By The Associated Press

                  - Today is Saturday, March 6, the 65th day of 1999. There are 300
                    days left in the year.

                  - On March 6, 1836, the Alamo in San Antonio, Texas, fell to
                    Mexican forces after a 13-day siege.
                  - In 1834, the city of York in Upper Canada was incorporated as
                    Toronto.
                  - In 1853, Verdi's opera "La Traviata" premiered in Venice,
                    Italy.
                  - In 1857, in its "Dred Scott" decision, the Supreme Court held
                    that Scott, a slave, could not sue for his freedom in federal
                    court.
                  - In 1933, a nationwide bank holiday declared by President
                    Roosevelt went into effect.
                  - In 1935, retired Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.
                    died in Washington.
                  - In 1944, U.S. heavy bombers staged the first American raid on
                    Berlin during World War II.
                  - In 1957, the former British African colonies of the Gold Coast
                    and Togoland became the independent state of Ghana.
                  - In 1983, in a case that drew much notoriety, a woman in New
                    Bedford, Mass., reported being gang-raped atop a pool table in a
                    tavern called Big Dan's; four men were later convicted of the
                    attack.
                  - In 1987, 189 people died when the British ferry "Herald of Free
                    Enterprise" capsized off the Belgian port of Zeebrugge.
                  - Ten years ago: With nearly 90 percent of its pilots honoring the
                    picket lines of striking machinists, Eastern Airlines shut down
                    operations on all but three routes.
                  - Five years ago: Two top Clinton administration officials, Vice
                    President Al Gore and White House adviser George Stephanopoulos,
                    appeared on the Sunday TV talk shows to blame Republican sniping
                    for much of the furor over Whitewater. Greek
                    actress-turned-politician Melina Mercouri died in New York.
                  - One year ago: The Army honored three Americans who risked their
                    lives and turned their weapons on fellow soldiers to stop the
                    slaughter of Vietnamese villagers at My Lai in 1968. A Connecticut
                    state lottery accountant shot to death three supervisors and the
                    lottery chief before killing himself.

                  *** Today's Birthdays

                  - TV personality Ed McMahon is 76.
                  - Conductor Sarah Caldwell is 75.
                  - Former FBI and CIA director William Webster is 75.
                  - Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan is 73.
                  - Former Washington D.C. Mayor Marion S. Barry Jr. is 63.
                  - Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova is 62.
                  - Country singer Doug Dillard is 62.
                  - Sen. Christopher Bond, R-Mo., is 60.
                  - Actress-writer Joanna Miles is 59.
                  - Actor Ben Murphy is 57.
                  - Opera singer Dame Kiri Te Kanawa is 55.
                  - Singer Mary Wilson (The Supremes) is 55.
                  - Actor-director Rob Reiner is 52.
                  - Singer Kiki Dee is 52.
                  - Actor Tom Arnold is 40.
                  - Country songwriter Skip Ewing is 35.
                  - Actress Moira Kelly is 31.
                  - Actress Amy Pietz ("Caroline in the City") is 30.
                  - Basketball player Shaquille O'Neal is 27.