Today is Friday, April 29, the 119th day of 2011. There are 246 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History

On April 29, 1861, the Maryland House of Delegates voted 53-13 against seceding. In Montgomery, Ala., during an address to a special session of the Confederate Congress, President Jefferson Davis asked for the authority to wage war.

On this date

In 1429, Joan of Arc entered the besieged city of Orleans to lead a French victory over the English.

In 1798, Joseph Haydn’s oratorio “The Creation” was rehearsed in Vienna, Austria, before an invited audience.

In 1945, during World War II, American soldiers liberated the Dachau concentration camp. Adolf Hitler married Eva Braun.

In 1974, President Richard M. Nixon announced he was releasing edited transcripts of some secretly made White House tape recordings related to Watergate.

In 1991, a cyclone struck the South Asian country of Bangladesh, claiming an estimated 138,000 lives.

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.

Ten years ago

The International Monetary Fund endorsed a program to establish better procedures to prevent a repeat of the 1997-98 Asian currency crisis.

Five years ago

Tens of thousands marched through lower Manhattan to demand an immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq.

One year ago

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal declared a state of emergency in the face of the worsening oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The NCAA’s board of directors approved a 68-team format for the men’s basketball tournament beginning the next season.

Today’s Birthdays

Actress Celeste Holm is 94. Rhythm-and-blues singer Carl Gardner (The Coasters) is 83. Poet Rod McKuen is 78. Movie director Phillip Noyce is 61. Comedian Jerry Seinfeld is 57. Actor Daniel Day-Lewis is 54. Actress Michelle Pfeiffer is 53. Singer Carnie Wilson (Wilson Phillips) is 43. Actress Uma Thurman is 41. Tennis player Andre Agassi is 41. Rapper Master P is 41. Actor Zane Carney is 26.

Thought for Today

“An education isn’t how much you have committed to memory, or even how much you know. It’s being able to differentiate between what you know and what you don’t.”

— Anatole France, French author and critic (1844-1924)