Historical Events in 2023

Events 1 - 200 of 825

• Jan 1 Croatia adopts the euro and joins the Schengen Area

• Jan 2 Buffalo Bills player Damar Hamlin collapses in cardiac arrest and is revived by CPR on the field in televised NFL game against the Bengals in Cincinnati

• Jan 4 39 people killed in car bomb attack in Hiraan province, Somalia, with al-Qaeda linked group al-Shabab claiming responsibility [1]
• Jan 4 US and other countries including Italy, Japan and India re-introduce Covid testing of people arriving from China as WHO warns China under-representing Covid's true impact in the country [1]

• Jan 6 New Study discovers ancient Roman concrete is stronger than modern concrete because of the use of a hot mixing technique, with quicklime that self-healed any cracks over time [1]
• Jan 6 US teacher shot by her six-year-old student at Richneck Elementary School, Newport, Virginia, later hospitalised with gunshot wounds [1]

• Jan 7 Vaccine for bees against American Foulbrood bacteria approved in the US - first vaccine in the US for any insect [1]
• Jan 8 China loosens travel restrictions and reopens its borders after nearly three years [1]

• Jan 8 United Cup Tennis, Ken Rosewall Arena, Sydney, Australia: US wins inaugural event, 4-0 over Italy
• Jan 9 Intense storm hits Southern California, forcing evacuations in Montecito and Santa Barbara [1]

• Jan 12 Brock Purdy is named the NFC Rookie of the Month for December and January
• Jan 12 Toadzilla, a large cane toad and unofficially the world's largest toad at 2.7kg, discovered in Conway National Park, Australia (as an invasive pest later euthanized) [1]

• Jan 13 China reports 60,000 COVID-19-related deaths in just over a month while another report estimates 900 million people have been infected, 64% of the country's population [1]
• Jan 13 English actor Julian Sands (65) reported missing after failing to return from a hike on Mount Baldy in San Bernardino County, California
• Jan 14 Brock Purdy wins his first playoff game as a rookie quarterback against the Seattle Seahawks
• Jan 15 At least 68 people killed in a plane crash by Yeti Airlines in Pokhara, Nepal, the countries worst crash for three decades [1]

• Jan 15 Mexico brings into force world's strictest anti-smoking laws, banning smoking in public places such as beaches and parks [1]
• Jan 16 Italy's most wanted mobster Matteo Messina Denaro (61) arrested at a private cancer clinic in Palermo, Sicily after being on the run for 30 years [1]
• Jan 17 Revival of 1980s American TV sitcom "Night Court", premieres on NBC TV; John Larrquette is the sole returning cast member
• Jan 18 A series of atmospheric river storms pummelling California finally subside, after more than 500 mudslides with "extensive" damage to 40 out of 58 counties, killing 20 people [1]
• Jan 19 Cyclone Cheneso makes landfall in northern Madagascar, killing at least 25 people and leaving about 40,000 homeless [1]

• Jan 21 72 year-old gunman shoots and kills eleven people, injuring nine, at dance studio in Monterey Park, California. Attempts second killing nearby before being surrounded and killing himself.
• Jan 22 Australian surfer Laura Enever sets world record riding the largest-ever wave by a woman at 43.6ft (13.3m) on Oahu's North Shore, Hawaii [1]
• Jan 22 China's northernmost city, Mohe, records record low temperature of -53C (-63F) [1]
• Jan 22 Chinese Year of the Rabbit begins with China marking the largest celebration of the New Year since 2020, after Covid-zero restrictions lifted [1]
• Jan 23 American Richard Barnett, who was pictured with his feet on Nancy Pelosi's desk during the Jan 6 riots, convicted on eight counts in a Washington court [1]

