2023 (MMXXIII ) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar , the 2023rd year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini 3rd millennium and the 21st century , and the 4th year of the 2020s decade.
Clockwise, from top left: the International Criminal Court in the Hague issues arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russian Presidential Commissioner for Children's Rights Maria Lvova-Belova due to allegations of war crimes , genocide and the unlawful deportation and transfer of children during the Russo-Ukrainian War ; Titan submersible operated by OceanGate , implodes during a tourist expedition to view the wreck of the Titanic , killing all five people on board; up to 115 people are killed during wildfires in Hawaii ; a 7.8 magnitude earthquake and 7.5 magnitude aftershock strike the Syria–Turkey border , leaving up to 62,000 dead and 121,000 injured in the deadliest natural disaster of the 2020s ; a series of bank failures and bankruptcies take place in the United States , triggering a sharp decline in the global stock market; supporters of former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro storm the National Congress following the 2022 general election results and the inauguration of his successor Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva ; an alleged high-altitude spy balloon originating from China is detected over United States airspace , increasing diplomatic tensions between both countries ; Iran-backed militant group Hamas attacks Israel on October 7 , provoking the Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip , which would cause over 20,000 Palestinian deaths in 2023 alone.
Quick Facts Millennium:, Centuries: ...
Close
The year 2023 saw the decline in severity of the COVID-19 pandemic , with the WHO (World Health Organization) ending its global health emergency status in May. Catastrophic natural disasters included the fifth-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century striking Turkey and Syria , leaving up to 62,000 people dead, Cyclone Freddy – the longest-lasting recorded tropical cyclone in history in the Indian Ocean – leading to over 1,400 deaths in Malawi and Mozambique , Storm Daniel , which became the deadliest cyclone worldwide since Cyclone Nargis after killing at least 11,000 people in Libya , a major 6.8 magnitude earthquake striking western Morocco , killing 2,960 people, and a 6.3 magnitude quadruple earthquake striking western Afghanistan , killing over 1,400 people.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine and Myanmar civil war continued in 2023, and a series of coups , several armed conflicts, and political crises broke out in numerous African nations, most notably a war in Sudan . The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict ended after over 100,000 Armenians fled the region after an Azeri military invasion . A major escalation of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict occurred in October when Hamas , which governs the Gaza Strip , led a major attack on Israel , leading the latter to both declare war on Hamas and invade the Gaza Strip . The Israeli aerial bombardment campaign killed 20,000 Palestinians within two months and caused a humanitarian crisis , leading to allegations of genocide that formed the basis of an ICJ case brought by South Africa that December.
A banking crisis resulted in the collapse of numerous American regional banks as well as the buyout of Credit Suisse by UBS in Switzerland . The two largest American banks to collapse were Silicon Valley Bank and First Republic Bank , two of the three largest banking collapses in US history. The most notable of numerous acquisitions in various industries included October's energy acquisitions with ExxonMobil and Chevron buying Pioneer Natural Resources and Hess respectively, the luxury fashion holding company Tapestry (Coach New York and Kate Spade New York ) announcing its purchase of Capri Holdings (Michael Kors and Versace ), and the closure of Microsoft 's acquisition of Activision Blizzard .
