The almanac

Today is Wednesday, April 11, the 102nd day of 2012 with 264 to follow.

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

Those born on this date are under the sign of Aries. They include American statesman and orator Edward Everett in 1794; baseball Hall of Fame member Cap Anson in 1852; U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes in 1862; statesman Dean Acheson, secretary of state under President Harry Truman, in 1893; fashion designer Oleg Cassini in 1913; Ethel Kennedy, wife of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, in 1928 (age 84); actors Joel Grey in 1932 (age 80), Louise Lasser in 1939 (age 73) and Peter Riegert and Meshach Taylor, both in 1947 (age 65); and Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Ellen Goodman in 1941 (age 71).

On this date in history:

In 1881, the Atlanta Baptist Female Seminary, known now as Spelman College, was founded in Atlanta.

In 1945, the Buchenwald concentration camp in Germany was liberated by Allied troops.

In 1947, Jackie Robinson became the first black player in major league baseball, signing with the Brooklyn Dodgers.

In 1951, U.S. President Harry Truman relieved U.S. Army Gen. Douglas MacArthur of his command in Korea.

In 1968, one week after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., U.S. President Lyndon Johnson signed into law the Civil Rights Act of 1968.

In 1970, the Apollo 13 spacecraft was launched from Cape Canaveral, Fla., on the third U.S. moon-landing mission. The attempt was aborted when an oxygen tank exploded but the astronauts safely returned to Earth.

In 1983, Harold Washington was elected the first black mayor of Chicago.

In 1987, South Africa, extending a 9-month state of emergency, barred all protests on behalf of political detainees.

In 1991, Italian Prime Minister-designate Giulio Andreotti formed a coalition Cabinet to serve as Italy's 50th postwar government.

In 1993, nine inmates and one guard were killed when an 11-day riot erupted at the maximum-security Southern Ohio Correctional Facility near Lucasville.

In 1996, Israel retaliated for bomb attacks by shelling Hezbollah positions in Lebanon. A U.N. refugee camp was struck, killing more than 100 civilians.

Also in 1996, 7-year-old pilot Jessica Dubroff, her father and her flight instructor were killed when their plane crashed on takeoff from Cheyenne, Wyo.

In 2002, a jury in Cleveland convicted U.S. Rep. James Traficant, D-Ohio, of racketeering and corruption.

In 2006, Ariel Sharon was officially relieved of his duties as prime minister of Israel when the Cabinet declared him to be permanently incapacitated. Sharon suffered a major stroke on Jan. 4, 2006, and fell into a coma a short time later. He was succeeded by Ehud Olmert.

Also in 2006, more than 1 million U.S. immigrants and their supporters in some 150 cities across the nation rallied peacefully against a congressional clampdown and possible deportations.

And, the leader of the Sicilian Mafia, Bernardo Provenzano, was arrested near Palermo, Italy, after eluding capture for 43 years.

In 2007, all charges were dropped in a high-profile sexual assault case involving three members of the Duke University men's lacrosse team.

In 2008, examination of Iran's most recent missile launch indicated the nation is developing both long-range missile technology and a space center, Jane's Information Group says.

In 2010, Sudanese voters cast ballots for presidential and Parliament candidates in the country's first multiparty elections since 1986.

In 2011, the violent Ivory Coast standoff ended with the capture of defeated incumbent President Laurent Obagbo, who refused to step down despite losing the election to Prime Minister Alassane Ouattara, The power struggle cost an estimated 3,000 lives.

Also in 2011, a bomb attack in the Minsk Metro system killed 15 people and injured more than 200 others.

And, France became the first European nation to ban the wearing of full veils in public, a move reported to be worrying Muslims, some of whom consider covering the face a religious obligation, about their rights as French citizens.

A thought for the day: it was Jerry Seinfeld who said, "A bookstore is one of the only pieces of evidence we have that people are still thinking."