2013

This article or section has information about scheduled or expected future events. The content may change as more information becomes available.

Millennium:	3rd millennium
Centuries:	20th century – 21st century – 22nd century
Decades:	1980s  1990s  2000s  – 2010s –  2020s  2030s  2040s
Years:	2010 2011 2012 – 2013 – 2014 2015 2016

2013 (MMXIII) is a common year starting on Tuesday in the Gregorian calendar and is the current year. It is the 2013th year in the Common Era (or Anno Domini), and the 13th year in the 3rd millennium and 21st century. The year 2013 is the first year since 1987 to have all four of its digits being different numbers.

Events

January

One of the bush fires in New South Wales, Australia, viewed from Wagga Wagga.

Barack Obama and Michelle Obama at the parade after Barack Obama's second public inauguration on January 21.

• January 1 – Marseille in France and Košice in Slovakia become European Capital of Culture.
• January 1 – Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries to establish and introduce monetary union.
• January 1 - The Republic of Ireland starts its six-month Presidency of the European Union.
• January 1 - A crush after a New Year celebration in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, kills over 60 people.
• early January - Bush fires affect parts of New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania, as the most widespread fires there since 2009.
• January 10 - Bombings in Quetta and the northern Swat Valley, Pakistan, kill a total of 130.
• January 11 - President of France Francois Hollande sends troops to Mali, after a request from Mali for foreign aid during the Northern Mali conflict.
• January 16 - Islamist extremists take a group of international workers hostage in an attack on a gas facility in eastern Algeria. An Algerian attempt at rescuing the workers results in at least 39 deaths.
• January 19 - The European Union introduces the new EU-wide driving licence.
• January 19 - An attempted murder occurs against Bulgarian politician Ahmed Dogan, who survives, after security guards stop the gunman.
• January 20 – At noon, Barack Obama starts his second term as President of the United States. The public swearing-in was on January 21, as the 20th was a Sunday.
• January 26 - 37 people are killed in rioting in Port Said, Egypt, after guilty verdicts for football fans involved in violence at the end of a league game almost a year earlier.
• January 27 - At least 232 people are killed in a fire at a night club in Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.
• January 28 - Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands announces that she will leave the throne on April 30, when Willem-Alexander, Prince of Orange will become King. She becomes the third Dutch monarch in a row to do so.
• January 29 - James Lee Dykes takes a five-year old hostage and kills one bus driver in Alabama.
• January 30 - President Barack Obama says he will try to pass an Immigration reform that will stop deportation and will give citizenship to 11 million immigrants in the United States. The reform might go into law at the end of the year.

February

John Kerry becomes United States Secretary of State

The meteor over Chelyabinsk

• February 1 - A suicide bomber in Turkey blows up the United States Embassy in Ankara. One guard is killed.
• February 1 - Hillary Clinton's term as United States Secretary of State ends and nominee John Kerry was sworn in.
• February 4 - Human remains found under a car park in Leicester, England, are announced to have been those of King Richard III of England.
• February 4 - The hostage crises in Alabama ended after James Lee Dykes is shot dead. The five-year old boy survived.
• February 7 - Winter Storm Nemo hits the Northwestern part of the United States and parts of Canada. The snow reached about 30 inches and was the largest snow storm in some states. The storm ended on February 10.
• February 9 - A massive earthquake of 6.9 hits border cities between Colombia and Ecuador. No one is killed.
• February 10 - Final of the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations football competition in South Africa, which is won 1-0 by the Nigeria national football team over the Burkina Faso national football team. This is Nigeria's third African title, after 1980 and 1994.
• February 11 - Pope Benedict XVI announces that he would resign from being the Pope because of ill health and age. He leaves as pope on February 28, and is the first pope to do so since 1415.
• February 12 - North Korea announces that it has carried out an underground nuclear test, at a depth of around a kilometer, despite criticism from many countries around the world.
• February 15 - An meteor hits in Chelyabinsk, Russia. 1,200 people are injured due to shattered glass. The meteor was about 49 feet long.
• February 15 - Asteroid 2012 DA14, with an estimated diameter of 50 meters flies to within 27,700 kilometers of Earth.
• February 16 - A bomb attack in Quetta, Pakistan, kills over 80 people.
• February 21 - Over 50 people are killed in a bombing in Damascus, Syria.
• February 24/25 - Parliamentary election in Italy.
• February 25 - Park Geunhye officially becomes the first female President of South Korea.
• February 28 - Pope Benedict XVI officially resigns as Pope, as the first Pope to do so in almost 600 years.