• Jan 24 Adani Enterprises owned by Gautam Adani, world's third richest man, loses $108billion in value after investment firm Hindenburg Research publishes report alleging stock manipulation and accounting fraud [1]
• Jan 24 Coldest winter in a decade in Afghanistan has killed at least 124 people and 70,000 livestock, leaving many areas cut off, according to state officials [1]
• Jan 24 Doomsday Clock reset 90 seconds until midnight, the closest it has ever been (set up 1947) by Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, due partly to war in Ukraine [1]
• Jan 24 Peruvian Prime Minister Dina Boluarte call for a "national truce" after seven weeks of violent protests at Pedro Castillo's removal from office, which have left at least 50 people dead [1]
• Jan 24 Third baseman Scott Rolen (Philadelphia Philleis, St. Louis Cardinals) elected to Baseball Hall of Fame
• Jan 25 America and Germany announce decision to send powerful battle tanks (US 31, Germany 14) to Ukraine to fight Russia invasion
• Jan 25 Chris Hipkins is sworn in as Prime Minister of New Zealand, following the resignation of Jacinda Ardern
• Jan 26 Five ex-Memphis police officers charged with murdering Tyre Nichols who they beat at a traffic stop on Jan 7 [1]
• Jan 27 International Holocaust Remembrance Day: representatives from various countries gather at site of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp; among attendees is Doug Emhoff, the first Jewish spouse of a US president or vice president [1]
• Jan 27 New Zealand city of Auckland declares a state of emergency as a tropical storm brings record levels of rain, major flooding and four deaths [1]
• Jan 27 Urgent search announced for tiny radioactive capsule 6mmx8mm, which dropped out of a truck somewhere along 1,400 km journey in Western Australia [1]
• Jan 29 AFC Championship, Arrowhead Stadium, Kansas City, Missouri: Kansas City Chiefs beat Cincinnati Bengals, 23-20
• Jan 29 Brock Purdy suffers a complete tear of his ulnar collateral ligament in the NFC Championship Game
• Jan 29 NFC Championship, Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Philadelphia Eagles beat SF 49ers, 31-7
• Jan 30 Suicide bomb blast kills at least 100 and injures 157 people at a mosque for police officers in Peshawar, Pakistan [1]

• Feb 1 Pope Francis celebrates mass with around 1 million people in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, his second largest gathering [1]

• Feb 3 Coldest wind chill likely ever recorded in the US of minus 108 degrees, taken at Mount Washington Observatory, New Hampshire [1]
• Feb 3 Train carrying toxic chemicals including vinyl chloride, derails in East Palestine, Ohio, starting a fire and leading to an intentional burn off of chemicals to stop a possible explosion [1]
• Feb 4 Chinese surveillance balloon shot down by US fighter jets off the US eastern seaboard, after drifting across the US for days and igniting a political storm [1]

• Feb 6 Powerful earthquakes strike Turkey and Syria, first 7.8 magnitude at 4.15am 23 kilometers east of Nurdagi, second 7.5 magnitude at 1:24pm with many strong aftershocks causing buildings to collapse. Death toll 59,000 in Turkey, 8,000 Syria [1]
• Feb 7 LeBron James scores 38 points to become NBA's all-time leading scorer as the Lakers go down 133-130 to Oklahoma City Thunder in Los Angeles; surpasses Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's 38,387 career points [1]
• Feb 7 UK Metropolitan police officer David Carrick jailed for life for 85 serious offences including 48 rapes over 17 years, amid calls for a radical overhaul of the police service [1]

• Feb 10 World War II era bomb found in Great Yarmouth, England explodes in "unplanned" detonation as experts attempt to disarm it [1]
• Feb 12 India opens the first part of what will be its longest expressway linking Mumbai with New Delhi over 1,386-kilometer (861 mile) [1]

• Feb 14 At least 73 European-bound migrants are missing presumed dead after a boat capsizes off the coast of Libya, with just seven known survivors, according to the UN [1]

• Feb 14 New Zealand declares a national state of emergency after Cyclone Gabrielle causes widespread flooding and devastation across the North Island [1]

• Feb 15 Buffalo gunman Payton Gendron sentenced to life in prison, after pleading guilty to ten counts of first-degree murder and a count of domestic terrorism, the first in New York [1]

