Here are some of the biggest stories in a look-back compiled by our correspondents.
North Asia
This was the yearChina was meant to re-engage with the world. After three years of COVID lockdowns,the Chinese government finally lifted restrictions,reopened borders and said it was ready to do business.
But the population was weighed down by years of anxiety and fear of what tomorrow might bring. The Chinese shut their wallets,pushing the economy into while the government struggled to convince foreign investors to return to the world’s second-largest market.
One in five young graduates remain jobless. The government has become so desperate to stimulate activity that it is offering them $500 monthly to
The deterioration in the Chinese economy has forced Beijing to change its foreign policy settings after years of wolf-warrior diplomacy won it few friends and new enemies.
Apart from,the Chinese government has been at pains to repair fractured ties around the world,first with the United States,but also with Australia.
That job was made more difficult after the unexplainedin July and in September.
There was less mystery about the sudden release of Australian journalist - just weeks before Anthony Albanese became. Premier Li Qiang called Albanese “a handsome boy”. Albanese discussed with President Xi Jinping,and they pledged to “move forward in a really positive way” after years of economic coercion and diplomatic hostility.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Chinese President Xi Jinping during a meeting in Beijing in November.AAP
The sudden bonhomie in the Great Hall of the People was jarring in a country that is still sending fighter jets weekly to Taiwanand has wiped out freedom of speech inHong Kong,where to what was once a global financial and cultural hub.
Just over the East China Sea,South KoreaandJapan have been watching closely. Both have hardened their resistance towards Beijing as it looks to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida hostedwhere they condemned China for any “unilateral attempts to change the status quo by force or coercion.”
Kishida has been focused on protecting Japan’s national security as its economy wobbles,but he tooith approval ratings below 30 per cent.– Eryk Bagshaw,North Asia correspondent
Quad leaders meet on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Hiroshima in May.AP
South-East Asia
Inr inIndonesia,there was much focus on the emergence of a family political dynasty as his. The country also made headlines for the wrong reasons when it was for refusing to host an Israeli team.
Widodo was and won a sought-after deal for the neighbours to. Also on the Australian front,the arrest of Queenslander grabbed attention,as did the disappearance and then.
In thePhilippines,President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos jnr as well as as Manila was subjected to. On the domestic fron,t there was shock at – even in one of the most dangerous countries in the world for elected officials. In better news,outspoken senator,was finally released after six years behind bars.
Thailand topped the regional bill for political drama as the progressive,humbling the conservative establishment,but was. After a stalemate,Pheu Thai,long associated with former leader Thaksin Shinawatra,eventually took charge of a coalition of compromise with military proxy parties,thrusting ex-property tycoon Srettha Thavisin into the prime ministership and facilitating. There was sadness at the,the captain of the Thai boys’ soccer team trapped in a cave in 2018. Amid the horror of Hamas’ October 7 attack on southern Israel,meanwhile,
The scourge of corruption and money laundering threatened to dent the clean image projected by financial hubSingapore. and in a separate scandal,$SGD2.8 billion ($3.1 billion) in assets was seized and 10 Chinese suspects nabbed over the illegal flow of cash through the city-state. After leading since 2004,Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong also announced he would hand the baton to deputy Lawrence Wong next year in advance of an election in 2025.
InMalaysia,Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim came through his first 12 months in charge with a semblance of stability,not insignificant after the political turbulence of the preceding three years,keeping the peace in a unity government composed of former foes and withstanding the. Anwar also revelled as a statesman on the global stage,particularly. Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar of Johor was picked as the next king of Malaysia,where occupation of the throne rotates between state rulers.
New Timor-Leste Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao delivers a speech during his inauguration in Dili in July.AP
inTimor-Leste,vowing to secure a deal that would have ramifications for geopolitics as well as for the tiny nation’s economy. Gusmao also raised doubts over whether the junta in conflict-ravaged Myanmar could be brought to heel by ASEAN,the regional grouping of which Timor-Leste is to become the 11th member.
