New Year's Eve LIVE: Sydney welcomes 2024 with spectacular ...
Rishi Sunak hails a ‘momentous’ 2023 in New Year’s message
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Millions across the world are getting ready to celebrate the New Year, with the first nations already welcoming the start of 2024.
Sydney in Australia became the latest to ring in the new year, with an epic 12-minute firework show watched by thousands around the harbour.
Crowds had gathered throughout the day to nab a good spoot, ahead of the iconic display which sees eigh tonnes of pyrotechnics launched from the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House.
This followed New Zealand, who started their celebrations at 11am GMT with a firework display in Auckland.
The small Pacific island nations of Tonga, Samoa and Kiribati were the first to bid farewell to 2023, as it turned midnight there at 10am GMT.
Despite the bad weather predicted across the UK, tens of thousands are expected to line the streets of London before midnight this evening, with the countdown initiated by Big Ben.
The last place to leave 2024 will be Baker Island in the central Pacific Ocean - by which point it will already be 2 January in Kiribati.
It’s now 2024 in eastern parts of Australia, with Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne becoming the latest cities to welcome the new year.
Crowds had begun to gather from 3am onwards with the hopes of napping a good spot to watch the iconic firework display, with all vantage points reportedly full by 7pm.
(Independent)
Holly Evans31 December 2023 13:07
The start of the 12-minute firework spectacle
(Independent)
Fireworks erupt over Sydney Harbour
(Independent)
Holly Evans31 December 2023 13:04
Sydney in Australia is the latest to celebrate the new year, with their iconic firework display starting the festivities.
Crowds had gathered all day to watch the fireworks
(Getty Images)
Holly Evans31 December 2023 13:00
Holly Evans31 December 2023 12:48
Performers participate in a cultural parade in Bali
(EPA)
Balinese dancers perform as they take part in a cultural parade, during a new year's eve celebration at a main road in Denpasar, Bali
(EPA)
Holly Evans31 December 2023 12:46
Maes Bert and Lievens Nele, both 45, are in a large queue for tickets at London’s St Pancras International, hoping to get spaces on a train home to Brussels on Sunday so they can enjoy the New Year countdown with their two daughters after their train on Saturday was cancelled.
Ms Bert said: “Our tickets was cancelled yesterday so if you want a new ticket you have to queue here and hope you get one, and I hope we are getting home today, but it’s not sure there are tickets, so we have to wait and wait and wait, but it’s not going further, it takes a long time. “
Mr Nele said: “Yesterday we got to Dover for trying with a boat but that was not an option.”
Maes Bert, 45 and her partner Lievens Nele, 45, from Brussels, who are hoping to get home to their daughter in time for New Year
(Lucas Cumiskey/PA Wire)
Ms Bert said they had been queuing for about half an hour, adding: “Yesterday you can (re-)book your tickets but all was booked for today, but now they said there are coming more places for a train, so now we hope there is a place for two persons, and otherwise it’s tomorrow, but then we are not home for the holidays. Our two children are home.”
Mr Nele said: “They (their daughters) got back on a boat yesterday, there was places for two people and we gave the places to our daughters, Antje (20) and Janne (24).”
Holly Evans31 December 2023 12:28
Rishi Sunak delivered a New Year’s message as he looked ahead to his party’s contributions in 2024. The Prime Minister, who is currently lagging in the polls, decided to focus on his party’s achievements in 2023 in a video released on Sunday morning, 31 December. “We’re getting the economy growing. We’ve cut inflation in half. We’ve delivered the biggest business tax cut in modern British history,” Mr Sunak boasted. He insisted his government wouldn’t stop there, adding: “We’re going further to grow our economy by reducing debt, cutting taxes, and rewarding hard work, building secure supplies of energy here at home, backing British business and delivering world-class education.
Holly Evans31 December 2023 12:22
Thousands gather to admire the final sunset in South Korea
(AFP via Getty Images)
A general view shows the last sunset of the year in Seoul
(AFP via Getty Images)
People take pictures as they observe the last sunset of the year on a viewing deck at Namsan tower in Seoul
(AFP via Getty Images)
Holly Evans31 December 2023 12:03
In London, hundreds of thousands of people will be joining the crowds with the hopes of grabbing a good spot to watch the countdown and see the sky light up with fireworks.
However, if you’d rather watch the spectacular display from the comfort of your own home, the excitement will be aired live on BBC One at midnight.
From 11.30pm onwards, BBC will be airing Rick Astley Rocks New Year’s Eve from the Camden Roundhouse, before cutting to the display shortly before the countdown starts.
If you are in the mood however to see the show from one of London’s iconic landmarks, crowds usually tend to gather in Southwark Bridge, Greenwich Park, Parliament Hill and along the River Thames.
However, you will need a ticket if you are entering the ticketed area along the Embankment.
Fireworks light up the sky over the London Eye in central London during last year’s New Year celebrations (Victoria Jones/PA)
(PA Archive)
Holly Evans31 December 2023 11:45
Rishi Sunak hails a ‘momentous’ 2023 in New Year’s message
Holly Evans31 December 2023 11:30
