2023
2023 (MMXXIII) is the current year, and is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar, the 2023rd year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 23rd  year of the 3rd millennium and the 21st century, and the  4th   year of the 2020s decade.  
On May 5 this year, the WHO ceased calling the COVID-19 pandemic a global health emergency, as infections continued to decrease. The Russian invasion of Ukraine, which began in 2022, continued, and an armed conflict broke out in Sudan, beginning in April. Catastrophic natural disasters included the fifth-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century striking Turkey and Syria, leaving nearly 60,000 people dead, as well as Cyclone Freddy, the longest-lasting recorded tropical cyclone in history, leading to over 1,400 deaths. In April of this year India surpassed China to become the most populated country in the world.2023 additionally witnessed a banking crisis resulting in the collapse of numerous American regional banks as well as the buyout of Credit Suisse by UBS in Switzerland. Among American banks, the two largest banks which collapsed were Silicon Valley Bank and First Republic Bank, the third and second largest banking collapses in US history respectively.
In the realm of technology, 2023 has seen the continued rise of generative AI models, with applications across various industries reaching new heights. These models, leveraging advancements in machine learning and natural language processing, have 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.

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. 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.
January 3 – Starting from this date, many countries impose travel restrictions on travel from China due to the relaxation of the country's zero-COVID policy.
January 5 – The funeral of Pope Benedict XVI is held at Saint Peter's Square within the Vatican City.
January 8
The 2023 Beninese parliamentary election is held, with the Progressive Union for Renewal party winning a plurality of seats.
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 10–17 – A deadly cold snap in Afghanistan kills 166 people and nearly 80,000 livestock.
January 15 – Yeti Airlines Flight 691 crashes during final approach into Pokhara, Nepal, killing all 72 people on board.
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.
January 17 – Nguyễn Xuân Phúc resigns as President of Vietnam amid several recent scandals in the government.
January 18 – 2023 Antiguan and Barbudan general election: The Labour Party receives a third victory in a row, winning 9/17 seats in the parliament.
January 20 – The Parliament of Trinidad and Tobago elects former senate president, minister and lawyer Christine Kangaloo as president of the country in a 48–22 vote.
January 21
Burkina Faso requests French forces to withdraw from its territory after suspending a military accord that allowed the presence of French troops in the country.
Tigray War: Eritrean forces withdraw from Shire and other major towns in the Tigray Region of Ethiopia.
January 25 – Chris Hipkins succeeds Jacinda Ardern as Prime Minister of New Zealand, six days after she announced her resignation.
January 27 – Widespread unrest erupts in Israel following an Israeli military raid in Jenin which left nine Palestinians dead. Incendiary air balloons are launched into Israeli-populated areas following it. Israel responds with targeted airstrikes. Later the same day, seven Jewish civilians are murdered in a synagogue in Neve Yaakov in a terrorist attack.
January 27–28 – The second round of the 2023 Czech presidential election is held, with Petr Pavel declared winner.
January 30
A Jamaat-ul-Ahrar suicide bombing inside a mosque in Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, kills 84 people and injures over 220 others.
Prime Minister of Fiji Sitiveni Rabuka confirms that Kiribati will rejoin the Pacific Islands Forum after leaving the organization the previous year.

