2023

2023 (MMXXIII) is the current year, and is .
The year started with the continuation of the Russian invasion of Ukraine which began in early 2022. In January, an Islamist suicide bomber killed over 80 people in a mosque in Pakistan. In February, a major earthquake struck Turkey and Syria, killing more than 46,000 people, making it one of the deadliest earthquakes of the 21st century.
Former King of Greece Constantine II, former President of Pakistan Pervez Musharraf, musician Burt Bacharach and singer Tina Turner died.
Events
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.
Uzbekistan switches from Cyrillic script to Latin script.
January 5-13
Unrest follows the arrest of drug kingpin Ovidio Guzman Lopez in Sinaloa, Mexico, killing 10 soldiers and 19 cartel members.
The funeral for Pope Benedict XVI is held at Saint Peter's Square within the Vatican City.
January 8
A bus crash in Senegal kills 40 people and injures over 100 others.
COVID-19 pandemic: China reopens its borders to international visitors, marking the end of travel restrictions that began in March 2020.
Supporters of former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro storm the Brazilian National Congress, the Supreme Federal Court and the Presidential Palace of Planalto.
January 10 - Constantine II, the last King of Greece, dies aged 82.
January 15 - A plane crash in Nepal kills all 72 people onboard.
January 16 - Italian police arrest Matteo Messina Denaro, the head of Sicilian Mafia in Palermo, Sicily.
January 17
A winter storm in Afghanistan begins, killing over 120 people.
Nguyen Xuan Phuc resigns as President of Vietnam and is replaced by Vo Thi Anh Xuan.
January 18
A helicopter crash near Kyiv, Ukraine kills fourteen people, including Interior Minister Denys Monastyrsky.
Gaston Browne is re-elected Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda.
January 19 - Jacinda Ardern announces her resignation as Prime Minister of New Zealand, months before the general election. Three days later, Chris Hipkins is elected as her replacement.
January 20 - Christine Kangaloo is elected as the 7th President of Trinidad and Tobago.
January 21 - In a mass shooting at a Chinese New Year celebration, a gunman kills eleven people in Monterey Park, California, United States. Two days later, seven others would be killed in another mass shooting in Half Moon Bay, California.
January 23 - Former President of Guatemala Alvaro Colom dies at the age of 71.
January 24 - A green comet makes its closest approach to the Earth.
January 27-28 - The second round of the 2023 Czech presidential election is held. Petr Pavel wins the election.
January 30 - An Islamist suicide bomber kills over 80 people in a mosque in Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan.
February
February 3 - A train carrying hazardous materials runs off the tracks in East Palestine, Ohio. A bunch of train cars burned for more than two days, and then emergency crews did a controlled burn of more cars. The fires released hydrogen chloride and phosgene into the atmosphere.
February 4 - The U.S. Government shoots down a Chinese spy balloon in U.S. territorial waters in the Atlantic Ocean off South Carolina.
February 5 - The 2023 Cypriot presidential election is held, with Nikos Christodoulides elected president.
February 6 - An earthquake in southeastern Turkey kills over 45,000 people in Turkey and over 6,000 in Syria.
February 20 - 2023 Daytona 500.
February 21 - Vladimir Putin announces that Russia is suspending its participation in New START, a nuclear arms reduction treaty with the US.
February 25 - 2023 Nigerian general election: Bola Tinubu is elected as Nigeria's president, defeating former vice president Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi.
February 27 - The United Kingdom and the European Union reach an agreement about changes to the Northern Ireland Protocol.
February 28 - A head-on train crash in Tempi, Larissa, Thessaly, Greece kills at least 57 people.
March
March 2 - The National Assembly of Vietnam declares Vo Van Thuong as the country's new president after receiving 98.38% votes from the Vietnamese parliament.
March 4 - UN member states agree on a legal framework for the High Seas Treaty, which aims to protect 30% of the world's oceans by 2030.
March 5 - Estonian parliamentary election
March 9 - A former Jehovah's Witness kills seven people, a fetus and himself in a mass shooting at a Kingdom Hall in Hamburg, Germany.
March 10
2023 People's Republic of China presidential election: The National People's Congress unanimously re-elects Xi Jinping as the President of the People's Republic of China to an unprecedented third term.
