Australia shakes off Covid-19 to ring New Year as world starts ushering out 2022
SYDNEY - Australia celebrated its first restriction-free New Year’s Eve after two years of Covid-19 disruptions, as the world began bidding farewell to a year marked for many by the war in Ukraine, economic stresses and the effects of global warming.Sydney, one of the world’s first major cities to welcome in the New Year, did so with a typically dazzling fireworks display, which for the first time featured a rainbow waterfall off the famous Harbour Bridge.
The display in Sydney featured thousands of fireworks launched from the four sails of the Sydney Opera House and from the Harbour Bridge. “In the interest of your health and safety do not gather or stop,” the message advised large crowds of revellers, who took no notice.“We’ve all travelled in from Chengdu to celebrate in Shanghai,” said Da Dai, a 28-year-old digital media executive who was travelling with two friends. “We’ve already had Covid, so now feel it’s safe to enjoy ourselves.”Days after Hong Kong lifted limits on group gatherings, tens of thousands of people gathered near the city’s Victoria Harbour for a countdown.
Fireworks and light effects illuminate the night sky during a downpour of rain, at the Taipei 101 skyscraper, in Taipei, Taiwan, on Jan 1, 2023. PHOTO: EPA-EFE “The terrorist country launched several waves of missiles. They are wishing us a happy New Year. But we will persevere,” the governor of Kyiv region, Mr Oleksiy Kuleba, wrote on Telegram.Russian President Vladimir Putin devoted his annual New Year’s address to rallying the Russian people behind his troops fighting in Ukraine.