(Paris) Crowds of revelers have begun to say goodbye to the turbulent year 2023, the hottest on record, marked by the rise of artificial intelligence, the climate crisis and bloody wars in Gaza and Ukraine.
Posted at 5:09pm
Steven TRASK Agency France-Presse
The world’s population – now more than eight billion – begins the new year with the hope of putting an end to the high cost of living and global conflict.
In Sydney, the self-proclaimed “New Year’s Eve capital of the world”, more than a million revelers packed the harbor foreshore, with city authorities and police warning that all viewing points were occupied.
People gathered at the city’s iconic sights, braving the unusually humid weather, and were not disappointed when the Harbor Bridge and other landmarks were lit up and colored by eight tons of fireworks.
Fireworks displays also lit up the skies of Auckland, Hong Kong, Bangkok and Manila.
PHOTO PETER PARKS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Fireworks in Hong Kong.
Nudist swimmers wearing Santa hats waded in the cool Mediterranean waters in southern France, while revelers ate meat skewers and danced in the streets during traditional New Year celebrations in Thessaloniki, Greece.
In Tel Aviv, Israel, on one of the city’s busiest streets, many young people went out to bars and restaurants to celebrate the New Year.
Ran Stahl, 24, decided to work that evening in the wine shop where she has been working for a few weeks; he doesn’t have the courage to “dance” and have fun “because the moment I start dancing, the sadness and mourning come back,” says the young man, whose friend died at the Tribe music festival in Nova on October 7.
“People want to celebrate tonight,” the young man said during his service, “but I can’t be as happy as I could be.”
Over the past twelve months the world has been swept by the pink wave of “Barbie mania”, which has seen an unprecedented proliferation of artificial intelligence tools and the world’s first full eye transplant.
Climate disasters
India has become the most populous country in the world, taking the title from China. It was also the first country to land a spacecraft in the unexplored South Pole region of the Moon.
2023 was also the warmest year since records began in 1880, with a series of climate disasters hitting the planet from Pakistan to the Horn of Africa to the Amazon basin.
PHOTO FRANCIS MASCARENHAS, REUTERS
New Year’s Eve party in Mumbai, India.
But above all, 2023 will be marked by Hamas’s unprecedented attack on Israeli soil on October 7 – and Israel’s relentless retaliations.
The United Nations estimates that nearly two million Gaza residents, or about 85% of the population, have been displaced since the Israeli-imposed siege began.
In ruined Gaza City, there are few places left to ring in the New Year.
FRANCE-PRESSE PHOTOGRAPHIC AGENCY
The sun sets for the last time in 2023 on the Egyptian border in Gaza.
“It’s been a dark year full of tragedy,” said Abed Akkawi, who fled the city with his wife and three children.
This 37-year-old man, now living in a UN camp in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, says he has lost his brother but clings to slim hopes for 2024.
The end of the war
“God willing, this war will end, the new year will be better and we will be able to return to our homes and rebuild them, or simply live in a tent on the rubble,” he told AFP.
In Ukraine, where the Russian invasion nears its second anniversary, defiance and hope hold sway despite a new Russian attack.
PHOTO VALENTYN OGIRENKO, REUTERS
People gather in front of the Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kiev.
“Victory! We are waiting for it and we believe that Ukraine will win,” said Tetiana Shostka, 42, as sirens sounded in Kiev announcing an air raid. “We will have everything we want if Ukraine is free, without the Russia”.
In Vladimir Putin’s Russia, some are tired of the conflict. “In the new year I would like the war to end, for there to be a new president and for us to return to normal life,” says Zoya Karpova, a 55-year-old theater set designer based in Moscow.
But Vladimir Putin himself remained defiant during his New Year’s speech, vowing that Russia “will never surrender” and praising front-line troops.
He is already Russia’s longest-serving leader since Joseph Stalin and will be running again in March’s elections, although few expect them to be completely free and fair.
In Rome, Pope Francis prayed for the victims of conflicts around the world, mentioning the Ukrainians, Palestinians and Israelis, the people of Sudan and the “Rohingya martyrs” in Burma.
“At the end of the year, have the courage to ask yourselves how many lives have been torn apart by armed conflicts, how many deaths,” declared the sovereign pontiff, 87 years old, after the Angelus prayer in St. Peter’s Square.
Important elections
Putin is Russia’s longest-serving leader since Joseph Stalin and his name will appear again on ballots in the March elections.
Few believe the vote is completely free and fair, or expect it to lose.
In addition to the Russian elections, more than four billion people in total will be called to the polls, notably in the United Kingdom, the European Union, India, Indonesia, Mexico, South Africa, Venezuela and of course the United States, where Democrat Joe Biden, 81, and Republican Donald Trump, 77, intend to face each other again next November.
Outgoing president, Biden has at times shown signs of advanced age and even some of his supporters worry about the consequences of another term.
As for Donald Trump, who is facing numerous charges and at least three trials of which are expected to begin in 2024, before the presidential election, nothing immediately stops him from campaigning.
2023-12-31 22:09:04
#Goodbye #worldwide