2023 in review – from royal bombshells to global strikes and extreme weather events, the first six months of the year have been wild
2023 has been a busy year. It’s one we definitely won’t forget, from a bombshell royal memoir to kick start the year, to two of the biggest box office movies that took over the summer. India made history with its space achievements and the 2023 Women’s World Cup hit record attendance and viewing figures.
It’s been a busy 2023 – We’ve rounded up the key moments of each month, for the first six months of the year.
January 2023 – Royal scandal and shock political resignation
As the new year arrived, any hopes of a quiet January were quickly dashed as 2023 immediately kicked off a series of big events. The month was arguably dominated by two of the year’s biggest news stories: Prince Harry’s memoir and New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s shock resignation.
- US actor Jeremy Renner was accidentally run over by a snowplow breaking more than 30 bones in his body.
- In Brazil Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is sworn in as the 39th President, it marks his third term in office. Supporters of former President Jair Bolsonaro attacked government buildings.
- Cristiano Ronaldo joined Saudi club Al Nassr for the “biggest salary ever in football”.
- Intense storm hits Southern California, forcing evacuations in Montecito and Santa Barbara.
- A gunman shoots and kills eleven people, injuring nine, in California.
- Prince Harry released his memoir, Spare.
- New Zealand PM Jacinda Ardern announces she is stepping down after five and a half years.
- Suicide bomb blast kills at least 100 and injures 157 people at a mosque for police officers in Peshawar, Pakistan
February 2023 – New Brexit deal & natural disaster strikes
As February rolled in tragedy struck, with natural weather events around the world dominating the news. The biggest story of the month was the devastating Turkey and Syria earthquakes. The region suffered a catastrophic 7.8 magnitude earthquake that killed 59,259 people. Over the following three weeks, the region suffered over 10,000 aftershocks. It was the deadliest earthquake in Turkey since 526 AD and Syria since 1822.
- NFL quarterback Tom Brady announces retirement.
- New Zealand declared a national state of emergency after Cyclone Gabrielle caused widespread flooding.
- Scottish FM Nicola Sturgeon resigned from office after eight years.
- FBI say they believed Covid-19 had originated from a lab in Wuhan, China.
- Harvey Weinstein gets another 16 years in prison, on top of the 23 years he is already serving for sex crimes.
- South African President Cyril Ramaphosa declares “a national state of disaster” to respond to the country’s electricity crisis.
- India opens the first part of what will be its longest expressway linking Mumbai with New Delhi.
- Brazil’s Sao Paulo was hit by flooding and landslides after heavy rain, with at least 44 killed and 800 homeless.
- Winter storm sees snow in parts of southern California for the first time in decades, down to 1,000 feet, with snow 1000 inches deep in San Bernardino Mountains.
- New post-Brexit deal for Northern Ireland announced by UK PM Rishi Sunak and President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen.
March 2023 – bank collapse causes panic & strikes across Europe
March saw more natural disasters and another mass shooting in the USA. Israelis, Germans and the French were taking to the streets to protest, the UK news was dominated by a Gary Linekar tweet and the war in Europe continued to dominate the stories.
- 1.28M people protested in France against government plans to raise the pension age from 62 to 64.
- The ICC issued an arrest warrant against Russian President Vladimir Putin.
- California’s Silicon Valley Bank, the main bank for tech-start ups, collapses after a sudden bank run and credit crisis.
- Gary Lineker suspended by BBC for tweeting about the UK government’s immigration policy.
There is no huge influx. We take far fewer refugees than other major European countries. This is just an immeasurably cruel policy directed at the most vulnerable people in language that is not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the 30s, and I’m out of order?
— Gary Lineker (@GaryLineker) March 7, 2023
- Russia launched missile attacks on Ukrainian cities and their infrastructure, killing 11 and injuring 20.
- Xi Jinping appointed to a historic third term as President of China.
- Half a million Israelis protest plans by Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to overhaul the country’s judicial system for tenth week in a row.
- Argentina’s annual inflation rate past 100% at 102.5%, for the first time since hyperinflation in 1991.
- Sri Lanka receives bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) worth $2.9bn, amid its worst financial crisis since independence in 1948 .
- Canada records record population growth, adding 1 million people in 2022, mostly through immigration.
- Harry Kane overtakes Wayne Rooney’s record to become England’s all-time greatest goalscorer.
- Female shooter kills 6 people at private Christian school Convent Elementary, in Nashville, Tennessee, before being shot and killed – 19th US school shooting in three months.
- Germany experiences one of its largest strikes in decades, bringing public transport comes to an almost complete halt, amid calls for higher wages.
- Humza Yousaf elected leader of SNP party and becomes the country’s First Minister.
- Donald Trump is indicted by a Manhattan Grand Jury on charges over hush payments paid to porn star Stormy Daniels.
- US suffers numerous tornadoes leaving at least 32 dead.
April 2023 – Nato gets a new member & Nasa plans Moon trip
April was another busy month, with continued weather events and plenty coming from the USA’s political landscape, with former US President Donald Trump pleading not guilty in a NY court to 34 felony counts of falsifying documents related to 2016 hush money payments to a woman alleging they had an extramarital affair. Joe Biden announced he will be running for reflection in the 2024 US presidential election – it’s likely he’ll face Donald Trump again.
