4 February 1850

Shortly after takeoff from Taipei Songshan Airport, the crew of TransAsia Airways Flight 235 shut down the wrong engine in response to a flameout, leading to a crash that resulted in 43 deaths.

The London low emission zone (sign pictured), charging certain diesel-powered commercial vehicles to enter Greater London, came into operation.

Four plain-clothes New York City police officers shot and killed Amadou Diallo, an unarmed 23-year-old immigrant from Guinea, prompting outrage both in and outside the city.

The Philippine-flagged freighter New Carissa ran aground near Coos Bay, Oregon, causing one of the worst oil spills in the state's history.

American newspaper heiress and socialite Patty Hearst was kidnapped by the Symbionese Liberation Army, which she later joined.

The Troubles: The Provisional Irish Republican Army bombed a motor coach carrying off-duty British Armed Forces personnel and their family members, killing twelve people.

Yasser Arafat (pictured) was elected chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization.

World War II: American forces liberated the Santo Tomas Internment Camp in Manila, the largest Japanese-run internment camp for enemy civilians in the Philippines.

The Philippine–American War began when an American soldier, under orders to keep insurgents away from his unit's encampment, fired on a Filipino soldier in Manila.

Constantin von Tischendorf rediscovered the Codex Sinaiticus, a 4th-century great uncial codex of the Bible in Greek, in Saint Catherine's Monastery, Egypt.

Chilean War of Independence: Chilean forces captured the city of Valdivia.

John Marshall, whose court opinions helped lay the basis for U.S. constitutional law and made the Supreme Court a coequal branch of government, took office as chief justice.

Marian Restoration: Because he opposed Catholicism, John Rogers was burned at the stake (pictured) as the first English Protestant executed for heresy under the reign of Mary I.

Bartolomeu Dias landed in Mossel Bay, becoming the first European known to have sailed around the Cape of Good Hope, the southern tip of Africa, beginning Portuguese influence and trade in the Indian Ocean.

A strong earthquake struck the eastern coast of Sicily, causing at least 15,000 deaths.

Emperor Taizu (pictured) came to power, initiating the Song dynasty of China that eventually lasted for more than three centuries.

Ten people are killed in a mass shooting at an adult education centre in Örebro, Sweden.

The COVID-19 pandemic causes all casinos in Macau to be closed down for 15 days.

TransAsia Airways Flight 235, with 58 people on board, en route from the Taiwanese capital Taipei to Kinmen, crashes into the Keelung River just after takeoff, killing 43 people.

Civic mobilizations in Colombia against FARC, under the name A million voices against the FARC.

Facebook, a mainstream online social networking site, is founded by Mark Zuckerberg and Eduardo Saverin.

The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia adopts a new constitution, becoming a loose confederacy between Montenegro and Serbia.

The World Summit Against Cancer for the New Millennium, Charter of Paris is signed by the President of France, Jacques Chirac and the Director General of UNESCO, Koichiro Matsuura, initiating World Cancer Day which is held on February 4 every year.

Unarmed West African immigrant Amadou Diallo is shot 19 times by four plainclothes New York City police officers on an unrelated stake-out, inflaming race relations in the city.