The world’s eight billion people have begun to usher in 2023 and bid farewell to a turbulent 12 months marked by war in Europe, sharp price increases, Lionel Messi’s World Cup glory and the death of the Queen. Isabel, Pele and former Pope Benedict XVI.
Many will be looking to break free this New Year’s Eve after a few years marred by the pandemic, putting aside tight budgets and a virus that is increasingly forgotten but has not gone away.
Sydney was one of the first major cities to celebrate 2023, retaking its claim as the “New Year’s Eve capital of the world” after two years of lockdowns and festivities muted by the coronavirus.
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Australia’s borders have reopened and throngs of revelers gathered along Sydney’s glittering harbor to watch 100,000 fireworks light up the southern sky.
A crowd that had been projected to number over a million watched a spectacular 12-minute display wash over the canal and illuminate the Sydney Harbor Bridge.
“It’s been quite a good year for us; getting through Covid, of course, is great,” David Hugh-Paterson told AFP as he waited in a growing crowd near the Sydney Opera House.
“Looking to the future as well,” said the 52-year-old.
Sydney authorities expected nearly half a billion more people to watch the festivities online or on television.
“If we can get everyone together to celebrate and look to the coming year with renewed optimism and joy, then we’ll see it as a job well done,” said fireworks organizer Fortunato Foti.
For some, 2022 was a year of Wordles, the Great Resignation, a new Taylor Swift album, an Oscar slap, and multi-billion dollar crises.
It also saw the death of Queen Elizabeth II, Brazilian soccer icon Pelé, Mikhail Gorbachev, Jiang Zemin and Shinzo Abe. Former Pope Benedict XVI also died on New Year’s Eve.
The world population passed the historic milestone of eight billion people in November.
But 2022 is more likely to be remembered for the return of armed conflict to Europe, a continent that was the crucible of two world wars.
More than 300 days after Russia’s failed invasion of Ukraine, some 7,000 civilians have been killed and 10,000 more injured, according to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.
Some 16 million Ukrainians have fled their homes.
For those who stay, there will be a curfew from 11:00 pm to 5:00 am amid periodic blackouts and Russian missile barrages.
The latest Russian attacks on Saturday targeted several regions, including the capital kyiv, where at least one person was killed and several wounded, Ukrainian officials said.
While some Ukrainians will ring in the New Year with quiet candlelit prayers, others intend to party all night in a collective show of determination.
In previous years, “people always stayed with us until three or four in the morning, so staying here for another hour or two will not be a problem,” said Kyiv restaurateur Tetyana Mytrofanov.
There seems to be a muted appetite for big celebrations in Vladimir Putin’s Russia.
Moscow has canceled its traditional fireworks display after Mayor Sergei Sobyanin asked residents to vote on how to mark the occasion.
Muscovites like Irina Shapovalova, a 51-year-old childcare worker, said her main wish for 2023 was “a peaceful sky above our heads.”
State broadcaster VGTRK promised to provide a “New Year’s atmosphere, despite the changes in the country and the world.”
Putin said in a New Year’s speech that “moral and historical rectitude” is on Russia’s side as the country faces international condemnation of the war.
As Russia’s Far Eastern regions celebrated the New Year, the Russian leader delivered his traditional midnight speech standing among soldiers who fought in Ukraine, according to Russian news agencies.
The new year will start with a new leader in Brazil, where Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva will take the reins on Sunday after his narrow victory in October polls.
However, China begins 2023 fighting a surge in covid infections after lifting restrictions to contain the virus.
While vaccines have allowed life to return to semi-normal in most of the world, the virus continues to thwart China’s attempts to move on.
Hospitals in the world’s most populous nation have been overwhelmed by an explosion of cases following the decision to lift strict “covid zero” rules.
New Year’s Eve parties are still planned in countless bars, theaters and shopping malls.
But Shanghai authorities have said there will be no formal activities on the city’s famous Bund promenade.
Chinese President Xi Jinping told the country in a televised New Year’s Eve address that despite the outbreak, “the light of hope is right in front of us.”
