History of 2 June
- 1995 – Captain Scott F. O’Grady’s U.S. Air Force F-16C was shot down by Bosnian Serbs. He was rescued six days later.
- 1998 – Royal Caribbean Cruises agreed to pay $9 million to settle charges of dumping waste at sea.
- 1998 – Voters in California passed Proposition 227. The act abolished the state’s 30-year-old bilingual education program by requiring that all children be taught in English.
- 1999 – In South Africa, the African National Congress (ANC) won a major victory. ANC leader Thabo Mbeki was to succeed Nelson Mandela as the nation’s president.
- 2003 – In the U.S., federal regulators voted to allow companies to buy more television stations and newspaper-broadcasting combinations in the same city. The previous ownership restrictions had not been altered since 1975.
- 2003 – In Seville, Spain, a chest containing the supposed remains of Christopher Columbus were exhumed for DNA tests to determine whether the bones were really those of the explorer. The tests were aimed at determining if Colombus was currently buried in Spain’s Seville Cathedral or in Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic.
- 2003 – The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that companies could not be sued under trademark law for using the information in the public domain without giving credit to the originator. The case had originated with 20th Century Fox against suing Dastar Corp. over their use of World War II footage.
- 2003 – William Baily was reunited with two paintings he had left on a subway platform. One of the works was an original Picasso rendering of two male figures and a recreation of Picasso’s “Guernica” by Sophie Matisse. Sophie Matisse was the great-granddaughter of Henri Matisse.
- 2012 – Former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak is sentenced to life imprisonment for his role in the killing of demonstrators during the 2011 Egyptian revolution.
- 2014 – Telangana officially becomes the 29th state of India, formed from ten districts of northwestern Andhra Pradesh.
Celebrating Birthday Today
- 1981 – Nikolay Davydenko, a Russian tennis player
- 1981 – Chin-hui Tsao, Taiwanese baseball player
- 1982 – Jewel Staite, Canadian actress
- 1983 – Chris Higgins, American ice hockey player
- 1983 – Leela James, American singer-songwriter
- 1983 – Toni Livers, Swiss skier
- 1983 – Brooke White, American singer-songwriter and actress
- 1984 – Jack Afamasaga, New Zealand rugby league player
- 1984 – Max Boyer, Canadian wrestler
- 1984 – Feleti Mateo, Australian-Tongan rugby league player
- 1985 – Miyuki Sawashiro, Japanese voice actress and singer
- 1985 – Maggie Thrash, American graphic novelist and writer
- 1986 – Todd Carney, Australian rugby league player
- 1987 – Maryka Holtzhausen, South African netball player
- 1987 – Yoann Huget, French rugby player
- 1987 – Matthew Koma, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1987 – Angelo Mathews, Sri Lankan cricketer
- 1987 – Darin Zanyar, Swedish singer-songwriter
- 1987 – Sonakshi Sinha, Indian actress
- 1988 – Sergio Agüero, the Argentinian footballer
- 1988 – Patrik Berglund, Swedish ice hockey player
- 1988 – Staniliya Stamenova, Bulgarian canoeist
- 1989 – Freddy Adu, Ghanaian-American footballer
- 1989 – Steve Smith, Australian cricketer
- 1990 – Jack Lowden, Scottish actor
- 1992 – Pajtim Kasami, Swiss footballer
- 1993 – Adam Taggart, Australian footballer
- 1994 – Mike Grzesiek, Esports player and streamer
- 1999 – Campbell Graham, Australian rugby league player
- 2000 – Lilimar Hernandez, Venezuelan actress