In History, Today on February 14

A national emergency was declared in New Zealand due to Cyclone Gabrielle, marking one of the most significant weather-related emergencies in the country's recent history.

A suicide bombing in Pulwama, Jammu and Kashmir, killed 40 Indian Central Reserve Police Force personnel, escalating tensions between India and Pakistan.

A mass shooting occurred at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, resulting in 17 deaths and sparking a nationwide movement for gun control in the United States.

Oscar Pistorius, a South African Paralympic champion, was charged with the murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.

The Bahraini uprising began as part of the wider Arab Spring protests, with demonstrators demanding political reforms and greater freedoms.

Northern Illinois University shooting occurs, where a gunman opens fire at Cole Hall on the campus of Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, Illinois, resulting in five fatalities and multiple injuries.

Former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri was assassinated in a car bomb explosion in Beirut, leading to widespread protests and the eventual withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon.

The Dolly the sheep, the first mammal to be cloned from an adult somatic cell, was euthanized due to a progressive lung disease and severe arthritis.

The Voyager 1 spacecraft took the famous 'Pale Blue Dot' photograph, showing Earth from nearly 6 billion kilometers away.

Iran's Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwa calling for the death of British author Salman Rushdie and his publishers for the novel 'The Satanic Verses', which was considered blasphemous by many Muslims.

Texas Instruments introduced the first single-chip speech synthesizer, which paved the way for modern speech technology.

The element Lawrencium was first synthesized at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

The first UNIVAC I (Universal Automatic Computer I) was delivered to the United States Census Bureau.

The Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer (ENIAC), the first general-purpose electronic digital computer, was formally dedicated at the University of Pennsylvania.

The bombing of Dresden in World War II by the British Royal Air Force (RAF) and the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) continued, resulting in a devastating firestorm and significant civilian casualties.

The Saint Valentine's Day Massacre took place in Chicago, where seven members of Chicago's North Side Gang were murdered, allegedly on the orders of Al Capone.

Arizona was admitted as the 48th U.S. state.

The United States Congress approves the use of voting machines for federal elections, marking a shift towards modernizing the electoral process.

Oscar Wilde's play 'The Importance of Being Earnest' was first performed at the St James's Theatre in London.

Alexander Graham Bell applied for a patent for the telephone, an invention that would revolutionize communication.

Oregon was admitted as the 33rd state of the United States.

The first official 'Census of Canada' was held by the Province of Canada, recording a population of 2,414,519.

In New York City, James Knox Polk became the first sitting U.S. president to have his photograph taken.

The United States Senate approved the creation of the Army Corps of Engineers.

British explorer Captain James Cook was killed by Native Hawaiians during his third exploratory voyage in the Pacific, at Kealakekua Bay on the Big Island of Hawaii.

Lutheranism was formally accepted on the island of Gotland, in Sweden, during the Protestant Reformation.

The deposed King Richard II of England died under mysterious circumstances at Pontefract Castle, possibly murdered or starved to death on the orders of his successor, Henry IV.

Approximately 2,000 Jews were burned to death by mobs or forcibly removed from the city of Strasbourg during the Strasbourg massacre, part of the widespread violence against Jews during the Black Death pandemic.

The Oaths of Strasbourg were sworn by Louis the German and Charles the Bald, marking a significant moment in the Carolingian Empire's history. These oaths were mutual pledges of allegiance between the two brothers against their other brother, Lothair I, and are notable for being one of the earliest examples of a document written in a Romance language.