In the realm of technology, 2023 saw the continued rise of generative AI models , with increasing applications across various industries. These models, leveraging advancements in machine learning and natural language processing , had become capable of creating realistic and coherent text, images, and music. An AI arms race between private companies has continued since the late 2010s, with Microsoft-backed OpenAI and Google owner Alphabet today most dominant among firms.[1]
January
January 1 – Croatia adopts the euro and joins the Schengen Area , becoming the 20th member state of the Eurozone and the 27th member of the Schengen Area. This is the first enlargement of the Eurozone since Lithuania 's entry in 2015 , and the first enlargement of the Schengen Area since Liechtenstein 's entry in 2011 .[2] [3] January 5 – The funeral of Pope Benedict XVI is held at St. Peter's Square in the Vatican City .[4] [5] January 8
January 9 – Juliaca massacre : At least 18 people are killed and over 100 others are injured when the Peruvian National Police fire upon demonstrations in Juliaca .[11] January 10 –17 – A cold snap in Afghanistan kills 166 people and nearly 80,000 livestock.[12] January 15 – Yeti Airlines Flight 691 crashes during final approach into Pokhara , Nepal , killing all 72 people on board.[13] January 16 – Tigray War : Amharan Special Forces withdraw from the Tigray Region in line with an African Union -backed peace agreement between the Ethiopian government and the Tigray People's Liberation Front .[14] January 17 – Nguyễn Xuân Phúc resigns as President of Vietnam amid several recent scandals in the government .[15] January 18 – A helicopter crash in Brovary near Kyiv , Ukraine kills 14 people including Ukrainian Minister of Internal Affairs Denys Monastyrsky .[16] [17] [18] January 20 – The Parliament of Trinidad and Tobago elects former senate president, minister and lawyer Christine Kangaloo as president in a 48–22 vote.[19] January 21
January 25 – Chris Hipkins succeeds Jacinda Ardern as Prime Minister of New Zealand ,[22] her resignation .[23] January 27 – Widespread unrest erupts in Israel following an Israeli military raid in Jenin the previous day which killed nine Palestinians. Incendiary air balloons are launched into Israeli-populated areas following it. Israel responds with targeted airstrikes. Later the same day, seven Jewish civilians are killed in a synagogue in Neve Yaakov in a terrorist attack.[24] [25] January 27 –28 – The second round of the 2023 Czech presidential election is held, with Petr Pavel declared winner.[26] January 30
February
February 1 – Lebanese liquidity crisis : The central bank of Lebanon devalues the Lebanese pound by 90% amid an ongoing financial crisis .[31] February 2
February 3
February 4 – Cyclone Freddy forms in the Indian Ocean . It would become the longest lasting tropical cyclone in history and cause over 1,400 deaths and countless injuries and property damage across southeastern Africa.[40] February 5 – The 2023 Cypriot presidential election is held, with Nikos Christodoulides elected president .[41] [42] February 6 – A 7.8 earthquake strikes southern and central Turkey and northern and western Syria followed by a 7.7 M ww aftershock on the same day, causing widespread damage and at more than 59,000 fatalities and 121,000 injured.[43] [44] [45] February 13 – The 2023 Bangladeshi presidential election scheduled for 19 February is held, with Shahabuddin Chuppu of the Awami League , the only nominated candidate, elected unopposed.[46] [47] [48] [49] [50] February 14 – The European Parliament approves a ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel vehicles in the European Union from 2035, citing the need to combat climate change in Europe and promote electric vehicles .[51] February 16 – Lawmakers in the Russian State Duma vote to withdraw Russia from 21 conventions of the Council of Europe .[52] February 17 – The South African Navy hosts a ten-day joint military exercise in the Indian Ocean with Russia and China .[53] February 19 – Libyan Crisis : The African Union announces the organization of a peace conference to address the instability in Libya .[54] February 21 – Vladimir Putin announces that Russia is suspending its participation in New START , a nuclear arms reduction treaty with the US.[55] February 23 – Oman opens its airspace to Israeli airlines for the first time, in an upgrade of bilateral relations .[56] February 25 – 2023 Nigerian general election : Bola Tinubu is elected as Nigeria's president , defeating former vice president Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi .[57] [58] February 27 – The United Kingdom and the European Union reach an agreement surrounding modifications to the Northern Ireland Protocol .[59] February 28 – A train crash in Thessaly , Greece , kills 57 people and injures dozens. The crash leads to nationwide protests and strikes against the condition of Greek railways and their mismanagement.[60] [61] March
