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NEW YORK — New Yr’s celebrations swept throughout the globe, ushering in 2023 with countdowns and fireworks — and marking an finish to a yr that introduced warfare in Europe, a brand new chapter within the British monarchy and world worries over inflation.
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The brand new yr started within the tiny atoll nation of Kiribati within the central Pacific, then moved throughout Russia and New Zealand earlier than heading deeper, time zone by time zone, by Asia and Europe and into the Americas.
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The ball dropped on New York Metropolis’s iconic Occasions Sq. as enormous crowds counted down the seconds into 2023, culminating in raucous cheers and a deluge of confetti glittering amid jumbo screens, neon, pulsing lights and soggy streets.
A person wielding a machete attacked three law enforcement officials close to the celebration, authorities mentioned, putting two of them within the head earlier than an officer shot the person within the shoulder about eight blocks from Occasions Sq., simply outdoors the high-security zone. The 2 officers had been hospitalized, one with a fractured cranium and the opposite with a foul minimize, however anticipated to get well. The 19-year-old suspect was additionally anticipated to get well.
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The world over, a minimum of for a day, ideas targeted on prospects, even elusive ones like world peace, and mustering — lastly — a resolve to maintain the following array of resolutions.
In an indication of that hope, youngsters met St. Nicholas in a crowded metro station in Kharkiv, Ukraine.
But Russian assaults continued New Yr’s Eve. At midnight, the streets of the capital, Kyiv, had been desolate. The one signal of a brand new yr got here from native residents shouting from their balconies, “Comfortable New Yr!” and “Glory to Ukraine!” And solely half an hour into 2023, air raid sirens rang throughout Ukraine’s capital, adopted by the sound of explosions.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko reported an explosion in Holosiivskyi district, and authorities reported that fragments of a missile that had been shot down had broken a automotive in a central district.
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In Paris, hundreds celebrated on the Champs Elysees, whereas French President Emmanuel Macron pledged persevering with assist for Ukraine in a televised New Yr’s deal with. “Through the coming yr, we will probably be unfailingly at your aspect,” Macron mentioned. “We’ll make it easier to till victory and we will probably be collectively to construct a simply and lasting peace. Rely on France and depend on Europe.”
Large Ben chimed as greater than 100,000 revelers gathered alongside the River Thames to look at a spectacular fireworks present across the London Eye. The show featured a drone mild show of a crown and Queen Elizabeth II’s portrait on a coin hovering within the sky, paying tribute to Britain’s longest-serving monarch who died in September.
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Rio de Janeiro’s Copacabana seashore welcomed a small crowd of some thousand for a brief fireworks show, and a number of other Brazilian cities canceled celebrations this yr as a result of concern in regards to the coronavirus. The Brazilian capital’s New Yr’s bash normally drew greater than 2 million folks to Copacabana earlier than the pandemic.
Turkey’s most populous metropolis, Istanbul, introduced in 2023 with avenue festivities and fireworks. At St. Antuan Catholic Church, dozens of Christians prayed for the brand new yr and marked former Pope Benedict XVI’s passing. The Vatican introduced Benedict died Saturday at age 95.
In New York, rain that was fierce at instances didn’t deter the group at a blinding Saturday evening spectacle kicking off celebrations throughout the US. The Occasions Sq. get together culminated with the descent from One Occasions Sq. of a glowing sphere 12 ft (3.6 metres) in diameter and comprised of practically 2,700 Waterford crystals.
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“I simply want everybody a variety of prosperity peace and love,” reveler Tina Wright, who was visiting from the Phoenix space, mentioned after the countdown. “And let’s simply get issues shifting on this planet proper now.”
Final yr, a scaled-back crowd of about 15,000 in-person mask-wearing spectators watched the ball descend whereas basking within the lights and hoopla. Due to pandemic guidelines, it was far fewer than the tens of hundreds of revelers who normally descend on the world-famous sq..
Earlier than the ball dropped, there have been heavy ideas in regards to the previous yr and the brand new one to return.
“2023 is about resurgence — resurgence of the world after COVID-19 and after the warfare in Ukraine. We would like it to finish,” mentioned Arjun Singh as he took within the scene at Occasions Sq..
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In Australia, greater than 1 million folks crowded alongside Sydney’s waterfront for a multi-million greenback celebration based mostly across the themes of range and inclusion. Greater than 7,000 fireworks had been launched from the highest of the Sydney Harbour Bridge and one other 2,000 from the close by Opera Home.
“We have now had a few pretty tough years; we’re completely delighted this yr to have the ability to welcome folks again to the foreshores of Sydney Harbor for Sydney’s world-famous New Yr’s Eve celebrations,” Stephen Gilby, the town’s producer of main occasions and festivals, instructed The Sydney Morning Herald.

In Auckland, New Zealand, massive crowds gathered beneath the Sky Tower, the place a 10-second countdown to midnight preceded fireworks. The celebrations in New Zealand’s largest metropolis returned after COVID-19 pressured them to be canceled a yr in the past.
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Chinese language cautiously appeared ahead to 2023 after a latest easing of pandemic restrictions unleashed the virus but in addition signaled a return to regular life. Like many, salesperson Hong Xinyu stayed near house over the previous yr partially due to curbs on journey.
“As the brand new yr begins, we appear to see the sunshine,” he mentioned at a countdown present that lit up the towering buildings of a former metal mill in Beijing. “We’re hopeful that there will probably be extra freedom sooner or later.”

Issues in regards to the Ukraine warfare and the financial shocks it has spawned throughout the globe had been felt in Tokyo, the place Shigeki Kawamura has seen higher instances however mentioned he wanted a free, sizzling meal this New Yr’s.
“I hope the warfare will probably be over in Ukraine so costs will stabilize,” he mentioned.
Related Press journalists across the globe contributed to this report, together with Liu Zheng in Beijing, Renata Brito and Hanna Arhirova in Kyiv, Yuri Kagayema in Tokyo, Grant Peck in Bangkok, Zeynep Bilginsoy in Istanbul, Thomas Adamson in Paris, Sylvia Hui in London and Robert Bumsted in New York.
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