February 13th

Washington became the seventh state to legalize same-sex marriage.

Egypt's military leaders dissolved parliament, suspended the constitution and promised elections in moves cautiously welcomed by protesters who'd helped topple President Hosni Mubarak.

Seven-time Cy Young Award winner Roger Clemens denied having taken performance-enhancing drugs in testimony before Congress.

Ray Charles won eight posthumous Grammy awards for his final album, "Genius Loves Company.".

The universe's largest known diamond is discovered. BPM 37093 is a white dwarf star about 50 light-years from Earth and was nicknamed “Lucy” after The Beatles' song “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds”.

John Walker Lindh pleaded not guilty in federal court in Alexandria, Va., to conspiring to kill Americans and supporting the Taliban and terrorist organizations. (Lindh later pleaded guilty to lesser offenses and was sentenced to 20 years in prison.).

Charles Schulz's final "Peanuts" comic strip ran in Sunday newspapers, the day after the cartoonist died at age 77.

The Dow Jones industrial average broke through the 7,000 barrier for the first time, closing at 7,022.44.

Two “smart bombs” kill at least 408 civilians in Baghdad. The Amiriyah shelter bombing was one of the worst cases of civilian killings during “Operation Desert Storm”.

Konstantin Chernenko succeeded the late Yuri Andropov as general secretary of the Soviet Communist Party's Central Committee.

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, who won the 1970 Nobel Prize for literature, was deported from the Soviet Union.

France exploded its first atomic bomb.

Allied planes began bombing the German city of Dresden during World War II.

Hitler's Operation Sealion, the invasion of England, is cancelled.

Bruno Hauptmann was found guilty of murder in the Lindbergh kidnapping case.

The League of Nations recognized the perpetual neutrality of Switzerland.

The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers was founded in New York City.

Johann Strauss's Blue Danube waltz premiered in Vienna.

The gang that included Jesse James and Cole Younger committed their first bank robbery in Liberty, Mo.

British Parliament adopts the Bill of Rights which establishes the rights of parliament and places limits on the crown.

The Boston Public Latin School, the first public school in what is now the United States, was founded.

First East India Company voyage departs from London, lead by John Lancaster.

Catherine Howard, the fifth wife of King Henry VIII of England, was beheaded for adultery.

Baghdad falls to the Mongols as the Abbasid Caliphate is destroyed.