- Blinken condemns China's 'increasingly dangerous' sea moves
- Toyota returns to Formula One as Haas partner
- EU chief says China must 'adapt its behaviour' to solve trade row
- Musk unveils robotaxi, pledges it 'before 2027'
- Lynx rally, stun Liberty in overtime in WNBA Finals opener
- Pogacar hunting 'perfect' season finale with Coppi's Il Lombardia record
- 'Soul of old Baghdad': city centre sees timid revival
- Kittle at the double as Niners hold off Seahawks
- At least 11 dead in Florida but Hurricane Milton not as bad as feared
- Yankees advance in MLB playoffs as Guardians stay alive
- Asian markets mixed after Wall St drop, Shanghai dips before briefing
- Automaker Stellantis says CEO will retire in 2026
- Musk's promised robotaxi unveil delayed
- Kamada says Japan can close in on World Cup place against Australia
- On US coast, wind power foes embrace 'Save the Whales' argument
- Renewables revolt in Sardinia, Italy's coal-fired island
- Argentina held, Brazil leave it late in 2026 World Cup qualifiers
- Obama blasts 'crazy' Trump in first rally for Harris
- 2024 Nobel Peace Prize, a plea in favour of world order?
- Fry homers as Guardians down Tigers to stay alive in MLB playoffs
- Japan PM presses China's Li on airspace intrusion
- In Trump 'Truths,' conspiracies, attacks -- and doubts about the election
- How Sebastian Stan found a 'relatable' Trump for 'The Apprentice' biopic
- Panama's water wheel trash collector keeps plastic at bay
- It's still 'the economy, stupid,' says US political guru Carville
- Five key dates in the history of the America's Cup
- Zelensky to meet Pope, Scholz as whirlwind Europe tour ends
- At least 10 dead in Florida but Hurricane Milton not as bad as feared
- Far from eye, Hurricane Milton's deadly tornados rampaged Florida
- At least 10 dead in Florida after Hurricane Milton spawns tornadoes
- Argentina held, Bolivia stun Colombia in 2026 qualifiers
- Socceroos have 'nothing to fear' from Japan
- Sean 'Diddy' Combs sex trafficking trial set for May 2025
- Bolivia stun Colombia in World Cup qualifiers
- Internet Archive reels from 'catastrophic' cyberattack, data breach
- Greece earn late win against England in Nations League, Italy-Belgium stalemate
- Trump biopic 'The Apprentice' hits US theaters weeks before election
- Pavlidis dedicates 'special' Greece win over England to tragic Baldock
- Wall Street stocks retreat from records on US inflation data
- 'Like a quake': Beirut shaken after deadliest strikes on centre
- Fallen giants Ghana in AFCON trouble after Sudan draw
- Asian leaders meet in Laos with US, Russia on world turmoil
- England gamble backfires as Pavlidis fires emotional Greece to victory
- Obama stumps for Harris, Trump talks US protectionism
- New-look France ease past Israel in Nations League
- Belgium fight back to draw with 10-man Italy in Nations League
- 'Get a life': Hurricane whips up US election storm
- Japan stay perfect in World Cup qualifying
- Relief as Lebanon evacuees dock in Turkey
- Lebanon says 22 dead in Israeli strikes on central Beirut
World rings in 2024 after war, bots and Barbie
Jubilant crowds began bidding farewell to the hottest year on record Sunday, closing a turbulent 12 months marked by clever chatbots, climate crises and wrenching wars in Gaza and Ukraine.
The world's population -- now more than eight billion -- will see out the old and usher in the new, with many hoping to shake the weight of high living costs and global tumult.
In Sydney, the self-proclaimed "New Year's capital of the world", more than a million partygoers packed the harbour foreshore, with city officials and police warning that all vantage points were full.
Sydneysiders gathered through the day at prominent sites, defying uncharacteristically dank weather, and they were not disappointed when the Harbour Bridge and other landmarks were garlanded in light and colour by eight tonnes of fireworks.
Sydney's spectacular show lit the fuse on 2024, a year that will bring elections concerning half the world's population and a summer Olympiad celebrated in Paris.
The last 12 months brought "Barbiegeddon" at the box office, a proliferation of human-seeming artificial intelligence tools, and a world-first whole-eye transplant.
India outgrew China as the world's most populous country, and then became the first nation to land a rocket on the dark side of the moon.
It was also the hottest year since records began in 1880, with a spate of climate-fuelled disasters striking from Australia to the Horn of Africa and the Amazon basin.
Fans bade adieu to "Queen of Rock 'n' Roll" Tina Turner, "Friends" actor Matthew Perry, hell-raising Anglo-Irish songsmith Shane MacGowan and master dystopian novelist Cormac McCarthy.
- Rebuilding -
Perhaps more than anything, 2023 will be remembered for war in the Middle East -- for Hamas's brutal October 7 raids on southern Israel and Israel's ferocious reprisals.
The United Nations estimates that almost two million Gazans have been displaced since Israel's siege began -- about 85 percent of the peacetime population.
With once-bustling Gaza City neighbourhoods reduced to rubble, there were few places left to mark the new year -- and fewer loved ones to celebrate with.
"It was a black year full of tragedies," said Abed Akkawi, who fled the city with his wife and three children.
The 37-year-old, now living in a UN shelter in Rafah, southern Gaza, said the war had obliterated his house and killed his brother.
"God willing this war will end, the new year will be a better one, and we will be able to return to our homes and rebuild them, or even live in a tent on the rubble," he told AFP.
There was also hope in Ukraine, where Russia's invasion grinds towards its second anniversary, and defiance in the face of a renewed assault from Moscow.
"Victory! We are waiting for it and believe that Ukraine will win," said Tetiana Shostka, 42, as air raid sirens blared in Kyiv.
Some in Vladimir Putin's Russia are also weary of the conflict.
"In the new year I would like the war to end, a new president, and a return to normal life," said 55-year-old theatre decorator and Moscow resident Zoya Karpova.
In Rome, Pope Francis prayed for the victims of conflicts around the globe, citing Ukrainians, Palestinians and Israelis, the people of Sudan and the "martyred Rohingya" of Myanmar.
"At the end of a year, have the courage to ask how many lives have been torn apart in armed conflicts, how many deaths?" the 87-year-old pontiff said after his Angelus prayer in St Peter's Square.
"And how much destruction, how much suffering, how much poverty? Those who have an interest in these conflicts, listen to the voice of conscience."
Putin is already Russia's longest-tenured leader since Joseph Stalin and will again be on the ballot paper when Russians vote in March, although few expect the vote to be fully free or fair.
- To the polls -
Russia's is just one of several pivotal elections scheduled in 2024.
The political fate of more than four billion people will be decided in contests that will shape Britain, the European Union, India, Indonesia, Mexico, South Africa, Venezuela and a host of other nations.
But one election promises global consequences.
In the United States, Democrat Joe Biden, aged 81, and Republican Donald Trump, aged 77, appear set to rerun their divisive 2020 presidential race in November.
As the incumbent, Biden has at times appeared to show his advancing age and even his supporters worry about the toll of another bruising four years in office.
But if there are worries about what a second Biden administration would look like, there are at least as many concerns about a return of Trump.
He faces prosecution on several counts and 2024 could determine whether the bombastic self-proclaimed billionaire goes to the Oval Office or to jail.
P.Martin--AMWN