March 23, 2023 (Thursday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- Syrian civil war
- 2023 Syria clashes
- A United States contractor is killed and five others are injured when a drone hits a U.S. base near Al-Hasakah in northern Syria. The United States responds with airstrikes on Iranian-linked targets, killing eleven people. (Al Jazeera)
- 2023 Syria clashes
- Armed conflict for control of the favelas in Greater Rio de Janeiro
- A police raid in a favela in São Gonçalo, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, results in the deaths of 13 people and the capture of two Comando Vermelho gang leaders from the northern states of Pará and Sergipe. (Barron's)
Disasters and accidents
- 2023 Tunisia migrant boat disaster
- Five people are killed when migrant boats sink off the coast of Sfax, Tunisia. (Reuters)
Health and environment
- Equatorial Guinea confirms eight new cases of the Marburg virus, bringing the total cases to nine in the country. (AP)
Law and crime
- 2023 French pension reform strikes
- Riots occur across France a day after President Emmanuel Macron gives a speech on pension reform. The entrance to City Hall in Bordeaux is set on fire. (Le Monde)
- Freedom of expression in India
- Former Indian National Congress president Rahul Gandhi is sentenced to two years in prison for defaming Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a campaign rally in April 2019. (BBC News)
- A 28-year-old Muslim man is charged by West Midlands Police with attempted murder for immolating two elderly Muslim men outside of mosques in London and Birmingham, United Kingdom, on 27 February and 20 March. (Al Jazeera)
Science and technology
- The world's first rocket made by extensive 3D printing, Terran 1, makes its first launch but fails to reach orbit. (NYT)
Sports
- World Athletics bans trans women who have gone through male puberty from competing in female events. (BBC Sport)