In a surprise move Denmark’s Queen Margrethe II has announced she will abdicate her role early in 2024, after a reign lasting more than five decades.

Margrethe, 83, will hand over the throne to her son, Crown Prince Frederik, she said in her traditional New Year’s Eve speech broadcast on Danish television.

She cited a back surgery in February 2023 as giving her thoughts about the future.

“In two weeks time I have been Queen of Denmark for 52 years,” she said.

“Such an amount will leave its mark on anybody – also on me! The time takes its toll, and the number of ‘ailments’ increases. One cannot undertake as much as one managed in the past,” she added.

“In February this year I underwent extensive back surgery,” she said. “Everything went well, thanks to the competent health personnel, who took care of me. Inevitably, the operation gave cause to thoughts about the future – whether now would be an appropriate time to pass on the responsibility to the next generation.

“I have decided that now is the right time,” she said.

“On 14th January, 2024 – 52 years after I succeeded my beloved father – I will step down as Queen of Denmark. I will hand over the throne to my son Crown Prince Frederik.

Queen Margrethe II took over the throne on 14 January 1972 following the death of King Frederik IX.

After the death of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II last year Margrethe became the longest-serving monarch in Europe.

Prince Frederik will take over the throne as His Majesty King Frederik X in January, the Danish Prime Minister’s office said in a statement.

After a meeting in the Council of State, the Prime Minister will proclaim the change of throne at Christiansborg Castle.

The Queen will continue to be titled as Her Majesty following the handover.

Denmark’s royals have a limited role under the country’s constitution, with power resting with parliament. Monarchs play an important ambassadorial role as well as signing off on new legislation.

Margrethe has throughout her life enjoyed broad support from Danes, Reuters reports.

South Korea, with the world’s lowest birth rate, may soon find itself without enough troops to keep its military fully staffed as it deals with new threats in an increasingly tense Western Pacific region, analysts say.

Always wary of North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats, South Korea keeps an active-duty force of about half a million troops. But with a birth rate of only 0.78 children per woman over a lifetime, the math might be South Korea’s biggest enemy at the moment, and experts say it has no choice but to downsize its forces.

“With our current birth rate, the future is predetermined. Downsizing of the force will be inevitable,” said Choi Byung-ook, a national security professor at Sangmyung University.

To maintain current troops levels, the South Korean military needs to enlist or conscript 200,000 soldiers a year, he said.

But in 2022, fewer than 250,000 babies were born. Assuming about a 50-50 male-female split, that means in 20 years, when those children are of the age to join the military, only about 125,000 men will be available for the 200,000 spots needed.

Women are not conscripted in South Korea, and volunteer females accounted for only 3.6% of the current Korean military, according to Defense Ministry figures.

And the annual number of newborns is only forecasted to drop further, to 220,000 in 2025 and 160,000 in 2072, according to Statistics Korea.

Preparing for two decades

While South Korea’s declining birth rate has been making headlines in recent years, it’s a trend the military had seen coming and prepared for.

In the early 2000s, Seoul voluntarily decided to reduce the number of active soldiers from 674,000 in 2006 to 500,000 by 2020, based on “the premise that the threat from North Korea would gradually diminish,” and to promote a smaller but more elite military force, according to a 
2022 defense white paper.

South Korea’s military has reached that goal, decreasing troop size by 27.6% in two decades, from 2002 to 2022.

But the premise that the threat from North Korea would diminish has proven false.

Kim Jong Un, the third consecutive member of his family dynasty to rule, came to power in Pyongyang in 2011. Despite brief lulls while he negotiated with South Korea and the United States to reduce tensions, he has pushed a massive buildup in the North Korean military, especially in its ballistic missile programs.

Following North Korea’s test of its fifth intercontinental ballistic missile this year, Kim warned that his country would not “hesitate” to conduct a nuclear attack when the enemy provokes with its nuclear weapons, referring to the deployment of US nuclear-capable weapons platforms in
and around the Korean Peninsula, state-media KCNA reported earlier this month.

But if Kim were to attack across the 38th parallel, which divided North and South Korea after the 1953 armistice halting the Korean War, it’s the South Korean military that would bear the biggest defense burden.

Turning to tech

Experts say South Korea must look at science to counter that North Korean threat and turn a manpower crisis into a technology transformation.

“Korean defense authorities have had this longstanding policy that we would go from a manpower-centric military to a technology-oriented military,” said Chun In-bum, a former lieutenant general in the South Korean Army.

In 2005, South Korea’s Defense Ministry released a plan to develop its military into a science-technology-centric force by 2020, but progress has been scant.

“Although the military was trying to make the transition, there was no urge, because (with) South Korea’s conscripts … there were plenty of human resources,” Choi said.

But Russia’s war in Ukraine has shown the world that on the modern battlefield, sheer troop numbers aren’t enough. Of the 360,000 soldiers that made up Russia’s pre-invasion ground force, including contract and conscript personnel, Moscow has lost 315,000 on the battlefield, according to a recent US Defense Department assessment.

Ukraine’s use of drones and high-tech weapons supplied by Western partners have taken a deadly toll on Moscow’s greater force numbers.

South Korea has been putting an emphasis on integrating new technologies into its fighting units.

The Defense Ministry last year said it would make a phased transition to an AI-based manned-unmanned teaming (MUM-T) combat system, and introduced the Army TIGER brigade — a so-called “future unit” — which utilizes both manpower and unmanned equipment to carry out missions.

South Korea has also been developing unmanned military equipment, including the medium-altitude unmanned aerial vehicle (MUAV) and unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV).

