2023: Year overshadowed by brutal war in Middle East Feb: Turkey earthquake Apr: Starship test May: King crowned Jun: Ukraine dam destroyed Jun: Titan sub disaster Jun: Smog from wildfires Jul: Barbenheimer frenzy Jul: Screen actors’ strike Sep: Iconic tree felled Sep: Libya catastrophe Oct: Israel-Hamas war Oct: Israeli hostages JAN 8 Supporters of former president Jair Bolsonaro invade Brazil’s National Congress in an effort to oust President Luiz 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 U.S. 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 the first of a growing list of charges 20 SpaceX’s Starship, the biggest 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 wildfires in Ontario and Quebec 18 The catastrophic implosion of 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 the country’s 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 at least 4,000 people dead in the coastal city of Derna 12 North Korean leader Kim Jong Un travels to eastern Russia for a summit with President Putin 18 Canada expels a top Indian diplomat, sparking a major 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 claim more than 2,000 lives 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 (below left) is elected president of Argentina, vowing “drastic” changes in government 22 Far-right leader Geert Wilders (right) wins a dramatic election victory in the Netherlands to send shockwaves through the EU 24 A temporary ceasefire between Israel and Hamas sees a number of Israeli and other hostages freed 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 Pictures: Getty Images, Newscom © GRAPHIC NEWS