Today is Saturday, March 3, the 63rd day of 2012. There are 303 days left in the year.

78 ― Origin of Saka Era (India)

1794 ― First performance of Joseph Haydn's 101st Symphony in D

1861 ― Russian Tsar Alexander II abolishes serfdom

1875 ― Georges Bizet's opera ``Carmen" premieres (Paris, France)

1887 ― Anne Sullivan begins teaching 6-year-old blind-deaf Helen Keller

1943 ― U.S. defeats Japan and wins Battle of Bismark Sea

1955 ― Elvis Presley makes his first TV appearance

1977 ― Libyan Socialist Arabs People's Republic forms

1978 ― Charles Chaplin's remains are stolen in Switzerland

1992 ― President Bush apologizes for raising taxes after pledging not to