Flash back
Today is Saturday, April 29, the 119th day of 2006. There are 246 days left in the year.
Today’s highlight in history: On April 29, 1945, during World War II, American soldiers liberated the Dachau concentration camp; the same day, Adolf Hitler married Eva Braun and designated Admiral Karl Doenitz his successor.
Ten years ago: Former CIA Director William Colby was missing and presumed drowned by authorities in Maryland after an apparent boating accident; his body was later recovered.
Five years ago: The International Monetary Fund endorsed a program to establish better procedures to prevent a repeat of the 1997-1998 Asian currency crisis that plunged two-fifths of the world into recession.
One year ago: Insurgents unleashed a series of car bombings and other attacks across Iraq, killing at least 41 people, including three U.S. soldiers. NASA again delayed the first space shuttle launch since the Columbia disaster, worrying that ice falling off fuel tank could doom Discovery. Vietnam marked the 30th anniversary of war’s end.
On this date:
In 1429, Joan of Arc entered the besieged city of Orleans to lead a victory over the English.
In 1861, Maryland’s House of Delegates voted against seceding from the Union.
In 1862, New Orleans fell to Union forces during the Civil War.
In 1916, the Easter Rising in Dublin collapsed as Irish nationalists surrendered to British authorities.
In 1946, 28 former Japanese leaders were indicted as war criminals.
In 1974, President Nixon announced he was releasing edited transcripts of some secretly made White House tape recordings related to Watergate.
In 1981, truck driver Peter Sutcliffe admitted in a London court to being the “Yorkshire Ripper,” the killer of 13 women in northern England during a five-year period.
In 1983, Harold Washington was sworn in as the first black mayor of Chicago.
In 1992, deadly rioting erupted in Los Angeles after a jury in Simi Valley, Calif., acquitted four Los Angeles police officers of almost all state charges in the videotaped beating of Rodney King.
In 1997, a worldwide treaty to ban chemical weapons went into effect.