A Look Back at the Biggest News Events of 2023

There is no question that we live in historic unusual times. 2023 added to the list of unprecedented events. See if you remember it all, as tonight, we take a look back at the events that defined the year. Conflict has dominated the headlines, including a still unfolding war in the Middle East. Less than three months ago, Hamas militants attacked Southern Israel in a surprise, multipronged, and bloody invasion. Nearly 1200 Israelis were killed and another 240 were taken hostage.

Almost 80 people are missing or kidnapped.

80 people-

80 people.

… out out of a community of 350?

Yes. 24 of them are above the age of 75, 15 of them are kids, some are even babies.

Israeli retaliation was swift and relentless. An air assault followed weeks later by a ground invasion beginning in Northern Gaza and then marching south.

The scale of destruction here and in so many other villages along Gaza’s border with Israel is complete. Every house is gutted.

Gaza’s health ministry reports more than 21,000 Palestinians have been killed. Nearly 2 million more have been displaced. A humanitarian crisis igniting demonstrations in cities around the World. War-torn Ukraine got a surprise and historic visit from President Biden, the first time in modern history a president has visited an active conflict zone not under U.S. control. On the verge of its third year of fighting against Russia, Ukraine launched a counteroffensive this summer.

This is right at the epicenter of the counteroffensive where Ukrainians have pushed the Russians back a little. They’re trying to expand their territory, their Russian lines just half a mile, both that way and that way, and you could hear all the firing.

As temperatures dropped, Russia focused its attacks on Eastern Ukraine, where both sides used drones and the front line has barely budged. Meanwhile, Russia’s neighbor to the East, Finland, joined the NATO Alliance. Other parts of the world saw their own share of instability. Haiti remained in turmoil with no elected officials and gang warfare in the streets. Nigeria and Gabon became the latest West African countries beset by military coups. In Myanmar, a possible turn in the Civil War, the military junta was stunned by a fall offensive from a coalition of armed ethnic rebel groups. After three years of a global pandemic, a momentous milestone.

I declare COVID-19 over as a global health emergency.

In the U.S., the pandemic’s end also meant some government programs transitioned to private markets, including virus treatments. COVID vaccines remained free to all, but this year’s vaccine rollout was rocky. As supply chain issues disrupted distribution, about 18% of Americans have received an updated shot this year. The global health emergency surrounding the infectious disease, monkeypox, also came to an end as cases fell, but another virus gripped the world’s attention as cases spread among children, RSV, a respiratory virus that can be serious, both in children and older adults. Respiratory problems from a different source impacted much of the U.S. and Canada this year. Smoke from massive wildfires burning in Canada shrouded large parts of the U.S. in a dangerous haze for days. The Canadian blazes were the worst on record, touching every province and burning an area the size of North Dakota. A fast-moving wildfire on the Greek island of Rhodes led to a frantic mass evacuation of tourists, and on the Hawaiian island of Maui, a weather chain reaction. An offshore hurricane sent high winds across the drought-stricken island fueling intense and rapidly spreading fires.

That puppy was a block away.

It had gone from a mile to a block away-

In minutes. In minutes, minutes, minutes, minutes. It was unreal, unbelievable.

100 people were killed and the historic town of Lahaina was destroyed. Though not solely caused by climate change, the fires are strong indicators of a warming planet. This year was the hottest on record according to the United Nations’ World Meteorological Organization. There were other natural disasters to cope within 2023. In February, a massive earthquake hit Turkey and Syria toppling thousands of buildings across the 140,000 square mile quake zone.

There are thousands of rescue workers just like this spread out across Southern Turkey still digging through the rubble, still determined to pull survivors from underneath collapsed buildings, but three whole days since the earthquakes struck, the likelihood of finding anyone still alive diminishes every hour.

In the end, nearly 60,000 people were killed, thousands more injured, and hundreds of thousands of buildings were destroyed or severely damaged prompting questions about building code standards. In Morocco, a similar story on a smaller scale, where a giant quake in September killed nearly 3000 people and brought down entire villages. From quakes to mass flooding, Libya was inundated by a fast-moving torrential rainstorm that led to the collapse of two dams. 4,000 people died and much of the city of Derna was destroyed in the worst floods Libya has seen in a century. As a year of natural disasters closes out, after weeks of intense quake activity in Iceland, a volcanic eruption arrived just before Christmas. Everyone who lives in the nearby town of Grindavík was evacuated weeks ago in anticipation.

I don’t think we’ll ever feel safe after knowing what has happened there.

From natural disasters to man-made ones. In February, a Norfolk southern train derailed and exploded in a towering ball of flames over the town of East Palestine, Ohio. Many of the cars that exploded were carrying hazardous chemicals and the nearly 5,000 people who call East Palestine home felt the impacts immediately.

Residents here still have questions about whether the air and water are safe and about the company’s commitment to address the long-term consequences of the derailment and spill.

In June, the world’s attention turned to a saga unfolding under the sea. Five men taking a paid private submersible to the shipwrecked Titanic lost their lives when the vessel imploded. In the United States, mass shootings continue to plague the country from a ballroom dance hall in California, to a mall shooting in Texas, to a private Christian school in Nashville. A lockdown in the city of Lewiston Maine as authorities hunted the killer, the U.S. has seen more than 600 mass shootings where four or more people are shot or killed in 2023 alone. In Memphis, a reminder of a different problem, police brutality. Officer body cam footage showed multiple officers beating 29-year-old Tyre Nichols to death.

