Today’s Highlights

On March 9, 1945, during World War II, over 300 U.S. B-29 bombers began Operation Meetinghouse, a firebombing raid on Tokyo. The raid killed an estimated 100,000 civilians, left 1 million homeless and destroyed 16 square city city miles.

On this date

1796: The future emperor of the French, Napoleon Bonaparte, married Josephine de Beauharnais.

1862: During the U.S. Civil War, the ironclad warships USS Monitor and CSS Virginia clashed for five hours to a draw at Hampton Roads, Virginia.

1916: More than 400 Mexican raiders led by Pancho Villa attacked Columbus, New Mexico, killing 18 Americans.

1959: The Barbie doll was introduced at the American International Toy Fair in New York.

1964: The U.S. Supreme Court, in New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, raised the standard for public officials to prove they’d been libeled in their official capacity by news organizations.

1997: Rapper The Notorious B.I.G. was killed in a still-unsolved drive-by shooting in Los Angeles at age 24.

2022: A Russian airstrike devastated a maternity hospital in the besieged Ukrainian port city of Mariupol, killing four people and wounding at least 17.

Today’s birthdays

Singer Jeffrey Osborne is 77. Actor Juliette Binoche is 61. Actor Emmanuel Lewis is 54. Actor Oscar Isaac is 46. Olympic skiing gold medalist Julia Mancuso is 41. Actor Brittany Snow is 39. Rapper Bow Wow is 38. Rapper YG is 35. Social media personality Khaby Lame is 25. Olympic gymnastics gold medalist Sunisa Lee is 22.