Experts say troops are indispensable

But Chun, the former South Korean general, says technology is not a panacea.

For instance, it takes manpower to take and hold territory. And it takes well-trained and educated people to run and oversee artificial intelligence (AI) systems on the battlefield.

“It’s not going to be enough, and no matter how we try,” Chun said of technology. “It’s going to help, but it will not solve the problem that we lack people.”

Both he and Choi have ideas on how to get more out of a smaller military force.

For one, leverage of the conscription system and the reserve component that it yields, Chun said.

“We need to revamp our mobilization system, where we’ll be able to tap into the large number of reserve population that we have,” Chun said.

After South Korean men finish their 18 to 21 months of mandatory military service, they become reservists for eight years. During this time, they get called into assigned units once a year to remind them of their positions and duties. And after that, they are subject to participate in civil defense training every year until the age of 40.

The system now gives South Korea 3.1 million reserve troops.

Reservists must attend a two-night, three-day training session every year.

One ongoing pilot system is to have a select number of those reservists train for 180 days a year, to reinforce their skills.

Another option is increasing the number of professional cadres – commissioned, warrant and non-commissioned officers – all of whom are volunteers, serving longer terms, during which they would become well-versed in operating advanced weapons “to prevent a gap in combat capability despite the reduction of standing forces,” according to the 2022 white paper.

The military has been increasing the ratio of cadres among its total force from 31.6% in 2017 to 40.2% in 2022, according to the Defense Ministry. A further rise to 40.5% by 2027 is planned, it said.

A recruitment problem

One problem with this plan: The population isn’t buying in.

The number of applicants for commissioned officer positions has fallen over the years, from about 30,000 in 2018 to 19,000 in 2022, according to Defense Ministry data.

“The military is having a huge difficulty in securing outstanding entry-level professional cadres who would, in 10, 20 years, form an outstanding officer corps,” Choi said, pointing out that insufficient financial and social benefits for cadres are the main reason behind falling application rates.

And what about turning to women, even in a military with conscription?

Israel has conscription and 40% of its conscripted force is female, according to the Jewish Women’s Archive. In the all-volunteer US and Canadian armed forces, more than 16% of the troops are women.

Choi said conscripting women could solve South Korea’s problem, but he said there are too many impediments to it in Korea’s traditionally patriarchal society. And even if those are overcome, it could simply be too expensive.

“There are various complex factors like social costs and women giving birth. So, I think the cost [in need] would be much higher than the actual profit,” he said.

But Chun thinks attracting women volunteers is doable if the pay is attractive enough.

“If a solder is paid $2,000 [per month], that’s a legitimate job. So, a woman would say, well I want to be able to have that job for $2,000. Because for the same job, she’d probably be paid $1,500 in the outside world,” he said.

For its part, the Defense Ministry says increasing the number of women who serve is a possibility among other ideas.

But there are no timelines for changes and time may be something South Korea doesn’t have much of.

Earlier this month, Statistics Korea reported that the record low birth rate is expected to drop even further in the next two years, to 0.65 births per woman in 2025.

France and Germany have ramped up security ahead of New Year’s Eve celebrations following warnings that the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas had raised the risk of terror attacks.

Police in the German city of Cologne are bolstering their forces following a report that Islamist groups may be planning an attack on the city’s famous cathedral on New Year’s Eve.

Officer Martin Lotz said at a press conference on thet officers carrying submachine guns and wearing protective vests would be deployed in the city.

The city’s gothic cathedral announced it will only open for church services until further notice “due to the current security situation,” according to a statement it posted on social media.

Meanwhile, in Berlin, police are attempting to raise awareness of the dangers of fireworks through social media channels.

“Don’t attack us. Don’t shoot at us with fireworks and rockets. Avoid penalties or several years in jail,” Berlin police warned in a video released on X, formerly known as Twitter, in the lead up to New Year’s Eve.

Concerns are heightened after last year’s New Year’s Eve celebrations in Berlin turned into violent riots. Several were injured, including police officers and firefighters who said fireworks were deliberately aimed at them. The pyrotechnics also sparked street fires.

City authorities have established three firework-free zones in the city’s district of Neukölln – an area which became a flashpoint for pro-Palestinian demonstrations in recent weeks.

According to German newspaper Die Zeit, Berlin’s governing mayor, Kai Wegner, said that police in the capital are better equipped this year than last year, and will use full force “if necessary.”

Wegner has also acknowledged that the security situation this year will be “more tense” due to the events that have unfolded since October 7.

Similarly Barbara Slowik, chief of Berlin’s police force, described an “intense need to protect Jewish and Israeli people” on New Year’s Eve.

Referring to the heightened tensions caused by the Israel-Hamas conflict, Slowik warned “we are certainly assuming that these emotions will also be acted out on the streets,” according to public broadcaster Deutsche Welle.

‘Very high terrorist threat’

Meanwhile France will deploy 90,000 officers as the country faces “very high terrorist threat,” French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin said Friday.

“I have asked for a very strong mobilisation of our police and gendarmes in a context of very high terrorist threat due to, of course, what is happening in Israel and Palestine,” Darmanin told journalists.

The number of police mobilized is around the same as that for the New Year’s Eve last year, according to data from the French Interior Ministry.

Apart from terrorist threats, France traditionally sees a rise in minor offences, especially burning cars, as people celebrate the arrival of the New Year.

The French Interior Ministry hailed a decrease in number of cars burned on December 31, 2022, with 690 compared to 874 cars set on fire on December 31, 2021.

