997, Britain's Princess Diana died of injuries a few hours after a car accident in Paris that killed her companion, Dodi Fayed, and their driver.

In 2003, a Russian K-159 nuclear-powered submarine was lost in the Barents Sea, claiming the lives of nine of its 10-member crew. Russian authorities blamed negligence by navy officials.

Also in 2003, U.S. and Iraqi officials began laying plans to form an Iraqi paramilitary force of several thousand to help secure the country.

In 2004, in the first major attack inside Israel in nearly six months, Palestinian suicide bombers blew up two buses almost simultaneously in Beersheba, killing at least 16 passengers and themselves and wounding more than 80.

In 2005, close to 1,000 people, largely Shiite pilgrims, died in a stampede and the partial collapse of a bridge over the Tigris River in northern Baghdad.

Also in 2005, in New Orleans, martial law was declared amid reports of looters running wild, food and drinking water dwindling, and bodies floating in the floodwaters. Apparently poor coordination of federal, state and city officials led to a different kind of flood, of anger and delay.

In 2006, Norwegian authorities recovered the world famous painting The Scream by Edvard Munch, stolen at gunpoint, along with Munch's Madonna, from their Oslo museum nine days earlier. It was the second time The Scream had been stolen and recovered in good shape.

In 2007, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki called for a cease-fire by all armed militias.

Also in 2007, White House Press Secretary Tony Snow, who was diagnosed with a recurrence of colon cancer, announced his resignation. He died July 12, 2008, at age 53.

And, five-term U.S. Sen. John Warner, R-Va., an authority on military matters, announced he would retire when his term ends in January 2009.