March

The funeral of Hugo Chávez, March 8

• March 4 - Presidential election in Kenya: Uhuru Kenyatta is declared the winner after a few days.
• March 5 - President of Venezuela Hugo Chávez dies from cancer in Caracas.
• March 8 - Milos Zeman becomes President of the Czech Republic.
• March 8 - Funeral of Hugo Chavez in Caracas.
• March 10/11 - In a referendum in the Falkland Islands, almost all voters chooses to remain a UK territory, with only three people voting against.
• March 13 - Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina is elected Pope, as the first non-European Pope since 741, and the first Latin American in this position. He chooses to be known as Pope Francis.
• March 15 - Xi Jinping officially takes over as President of the People's Republic of China, with Li Keqiang as Premier, completing a transition of power in the Communist Party.
• March 19 - Inauguration of Pope Francis.
• March 19 - 50 people are killed in a series of bomb attacks in Baghdad, considered to coincide with the 10th anniversary of the start of the Iraq War.
• March 20 - President of Bangladesh Zillur Rahman dies.
• March 23 - Pope Francis meets Pope Benedict XVI somewhere in Italy. The last time two living popes met was almost 600 years ago.
• March 24 - In the Central African Republic, President Francois Bozize is overthrown after he flees to the neighboring Democratic Republic of the Congo on the onset of rebels capturing the nation's capital city, Bangui.
• March 25 - The European Union agree to €10 billion bailout for Cyprus. The bailout loan will be equally split between the European Financial Stabilisation Mechanism, the European Financial Stability Facility, and the International Monetary Fund. The deal precipitates a banking crisis in the island nation.
• March 27 - Canada becomes the first country to withdraw from the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification.

April

The scene after the first of two explosions in Boston, Massachusetts.

Willem-Alexander, Prince of Orange, the new King of the Netherlands from April 30.

• April 2 - The United Nations General Assembly adopts the Arms Trade Treaty to regulate the international trade of conventional weapons.
• April 3 - Floods kill over 50 people in La Plata and Buenos Aires, Argentina.
• April 8 - Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Margaret Thatcher dies in London from a stroke at the age of 87.
• April 9 - Inauguration of Uhuru Kenyatta as President of Kenya.
• April 9 - A shooting in a village south of Belgrade, Serbia, kills 13 people.
• April 13 - The art museum Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam re-opens after 10 years of restoration work.
• April 14 - Presidential election in Venezuela: Nicolas Maduro narrowly defeats Opposition candidate Henrique Capriles.
• April 15 - 2013 Boston Marathon bombings: About three hours after the winners crossed the line in the Boston Marathon, two loud explosions occur near Copley Square just before the photo bridge that marks the finish line. 3 people are killed and over 170 are injured. A few days later suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev is killed in a shoot-out with police after killing an officer. His brother Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is later arrested.
• April 16 - A magnitude 7.8 earthquake occurs, centred in southeast Iran, near the border with Pakistan. Casualties and damage are reported on both sides of the border.
• April 17 - New Zealand legalizes Same-sex marriage.
• April 17 - The funeral of Margaret Thatcher takes place in London, attended by both current and former political figures from around the world.
• April 17 - West Fertilizer Plant explosion: A fertilizer plant in West, Texas, explodes, killing several people and injuring over 100.
• April 19 - Jiroemon Kimura becomes the first verified man in history to reach 116 years of age.
• April 20 - A magnitude 6.6 earthquake strike's China's Sichuan province, with hundreds of people killed.
• April 20 - Giorgio Napolitano is elected to a second term as President of Italy, the first time an Italian President will serve a second term in office.
• April 23 - The Parliament of France supports the legalizing of same-sex marriage in the country.
• April 24 - A clothing factory in Dhaka, Bangladesh, collapses, killing at least 400 people
• April 26 - A fire at a psychiatric hospital near Moscow, Russia, kills 38 people.
• April 28 - Enrico Letta becomes Prime Minister of Italy. At the same time, two police officers are injured in a shooting outside his office in central Rome.
• April 29 - NBA player Jason Collins announces that he is openly gay, the first active sportsman in the US to do so.
• April 30 - Accession of Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands, the first King of the Netherlands since 1890, after Beatrix of the Netherlands officially abdicated the throne after 33 years as Queen.