Iran and Saudi Arabia agree to resume diplomatic relations which were severed in 2016 at talks meditated by China.
Silicon Valley Bank, the 16th largest bank in the United States, fails, creating then the largest bank failure since the 2008 financial crisis, affecting companies around the world.
March 17 - The International Criminal Court issues an arrest warrant for Russian president Vladimir Putin. This is the first arrest warrant it has issued against a leader of a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council.
March 19 - Swiss investment bank UBS Group AG agrees to buy Credit Suisse for 3 billion Swiss francs () in an all-stock deal brokered by the government of Switzerland and the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority.
March 20 - The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) releases the synthesis report of its Sixth Assessment Report on climate change.
March 26 - 2023 Israeli judicial reform protests: Protests break out across Israel, after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fires his defence minister who spoke against the government's judicial reform plan.
March 27
A trans man shoots dead six people at an elementary school in Nashville, Tennessee, United States.
Detainees at an immigration detention centre in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico, set fire to their mattresses, killing 39 people.
April
April 2
2023 Bulgarian parliamentary election
2023 Montenegrin presidential election: Jakov Milatovic of the Europe Now! movement wins in the second round, becoming the first president not from the DPS party since the introduction of a multi-party system in 1990.
2023 Finnish parliamentary election: the centre-right National Coalition led by Petteri Orpo receives the most votes.
2023 Andorran parliamentary election: the ruling Democrats for Andorra led by Prime Minister Xavier Espot win the majority of the seats.
2023 Saint Petersburg bombing: Russian pro-government war correspondent Vladlen Tatarsky is killed by a bombing at a cafe in Saint Petersburg owned by oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin. Sixteen others are injured.
April 4 - Finland becomes the 31st member of NATO.
April 10 - Two document leaks from the Pentagon detailing foreign military aid relating to the Russian invasion of Ukraine are leaked onto the Internet.
April 11 - Myanmar civil war: In the village of Pazigyi, at least 165 people are killed by the Myanmar Air Force during the opening celebrations of a People's Defence Force administration office.
April 14 - Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) is launched by the European Space Agency (ESA) to search for life in the Moons of Jupiter. It is expected to reach the moons in 2031.
April 15
Nuclear power in Germany ends after the final power plants close. Nuclear was a power source for the country for over 50 years.
Fighting breaks out across Sudan between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. The RSF captures Khartoum International Airport, and the presidential palace in Khartoum.
April 19 - At least 90 people are killed and another 322 injured in a crowd crush during a Ramadan charity event in Sanaa, Yemen.
April 20
SpaceX's Starship rocket, the largest and most powerful rocket ever built, is launched during a flight test from a base in Boca Chica, Texas, United States. It explodes four minutes after launch.
A hybrid solar eclipse is visible from Australia, East Timor, and Indonesia.
April 25 - A mass cult suicide is uncovered in Shakahola forest, Kenya. 110 followers are found in shallow graves throughout the forest. Over 300 people remain missing. It is believed Good News International Ministries leader Paul Nthenge Mackenzie told his followers to starve themselves to death in order to "meet God".
April 26 - Chinese leader Xi Jinping calls Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, a month after Xi's summit with Russia's president Vladimir Putin.
April 30 - 2023 Paraguayan general election: the Colorado Party candidate Santiago Pena is elected as the next president.
May
May 1 - 2023 banking crisis: San Francisco-based First Republic Bank fails and is auctioned off by the US FDIC to JPMorgan Chase for $10.7 billion. The collapse surpasses March's collapse of Silicon Valley Bank to become the second largest in US history.
May 2 - Floods hit Emilia-Romagna, Italy.
May 3 - Belgrade school shooting
May 4 - 4 May 2023 Serbia shootings
May 5 - The World Health Organization announces that COVID-19 is no longer considered a global health emergency.
May 6 - The coronation of Charles III and Camilla as King and Queen of the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms is held in Westminster Abbey, London.
May 9 - Cyclone Mosha
May 9-13 - The Eurovision Song Contest 2023 is held in Liverpool, UK.
May 13-27 - A parliamentary election happens in Mauritania.
June
June 2 - 2023 Odisha train collision
June 8 - Severe flooding starts in South Korea.
