World welcomes 2024, but wars cast a shadow

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The landmark Burj Khalifa skyscraper, the world’s tallest building, is lit up in Dubai at midnight on new year's eve on January 1, 2024. (AFP)
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Updated 01 January 2024
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World welcomes 2024, but wars cast a shadow

  • Ongoing wars in Ukraine and Gaza affecting New Year’s Eve celebrations
  • In Muslim-majority Pakistan, government has banned all NYE celebrations as act of solidarity with Palestinians

New Year’s Day arrived to cheers from tens of thousands of beaming people in New York’s Times Square who were showered with confetti and hugs and kisses after watching the descent of the colorful ball marking the birth of 2024 with hope for some, even as the world’s ongoing conflicts subdued celebrations and raised security concerns across the globe.




Fireworks explode over the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Sydney Opera House (L) during New Year's Eve celebrations in Australia on January 1, 2024. (AFP) 

“It’s beautiful,” Corin Christian of Charlotte, North Carolina, said of the scene seconds past midnight as Frank Sinatra’s “New York, New York” blared from speakers in the square and many in the crowd held cell phones in the air, trying to capture the spectacle.
“It’s going very well so far,” said Jacob Eriksson of Salt Lake City, Utah, with the earliest assessment of the New Year.
The march of midnight from time zone to time zone brought 2024 first to places like Australia, where more than 1 million people watched a pyrotechnic display centered around Sydney’s famous Opera House and harbor bridge — a number of spectators equivalent to 1 in 5 of the city’s residents. It would be another 16 hours before New York finished 2023.
There were snapshots of joy from country to country as the new year was welcomed with optimism that its days will bring more joy than sorrow.
Before midnight arrived in Times Square, December Lee, 26, and Shadayah Lawrence, 25, of Columbus, Ohio, said their New York visit highlighted four years of traveling the globe.
“It is a good way to bring in the new year,” Lee said.
Also in Times Square, Tyrell Jacobs, 27, and Sarah Crayton, 26, arrived from New Orleans 15 hours before midnight and got engaged in streets packed with tens of thousands of people counting first the hours and then the minutes until midnight.
“It’s definitely a must-see,” Crayton said of the colorful cast of strangers nearby in tall hats and blowing noisemakers even before the ball dropped. “At least go once, you know, just to experience the magic.”
A small army of thousands of police officers worked to keep New York City safe, just as heightened security had done in the cities midnight hit first. New York has seen near-daily protests sparked by the Israel-Hamas war.
Some 90,000 police and security officers were deployed around France including along Champs-Elysees Avenue, where large crowds took in a multidimensional light show projected onto the Arc de Triomphe showcasing the history of Paris and sports on the menu for next year’s Summer Olympics in the city.
While New Year’s Eve concerts were plentiful across America on Sunday night, CNN news personality Anderson Cooper followed a tribute to entertainers who died in 2023 by acknowledging the network’s jovial New Year’s Eve program with co-host Andy Cohen might also be a sad occasion for some viewers.
“There’s a lot of people who feel like they can’t celebrate,” he said in the final minutes of a year that claimed the lives of Tina Turner, Tony Bennett, Harry Belafonte, Sinéad O’Connor, Jimmy Buffett, Burt Bacharach and David Crosby, among others.




Revellers gather in Times Square during the celebrations of the New Year's Eve in New York City on December 31, 2023. (REUTERS)

Fireworks light up the night
Stunning fireworks displays bloomed at iconic locations like the Acropolis in Athens, Greece; reflected in the sleek glass walls of the world’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa, in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates; and accompanied a collective cheer filling the air in Nairobi, Kenya.
China celebrated relatively quietly, with most major cities banning fireworks over safety and pollution concerns. Still, people gathered and performers danced in colorful costumes in Beijing, while a crowd released wish balloons in Chongqing. During his New Year address, President Xi Jinping said the country would focus on building momentum for economic recovery in 2024 and pledged China would “surely be reunified” with Taiwan.
In Taipei, Taiwan’s capital, the mood was upbeat as revelers gathered for a fireworks show at the bamboo-shaped Taipei 101 skyscraper and at concerts and other events citywide.




