Crowds of revelers have begun bidding farewell to a tumultuous 2023, the hottest year on record marked by the rise of artificial intelligence, the climate crisis and bloody wars in Gaza and Ukraine.
The world's population – now over eight billion – begins the new year with hopes of ending the high cost of living and global conflict.
Pyrotechnics also lit up the skies of Auckland, Hong Kong, Bangkok and Manila.
Discover images of celebrations from one end of the world to the other.
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In Sydney, the self-proclaimed “New Year's Capital of the World,” more than a million revelers crowded the harborfront and city officials and police warned that all viewing points were occupied.
People gathered at iconic locations across the city, braving the unseasonably wet weather and were not disappointed as the Harbor Bridge and other landmarks were illuminated and colored by eight tonnes of fireworks.
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Auckland, New Zealand, January 1, 2024 Portal/TVA Nouvelles
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In Tel Aviv, Israel, many young people went to bars and restaurants to celebrate the New Year on one of the city's busiest streets.
Ran Stahl, 24, decided to work that evening at the wine bar where he has been working for a few weeks; He doesn't have the heart to “dance” and have fun, “because the moment I start dancing, sadness and grief come back,” says the young man, whose friend died at the Tribe on October 7th. Nova Music Festival died.
“People want to celebrate tonight,” the young man said during his service, “but I can’t be as happy as I could be.”
Climate disasters
India has become the most populous country in the world, taking over the title from China. It was also the first country to land a spacecraft in the unexplored south polar region of the Moon.
The year 2023 was also the hottest year since records began in 1880, as a series of climate disasters struck the planet, from Pakistan to the Horn of Africa to the Amazon Basin.
Above all, 2023 will be marked by Hamas's unprecedented attack on Israeli soil on October 7 and Israel's relentless retaliation.
The United Nations estimates that nearly two million Gazans have been displaced since Israel's siege began, representing about 85% of the population.
In Gaza City, now in ruins, there are few places left to celebrate the New Year.
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“It was 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 United Nations camp in Rafah, southern Gaza, says he lost his brother but clings to tenuous hopes for 2024.
The end of the war
“God willing, this war will end, the new year will be better and we can return to our homes and rebuild them or just live in a tent on the rubble,” he told AFP.
In Ukraine, where the Russian invasion is approaching its second anniversary, defiance and hope dominate despite a new Russian attack.
“Victory! We are waiting and believing that Ukraine will win,” said Tetiana Shostka, 42, as sirens wailed in Kiev announcing an airstrike. “We will have everything we want when Ukraine is free, without Russia.”
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Some in Vladimir Putin's Russia are tired of the conflict. “In the new year, I wish for an end to the war, a new president and a return to normal life,” said Zoya Karpova, a 55-year-old theater designer and Moscow resident.
But Vladimir Putin himself remained defiant during his New Year's Eve speech, vowing that Russia “will never give in” and praising front-line troops.
Already Russia's longest-serving leader since Joseph Stalin, he will be in the running again in March's elections, although few expect them to be entirely free and fair.
In Rome, Pope Francis prayed for the victims of conflicts around the world, citing Ukrainians, Palestinians and Israelis, the Sudanese people and the “martyred Rohingya” in Burma.
“At the end of the year, have the courage to ask yourself how many lives have been torn apart in armed conflict, how many have died,” the 87-year-old pope said after the Angelus prayer in St. Peter's Square.
Important elections
Mr Putin is the longest-serving Russian leader since Joseph Stalin and his name will appear on the ballot again in the March election.
Few believe in a completely free and fair vote or expect him to lose.
In addition to the elections in Russia, a total of more than four billion people are called to vote, especially in the United Kingdom, the European Union, India, Indonesia, Mexico, South Africa, Venezuela and of course the United States Democrat Joe Biden, 81, and the Republicans Donald Trump, 77, want to run against each other again next November.
Outgoing President Biden has shown signs of advanced age at times, and even some of his supporters worry about the consequences of another term.
As for Donald Trump, who has multiple indictments pending and at least three trials scheduled to begin in 2024 before the presidential election, there is nothing immediately stopping him from campaigning.