June 12 - Kwara boat disaster
June 13 - 2023 Nottingham attacks
June 14 - 2023 Messenia migrant boat disaster
June 16 - Mpondwe school massacre
June 18 - Titan submersible implosion
June 20 - Tamara prison riot
July
July 17 - Wildfires begin in Greece, killing 35 people.
July 18 - Voyager 2 overtook Pioneer 10 to become the 2nd farthest spacecraft from the Sun.
July 30 - 2023 Khar bombing
August
August 1 - Global warming: The world's oceans reach a new record high temperature of 20.96 degC, exceeding the previous record in 2016. July is also confirmed as having been the hottest month on record for globally averaged surface air temperatures by a considerable margin (0.3 degC).
August 6 - 2023 Hazara Express derailment
August 8 - Wildfires begin in Hawaii, killing over 115 people.
August 15 - A wildfire begins in Tenerife in the Canary Islands.
August 23 - 2023 Tver plane crash
August 30 - The military of Gabon performs a coup, replacing Ali Bongo Ondimba as president.
September
September 24 - OSIRIS-REx is expected to return with samples from the Asteroid Bennu in the Apollo group.
Deaths
January
January 1 - Frank McGarvey, Scottish footballer and manager (b. 1956)
January 2 - Ken Block, American rally driver (b. 1967)
January 3
Abdelsalam Majali, 29th Prime Minister of Jordan (b. 1925)
Elena Huelva, Spanish cancer activist, influencer and writer (b. 2000)
January 4
Rosi Mittermaier, German alpine skier and Olympic champion (b. 1950)
Marie Kovarova, Czechoslovak gymnast and Olympic champion (b. 1927)
January 5 - Ernesto Castano, Italian footballer and coach
January 6
Dick Savitt, American tennis player (b. 1927)
Gianluca Vialli, Italian footballer and manager (b. 1964)
January 7 - Modeste M'bami, Cameroonian footballer and Olympic champion
January 8 - Roberto Dynamite, Brazilian footballer and politician
January 9 - K. Alex Muller, Swiss Nobel physicist (b. 1927)
January 10
Jeff Beck, English guitarist (b. 1944)
Constantine II, last King of Greece (b. 1940)
George Pell, Australian cardinal (b. 1941)
January 13 - Klas Lestander, Swedish biathlete and Olympic champion (b. 1931)
January 16
Vladas Cesiunas, Lithuanian sprint canoeist and Olympic champion (b. 1940)
Gina Lollobrigida, Italian actress (b. 1927)
January 17 - Lucile Randon, French supercentenarian (b. 1904)
January 18 - David Crosby, American musician (b. 1941)
January 23 - Alvaro Colom, 47th President of Guatemala (b. 1951)
January 24 - B. V. Doshi, Indian architect (b. 1927)
January 30 - Bobby Hull, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1939)
February
February 2 - Jean-Pierre Jabouille, French F1 driver (b. 1942)
February 3 - Paco Rabanne, Spanish-French fashion designer (b. 1934)
February 4 - Sherif Ismail, 53rd Prime Minister of Egypt (b. 1955)
February 5 - Pervez Musharraf, 10th President of Pakistan (b. 1943)
February 6
Lubomir Strougal, 19th Prime Minister of Czechoslovakia (b. 1924)
Christian Atsu, Ghanaian footballer (b. 1992)
February 8
Burt Bacharach, American composer (b. 1928)
Ivan Silayev, 12th and final Premier of the Soviet Union (b. 1930)
February 10
Hugh Hudson, English film director (b. 1936)
Hans Modrow, 5th and final Chairman of the Council of Ministers of East Germany (b. 1928)
Carlos Saura, Spanish filmmaker (b. 1932)
Sergey Tereshchenko, 1st Prime Minister of Kazakhstan (b. 1951)
February 13 - Jose Maria Gil-Robles, 8th President of the European Parliament (b. 1935)
February 14 - Shoichiro Toyoda, Japanese businessman (b. 1925)
February 15
Paul Berg, American Nobel biochemist (b. 1926)
Raquel Welch, American actress (b. 1940)
