Today is Sunday, Dec. 17, the 351st day of 2017. There are 14 days left in the year.

►Birthdays: Pope Francis is 81. Singer-actor Tommy Steele is 81. Actor Ernie Hudson is 72. Political commentator Chris Matthews is 72. Comedian-actor Eugene Levy is 71. Rock singer Paul Rodgers is 68. Actor Bill Pullman is 64. Actor Barry Livingston is 64. Producer-director-writer Peter Farrelly is 61. Rock musician Mike Mills (R.E.M.) is 59. Pop singer Sarah Dallin (Bananarama) is 56. Country musician Tim Chewning is 55. Country singer Tracy Byrd is 51. Country musician Duane Propes is 51. Actress Laurie Holden is 48. DJ Homicide (Sugar Ray) is 47. Actor Sean Patrick Thomas is 47. Actor Giovanni Ribisi is 43. Actress Milla Jovovich is 42.

In 1777, France recognized American independence.

In 1894, Arthur Fiedler, the iconic conductor for the Boston Pops for half a century, was born in Boston.

In 1903, Wilbur and Orville Wright of Dayton, Ohio, conducted the first successful piloted airplane flights near Kitty Hawk, N.C., using the Wright Flyer, an experimental aircraft.

In 1944, the US War Department announced it was ending its policy of excluding people of Japanese ancestry from the West Coast.

In 1957, the United States successfully test-fired the Atlas intercontinental ballistic missile for the first time.

In 1979, Arthur McDuffie, a black insurance executive, was fatally injured after leading police on a chase with his motorcycle in Miami. (Four white police officers accused of beating McDuffie were later acquitted, sparking riots.)