March 2 – The National Assembly of Vietnam declares Võ Văn Thưởng as the country's new president after receiving 98.38% votes from the Vietnamese parliament.[62] March 4
March 5 – The 2023 Estonian parliamentary election is held, with two centre-right liberal parties gaining an absolute majority for the first time.[66] March 8 –21 – The 2023 World Baseball Classic is held in, and won by, Japan .[67] March 8 – Allied Democratic Forces jihadist insurgents use machetes to kill about 35 people in the village of Mukondi, North Kivu , Democratic Republic of the Congo .[68] March 10
March 14 – OpenAI launches GPT-4 , a large language model for ChatGPT , which can respond to images and can process up to 25,000 words.[74] March 17 – The International Criminal Court issues an arrest warrant for Russian president Vladimir Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova , Russian Commissioner for Children's Rights, marking the first arrest warrant against a leader of a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council .[75] [76] March 19 – In a deal brokered by the Swiss government , investment bank UBS agrees to buy Credit Suisse for CHF 3 billion (US$3.2 billion ) in an all-stock deal.[77] [78] [79] March 20 – The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) releases the synthesis report of its Sixth Assessment Report on climate change .[80] March 23 – World Athletics , the global governing body for athletics, bans trans women who have gone through male puberty from competing in female events.[81] March 24 –27 – A tornado outbreak kills at least 26 people in Mississippi and Alabama. This includes a violent tornado which devastated the city of Rolling Fork and the town of Silver City in Mississippi, killing 16 people and injuring 165 others.[82] [83] March 26
March 29
March 30 – The International Court of Justice rules that the United States violated its Treaty of Amity with Iran when it allowed its domestic courts to freeze assets held by Iranian companies.[90] March 31 – April 1 – A historic and widespread tornado outbreak occurs in the United States, killing 33 people, injuring more than 218 others, and caused over $5.4 billion in damage. This tornado outbreak produced 147 tornadoes, making it the third largest tornado outbreak in history.[91] June
June 2 – A train collision in Odisha , India results in at least 296 deaths and more than 1,200 others injured.[138] June 6
June 11 – Honduras opens its first embassy in Beijing , China , after breaking off relations with Taiwan in March.[146] June 12 – Eritrea rejoins the Intergovernmental Authority on Development trade bloc after suspending its membership in 2007.[147] June 13 – At least 106 people are killed when a wedding boat capsizes on the Niger River in Kwara State , Nigeria .[148] June 14
June 18 – Titan submersible implosionTitan submersible exploring the wreck of the Titanic [151] June 19
June 20 – At least 46 people are killed after a riot between MS-13 and Barrio 18 gang members at a women's prison near Tegucigalpa , Honduras .[154] June 23 – Russian invasion of Ukraine : The Wagner Group , led by Yevgeny Prigozhin , begins an armed conflict with the Russian military, seizing the city of Rostov-on-Don and portions of the Voronezh Oblast before withdrawing the next day, after a peace agreement brokered by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko .[155] June 25 – The June 2023 Greek legislative election is held; Kyriakos Mitsotakis becomes prime minister after his centre-right party , New Democracy , wins a majority of seats in the Greek parliament .[156] June 28 – The 2023 Sierra Leonean general election is held; Julius Maada Bio of the Sierra Leone People's Party is re-elected president .[157] June 30 – The United Nations Security Council votes unanimously to end MINUSMA , its peacekeeping mission in Mali .[158] July
July 3
July 4 – Iran joins the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation , becoming the organization's ninth member.[162] July 8 – In the Netherlands, the governing coalition collapses and Prime Minister Mark Rutte announces his upcoming resignation.[163] July 9
July 10
July 13 – Pita Limjaroenrat fails to become Prime Minister of Thailand in a National Assembly vote after forming a coalition with pro-democracy parties following the 2023 Thai general election .[168] July 14 – SAG-AFTRA announces it will begin a strike against the major film and TV studios in protest of low compensation, ownership of work, and generative AI .[169] July 19 – Typhoon Doksuri forms in the eastern Pacific Ocean , going on to kill 137 people in Southeast Asia .[170] July 20 –August 20 – The 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup is held in Australia and New Zealand . In the final , Spain wins 1–0 against England .[171] July 20 – Bolivia and Iran sign a memorandum of understanding , in an upgrade of bilateral relations, expanding cooperation in the security and defense sectors.[172]
