When the Gaza conflict started, it drew attention away from the war in Ukraine, where the country remains under attack from Russia.
However, for a brief moment, it seemed that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s power was slipping. In June, the conflict took a stunning turn when the leader of the Wagner Mercenary Force threatened a coup against Putin.
Yevgeny Prigozhin’s long-brewing pushback against Russia’s military establishment was short-lived, and by August he had died in a plane crash that many consider to be a possible assassination.
Before his suspicious death, Prigozhin and his mercenary Wagner Group were a powerhouse in Africa.
In 2023, Gabon became the latest African nation to see its leadership overthrown in a coup. Minutes after the ailing President Ali Bongo claimed victory in a disputed election, military leaders took to national TV to announce that the nation was under new management.
This is the eighth coup on the African continent since 2020, and came just weeks after Niger’s government fell in similar circumstances.
It wasn’t the only major event in Africa this year. In September, Morocco suffered its worst earthquake in six decades, with close to 3000 confirmed as having lost their lives.
And along the border between Asia and Europe, the disputed territory of Artsakh, also known as Nagorno Karabakh, was once home to around 120,000 ethnic Armenians. Earlier this year, Azerbaijani forces enacted a large-scale military offensive against the breakaway state.
The residents fled, and soon a decree was signed that would officially dissolve all of Nagorno Karabakh’s institutions. Despite the ongoing refugee crisis, this extraordinary story has faded from public attention.
Listen to the full episode for more on the year’s biggest world news stories
The Front Page is a daily news podcast from the New Zealand Herald, available to listen to every weekday from 5am. It is presented by Damien Venuto, an Auckland-based journalist with a background in business reporting who joined the Herald in 2017.
You can follow the podcast at iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