(07:18)
The Justice Department charged five officers with federal crimes. In the nation’s capitol, it was a year of turbulence and change. At the Supreme Court, justices effectively brought an end to affirmative action at colleges and universities. The vote fell along ideological lines, six to three. In the U.S. House of Representatives, there were three different speakers in the span of nine months. Republican Kevin McCarthy was elected to replace Nancy Pelosi in January but it took 15 ballots for him to win.

That was easy, huh.

But by October, he was ousted as eight Renegade Republicans voted with Democrats in an historic first.

The Office of Speaker of the House of the United States House of Representatives is hereby declared vacant.

The chair sat empty for 22 days amid GOP disarray, and eventually, Republican Mike Johnson won the speakership. Three weeks it took and four nominees. In the midst of it all, the threat of government shutdowns loomed large, not once but twice, with government funding about to run out in both October and November. At the last minute, Congress passed stopgap funding bills to keep the government operating. In December, another rarity, when the house voted to expel one of its own. Republican Congressman George Santos of New York under fire for a slew of alleged crimes and ethics violations.

Today, an indictment was unsealed charging Donald J. Trump with conspiring to defraud the United States, conspiring to disenfranchise voters, and conspiring and attempting to obstruct an official proceeding.

Also on trial, Former President Trump, who made multiple appearances in several of the federal and state courtrooms in which he faces a combined 91 charges, both civil and criminal.

This trial is a rigged trial. It’s a fraudulent trial.

Even with the trials in motion, Mr. Trump’s numbers soared in his bid for the Republican nomination. Polling puts him far in the front of the pack of contenders, followed by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and former UN ambassador Nikki Haley. Independent candidate Robert Kennedy. Jr. threw his hat in the ring with a controversial run of his own. Around the world, a wave of new populist far-right leaders were elected to power. From Argentina, where the Trump-adoring Javier Milei says he’ll rein in triple-digit inflation by adopting the U.S. dollar and slashing government spending, to the Netherlands where anti-Islam and anti-European Union populist Geert Wilders won a surprise victory, but in Britain, the ultimate status quo.

(10:00)
Throngs of people converged on London for the coronation of King Charles III and his queen consort Camilla. In the U.S., some good economic news. Inflation eased more than expected. Growth was healthy and unemployment stayed below 4% for the longest time since the 1960s. Still, Americans struggled with the cost of living and high mortgage rates made it challenging for new homebuyers to get a foothold on the property ladder. Workers in several industries took to the picket line, calling for better wages, hours, and working conditions. United Auto Workers walked off the job for an unprecedented six weeks in coordinated strikes this fall and gained record wage increases. President Biden joined them in person.

(10:45)
Healthcare workers with Kaiser Permanente staged the largest healthcare strike in U.S. history over understaffing issues. In Hollywood, both writers and actors went on strike bringing the industry to a standstill for months over fair pay on streaming services and the threat of artificial intelligence in entertainment. AI kept on growing and pushing into people’s everyday lives, on the one hand, making mundane tasks easier and faster, but on the other, sounding alarm bells over how the technology will be regulated going forward. AI even helped generate a new song from the Beatles more than 50 years after they broke up, Now and Then mixed in John Lennon vocals from an old cassette tape. (singing) But other big name musicians drew big crowds on tour this year, (singing) including two record-breaking superstars. Beyonce’s much anticipated Renaissance Tour was the highest grossing by a Black artist in history. (singing).

(11:54)
Taylor Swift’s tour set the record for all artists. Her sold-out Eras Tour and subsequent film were economic juggernauts. The tour so far has earned over $1 billion in ticket sales and boosted the economies of cities where she performed. 2023 saw the continuing rise of female athletes. The Women’s World Cup drew record crowds and viewers around the world and the U.S. team collapse made way for new champions, Spain, so did the Women’s NCAA basketball finals. Louisiana State beat Iowa and the game broke records for scoring attendance and viewership. Mikaela Shiffrin became the winningest alpine skier of all-time, male or female. 19-year-old Coco Gauff won the U.S. Open, her first Grand Slam, and she was the highest paid female athlete this year. Simone Biles made her gymnastics comeback after a mental health break, adding more gold medals to her collection. An outdoor university of Nebraska women’s volleyball match broke attendance records.

(12:57)
In the world of baseball, a couple of firsts. The Texas Rangers won their first world series and a record payout for Shohei Ohtani. The Japanese pitcher signed with the Dodgers for $700 million over 10 years, the most lucrative contract in professional sports history. As the year comes to a close, some of the final farewells of 2023. First Lady Rosalynn Carter passed away at the age of 96. Sandra Day O’Connor, the first woman to sit on the Supreme Court, the longest serving California Senator Dianne Feinstein, a Democrat, and conservative Christian media mogul, Pat Robertson. From the world of arts, the Nobel Prize winning poet, Louise Gluck, writer Cormac McCarthy. From stage and screen, Bob Barker, Richard Belzer, Michael Gambon, Matthew Perry, Paul Rubens, and Raquel Welch. A final exit for some legendary names in music. Tony Bennett, Harry Belafonte, Jimmy Buffett, David Crosby, Sinead O’Connor, Lisa Marie Presley, and Tina Turner. Now, the new year has already kicked off for many around the world. From Auckland to [inaudible 00:14:05], cities rang in 2024 with countdowns, fireworks, and cheering crowds.