History of 23 February
- 1991 – During the Persian Gulf War, ground forces crossed the border of Saudi Arabia into the country of Iraq. Less than four days later the war was over due to the surrender or withdraw of Iraqi forces.
- 1993 – Gary Coleman won a $1,280,000 lawsuit against his parents.
- 1995 – The Dow Jones Industrial closed about 4,000 for the first time at 4,003.33.
- 1997 – NBC-TV aired “Schindler’s List.” It was completely uncensored.
- 1997 – Ali Hassan Abu Kamal, a Palestinian teacher, opened fire on the 86th-floor observation deck of New York City’s Empire State Building. He killed one person and wounded six more before killing himself.
- 1998 – In central Florida, tornadoes killed 42 people and damaged and/or destroyed about 2,600 homes and businesses.
- 1999 – In Ankara, Turkey, Abdullah Ocalan was charged with treason. The prosecutors were seeking the death penalty for the Kurdish rebel leader.
- 1999 – White supremacist John William King was found guilty of kidnapping and murdering James Byrd Jr. Byrd was dragged behind a truck for two miles on a country road in Texas.
- 2000 – Robby Knievel made a successful motorcycle jump of 200 feet over an oncoming train.
- 2005 – The New York, NY, city medical examiner’s office annouced that it had exhausted all efforts to identify the remains of the people killed at the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, due to the limits of DNA technology. About 1,600 people had been identified leaving more than 1,100 unidentified.
- 2007 – A train derails on an evening express service near Grayrigg, Cumbria, England, killing one person and injuring 88. This results in hundreds of points being checked over the UK after a few similar accidents.
- 2008 – A United States Air Force B-2 Spirit bomber crashes on Guam, marking the first operational loss of a B-2.
- 2010 – Unknown criminals pour more than 21⁄2 million liters of diesel oil and other hydrocarbons into the river Lambro, in northern Italy, sparking an environmental disaster.
- 2012 – A series of attacks across Iraq leave at least 83 killed and more than 250 injured.
- 2017 – The Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army captures Al-Bab from ISIL.
- 2019 – Atlas Air Flight 3591 crashes into Trinity Bay near Anahuac, Texas, killing all three people on board.
Celebrating Birthday Today
- 1981 – Gareth Barry, English footballer
- 1981 – Josh Gad, American actor, producer, and screenwriter
- 1981 – Charles Tillman, American football player
- 1982 – Adam Hann-Byrd, American actor and screenwriter
- 1983 – Mido, Egyptian footballer, striker, manager and sportscaster
- 1983 – Aziz Ansari, American comedian, actor, producer, and screenwriter
- 1983 – Emily Blunt, English actress
- 1986 – Emerson Conceição, Brazilian footballer
- 1986 – Skylar Grey, American singer-songwriter
- 1986 – Kazuya Kamenashi, Japanese singer-songwriter and actor
- 1986 – Jerod Mayo, American football player
- 1986 – Ola Svensson, Swedish singer-songwriter
- 1987 – Ab-Soul, American rapper
- 1987 – Theophilus London, Trinidadian-American singer-songwriter and producer
- 1987 – Zak Kirkup, Member of the Parliament of Western Australia
- 1988 – Nicolás Gaitán, the Argentinian footballer
- 1989 – Evan Bates, American ice dancer
- 1989 – Jérémy Pied, French footballer
- 1990 – Kevin Connauton, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1990 – Terry Hawkridge, English footballer
- 1990 – Marco Scandella, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1992 – Casemiro, Brazilian footballer
- 1992 – Kyriakos Papadopoulos, Greek footballer
- 1993 – Chris Grevsmuhl, Australian rugby league player
- 1994 – Dakota Fanning, American actress
- 1995 – Andrew Wiggins, Canadian basketball player