Crowds of revelers are preparing to say goodbye to the tumultuous year 2023, the hottest year in history, marked by the rise of artificial intelligence, the climate crisis and bloody wars in Gaza and Ukraine, writes news.ro

The world’s population, which now exceeds eight billion people, is preparing to start the new year with the hope of ending the high cost of living and global conflicts, reports AFP.

In Sydney, the self-proclaimed “New Year’s Eve capital of the world”, more than a million revelers are expected on the city’s waterfront, despite the unseasonably cold and wet weather.

Eight tons of fireworks will celebrate 2024, a crucial election year for half the world’s population. It will also be an Olympic year, with the Games taking place in Paris next summer.

In the last 12 months, the world has been swept by a pink wave of “Barbie mania”, we have witnessed an unprecedented proliferation of artificial intelligence tools and the world’s first whole eye transplant.

India has become the most populous country in the world, taking over the title from China. It was also the first country to land a spacecraft on the unexplored south pole of the Moon.

2023 was also the hottest year since records began in 1880, with a series of climate cataclysms hitting the planet from Pakistan to the Horn of Africa and the Amazon basin.

But above all, the year 2023 will be remembered for the unprecedented attack by Hamas on Israeli territory on October 7 – and Israel’s merciless retaliation.

The end of the war

According to United Nations estimates, nearly two million Gazans have been displaced since the beginning of the Israeli siege, representing approximately 85% of the population.

In the city of Gaza, which has been reduced to ruins, there are almost no places left to celebrate the New Year.

“It was a black year, full of tragedy,” said Abed Akkawi, who fled the city with his wife and three children.

The 37-year-old, who now lives in the UN camp in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, says he has lost a brother but has little hope for 2024. “God willing, this war will be over, it will be over, the New Year will be better and we can go back to our homes and rebuild them or just live in a tent on the ruins,” he told AFP.

In Ukraine, where the Russian invasion is approaching its second year, despite a new Russian attack, defiance and hope dominate.

“Victory! We are waiting for it and believe that Ukraine will win,” said Tetyana Khostka during the air raid siren in Kyiv. “We will have everything we want if Ukraine is free, without Russia,” the 42-year-old woman added.

An important choice

Some people in Vladimir Putin’s Russia are tired of the conflict. “In the new year, I would like to see the end of the war, a new president and a return to normal life,” said Zoya Karpova, a 55-year-old stage designer who lives in Moscow.

Putin is Russia’s longest-serving leader since Joseph Stalin, and his name will be on the ballot again in the March election. Few believe the vote will be completely free and fair, or expect it to lose.

In addition to the Russian election, a total of more than four billion people will be invited to the polls in Great Britain, the European Union, India, Indonesia, Mexico, South Africa, Venezuela and, of course, the United States, where Democrat Joe Biden, 81-year-old Republican Donald Trump, 77, are scheduled to face off again in November.