By The Associated Press

Today is Thursday, March 6, the 65th day of 2025. There are 300 days left in the year.

Today in history:

Today is Friday, March 8, the 68th day of 2024. There are 298 days left in the year.

Today’s highlight in history:

On March 8, 1971, in the first of three fights between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier, Frazier defeated Ali by decision in what was billed as “The Fight of the Century” at Madison Square Garden in New York.

On this date:

In 1618, German astronomer Johannes Kepler devised his third law of planetary motion.

In 1817, the New York Stock & Exchange Board, which had its beginnings in 1792, was formally organized; it later became known as the New York Stock Exchange.

In 1948, the Supreme Court, in McCollum v. Board of Education, struck down voluntary religious education classes in Champaign, Illinois, public schools, saying the program violated separation of church and state.

In 1965, the United States landed its first combat troops in South Vietnam as 3,500 Marines arrived to defend the U.S. air base at Da Nang.

In 1971, silent film comedian Harold Lloyd died in Beverly Hills, California, at age 77.

In 1983, in a speech to the National Association of Evangelicals convention in Orlando, Florida, President Ronald Reagan referred to the Soviet Union as an “evil empire.”

In 1988, 17 soldiers were killed when two Army helicopters from Fort Campbell, Kentucky, collided in mid-flight.

In 1999, baseball Hall of Famer Joe DiMaggio died in Hollywood, Florida, at age 84.

In 2000, President Bill Clinton submitted to Congress legislation to establish permanent normal trade relations with China. (The U.S. and China signed a trade pact in November 2000.)

In 2004, Iraq’s Governing Council signed a landmark interim constitution.

In 2008, President George W. Bush vetoed a bill that would have banned the CIA from using simulated drowning and other coercive interrogation methods to gain information from suspected terrorists.

In 2014, Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, a Boeing 777 with 239 people on board, vanished during a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, setting off a massive and ultimately unsuccessful search.

In 2016, Sir George Martin, the Beatles’ urbane producer who guided the band’s swift, historic transformation from rowdy club act to musical and cultural revolutionaries, died at age 90.

In 2017, many American women stayed home from work, joined rallies or wore red to demonstrate how vital they were to the U.S. economy, as International Women’s Day was observed with a multitude of events around the world, including the Day Without a Woman in the U.S.

In 2022, President Joe Biden announced that the U.S. would ban all Russian oil imports, toughening the toll on Russia’s economy in retaliation for its invasion of Ukraine as a humanitarian crisis unfolded in the port city of Mariupol.

Today’s birthdays: Former FBI and CIA director William Webster is 101. Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan is 99. Former Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova is 88. Opera singer Kiri Te Kanawa is 81. Rock musician David Gilmour (Pink Floyd) is 79. Filmmaker-actor Rob Reiner is 78. Actor-comedian Tom Arnold is 66. Actor-comedian D.L. Hughley is 62. Actor Connie Britton is 58. Basketball Hall of Famer Shaquille O’Neal is 53. Rapper-producer Tyler, the Creator is 34. Actor Millicent Simmonds is 22.