The first city to announce the transition to the new year ... the world is preparing to say goodbye to the year 2022
On Saturday, eight billion people around the world are preparing to welcome the year 2023, a farewell to a turbulent year that witnessed the war in Ukraine, record inflation, and Lionel Messi’s leadership of his country to win the Qatar World Cup.
For many, this will be an occasion to get rid of memories associated with record inflation rates around the world and the Covid-19 crisis, which is slowly becoming forgotten without actually disappearing.
In Australia, Sydney will be among the first major cities to announce the transition to the New Year, thus regaining its title as the "world capital of New Year's Day", after witnessing in the past two years closures and limited celebrations due to the outbreak of the mutated Omicron.
Since then, the Australian borders have been reopened, and more than a million people are expected to flock to Sydney Harbor to attend the lighting of the city's sky with more than a hundred thousand fireworks.
Local authorities estimate that nearly half a billion people will watch the show online or on television.
Since noon, hundreds of people occupy the best spots for the parade.
In front of the Sydney Opera House a crowd grows while many carry umbrellas to shelter from the sun, including David Hugh-Paterson (52 years old), who says, "It's been a very good year for us, we got rid of Covid, that's great."
"If we can bring the whole world together in a party and welcome the coming year with renewed optimism and joy, then we will have succeeded," said fireworks organizer Fortunato Foti.
The celebrations contribute to getting rid of the negative feelings left over from the year 2022, which witnessed the death of Queen Elizabeth II, football legend Pele, former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, former Chinese President Jiang Zemin, and former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
This year, there were also mass resignations of employees from their jobs after the pandemic crisis and a slap at the Oscars ceremony, in addition to the shrinking fortunes of billionaires due to the deterioration in the value of cryptocurrencies.
But above all, the world will always remember the year 2022, because it witnessed the return of war to Europe, along with the Russian war on Ukraine.
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