Sydney, dubbed the “World Capital of New Year’s Day,” welcomed the New Year, as more than a million Australians gathered along the harbor beach, while the city authorities and police indicated that all sites overlooking the fireworks had become occupied.
Sydney residents gathered at these sites, braving the unusually humid weather for this time of year, and watched the Harbor Bridge and other landmarks being illuminated with fire arrows weighing up to eight tons.
New Year’s Eve celebrations in Sydney
Firecrackers lit up the skies in Auckland, Hong Kong, Bangkok and Manila.
Fireworks explode over Victoria Harbour to celebrate the New Year in Hong Kong
Naked swimmers wearing Santa Claus hats dived into the waters of the Mediterranean Sea in southern France, while a number of revelers held barbecue parties and danced in the streets of the Greek city of Thessaloniki.
In the Emirates, fire arrows lit up the sky of Burj Khalifa in Dubai as part of celebrations in several cities that will last 60 minutes in the Al Wathba area in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, according to what was reported by the Emirates News Agency, WAM.
Dubai celebrates New Year from the iconic Burj Khalifa
Celebrants around the world bid farewell to the turbulent and hottest year ever, marked by the rise of artificial intelligence but also marked by two bloody wars in Gaza and Ukraine, and the climate crisis.
The world’s population, which currently exceeds eight billion people, has begun to welcome the new year, hoping for peace, reducing the high costs of living, and resolving conflicts in the world.
Revelers celebrate the New Year in New York City Gaza War
In the devastated Gaza City, there are no places left to celebrate the New Year. “It was a dark year full of tragedies,” said Abdel Akkawi, who fled the city with his wife and three children. The 37-year-old man, who currently lives in a United Nations camp in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, narrated that he lost his brother, but he still clings to hope for the year 2024. He said, “God willing, this war will end. The new year will be better and we will be able to return to our homes and restore our lives.” Build it, or live in a tent on the rubble.”
The United Nations confirmed that nearly two million people from the Gaza Strip have been displaced since the start of the war, meaning about 85 percent of its population, while nearly 22,000 people have been killed.
Displaced Palestinians, who fled their homes due to Israeli strikes, shelter in a tent camp, in Rafah
In Tel Aviv, the atmosphere of war was reflected in New Year’s celebrations, although the city continued to celebrate most of the parties scheduled for this occasion. However, the majority of Israelis have not yet comprehended the shock of the largest attack on their country in its history, which left 1,140 dead.
The Eventer website, which sells tickets for Tel Aviv concerts, offers about 15 huge evenings performed by artists, including dinner. The city’s “never quiet” bars will be open all night, but the atmosphere is expected to be heavier than usual against the backdrop of tens of thousands of young people being called to participate in the war.
An Agence France-Presse journalist noted that many young people in Israel went out to bars and restaurants to celebrate the transition to the new year. Among them is Ran Stahl (24 years old), whose friend died at the Nova Music Festival on October 7. “The minute I start dancing, the sadness and mourning comes back,” Stahl said.
New Year’s eve in Jaffa, near Tel Aviv
As for Lebanon, citizens are living in a state of tension due to the possibility of expanding the scope of the confrontation between Israel and Hezbollah, as Israel’s northern front is witnessing dangerous military tension.
Israeli bombing on various areas in southern Lebanon
In the West Bank, the new year enters amid strict Israeli security measures and increasing settler violence.
Israeli military vehicles in Jenin in the West Bank, Pope Francis
In Rome, Pope Francis mentioned in his prayers the victims of conflicts around the world, referring to the Ukrainians, Palestinians, Israelis, Sudanese and the “Rohingya martyrs” in Burma.
The 87-year-old Pope said from St. Peter’s Square, “At the end of the year, let us be courageous and ask ourselves how many victims have occurred as a result of armed conflicts and how many deaths have been recorded” in these conflicts.
Pope Francis leads the Vespers and Te Deum prayer in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican
He continued, “Let us also ask ourselves: What is the extent of the destruction, suffering, and poverty? Let those who have a stake in these conflicts review their consciences.”
The year 2023 was marked in particular by the unprecedented attack launched by Hamas on Israel on October 7, and Israel’s response with a devastating bombing campaign on the Gaza Strip, accompanied since October 27 by ground operations.
Ukraine
In Ukraine, the second anniversary of the Russian invasion approaches, and the country is conflicted by challenge and hope.
In his New Year message on Sunday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky pledged to “destroy” the Russian forces that invaded his country nearly two years ago.
“Victory! We are waiting for it and we believe that Ukraine will win,” Tetyana Shostka said while sirens were sounding, warning that Kiev was about to be subjected to an air strike. The 42-year-old added, “We will get everything we want if Ukraine is free, without Russia.”