The beefed-up security comes after similar measures were put in place across several European countries ahead of Christmas Eve.

Countries including France, Germany and Austria increased security checks and protections for churches ahead of Christmas Eve Mass and celebrations.

Earlier in December, four alleged Hamas members suspected of plotting terror attacks on European soil were arrested by German and Dutch authorities.

At least 24 people, including three children, were killed and 108 others wounded in a Ukrainian attack on the Russian border city of Belgorod on Saturday, Russian authorities said, vowing to retaliate.

The latest toll was given by Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov, who blamed “massive shelling” by Ukraine’s armed forces.

“This crime will not go unpunished,” the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement.

“The Kiev regime … is trying to divert attention from the defeats on the front lines and to provoke us into taking similar actions.”

The attack also comes soon after Russia launched its largest aerial assault on Ukraine of the conflict, which simmered for years before Russia launched its full-scale invasion in 2022.

Russian President Vladimir Putin was briefed about the attack in Belgorod, the Kremlin said, ordering a health ministry team and emergencies ministry rescuers to be sent to the city to help those affected.

A fresh wave of Russian strikes targeting locations across Ukraine overnight on Saturday left three people dead and 28 injured in the Kharkiv region.

The head of the regional military administration said in a post on Telegram that rescuers had retrieved the bodies of two men and a woman from a house damaged by Russian attacks on the village of Borova.

After calling for a last minute emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council over the attack on Belgorod, Russia faced backlash from several council members.

Russia’s ambassador Vasily Nebenzya described the attack as “a deliberate act of terrorism planned against civilians” and claimed that a sports complex where children were present and an ice ring with kids were hit.

Ukraine was quick to respond as its representative, Serhii Dvornyk, told the Council that “the only way to stop human suffering” is “to stop the war itself” – calling on Russia to cease its aggression and withdraw its troops.

His comments were echoed by Ukraine’s western allies who put the blame squarely on Russia and its leader.

“Putin should be honest with his own people about the true and mounting cost of this war,” John Kelley, who represented the United States at the Council, said and added “we are here again today because the Kremlin refuses to halt its illegal invasion.”

The Security Council meeting took place hours after a Russian missile attack in Kharkiv in which at least 26 people were injured, according to Ukrainian officials.

Russian authorities said Belgorod was also shelled Friday night with one civilian killed, the region’s governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said. Four others, including a child, were injured, he added.

On Saturday, a child also died as a result of Ukrainian shelling in Russia’s Bryansk region, the region’s Governor Aleksandr Bogomaz said.

Ukraine has not publicly commented on the incidents and rarely claims responsibility for attacks on its neighbor.

Rescuers comb through Kyiv rubble

The toll from the Russian strikes overnight Thursday into Friday on Ukraine – which saw an unprecedented number of drones and missiles fired at targets across the country – meanwhile continued to mount.

At least 45 people are now confirmed dead. Kyiv authorities said they recovered two more bodies killed by Russia’s missile strikes, bringing the city’s death toll from the attack to 19.

Schools, a maternity hospital, shopping arcades and blocks of flats were among the buildings hit in Friday’s barrage, prompting widespread international condemnation and renewing calls for more military aid.

“The attack on the capital city on December 29 was the largest in terms of civilian casualties” since the start of the full-scale invasion, Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko said.

During the wave of strikes, Poland’s military authorities claimed that an “unidentified airbourne object” briefly entered its airspace.

Russia said it would not give any any explanation “until concrete evidence is presented.”

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg wrote on X that NATO remained vigilant over the incident.

As 2023 draws to a close, Russian President Vladimir Putin is all about a vibe: projecting confidence as he sails to inevitable re-election in March.

Presidential elections in Russia are perhaps best described a kind of political theater. Putin has no serious rivals; his most prominent opponent, Alexey Navalny, is in a prison 40 miles north of the Arctic Circle; and pliant media portray the sitting president as Russia’s indispensable man. But this spring’s vote is an important public ritual for the Kremlin leader, who stands to secure power until the end of the decade.

Putin announced his bid in an almost casual fashion. Following a “heroes of Russia” ceremony earlier in December, Putin held an on-camera chat with a group of servicemen who had fought in Ukraine – and who, unsurprisingly, implored the president to run in 2024.

“On behalf of our people, of Donbas as a whole and our reunified lands, I would like to ask you to take part in this election, said Artyom Zhoga, a representative of the Russian-occupied Donetsk region. “After all, there is so much work that needs to be done… You are our president, and we are your team. We need you, and Russia needs you.”

Putin’s aw-shucks reply?

“I won’t deny that at different times I had different thoughts [about this],” he said. “But now, you are right, the time has come to make a decision. I will run for the post of president of the Russian Federation.”

It was a moment clearly scripted to showcase Putin as beloved national leader. And it also pointed to what Putin likes to advertise as a signal achievement of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russia’s annexation of four regions of Ukraine in defiance of international law.

But if Putin is running as a wartime president, he has to massage the facts. Russia does not fully control the Ukrainian regions it claimed in September 2022; the war on the ground has been extremely costly in terms of Russian lives and equipment; and Russia’s Black Sea Fleet has taken a serious beating.

What’s more, the war has quite literally come home to Russia. In recent months, Ukrainian drones have struck deep inside Russian territory. Saturday saw more than 20 killed in one of the deadliest incidents of the war for Russian civilians. While Kyiv maintains some level of deniability, such attacks have had some unsettling psychological effect – particularly when drones managed to breach the airspace around the Kremlin in May.