Armed ethnic groups inMyanmar banded together to capture dozens of military outposts,a setback for the generals as they confront mounting resistance almost three years after a coup. Deposed former leader
Superpowers courted manufacturing giantVietnam,which played host to both US President Joe Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping in 2023.to mark 50 years of relations,andoon after. Corruption was also big news in Vietnam,where
There were few surprises with the election result in Cambodia,which sealed a– Chris Barrett,South-east Asia correspondent
Police detain a supporter of Pakistan’s former prime minister Imran Khan protesting against his arrest in Lahore in May.AP
South Asia
India marked a historic milestone in 2023 when it overtook China to become the world’s most populous nation. It is now home to 1.41 billion people and is forecast to reach 1.67 billion by mid-century,making it. Its growing economic and global clout was underscored when Prime Minister Narendra Modi hosted the influential. Ties between India and Australia have improved rapidly during the past decade,and this continued in 2023. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese made during the year,while Modi became the first Indian PM to visit Australia twice when he met Albanese in Sydney in June.- Matt Wade,former India correspondent
in May triggered violent unrest in Pakistan,where supporters of the cricket champion turned politician torched military facilities in protest. The security establishment hit back in deadly clashes,detaining leaders from Khan’s party and as many as 10,000 of its workers,according to the cricket champion turned politician. Khan himself was slapped with more than 150 charges his supporters say were designed to sideline him from February’s election,and in August,he was jailed for selling state gifts. Amid the turmoil,Pakistan reached agreement with the International Monetary Fund for a $US3 billion ($4.5 billion) bailout package to help prop up an economy that had been on the verge of collapse. And Pakistani rescuers pulled became stranded high over a remote ravine in August,ending an ordeal lasting more than 15 hours.– Chris Barrett
Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin is dead two months after a failed coup of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Europe
On one long June night,Russia’s notorious staged a dramatic insurrection,sending an armoured convoy towards Moscow and posing the greatest threat to Vladimir Putin’s grip on power in three decades.
Putin accused his former ally of treason,of embarking on an armed rebellion,“a stab in the back of our country”. But by the end of that weekend,Prigozhin had called off the whole thing and ordered his men back to base. Weeks later he was. Putin eulogised his friend. It was justice,Soviet style.
Almost 22 months,the war continues to cast a dire shadow across Europe. Putin’s actions have not only plunged his own nation into economic peril,but fuelled a cost-of-living crisis,complete with spiralling energy costs,across the Continent. These issues,plus and political unrest.
That has political forces branding themselves “conservative” and “patriotic” eyeing next year’sEuropean Union elections as a prime test.
Geert Wilders’ rise in the Netherlands is one example of the surging far right in Europe.Getty Images
Just a few weeks ago Slovakia’s election elevated Leftist leader Robert Fico,in a coalition with nationalist parties,to prime minister,after he pledged to end military support for Ukraine and criticised sanctions on Russia. His moves threaten to further strain fragile democratic standards and erode EU unity on Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Fico had previously quit as prime minister in 2018 amid mass public protests against corruption after a journalist was murdered.
The resurgence of far-right and other populist forces is worrisome for liberal democracies across Europe – but nowhere more so than inGermany. October’s breakthrough by the anti-immigration,Eurosceptic Alternative for Germany in regional elections in two western states confirmed that its appeal is no longer confined to disgruntled voters in the former communist east. Chancellor Olaf Scholz has conceded the number of people seeking asylum in the country – some 450,000 since the beginning of last year,on top of 1 million Ukrainian refugees – is too high.
Finland’s new government was sworn in on June 20,with rock-star being dumped by voters to install its most right-wing government in recent history. But geography ensures Russia’s actions remain a central piece of the new government’s foreign and defence policy,as well as its efforts to ramp up support for Ukraine.
The seismic result from Dutch populist winning the most seats at the recent election inthe Netherlands,normally a socially liberal and centrist nation,is perhaps a sign of things to come.,with outbreaks of Islamophobia.
King Charles III stands after being crowned during his coronation ceremony in Westminster Abbey in London on May 6.Getty Images
Britain has enjoyed a year of relative stability,compared to the revolving door at No. 10 Downing Street last year,but Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has had to put out a few spot fires,mainly. A in May,with Charles III putting his stamp on a new,slimmed down monarchy..- Rob Harris,Europe correspondent
Middle East
This time last year,Palestinians under occupation had just suffered their most deadly year since 2005. Twelve months on,violence has continued to swell across Israeli occupied territories while war has erupted in the heavily blockadedGaza Strip.
Hamas’ October 7 invasion of Israel by land,air and sea claimed more than 1200 Israeli lives and led to the kidnapping of hundreds. By December,more than 20,000 Gazans had been killed in Israel’s retaliatory aerial bombardment.
inLebanon,the worst of the fighting has so far remained largely contained to Gaza.
Israel’s retaliation has attracted regional condemnation,especially with women and children being among the majority of casualties,in particular from neighbouring countries likeJordan,where about 60 per cent of the population is Palestinian.