February 17 - Stella Stevens, American actress (b. 1938)
February 18 - Petar Zhekov, Bulgarian footballer (b. 1944)
February 21 - Amancio, Spanish footballer (b. 1939)
February 22 - Ahmed Qurei, 2nd Prime Minister of the Palestinian National Authority (b. 1937)
February 23 - John Motson, English football commentator (b. 1945)
February 24 - Walter Mirisch, American film producer (b. 1921)
February 26 - Bob Richards, American pole vaulter and Olympic champion (b. 1926)
February 27 - Gerard Latortue, 12th Prime Minister of Haiti (b. 1934)
March
March 1 - Just Fontaine, French footballer (b. 1933)
March 2
Wayne Shorter, American jazz saxophonist (b. 1933)
Rafael Vinoly, Uruguayan architect (b. 1944)
March 3 - Tom Sizemore, American actor (b. 1961)
March 5
Klaus Bonsack, German luger and Olympic champion (b. 1941)
Gary Rossington, American guitarist (b. 1951)
Shozo Sasahara, Japanese wrestler and Olympic champion (b. 1929)
March 7 - Pat McCormick, American diver and Olympic champion (b. 1930)
March 9
Robert Blake, American actor
Randhir Singh, Indian cricketer
March 11 - Ignacio Lopez Tarso, Mexican actor
March 12 - Costa Titch, South African rapper
March 21 - Peter Werner, American film and television director
March 22 - Rebecca Jones, Mexican actress
March 25 - Pascoal Mocumbi, 2nd Prime Minister of Mozambique
March 28 - Ryuishi Sakamoto, Japanese composer
April
April 1
Klaus Teuber, German board game designer (b. 1952)
Wlodzimierz Schmidt, Polish chess grandmaster (b. 1943)
April 3 - Nigel Lawson, British politician and journalist (b. 1932)
April 5
Bill Butler, American cinematographer (b. 1921)
Sergio Gori, Italian footballer (b. 1946)
April 7
Ian Bairnson, Scottish musician (b. 1953)
Ben Ferencz, Hungarian-American lawyer (b. 1920)
April 10 - Fernando Sanchez Drago, Spanish writer
April 11 - Anne Perry, British writer and convicted murderer (b. 1938)
April 13
Craig Breen, Irish rally driver (b. 1990)
Mary Quant, British fashion designer (b. 1930)
April 14
Murray Melvin, English actor (b. 1932)
Mark Sheehan, Irish guitarist (b. 1976)
April 16 - Ahmad Jamal, American jazz pianist (b. 1930)
April 19 - Moon Bin, South Korean singer, actor, dancer and model
April 20 - Josep Maria Fuste, Spanish footballer (b. 1941)
April 21 - Juan Carlos Sarnari, Argentine footballer (b. 1942)
April 22 - Mudar Badran, 3-time Prime Minister of Jordan (b. 1934)
April 23 - Herb Douglas, American athlete (b. 1922)
April 25 - Harry Belafonte, American singer, activist and actor
April 27
Jean-Paul Costa, French jurist (b. 1941)
Giovanni Lombardo Radice, Italian actor (b. 1954)
Jerry Springer, American TV show host (b. 1944)
April 28 - Harold Kushner, American rabbi and author (b. 1935)
April 30 - Ralph Boston, American athlete (b. 1939)
May
May 1 - Gordon Lightfoot, Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1938)
May 2 - Tori Bowie, American athlete and Olympic champion
May 9
Antonio Carbajal, Mexican footballer (b. 1929)
Wilferd Madelung, German-British author (b. 1930)
May 10 - Rolf Harris, Australian entertainer
May 11 - Andras Adorjan, Hungarian chess grandmaster and author (b. 1950)
May 13 - Keiko Tanaka-Ikeda, Japanese athlete (b. 1933)
May 14
Doyle Brunson, American poker player (b. 1933)
Ingrid Haebler, Austrian pianist (b. 1929)
Ferran Olivella, Spanish footballer (b. 1936)
May 15 - Robert Lucas Jr., American economist (b. 1937)
May 18
Helmut Berger, Austrian actor (b. 1944)
Jim Brown, American professional football player and actor (b. 1936)
May 19
Martin Amis, British novelist, essayist, memoirist, and screenwriter (b. 1949)