- Finland officially joined NATO, becoming the 31st member of the security alliance.
- The Dalai Lama apologises for a video showing him asking a boy to suck his tongue, after widespread criticism.
- Myanmar military kill at least 133 civilians, including children, in an airstrike on Kanbalu township in an area not under control of the military junta.
- Royal Bank of Canada named the world’s largest financier of fossil fuels.
- Germany ends its use of nuclear power, closing its last three nuclear power plants.
- Fox News settles lawsuit with Dominion Voting Systems for $787.5 million, moments before trial, with Fox admitting it had defamed Dominion during US 2020 election by broadcasting conspiracy theories.
- Tucker Carlson is fired from Fox News in the USA.
- 136 people massacred in village of Karma, Burkina Faso, one of the country’s worst attacks on civilians, blamed on the country’s security forces.
- India surpasses China as the world’s most populous country according to UN estimates.
- Record April temperatures continue across Thailand, Myanmar, Laos and Vietnam.
- James Corden’s final appearance as host of “The Late Late Show”.
May 2023 – Hollywood strikes and Charles crowned King
May was dominated by the massive Hollywood strikes, bringing the US entertainment industry to a grinding halt and the coronation of King Charles. The new monarch and his wife Camilla were crowned at Westminster Abbey in early May.
- The Writers Guild of America and Screen Actors Guild (writers and actors unions) go on strike over pay, conditions and concerns over use of AI.
- King Charles III and Camilla are crowned – first monarch crowned in the UK in 70 years.
- Serbian student, 13, shoots and kills nine people at his Belgrade school, eight students and a security guard, before handing himself in.
- Manchester City’s Erling Haaland sets a new record for most goals scored in a single Premier League season.
- WHO declares Covid-19 over as a global health emergency, but remains a significant threat.
- Canada’s Alberta declares a state of emergency over unprecedented wildfires, more than 100, that have forced the evacuation of 25,000 people.
- Former Pakistani PM Imran Khan arrested in Islamabad, prompting violent protests between his supporters and security forces.
- Donald Trump is found guilty of sexually abusing E. Jean Carroll in a New York court and ordered to pay $5 million for battery and defamation.
- First children born in the UK with DNA from three people, using mitochondrial replacement therapy (MRT) – in attempt to prevent baby from inheriting mitochondrial DNA mutations.
- Montana is the first US state to ban TikTok.
- World now likely to pass the key warming threshold of 1.5C, with scientists predicting 66% this will happen chance between now and 2027.
- This Morning TV presenter Phillip Schofield resigns after 20 years in the role. It later emerges he was having an affair with a younger colleague and lied about it.
- Former American start-up founder Elizabeth Holmes begins her 11-year prison sentence for defrauding investors with her blood-testing company Theranos.
June 2023 – Missing Titanic sub & Heatwaves sweep the world
June saw more extreme weather events as heatwaves swept the world, a missile submersible – en route to the sea floor to see the wreckage of the Titanic and more political drama dominated the news. In sports, Manchester City won the treble – the Premier League title, The FA Cup and the Champions League.
- Former US President Donald Trump formally accused of mishandling documents.
- US Congress passes bipartisan legislation raising $31.4 trillion debt ceiling avoiding a default, after deal struck between President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
- The Titan submersible lost contact just one hour and forty-five minutes after it dove below the surface. It as en route to see the wreckage of the Titanic. All five of the expedition’s participants, including Oceangate CEO died.
- In western Haiti heavy rain and flooding leaves at least 42 people dead and thousands displaced.
- Prince Harry is the first senior royal to testify in court in 130 years, accusing Mirror Group Newspapers of hacking his emails.
- New York’s air quality sinks to the lowest in the world (air quality index 218) as smoke from Canadian wildfires blankets the American north east.
- US federal prosecutors file 37 count indictment against former US President Donald Trump, for unlawful retention of defense information, for storing dozens of classified documents at his Florida resort, and obstruction of justice.
- Former UK PM Boris Johnson resigns as an MP accusing government Committee of trying to “drive me out,” ahead of their report investigating if he misled the government over PartyGate.
- Four Colombian children are found safe after surviving 40 days in the Colombian jungle after their plane crashed killing the three adults on board.
- Heatwave with temperatures between 42C and 47C in Indian province of Uttar Pradesh, with a controversy erupting after official suggests dozens have died because of it.
- Online personality Andrew Tate indicted on charges of human trafficking and forming a gang to abuse women in Romania.
- Beijing records its hottest June day of 41.1C (105.9F), since records began in 1961.
- Heatwave across Texas, southern America and northern Mexico enters a third week, with San Angelo hitting record high of 112 degrees Fahrenheit.
- French police officer shoots dead a 17-year old at a traffic stop in Paris, prompting a wave of violent protests across the country.
- Former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro is barred from running for office for eight years by the country’s Supreme Electoral Court after he is found guilty of abusing his power.
July – December
In the next In Review we look at the second half of 2023 – which kicked off with a global cultural phenomenon known as Barbenheimer, a summer dominated by extreme weather events and a former president has his mugshot taken.