Iran has insisted it had no prior knowledge of Hamas’ October 7 killing spree,despite being the biggest financial backer of the terrorist group and others like Hezbollah and Palestinian Islamic Jihad which make up its so-called “axis of resistance”. This year also marked the one-year anniversary of Mahsa Amini’s death in police custody,which sparked the mass “Woman,Life,Freedom” protests acrossIran. Women who do not wear headscarves in public continue to be targeted and jailed in growing numbers under draconian laws.
The break in fighting in Gaza gave way to the long-awaited return of some Israeli hostages in exchange forPalestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails,as well as the passage of urgent humanitarian aid following tense diplomatic negotiations largely driven byQatar,the US and Egypt.
Yemen’s Houthi rebels recently attacked ships in the Red Sea,keeping alive fears that the conflict could yet spill over and.
The petro-kingdom forSaudi Arabialed by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has continued charging ahead on its mission to diversify its economy,as it looks to remake itself in a post-oil-dependent future. Harnessing the soft-power of sport,,pumping billions into football,golf,Formula 1 racing and pro-wrestling.
It’s been a big year for the Gulf states,not least theUnited Arab Emirates,which hosted the UN in Dubai in December. The oil-producing kingdom was a of a conference designed to combat global warming.-Lucy Cormack,reporter,Dubai
North America
It was aUnited States year marked by political dysfunction,global and domestic tragedy,and the cultural phenomenon of Taylor Swift.
But no other person dominated the headlines more than former US president Donald Trump.
The incendiary Republican kicked off 2023 being blamed by his party for its poor performance at the midterm elections,yet ended the year as the overwhelming frontrunner to win the 2024 presidential nomination - despite facing 91 criminal charges across four separate trials next year.
Donald Trump’s Georgia mugshot.Reuters
His astonishing political resurrection began in March when a New York grand jury voted to,giving Trump leverage to fundraise and campaign as the victim of a targeted “witch-hunt”.
Soon enough,the unprecedented in America became the norm,with Trump being indicted a further three times:;;and.
There was no shortage of other political scandals on both sides of the aisle. In the deeply divided Congress, became the first House Speaker in history to be ousted by his own side.
Rookie politician and serial fabulist,for identity theft and misusing campaign funds.
And - an issue that Republicans have used to repeatedly attack his father.
Adding to the challenging landscape he faces,Biden’s agenda now hangs in the balance as his pleas to provide more aid to Ukraine is mired in partisan battles and his support of Israel’s war against Hamas threatens to tear apart the broad coalition he needs to win re-election next November.
But the 81-year-old president has confronted a myriad of domestic woes,too:from the fickle US economy and the ongoing concerns about this age,to the perennial crisis at the US-Mexico border.
Taylor Swift performs in Buenos Aires in November during the Eras tour.AP
Outside politics,one of the most gripping North America stories for 2023 took place in June when a ofCanada during a voyage to the wreckage of the Titanic. Four days later,after a frantic international search,debris from the vehicle was found on the ocean floor,confirming that it had imploded,killing all five people on board.
This year wasn’t all doom and gloom,at least not for. The 34-year-old singer-songwriter cemented her place as one of the biggest pop icons of all time when her Eras tour became the first to gross more than $US1 billion ($1.4 billion).
Economies soared in the cities she visited,romance blossomed in the form of Kansas City Chief’s Travis Kelce and US universities such as Harvard,New York and Arizona began offering courses to study the phenomenon. -Farrah Tomazin,North America correspondent
South America
The year began inBrazil with a calm before the storm in the inauguration of President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva on January 1,which passed without incident despite fears of violence. That came with the by thousands of supporters of former president Jair Bolsonaro on January 8,in a copycat riot of the US Capitol by Donald Trump supporters a year and two days earlier. Like Trump, and. He wasn’t in Brasilia to attempt to retake power,however,having travelled to the United States for an extended holiday – a move that disappointed many supporters. is back in Brazil facing a number of investigations, and. His successor,Lula,has pressed on with his domestic,international and environmental agenda,pledging,among other things,to not get involved in the Ukraine war,stay close to the BRICS group of countries – including Russia and China – and.
Supporters of Brazil’s former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro,storm the Supreme Court building in Brasilia,on January 8,in an attack bearing similarities to the riot at the US Capitol a year earlier.AP
The year closed with a Trumpian election in Argentina,where Javier Milei,a far-right libertarian was elected despite his penchant for cloning – and chainsaws,and promise to dolarise the economy. His first trip overseas as president-elect was to New York to advance and cement his support for Israel. With an economy in tatters,voters chose Milei,a political outsider,instead of finance minister Sergio Massa whom they blamed for the crisis.