People celebrate the New Year’s eve in Kyiv
The conflict led by Russian President Vladimir Putin has exhausted some Russian citizens. Zoya Karpova (55 years old), a theater decorator residing in Moscow, said, “I want the war to end in the new year, for a new president to come, and for normal life to return.”
Putin is the Russian leader who has spent the longest period in power since the era of Joseph Stalin. He has been in power since 2000 and is seeking to win a new six-year term in the presidential elections scheduled for mid-March, which is considered a formality under the current circumstances, after the suppression of the opposition in recent years.
Putin declared in his New Year’s speech that his country “will never back down,” without explicitly mentioning the war in Ukraine.
He said, “We have proven repeatedly that we can undertake the most difficult missions and that we will never back down because no force can divide us.”
This year will witness decisive elections in countries containing half the world’s population. It will also be an Olympic year, with Paris hosting the Games next summer.
On Sunday evening, President Emmanuel Macron sent a message to the French, including best wishes for the New Year, focusing on the issue of “unity,” and touched on the Olympic Games that Paris will host next summer.
New Year celebrations on the Champs Elysees in Paris
In a speech he delivered from the garden of the Elysee Palace, standing in front of the flags of the countries participating in the Olympic Games, the President expressed his desire for 2024 to be the “year of determination” to continue “work” for the “interest of the nation.”
Catastrophes
Over the past 12 months, the world has witnessed huge disasters, including natural disasters.
A 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck Turkey and neighboring Syria on February 6, followed a few hours later by another with a magnitude of 7.6. The violent earthquakes resulted in the death of more than 55,000 people in the two countries, with at least 50,000 people killed in Turkey, and more than 5,000 in Syria. This earthquake caused huge economic losses in both countries.
The earthquake destroyed thousands of buildings in Türkiye and Syria. Archive
On the night of September 8, an earthquake struck Morocco, leaving about three thousand dead and 5,600 injured in vast regions south of Marrakesh in the center of the country, and damaging about 60,000 homes in about three thousand villages on the highlands of the High Atlas Mountains.
Traces of destruction from the September 2023 earthquake, in Moulay Brahim, outside Marrakesh, Morocco.
In Libya, the collapse of two dams in the city of Derna overlooking the Mediterranean Sea on September 10 led to a tsunami-sized flood that swept away everything in its path, coinciding with the passage of Storm “Daniel” in the east of the country. The floods caused the death, injury and loss of thousands of city residents.
Derna buildings razed to the ground – archive photo.
The year 2023 was also considered the hottest since temperature data began to be recorded in 1880. During which the planet witnessed a series of climate disasters, from Pakistan to the Horn of Africa, passing through the Amazon Basin.
Sudan
In addition, the year 2023 witnessed the outbreak of a bloody war in Sudan between the army and the Rapid Support Forces since mid-April.
United Nations estimates indicate that at least 7.1 million people have been displaced since the beginning of the ongoing conflict, 1.5 million of whom have sought refuge in neighboring countries. More than 12,000 people were killed in the war, according to a conservative estimate by the non-governmental organization “ACLID”.
The humanitarian crisis in Sudan worsens. Artificial Intelligence Archive
In 2023, the “Barbie phenomenon” also swept the world, witnessing an unprecedented spread of artificial intelligence tools, and the first full eye transplant.
Artificial intelligence programs, including the “Chat GPT” chatbot, have raised concerns about their impact on privacy – an emoji. India
India has become the most populous country in the world, snatching the title from China, and the first country to land a spacecraft in the unexplored South Pole region of the Moon.
People celebrate New Year’s at a promenade in Mumbai, India, Monday, Jan. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool) Important elections
In 2024, more than four billion people will be called to the ballot boxes, especially in Britain, the European Union, India, Indonesia, Mexico, South Africa and Venezuela.
French President Emmanuel Macron said, in his New Year’s speech, that the European Parliament elections expected in June will present a “decisive choice” between “the continuity of Europe or its disruption,” at a time when war is on Europe’s doorstep in Ukraine.
He continued, “We must direct our choice towards a stronger and more sovereign Europe” and “affirm the strength of our liberal systems, or surrender to the lies that spread chaos.”
American elections
In the United States, Democrat Joe Biden (81 years old) and Republican Donald Trump (77 years old) intend to compete again next November.
The first debate between Biden and Trump was characterized by acrimony
The current president sometimes shows signs of aging, which makes some of his supporters anxious about assuming a new term.
As for Trump, he faces several indictments and the start of at least three trials in 2024 before the presidential elections, but that does not prevent him from running his election campaign.
#Pictures #world #enters #difficult #year
2023-12-31 22:51:05