July 21 – The films Barbie Oppenheimer Barbenheimer .[173] [174] July 23
July 26 – President Mohamed Bazoum of Niger is toppled in a coup d'état after members of his presidential guard and the armed forces seize control of the country and install General Abdourahamane Tchiani as leader of a military junta .[181] [182] July 30 – 63 people are killed and over 200 are injured after a suicide bombing occurs in Khar, Pakistan ; the Islamic State – Khorasan Province claims responsibility for the attack.[183] August
August 1 – Global warming : The world's oceans reach a new record high temperature of 20.96 °C (69.73 °F) , exceeding the previous record in 2016. July is also the hottest month on record for globally averaged surface air temperatures by a considerable margin (0.3 °C (32.5 °F) ).[184] [185] [186] August 8 – 2023 Hawaii wildfires : 17,000 acres of land are burned and at least 101 people are killed, with two others missing, when a series of wildfires break out on the island of Maui in Hawaii .[187] August 10 – Tapestry , the holding company of Coach New York and Kate Spade , announces it will acquire Michael Kors ' Capri Holdings , which also owns Versace and Jimmy Choo .[188] August 16 –21 – Hurricane Hilary , a Category 4 Pacific Hurricane, strikes the Baja California peninsula and later causes record flooding in Southern California .[189] August 18 – American–Japanese–Korean trilateral pact : The United States, Japan, and South Korea agree to sign a trilateral pact.[190] August 20 – 2023 Guatemalan presidential election : After two rounds of voting, Bernardo Arévalo of Semilla is elected with 58% of the vote.[191] [192] August 21
August 23
August 30 – Following the announcement of incumbent president Ali Bongo Ondimba's reelection as President of Gabon after the 2023 presidential election , the military launches a successful coup d'état and creates the Committee for the Transition and Restoration of Institutions to govern the country, ending the rule of the Bongo family after 56 years in power.[200] August 31 – 2023 Johannesburg building fire : 77 people are killed and more than 85 are injured in a fire in a building that had been taken over by gangs who rented it out to squatters .[201] [202] September
September 1 – 2023 Singaporean presidential election : Economist and former deputy prime minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam is elected president with a vote share of over 70%.[203] September 2 – The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully launches Aditya-L1 , India's first solar observation mission.[204] September 8 – October 28 – The 2023 Rugby World Cup is held in France . South Africa beat New Zealand 12–11 in the final at the Stade de France , claiming their 4th Rugby World Cup title.[205] September 8 – 2023 Marrakesh–Safi earthquake : A 6.9 magnitude earthquake strikes Marrakesh–Safi province in western Morocco , killing at least 2,960 people and damaging historic buildings.[206]
September 9 – At the 18th G20 summit in New Delhi , the African Union is announced as the 21st permanent member of the G20 .[207] September 10 – Storm Daniel , a Mediterranean tropical-like cyclone , kills at least 5,000 people, with a further 10,000 to 100,000 reported missing. In the city of Derna in Libya , two dams collapse , resulting in a quarter of the city being destroyed.[208] September 14 – The European Central Bank (ECB) raises eurozone interest rates to an all-time high of 4%, amid ongoing inflationary pressures across the continent.[209] September 19 – Nagorno-Karabakh conflict : Azerbaijan launches a military offensive against the Armenia -backed Republic of Artsakh , which ends with a swift Azerbaijani victory.[210] Protests erupt in Armenia, Artsakh announces the dissolution of government institutions , and over 100,000 ethnic Armenians flee Nagorno-Karabakh .[211] [212] September 20 – Archaeologists in Zambia find the world's oldest wooden structure , dating back 476,000 years, consisting of two interlocking wooden logs connected by a notch securing one perpendicular to the other.[213] September 21 – Rupert Murdoch announces his retirement and passes his businesses on to his son Lachlan . Murdoch led News Corp and Fox , and formerly Sky Group .[214] [215] September 24 – 2023 Nigerien crisis : French President Emmanuel Macron announces that France will end its military presence in Niger and will recall its ambassador from the country.[216] September 25 – An estimated 170 people are killed and over 300 are injured during a explosion at a gas station in Stepanakert , Nagorno-Karabakh .[217] September 30 – 2023 Slovak parliamentary election : Smer , under the leadership of former prime minister Robert Fico , wins a plurality of seats in the National Council .[218] [219] 