Today is Saturday, March 17, the 77th day of 2012. There are 289 days left in the year.
1521 ― Ferdinand Magellan discovers the Philippines
1845 ― Rubber band patented by Stephen Perry of London
1847 ― Dmitri Shostakovich's opera ``Macbeth" is produced (Florence)
1861 ― Italy declares independence; Kingdom of Italy proclaimed
1894 ― U.S. and China sign treaty preventing Chinese laborers from entering US
1942 ― General Doug MacArthur arrives in Australia to become supreme commander
1957 ― Ramon Magsaysay, president of Philippines dies in a plane crash
1959 ― Dalai Lama flees Tibet for India
1966 ― U.S. sub locates missing H-bomb in Mediterranean
1988 ― Iran says Iraq uses poison gas