109 Fun Facts About 2023 Events

Which country adopted the euro and joined the Schengen Area on January 1, 2023?

Croatia became the 20th euro-area member and the 27th Schengen state on 1 January 2023, the first eurozone enlargement since Lithuania in 2015.

Which country became NATO's 31st member on April 4, 2023, doubling its border with Russia?

Finland ended decades of military non-alignment after Russia invaded Ukraine, applying in May 2022 alongside Sweden, whose own bid was held up by two existing members.

Which US lender failed on March 10, 2023, the largest such failure since 2008?

Silicon Valley Bank was closed by California regulators on 10 March 2023, two days after news of losses on its bond holdings set off a run by its depositors.

Which San Francisco lender did the FDIC seize and sell to JPMorgan Chase in May 2023?

First Republic Bank had been propped up in March by $30 billion in deposits from eleven big banks, but customers kept withdrawing and regulators seized it on 1 May 2023.

Which bank bought Credit Suisse for 3 billion francs in a Swiss-brokered deal in March 2023?

UBS took over its 167-year-old rival in a rescue brokered by the Swiss government; holders of Credit Suisse's AT1 bonds were wiped out entirely, while its shareholders still received UBS shares.

Which country overtook the long-time leader in April 2023 to become the world's most populous?

India passed the long-time leader by United Nations estimates; that country's population had shrunk in 2022 for the first time in six decades, while India's kept growing.

Which company launched GPT-4, a large language model that could respond to images, on March 14, 2023?

OpenAI's GPT-4 could read images as well as text; eight days after its launch, an open letter signed by Elon Musk and Steve Wozniak urged every lab to pause work on anything more powerful for six months.

What did Google DeepMind name the language model it released on December 6, 2023?

Gemini launched in Ultra, Pro and Nano sizes, and two months later Google dropped the Bard name and rebranded its chatbot as Gemini too.

Which rocket's first full test flight, on 20 April 2023, ended in an explosion about four minutes after liftoff?

Starship, SpaceX's giant two-stage rocket, tumbled out of control and was destroyed; the launch wrecked its own pad, and regulators grounded the programme while the mishap was investigated.

Fighting between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces erupted in April 2023 in which country?

Sudan's army chief and the head of the Rapid Support Forces had shared power since a 2021 coup; on 15 April 2023 their forces turned on each other in Khartoum.

What record did Freddy, an Indian Ocean storm of February 2023, go on to set?

'Longest-lasting tropical cyclone ever' was confirmed by the WMO in 2024: Freddy lasted 36 days, crossed the entire Indian Ocean and struck Mozambique twice.

What is the title of Prince Harry's memoir, published in January 2023?

Spare takes its title from the old saying that a dynasty needs 'an heir and a spare'; it sold more than 1.4 million copies on its first day, a Guinness record for a non-fiction book.

Which North African country's 8 September 2023 earthquake killed at least 2,960 people?

Morocco's quake struck the High Atlas near Marrakesh, its deadliest since Agadir in 1960; the government accepted rescue teams from only four countries and left dozens of other offers unanswered.

Two dams collapsed above Derna after Storm Daniel in 2023, destroying a quarter of the city, in which country?

Libya's Derna lost whole neighbourhoods when two dams built in the 1970s gave way; the city's deputy mayor said they had not been maintained since 2002.

Which band's residency opened the Sphere arena in Las Vegas in September 2023?

U2 played the run without drummer Larry Mullen Jr., who sat out to have surgery; with Dutch stand-in Bram van den Berg, these were the band's first shows without him since 1978.

Near which resort city did Hurricane Otis make landfall on 25 October 2023?

Acapulco had almost no warning: forecast to arrive as a tropical storm, Otis exploded into a Category 5 hurricane in about a day, the strongest ever to make landfall on Mexico's Pacific coast.

The Sycamore Gap Tree, illegally felled in September 2023, stood beside which ancient structure?

Hadrian's Wall was itself damaged when the tree, seen in 1991's Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, was felled; two men were jailed for over four years in 2025, and the stump has put out new shoots.

Which mercenary chief led a June 2023 mutiny against Russia's military, then died in a plane crash two months later?

Yevgeny Prigozhin's Wagner column came within about 200 km of Moscow on 24 June 2023 before halting; he died when his jet crashed in Tver region on 23 August 2023.

Which leader brokered the deal that ended the one-day mercenary mutiny in Russia in June 2023?