• Feb 15 Joel Embiid scores his 10,000th career point in a game against the Cleveland Cavaliers
• Feb 15 Scientists warn the Thwaites Glacier, the so-called "Doomsday Glacier" and the size of Florida, is weakening threatening a global sea level rise of 1.6 meters [1]
• Feb 15 Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon resigns after eight years in office, the longest-serving First Minister and the first woman [1]
• Feb 16 WWII: US Naval History and Heritage Command confirms identity of the wreck USS Albacore, a submarine lost in 1944, discovered by University of Tokyo sonar team in 2022 off of Hokkaidō, Japan
• Feb 17 Global LGBT festival WorldPride opens in Sydney, Australia, its first time in the Southern Hemisphere [1]

• Feb 19 65th Daytona 500: Ricky Stenhouse Jr. wins for JTG Daugherty Racing in double overtime and under caution over a record 212 laps; former NBA player Brad Daugherty first Black car owner to win the race

• Feb 19 Brazilian state of Sao Paulo hit by flooding and landslides after heavy rain, with at least 44 killed and 800 homeless [1]
• Feb 19 Türkiye ends rescue efforts in all but Kahramanmaras and Hatay, two weeks after the devastating earthquakes that stuck in the south-east and in northern Syria, killing between 59,488–62,013 people and leaving an estimated 1.5 million people homeless [1]
• Feb 19 US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, visiting the earthquake-affected regions of southern Turkey, pledges $100 million in aid [1]
• Feb 20 6.4 magnitude earthquake, followed by 5.8 magnitude aftershock strikes near city of Antakya, Turkey, on the Syria border, killing at least six people in same region devastated by earthquakes 6 Feb [1]
• Feb 20 US President Joe Biden makes a surprise visit to Kyiv, Ukraine [1]
• Feb 21 US President Joe Biden vows unwavering support for Ukraine in a speech from Warsaw Castle, Poland, a day after he made a surprise trip to Ukraine [1]
• Feb 22 Astronomers reveal Webb telescope data is upending existing theories of how early galaxies were formed, after finding six massive galaxies 100x larger than expected soon after the Big Bang [1]

• Feb 24 Puffin, publisher of author Roald Dhal, announces it will now print his books with their original unaltered text alongside those with offensive language removed, after widespread criticism and debate [1]
• Feb 25 Turkey widens probe into buildings that collapsed during the Feb 6 earthquakes arresting 184 people, as the death toll passes 44,128 (including Syria, more than 50,000), with nearly two million people left homeless [1]
• Feb 26 At least 59 migrants are killed after a boat breaks up in rough seas off the eastern coast of Calabria, Italy, with 80 survivors [1]
• Feb 26 Dilbert comic strip creator Scott Adams faces widespread condemnation for his comments about African Americans in a YouTube show, prompting his strip and up-coming book to be cancelled [1]
• Feb 26 ICC Women's Cricket T20 World Cup, Cape Town: Defending champions Australia score a 19-run victory over South Africa to win their sixth title; Player of the series: Australian all-rounder Ash Gardner
• Feb 26 Large rallies in Mexico cities (organizers estimate 500,000) protest cuts to the National Electoral Institute (INE), seen as undermining electoral neutrality [1]
• Feb 26 One of the most violent incidents of revenge by mobs of Israeli settlers, who burn 200 buildings in Palestinian villages and kill at least one person after a Palestinian gunman kills two Israeli in the northern West Bank [1]
• Feb 26 Winter storm deposits snow in parts of southern California for the first time in decades, down to 1,000 feet elevation, with snow accumulations up to 7 feet deep in San Bernardino Mountains [1]

• Feb 28 Crash between a Greek passenger service and a freight train kills at least 57 people near town of Larissa, in one of the country's worst-ever rail disasters [1]

• Mar 1 At least 1000 Iranian school girls exposed to toxic gas attacks, since November, amid accusations they are an attempt to close schools after girls participated in recent anti-government protests [1]