February
February 1 – Lebanese liquidity crisis: The central bank of Lebanon devalues the Lebanese pound by 90% amid an ongoing financial crisis.
February 2
Israel and Sudan announce the finalization of an agreement to normalize relations between the two countries.
The European Central Bank and Bank of England raise their interest rates by 0.5 percentage points to combat inflation, one day after the US Federal Reserve raises its federal funds rate by 0.25 percentage points.
February 3
The US announces it is tracking alleged Chinese spy balloons over the Americas, with one drifting from Yukon to South Carolina before being shot down the next day, and a second hovering over Colombia and Brazil. This event is followed by subsequent detections and shootdowns of high-altitude objects elsewhere.
A Norfolk Southern train carrying hazardous materials derails in East Palestine, Ohio. Multiple train cars burned for more than two days, followed by emergency crews conducting a controlled burn of several additional cars, releasing hydrogen chloride and phosgene into the atmosphere.
February 5
The 2023 Cypriot presidential election is held, with Nikos Christodoulides elected president.
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.
February 6 – 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquake: A 7.8 Mww earthquake strikes Gaziantep Province in southeastern Turkey. A 7.5 Mww  aftershock occurs on the same day in nearby Kahramanmaraş Province. Widespread damage and at least 59,000 deaths are caused in Turkey and Syria, with more than 121,000 injured.
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.
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.
February 16 – Lawmakers in the Russian State Duma vote to withdraw Russia from 21 conventions of the Council of Europe.
February 17 – The South African Navy hosts a ten-day joint military exercise in the Indian Ocean with Russia and China.
February 19 – Libyan Crisis: The African Union announces the organization of a peace conference to address the instability in Libya.
February 20 – A magnitude 6.4 earthquake, an aftershock of the earlier February 6 earthquake, strikes southern Turkey and is also felt in Syria, Lebanon and Egypt.
February 21 – Vladimir Putin announces that Russia is suspending its participation in New START, a nuclear arms reduction treaty with the US.
February 23 – Oman opens its airspace to Israeli airlines for the first time, in an upgrade of bilateral relations.
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 surrounding modifications to the Northern Ireland Protocol.
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.

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.
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.
Kivu conflict: Burundi deploys 100 troops to the Democratic Republic of the Congo to help fight insurgencies by militias, including M23.
March 5 – The 2023 Estonian parliamentary election is held, with two centre-right liberal parties gaining an absolute majority for the first time.
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.
March 8–21 – 2023 World Baseball Classic is held and won by Japan.
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.
Kivu conflict: Angola announces the deployment of troops to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, following the failure of a ceasefire between government forces and M23 rebels in North Kivu.
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.
March 17 – The International Criminal Court issues an arrest warrant for Russian president Vladimir Putin, the first against a leader of a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council.
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.
March 20 – The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) releases the synthesis report of its Sixth Assessment Report on climate change.
March 23 – World Athletics, the global governing body for athletics, bans trans women who have gone through male puberty from competing in female events.
March 26
Honduras switches its formal diplomatic recognition of "China" from the Republic of China to the People's Republic of China.
2023 Israeli judicial reform protests: Large-scale spontaneous protests erupt across Israel in the wake of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu firing his defense minister who criticized the government's judicial overhaul plan.
March 29
Brazil and China sign an agreement to trade in their own currencies, ceasing the usage of the United States dollar as an intermediary.
Burkina Faso formally resumes diplomatic relations with North Korea after suspending them in 2017.
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.

April
April 2
The 2023 Bulgarian parliamentary election results in a GERB—SDS–PP–DB coalition government headed by Nikolai Denkov as prime minister, and ends two years of political deadlock.
The 2023 Montenegrin presidential election is held, with Jakov Milatović of the Europe Now! movement winning in the second round, becoming the first president not from the DPS party since the introduction of a multi-party system in 1990.
The 2023 Finnish parliamentary election is held, with the centre-right National Coalition led by Petteri Orpo receiving the most votes.
The 2023 Andorran parliamentary election is held, with the ruling Democrats for Andorra led by Prime Minister Xavier Espot winning the majority of the seats.
2023 Saint Petersburg bombing: Russian pro-government war correspondent Vladlen Tatarsky is killed by a bombing at a café in Saint Petersburg owned by oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin. Sixteen others are injured.
April 4 – Finland becomes the 31st member of NATO, doubling the alliance's border with Russia.
April 5 – Clashes between Palestinians and the Israeli police happen at Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.
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 Jovian system, with an expected arrival date of 2031.
April 15
Nuclear power in Germany ends after 50 years, with the closure of the final power plants.
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. It explodes four minutes after launch.
April 21 – The Global Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans, representing a majority of the global Anglican population, reject the leadership of Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby as the head of global Anglicanism over his support for same-sex marriage.
April 24 – The 2023 British Virgin Islands general election is held; with the ruling Virgin Islands Party remaining the largest party in the House of Assembly. Natalio Wheatley is elected as Premier of the British Virgin Islands.
April 25 – A mass cult suicide is uncovered in Shakahola forest, Kenya. 240 followers are found in shallow graves throughout the forest. Over 613 people remain missing.
April 29 – The 2023 Niuean general election is held; Dalton Tagelagi is re-elected as Premier of Niue.
April 30
The 2023 Paraguayan general election is held, with the Colorado Party candidate Santiago Peña being the president-elect of Paraguay, winning in a landslide.
The second round of the 2023 French Polynesian legislative election is held; the Tāvini Huiraʻatira party wins a majority of seats. Moetai Brotherson, Tāvini Huiraʻatira's deputy leader, is elected President of French Polynesia.