Alexander Lukashenko, Belarus's president, brokered the deal: the Wagner chief halted his march on Moscow and left for Belarus, and Russia dropped the mutiny charges against him.

Which sitting head of state did the ICC issue an arrest warrant for on 17 March 2023?

Vladimir Putin was charged by the ICC on 17 March 2023 with the unlawful deportation of Ukrainian children, the first warrant against a sitting leader of a permanent UN Security Council member.

In February 2023 Russia suspended its participation in which nuclear arms treaty with the United States?

New START capped each side at 1,550 deployed strategic warheads; Russia announced the suspension in a state-of-the-nation speech, and the treaty expired for good in February 2026.

President Mohamed Bazoum was overthrown in a July 2023 coup in which country?

Niger's presidential guard, the unit meant to protect Mohamed Bazoum, detained him on 26 July 2023; its commander declared himself leader and tore up the country's military agreements with France.

An August 30, 2023 coup ended the Bongo family's 56-year rule in which Central African country?

Gabon's military, led by General Brice Oligui Nguema, seized power on 30 August 2023 minutes after Ali Bongo Ondimba was declared re-elected; his father Omar had taken office in 1967.

Bola Tinubu was elected president of which West African country in February 2023?

Nigeria's Bola Tinubu used his inauguration speech that May to scrap a fuel subsidy dating from the 1970s, and petrol prices climbed to record highs within weeks.

Which club won Italy's Serie A in 2023, its first league title in 33 years?

Napoli had gone bankrupt and was playing in Italy's third tier as recently as 2006; its two earlier titles, in 1987 and 1990, came with Diego Maradona, whose name its stadium now bears.

Daniel Noboa won a snap presidential election in which South American country in October 2023?

Ecuador held the snap vote after President Guillermo Lasso dissolved congress in May 2023; Noboa, 35, heir to a banana fortune, beat Luisa González in the October runoff.

Bernardo Arévalo of the Semilla movement was elected president of which country in August 2023?

Guatemala's Bernardo Arévalo, son of former president Juan José Arévalo, won the 20 August 2023 runoff against Sandra Torres by a wide margin; prosecutors then spent months trying to suspend his Semilla party.

Who succeeded Jacinda Ardern as Prime Minister of New Zealand on January 25, 2023?

Chris Hipkins, then education and police minister, was sworn in on 25 January 2023 after Ardern's 19 January announcement that she no longer had 'enough in the tank'.

In which country did Geert Wilders' Party for Freedom win the most seats in a November 2023 election?

The Netherlands went to the polls on 22 November 2023 after Mark Rutte's coalition collapsed over migration that July; Wilders' PVV took 37 of 150 seats, its best ever result.

Donald Tusk replaced Mateusz Morawiecki as prime minister of which country in December 2023?

Poland's Law and Justice party won the most seats that October but fell short of a majority, returning Tusk to the office he had left in 2014 to lead the European Council.

Whom did Erdoğan defeat in the May 2023 runoff to win a third term as Turkey's president?

Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, backed by six opposition parties, held Erdoğan half a point short of outright victory and forced the first presidential runoff in the country's history, then lost it 52% to 48%.

Which country mediated Iran and Saudi Arabia's March 2023 restoration of relations?

China hosted the final talks in Beijing; the two rivals had cut ties in 2016, after protesters stormed Saudi Arabia's embassy in Tehran, and agreed to reopen their embassies within two months.

Who was elected Speaker of the US House on October 25, 2023, ending three weeks without one?

Mike Johnson of Louisiana won 220–209 after Steve Scalise, Jim Jordan and Tom Emmer had each been nominated and fallen short, leaving the House leaderless for 22 days.

Sam Bankman-Fried was convicted of fraud in November 2023 over which crypto exchange that he founded?

FTX, which Bankman-Fried founded in 2019, collapsed in November 2022; a New York jury convicted him on 2 November 2023 on all seven counts, and he was sentenced to 25 years in March 2024.

Which company did Microsoft finish acquiring for $68.7 billion in October 2023?

Activision Blizzard, maker of Call of Duty, joined Microsoft only after Britain's regulator, which had blocked the deal in April, approved a version that sold the cloud-gaming rights to Ubisoft.

Which oil giant agreed in October 2023 to buy shale driller Pioneer Natural Resources for about $60 billion?

