Wars, fireworks, quakes as world tumbles into 2024

Fireworks have lit up skies across the world as crowds gathered to welcome 2024, but Israeli and Russian bombardment marred the year's earliest hours in besieged Gaza and Ukraine, while a powerful earthquake triggered tsunami warnings in Japan.

Many around the world are hoping to shake off surging living costs, global tumult and extreme weather in 2024, which heralds elections for half the planet's population of more than eight billion.

Yet with the new year barely started there were already ominous signs.

Israel pounded the length of the densely populated Gaza, where the United Nations says 85 percent of people have fled their homes. At least 24 people were killed in the latest Israeli barrage, according to officials in the besieged Palestinian territory. Meanwhile, some extremist ministers repeated their calls for ethnic cleansing in Gaza and resettling illegal Jewish settlers in the besieged enclave.

On Monday, tens of thousands marched through the Turkish city of Istanbul to protest against the scale of death and destruction caused by Israel's war on Gaza. Israel has reduced vast areas of Gaza to rubble and killed at least 21,978 people, mostly women and children, according to officials.

In Ukraine, authorities said they foiled a "record" number of Russian drones — 90 — on New Year's Eve after a week of intense Russian bombardment and one of the biggest single attacks in the two-year war.

Russia meanwhile reported more Ukrainian drone strikes on its Belgorod region near the countries' common border.

In his New Year's message, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russian forces would feel the "wrath" of his country's weapons in 2024.

His Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, did not mention Ukraine in his traditional address but vowed on New Year's Day to intensify attacks on military targets in Ukraine.

January 1 has been declared a day of mourning for the dead in the Ukrainian capital, Kiev.

In Rome, Pope Francis prayed for the victims of conflicts around the globe, including 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.

Tsunami warnings

In central Japan, a major earthquake early on the New Year's Day holiday damaged homes, set off a major fire, closed highways and prompted authorities to urge people to run to higher ground.

Tsunami waves over a metre high crashed into the coast after the 7.6-magnitude quake, and others up to five metres high were possible within 300 kilometres of the epicentre, US and Japanese weather agencies said.

Hours earlier in Sydney, the self-proclaimed "New Year's capital of the world", more than a million partygoers had packed the harbour to cheer in the new year.

More than a million people swarmed the Champs-Elysees avenue in Paris for an elaborate light show and concert, while later in New York City, thousands watched the annual dropping of a giant illuminated ball in Times Square.

In Italy, New Year fireworks killed one person and injured 274, police said, while fireworks also killed a 46-year-old man in Switzerland and injured two other people.

Three young men also died while handling fireworks in Germany, where more than 390 people were detained and a dozen police officers hurt during clashes in the capital Berlin.

In neighbouring Austria, a bar fire in Graz left one dead and 21 injured early on Monday.

On Rio's Copacabana beach, an elaborate firework show was accompanied by a live orchestra.

To the polls

In Denmark, popular Queen Margrethe II, Europe's longest-serving monarch, chose her New Year's Eve address to announce her coming abdication in favour of her son.

Elsewhere on the political landscape, pivotal elections are scheduled this year in Pakistan, Russia, Britain, the European Union, India, Indonesia, Mexico, South Africa and Venezuela.

But it is the presidential race in the United States that promises global consequences.

Incumbent Democrat Joe Biden, 81, and Republican Donald Trump, 77, appear set for a November rerun of their 2020 slugfest.

Biden marked the new year by proclaiming optimism for the US economy.

But he has at times appeared to show his age and even supporters worry about the toll of another bruising four years in office. His support for Israel's war on Gaza and possible backlash from Muslim and Arab communities could tell upon his 2024 bid.

There are at least as many concerns about a Trump return.

He faces prosecution on several counts, and 2024 could determine whether the 77-year-old former president goes to the Oval Office or jail.