What happened in the world in the outgoing year?

(Patria) - Another year is coming to an end, and important events in the world followed one another. On the Patria agency portal, we tried to record them all, and analyze some of them in more detail and put them in a broader context, especially when they were related to Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Before you is a short list of what happened in the world and what we reported on.

January:

On January 3, the first LNG tanker from the United States of America arrived in Germany, heralding a new approach by Berlin to its energy security.

On January 5, Pope Benedict XVI, who died on December 31, 2022, was buried in the Vatican. The then-former pope resigned from his position in 2013.

On January 6, a court ordered former US President Donald Trump to appear in court, which was the first in a series of legal proceedings against this politician.

On January 7, demonstrations began across Israel against the judicial reform of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government and his far-right coalition partners. The protests lasted until Hamas's attack on Israel on October 7, when they partly turned into a demand for the release of hostages held by the Palestinian group.

On January 8, supporters of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro stormed the Congress building, the Supreme Court, and the presidential palace, approximately a week after the inauguration of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who defeated Bolsonaro in the second round of elections on October 30, 2022.

On January 19, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced that she would not run in the October elections.

On January 24, President Volodymyr Zelensky dismissed a number of high-ranking Ukrainian officials amid a growing corruption scandal related to the procurement of war supplies. The crackdown on corruption within Ukrainian ranks continues to this day.

February:

On February 4, the US military shot down the first of two alleged Chinese spy balloons. China claimed they were balloons for testing meteorological phenomena. The downing of the balloon caused a crisis in the relations between the two largest world economies, which has not been fully resolved to this day.

On February 6, Turkey and Syria were hit by an earthquake and subsequent tremors, leaving more than 50,000 dead. The consequences of the earthquake in these two countries are still visible today.

On February 11, the border crossing between Turkey and Armenia was opened after 35 years.

On February 15, Israel exported oil to Europe for the first time in its history.

On February 28, at least 57 people died in a train collision in Greece, which later affected the political situation in that country.

March:

On March 1, Bola Ahmed Tinubu was declared the winner of the presidential elections in Nigeria.

On March 10, China's legislative body reappointed Xi Jinping as president for five years, extending the rule of this politician in the world's second-largest economy.

On March 10, with China's mediation, Saudi Arabia and Iran restored their broken diplomatic relations, significantly changing the situation in the Middle East.

On March 16, the government in France imposed an increase in the retirement age in the country from 62 to 64, which caused a series of protests across the country and a drop in the popularity of the current president, Emmanuel Macron.

On March 17, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russian Commissioner for Children's Rights Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova, as there are reasonable grounds to believe that the Russian leader bears criminal responsibility for the war crime of unlawful deportation of the population (children) and unlawful transfer of the population (children) from the occupied territories of Ukraine.

April:

On April 2, three sources reported that Saudi Arabia planned to invite Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to the Arab League summit, de facto ending Damascus's diplomatic isolation by most Arab states.

On April 4, Finland became the 31st member of NATO. For many years, this Scandinavian country was outside this military alliance, but after Russia's aggression against Ukraine, official Helsinki decided to change its policy.

On April 11, the Italian government declared a state of emergency due to the influx of a huge number of illegal migrants.

On April 15, a conflict began in Sudan between the army and paramilitary forces in the fight for power in the country. The conflict continues to this day.

On April 20, SpaceX's Starship rocket was successfully launched without a crew but exploded after takeoff.

On April 25, US President Joseph Biden formally announced that he was entering the race for a new presidential term.

May:

On May 1, India became the most populous country on the planet, surpassing China and reaching a population of 1.428 billion people.

On May 3, in Belgrade, a thirteen-year-old boy, Kosta Kecmanović, killed eight of his schoolmates and the janitor. The attacker later surrendered to the police.

On May 4, Serbia experienced another massacre. In the villages of Dubona and Malo Orašje, a 21-year-old attacker, Uroš Blažić, killed nine and wounded thirteen people.

On May 5, the World Health Organization announced that Covid-19 is no longer a global health threat.

On May 6, the coronation of King Charles took place in London, following the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II. The Queen died on September 8, 2022, at the age of 96.

On May 14, presidential and parliamentary elections were held in Turkey. Current President Recep Tayyip Erdogan won after the second round (May 28), and his AK party and allies retained a comfortable majority in parliament.

June:

On June 10, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed that the long-awaited offensive of the Ukrainian army had begun. The offensive lasted until the end of the year with little territorial gains.

On June 18, OceanGate's submersible Titan imploded a few hours after beginning its descent to the Titanic wreck. All crew members lost their lives, despite a large rescue mission.

On June 19, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in China for a two-day visit. He met with Chinese President Xi Jinping with the aim of improving relations between the two largest world powers.

On June 21, the United States granted the first permits for the sale of lab-grown chicken meat directly from animal cells.

On June 24, the Russian mercenary group Wagner launched a military rebellion against the authorities in Moscow. On June 25, the right-wing party Alternative for Germany (AfD) achieved a historic victory in local elections in Germany.

July:

On July 11, the 28th anniversary of the genocide in Srebrenica was commemorated in various ways around the world.

On July 16, the European Union and Tunisia signed a "strategic agreement" on migration, economy, and renewable energy.