ExxonMobil paid entirely in its own shares, and the deal more than doubled its footprint in the Permian Basin, the vast shale field of the American Southwest.

Which network agreed in April 2023 to pay Dominion Voting Systems $787.5 million to settle a defamation suit?

Fox News settled just as opening statements were about to begin, and acknowledged the court's ruling that it had aired false claims about Dominion after the 2020 election.

What was the Beatles' final song, released 2 November 2023 with restored John Lennon vocals, called?

'Now and Then' was built from a late-1970s Lennon demo, with Harrison's 1995 guitar parts and new contributions from McCartney and Starr; it was the band's first UK number one since 1969.

Which singer revealed her second pregnancy while performing the Super Bowl halftime show in February 2023?

Rihanna had hinted she might bring a guest, but no other star appeared: she sang from a platform floating above the field, and her representatives confirmed the pregnancy soon afterwards.

Whose NBA career scoring record, held since 1984, did LeBron James break in February 2023?

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar had held the record for almost 39 years, more than twice as long as anyone before him; James passed his 38,387 points with a fadeaway jumper against Oklahoma City.

Which team won the 2023 Rugby World Cup, beating New Zealand in the final for a record fourth title?

South Africa beat New Zealand 12–11 in Paris on 28 October 2023; the Springboks won all three knockout matches by a single point to claim a record fourth title.

Which country won the 2023 World Baseball Classic final in Miami on 21 March?

Japan beat the United States 3–2 in Miami on 21 March 2023 for its third title; the final ended with Shohei Ohtani striking out his Angels teammate Mike Trout.

Which team won the 2023 Cricket World Cup, beating the host nation in the final on November 19?

Australia beat the hosts by six wickets in Ahmedabad, where Travis Head hit 137; the hosts had won all ten of their matches in the tournament before the final.

Who beat Aryna Sabalenka in the 2023 US Open final to win her first Grand Slam singles title?

Coco Gauff, aged 19, lost the first set 2–6 before turning the final around, becoming the first American teenager to win the title since Serena Williams in 1999.

Which city hosted the 49th G7 summit on 19–21 May 2023?

Hiroshima, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's home constituency, hosted the leaders on 19–21 May 2023; Volodymyr Zelenskyy flew in on the second day and the leaders visited the Peace Memorial.

Queen Margrethe II announced on New Year's Eve 2023 that she would abdicate after 52 years as monarch of which country?

Denmark's queen broke the news in her live New Year's speech, saying back surgery that February had made her think about the future; her son became Frederik X two weeks later.

Smoke from wildfires in which Canadian province blanketed New York City in a thick haze in June 2023?

Quebec's fires usually send their smoke east and out to sea, but in early June 2023 unusual winds steered it south, and for a day New York had the worst air of any major city in the world.

Which country shut its last three nuclear power plants in April 2023?

Germany closed Isar 2, Emsland and Neckarwestheim 2 in mid-April 2023, a shutdown delayed from the end of 2022 by the energy crunch after Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

In 2023 the European Parliament voted to end sales, from 2035, of new cars that emit what?

Carbon dioxide from new cars' exhausts had to fall by 100% from 2035 under the law, in effect ruling out petrol and diesel engines; makers of fewer than 1,000 cars a year stayed exempt.

Which jailed Iranian activist won the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize?

Narges Mohammadi had been arrested 13 times and sentenced to 31 years in all; her 17-year-old twins read her lecture, written in prison, at the ceremony in Oslo.

The 2023 Chemistry Nobel honoured the discovery of which nanoscale material, now used to colour television screens?

Quantum dots are crystals so small that their size alone sets their colour, bluer when tiny and redder as they grow; surgeons now use them to light up tumour tissue.

Karikó and Weissman's 2023 Nobel discoveries enabled which kind of vaccine?

mRNA vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna relied on the pair's 2005 finding that swapping uridine for pseudouridine stops the immune system attacking synthetic mRNA.

Which Norwegian writer won the 2023 Nobel Prize in Literature for plays and prose that 'give voice to the unsayable'?

Jon Fosse says he hated school and that his teachers told him he couldn't write; he now writes in Nynorsk and is one of the most widely performed playwrights in the world.

What was the best-selling video game of 2023 in the United States?

Hogwarts Legacy sold 22 million copies worldwide in 2023 and ended a 14-year run in which every year's US best-seller was a Call of Duty or Rockstar game.