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 4 – A series of floods and landslides strikes villages in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, resulting in over 400 deaths.
May 5 – The World Health Organization ends its declaration of COVID-19 being a global health emergency, but continues to refer to it as a pandemic.
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 7 – Syria is readmitted into the Arab League after being suspended since 2011.
May 9 – Cyclone Mocha forms in the Indian Ocean, killing over 400 people and injuring over 700 as it strikes Myanmar and Bangladesh.
May 9–13 – The Eurovision Song Contest 2023 is held in Liverpool, UK. Swedish contestant Loreen wins with the song "Tattoo".
May 11 – The World Health Organization ends its declaration of mpox being a global health emergency.
May 14
The 2023 Thai general election is held, with pro-democratic parties such as the Move Forward and Pheu Thai parties gaining a majority of seats in the House of Representatives while pro-military parties such as Palang Pracharat lost seats.
49th G7 summit takes place in Hiroshima, Japan. Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrives in Japan on the second day of the summit.
May 21
The May 2023 Greek legislative election is held; the ruling New Democracy wins a plurality of seats in the Hellenic Parliament. Just days later incumbent prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, called for another snap election. The June elections resulted in New Democracy achieving a majority and Mitsotakis retaining his role as prime minister.
The 2023 East Timorese parliamentary election is held; with the National Congress for Timorese Reconstruction and Fretilin parties receiving the most votes. Xanana Gusmão is elected Prime Minister of East Timor.
May 24 – Canada and Saudi Arabia agree to restore full diplomatic relations after a breakdown in relations in 2018 over the assassination of Jamal Khashoggi.
May 25 – Russia and Belarus sign an agreement in Minsk allowing the stationing of Russian tactical nuclear weapons on Belarusian territory.
May 27 – The second round of the 2023 Mauritanian parliamentary election is held; with the ruling El Insaf Party receiving the most votes.
May 28 – The second round of the 2023 Turkish presidential election is held; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan defeats Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu with 52.18% of the vote to win a third term as president.
May 31 – The 2023 Latvian presidential election is held; Edgars Rinkēvičs is elected the President of Latvia.