On July 24, Elon Musk renamed the well-known social network Twitter to X. The billionaire also changed the social network's logo, introduced some changes, and announced new ones.

On July 25, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu visited North Korea, which later contributed to strengthening relations between Moscow and Pyongyang.

On July 27, a military coup took place in Niger. The ousted pro-Western president was replaced by a pro-Russian military junta.

August

On August 4, leading Russian opposition figure Alexey Navalny was sentenced to 19 years in prison on charges of extremism. Navalny was already serving a sentence of a total of eleven and a half years for fraud and other charges he claims are fabricated.

On August 8, the island of Maui in Hawaii was hit by a series of wildfires that devastated the historic town of Lahaina. It was the largest wildfire in the United States in decades. Over a hundred people lost their lives, and about three thousand houses and shops were destroyed or damaged.

On August 18, a grand jury in Atlanta indicted Trump and 18 others for efforts to overturn the former president's 2020 election loss. Trump now faces a total of 91 charges in four criminal cases, in four different jurisdictions, two federal and two state cases. On August 24, Trump surrendered at the Fulton County jail where he was processed and released.

On August 23, India became the fourth country to land a spacecraft on the Moon. Its Chandrayaan-3 probe is the first to land in the Moon's south polar region.

On August 30, North Korea practiced a simulated nuclear strike on South Korea.

​September:

On September 1, French President Emmanuel Macron imposed a new dress code in French schools.

On September 8, over 2,000 people died and thousands were injured after a 6.8 magnitude earthquake struck Morocco.
On September 10, a powerful Mediterranean cyclone, Storm Daniel, caused floods in eastern Libya.
More than 4,000 people died.

On September 12, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy announced calls to open a formal impeachment inquiry into President Biden, citing allegations that he directly profited from his son's overseas business dealings.

On September 13, Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un met in Russia.

On September 14, Special Counsel David Weiss indicted Hunter Biden in connection with a gun he purchased in 2018, marking the first time in US history that the Department of Justice has indicted the child of a sitting president. The three charges include making false statements about drug use on a federal firearm form and possessing a firearm.

On September 16 and 17, US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi held talks in Malta.

On September 19, the number of mass shootings in the United States reached a new record high.

On September 19, Azerbaijan announced that it had launched an "anti-terrorist operation" in the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh. It later turned out to be the collapse of separatist Armenian forces.

On September 22, Democratic Senator from New Jersey Bob Menendez was indicted on criminal charges related to corruption for the second time in ten years. Menendez and his wife Nadine Arslanian Menendez are accused of receiving "hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes" in exchange for the senator's influence.

On September 28, Dianne Feinstein, the longest-serving senator in history, died at the age of 90.

October:

On October 3, Kevin McCarthy was removed as Speaker of the House of Representatives by a vote of 216-210.

On October 7, Hamas attacked southern Israel, killing about 1,200 soldiers and civilians.

On October 8, Israel officially launched an operation against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The operation continues to this day and has so far claimed over twenty thousand lives, mostly Palestinian civilians, children, and women.

On October 25, after three weeks without a House Speaker, Republican Mike Johnson of Louisiana was elected as the new leader.

November:

On November 1, Bolivia severed diplomatic relations with Israel due to the war in the Gaza Strip. Several countries followed suit.

On November 6, Rome and Tirana announced an agreement to house migrants intercepted in the Mediterranean in Albania while they await a final decision on their asylum status.

On November 8, the Vatican released new guidelines for the baptism of transgender people and infants of same-sex couples.

On November 15, a summit between Joseph Biden and Xi Jinping was held in San Francisco without significant agreements.

On November 17, five countries asked the International Criminal Court to investigate the situation in the Gaza Strip.

On November 19, former First Lady Rosalynn Carter died at the age of 96. Carter was the first First Lady to have an official office in the White House, thus establishing the office of the First Lady.

On November 19, Javier Milei was elected president in Argentina.

On November 24, the first group of hostages was released after Israel and Hamas agreed to a temporary ceasefire. In the following days, dozens more hostages were released. On December 1, the seven-day ceasefire ended. Israel and Hamas claim that the opposing side violated the agreement.

On November 29, American political scientist Henry Kissinger died. He was the first and only person to simultaneously serve as National Security Advisor and Secretary of State.

On November 30, the popular AI software ChatGPT celebrated its first year of existence. The software was updated to use data up to April 2023. Previously, it used data that was current up to September 2021.

December

On December 1, it was announced that artificial intelligence had written a law in Brazil that legislators in Porto Alegre had previously passed.

On December 3, a referendum was held in Venezuela on Essequibo, a territory belonging to neighboring Guyana, which official Caracas does not recognize.

On December 6, Italy announced its withdrawal from China's "Belt and Road" initiative.

On December 9, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that he would run in the presidential elections next spring.

On December 9, Yemeni Houthis announced that they would block passage through the Red Sea for all ships heading to Israel in support of the Palestinian people.

On December 12, new Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced the program of his pro-European government.

On December 22, French troops left Niger.

On December 22, Japan announced that it would have a record military budget next year.

On December 25, Israel killed Iranian General Razi Mousavi in Syria.

On December 25, Russia delivered tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus.

On December 29, Argentine President Javier Milei informed BRICS that his country does not wish to join the organization.

On December 29, China appointed Dong Jun as the new Minister of Defense.