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World starts to ring in 2023 after turbulent year
The world's eight billion people began ushering in 2023 on Saturday and bidding farewell to a turbulent 12 months.
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New Year's Eve fireworks light up the sky over the Sydney Opera House (L) and Harbour Bridge during the fireworks display in Sydney on January 1, 2023. (AFP/David Gray)
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he world's eight billion people began ushering in 2023 on Saturday and bidding farewell to a turbulent 12 months marked by war in Europe, stinging price rises, Lionel Messi's World Cup glory and the deaths of Queen Elizabeth, Pele and former pope Benedict.
Many will be looking to cut loose this New Year's Eve after a few pandemic-dampened years, setting aside pinched budgets and a virus that is increasingly forgotten but not gone.
Sydney will be among the first major cities to ring in 2023, restaking its claim to be the "New Year's Eve capital of the world" after two years of lockdown and coronavirus-muted festivities.
Australia's borders have reopened and the crowds gathering at Sydney's sparkling harbour to watch 100,000 pyrotechnics illuminate the southern sky were expected to number more than one million.
"It's been a fairly good year for us; getting past Covid of course is great," David Hugh-Paterson told AFP as he waited near the Sydney Opera House in a growing crowd.
"Looking forward to the future as well," the 52-year-old said.
Sydney authorities expected almost half a billion more people would see the festivities online or on television.
