SATURDAY, MARCH 7, 2009

Today is Saturday, March 7, the 66th day of 2009. There are 299 days left in the year.

1857 _ Baseball decides nine innings constitutes an official game, not nine runs

1876 _ Alexander Graham Bell patents telephone

1902 _ Boers beat British troop in Tweebosch, Transvaal

1917 _ First jazz record ``Dixie Jazz Band One Step," recorded by Nick LaRocca Original Dixieland Jazz Band, released by RCA Victor in Camden, N.J.

1925 _ American Negro Congress organizes

1936 _ Hitler breaks Treaty of Versailles, sends troops to Rhineland

1944 _ Japans begins offensive in Burma

1945 _ Yugoslavia government of Tito forms

1989 _ Iran drops diplomatic relations with Britain over Salman Rushdie's book ``The Satanic Verses"

1997 _ Five sue Japanese Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto, because his smoking has violated the country's constitution guaranteeing a wholesome life