But the biggest blowback from war in Ukraine occurred in June, when Russian mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin launched an insurrection amid a feud with Russia’s top military brass and marched on Moscow.

Prigozhin’s Wagner paramilitaries stopped short of the Russian capital, in a murky deal apparently brokered by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko. But the images of Wagner forces rolling virtually unopposed toward Moscow – and the downing of Russian military aircraft by the mercenaries – were a massive blow to Putin’s image as guarantor of Russian domestic stability.

Within two months of the mutiny, Prigozhin was dead: The mercenary boss died in a still-mysterious plane crash late August. Putin had survived the biggest challenge to his hold on power in over two decades, but the rebellion undermined one of the key pillars of his rule: the president’s aura of invulnerability.

“Many ultra-patriots were baffled by the mercy initially shown toward Prigozhin and interpreted it as a sign of weakness: both of the state and of Putin himself,” wrote Russian political analyst Tatiana Stanovaya in the aftermath of the crash. “Even in the unlikely event that Prigozhin’s death was a genuine accident, therefore, the Kremlin will undoubtedly do everything it can to make people believe it was an act of retribution. Putin sees this as his personal contribution to the strengthening of Russian statehood.”

By year’s end, the Kremlin’s PR machine seemed to have swept the whole Prigozhin affair under the rug. In Putin’s marathon, year-in-review press conference, Prigozhin’s name was never uttered, although Putin did concede “setbacks that the Defense Ministry should have prevented” when it came to private military companies.

As always, the annual summing-up was a master class in spin, with Putin confidently presenting the message that Russia was again on the front foot and reeling off statistics to bolster his point. The economy, he said, was returning to GDP growth, bouncing back from 2.1% decline the previous year, and Russia’s industrial output is growing. The country’s unemployment rate, he boasted, had dropped to a historic low, 2.9%.

Russia has indeed weathered sanctions and its economy is on a war footing: According to the US Treasury Department, defense spending has been the main driver of economic growth. And that looks set to continue, as Putin has promised to spend whatever it takes to prosecute his war on Ukraine.

And the situation on the battlefield in Ukraine has given Putin another opportunity to project self-confidence. Ukraine’s much-vaunted counter-offensive failed to yield any breakthrough, and the Biden administration’s request for more than $60 billion in aid for Ukraine has stalled in Congress over Republican demands on border security and immigration policy. Hungary blocked the latest proposed European Union aid deal for Ukraine.

Putin clearly wants the world – as well as his electorate – to believe that he is winning, and he is counting on support for Ukraine to waver. Asked in his press conference when there will be peace in Ukraine, Putin offered the same open-ended formula he used to justify the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

“There will be peace when we achieve our goals, which you have mentioned,” he said. “Now let’s return to these goals – they have not changed. I would like to remind you how we formulated them: denazification, demilitarization, and a neutral status for Ukraine.”

On Friday, the Russian military reminded the world what “denazification” means in practice, showering Ukrainian cities with the largest missile and drone attack since the beginning of the full-scale invasion.

The relentless attacks on Ukrainian civilians, however, may have an unintended effect. Following the latest wave of strikes, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and France all called for continued support for Ukraine. What remains to be seen in 2024 is how creative Ukraine’s allies can be in delivering on those pledges.

When the ball drops in New York City’s Times Square to ring in the start of 2024, it’ll actually be late -– in dozens of countries around the world already welcoming the new year.

Christmas Island in Kiribati, an island country in the central Pacific Ocean, was the first country to pop Champagne, welcoming 2024 while it was just 5 a.m. on December 31 on the East Coast of the United States and 11 a.m. UTC (Coordinated Universal Time, the global standard).

The nation was followed by Chatham Islands in New Zealand at 5:15 a.m. ET and then most of New Zealand at 6 a.m., along with Tokelau, Samoa, Tonga, Kiribati’s Phoenix Islands and some regions of Antarctica.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the international date line, Hawaii, American Samoa, and many of the US outlying islands will be among the last places to celebrate the new year. They’ll have to wait until Monday morning (Eastern Time) to toast 2024.

In all, there are 39 different local time zones in use across the globe –- some differing by 15 or 30 minutes compared to nearby zones – including two which are more than 12 hours ahead of UTC, which means it takes 26 hours for the entire world to welcome the New Year.

So, if you really, really, really love to hum “Auld Lang Syne,” the list below will get you in the spirit over and over and over again as the day rolls around.

Here’s when places around the world will be ringing in the New Year, relative to East Coast time.

Sunday, December 31, 2023

5 a.m. ET Christmas Island, part of the island nation of Kiribati

5:15 a.m. ET Chatham Islands, off the eastern coast of New Zealand

6 a.m. ET Most of New Zealand (with a few exceptions) and Tokelau, Samoa, Tonga, Kiribati’s Phoenix Islands and some regions of Antarctica

7 a.m. ET Fiji, a small part of eastern Russia, and several more Pacific islands, including the Marshall Islands and Tuvalu

8 a.m. ET Much of Australia including Melbourne and Sydney and seven more locations, including Vanuatu, the Solomon Islands, Bougainville in Papua New Guinea, and New Caledonia

8:30 a.m. ET A small region of Australia including Adelaide

9 a.m. ET Australia’s Queensland province and six more locations, including parts of Micronesia, the Northern Mariana Islands, a small part of Antarctica, and Guam

9:30 a.m. ET Australia’s Northern Territory

10 a.m. ET Japan, South Korea, a small part of Russia, North Korea, a small part of Indonesia, Timor-Leste, and Palau