Fireworks explode over the city during New Year's celebrations in Nairobi, Kenya, on Dec. 31, 2023. (AP)

In India, thousands of revelers from the financial hub of Mumbai watched the sun set over the Arabian Sea. Fireworks in New Delhi raised concerns that the capital — already infamous for its poor air quality — would be blanketed by a toxic haze on the first morning of the new year.
Across Japan, people gathered at temples such as the Tsukiji Temple in Tokyo, where visitors were given free hot milk and corn soup as they stood in line to strike a massive bell.
About 2 million people gathered at Rio de Janeiro’s Copacabana beach under light drizzle to watch 12 minutes of fireworks in one of the world’s most popular locations for New Year’s Eve.




Taiwanese citizens celebrate the arrival of 2024 with fireworks at Taipei 101 Tower in Taipei on January 1, 2024. (REUTERS)

Pope highlights the human cost of war
At the Vatican, Pope Francis recalled 2023 as a year marked by wartime suffering. During his traditional Sunday blessing from a window overlooking St. Peter’s Square, he offered prayers for “the tormented Ukrainian people and the Palestinian and Israeli populations, the Sudanese people and many others.”
“At the end of the year, we will have the courage to ask ourselves how many human lives have been shattered by armed conflict, how many dead and how much destruction, how much suffering, how much poverty,” the pontiff said.




Pope Francis waves to onlookers from his wheelchair at Saint Peter Square in The Vatican on December 31, 2023. (AFP)

Gaza and Ukraine wars grind on
In Russia, the country’s military actions in Ukraine overshadowed end-of-year celebrations, with the usual fireworks and concert on Moscow’s Red Square canceled, as they were last year. Even without the festivities, people gathered in the square, and some cheered and pointed their phones at a clock counting down the year’s final seconds.




People gather near Red Square in Moscow (left frame) and in front of the St. Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv (right) on New Year's eve, Dec. 31, 2023, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. AP/Reuters)

After shelling in the Russian border city of Belgorod Saturday killed 24 people, some local authorities across the country also canceled their firework displays, including in Vladivostok. Millions were expected to tune in to President Vladimir Putin’s New Year’s prerecorded address, in which he said no force could divide Russians and stop the country’s development.
Israeli strikes in the Gaza Strip killed at least 35 people Sunday, hospital officials said, as fighting raged across the tiny enclave a day after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, resisting international calls for a cease-fire, said the war will continue for “many more months.”
Skyscrapers in Tel Aviv were lit up in yellow to call for the release of hostages held by Palestinian militants in Gaza for more than 80 days.




As most of the world joined the New Year's Eve revelry, Palestinians displaced by the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip line up for water at a  makeshift tent camp in the Muwasi area on Dec. 31, 2023. (AP)

“While you are counting down until the new year, our time and our lives stopped,” said Moran Betzer Tayar, the aunt of Yagev Buchshtab, a 34-year-old hostage.
In the Gaza Strip, displaced Palestinians huddled around fires in a makeshift refugee camp.
“From the intensity of the pain we live, we do not feel that there is a new year,” said Kamal Al-Zeinaty, who has lost multiple family members in the conflict. “All the days are the same.”
In Iraq, a Christmas tree was decorated with Palestinian flags and symbolic bodies in funeral shrouds, placed beside a liberty monument in central Baghdad. Many Christians in Iraq have canceled this year’s festivities in solidarity with Gaza, and have chosen to limit their celebrations to prayers and rituals.
“We hope that the new year, 2024, will be a year of goodness, prosperity and joy,” said Ahmed Ali, a Baghdad resident.
In Muslim-majority Pakistan, the government banned all New Year’s Eve celebrations in solidarity with the Palestinians.




Iraqis gather to celebrate the New Year around a Christmas tree in Baghdad, Iraq, Sunday, Dec. 31, 2023. (AP)

Global tensions spur security vigilance
New York Mayor Eric Adams said there were “no specific threats” to his city’s annual bash. Nevertheless, police said they expanded the security perimeter around the party, creating a “buffer zone” to allow them to head off potential demonstrations. On New Year’s Eve 2022, a machete-wielding man attacked three police officers a few blocks from Times Square.
The Las Vegas Strip was closed to vehicle traffic and there was a heavy law enforcement presence with armed officers lining the Strip as thousands of revelers gathered and street musicians played. The city of Las Vegas said more than 400,000 people were expected at the celebration.
German authorities said they detained three more people in connection with a reported threat of a New Year’s Eve attack by Islamic extremists on the world-famous Cologne Cathedral.




