New Year’s Eve - live: LA and US west coast ring in 2023 as celebrations continue
For many countries around the world this was the first New Year’s Eve without any Covid restrictions since 2019
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Your support makes all the difference.Billions of people around the world have been welcoming in 2023 with new year’s celebrations.
Los Angeles, Las Vegas and the west coast of the US greeted the new year with dazzling light shows and fireworks displays.
On the east coast, the ball dropped on New York City’s iconic Times Square as huge crowds counted down the seconds into 2023.
Last night, partygoers in the UK defied wet weather to welcome in 2023 after the Met Office issued yellow warnings for rain in England’s South West and southern Wales, and warnings for ice and snow across the Scottish Highlands.
For many, this is the first New Year’s Eve in three years where parties and festivities are fully free from Covid restrictions.
In London, more than 100,000 people lined the Thames to watch 12,000 fireworks as a moving tribute was paid to the late Queen.
Baker Island will be among the last places to arrive in 2023, at around midday GMT.
Los Angeles welcomes 2023
Los Angeles and the west coast of America has just welcomed the new year with light shows and dazzling fireworks displays.
Brazil president to be sworn in on New Year’s Day
Brazil’s President-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva will be sworn in on Sunday in the capital of Brasilia and assume office for the third time.
It marks the culmination of a political comeback sure to thrill supporters and enrage opponents in a fiercely polarised nation.
But Mr Lula’s presidency is unlikely to be like his previous two mandates, coming after the tightest presidential race in more than three decades in Brazil and resistance to his taking office by some of his opponents, political analysts say.
The leftist defeated far-right President Jair Bolsonaro in the October 30 vote by less than two percentage points.
For months, Mr Bolsonaro had sown doubts about the reliability of Brazil’s electronic vote and his loyal supporters were reluctant to accept the loss.
Many have gathered outside military barracks since, questioning results and pleading with the armed forces to prevent Mr Lula from taking office.
Mr Bolsonaro’s most die-hard backers resorted to what some authorities and incoming members of Mr Lula’s administration labelled acts of "terrorism" - something the country had not seen since the early 1980s, and which have prompted growing security concerns about inauguration day events.
Mr Lula has made it his mission to heal the divided nation.
But he will have to do so while navigating more challenging economic conditions than he enjoyed in his first two terms, when the global commodities boom was a windfall for Brazil.
Brazil president to be sworn in on New Year’s Day
Brazil’s President-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva will be sworn in on Sunday in the capital of Brasilia and assume office for the third time.
It marks the culmination of a political comeback sure to thrill supporters and enrage opponents in a fiercely polarised nation.
But Mr Lula’s presidency is unlikely to be like his previous two mandates, coming after the tightest presidential race in more than three decades in Brazil and resistance to his taking office by some of his opponents, political analysts say.
The leftist defeated far-right President Jair Bolsonaro in the October 30 vote by less than two percentage points.
For months, Mr Bolsonaro had sown doubts about the reliability of Brazil’s electronic vote and his loyal supporters were reluctant to accept the loss.
Many have gathered outside military barracks since, questioning results and pleading with the armed forces to prevent Mr Lula from taking office.
Mr Bolsonaro’s most die-hard backers resorted to what some authorities and incoming members of Mr Lula’s administration labelled acts of "terrorism" - something the country had not seen since the early 1980s, and which have prompted growing security concerns about inauguration day events.
Mr Lula has made it his mission to heal the divided nation.
But he will have to do so while navigating more challenging economic conditions than he enjoyed in his first two terms, when the global commodities boom was a windfall for Brazil.
New year sweeps in across the globe
New Year’s celebrations swept across the globe, ushering in 2023 with countdowns and fireworks — and marking an end to a year that brought war in Europe, a new chapter in the British monarchy and global worries over inflation.
The new year began in the tiny atoll nation of Kiribati in the central Pacific, then moved across Russia and New Zealand before heading deeper, time zone by time zone, through Asia and Europe and into the Americas.
The ball dropped on New York City’s iconic Times Square as huge 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 man wielding a machete attacked three police officers near the celebration, authorities said, striking two of them in the head before an officer shot the man in the shoulder about eight blocks from Times Square, just outside the high-security zone. The two officers were hospitalized, one with a fractured skull and the other with a bad cut, but expected to recover. The 19-year-old suspect was also expected to recover.
Across the world, at least for a day, thoughts focused on possibilities, even elusive ones like world peace, and mustering — finally — a resolve to keep the next array of resolutions.
In a sign of that hope, children met St. Nicholas in a crowded metro station in Kharkiv, Ukraine.
Yet Russian attacks continued New Year’s Eve. At 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 rang across Ukraine’s capital, followed 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 damaged a car in a central district.
In Paris, thousands celebrated on the Champs Elysees, while French President Emmanuel Macron pledged continuing support for Ukraine in a televised New Year’s address. "During the coming year, we will be unfailingly at 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 chimed as more than 100,000 revelers gathered along the River Thames to watch a spectacular fireworks show 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 welcomed a small crowd of a few thousand for a short fireworks display, and several Brazilian cities canceled celebrations this year due to concern about the coronavirus. The Brazilian capital’s New Year’s bash usually drew more than 2 million people to Copacabana before the pandemic.
Turkey’s most populous city, Istanbul, brought in 2023 with street festivities and fireworks. At St. Antuan Catholic Church, dozens of Christians prayed for the new year and marked former Pope Benedict XVI’s passing. The Vatican announced Benedict died Saturday at age 95.
In New York, rain that was fierce at times did not deter the crowd at a dazzling Saturday night spectacle kicking 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 comprised of nearly 2,700 Waterford crystals.
