By The Associated Press
                      - Today is Friday, March 26, the 85th day of 1999. There are 280 days
                        left in the year.

                      - On March 26, 1979, the Camp David peace treaty was signed by Israeli
                        Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat at
                        the White House.
                      - In 1804, the Louisiana Purchase was divided into the Territory of
                        Orleans and the District of Louisiana.
                      - In 1827, composer Ludwig van Beethoven died in Vienna.
                      - In 1875, poet Robert Frost was born in San Francisco.
                      - In 1892, poet Walt Whitman died in Camden, N.J.
                      - In 1911, playwright Tennessee Williams was born in Columbus, Miss.
                      - In 1958, the U.S. Army launched America's third successful
                        satellite, Explorer III.
                      - In 1964, the musical play "Funny Girl" opened on Broadway.
                      - In 1971, East Pakistan proclaimed its independence, taking the name
                        Bangladesh.
                      - In 1982, groundbreaking ceremonies took place in Washington, D.C.,
                        for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
                      - In 1997, the bodies of 39 members of the Heaven's Gate
                        techno-religious cult who'd committed suicide were found inside a
                        mansion in Rancho Santa Fe, Calif.
                      - Ten years ago: Voters in the Soviet Union filled 1,500 of more than
                        2,000 seats in the new Congress of People's Deputies, beginning
                        embarrassing defeats for the Communist Party.
                      - Five years ago: U.N. peacekeepers in Bosnia-Herzegovina destroyed a
                        Serb bunker following a seven-hour exchange of fire. The Senate
                        passed President Clinton's education reform measure, the "Goals
                        2000" bill, 63-22.
                      - One year ago: President Clinton stood with President Nelson Mandela
                        in a racially integrated South African parliament to salute a
                        country that was "truly free and democratic at last."

                      *Happy Birthday*
                      ----------------
                      - Retired Army Gen. William C. Westmoreland is 85.
                      - Singer Rufus Thomas is 82.
                      - Conductor-composer Pierre Boulez is 74.
                      - Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor is 69.
                      - Actor-director Leonard Nimoy is 68.
                      - Actor Alan Arkin is 65.
                      - Actor James Caan is 59.
                      - Author Erica Jong is 57.
                      - Journalist Bob Woodward is 56.
                      - Singer Diana Ross is 55.
                      - Actor Johnny Crawford ("The Rifleman") is 53.
                      - Rock singer Steven Tyler (Aerosmith) is 51.
                      - TV personality Vicki Lawrence is 50.
                      - Singer Teddy Pendergrass is 49.
                      - Comedian Martin Short is 49.
                      - Country singer Dean Dillon is 44.
                      - Country singer Charly McClain is 43.
                      - Actress Jennifer Grey is 39.
                      - Basketball player John Stockton is 37.
                      - Rock musician James Iha (Smashing Pumpkins) is 31.
                      - Country singer Kenny Chesney is 31.