HISTORY AT A GLANCE

TODAY is Friday, March 10, the 69th day of 2017. There are 296 days left in the year. Highlights in history on this date:

1922 – Mahatma Gandhi is arrested in India, tried for sedition, and sentenced to six years in prison, only to be released after nearly two years for an appendicitis operation.

1944 – Greek Civil War: The Political Committee of National Liberation is established in Greece by the National Liberation Front.

1945 – The US Army Air Force firebombs Tokyo, and the resulting conflagration kills more than 100,000 people, mostly civilians.

1952 – Fulgencio Batista leads a successful coup in Cuba and appoints himself as the “provisional president”.

1959 – Tibetan uprising: Fearing an abduction attempt by China, 300,000 Tibetans surround the Dalai Lama’s palace to prevent his removal.

1966 – Military Prime Minister of South Vietnam Nguyen Cao Ky sacked rival General Nguyen Chánh Thi, precipitating large-scale civil and military dissension in parts of the nation.

1968 – Vietnam War: Battle of Lima Site 85, concluding the 11th with largest single ground combat loss of United States Air Force members (12) during that war.

1969 – In Memphis, Tennessee, James Earl Ray pleads guilty to assassinating Martin Luther King, Jr. He later unsuccessfully attempts to retract his plea.

1970 – Vietnam War: Captain Ernest Medina is charged by the US military with My Lai war crimes.

1975 – Vietnam War: Ho Chi Minh Campaign: North Vietnamese troops attack Ban Mê Thuot in the South on their way to capturing Saigon in the final push for victory over South Vietnam.

1977 – Rings of Uranus: Astronomers discover rings around Uranus.

1980 – Madeira School headmistress Jean Harris shoots and kills Scarsdale diet doctor Herman Tarnower

1980 – Formation of the Irish Army Ranger Wing.

1990 – In Haiti, Prosper Avril is ousted 18 months after seizing power in a coup.

2000 – The Nasdaq Composite stock market index peaks at 5132.52, signaling the beginning of the end of the dot-com boom.

2005 – Tung Chee-hwa resigns from his post as the first Chief Executive of Hong Kong after widespread public dissatisfaction of his tenure.

2006 – The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter arrives at Mars.