By The Associated Press
                      - Today is Thursday, March 11, the 70th day of 1999. There are 295
                        days left in the year.

                      - On March 11, 1942, as Japanese forces continued to advance in the
                        Pacific during World War II, Gen. Douglas MacArthur left the
                        Philippines for Australia, vowing, "I shall return." He did, nearly
                        three years later.
                      - In 1810, Emperor Napoleon of France was married by proxy to
                        Archduchess Marie Louise of Austria.
                      - In 1861, the Confederate convention in Montgomery, Ala., adopted a
                        constitution.
                      - In 1888, the famous "Blizzard of '88" struck the northeastern U.S.,
                        resulting in some 400 deaths.
                      - In 1941, President Roosevelt signed into law the Lend-Lease Bill,
                        providing war supplies to countries fighting the Axis.
                      - In 1954, the U.S. Army charged that Wisconsin Sen. Joseph R.
                        McCarthy and his subcommittee's chief counsel, Roy Cohn, had exerted
                        pressure to obtain favored treatment for Pvt. G. David Schine, a
                        former consultant to the subcommittee.
                      - In 1959, the Lorraine Hansberry drama "A Raisin in the Sun" opened
                        at New York's Ethel Barrymore Theater.
                      - In 1965, the Rev. James J. Reeb, a white minister from Boston, died
                        after being beaten by whites during civil rights disturbances in
                        Selma, Ala.
                      - In 1977, more than 130 hostages held in Washington, D.C., by Hanafi
                        Muslims were freed after ambassadors from three Islamic nations
                        joined the negotiations.
                      - In 1985, Mikhail S. Gorbachev was chosen to succeed the late Soviet
                        President Konstantin U. Chernenko.
                      - Ten years ago: Former World Bank head John J. McCloy, who had
                        advised several presidents, died in Stamford, Conn., at age 93.
                      - Five years ago: Secretary of State Warren Christopher arrived in
                        Beijing, the mood of his trip already soured by a fresh government
                        crackdown on Chinese dissidents.
                      - One year ago: The International Astronomical Union issued an alert,
                        saying a mile-wide asteroid could zip very close to Earth Oct. 26,
                        2028, possibly colliding with it. But the next day, NASA's Jet
                        Propulsion Laboratory said there was no chance the asteroid will hit
                        Earth. A Florida appeals court restored Joe Carollo as mayor of
                        Miami after charges of voter fraud on absentee ballots.

                      *Happy Birthday*
                      ----------------
                      - Media mogul Rupert Murdoch is 68.
                      - ABC News correspondent Sam Donaldson is 65.
                      - Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia is 63.
                      - Musician Flaco Jimenez (The Texas Tornadoes) is 60.
                      - Actress Tricia O'Neil is 54.
                      - Rock singer-musician Mark Stein (Vanilla Fudge) is 52.
                      - Singer Bobby McFerrin is 49.
                      - Movie director Jerry Zucker is 49.
                      - Actress Susan Richardson is 47.
                      - Singer Nina Hagen is 44.
                      - Country singer Jimmy Fortune (The Statler Brothers) is 44.
                      - Singer Cheryl Lynn is 42.
                      - Actress Alex Kingston ("ER") is 36.
                      - Actor Wallace Langham ("Veronica's Closet") is 34.
                      - Actor John Barrowman is 31.
                      - Singer Pete Droge is 30.