10:15 a.m. ET Western Australia

11 a.m. ET China, Philippines, Malaysia, parts of Indonesia, most of Mongolia, Taiwan, Brunei, Russia’s Irkutsk region, some parts of Antarctica, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Macao

Noon ET Much of Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, some parts of Russia, some parts of Mongolia, a small region of Antarctica, and Australia’s Christmas Island

12:30 p.m. ET Myanmar and the Cocos Islands, an Australian territory

1 p.m. ET Bangladesh, parts of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Bhutan, the British Indian Ocean Territory, the city of Omsk in Russia, and a small part of Antarctica

1:15 p.m. ET Nepal

1:30 p.m. ET India and Sri Lanka

2 p.m. ET Pakistan, some parts of Russia, much of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, the Maldives, Tajikistan, French Southern territories, France’s Kerguelen islands, and a small region of Antarctica

2:30 p.m. ET Afghanistan

3 p.m. ET Azerbaijan, the United Arab Emirates, Armenia, a small region of Russia, Oman, much of Georgia, Frances’ Réunion Island, Mauritius, and the Seychelles

3:30 p.m. ET Iran

4 p.m. ET Moscow in Russia, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Ethiopia, Somalia, and Kenya, in addition to 17 other locations

5 p.m. ET Greece, Egypt, Lebanon, Rwanda, Romania, and 26 other locations

6 p.m. ET Germany, Nigeria, Algeria, Italy, Belgium, Morocco, Albania, France and 38 other locations

7 p.m. ET United Kingdom, Portugal, Iceland, Burkina Faso, Senegal, Ghana, Sierra Leone, and 18 other locations

8 p.m. ET Cabo Verde, Azores in Portugal, and a small region of Greenland

9 p.m. ET Most of Greenland, the Brazilian state of Pernambuco, and South Georgia/Sandwich Islands

10 p.m. ET Most of Brazil, Argentina, Chile with exceptions, Uruguay, parts of Antarctica, Paraguay, French Guiana, Suriname, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, and the Falkland Islands

10:30 p.m. ET Canada’s Newfoundland and Labrador province

11 p.m. ET Some regions of Canada, Venezuela, Bolivia, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Aruba, Guyana, and 23 other locations

Monday, January 1, 2024

Midnight The East Coast of the USA (including New York City, Washington, D.C., and Detroit), parts of Canada, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Cuba, Acre in Brazil, Panama, a small part of Mexico, Haiti, Bahamas, Turks and Caicos Islands, Jamaica, a small region of Chile, and the Cayman Islands

1 a.m. ET Central USA (including Chicago), much of Mexico (including Mexico City), parts of Canada, Honduras, Belize, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, and a small part of Ecuador

2 a.m. ET US (Mountain time zone, including Denver and Phoenix), parts of Canada (including Edmonton and Calgary), and parts of Mexico

3 a.m. ET US (Pacific time zone, including Los Angeles and San Francisco), British Columbia in Canada, Baja California in Mexico, Pitcairn Islands, and Clipperton Island

4 a.m. ET Alaska in the US and regions of French Polynesia

4:30 a.m. ET Marquesas Islands in French Polynesia

5 a.m. ET Hawaii in the US, Tahiti in French Polynesia, and the Cook Islands

6 a.m. ET American Samoa, parts of the US minor outlying islands (including the Midway Atoll), and Niue, an island nation in the South Pacific Ocean

7 a.m. ET Much of US minor outlying islands (unincorporated US territories in the Pacific), including Baker Island and Howland Island

The incredible discoveries and scientific feats of 2023 prove just how far curiosity and wonder can take humanity.

Archaeological findings allowed researchers to take intriguing steps into the past and reveal more about our mysterious ancestors and creatures who roamed the planet before humans.

At the same time, technological advancements enabled scientists to make daring leaps forward in how we understand the vast expanse of the universe and our little cosmic neighborhood within it.

Each week brought new marvels and insights, along with dozens of pinch-me moments and awe-inspiring views of the cosmos once invisible to the human eye.

In this golden age of scientific discovery, my hope is that, like living legend Sylvia Earle, we never take the ability to solve mysteries and gain new knowledge for granted so we can better understand how to protect this extraordinary world.

Wild kingdom

Nearly 1,000 new species were found across the globe in 2023, adding significantly to the tree of life and illuminating how much biodiversity is waiting to be found on Earth.

Researchers at the California Academy of Sciences and London’s Natural History Museum uncovered hundreds of creatures and plants from the bottom of the ocean to an isolated peak in Angola.

The majority of newfound species were insects — including metallic-hued wasps named after “Doctor Who” characters that help eliminate agricultural pests. And scientists found unusual creatures such as a rare type of silent frog and a gecko that shoots goo out of its tail.

As the climate crisis continues, scientists are racing to identify species in an attempt to protect them before they disappear.

Back to the future

An emerging scientific trend in 2023 was resurrection biology, or the attempt to revive once extinct molecule strands and complex organisms.

The field of study sounds like the basis of “Jurassic Park,” but scientists are using it to raise awareness of the rise of once dormant viruses as the climate crisis causes permafrost to thaw for the first time in centuries. Resurrection biology is also being used in the search for pharmaceutical solutions by studying the genetic proteins of our ancient ancestors.

Scientists employed the technique to recreate the scent of Egyptian mummification balms. Visitors can catch this whiff of the past at Denmark’s Moesgaard Museum.

And yes, efforts to bring extinct animals such as the dodo, woolly mammoth and Tasmanian tiger back to life are underway.