Dzevad Karahasan, Bosnian writer, essayist and philosopher (b. 1953)
Andy Rourke, English bassist (b. 1964)
May 21 - Ed Ames, American singer and actor
May 24 - Tina Turner, American singer and actress (b. 1939)
May 28
Ilya Kabakov, Russian-American conceptual artist (b. 1933)
Harald zur Hausen, German virologist (b. 1936)
June
June 2 - Kaija Saariaho, Finnish composer (b. 1952)
June 4
Jim Hines, American athlete (b. 1946)
George Winston, American pianist (b. 1949)
June 5
Astrud Gilberto, Brazilian singer (b. 1940)
Robert Hanssen, American FBI agent and convicted spy (b. 1944)
Vadim Malakhatko, Ukrainian-Belgian chess grandmaster (b. 1977)
June 6 - Francoise Gilot, French painter (b. 1921)
June 7 - The Iron Sheik, Iranian-born American professional wrestler (b. 1942)
June 8 - Pat Robertson, American religious broadcaster and political commentator (b. 1930)
June 10 - Ted Kaczynski, American mathematician and domestic terrorist (b. 1942)
June 12
Silvio Berlusconi, four-time Prime Minister of Italy (b. 1936)
Harvey Glance, American athlete (b. 1957)
John Romita Sr., American comic book artist (b. 1930)
Treat Williams, American actor (b. 1951)
Vyacheslav Zaytsev, Russian volleyball player (b. 1952)
Carol Higgins Clark, American mystery author and actress (b. 1956)
June 15
Glenda Jackson, English actress and politician (b. 1936)
Donald Triplett, American medical figure (b. 1933)
June 18 - Stockton Rush, American businessman (b. 1962)
June 19 - Karolis Chvedukas, Lithuanian professional footballer (b. 1991)
June 22
Peter Brotzmann, German saxophonist (b. 1941)
Stephane Demol, Belgian footballer (b. 1966)
June 23 - Frederic Forrest, American actor (b. 1936)
June 24 - Dean Smith, American athlete (b. 1932)
June 25 - John B. Goodenough, American materials scientist (b. 1922)
June 26 Lloyd Erskine Sandiford, 4th Prime Minister of Barbados (b. 1937)
June 29
Alan Arkin, American actor (b. 1934)
Tapley Seaton, 4th Governor-General of Saint Kitts and Nevis (b. 1950)
July
July 1 - Dilano van 't Hoff, Dutch racing driver (b. 2004)
July 2 - Milan Milutinovic, former president of Serbia (b. 1942)
July 4 - Tabare Gomez Laborde, Uruguayan cartoonist (b. 1948)
July 6
Peter Nero, American pianist and conductor (b. 1934)
Arnaldo Forlani, 14th Prime Minister of Italy (b. 1925)
July 7 - Nikki McCray, American basketball player and Olympic champion (b. 1971)
July 9 - Luis Suarez, Spanish football player and manager (b. 1935)
July 11 - Milan Kundera, Czech-French writer (b. 1929)
July 16 - Jane Birkin, English-born French singer and actress (b. 1946)
July 21 - Tony Bennett, American singer (b. 1926)
July 26
Sinead O'Connor, Irish singer-songwriter (b. 1966)
Martin Walser, German writer (b. 1927)
July 28 - Jose Paulino Gomes, Brazilian supercentenarian (b. 1895?)
July 31
Inga Landgre, Swedish actress (b. 1927)
Suret Huseynov, 4th Prime Minister of Azerbaijan (b. 1959)
August
August 1 - Henri Konan Bedie, 2nd President of Ivory Coast (b. 1934)
August 4 - Boniface Alexandre, Interim President of Haiti (b. 1936)
August 7 - William Friedkin, American director and screenwriter (b. 1935)
August 8 - Sixto Rodriguez, American folk musician (b. 1942 )
August 9 - Robbie Robertson, Canadian singer-songwriter (b. 1943)
August 14 - Boris Dubrovsky, Soviet-Russian rower and Olympic champion (b. 1939)
August 16 - Renata Scotto, Italian operatic soprano (b. 1934)
August 18 - Jorn Riel, Danish writer (b. 1931)
August 23 - Yevgeny Prigojin, Russian oligarch (b. 1961)
August 26 - Bob Barker, American game show host (b. 1923)
References