Summary of the Day ✨ 3 February (03/02)
Deadly terrorist attacks struck Nigeria and Iraq as Islamist militants massacred at least 162 people in Nigerian villages while a Baghdad market bombing killed 135 and injured 339, while separate disasters unfolded with a toxic train derailment in Ohio, a school shooting in Moscow, and a plane crash in Afghanistan that claimed 105 lives.
Historical Events 📜
- 2026: Islamist militants massacred at least 162 while injuring and kidnapping dozens in two villages in Kwara State, Nigeria.
- 2023: Ohio train derailment: A freight train containing vinyl chloride and other hazardous materials derails and burns in East Palestine, Ohio, United States, releasing hydrogen chloride and phosgene into the air and contaminating the Ohio River.
- 2014: A school shooting in Moscow, Russia leaves two people dead and one wounded.
- 2007: A Baghdad market bombing kills at least 135 people and injures a further 339.
- 2005: One hundred five people are killed when Kam Air Flight 904 crashes in the Pamir Mountains in Afghanistan.
- 1998: Cavalese cable car disaster: A United States military pilot causes the death of 20 people when his low-flying plane cuts the cable of a cable-car near Trento, Italy.
- 1995: Astronaut Eileen Collins becomes the first woman to pilot the Space Shuttle as mission STS-63 gets underway from Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
- 1994: Space Shuttle program: STS-60 is launched, carrying Sergei Krikalev, the first Russian cosmonaut to fly aboard the Shuttle.
- 1989: After a stroke two weeks previously, South African President P. W. Botha resigns as leader of the National Party, but stays on as president for six more months.
- 1989: A military coup overthrows Alfredo Stroessner, dictator of Paraguay since 1954.
- 1984: Doctor John Buster and a research team at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center in the United States announce history’s first embryo transfer, from one woman to another resulting in a live birth.
- 1984: Space Shuttle program: STS-41-B is launched using Space Shuttle Challenger.
- 1972: The first day of the seven-day 1972 Iran blizzard, which would kill at least 4,000 people, making it the deadliest snowstorm in history.
- 1971: New York Police Officer Frank Serpico is shot during a drug bust in Brooklyn and survives to later testify against police corruption.
- 1966: The Soviet Union’s Luna 9 becomes the first spacecraft to make a soft landing on the Moon, and the first spacecraft to take pictures from the surface of the Moon.
Famous Births 👶
- 2004: Rei, Japanese rapper and singer
- 2004: Scoot Henderson, American basketball player
- 2001: Tre Mann, American basketball player
- 2001: Rhys Williams, English footballer
- 1999: Kanna Hashimoto, Japanese actress
- 1998: Tyler Huntley, American football player
- 1998: Isaiah Roby, American basketball player
- 1995: Tao Tsuchiya, Japanese actress
- 1994: Rougned Odor, Venezuelan baseball player
- 1993: Adam Reach, English footballer
- 1992: Olli Aitola, Finnish ice hockey player
- 1992: James White, American football player
- 1990: Sean Kingston, American-Jamaican singer-songwriter
- 1989: Jia, Chinese singer and actress
- 1989: Slobodan Rajković, Serbian footballer
Notable Deaths 🕊️
- 2025: Harry Jayawardena, Sri Lankan industrialist (born 1942)
- 2025: Kandiah Balendra, Sri Lankan corporate leader and executive (born 1940)
- 2020: George Steiner, French-American philosopher, author, and critic (born 1929)
- 2019: Julie Adams, American actress (born 1926)
- 2019: Kristoff St. John, American actor (born 1966)
- 2017: Dritëro Agolli, Albanian poet, writer and politician (born 1931)
- 2016: Joe Alaskey, American actor (born 1952)
- 2016: Balram Jakhar, Indian lawyer and politician, 23rd Governor of Madhya Pradesh (born 1923)
- 2016: József Kasza, Serbian politician and economist (born 1945)
- 2015: Martin Gilbert, English historian, author, and academic (born 1936)
- 2015: Mary Healy, American actress and singer (born 1918)
- 2015: Charlie Sifford, American golfer (born 1922)
- 2015: Nasim Hasan Shah, Pakistani lawyer and judge, 12th Chief Justice of Pakistan (born 1929)
- 2013: Cardiss Collins, American politician (born 1931)
- 2013: Oscar Feltsman, Ukrainian-Russian composer and producer (born 1921)
Holidays & Observances 🎉
- Christian feast day:
Aaron the Illustrious (Syriac Orthodox Church) - Christian feast day:
Ansgar - Christian feast day:
Berlinda of Meerbeke - Christian feast day:
Blaise - Christian feast day:
Celsa and Nona - Christian feast day:
Claudine Thévenet - Christian feast day:
Dom Justo Takayama (Philippines and Japan) - Christian feast day:
Hadelin - Christian feast day:
Margaret of England - Christian feast day:
Werburgh - Christian feast day:
February 3 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) - Day of the Virgin of Suyapa (Honduras)
- Earliest day on which Shrove Tuesday can fall, while March 9 is the latest; celebrated on Tuesday before Ash Wednesday (Christianity)
- Four Chaplains Day (United States, also considered a Feast Day by the Episcopal Church)
- Communist Party of Vietnam Foundation Anniversary (Vietnam)