History of 2 April
- 1990 – Iraqi President Saddam Hussein threatened to incinerate half of Israel with chemical weapons if Israel joined a conspiracy against Iraq.
- 1992 – Mob boss John Gotti was convicted in New York of murder and racketeering. He was later sentenced to life in prison.
- 1995 – The costliest strike in professional sports history ended when baseball owners agreed to let players play without a contract.
- 1996 – Russia and Belarus signed a treaty that created a political and economic alliance in an effort to reunite the two former Soviet republics.
- 1996 – Lech Walesa resumed his old job as an electrician at the Gdansk shipyard. He was the former Solidarity union leader who became Poland’s first post-war democratic president.
- 2002 – Israeli troops surrounded the Church of the Nativity. More than 200 Palestinians had taken refuge at the church when Israel invaded Bethlehem.
- 2013 – The United Nations General Assembly adopted the Arms Trade Treaty to regulate the international trade of conventional weapons.
- 2014 – The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that limits on the total amount of money individuals can give political candidates and political action committees were unconstitutional.
- 2015 – Gunmen attack Garissa University College in Kenya, killing at least 148 people and wounding 79 others.
- 2015 – Four men steal items worth up to £200 million from an underground safe deposit facility in London’s Hatton Garden area in what has been called the “largest burglary in English legal history.”
Celebrating Birthday Today
- 1981 – Kapil Sharma, Indian stand-up comedian, television presenter and actor
- 1982 – Marco Amelia, Italian footballer
- 1982 – Jeremy Bloom, American football player and skier
- 1982 – Jack Evans, American wrestler
- 1982 – David Ferrer, a Spanish tennis player
- 1983 – Yung Joc, American rapper
- 1983 – Maksym Mazuryk, Ukrainian pole vaulter
- 1984 – Engin Atsür, Turkish basketball player
- 1984 – Nóra Barta, Hungarian diver
- 1984 – Jérémy Morel, French footballer
- 1985 – Thom Evans, Zimbabwean-Scottish rugby player
- 1985 – Stéphane Lambiel, Swiss figure skater
- 1986 – Ibrahim Afellay, Dutch footballer
- 1986 – Andris Biedriņš, Latvian basketball player
- 1986 – Lee DeWyze, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1987 – Pablo Aguilar, Paraguayan footballer
- 1987 – Marc Pugh, English footballer
- 1988 – Jesse Plemons, American actor
- 1990 – Yevgeniya Kanayeva, Russian gymnast
- 1990 – Miralem Pjanić, Bosnian footballer
- 1991 – Quavo, American rapper
- 1993 – Keshorn Walcott, Trinidadian javelin thrower
- 1997 – Dillon Bassett, American racing driver
- 1997 – Abdelhak Nouri, Dutch footballer