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A year's end followed by the dawn of another---the New Year --- is the routine work encapsulated in cosmic time and space. Nevertheless, each year is eventful, and some of the happenings mark a long-term impact on human history. Moreover, the end of a year provides an ambience to recap the events - from individual to international level - to take some inspiration and lessons for the future. Thus individuals and communities can get better prepared to welcome the New Year.
The eventful year of 2023 on the Gregorian calendar--- the most internationally accepted civil calendar, will make room for a fresh one. Like the previous years, 2023 will be remembered for some critical global developments, and all of those are not particularly endearing.
The dreadful attack by Hamas, the Palestinian militia group based in the occupied Gaza Strip, on October 7 killed 1,200 Israelis. Since then, the Israeli army has been responding brutally with indiscriminate airstrikes and ground offensive, killing more than 20,000 Palestinians, including 8,000 children so far. Most of the 365 sqkm area, with around 2.2 million inhabitants, has already turned into rubbles as Israel so far rained down 30,000 bombs in revenge. Despite global protest and condemnation, with backing from the United States (US) and its Western allies, Israel's military campaign is going on with genocide in the name of crushing the Hamas.
The Hamas-Israel battle has defined the year 2023 and suppresses all other happenings, including the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war. It is also set to redefine global geo-politics and the future course of the Middle East. It also brought to the fore the issue of Palestine's liberation from the occupation of the Jewish state that was founded 75 years ago by forcefully occupying the land of Palestine.
The month of February this year witnessed a deadly earthquake in Turkey and Syria that killed around 60,000 people. The year experienced more and more extensive natural calamities as global temperatures shattered records. Various regions of the earth were affected by cyclones, wildfires to, extreme drought to record flooding. That's why the United Nations Climate Summit (COP28), which took place in Dubai at the end of November, attached greater importance to addressing climate change-induced vulnerabilities. The summit, however, ended on a subdued note.
The explosion of artificial intelligence (AI) reached a new heigh in the year under review with the release of ChatGPT. The year is also a period when the space race heated up, and India became the fourth country to land an unmanned lunar probe on the moon.
On the domestic front, the country's first underwater expressway tunnel, the first of its kind in South Asia, beneath the River Karnaphuli in Chottogram, was inaugurated by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. The first metro rail in Dhaka also came into full-stretch commercial operation, although for a couple of hours daily. Bangladesh introduced its Universal Pension Schemes in the outgoing year.
Nevertheless, the year is also the year of high inflation, and people faced unreasonably high prices of essentials over the year. The situation is aggravated by the poll-centric political unrest. Despite various protests, agitations and controversies, the national parliamentary election is set to take place on January 7 of the New Year.
Finally, the New Year, 2024 will be a leap year when the month of February will get an additional day. Those who have some memorable events on February 29 will get the opportunity to celebrate the anniversary of those after four years!