Today’s Highlights

On March 11, 2011, a magnitude 9 earthquake and resulting tsunami struck Japan’s northeastern coast, killing nearly 20,000 people and severely damaging the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station.

On this date

1918: What were believed to be the first confirmed U.S. cases of a deadly global flu pandemic were reported among U.S. Army soldiers stationed at Fort Riley, Kansas; 46 soldiers would die. (The influenza outbreak would ultimately kill an estimated 20 million to 40 million people worldwide.)

2010: A federal appeals court in San Francisco upheld the use of the words “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance and “In God We Trust” on U.S. currency.

2012: U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Robert Bales shot and killed 16 Afghan villagers — mostly women and children — as they slept. (Bales later pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life in prison without parole.)

2021: President Joe Biden signed into law a $1.9 trillion COVID relief package that he said would help defeat the virus and nurse the economy back to health.

Today’s birthdays

Media mogul Rupert Murdoch is 94. Former ABC News correspondent Sam Donaldson is 91. Musician Flaco Jimenez is 86. Singer Bobby McFerrin is 75. Actor Elias Koteas is 64. Actor Alex Kingston is 62. Actor John Barrowman is 58. Singer Lisa Loeb is 57. Actor Terrence Howard is 56. Actor Johnny Knoxville is 54. Basketball Hall of Famer Becky Hammon is 48.