Whoosh, Southeast Asia's first high-speed railway, opened in October 2023 in which country?

Indonesia's line cut the trip between Jakarta and Bandung from about three hours to under an hour, with trains running at up to 350 km/h.

In which country was the world's oldest known wooden structure, 476,000 years old, found?

Zambia's Kalambo Falls site yielded two interlocking logs joined by a cut notch, dated to about 476,000 years ago and reported in Nature in September 2023, long before Homo sapiens existed.

US surgeons announced in November 2023 the world's first transplant of which whole body part?

An eye was transplanted with part of a face onto Aaron James, an Arkansas lineman burned by a high-voltage line; the 21-hour operation aimed to keep the eye alive rather than restore sight, and it has stayed healthy.

Retired general Petr Pavel was elected president of which country in January 2023?

The Czech Republic chose Petr Pavel over billionaire ex-premier Andrej Babiš; Pavel, a former chair of NATO's Military Committee, has called his 1980s Communist Party membership a mistake.

Yeti Airlines Flight 691 crashed on approach to Pokhara in January 2023, killing all 72 aboard, in which country?

Nepal's investigators found that a pilot had pulled the wrong levers on approach, feathering both propellers so the engines gave no thrust.

Somalia was admitted in November 2023 as the eighth member of which regional bloc?

The East African Community admitted Somalia at its Arusha summit more than a decade after Mogadishu first applied, adding a country with the longest coastline in mainland Africa.

Iran became the ninth member of which international grouping in July 2023?

The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, a Eurasian security bloc founded in 2001, admitted Iran after 18 years as an observer, at a summit held by video link.

A Norfolk Southern train carrying hazardous materials derailed on February 3, 2023 in which Ohio town?

East Palestine saw 38 cars derail; three days later crews vented and burned vinyl chloride from five tank cars, a step the NTSB later judged unnecessary.

At COP28 in Dubai, countries agreed for the first time to 'transition away' from what?

Fossil fuels had never been named this way in a UN climate deal; the pact was gavelled through by summit president Sultan Al Jaber, who also runs the UAE's state oil company.

The Nova Kakhovka dam, destroyed on June 6, 2023, sat in which Russian-occupied region of Ukraine?

Kherson region's Kakhovka dam on the Dnipro river was breached in the early hours of 6 June 2023, flooding the city of Kherson downstream and draining the reservoir used by the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant.

Azerbaijan's one-day offensive in September 2023 ended the breakaway Republic of Artsakh in which region?

Nagorno-Karabakh's Armenian authorities surrendered on 20 September 2023 after a 24-hour assault; more than 100,000 ethnic Armenians fled to Armenia within days.

Which former Thai prime minister returned in August 2023 after 15 years in exile?

Thaksin Shinawatra, ousted in a 2006 coup, was taken into custody on landing and later received a royal pardon; parliament chose his party's candidate as prime minister the same day.

Economist Tharman Shanmugaratnam was elected president of which country in September 2023?

Singapore's presidency is non-partisan, so Tharman Shanmugaratnam quit the ruling party and parliament to run; he won with 70.4% of the vote.

Which team won its first NBA championship in June 2023, beating the Miami Heat in five games?

Denver Nuggets star Nikola Jokić was named Finals MVP nine years after being drafted 41st, a pick announced on a ticker while a Taco Bell advert filled the screen.

Which cyclist won the 2023 Tour de France, his second consecutive victory?

Jonas Vingegaard of Jumbo-Visma sealed his second straight Tour on 23 July 2023, finishing 7 minutes 29 seconds ahead of Pogačar after dominating the Combloux time trial and the Col de la Loze stage.

Which pope's funeral, drawing about 50,000 people, was held in St Peter's Square in January 2023?

Benedict XVI, who had resigned in 2013, died on 31 December 2022 aged 95; Pope Francis presided over his funeral on 5 January 2023, the first time in modern history a pope had buried his predecessor.

Whose supporters stormed Brazil's Congress and Supreme Court on January 8, 2023?

Jair Bolsonaro's supporters, rejecting his October 2022 defeat, invaded Congress, the Supreme Court and the Planalto palace a week after Lula da Silva's 1 January inauguration; Bolsonaro himself was in Florida.

Which organisation became the G20's 21st permanent member at the September 2023 New Delhi summit?

The African Union became the first new member since the G20 was founded in 1999; host Narendra Modi called its chair, Comoros president Azali Assoumani, up to join the leaders.

