2023 is coming to its end. Without further ado, here are the top 10 major events/news that happened this year which has left quite an impact globally and will be well remembered as some of the main highlights that define 2023.
1 – India overtakes China as world’s most populous country
According to UN population estimates, India has overtaken China as the world’s most populous country in April 2023. With estimated population of around 1.43 billion people in India, the country has knocked China off the top spot since record began in 1950. India will likely remain the most populous country for decades to come. China’s population is both shrinking and aging.
2 – Escalated conflict between Israel and Palestine
In October this year, Hamas group who took control of Gaza strip launched attack on Israel. Israel retaliated with immediate airstrikes and invasions. The soaring death toll for Palestinian civilians, most of them women and children, fueled worldwide complaints that Israel was committing war crimes. Israel denied the charge, arguing that Hamas was using Palestinian civilians as human shields.
3 – Earthquake in Turkey and Syria
Over 59 000 people were killed after a series of devastating tremors hit parts of Turkey and neighbouring Syria early on February 6. Thousands of buildings tumbled down, trapping tens of thousands of residents. Most of the damage was done by the 7.8 and 7.7 magnitude quakes that struck Antakya within hours. It is estimated to be the largest earthquake in Turkey since 1939.
4 – The lost submersible
The Titan submersible carrying five people onboard imploded in the North Atlantic Ocean on June 18. The submersible was part of a deep sea extreme tourism mission to visit the 111-year-old wreckage of the Titanic more than 12,000 feet underwater. After days of gruelling search and rescue mission, officials confirmed that a debris field was found around 500m away from the bow of the Titanic that was consistent with that of the 22-foot submersible.
5 – Coronation of King Charles III of United Kingdom
About a year since the passing of the revered Queen Elizabeth II, the coronation ceremony for his eldest son, King Charles III and his wife, Queen Camilla finally took place on 6th May 2023 at Westminster Abbey. The ceremony had a peak UK television audience of 20.4 million, making it the most watched television broadcasts in the United Kingdom in 2023.
6 – Hangzhou 2022 Asian Games
Originally scheduled to take place in September 2022, the 19th Asian Games (Hangzhou 2022) finally took place from 23rd September to 8th October this year. Asian Games is the world’s second largest multi-sport event after the Olympic Games and Hangzhou was the third Chinese city to host the Asian Games, after Beijing in 1990 and Guangzhou in 2010. Host nation, China topped the medal tally with 201 gold medals.
7 – ‘Everything Everywhere All At Once’ and Michelle Yeoh at the 2023 Oscars
‘Everything Everywhere All At Once’, a 2022 American absurdist comedy-drama film became the biggest winner in 95th Academy Awards held in 12th March 2023. The film won a leading 7 awards out of 11 nominations including best picture. Michelle Yeoh became the first Asian to win the Academy Award for best actress in a leading role. So proud of her as a Malaysian on winning the Oscars. This critically acclaimed film is also currently estimated to be the most awarded film of all time.
8 – Covid-19 is no longer a global health emergency
The World Health Organization ends its declaration of COVID-19 being a global health emergency, but continues to refer to it as a pandemic. The coronavirus outbreak which began in late 2019 has already claimed lives of over 7 million people. Thanks to widespread distribution of vaccines, the pandemic is considered to be brought under control in recent years. Tourist arrivals to many places have also returned to pre-pandemic levels.
9 – Deadly train collision in India
On 2 June 2023, three trains collided in Balasore district in Odisha state of eastern India. A total of 296 people were killed in the crash and more than 1,200 others were injured. It was the deadliest rail disaster worldwide since the 2004 Sri Lanka tsunami train wreck.
10 – Global warming intensifies as world temperature reaches record high
The world’s oceans reach a new record high temperature of 20.96 °C (69.73 °F) in August 2023, exceeding the previous record in 2016. July is also the hottest month on record for globally averaged surface air temperatures by a considerable margin (0.3 °C). On top of that, on 17th November 2023, the global average temperature temporarily exceeds 2°C above the pre-industrial average for the first time in recorded history. 2023 has become the hottest year on record.
Other key 2023 events that aren’t listed above are the renaming of Twitter to X in July, the ‘Barbenheimer’ phenomenon in July due to simultaneous release of two totally opposite films (Barbie and Oppenheimer) that prompted unusually viral responses, continued Russia’s invasion of Ukraine throughout the year, Hong Kong flooded by ‘once-in-a-century’ rainstorm in September, all-year domination of Taylor Swift in music from her chart-topping songs to the highly publicized sold-out shows in her global ‘Eras Tour’, and Disney celebrated its 100th anniversary in last October.
(Images in this post are from various online sources)
Vincent Loy's Online Journal 