• Mar 1 Ruling party candidate Bola Tinubu declared the winner of Nigeria's Presidential election with 37% of the vote, amid claims of fraud from opposition parties [1]
• Mar 1 Social media site TikTok announces a 60-minute daily screen time limit for users under 18, though with an opt-out clause, in response to concerns about its addictive and harmful algorithms [1]

• Mar 2 South Carolina prominent attorney Alex Murdaugh found guilty of murdering his wife and son after a scandalous series of events [1]
• Mar 2 UN confirms it will ignore statements made by an Indian guru and now fugitive from the fictional country of the United States of Kailasa, made attending official UN events in Geneva [1]
• Mar 4 Andrew Tate's legal team states he has a dark spot on his lung, sparking rumors about lung cancer
• Mar 4 Historic High Seas Treaty agreed by nations at the UN, aiming to place 30% of the seas into protected areas by 2030, 1st international ocean protection agreement for 40 years [1]
• Mar 4 Leaked US documents from the war in Ukraine from US Defence Department begin appearing on a Discord server associated with online game Minecraft [1]

• Mar 7 1.28 million people protest in nationwide demonstrations throughout France against government plans tp raise the pension age from 62 to 64 [1]
• Mar 7 British architect David Chipperfield is awarded Architecture's Pritzker Prize [1]
• Mar 7 China and America are heading toward inevitable "confrontation and conflict", unless America changes course warns Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang [1]
• Mar 7 Gender equality now "300 years away” and "vanishing before our eyes" for reasons including maternal mortality and early marriage, according to UN Secretary General António Guterres in speech for International Woman's Day [1]
• Mar 8 171 trillion pieces of plastic now litter the world's oceans, increasing from 16 trillion in 2005, estimate scientists from Gyres Institute [1]
• Mar 8 Oldest known reference to Norse god Odin from fifth century, revealed on gold disc from Vindelev hoard, Western Denmark, by Danish scientists [1]
• Mar 9 Recording Industry Association of America's 2022 year-end report states vinyl record sales (41 million) exceeded CD sales (33 million) for the first time since 1987
• Mar 9 Russia begins major missile attack on Ukrainian cities and their infrastructure, with at least 11 killed and 20 injured [1]
• Mar 9 UN announces it has purchased a crude carrier to remove barrels of oil from a stricken ship off the coast of Yemen, to prevent an environmental and humanitarian disaster [1]
• Mar 10 Arch rivals Iran and Saudi Arabia agree to re-establish diplomatic ties between them in a surprise move, after talks in Beijing [1]
• Mar 10 California's Silicon Valley Bank, the main bank for tech-start ups, collapses after a sudden bank run and credit crisis - largest US bank fail since 2008 [1]
• Mar 10 Gary Lineker, the BBC’s highest-paid presenter, suspended for tweeting UK government's immigration policy a "immeasurably cruel policy directed at the most vulnerable people in language that is not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the 30s”. [1]
• Mar 10 Researchers in Singapore name newly discovered cockroach after the Pokemon character Pheromosa (Nocticola pheromosa) [1]
• Mar 10 Thai health authorities report 1.3 million people have suffered air pollution-related diseases in 2023 in northern Thailand due to smog nearly 125 times WHO standards from farm burning and forest fires [1]

• Mar 11 China's government appoints Li Qiang, a close ally of President Xi Jinping, as the country's new Premier [1]

• Mar 12 Cyclone Freddy makes landfall for a second time in central Mozambique, Madagascar and Malawi, killing about 200 people and setting records as the longest-lasting cyclone in the southern hemisphere (formed Feb 6) [1]

