TODAY IN HISTORY

Tuesday, March  11, 2014 AP Highlight in History:  On March 11, 2011, a magnitude-9.0 earthquake and resulting tsunami struck Japan's northeastern coast, killing nearly 20,000 people and severely damaging the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power station.   AP Photo/Koji Sasahara
On this date in: 1862 During the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln removed Gen. George B. McClellan as general-in-chief of the Union armies. 1888 A blizzard struck the northeastern United States, resulting in some 400 deaths. 1941 President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed into law the Lend-Lease Bill, providing war supplies to countries fighting the Axis. 1985 Mikhail S. Gorbachev was chosen to succeed the late Soviet President Konstantin Chernenko.  READ THE ORIGINAL AP STORY 1990 The Lithuanian parliament voted to break away from the Soviet Union and restore its independence.  READ THE ORIGINAL AP STORY 1993 Janet Reno was unanimously confirmed by the Senate to be the nation's first female attorney general. 1993 North Korea withdrew from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. 2002 Two columns of light soared skyward from ground zero in New York as a temporary memorial to the victims six months after the Sept. 11 attacks. AP Photo/Mike Derer 2004 Ten bombs exploded in quick succession across the commuter rail network in Madrid, Spain, killing 191 people and wounding more than 2,000 in an attack linked to al-Qaida-inspired militants. AP Photo/Paul White 2011 Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker signed a measure to eliminate most union rights for public employees, a proposal which had provoked three weeks of protests. 2012 Sixteen Afghan villagers – mostly women and children – were shot dead as they slept, allegedly by U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Robert Bales.		Video HIGHLIGHTS OF THIS DAY IN HISTORY Today's Birthdays: Media mogul Rupert Murdoch turns 83 years old today. AP Photo/Matt Sayles Name Profession Age Sam Donaldson Broadcast journalist 80 Mark Metcalf Actor ("Animal House") 68 Bobby McFerrin Singer 64 Jerry Zucker Director 64 Susan Richardson Actress ("Eight is Enough") 62 Jimmy Iovine Record executive 61 Gale Norton Former secretary of the interior 60 Nina Hagen Singer 59 Peter Berg Actor, director 52 Jeffrey Nordling Actor 52 Alex Kingston Actress ("ER") 51 Wallace Langham Actor ("CSI") 49 Jesse Jackson Jr. Former U.S. congressman, D-Ill. 49 Lisa Loeb Rock singer 46 Terrence Howard Actor 45 Johnny Knoxville Actor ("Jackass") 43 Benji Madden Rock musician (Good Charlotte) 35 Joel Madden Rock musician (Good Charlotte) 35 Thora Birch Actress 32 Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia turns 78 years old today. AP Photo/Evan Vucci