The United Kingdom welcomes the year 2023 as countries around the world celebrate

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New Year sweeps across the world

New Year’s Eve celebrations have taken the world by storm, kicking off 2023 with a countdown and fireworks – declaring the end of the year bringing war in Europe, a new chapter in the British monarchy and global fears about inflation.

The new year began in the tiny atoll nation of Kiribati in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, then traveled through Russia and New Zealand before heading deeper, time zone by time zone, through Asia, Europe and the Americas.

The ball has fallen on New York City’s iconic Times Square as huge crowds count down the seconds to 2023, culminating in loud cheers and a flood of sparkling confetti amid huge screens, neon, pulsating lights and drenched streets.

Authorities said a man wielding a machete attacked three police officers near the celebration, striking two of them in the head before the officer shot the man in the shoulder about eight blocks from Times Square, outside the heavily guarded area. The two officers were taken to hospital, one with a fractured skull and the other with a bad wound, but he is expected to recover. The 19-year-old suspect is also expected to recover.

All over the world, at least for a day, thoughts focused on possibilities, even elusive ones like world peace, and mustered—finally—a determination to sustain the next set of decisions.

In a sign of this hope, the children met Saint Nicholas at a crowded metro station in Kharkiv, Ukraine.

However, the Russian attacks continued on New Year’s Eve. In the middle of the night, the streets of the capital, Kyiv, were desolate. The only sign of the New Year came from locals chanting from their porches, “Happy New Year!” and “Glory to Ukraine!” And just half an hour into the year 2023, sirens rang out across the Ukrainian capital, followed by loud explosions.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko reported an explosion in the Holoseevsky district, and authorities reported that fragments of a downed missile damaged a car in the central region of the country.

In Paris, thousands celebrated on the Champs-Elysees, while French President Emmanuel Macron pledged continued support for Ukraine in a televised New Year’s address. “Over the next year, we will be at your side tirelessly,” said Macron. “We will help you until victory and we will be together to build a just and lasting peace. Count on France and count on Europe.”

Big Ben coincided with more than 100,000 revelers gathering along the River Thames to watch a spectacular fireworks display around the London Eye. The parade saw a projection from a drone of the crown and the image of Queen Elizabeth II on a coin hovering in the sky, in honor of Britain’s longest-serving monarch who died in September.

Rio de Janeiro’s Copacabana beach welcomed a small crowd of a few thousand for a short fireworks display, and several Brazilian cities canceled festivities this year over coronavirus concern. New Year’s celebrations in the Brazilian capital usually drew more than two million people to Copacabana before the pandemic hit.

Turkey’s most populous city, Istanbul, has brought in the year 2023 with street celebrations and fireworks. In the Catholic Church of Saint Antoine, dozens of Christians prayed for the New Year and celebrated the death of former Pope Benedict XVI. The Vatican announced the death of Benedict on Saturday at the age of 95.

In New York, sometimes heavy rain didn’t stop the crowd in a dazzling spectacle Saturday night that kicked off celebrations across the United States. The Times Square party culminated in the descent from One Times Square on a glowing orb measuring 12 feet (3.6 m) in diameter and composed of some 2,700 Waterford crystals.

“I wish everyone lots of prosperity, peace and love,” said reveler Tina Wright, who was visiting from the Phoenix area, after the countdown. “Let’s get things moving in the world now.”

Last year, a crowd of about 15,000 masked spectators watched the ball go down as it basked in the lights and hoopla. Because of the pandemic rules, they were far fewer than the tens of thousands of revelers who usually descend on the world-famous square.

Before the ball dropped, there were heavy thoughts about the past year and the upcoming New Year.

“2023 is about resurgence – the world coming back after COVID-19 and after the war in Ukraine. We want it to end,” said Arjun Singh while at the Times Square Theatre.

In Australia, more than a million people thronged Sydney’s waterfront to celebrate a multi-million dollar rally around the themes of diversity and inclusion. More than 7,000 fireworks were launched from the top of the Sydney Harbor Bridge and another 2,000 from the nearby Opera House.

“We’ve had a rather challenging couple of years; this year we are absolutely delighted to be able to welcome people back to the shores of Sydney Harbor for Sydney’s world-famous New Year’s Eve celebrations,” Stephen Gilbey, Principal City Producer of Events and Festivals, told The Sydney Morning Herald. .

In Auckland, New Zealand, large crowds gather under the Sky Tower, as fireworks precede a 10-second countdown to midnight. Festivities are back in New Zealand’s largest city after Covid-19 forced it to cancel a year ago.

The Chinese are cautiously eyeing 2023 after the recent easing of epidemic restrictions unleashed the virus but also signaled a return to normal life. Like many, salesperson Hong Xinyu has stayed close to home for the past year in part because of travel restrictions.

“As the new year begins, we seem to see the light,” he said in a countdown display that lit up the towering structures of a former steel mill in Beijing. Hopefully there will be more freedom in the future.

Fears about the Ukraine war and the economic shocks it has wrought around the world were felt in Tokyo, where Shigeki Kawamura has seen better times but says he needs a free hot meal this New Year.

“I hope that the war in Ukraine will end so that prices will stabilize,” he said.

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