5, 4, 3, 2, 1… Happy New Year!

The countdown a few seconds before midnight has already taken place for the inhabitants of part of Oceania, who were the first to celebrate the transition to the year 2023, on the night of Saturday December 31 to Sunday January 1. 

For many, New Year's Eve is an opportunity to drive away the memories of the Covid, as the virus leaves people's minds, without disappearing. 

>> To read also: Despite everything, twelve good news that marked 2022

Sydney, "New Year's Eve capital of the world" 

In Australia, Sydney was one of the first major cities to ring the bell in 2023, reclaiming its title as the "New Year's Eve capital of the world" after two years of closures and festivities stifled by the Omicron variant. 

Australia's borders have since reopened and more than a million people were expected in Sydney Harbor to witness the launch of more than 100,000 pyrotechnic devices.

City officials estimate nearly half a billion viewers watched the show online or on TV. 

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By midday, hundreds of people were already occupying the best places to watch the show.

“It was a pretty good year for us, getting rid of the Covid is great”, commented David Hugh-Paterson, 52, installed in front of the Sydney Opera House. 

"If we manage to get everyone on board and approach the coming year with renewed optimism and joy, then we will have succeeded," said fireworks organizer Fortunato Foti.  

Something to contrast with the feeling left by 2022, which saw Queen Elizabeth II, Mikhail Gorbachev, Jiang Zemin and Shinzo Abe disappear. 

>> To read also: These personalities who left us in 2022

2022, the year associated with the return of war in Europe 

The very last days of 2022 also saw the departure of two popes with very different registers: Thursday that of football, the Brazilian Pelé (82 years old), and Saturday the former head of the Catholic Church Benedict XVI (95 years old). 

Global warming has not been reversed, nor has the growth of the world population: the milestone of eight billion humans was crossed in November. 

This year also rhymed with the "Great Resignation", a phenomenon of massive departure of employees from their jobs after the pandemic, with a slap in the face at the Oscars ceremony and the ruin of billionaires, swept away by the cryptocurrency crash. 

But above all, it will forever be associated with the return of war to Europe with the Russian invasion of Ukraine. 

In more than 300 days, nearly 7,000 civilians have been killed and 10,000 injured, according to the office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.  

Sixteen million Ukrainians have been forced to flee their homes.

For those who remain, daily life is punctuated by power cuts, Russian bombings and the curfew.  

The return of the Covid in China 

In Asia, the Covid has made a resounding comeback in China, while vaccination allows the rest of the world to regain some semblance of normal life. 

Beijing abandoned its “zero Covid” policy at the start of the month, a reversal immediately followed by an explosion in the number of contaminations.

Hospitals, like crematoriums, may be overwhelmed, but rallies are planned everywhere for the transition to 2023. 

>> To read also: Faced with the outbreak of Covid-19 in China, the fear of repercussions in Europe

President Xi Jinping, however, wanted to launch an optimistic note a few hours before the New Year: "The light of hope is before us". 

New year, new president.

In Brazil, the first day of January will rhyme with the return to power of former head of state Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. 

With AFP

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