Heroes can emerge anywhere, from a war zone to an ordinary city street, often surprising themselves with their own bravery.  This year we celebrate four from across the globe.

The man who tackled a would-be killer Brazilian delivery man Carlo Benicio was passing a DublinThe capital and largest city of Ireland. school when he saw a man was tussling with a woman and pulling a little girl away from her. He also saw a knife. 

Carlo jumped off his bike and ran towards the man. Using his helmet as a weapon, he knocked him to the ground. "I was in the right place at the right time," he said. 1 "You see a man with a knife with a little girl - there is nothing else to do. You just have to act."

The man who took on a dictatorship After more than three years in solitary confinementThe UN considers solitary confinement of over 15 days a form of torture., Jimmy Lai went on trial in Hong Kong yesterday charged with "collusionSecretly working with another to do something illegal or immoral. " with foreign forces. If found guilty, the 76-year-old media tycoonA wealthy or powerful person in their industry. faces life in prison. His crime? To have stood up for democracy against a government which is determined to crush it.

Lai has been an open critic of the regime in Beijing since the Tiananmen SquareA huge open space in the middle of Beijing. It is known for a large-scale student protest that took place there in 1989 before being brutally crushed by China's communist rulers. massacre. He supported the Umbrella MovementUsed, along with the Umbrella Revolution, to describe demonstrations calling for the right for Hong Kong to pick its own leaders. Protestors used umbrellas to protect themselves from tear gas used by the police. protests in Hong Kong in 2014 and demonstrations against a new extradition bill in 2019.

The doctor who refused to abandon his patients Hammam Aloh was a 36-year-old doctor at the Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. When the Israeli Defence Force ordered the evacuation of the hospital, he refused to go:

"If I go, who will treat my patients?" he said. "You think I went to medical school and for my post-graduate degrees for a total of 14 years so [I'd] think only about my life and not my patients?" 2

After days of working solidly in terrible conditions, he went to check on his parents at their home nearby. While he was there it was hit by an Israeli missile.

The girl who gave her life for her friend Elianne Andam died while trying to protect another girl from a boy with a knife. The two were on their way to school in London when a boy allegedly offered her friend some flowers, which she refused; he then pulled out a knife. When Elianne tried to intervene, she was stabbed.

Elianne was just 15. Her family said: "Elianne was a beautiful person inside and out who loved Jesus. She was intelligent, thoughtful, kind and had a bright future ahead."

Choose which of these impressive people is your hero of 2023. Come back tomorrow to see who has won.