World

From Iran to Hollywood, in the domains of space travel, football and tech, 2023 was a year shaped by strong personalities. Some inspired us, most made us reflect, and others occasionally annoyed us. As the year comes to an end, FRANCE 24 has selected some of the personalities leaving a mark on 2023.

• Narges Mohammadi, fighting for human rights in Iran

Iranian activist Narges Mohammadi was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize “for her fight against the oppression of women in Iran and her fight to promote human rights and freedom for all”.

King Charles III on Friday announced awards for showbusiness royalty Shirley Bassey and Ridley Scott while a bereaved father who took on social media giants over harmful online content is also recognized in Britain's traditional New Year's Honors.

Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, who crowned the king in May, led those being honored for their role at the glittering ceremony in Westminster Abbey.

From Italy's ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi to rock queen Tina Turner and former European Commission President Jacques Delors, here are some of 2023's most notable deaths.

January

- 07: RUSSELL BANKS, 82, US novelist who charted the lives of marginalised people

A few days before Christmas, Hong Kong activist Tony Chung boarded a flight to Okinawa, Japan, carrying nothing but a backpack -- his casual appearance a ruse to hide plans to seek political asylum in the UK.

Chung was among the youngest people in Hong Kong to be convicted under a sweeping national security law imposed by Beijing, and had finished serving time six months before.

A Russian court on Friday sentenced Ksenia Fadeyeva, who led jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny's now-banned organization in the Siberian city of Tomsk, to almost a decade in prison, her supporters said.

This is the latest in a string of heavy sentences against Russia's opposition, with the Kremlin doubling down on the repression of civil society since launching a military operation in Ukraine in 2022.

The U.K. government tried to help Greece secure the Parthenon Marbles on loan two decades ago in a bid to drum up support for London's 2012 Olympics' bid, according to files released Friday.

Internal British government correspondence from 2002 and 2003 about the Parthenon friezes, also known as the Elgin Marbles, were revealed as the issue continues to dog U.K.-Greece relations.

Hong Kong democracy activist Tony Chung said Friday he had fled to Britain because he could no longer endure supervision from authorities, who had pressured him to become an informant and limited his work options.

In 2021, Chung, then 20, became the youngest person to be imprisoned under Hong Kong's national security law -- imposed by Beijing after massive pro-democracy protests kicked off in 2019 in the former British colony.

A celebrity-studded "Almost Naked" party in Moscow's famed Mutabor nightclub has drawn outrage from Russia's political establishment, which has become increasingly po-faced since the assault on Ukraine.

Footage showing Russian VIPs in lingerie and raunchy costumes led to the arrest of a rapper for wearing nothing but a strategically-placed sock, and calls for boycotts and investigations.