Revelers watch as fireworks explode in the sky over the River Main in Frankfurt, Germany, on Sunday, Dec. 31, 2023. (dpa via AP)

In Berlin, some 4,500 police officers worked to keep order and avoid riots like those seen a year ago. They also banned a pro-Palestinian protest in the Neukoelln neighborhood of the German capital, which has seen several pro-Palestinian riots.




Fireworks illuminate the sky over the Arc de Triomphe during the New Year's celebrations on the Champs Elysees avenue in Paris, France, on January 1, 2024. (REUTERS)

 


Macron to visit Meloni after rivalry creates tension on Ukraine, trade

Updated 03 June 2025
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Macron to visit Meloni after rivalry creates tension on Ukraine, trade

  • Macron is a fervent pro-European who has had a long rapport with Donald Trump
  • Meloni is a nationalist with a strong transatlantic tilt who seems more ideologically aligned with the US president

PARIS/ROME: French President Emmanuel Macron will visit Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Tuesday, seeking to improve relations amid tensions between the two European leaders over Ukraine, trade and relations with the United States.

Macron is a fervent pro-European who has had a long rapport with Donald Trump, while Meloni is a nationalist with a strong transatlantic tilt who seems more ideologically aligned with the US president. They have advocated different — even competing — approaches to the new Trump era.

Meloni, whose country has a large trade surplus with the US, has sought to keep Europe aligned with the US, using the slogan “Make the West great again” in a meeting with Trump in Washington in April. Macron has pushed for the EU to take a more independent approach.

On the Russian war in Ukraine, Meloni has been skeptical about Macron’s “coalition of the willing” and a Franco-British plan put forward earlier this year to send peacekeeping troops to Ukraine in the event of a peace agreement. Sending troops would be deeply unpopular in Italy.

Hostility flared publicly in recent weeks, with officials close to Macron and Meloni privately or openly criticizing their respective initiatives over Ukraine or trade.

Meloni was criticized in Italy for not traveling to Kyiv with Macron and the German, British and Polish leaders on May 10 and then for missing a call with Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at a summit in Albania a few days later.

After Meloni explained her absence by saying the meetings were about sending troops to Ukraine, her government was furious that Macron said publicly that the meetings were about a ceasefire and seemed to equate her justification with “Russian disinformation.”

French and Italian officials said Macron had taken the initiative to hold Tuesday’s meeting and sought to play down talk of a rift, saying the meeting and a working dinner would be an opportunity for Macron to show “respect” and “friendship.”

“The president is available to all of our European partners, whatever the political persuasion may be,” an Elysee official told reporters.

The Elysee said the two would discuss security guarantees for Ukraine, the Mercosur trade deal and US tariffs, as well as industrial cooperation between the two countries, including Franco-Italian carmaker Stellantis, which appointed a new Italian chief executive last month.

Italian officials said the meeting was meant to “lay the foundations for a further strengthening of relations” and added that talks would also address the situation in the Middle East and Libya.

Both Italy and France are worried Russia might boost its presence in eastern Libya, to keep a foothold in the Mediterranean after Moscow’s ally President Bashar Assad was ousted in Syria in December.

“This Macron-Meloni meeting isn’t about rekindling Franco-Italian friendship. It’s about necessity, not nostalgia,” said Francesco Galietti of Rome-based consultancy Policy Sonar, saying the two capitals should find common ground on Libya “fast.”


French prosecutors treating Tunisian’s murder as suspected terrorism

Updated 03 June 2025
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French prosecutors treating Tunisian’s murder as suspected terrorism

  • Hichem Miraoui was shot 5 times by his white neighbor last week, in what police believe was a racist killing
  • It follows mounting concerns over hate crimes against Muslims in the country

LONDON: Prosecutors in France investigating the murder of a Tunisian man are treating the case as a suspected racist attack, The Times reported on Tuesday.

Hichem Miraoui, a 46-year-old hairdresser who had lived in France for 14 years, was shot five times on Saturday by his white neighbor, a 53-year-old named as Christophe B.

The involvement of counterterrorism prosecutors instead of criminal prosecutors in the alleged far-right killing is a first in France.

It follows mounting concerns over hate crimes against Muslims in the country after Malian man Aboubakar Cisse, 22, was stabbed to death outside a mosque in April.