Defying gravity

Truth is stranger than fiction, especially when recalling some of the celestial moments from this year that rivaled sci-fi.

A moon race kicked off between multiple countries, with robotic missions ending both in success and crash landings.

Meanwhile, a spacecraft delivered a sample collected from an asteroid to Earth for the first time — the rocks and dust are already surprising researchers.

And the most powerful rockets ever constructed launched and exploded twice, reminding once again that the path to spaceflight is tricky.

Curiosities

When conservators used X-rays to scan one of Rembrandt’s masterpieces, “The Night Watch,” the scans revealed a secret that had remained hidden for nearly 400 years. Tucked beneath the painting of Dutch civilian soldiers was a layer full of lead.

Completed in 1642, the massive painting was displayed in Amsterdam’s Kloveniersdoelen, or a musketeer’s shooting range. There, the piece would have been vulnerable to humidity and moisture.

Experts believe that Rembrandt used lead, rather than the typical stiff layer of glue, to protect the canvas of the dramatic piece, which featured his mastery of illumination and shadows.

Ocean secrets

Researchers have used an unusual source to solve one of history’s mysteries about the West Antarctic ice sheet, which is rapidly melting due to global warming.

By studying the DNA of Turquet’s octopus, which can be found along the Antarctic seafloor, scientists have determined that the ice sheet last collapsed more than 100,000 years ago. Understanding how the ice sheet has behaved over time could provide insight into how future sea levels could rise.

“DNA of living animals today contains all the information about their ancestors (in the) past, so it’s like a time capsule,” said Dr. Sally Lau, a postdoctoral research fellow at James Cook University in Australia.

The wonder

Catch up on these mind-blowing stories:

— Apes can recognize old friends they haven’t seen for decades, according to new research that documented the lengthiest social memory ever seen outside of humans.

— The Hubble Space Telescope captured a new image showcasing ghostly shadows called “spokes” dancing along the rings of Saturn.

— Traces of a power surge that occurred in Earth’s magnetic field thousands of years ago were literally baked into ancient Mesopotamian mud bricks.

— Before the year ends, send your name to one of Jupiter’s moons to accompany a poem written by US Poet Laureate Ada Limón that will fly aboard NASA’s Europa Clipper mission.

The Wonder Theory team wishes you a Happy New Year, and we’ll see you in 2024!

Palestinians displaced inside Gaza as Israel pushes on with its ground offensive describe cramped living conditions, sky-high prices for food, children going hungry and poor sanitation, amid severe limits on food and supplies entering the coastal strip.

“The way I am getting by is by begging here and there and taking help from anyone,” said Abu Misbah, a 51-year-old building worker trying to support a family of 10.

Vegetables and fruit were unaffordable, he said. His children asked for oranges, but he was not able to buy them.

“We never [been] through this situation before; we were a middle-class family,” he said. “Now since the war we are buying dates which we used to find everywhere for free. We want a solution to our miserable suffering.”

He, like most others in blockaded Gaza, face what aid groups warn is a looming famine. The entire population of Gaza has already been classified in a state of crisis, according to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC).

Israel closed its border with Gaza and launched an intensive bombing campaign in response to Hamas’ October 7 attacks, followed by an ongoing ground invasion. The fighting has triggered a humanitarian crisis throughout the Palestinian territory, forcing thousands from their homes.

This week Israel expanded its operation further into southern Khan Younis, warning residents to leave. But the United Nations says Gazans have nowhere safe to go.

‘What kind of life is this?’

Umm Omar, 50, is also displaced in Rafah, and lives in a tent with her family. During the truce, they had briefly returned home only to find all the windows and solar panels broken, and the kitchen destroyed.

“We are nine people in a tent of two meters by one meter,” she said. “We have bought this camping tent ourselves; no-one helped us or provided it.”

Omar said they were getting by on canned food and estimated that most foods were at least four times as expensive as before the war. Medication is also hard to find.

Mahmoud Harara used to make a living selling produce from a cart. Now the 47-year old, from Al-Shujaiya, is also in Rafah, living with eight family members in the streets, including five school-age children.

“My house was destroyed and two of my sons injured from a strike of our home,” he said.

Like thousands of others, the family live in a makeshift tent made of nylon and roam the streets for food. They left home without any belongings and had no mattresses for the tent. Harara said his family was receiving no help, and the price of food was “beyond imagination…Your child asks you for a piece of bread and you can’t provide that for them. What kind of life is this?”

Harara said he walks three kilometers to a hospital to be able to use toilets. The lack of sanitation for the displaced now packed into parts of southern Gaza has led to the spread of contagious and respiratory diseases.

It was also extremely difficult to access drinking water and his children were cold at nights, he said. None of the family had been able to take a shower in several weeks.

Aid groups warn of famine conditions

In recent days, crowds of civilians desperate for food have been seen surrounding aid trucks coming into Gaza. The United Nations has warned that the humanitarian situation in southern Gaza is deteriorating and warned that the volume of aid entering the enclave “remains woefully inadequate.”

The youngest children in Gaza face high risk of severe malnutrition and preventable death as the risk of famine conditions continues to increase, according to a UNICEF statement last week.

The children’s aid organization estimated that in the coming weeks, “at least 10,000 children under five years will suffer the most life-threatening form of malnutrition, known as severe wasting, and will need therapeutic foods.”

“The threat of dying from hunger is already real” for many families in Gaza, UNICEF added.

An IPC report the same week found that that approximately all of Gaza’s 2.2 million residents are now facing acute hunger and the entire population of the Gaza Strip is classified in a state of crisis – the highest share of people facing catastrophic levels of acute food insecurity that the IPC initiative has ever classified.

