Updated: Sat Dec. 31 2011 10:00:36
CTVNews.ca Staff
With the new year clicking through the world's time zones, fireworks are exploding and champagne corks popping as people celebrate the arrival of 2012.
The first New Year's whoops were heard on the island of Samoa, then New Zealand, Australia, the Philippines and Japan as midnight slowly crawled around the globe.
Here are some of the highlights so far:
The South Pacific island nation of Samoa and the New Zealand territory of Tokelau, which have traditionally been the last places to celebrate the new year, skipped across the international dateline to join their key trading partners in Asia and, in so doing, became the first places on Earth to mark 2012. "Everyone is happy right now," said Mao Visita, who was celebrating in the Samoan capital, Apia. "The party is still going on with plenty of music."
Even though it's the height of summer in New Zealand, celebrations were subdued in the capital of Wellington where torrential rains and thunderstorms cancelled fireworks displays. But in Auckland, thousands crowded the city to watch fireworks explode atop the Sky Tower.
Australia bid farewell to a rough year of floods and economic woe with a massive fireworks display over Sydney's Harbour Bridge featuring explosions in the shapes of butterflies, hearts and a cascading waterfall. "I've had enough this year," said Sandra Cameron, 68, whose Queensland home was wrecked by a cyclone's floodwaters in February. "It's gotta be a better year next year."
New Year's celebrations raised fears in the Philippines where more than 200 people have been injured by illegal firecrackers and celebratory gunfire during the Christmas holidays. Stray bullets wounded eight while powerful firecrackers injured 197, half of them children. The injuries forced 14 amputations, mostly of fingers.
In Japan, there were sombre celebrations in a country where 20,000 were killed in March by an earthquake and tsunami. Many people spent Saturday offering prayers at shrines and temples. "For me, the biggest thing that defined this year was the disaster in March," said nursing student Miku Sano, 28. "The radiation levels in the city of Fukushima, where I live, are definitely not low, and we don't know how that is going to affect our health in the future."
In Hong Kong, a 4-minute, $1 million display of fireworks shot from 10 skyscrapers, lighting up Victoria Harbour while a crowd of 400,000 looked on.
More at:
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Topic: Fireworks follow 2012 through the time zones (Read 1011 times)