Which company operated the submersible that imploded on a dive to a famous shipwreck in June 2023?

OceanGate's chief executive Stockton Rush, who was piloting the sub and died aboard, had been warned by industry experts in a 2018 letter about its experimental design.

Where was Charles III crowned in May 2023, in the first British coronation since 1953?

Westminster Abbey has staged coronations since William the Conqueror's in 1066; Charles invited about 2,200 guests, against some 8,000 for his mother in 1953.

Off the coast of which US state was the Chinese high-altitude balloon shot down on 4 February 2023?

South Carolina's coast off Myrtle Beach was where an F-22 downed the balloon on 4 February 2023 after it had crossed the continent from Alaska; the debris went to the FBI lab at Quantico.

Meta's Threads hit 100 million users in five days in July 2023, beating a record set by which app?

ChatGPT's record fell in five days, but the rush faded: Sensor Tower counted Threads' daily users down about 80% from their launch peak by the end of July.

What went off air first in Hollywood's May 2023 writers' strike?

Late-night talk shows stopped at once; five rival hosts, among them Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel, then made a podcast called Strike Force Five to pay their idle staff.

Who directed Barbie, the highest-grossing film of 2023?

Greta Gerwig was recruited by star and producer Margot Robbie and wrote the script with her partner Noah Baumbach; earlier versions built around Amy Schumer and Anne Hathaway had stalled.

Which city staged the 2023 Champions League final, 18 years after Liverpool's famous comeback win there?

Istanbul's Atatürk Olympic Stadium had been due to stage the 2020 final and then the 2021 final, but the pandemic moved both to Portugal.

Which film opened the same day as Barbie in July 2023 and went on to win Best Picture?

Oppenheimer shared its opening day with Barbie, and filmgoers turned the clash of opposites into the Barbenheimer double bill; it went on to win seven Oscars.

Where did a grand jury make Donald Trump the first former US president to be criminally indicted, in March 2023?

Manhattan came first: its grand jury charged Donald Trump over hush-money records, and grand juries in Miami, Washington and Atlanta followed within five months.

Which submersible imploded in June 2023 on a dive to a famous 1912 shipwreck, killing all five people aboard?

Titan lost contact with its support ship less than two hours into the dive, and a four-day search ended when a remotely operated vehicle found its wreckage on the seabed.

Which disease's global health emergency did the WHO end in 2023, more than three years after declaring it?

COVID-19 kept its emergency status for more than three years; six days after ending it, the WHO also lifted its mpox emergency, while warning that the pandemic itself was not over.

Whose concert tour, launched in March 2023, became the first ever to gross more than $1 billion?

Taylor Swift's Eras Tour ran 149 shows of more than three hours each; the scramble for its tickets had crashed Ticketmaster and prompted a US Senate hearing.

Which team won the 2023 Women's World Cup final in Sydney with a goal from Olga Carmona?

Spain's first women's world title was followed by federation chief Luis Rubiales kissing forward Jenni Hermoso on the lips at the medal ceremony; he resigned within weeks and was convicted of sexual assault in 2025.

Which Friends star was found dead in a hot tub at his Los Angeles home in October 2023, aged 54?

Matthew Perry died from the acute effects of ketamine, and five people were later charged with helping him obtain the lethal doses.

Elon Musk renamed Twitter 'X' in July 2023, reviving the name of his 1999 online bank that became which company?

PayPal is the name X.com took after merging with a rival payments start-up in 2000; Musk bought the x.com web address back from the company in 2017.

Which World Cup winner joined Inter Miami in July 2023 and lifted the Leagues Cup, the club's first trophy?

Lionel Messi scored in all seven of his Leagues Cup games, ten goals in all, and Inter Miami won the final on penalties a month after his debut.

Which group's surprise attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killed about 1,200 and took some 250 hostages?

Hamas fighters broke through the Gaza fence at dawn, and the next day Israel formally declared war for the first time since the Yom Kippur War of 1973.

Which country lost more than 50,000 people to a 7.8-magnitude earthquake in February 2023?

Turkey counted more than 53,000 dead, yet the town of Erzin, in one of the worst-hit provinces, had no building collapses; strict building codes were credited with protecting it.

Which Republican became the first US House Speaker ever removed by a floor vote, in October 2023?

Kevin McCarthy had needed 15 ballots to win the gavel in January; a motion from Matt Gaetz ended his nine-month tenure, the third-shortest in history.