“Many adults go hungry so children can eat,” IPC reported, saying humanitarian access must be restored throughout the region to enable the rapid delivery of life-saving aid.

The organization added that “the IPC has emphasized that these conditions do not have to persist. Yesterday’s warning of famine in the coming weeks and months can still be averted. But we must act now.”

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has repeatedly said that a ceasefire is necessary to deliver aid to Gaza’s population at scale, and has warned of a potential “catastrophe with potentially irreversible consequences” in the making.

“Amid constant bombardment by the Israel Defence Forces, and without shelter or the essentials to survive, I expect public order to break down soon due to the desperate situation, rendering even limited humanitarian assistance impossible,” he said.

An election boycotted by the main opposition as the world’s longest serving female prime minister looks set to extend her rule.

A cricket legend and former prime minister languishing in prison versus a one-time fugitive looking to make a comeback as a powerful military keeps watch.

A populist leader hoping to enter his second decade in power as he pushes a popular but religiously divisive brand of politics.

And an island nation recovering from its worst economic crisis in decades after protesters stormed the presidential palace.

Four South Asian countries are expected to head to the polls next year, in a grand test for democracy that will see nearly 2 billion people across Bangladesh, Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka cast their ballots from January through September.

All former colonies who gained independence from Britain within the last century, each are at a different stage of growth and facing a variety of crises and opportunities.

Here’s what you need to know about democracy’s greatest show.

Bangladesh

Bangladesh, a country of some 170 million people, is the first to cast votes on January 7.

The once multiparty democracy is being threatened as its ruling Awami League party continues what rights groups say is a campaign to silence dissent, pushing the republic toward something more closely resembling a one-party state.

Sheikh Hasina, current Prime Minister and chair of the Awami Party, is likely to be reelected as the country’s leader for a fourth consecutive term.

Hasina has been in power since 2009 and won the last election in December 2019, in a poll marred in deadly violence and accusations of poll rigging.

Missing then was her primary opponent Khaleda Zia, a former prime minister and chief of the main opposition, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), who was jailed the year before on corruption charges.

For much of the past three decades, politics in Bangladesh has been defined by a bitter rivalry between the two women, who both saw their politician father and husband respectively assassinated in office. Political turmoil has followed into the second generation.

Zia, 78, now lives under house arrest and her BNP continues to face mounting challenges by Hasina and her ruling dispensation with the mass arrest of its politicians.

The situation has led to protests, and the BNP has decided to boycott the election again, paving the way for Hasina once more.

“The government is claiming to commit to free and fair elections with diplomatic partners while the state authorities are simultaneously filling prisons with the ruling Awami League’s political opponents,” said Julia Bleckner, senior Asia researcher at Human Rights Watch, in a November statement.

“A free election is impossible when the government stifles free expression and systematically incapacitates the opposition, critics, and activists through arbitrary arrests, enforced disappearance, harassment, and intimidation,” Bleckner added.

Yet, the country – which is aspiring to become a middle-income country by 2031 – is experiencing an era of economic growth. Much of this is because of the garment manufacturing industry, which accounts for 35.1% of Bangladesh’s annual gross domestic product, according to the US Commerce Department.

“Since it’s come into being, Bangladesh has always had political instability, but they’ve managed to have very good growth rate” said Sreeradha Dutta, professor of international affairs at OP Jindal Global University and author of “Bangladesh on a New Journey – Moving Beyond Regional Identity.”

She added also that the country is building strong relations with key neighbors in the region.

“So irrespective whoever the leader is, the same developmental models will be picked up… because Bangladesh aspires to be something much larger than what it currently is.”

Pakistan

Ruled for much of its 76 years by political dynasties or military establishments, no democratically elected leader has ever completed a full five-year term since Pakistan won independence.

In recent years the country of 230 million has seen the all-too-familiar mix of political instability and militant attacks percolate alongside a particularly acute economic crisis that has been brutal on both middle and lower income families.

Imran Khan, the country’s former prime minister and arguably the most popular figurehead, is languishing behind bars, charged with fraud and facing charges for revealing state secrets – leaving him unable to contest in the upcoming polls in February.

Khan, who was ousted from power in a parliamentary no-confidence vote last year, says the charges against him are politically motivated and framed to stop him from standing in the election, an allegation authorities deny.

TV stations are banned from running Khan’s speeches, and many of his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party colleagues have been arrested.

In October, Nawaz Sharif, the fugitive former prime minister of Pakistan, returned to the South Asian nation after nearly four years in self-exile, skirting arrest and stirring up the country’s already fraught political scene and leaving many to believe he is bidding for the top seat once again.

The country, meanwhile, faces mounting challenges – from economic uncertainty and frequent militant attacks to climate catastrophes that are putting millions at risk – setting the stage for a difficult road to recovery for its new leadership.

“Political and economic uncertainty go hand in hand,” said Fahd Humayun, assistant professor of political science & Neubauer faculty fellow at the department of political science at Tufts University.

“And any government coming to power through suspicious elections is not only likely to be on a weak footing and reliant on the military for its political survival but will also be unlikely to attract the capital inflows so badly needed.”

India

Often called the world’s largest experiment in democracy, India is expected to head to the polls in the spring, in a mammoth election that is likely to see Prime Minister Narendra Modi secure a rare third term in power.

The populist leader of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), has tightened his grip on India’s democratic institutions in way not seen since 1970s, when Indira Gandhi ruled the country with an iron fist, pushing it toward autocracy.