• Mar 12 Oil company Saudi Aramco posts earnings of $161 billion for 2022 - highest-ever recorded annual profit by a publicly listed company [1]
• Mar 13 Vinyl records outsell CDs in the US for the first time since 1987 (41 million vinyl records vs 33 million CDs), according to new report [1]
• Mar 14 Argentina's annual inflation rate pasts 100% at 102.5%, for the first time since hyperinflation in 1991, one of the highest in the world, according to its statistics agency [1]
• Mar 14 Czech free diver David Vencl completes record dive beneath ice to 52.1 meters, without a wetsuit, in Switzerland’s Lake Sils in temperatures between 1C and 4C (34F to 39F) [1]
• Mar 14 The US, UK and Australia unveil details of their AUKUS deal to create a fleet of nuclear-powered submarines to be based in the Indo Pacific region to counter Chinese military build-up [1]
• Mar 14 US large MQ-9 Reaper drone crashes into the Black Sea after collision with Russian fighter jet, with the US saying the Russia forced it down sparking an international incident [1]
• Mar 15 Another atmospheric river creates a storm across California, bringing widespread flooding and power outages, with Monterey County issuing a 25 mile evacuation order [1]
• Mar 16 Banking jitters continues as US Wall Street banks agree to deposit US$30 billion in First Republic Bank as its stock plummets in the wake of the failure of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank

• Mar 16 Houston Zoo announces their oldest resident Mr Pickles (90) is finally a father, with Mrs Pickles (53), the parents of three rare baby radiated tortoises, named Dill, Gherkin and Jalapeño [1]
• Mar 16 South Korea's President Yoon Suk-yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida hold their first talks since 2011 in Tokyo, marking a milestone in relations between the two countries [1]
• Mar 19 UBS, Switzerland's largest bank agrees to buy its rival Credit Suisse (established 1856) for about $3.2 billion to help ease global financial panic, in deal brokered by Swiss government [1]
• Mar 20 Chinese leader Xi Jinping visits Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Moscow, the first between the two since Russia invaded Ukraine a year ago [1]
• Mar 20 Somalian drought may have killed 43,000 people in 2022, half of them children under five, according to new research presented by UNICEF in Mogadishu [1]
• Mar 20 Sri Lanka receives bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) worth $2.9bn, amid its worst financial crisis since independence in 1948 [1]
• Mar 20 UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says world has less than a decade to stop catastrophic warming: must reduce greenhouse gases by half by 2030, and cease adding carbon dioxide to the atmosphere by early 2050s [1]
• Mar 21 6.5-magnitude earthquake strikes Afghanistan's north-east near the border with Pakistan, killing at least 19 and injuring over 200 people [1]
• Mar 21 Ugandan government passes Anti Homosexuality Bill, including punishment of 10 years in prison for identifying as LGBTQ+ [1]
• Mar 22 Abel Prize for Mathematics (equivalent to a Nobel Prize) awarded to Argentinian–American Luis Caffarelli for his work on partial differential equations [1]
• Mar 22 American Library Association says 2022 had highest number of calls to censor library books in the US in over 20 years, with 2,571 titles affected, up 38%, with LGBTQ+ books most requested [1]
• Mar 22 American software engineer Bob Metcalfe awarded computing's Turing Award for developing Ethernet, a computer networking system now the industry standard [1]

• Mar 23 Canada records record population growth (+2.7%), adding 1 million people in 2022, mostly through immigration [1]

