Timeline of Summer ’23
Starting in March 2023:
Since the start of Pakistan’s monsoon season, 196 people have been killed. Over 200 were injured, not including the immense damage to houses and other buildings. Balochistan, a province of Pakistan, was affected the harshest. The storms displaced around 30,000 Pakistanis, and an emergency warning was declared until August 15.
June 5:
The debt ceiling, or limit, imposes the maximum federal debt the US allows. In January 2023, the Federal Treasury reached its debt ceiling of $31.4 trillion. The deadline for reevaluating this limit was June 5, when the government ultimately suspended the ceiling until January 2025. As of this June, the national debt stands at over $32 trillion.
June 14:
An old and overcrowded fishing boat smuggling migrants into Italy sank in the Ionian Sea, a part of the Mediterranean and off the coast of Messenia, Greece. Most of the migrants were from Pakistan, Syria, Palestine, Egypt, and Afghanistan, with an estimated 750 on board; the ship’s capacity was 400 people. Despite concerns being raised shortly after the ship’s departure, the vessel refused assistance from local coastal authorities. When the ship capsized, the Hellenic Coast Guard and local military underwent a massive search and rescue operation. One hundred four people were rescued, 82 bodies were recovered from the sea, and over 500 people have since been presumed dead. The ship was also presumed to have sunk in the “deepest part of the Mediterranean Sea.”
June 27:
A teenager named Nahel M. was shot and killed on in Paris, France. This murder generated national outrage and sparked protests, violent riots, and fires all around the country. Reports claimed that around 3,600 total arrests were made throughout the entire incident. In just one night, 1,300 were arrested as 45,000 French police officers were deployed around the country; an unsuccessful attempt to end the national violence.
Beginning in March 2023:
Canada experienced record-setting, ongoing wildfires with increased intensity in June. Every province was affected, with especially large numbers in Alberta, British Columbia, and the Northwest Territories. This wildfire season burned the most Canadian land recorded in history, surpassing the 2020 Western US wildfires. Most recently, 5,950 fires had burned over 150,000 square kilometers, about four percent of forested areas in Canada. Smoke emitted from these uncontrolled fires caused numerous air quality issues and evacuations in Canada and all around the United States. By the end of June, the smoke had also crossed the ocean and reached Europe.
July 26:
A coup d’état occurred in the Republic of Niger. The country’s presidential guard arrested President Mohamed Bazoum, and the presidential guard commander, General Abdourahamane Tchiani, declared himself the leader of the “new military junta” after proclaiming the coup a success. Five successful coups have occurred since the country’s independence from France in 1960, the most recent being the first since 2010. The US and France, the republic’s former conquerors, widely denounced the coup.
August 14:
An Atlanta-based jury indicted Trump and 18 other federal employees on state charges based on their efforts to overturn the former president’s 2020 election results. This was Donald Trump’s fourth criminal case involvement, which covers his actions to meddle with the election. The most recent indictment case uses a phone call recording between Trump and the Secretary of State from Georgia, Brad Raffensperger, where the president asks Raffernsperger to “find” the votes he needed to win the state in the presidential election. This quote insinuated Trump’s intent to cheat in the election, which was also supported by a letter he sent Raffensperfer asking him to change the number of votes counted in Georgia.
August 20:
The FIFA Women’s World Cup declared Spain its winner. Played in Sydney, Australia, Spain won the final 1-0 against England through a goal from Olga Carmona. However, shortly after the match, FIFA suspended the president of the Spanish soccer federation, Luis Rubiales, over a kiss with World Cup winner Jenni Hermoso. He has since been suspended from “all football-related activities” due to his kiss in front of an international audience.
August 27:
Simone Biles won her eighth national title at the US Gymnastics Championships, breaking a 90-year-old record. She won this record less than a month after her return to competing, following a two-year break from the sport to work on her mental health. She overtook Alfred Jochim, who claimed seven US titles in 1933. Biles was also the only gymnast to have scored two 15s or higher in the competition.