June
June 2 – A train collision in Odisha, India results in at least 294 deaths and 1,175 others injured.
June 6
The 2023 Guinea-Bissau legislative election is held; the coalition Inclusive Alliance Platform – Terra Ranka led by the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde, wins a majority of seats.
The 2023 Kuwaiti general election is held; following the annulment of the results of the 2022 snap elections by the Constitutional Court. 38 members retained their seats from the annulled 2022 session, while two returned from the dissolved 2020 session. Ten new MPs were elected for the first time.
Russian invasion of Ukraine: The Nova Kakhovka dam in the Russian-controlled region of Kherson is destroyed, threatening the region with devastating floodwaters.
June 11 – Honduras opens its first embassy in Beijing, China, after breaking off relations with Taiwan in March.
June 12 – Eritrea rejoins the Intergovernmental Authority on Development trade bloc after suspending its membership in 2007.
June 13 – At least 106 people are killed when a wedding boat capsizes on the Niger River in Kwara State, Nigeria.
June 14
Scientists report the creation of the first synthetic human embryo from stem cells, without the need for sperm or egg cells.
At least 82 people die and 500 are reported missing after a boat carrying migrants capsizes off the coast of the Peloponnese.
June 16 – In Uganda, the jihadist group Allied Democratic Forces kill 42 people at a school in Mpondwe.
June 18 – Titan submersible implosion: All five crew members of Titan, a deep-sea submersible exploring the wreck of the Titanic, are killed following a catastrophic implosion of the vessel.
June 19
The United Nations General Assembly unanimously adopts the High Seas Treaty, the first treaty aimed towards marine conservation in international waters.
Qatar and the United Arab Emirates announce that they will restore diplomatic relations after relations were suspended during the Qatar diplomatic crisis.
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.
June 21 – At least 35 people are killed after a migrant dinghy sinks off the coast of the Spanish Canary Islands in the Atlantic.
June 23
The June 2023 Greek legislative election is held; Kyriakos Mitsotakis becomes prime minister after his New Democratic party wins a majority of seats in the Greek parliament.
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.
June 28 – The 2023 Sierra Leonean general election is held; Julius Maada Bio of the Sierra Leone People's Party is re-elected president.
June 30 – The United Nations Security Council votes unanimously to end MINUSMA, its peacekeeping mission in Mali.

July
July 3
Indian oil refiners start payments for Russian oil imports in Chinese yuan as an alternative to the US dollar due to increasing sanctions against Russia.
In the largest incursion by Israel into the West Bank since the Second Intifada, the Israeli military deploys ground forces and armed drones into the Jenin camp, killing 13 and injuring more than 100. An attack claimed by Hamas as retaliation for the incursion, occurs in Tel Aviv the following day, injuring nine.
July 4 – Iran joins the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, becoming the organization's ninth member.
July 8 – In the Netherlands, the governing coalition collapses and Prime Minister Mark Rutte announces his upcoming resignation.
July 9 – New Zealand signs a free trade agreement with the European Union, increasing bilateral trade.
July 10
China and the Solomon Islands sign a cooperation agreement between the People's Police and the Royal Solomon Islands Police Force in an upgrade of bilateral relations.
The European Commission and the U.S. government sign a new data communication agreement aimed at resolving legal uncertainties that European and American companies face when transferring personal data.
July 14 – SAG-AFTRA announces it will begin an ongoing strike against the major film and TV studios in protest of low compensation, ownership of work, and generative AI.
July 19 - Typhoon Doksuri forms in the eastern Pacific Ocean, going on to kill 123 people in southeast Asia.
July 20
Bolivia and Iran sign a memorandum of understanding, in an upgrade of bilateral relations, expanding cooperation in the security and defense sectors.
The 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup begins in Australia and New Zealand.
July 23
2023 Greece wildfires: Tens of thousands of tourists flee Rhodes, Greece, amid wildfires and a major heatwave, in what officials say is the largest evacuation in the country's history.
The 2023 Cambodian general election is held, with the dominant Cambodian People's Party retaining control of every seat in the National Assembly.
The 2023 Spanish general election is held, with the People's Party becoming the largest party in the Congress of Deputies.
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.
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.

August
August 1 – Global warming: The world's oceans reach a new record high temperature of 20.96 °C, 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 °C).
August 8 – 2023 Hawaii wildfires: 17,000 acres of land are burned and at least 111 people are killed, with nearly 1,300 missing, when a series of wildfires break out on the island of Maui in Hawaii.

Predicted and scheduled events
August 20:
Second round of the 2023 Guatemalan presidential election
2023 Ecuadorian general election
August 23 – 2023 Zimbabwean general election
September 8 – October 28 – 2023 Rugby World Cup in France
October 14 – 2023 New Zealand general election
October 15 - 2023 Polish parliamentary election
October 22 – 2023 Argentine general election
November 22 – 2023 Dutch general election

Date unknown
2023 Pakistani general election
The European Spallation Source is expected to go into operation in Lund, Sweden.

Deaths


== References ==