Predicted and scheduled events

May

• May 10 – Annular solar eclipse in the South Pacific, visible in Australia.

June

• June – The NASA's James Webb Space Telescope will be launched.
• June – The 17th edition of the Mediterranean Games will begin in Volos and Larisa, Greece.

July

• July 1 – Croatia is set to join the European Union, becoming its 28th member country.
• July 1 - Start of Lithuania's six-month Presidency of the European Union.
• July - Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge are expecting a baby in this month.

August

• August – The BepiColombo spacecraft will be launched to Mercury.

September

• September 14 - Parliamentary election in Australia
• September 22 - Election to the German Bundestag

November

• November 3 – Hybrid (total/annular) solar eclipse.

December

• December 31 – Australia's last analogue Television signal will be turned off.

Unknown dates

2013 in other calendars

Gregorian calendar	2013 MMXIII
Ab urbe condita	2766
Armenian calendar	1462 ԹՎ ՌՆԿԲ
Assyrian calendar	6763
Bahá'í calendar	169–170
Bengali calendar	1420
Berber calendar	2963
British Regnal year	61 Eliz. 2 – 62 Eliz. 2
Buddhist calendar	2557
Burmese calendar	1375
Byzantine calendar	7521–7522
Chinese calendar	壬辰年十一月二十日 (4649/4709-11-20) — to — 癸巳年十一月廿九日 (4650/4710-11-29)
Coptic calendar	1729–1730
Ethiopian calendar	2005–2006
Hebrew calendar	5773–5774
Hindu calendars
- Vikram Samvat	2069–2070
- Shaka Samvat	1935–1936
- Kali Yuga	5114–5115
Holocene calendar	12013
Iranian calendar	1391–1392
Islamic calendar	1434–1435
Japanese calendar	Heisei 25 (平成25年)
Korean calendar	4346
Minguo calendar	ROC 102 民國102年
Thai solar calendar	2556
Unix time	1356998400–1388534399

• NASA's Venus In-Situ Explorer mission to Venus (part of the New Frontiers program).
• Solar power will be cost-competitive with fossil fuels by 2013, according to notable futurist Ray Kurzweil.
• The new fuel efficient, Airbus A350-900 is scheduled to enter airline service in the summer.
• It has been suggested that the current East African Community may federalize into a single state by 2013.
• The United Nations believes the world population will cross the 7 billion mark in this year.
• The Hong Kong MTR West Island Line is due to start service in late 2013.

