Global New Year Celebrations Begin

BBC

Revellers across the globe are gathering to welcome in the New Year, with New Zealand and Australia leading the celebrations.An early light show gave people a taster of what was to come in Sydney, with more than 10,000 fireworks, 25,000 shooting comets and 100,000 pyrotechnic effects expected to be used during the main event

A giant clock in Auckland’s Sky Tower counted down the minutes until midnight (11:00 GMT), when fireworks erupted.
Up to 1.5m people have lined the shores of Sydney harbour in preparation for the city’s famous firework display.Auckland was the first major city to welcome in 2015 with a huge firework display and music blasting from its iconic Sky Tower

Celebration plans have been muted in Indonesia, however, in the wake of the AirAsia Flight QZ8501 crash.Students at China’s Shenyang Agriculture University found their own way of marking the start of 2015

In Brazil, more than one million people will join the crowds on Rio de Janeiro’s Copacabana beach, while New Yorkers will watch the city lower its trademark crystal ball over Times Square.Some of the revellers brought along their own musical entertainment

Some of the easternmost corners of earth, including Samoa, Kiribati and the Chatham Islands of New Zealand, were the first places to herald the New Year. Kampala is also getting ready to welcome the New Year a few hours from now.Sydney residents pitched up early on Wednesday to try to get the best view of the huge light display