2023: Year overshadowed by brutal war in Middle East Jan 8. Supporters of former president Jair Bolsonaro invade Brazil’s National Congress in an effort to oust President Luis Inácio Lula da Silva 16. Italy’s most-wanted Mafia boss is arrested in Sicily after 30 years on the run ——————————— Feb 4. The U.S. shoots down a Chinese balloon suspected of spying on military sites. China insists it is a meteorological research balloon blown off course 5. Beyoncé wins four more Grammy Awards, taking her overall tally to 32, more than any other artist in Grammys’ history 6. An earthquake in Turkey and Syria kills over 51,000 people and leaves two million homeless in the deadliest natural disaster in Turkey’s modern history ——————————— Mar 13. Cyclone Freddy batters southern Africa for a second time in its five-week duration. It claims over 1,400 lives in Malawi and Mozambique 21. Chinese president Xi Jinping makes a state visit to Russia in a show of support for President Vladimir Putin ——————————— Apr 4. Finland becomes the 31st member of NATO, doubling the length of the security alliance’s borders with Russia 4. Donald Trump becomes the first former U.S. president to face a criminal trial, pleading not guilty to a growing list of charges 20. SpaceX’s Starship, the biggest and most powerful rocket built to date, malfunctions and is blown up just four minutes into its inaugural flight ——————————— May 5. The WHO ends its designation of the Covid-19 pandemic as a global health emergency 6. The coronation of King Charles III takes centre stage in London 9. Unrest erupts in Pakistan after former prime minister Imran Khan is arrested ——————————— Jun 6. The Nova Kakhovka dam in Ukraine’s Kherson region is destroyed, sending floodwaters surging down the Dnipro River 7. Millions of people in the eastern U.S. and central Canada are warned to limit time outdoors due to smoke and bad air quality from huge wildfires in Ontario and Quebec 18. A catastrophic implosion on the Titan submersible on a dive to view the wreck of the Titanic kills all five people on board 24. Yevgeny Prigozhin’s Wagner Group mutinies against Moscow, but the revolt is called off within hours. Prigozhin dies in a plane crash two months later ——————————— Jul 6. Earth experiences its hottest day to date, with an average temperature of 17.23°C (63°F) 14. Movie actors join a strike by screenwriters in the industry’s biggest shutdown in 60 years 24. Two starkly contrasting films, Barbie and Oppenheimer, are released simultaneously, sparking the cultural phenomenon dubbed Barbenheimer 26. Niger’s presidential guard stages a coup d'état, detaining President Mohamed Bazoum ——————————— Aug 7. Canada’s worst ever wildfire season leads to the loss of around four percent of its entire forest area 8. Wildfires in Hawaii kill more than 110 people and destroy the historic town of Lahaina 23. India’s Chandrayaan-3 becomes the first spacecraft to land near the moon’s south pole 30. President Ali Bongo of Gabon is ousted in a military coup, ending his family’s 55 years in power ——————————— Sep 7. Storm Daniel unleashes four days of cataclysmic rain in central Greece 8. A severe earthquake in Morocco kills almost 3,000 people and destroys historic landmarks in and around Marrakesh 10. Storm Daniel hits Libya, causing two dams to collapse and leaving around 4,000 people dead in the coastal city of Derna 12. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un arrives in Russia for a summit with President Putin 18. Canada expels a top Indian diplomat, sparking a diplomatic row 19. Azerbaijan recaptures the breakaway republic of Nagorno-Karabakh in a lightning offensive that empties the region of its ethnic Armenian population 24. NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission successfully returns samples of the asteroid Bennu to Earth 28. Vandals cut down a landmark sycamore tree on Hadrian’s Wall in northern England ——————————— Oct 3. Kevin McCarthy becomes the first Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives to be ousted from office 7. Two earthquakes leave more than 2,000 people dead in Herat, in western Afghanistan 7. Israel declares a state of war after Hamas and other Palestinian militant groups launch multiple attacks from the Gaza Strip that kill at least 1,200 Israelis and seize more than 240 hostages 14. In a referendum, Australian voters reject altering the Constitution to establish an Indigenous Voice to Parliament ——————————— Nov 13. Gaza’s largest hospital, Al-Shifa, runs out of fuel. Some 600 patients, staff and 1,500 people taking shelter from Israeli air strikes are trapped inside 19. Far-right libertarian outsider Javier Milei is elected president of Argentina, vowing “drastic” changes to government 22. Far-right leader Geert Wilders wins a dramatic election victory in the Netherlands, sending shockwaves through the EU 24. A temporary ceasefire between Israel and Hamas sees a number of Israeli and other hostages released in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, and vital humanitarian aid allowed into Gaza 28. All 41 construction workers trapped in a tunnel in northern India after a landslide are rescued after 17 days underground ——————————— Dec 3. Venezuelans approve a referendum to claim sovereignty over an oil-rich region of neighbouring Guyana 6. Taylor Swift’s Eras tour becomes the first tour to gross $1 billion. In the same week she is named Time’s person of the year 13. The first ever UN climate deal calling for a global transition away from fossil fuels is adopted at COP28 in Dubai