Major religious holidays

• January 6 - Epiphany or Twelfth Night, important in some countries' Christmas celebrations.
• January 7 – Christmas – Eastern Orthodox Churches
• February 1 – Imbolc, a Cross-quarter day (Celebrated on February 2 in some places).
• February 2 - Candlemas (Western Christianity)
• February 10 - Chinese New Year - Year of the Snake
• February 12 - Shrove Tuesday (Western Christianity)
• February 13 - Ash Wednesday (Western Christianity), start of Lent
• March 20 – March Equinox, also known as Ostara.
• March 24 - Palm Sunday (Western Christianity)
• March 28 - Maundy Thursday (Western Christianity)
• March 29 - Good Friday (Western Christianity)
• March 31 – Easter (Western Christianity)
• April 1 - Easter Monday (Western Christianity)
• May 1 – Beltane, a Cross-quarter day.
• May 5 – Easter (Eastern Christianity)
• May 9 - Feast of the Ascension (Western Christianity)
• May 19 - Pentecost (Western Christianity)
• June 21 – June solstice, also known as Midsummer or Litha, in the Northern Hemisphere.
• July 9 - Beginning of Ramadan, a month of fasting in the Islamic calendar.
• August 1 – Lammas, a Cross-quarter day.
• August 7 - Eid-al-Fitr, end of Ramadan
• August 15 - Assumption of Mary (Roman Catholicism)
• September 4 - Rosh Hashanah, new year festival in Judaism.
• September 14 - Yom Kippur (Judaism)
• September 16 - Onam (Hinduism), celebrated in Kerala.
• September 22 – September Equinox, also known as Mabon.
• November 1 – Samhain, a Cross-quarter day and Neopagan new year.
• November 1 - All Saints Day (Roman Catholicism)
• November 2 - All Souls Day (Roman Catholicism)
• November 3 - Divali (Hinduism)
• November 27 - Hanukkah (Judaism)
• December 1 - First Sunday of Advent (Western Christianity)
• December 21 – December solstice, also known as Yule in the Northern Hemisphere.
• December 24 - Christmas Eve (Western Christianity)
• December 25 – Christmas (Western Christianity)
• December 26 - Boxing Day/Saint Stephen's Day/Second Day of Christmas (Western Christianity)

In fiction and popular culture

Comic books

• X-Men: The X-Men try to overthrow the dystopian rule of the robot Sentinels in the Days of Future Past storyline (1980).
• In the comic book Legion of Super-Heroes (Number 6, July 2005, DC Comics), Cosmic Boy avers that the Bar Code on the cover of comic books is "destined to become outlawed in the Design Aesthetic Wars of 2013."

Computer and video games

• Shattered Union (2005): The District of Columbia is destroyed this year by a low-yield nuclear weapon.
• Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter (2006)
• Gyakuten Saiban 3 (2007), Flashbacks to this year occur.

Film

• Escape From LA (1996)
• The Postman (1997)
• A Scanner Darkly (2006)

Television

• In the BBC mockumentary Time Trumpet, British retail chain, Tesco launches an invasion of Denmark on January 21 of this year.
• The last few minutes of the Season 4 finale and Season 5 of Desperate Housewives is set in this year.
• BBC Drama Spooks: Code 9 is set in this year.
• The anime version of Death Note ends in this year, when the main character, Light Yagami, dies from a heart attack after being shot multiple times.

Mathematical interest

• The date will comprise four distinct digits, for the first time since 1987.
• The date will comprise of four consecutive digits, for the first time since 1980.

Deaths

Main page: Deaths in 2013

Hit songs

• Boys 'Round Here - Blake Shelton and Pistol Annies and Friends
• Highway Don't Care - Tim McGraw and Taylor Swift and Keith Urban
• I Want Crazy - Hunter Hayes
• Don't Ya - Brett Eldredge
• 1994 - Jason Aldean
• Downtown - Lady Antebellum
• Buzzkill - Luke Bryan
• If I Didn't Have You - Thompson Square
• Better Dig Two - The Band Perry
• Scream & Shout - will.i.am and Britney Spears
• Harlem Shake - Baauer
• Va Va Voom - Nicki Minaj
• Can't Hold Us - Macklemore and Ryan Lewis and Ray Dalton
• Pour It Up - Rihanna