But on the world stage, India has arguably never been more significant.

Modi, whose calendar this year included diplomatic trips to Australia and the United States, is presenting himself as a statesman who is cementing the country as a modern superpower. And 2023 has been a remarkable year for India’s 1.4 billion people.

This year was the moment it overtook China to become the world’s most-populous nation, while the year before it surpassed its former colonial ruler Britain to become the world’s fifth-largest economy.

In August, India made history by soft landing a rover on the moon, becoming just the fourth nation in the world to have completed such a feat – and it launched its first spacecraft dedicated to studying the sun weeks after.

The country hosted the Group of 20 (G20) in September, presenting New Delhi with an opportunity to extend its leadership beyond the country’s borders at a time of increasing political turmoil.

Yet, since his first election nearly a decade ago, critics also say the once secular and democratic founding ethos of the world’s largest democracy is crumbling at alarming speed, with minorities feeling persecuted under the BJP’s majoritarian policies and any criticism of the government facing censorship and harsh punishment.

Squaring off against Modi is a newly formed alliance of 26 political parties known as INDIA, which includes the country’s main opposition, the Indian National Congress.

But in its most recent gauge of voter sentiment, the Congress party lost three out of four regional votes in key state elections in December, giving a boost to Modi and his BJP.

As the election draws close, analysts say Indian politics remains unpredictable, and much can change as the parties gear up to campaign in the months ahead.

“People are hoping there will be a challenge to Modi, that the opposition parties can get their act together. That dream that seemed possible even three months ago now looks more difficult,” said C. Raja Mohan, senior fellow at Asia Society Policy Institute, during a recent talk with the Asia Society.

“But even six months is a long time in politics.”

Sri Lanka

Nearly two years ago, Sri Lanka’s then-President Gotabaya Rajapaksa was forced to flee his country after angry protesters stormed his residence in anger, blaming him for the country’s worst economic crisis in 73 years.

It was a remarkable moment for a protest movement that thrust the bankrupt nation of 22 million into the global spotlight after inflation soared and foreign reserves dwindled, leaving millions unable to afford food, fuel and medicines.

Rajapaksa resigned from his post, paving the way for current President Ranil Wickremesinghe to take over.

In elections expected before September, Wickremesinghe is likely to stand for a second term, months after he helped secure a much-needed loan from the International Monetary Fund and made sweeping reforms to the budget to ensure financial growth.

Sri Lanka hasn’t had a general election since 2018, and Wickremesinghe has repeatedly delayed the polls due to the economic crisis.

As the economy – and the country’s people – recover, a date for the election is yet to be announced and it remains to be seen whether 2024 will be the year the country’s people decide on its future leader.

At least 20 people, including two children, were killed and 111 others injured in a Ukrainian attack on the Russian city of Belgorod on Saturday, Russia’s Ministry of Emergency Situations has said.

The deaths were the result of a “massive” attack on downtown Belgorod, according to Russian state news agency TASS, quoting the emergencies ministry.

“This crime will not go unpunished,” the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement.

“The Kiev regime … is trying to divert attention from the defeats on the front lines and to provoke us into taking similar actions.”

Following the attack, Russia requested an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council, Russia’s First Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN, Dmitry Polyanskiy, said Saturday.

Saturday’s shelling comes after Russia launched overnight Thursday into Friday its biggest air attack on Ukraine since the start of its full-scale invasion, resulting in at least 40 deaths and more than 150 injuries.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has been briefed about the attack in Belgorod, the Kremlin said, ordering a health ministry team and emergencies ministry rescuers to be sent to the city to help those affected.

About 40 civilian facilities have been damaged in the city due to the shelling, which caused 10 fires which have since been extinguished.

Russian authorities said Belgorod was also shelled Friday night with one civilian killed, the region’s governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said. Four others, including a child, were injured, he added.

On Saturday, a child also died as a result of Ukrainian shelling in Russia’s Bryansk region, the region’s Governor Aleksandr Bogomaz said.

Russia’s defense ministry said it destroyed 32 Ukrainian UAVs flying over the Russian regions of Bryansk, Oryol, Mursk, and Moscow, according to a Telegram post by the defense ministry Saturday.

Ukraine has not publicly commented on the incidents and rarely claims responsibility for attacks on its neighbor.

Rescuers comb through Kyiv rubble

The toll from the Russian strikes on Ukraine – which saw an unprecedented number of drones and missiles fired at targets across the country – meanwhile continued to mount.

A 77-year-old man died from his injuries in the city of Odesa, Oleh Kiper, the head of the Odesa region military administration said, bringing the total killed to 40.

The man was critically injured when a missile hit a three-storey building in the center of Odesa, Kiper added.

Schools, a maternity hospital, shopping arcades and blocks of flats were among the buildings hit in Friday’s barrage, prompting widespread international condemnation and renewing calls for more military aid.

The toll in the capital Kyiv rose to at least 16, after the bodies of more civilians were recovered from the rubble of a warehouse, Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko said Saturday. All the deaths in Kyiv occurred at the warehouse.

“The attack on the capital city on December 29 was the largest in terms of civilian casualties” since the start of the full-scale invasion, he said.

“Rescuers are working and will continue to clear the rubble until tomorrow,” Klitschko said. “January 1 will be declared a Day of Mourning in Kyiv.”

During the wave of strikes, Poland’s military authorities claimed that an “unidentified airbourne object” briefly entered its airspace.

Russia said it would not give any any explanation “until concrete evidence is presented.”

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg wrote on X that NATO remained vigilant over the incident.