Editing February 3 (section)

===1901–present===
*[[1913]] &ndash; The [[Sixteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution]] is ratified, authorizing the [[Federal government of the United States|Federal government]] to impose and collect an [[income tax]].
*[[1916]] &ndash; The [[Centre Block#Great fire|Centre Block]] of the [[Parliament of Canada|Parliament]] buildings in [[Ottawa|Ottawa, Ontario]], Canada burns down with the loss of seven lives.  
*[[1917]] &ndash; [[World War I]]: The [[American entry into World War I]] begins when diplomatic relations with Germany are severed due to its unrestricted submarine warfare.
*[[1918]] &ndash; The [[Twin Peaks Tunnel]] in [[San Francisco]], [[California]] begins service as the longest [[streetcar]] tunnel in the world at {{convert|11,920|ft|m|abbr=off|sp=us}} long.
*[[1927]] &ndash; A [[February 1927 Revolt|revolt]] against the [[Ditadura Nacional|military dictatorship]] of [[Portugal]] breaks out at [[Porto]].<ref>James M. Anderson, ''The History of Portugal'' (Greenwood Publishing Group, 2000) p. 144-145</ref>
*[[1930]] &ndash; The [[Communist Party of Vietnam]] is founded at a "Unification Conference" held in [[Kowloon Peninsula|Kowloon]], [[British Hong Kong]].
*[[1931]] &ndash; The [[1931 Hawke's Bay earthquake|Hawke's Bay earthquake]], New Zealand's worst natural disaster, kills 258.
*[[1933]] &ndash; [[Adolf Hitler]] announces that the expansion of ''[[Lebensraum]]'' into Eastern Europe, and its ruthless [[Germanisation]], are the ultimate geopolitical objectives of [[Nazi]] foreign policy.
*[[1943]] &ndash; The {{SS|Dorchester}} is sunk by a German U-boat. Only 230 of 902 men aboard survive. 
*[[1944]] &ndash; [[World War II]]: During the [[Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign]], U.S. [[United States Army|Army]] and [[United States Marines|Marine]] forces [[Battle of Kwajalein|seize Kwajalein Atoll]] from the defending [[Empire of Japan|Japanese]] garrison.
*[[1945]] &ndash; World War II: As part of [[Bombing of Berlin in World War II#March 1944 to April 1945|Operation Thunderclap]], 1,000 [[B-17 Flying Fortress|B-17]]s of the [[Eighth Air Force]] bomb Berlin, a raid which kills between 2,500 and 3,000 and [[dehousing|{{not a typo|dehouses}}]] another 120,000.
*  1945   &ndash; World War II: The United States and the [[Commonwealth of the Philippines|Philippine Commonwealth]] begin [[Battle of Manila (1945)|a month-long battle]] to retake [[Manila]] from [[Empire of Japan|Japan]].
*[[1953]] &ndash; The [[Batepá massacre]] occurred in [[São Tomé]] when the colonial administration and Portuguese landowners unleashed a wave of violence against the native [[Creole peoples#Portuguese Africa|creoles]] known as ''[[Forro Creole|forros]]''.
*[[1958]] &ndash; Founding of the [[Benelux]] Economic Union, creating a testing ground for a later [[European Economic Community]].<ref>{{cite book|author=United States. Bureau of Foreign Commerce|title=World Trade Information Service|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BUsfAQAAMAAJ&pg=RA24-PA8|year=1959|publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office|page=24}}</ref>
*[[1959]] &ndash; Rock and roll musicians [[Buddy Holly]], [[Ritchie Valens]], and [[The Big Bopper|J. P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson]] are killed in a plane crash along with the pilot near [[Clear Lake, Iowa]], an event later known as [[The Day the Music Died]].
*  1959   &ndash; Sixty-five people are killed when [[American Airlines Flight 320]] crashes into the [[East River]] on approach to [[LaGuardia Airport]] in [[New York City]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=ASN Aircraft accident Lockheed L-188A Electra N6101A New York-La Guardia Airport, NY (LGA) |url=http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19590203-1 |access-date=2023-02-02 |website=aviation-safety.net}}</ref>
*[[1960]] &ndash; [[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom|British Prime Minister]] [[Harold Macmillan]] speaks of "a [[Wind of Change (speech)|wind of change]]", signalling that his Government was likely to support decolonisation.
*[[1961]] &ndash; The [[United States Air Force]] begins [[Operation Looking Glass]], and over the next 30 years, a "Doomsday Plane" is always in the air, with the capability of taking direct control of the United States' bombers and missiles in the event of the destruction of the [[Strategic Air Command|SAC]]'s command post.