In last week’s killing in the southern town of Puget-sur-Argens, a 25-year-old Turkish man was also shot but survived. The killer fled the scene by car but his partner alerted police, who arrested him.

Christophe B, a sports shooting enthusiast who carried gun permits, had earlier posted videos on social media declaring that he planned to kill foreigners.

He urged his compatriots to do the same, and in one video praised the late founder of France’s National Front, Jean-Marie Le Pen.

Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau described the killing of Miraoui as a “racist act.” However, the minister was previously criticized for what anti-racism groups described as an inadequate response to Cisse’s murder.

Counterterrorism authorities were also questioned for failing to treat the Malian national’s killing as terrorism, with the investigation into the case being carried out by criminal prosecutors.

Retailleau on Tuesday visited the Tunisian Embassy in Paris to express solidarity with the community.

The Tunisian diaspora in France numbers more than 1 million people. More than 6 million Muslims reside in the country, about 10 percent of the population.

“Racism in France and elsewhere is a poison, and we see clearly that it is a poison which kills. Every racist act is an anti-French act,” Retailleau said.

Official government data shows that racist, xenophobic and anti-religious crimes rose by 11 percent in the country last year.

However, such crimes in France are also “vastly underreported” because “victims often don’t trust the police or the authorities,” said Jean-Marie Burguburu, chairman of the National Consultative Human Rights Commission.


Police probe missing Briton case in Malaysia

Updated 03 June 2025
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Police probe missing Briton case in Malaysia

  • Johnson-Doyle was last seen on May 27 in the bustling Bangsar district
  • Police have asked for the public “not to speculate” about Johnson-Doyle’s disappearance

KUALA LUMPUR: The disappearance of a British man last week in Malaysia’s capital is being investigated from “all angles,” police said Tuesday.

A missing person’s report was filed, identifying the man as 25-year-old Jordan Johnson-Doyle, Kuala Lumpur police said.

Johnson-Doyle was last seen on May 27 in the bustling Bangsar district, known for its nightlife, trendy bars and cafes, according to local media reports.

“A detailed investigation, from all angles, is underway,” Brickfields district police chief Ku Mashariman Ku Mahmood told AFP.

“Those with any information are urged to contact their nearest police station,” Ku Mashariman added in a statement.

Johnson-Doyle’s mother Leanne Burnett, 44, told the Free Malaysia Today news website that her husband had traveled to Kuala Lumpur, adding “we are distraught and pray that he’s well somewhere.”

She said his family was “seeking the help of anyone who saw him at his last-known location to come forward and inform the police.”

Burnett said she was traveling to Malaysia with another son to help with the search.

Police have asked for the public “not to speculate” about Johnson-Doyle’s disappearance.

The British High Commission in Kuala Lumpur confirmed Tuesday that it would assist Johnson-Doyle’s family without naming them.

“We are supporting the family of a British man reported missing in Malaysia,” it said in a statement.

Local reports said Johnson-Doyle, a software engineer, was on a solo backpacking tour around Southeast Asia when he disappeared.


Modi’s soaring Indian aviation ambitions face many headwinds

Updated 03 June 2025
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Modi’s soaring Indian aviation ambitions face many headwinds

  • India’s rapid pace of aviation growth risks losing steam if plane shortages, infrastructure challenges and taxation issues are not addressed
  • Hostilities with neighbor Pakistan also causing Indian airlines to take large, expensive detours around Pakistani airspace, requiring more fuel

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s high-profile attendance at a global airlines conference this week underscores how much India is banking on a boom in aviation to support wider development goals, but headwinds to its ambitions are gathering force.

Undeterred by the uncertainty gripping the aviation sector globally due to trade tensions and shaky consumer confidence, India’s biggest airlines are plowing ahead with orders for new planes, following record deals two years ago.

However, the rapid pace of growth risks losing steam if plane shortages, infrastructure challenges and taxation issues are not addressed, industry officials warned at the International Air Transport Association’s annual meeting.

Hostilities with neighbor Pakistan are also causing Indian airlines to take large, expensive detours around Pakistani airspace, requiring more fuel and passenger care.

Carriers have asked the Indian government to waive some fees and provide tax exemptions, people familiar with the matter have told Reuters, but it is not clear if it will provide any help, despite its high-flying rhetoric.