Which chainsaw-brandishing libertarian economist won a South American presidential run-off in November 2023?

Javier Milei had vowed to take a chainsaw to the state, and beat finance minister Sergio Massa by about 11 points.

Which historic Hawaiian town was largely destroyed in August 2023 by the deadliest US wildfire in more than a century?

Lahaina's 150-year-old banyan tree was scorched in the fire that killed 102 people, then sprouted new leaves within weeks.

Which former US Secretary of State died in November 2023 at the age of 100?

Henry Kissinger, whose family fled the Nazis in 1938 when he was 15, died at his Connecticut home after shaping US foreign policy under Presidents Nixon and Ford.

Which team beat the Eagles 38–35 in February 2023, in the first Super Bowl with brothers playing on opposing teams?

Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce faced his brother Jason, the Eagles' center, in the so-called Kelce Bowl, and Harrison Butker's late field goal settled it.

Which club completed a treble in June 2023 by beating Inter Milan 1–0 for its first Champions League title?

Manchester City's Rodri scored the only goal and goalkeeper Ederson made two late saves, sealing only the second treble won by an English men's club.

Whose 2023 US Open title was a men's-record 24th Grand Slam singles crown, tying Margaret Court's all-time mark?

Novak Djokovic beat Daniil Medvedev in straight sets, two years after Medvedev beat him in the same final and ended his bid for a calendar-year Grand Slam.

Which Red Bull driver won a record 19 of 22 Formula One races in 2023 en route to a third straight title?

Max Verstappen sealed the title on a Saturday, in the Qatar sprint race, when team-mate Sergio Pérez crashed out; his ten straight wins that year were also a record.

Which gymnast returned from a two-year absence in 2023 and won a record sixth world all-around title in Antwerp?

Simone Biles had stepped away after 'the twisties', a mid-air mental block, cut short her Tokyo Olympics; the Antwerp win made her the most decorated gymnast in history.

Which franchise won its first World Series in November 2023, beating the Arizona Diamondbacks in an all-wild-card final?

Texas Rangers had twice been one strike from the title in 2011 before losing to St. Louis; this win came in the franchise's 63rd season.

Which French swimmer broke a 15-year-old world record in the 400m medley at the 2023 worlds in Fukuoka?

Léon Marchand swam 4:02.50 three years after cold-emailing American coach Bob Bowman to ask for a place in his college squad; he won four golds at the Paris Olympics a year later.

Who won the Best Actress Oscar in March 2023 for Everything Everywhere All at Once, at the age of 60?

Michelle Yeoh's part was first written for Jackie Chan before the directors rewrote the lead as a woman; her win made her the first Asian winner of the award.

Whose 2023 Grammy for Best Dance/Electronic Album made her the most-awarded artist in the awards' 65-year history?

Beyoncé's 32nd Grammy passed the record of conductor Georg Solti, though Album of the Year eluded her again and went to Harry Styles.

Which Miley Cyrus single, released on ex-husband Liam Hemsworth's birthday, was the best-selling global single of 2023?

Flowers began as a slow, sad piano ballad before it was reworked into the upbeat anthem that won Record of the Year.

Which singer won Eurovision 2023 in Liverpool with 'Tattoo', becoming the first woman to win the contest twice?

Loreen won on the juries' votes while the public vote went to runner-up Käärijä; 11 years after 'Euphoria', she joined Johnny Logan as a two-time winner.

Which union joined Hollywood's writers on strike in July 2023, the first such double walkout since 1960?

SAG-AFTRA's 118-day walkout, driven by streaming residuals and fears of AI digital replicas, was the longest actors' strike against the film and TV studios and halted most production.

Which craft made the first landing near the Moon's south pole in August 2023, days after a Russian lander crashed?

Chandrayaan-3 succeeded four years after its predecessor's lander crashed attempting the same landing.

Which NASA mission parachuted a capsule of asteroid Bennu samples into the Utah desert in September 2023?

OSIRIS-REx's drogue parachute failed to deploy on time because of a wiring mistake, but the main chute opened at about 9,000 feet and the rubble reached Johnson Space Center intact.

Which venue hosted the world's first AI Safety Summit in November 2023, where 28 countries signed a declaration?

Bletchley Park, where Alan Turing's colleagues broke Enigma, gave its name to the Bletchley Declaration, which the US, China and the EU all signed.