NEW YORK (AP) — New Year celebrations swept the world, ushering in 2023 with countdowns and fireworks — and marking the end of a year that brought war to Europe, a new chapter in the British monarchy and global concerns about inflation.
The new year started in the small atoll of Kiribati in the central Pacific, then moved through Russia and New Zealand before heading deeper, time zone by time zone, across Asia and the United States. Europe and the Americas.
The ball fell on New York’s iconic Times Square as huge crowds counted the seconds to 2023, culminating in loud cheers and a deluge of glittering confetti amid giant screens, neon lights, pulsing lights and sodden streets.
A machete-wielding man attacked three police officers near the celebration, authorities said, hitting two of them in the head before an officer shot him in the shoulder about eight blocks away from Times Square, just outside the High Security Zone. Both officers were hospitalized, one with a fractured skull and the other with a bad cut, but are expected to recover. The 19-year-old suspect was also expected to recover.
Around the world, at least for a day, thoughts focused on possibilities, even the most elusive ones like world peace, and gathering – at last – the resolve to hold onto the next set of resolutions.
As a sign of this hope, children met St. Nicholas in a crowded metro station in Kharkiv, Ukraine.
Yet the Russian attacks continued on New Year’s Eve. By midnight, the streets of the capital, Kyiv, were desolate. The only sign of a new year came from local residents shouting from their balconies, “Happy New Year! and “Glory to Ukraine!” And only half an hour into 2023, air raid sirens sounded in the Ukrainian capital, followed by the sound of explosions.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko reported an explosion in Holosiivskyi district, and authorities reported that fragments from a missile that was shot down damaged a car in a central neighborhood.
In Paris, thousands of people celebrated on the Champs-Élysées, while French President Emmanuel Macron pledged continued support for Ukraine in a televised New Year’s address. “Over the coming year, we We will be unfailingly by your side,” Macron said. “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 rang as more than 100,000 revelers gathered along the River Thames to watch a spectacular fireworks display around the London Eye. The display featured a drone light display of a crown and Queen Elizabeth II’s portrait on a coin hovering in the sky, paying tribute to Britain’s longest-serving monarch who died in September.
Rio de Janeiro’s Copacabana Beach hosted a small crowd of a few thousand for a short fireworks display, and several Brazilian cities have canceled celebrations this year due to coronavirus concerns. The Brazilian capital’s New Year’s Eve party usually drew more than 2 million people to Copacabana before the pandemic.
Turkey’s most populous city, Istanbul, has arrived in 2023 with street festivities and fireworks. At St. Antuan Catholic Church, dozens of Christians prayed for the New Year and marked the passing of former Pope Benedict XVI. The Vatican announced that Benedict XVI died Saturday at the age of 95.
In New York, sometimes heavy rain didn’t deter crowds in a dazzling spectacle on Saturday night that kicked off celebrations across the United States. The Times Square party culminated with the descent from One Times Square of a glowing sphere 12 feet (3.6 meters) in diameter and made up of nearly 2,700 Waterford crystals.
“I just wish everyone lots of prosperity, peace and love,” party girl Tina Wright, who was from the Phoenix area, said after the countdown. “And let’s shake things up in the world right now.”
Last year, a small crowd of around 15,000 in-person mask-wearing spectators watched the ball descend while basking in the lights and hype. Due to pandemic rules, that was far fewer than the tens of thousands of revelers who usually descend on the world-famous plaza.
Before the ball dropped, there were heavy thoughts about the past year and the news to come.
“2023 is the resurgence – the resurgence of the world after COVID-19 and after the war in Ukraine. We want this to end,” Arjun Singh said as he admired the scene in Times Square.
In Australia, more than a million people gathered along Sydney’s waterfront for a multi-million dollar celebration based around the themes of diversity and inclusion. More than 7,000 fireworks were launched from the Sydney Harbor Bridge and another 2,000 from the nearby Opera House.
“We’ve had a pretty tough couple of years; we are absolutely delighted this year to be able to welcome people back to the shores of Sydney Harbor for Sydney’s famous New Year’s Eve celebrations this year,” Stephen Gilby, producer of the city’s major events and festivals, told the Sydney Morning Herald. .
In Auckland, New Zealand, large crowds gathered under the Sky Tower, where a 10-second countdown to midnight preceded the fireworks. Celebrations in New Zealand’s biggest city have returned after COVID-19 forced them to be canceled a year ago.
The Chinese were cautiously waiting for 2023 after a recent easing of pandemic restrictions triggered the virus but also signaled a return to normal life. Like many, seller Hong Xinyu has stayed close to home over the past year, in part due to travel restrictions.
“As the new year begins, we seem to see the light,” he said during a countdown show that lit up the towering structures of a former steel mill in Beijing. “We hope there will be more freedom in the future.”
Concerns about the war in Ukraine and the economic shocks it has brought across the world have been felt in Tokyo, where Shigeki Kawamura has seen better times but said he needed a free hot meal this New Year.
“I hope the war will be over in Ukraine and prices will stabilize,” he said.
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Associated Press reporters from around the world contributed to this report, including 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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