*[[1966]] &ndash; 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.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Zak|first1=Anatoly|title=Soviet probe makes world's first soft landing on the Moon|url=http://www.russianspaceweb.com/luna9.html|website=Russian Space Web|access-date=February 1, 2018}}</ref>
*[[1971]] &ndash; New York Police Officer [[Frank Serpico]] is shot during a drug bust in [[Brooklyn]] and survives to later testify against police corruption.<ref>{{cite book|author=Wilbur R. Miller|title=The Social History of Crime and Punishment in America: An Encyclopedia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vs9wCQAAQBAJ&pg=PT1110|date=July 20, 2012|publisher=SAGE Publications|isbn=978-1-4833-0593-6|page=1110}}</ref> 
*[[1972]] &ndash; The first day of the seven-day [[1972 Iran blizzard]], which would kill at least 4,000 people, making it the [[List of natural disasters by death toll#Blizzards|deadliest snowstorm in history]].<ref>{{cite book|author1=Marlene Bradford|author2=Robert S. Carmichael|author3=Tracy Irons-Georges|title=Natural Disasters: Avalanches-explosions|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OotFAAAAYAAJ|date=January 1, 2001|publisher=Salem Press|isbn=978-0-89356-072-0|page=58}}</ref>
*[[1984]] &ndash; 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.<ref>{{cite book|title=Great Events: 1971-1984|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BbhWAAAAYAAJ|year=2002|publisher=Salem Press|isbn=978-1-58765-058-1|page=2092}}</ref>
*  1984   &ndash; [[Space Shuttle program]]: [[STS-41-B]] is launched using [[Space Shuttle Challenger]].
*[[1989]] &ndash; After a [[stroke]] two weeks previously, [[President of South Africa|South African President]] [[P. W. Botha]] resigns as leader of the [[National Party (South Africa)|National Party]], but stays on as president for six more months.
*  1989   &ndash; A [[1989 Paraguayan coup d'état|military coup]] overthrows [[Alfredo Stroessner]], dictator of [[Paraguay]] since [[1954]].
*[[1994]] &ndash; [[Space Shuttle program]]: [[STS-60]] is launched, carrying [[Sergei Krikalev]], the first Russian cosmonaut to fly aboard the Shuttle.<ref>{{cite web|title=STS-60: A Cosmonaut Flies on the Shuttle|url=https://history.nasa.gov/SP-4225/sts60/sts-60.htm|website=NASA History Program Office|publisher=NASA|access-date=February 1, 2018}}</ref>
*[[1995]] &ndash; Astronaut [[Eileen Collins]] becomes the first woman to pilot the [[Space Shuttle program|Space Shuttle]] as mission [[STS-63]] gets underway from [[Kennedy Space Center]] in [[Florida]].
*[[1998]] &ndash; [[1998 Cavalese cable car crash|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.<ref>John Tagliabue with Matthew L. Wald, [https://www.nytimes.com/1998/02/18/world/death-in-the-alps-a-special-report-how-wayward-us-pilot-killed-20-on-ski-lift.html?pagewanted=all "Death in the Alps: a special report.; How Wayward U.S. Pilot Killed 20 on Ski Lift"], ''The New York Times'', 18 February 1998.</ref>
*[[2005]] &ndash; One hundred five people are killed when [[Kam Air Flight 904]] crashes in the [[Pamir Mountains]] in Afghanistan.<ref name="ASN">{{Cite web |last=Ranter |first=Harro |title=ASN Aircraft accident Boeing 737-242 Adv. EX-037 Kabul |url=https://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=20050203-1 |access-date=2019-09-26 |website=aviation-safety.net |publisher=[[Aviation Safety Network]]}}</ref>
*[[2007]] &ndash; A [[February 2007 Al-Saydiya market bombing|Baghdad market bombing]] kills at least 135 people and injures a further 339.
*[[2014]] &ndash; Two people are [[2014 Moscow school shooting|shot and killed]] and 29 students are taken hostage at a high school in [[Moscow, Russia]].
*[[2023]] &ndash; [[East Palestine, Ohio, train derailment|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]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=February 11, 2023 |title=Ohio catastrophe is 'wake-up call' to dangers of deadly train derailments |url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/feb/11/ohio-train-derailment-wake-up-call |website=The Guardian |access-date=February 23, 2023 |archive-date=February 13, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230213091852/https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/feb/11/ohio-train-derailment-wake-up-call |url-status=live }}</ref>