NEW YORK, Jan 01 (APP): New York City ushered in 2023 with a dazzling spectacle in iconic Times Square, marking an end to a year that brought war in Europe, disastrous climate-induced floods in Pakistan and elsewhere as well as global worries over inflation.
In their New Year messages many world leaders, including Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif expressed hope for international peace and security, with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, underscoring the need for conflicts to be resolved through dialogue.
“From Ukraine to Afghanistan to the Democratic Republic of the Congo and beyond, people left the ruins of their homes and lives in search of something better,” the UN chief said in his video message.
In New York City, the midnight celebrations culminated with a countdown as a glowing geodesic sphere 12 feet in diameter and weighing almost six tons descended from its lofty perch atop One Times Square.
Its surface is comprised of nearly 2,700 Waterford crystals that were illuminated, officials said, by a palette of more than 16 million colours.
At the stroke of midnight, a ton of confetti rained down on revelers, glittering amid the jumbo screens, neon and pulsing lights.
Last year, a scaled-back crowd of about 15,000 in-person mask-wearing spectators watched the ball descend while basking in the lights. Because of pandemic rules, it was far fewer than the tens of thousands of revelers who usually descend on the world-famous square.
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.
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