"I just wish everyone a lot of prosperity peace and love," reveler Tina Wright, who was visiting from the Phoenix area, said after the countdown. "And let’s just get things moving in the world right now."
Last year, a scaled-back crowd of about 15,000 in-person mask-wearing spectators watched the ball descend while basking in the lights and hoopla. Because of pandemic rules, it was far fewer than the tens of thousands of revelers who usually descend on the world-famous square.
Before the ball dropped, there were heavy thoughts about the past year and the new one to come.
"2023 is about resurgence — resurgence of the world after COVID-19 and after the war in Ukraine. We want it to end," said Arjun Singh as he took in the scene at Times Square.
In Australia, more than 1 million people crowded 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 top of the Sydney Harbour Bridge and another 2,000 from the nearby Opera House.
"We have had a couple of fairly difficult years; we’re absolutely delighted this year to be able to welcome people back to the foreshores of Sydney Harbor for Sydney’s world-famous New Year’s Eve celebrations," Stephen Gilby, the city’s producer of major events and festivals, told The Sydney Morning Herald.
In Auckland, New Zealand, large crowds gathered below the Sky Tower, where a 10-second countdown to midnight preceded fireworks. The celebrations in New Zealand’s largest city returned after COVID-19 forced them to be canceled a year ago.
Chinese cautiously looked forward to 2023 after a recent easing of pandemic restrictions unleashed the virus but also signaled a return to normal life. Like many, salesperson Hong Xinyu stayed close to home over the past year in part because of curbs on travel.
"As the new year begins, we seem to see the light," he said at a countdown show that lit up the towering structures of a former steel mill in Beijing. "We are hopeful that there will be more freedom in the future."
Concerns about the Ukraine war and the economic shocks it has spawned across the globe were felt in Tokyo, where Shigeki Kawamura has seen better times but said he needed a free, hot meal this New Year’s.
"I hope the war will be over in Ukraine so prices will stabilize," he said.
Pet Shop Boys see in New Year at Hogmanay
North of the border, people in Edinburgh enjoyed what First Minister Nicola Sturgeon called the “first full Hogmanay celebrations in three years”.
“Thinking back to Hogmanay last year and indeed the year before that, we’re reminded of just how far we have come from the very darkest days of the pandemic,” she said in a New Year’s Eve message on Twitter.
People queued in the rain to enter the party in Princes Street.
Fireworks lit up the sky behind the city’s castle.
The 80s duo The Pet Shop Boys sang the city into 2023.
More artists rang in the new year with song as Eurovision star Sam Ryder performed hits on BBC One.
Scarborough fireworks display cancelled
Thousands of Metropolitan Police officers were on duty across the capital, with the force later saying eight people were arrested for offences including assault on police, drunk and disorderly, and possession of an offensive weapon.
Officers have worked with charity Safer Spaces to build a place in Duncannon Street, central London, for women and girls to go should they feel unsafe.
While other parts of England also celebrated with fireworks, the North Yorkshire seaside town of Scarborough did not.
An Arctic walrus, believed to be “Thor” – who was spotted on the Hampshire coastline earlier this month, arrived in the harbour earlier in the day.
Scarborough Borough Council cancelled the fireworks display on the advice of British Divers Marine Life Rescue after the organisation expressed concerns that it could cause “distress” to the mammal.
In a village further down the coast in East Yorkshire, re-enactors took part in the Flamborough Fire Festival in a Viking-themed parade.
London welcomes 2023 with firework tribute to the Queen
The UK has ushered in 2023 with revellers across the country celebrating New Year’s Eve.
Partygoers defied wet weather to welcome in 2023 after the Met Office issued yellow warnings for rain in England’s South West and southern Wales, and warnings for ice and snow across the Scottish Highlands.
Big Ben bonged in England’s capital as a crowd of more than 100,000 people gathered along the Thames Embankment in central London to watch 12,000 fireworks streak across the sky.
The sold-out show was designed to send a message of “love and unity”, as it highlighted the Lionesses’ history-making Euro win at Wembley, marked 50 years of London’s Pride with a message from Peter Tatchell from the Gay Liberation Front, and sent a message of support to Ukraine.
The display also paid tribute to the late Queen, featuring a voice recording from her and words from Dame Judi Dench, before honouring the King, together with a message from Charles about the need to preserve our planet’s future.
Drones spelled out a positive message during the show, welcoming in “2023 with love from London” as fireworks exploded behind them.
Complete with music that included Neil Diamond’s Sweet Caroline, Ukrainian Eurovision winner Kalush Orchestra, and hits from Stormzy, Dua Lipa, Cher, Dave, Rihanna and Calvin Harris, the show concluded with the traditional Auld Lang Syne.
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said he was “delighted” that Londoners and visitors could once again join together on the banks of the River Thames to ring in the new year.
Jubilant crowds welcomed the new year with the biggest celebrations Britain has seen since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Thousands of people stood together without restrictions to watch spectacular fireworks displays in capital cities across the country.
In London, the chimes of Big Ben rang to signal the start of the new year, as a crowd of more than 100,000 stood along the Thames to watch an iconic fireworks display.
Read more from Maryam Zakir-Hussain here:
Crowds celebrate new year restriction-free for first time since pandemic
Britain welcomes 2023 without Covid restrictions as jubilant crowds celebrate for first time in three years
Wandering walrus puts spanner in works of new year celebrations in Scarborough
An Arctic walrus, called “Thor” - who was spotted on the Hampshire coastline earlier this month, arrived in the harbour earlier on New Year’s Eve bringing a halt to some celebrations.
Scarborough Borough Council cancelled the fireworks display on the advice of British Divers Marine Life Rescue after the organisation expressed concerns that it could cause “distress” to the mammal.
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