New Delhi says it wants India to be a job-creating global aviation hub along the lines of Dubai, which currently handles much of India’s international traffic.

“In the coming years, the aviation sector is expected to be at the center of massive transformation and innovation, and India is ready to embrace these possibilities,” Modi told global aviation leaders on Monday.

But the transformation will require billions of dollars of investment in airports and industry supply chains, and a revamp of regulations, industry officials said.

The numbers look promising.

IATA forecasts passenger traffic in India will triple over the next 20 years and the country has set a target of increasing the number of airports to as many as 400 by 2047, up from 157 in 2024.

“We are fast emerging as a strategic connector country ... India is a natural connector of the skies and aviation as well,” India’s Civil Aviation minister Ram Mohan Naidu told global airline CEOs in New Delhi.

Already the world’s third-largest aviation market by seats after the US and China, there is significant potential for India to grow.

The world’s most populous nation, India accounts for around 17.8 percent of people but only 4.2 percent of global air passengers, according to IATA.

A record 174 million Indian domestic and international passengers flew in 2024, compared to 730 million in China, IATA data shows.

“The outlook is potentially a very positive one for both the Indian economy and air transport industry. However, such outcomes are not guaranteed,” IATA said in a report on the Indian market.

Industry executives and analysts said more work lies ahead in scaling aviation-related infrastructure, updating rules, lowering taxes and making life easier for airlines.

“Even the regulators will agree that they need to update their regulation, because there is a reason why India is not punching above its weight. In fact, it is punching very much below its weight,” Association of Asia Pacific Airlines Director General Subhas Menon said.

Dubai-based Emirates, for example, says capacity restrictions on foreign airlines need to be relaxed for the industry to reach its full growth potential.

“For every seat we offer, particularly in the peaks, we’ve got three to 10 people trying to get it,” Emirates President Tim Clark told reporters.

Among other problems, India lacks enough domestic maintenance, repair and overhaul facilities to care for its fleet, making it overly dependent on foreign shops at a time of stiff competition for repair slots, particularly for engines.

Global airlines have aircraft sitting on the ground because there aren’t enough facilities available for servicing them, IATA Director General Willie Walsh said.

“I think airframe maintenance is a huge opportunity for India because you require labor and you require skills. And that’s something that I know India is investing in,” Walsh said, in response to a Reuters question at a press conference.

Airline growth globally is being tempered by extended delays to deliveries of new, more fuel-efficient planes due to supply chain issues.

India’s largest airline IndiGo has been leasing aircraft to allow it to expand internationally while it waits for new planes. This week it partnered with Air France-KLM , Virgin Atlantic and Delta to extend the reach of IndiGo tickets using those airlines’ networks.


Moscow poses no threat to Britain, says Russia’s UK embassy

Updated 03 June 2025
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Moscow poses no threat to Britain, says Russia’s UK embassy

  • Russia’s embassy issued a statement on Tuesday criticizing what it described as “a fresh salvo of anti-Russian rhetoric“
  • “Russia poses no threat to the United Kingdom and its people“

LONDON: Russia’s embassy in London said on Tuesday that Moscow had no intention of attacking Britain, rejecting accusations by the British government of growing aggression and daily cyberattacks.

Britain said on Monday it would radically change its approach to defense to address new threats, including from Russia, after endorsing the findings of an independently-produced Strategic Defense Review.

After unveiling the defense overhaul on Monday, British Defense Secretary John Healey said Europe was facing war, growing Russian aggression, new nuclear risks and daily cyberattacks.

Russia’s embassy issued a statement on Tuesday criticizing what it described as “a fresh salvo of anti-Russian rhetoric.”


“Russia poses no threat to the United Kingdom and its people,” the statement said. “We harbor no aggressive intentions and have no plans to attack Britain. We are not interested in doing so, nor do we need to.”

Relations between Russia and Britain are at their lowest level since the Cold War. They deteriorated further after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, and Britain and other NATO members have provided large amounts of military aid and other support to Kyiv.

China’s embassy in London also criticized Britain’s defense review, saying in a statement on Tuesday that the document deliberately misrepresented Beijing’s defense policy to justify British military expansion.

The review had described China as “a sophisticated and persistent challenge,” citing its rapid military modernization, including an expanded nuclear arsenal, and saying Beijing was likely using espionage and cyberattacks, and stealing intellectual property.