• Mar 23 TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew questioned for over four hours by a US congressional hearing over its Chinese security risks [1]
• Mar 23 Utah is the first state to limit social media for minors, including an overnight curfew and parental consents [1]
• Mar 24 Africa's first centralised biobank - Biodiversity Biobanks South Africa, collecting more than a million biodiversity samples opens in Pretoria, South Africa [1]
• Mar 24 Chocolate factory explosion in West Reading borough, Pennsylvania kills at least four people and injuries 10, with three missing [1]
• Mar 24 Supercell storm produces powerful EF-4 tornado in the Mississippi Delta, which stays on the ground for more than an hour and over 170 miles, killing 26 people [1]
• Mar 25 Rare, long-track tornado travels 170 miles from Rolling Fork to Armory, Mississippi; trail of devastation kills at least 25
• Mar 26 WPL Cricket Final, Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai: Mumbai Indians win inaugural tournament beating Delhi Capitals by 7 wickets with 3 balls to spare; Player of the match: Nat Sciver-Brunt (Mumbai Indians) 60no
• Mar 27 At least 40 people are killed and 28 injured in a fire at a migrant detention center in Ciudad Juárez on the Mexican US border, amid large numbers of migrants gathering on the Mexican border [1]
• Mar 27 Convicted rapist fakes his own death by pretending to set himself alight (in reality kills someone else) to escape from prison in South Africa, sparking large manhunt [1]
• Mar 27 Female shooter kills three children and three adults at private Christian school Convent Elementary, in Nashville, Tennessee, before being shot and killed - 19th US school shooting in three months [1]
• Mar 27 Germany experiences one of its largest strikes in decades, bringing public transport comes to an almost complete halt, amid calls for higher wages [1]
• Mar 27 Humza Yousaf elected leader of Scottish SNP party as first ethnic minority leader of a devolved government and first Muslim to lead a major UK party
• Mar 27 Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu announces pause of key part of controversial plans to overhaul the justice system after massive protests and the country's largest trade union goes on strike [1]
• Mar 27 Possibility of bases on the Moon becomes greater possibility after 300 billion tonnes of water, stored in glass beads on Moon's surface, identified in lunar soil samples collected by China’s Chang’e-5 [1]
• Mar 27 World's oldest tartan confirmed as up to 500 years old, after testing on material found 40 years earlier in Glen Affric bog, by experts at National Museums Scotland [1]
• Mar 28 Chris Sharma completes the first redpoint of Sleeping Lion in Siurana, Spain, a 9b+ (5.15c) route

• Mar 29 Researchers warn crucial deep Antarctic ocean currents could collapse by 42% by 2050, stopping nutrient-dense water from flowing north, accelerating ice melt and further warming the world's oceans [1]

• Mar 29 United Arab Emirates leader and ruler of Abu Dhabi Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan names his eldest son Khaled bin Mohamed crown prince of Abu Dhabi [1]

• Mar 31 Large storm system crosses the mid US from Mississippi and Alabama to Illinois and Wisconsin, unleashing numerous tornadoes and leaving at least 32 dead [1]

• Apr 2 Footage of deepest living fish ever recorded, the snailfish, released caught on camera at depth of 27,349 feet (8,336 meters) in the Izu-Ogasawara Trench, south of Japan [1]
• Apr 2 Lake Tulare, once the largest body of water west of the Mississippi, re-emerges after a series of storms in California's Central Valley to cover 160 square miles [1]
• Apr 3 NASA announces the four astronauts for 2024 Artemis II lunar mission around the Moon - Christina Hammock Koch, Victor Glover, Reid Wiseman and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen [1]
• Apr 4 Finland officially joins NATO at a ceremony in Brussels, becoming its 31st member and doubling NATO's border with Russia [1]
• Apr 4 Former US president Donald Trump pleads 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
• Apr 6 Guinness world record for largest afro at 5ft 5in (165cm) set for the third time by Aevin Dugas of Reserve, Louisiana [1]
• Apr 7 U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk suspends Food and Drug Administration's approval of key abortion pill mifepristone, leading to US government request for legal appeal to stop nationwide ban [1]
• Apr 9 Joel Embiid is named the NBA scoring champion for the second straight season, averaging 33.1 points per game

• Apr 9 Kuwaiti media outlet, Kuwaiti News unveils virtual news presenter on Twitter speaking Arabic, using artificial intelligence (although China was the 1st in 2018) [1]
• Apr 10 Rare California poppy superbloom of organise poppies begins in Southern California around Lake Elinsore [1]

• Apr 11 Largest cosmic explosion ever recorded (AT2021lwx)- fireball 100 x size of the solar system with a brightness 2trillion x the sun’s, thought to be large gas cloud entering a supermassive black hole eight million lights years away [1]

• Previous
• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5
• Next

• Authors
• Dictators
• Explorers
• Outlaws
• Queens
• Spies