Lavish fireworks displays have ushered in 2013 across the Asia-Pacific region and Europe is holding scaled-back festivities in the hope of beginning a new year that will be kinder to its battered economies.

NORTH Korea’s power brokers publicly declared Kim Jong-un the supreme leader for the first time at a massive public memorial for his father Kim Jong-il, cementing the family’s hold on power.

Kim Jong Il’s son and successor was declared “supreme leader” of North Korea’s ruling party, military and the people during a memorial today for his father in the first public endorsement of his leadership by the government.