TheVenezuelan crisis continued,albeit with fewer sanctions imposed by the United States. A late move by President was deemed an act of desperation by a leader who is under the spotlight to hold honest elections next year. Having held a referendum to justify the land grab,he’s not done with it yet.
InEcuador, violence marred the election campaign,with candidate Fernando Villavicencio,during a campaign rally. In October,,won the presidential run-off election,held amid unprecedented violence.
,closing down most of the country,creating nationwide chaos and stranding dozens of Australians in Machu Picchu.
In this photo released by Colombia’s Armed Forces Press Office,soldiers and indigenous men pose for a photo with the four indigenous children who were missing after a deadly plane crash.Colombia’s Armed Force Press Agency/AP
In Colombia,officials appear to have finally found a solution to the ever-growing herd of – they said they would sterilise some,possibly euthanise some and relocate others to sanctuaries in other countries. The aged 13,9,4 and a baby,who survived a plane crash after being lost in the depths of the Amazon jungle for weeks captivated the world. –Lia Timson,deputy world editor
Africa
More than 350 people have been killed in November and December. More than a million people have been displaced acrossKenya,Somalia,Ethiopia,andTanzania.
People cross a flooded area on makeshift raft in north-east Kenya in November.AP
The flooding followed the most severe period of drought the Horn of Africa had suffered in four decades,which began in 2020 and led to widespread displacement and hunger.
The drought led to the death of almost 10 million livestock and,of those animals that survived,tens of thousands drowned in the floods,aid groups said.
An,between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group,has already killed at least 10,000 people – a number the United Nations said was likely much higher.
General Abdourahamane Tchiani makes a statement on TV in July declaring he is the head of state.AP
There were two coups d’etat in Africa this year:in and.
In Niger,the Presidential Guard arrested president Mohamed Bazoum and its commander,General Abdourahamane Tchiani,proclaimed himself leader in July. It was the first coup since 2010 – there were several attempts in between – and the fifth following independence from France in 1960.
Tchiani said he took control of the country to reverse what he called Niger’s demise under Bazoum,but later promised to hand the country back to civilian rule within three years. He has since turned to other African nations also run by juntas for support.
InGabon,which had been ruled by the Bongo family for 56 years since independence from France in 1967,Ali Bongo was toppled from government in August after being accused of election fraud. It was the eighth successful coup in Central and West Africa since 2020.
Gabon’s armed forces took control of government buildings in the capital,Libreville,just minutes after Bongo was declared the winner of an election riddled with irregularities,according to opposition politicians and independent observers.
Brigadier general Brice Oligui,the commander of the Republican Guard responsible for protecting government buildings,remains interim president and chairman of the Committee for the Transition and Restoration of Institutions.– James Lemon,world producer,reporter
Oceania
The year opened with the shock resignation ofNew Zealand prime minister on January 23. She didn’t leave office until February,leaving Chris Hipkins in charge until a general election in October. Then it took another six weeks for the country to get a new government last month,complete with a quirky job-share deputy prime ministership.
In charge now is a centre-right coalition led by National party,along with the ACT and NZ First parties. In a tweak to convention,the colourful NZ First leader Winston Peters is Luxon’s deputy for the first half of the term,with ACT leader David Seymour taking over the job in June 2025.
As its first act,New Zealand’s new centre-right coalition announced it would,citing the impact it would have on tax revenue.
Jacinda Ardern giving her final speech to New Zealand’s parliament in Wellington in April.AP
Like most economies,New Zealand is in the grip of a cost-of-living crisis fuelled by rising inflation,both of which were key campaign issues during the October 14 general election when the other Chris (Hipkins) was turfed as PM. Crime also emerged as a prominent concern after a surge in robberies and vehicle ram raids.
Hundreds of so-called smash-and-grabs swept across New Zealand,where vehicle ram raids of retail stores and milk bars became the crime du jour of young groups that clocked an average of at least two a day in the first six months of the year.
And in news that surprised no one,the.– Lucy Cormack,reporter
In other parts of the Pacific,there was a different kind of competition.
After attempting to push throughChinaannounced itself as a major regional player. It followed up with a policing deal withFijiand began negotiations over a free trade deal withPapua New Guinea.
Beijing’s big spending diplomacy has divided leaders in the region,while also winning over locals who want foreign investment to stimulate struggling economies. Honiara signed a security deal with China last year. By November one of the region’s poorest countries was hosting the Pacific Games. The $120 million national stadium was entirely bankrolled by China.– Eryk Baghaw,North Asia correspondent
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