New Year’s Eve 2019 – live: Revellers descend on London to welcome new decade, as Sydney fireworks display prompts fury amid wildfires
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Your support makes all the difference.The world is set to mark the end of the year, and the decade, as 2019 comes to a close – and while spectacular firework displays are expected to herald in the 2020s across the globe, some threaten to be overshadowed by ongoing events.
In Australia, New Year’s Eve celebrations have been marred by wildfires which have threatened to cause mass evacuations in population hubs including Victoria in the east of the country.
Meanwhile Hong Kong has braced for fresh protests over Chinese influence in the region to interrupt festivities.
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Fireworks go ahead in Australia
Sydney's family fireworks has gone ahead without issue after concerns they could be cancelled due to the scale of the fires gripping the regions.
The smaller display is launched at 9pm local time for children and families.
Japan heads to shrines ahead of first New Year's of Reiwa era
People flocked to temples and shrines in Japan, offering incense with their prayers to celebrate the passing of a year and the the first New Year's of the Reiwa era - due to begin at 11am UK time.
Under Japan's old-style calendar, linked to emperors' rules, Reiwa started in May, after Emperor Akihito stepped down and his son Naruhito became emperor.
Although Reiwa is entering its second year with 2020, Jan. 1 still marks Reiwa's first New Year's, the most important holiday in Japan.
"We have a new era and so I am hoping things will be better, although 2019 was also a good year because nothing bad happened," said Masashi Ogami, 38, who ran a sweet rice wine stall at Zojojij Temple in Tokyo, drawing a crowd of revelers.
Other stalls sold fried noodles and candied apples, as well as little figures and amulets in the shape of mice, the zodiac animal for 2020. Since the Year of the Mouse starts off the Asian zodiac, it's associated with starting anew.
The first year of the new decade will see Tokyo host the 2020 Olympics, an event that is creating much anticipation for the capital and the entire nation.
New decade reaches the continent
The new decade has reached Eurasia - with the western tip of Russia celebrating a new year along with a growing roster of pacific islands and atolls.
It also means there's not long to go until the spectacle of the Sydney fireworks display that has become a mainstay of the holiday.
Australian PM accused of hosting fireworks party during crisis
Australia’s PM has been criticised for reportedly hosting a New Years Eve Party as the country burns – shortly after facing similar attacks after he took a holiday to Fiji during the ongoing crisis.
Scott Morrison is reportedly hosting an event for family and friends at Kirribilli House – the Australian PM’s secondary residence near Sydney Harbour Bridge.
In other parts of the country Australians have been forced to flee their homes and stand in the sea for protection, while images from fire-stricken areas depict a blood red sky and miles of burning shrubland.
Sydney fireworks go ahead despite wildfire controversy as firefighters battle blazes and citizens flee homes
Sydney's fireworks spectacular has lit up the skies of Australia's second city amid a background of climate anger, political frustration and tempestuous wildfires that have caused damage, destruction and death across the West of the country.
Some had called the for the annual Sydney display to be called off in solidarity with the people forced to flee their homes from surging wildfires - while concerns were razed about the safety of the display on the hot Australian summer night.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison posted a video address expressing sympathy over the death on Monday of volunteer firefighter Samuel McPaul, 28, who died when what was described as "a fire tornado" flipped his truck off the ground while he attended a blaze near Albury, in southern NSW.
"As 2019 draws to a close, the devastating impact of these terrible bush fires continues," Mr Morrison said.
However ultimately the harbor bridge was lit up and the sky was inundated with colour as more than a million people descended on the banks of the city's waters to watch the spectacle - among the largest demonstrations to take place across the world at New Year's.
Coolangatta catches up
In another example of unusual time zones, residents of Tweed Heads, Australia need only cross the road to celebrate New Year's Eve for a second time if they feel so inclined.
The town has mostly merged with the Gold Coast suburb of Coolangatta - separated by the border boundary between Queensland and New South Wales.
The result of this geographic quirk is one side recognises daylight savings time while the other does not - meaning that while residents on the New South Wales side of Dixon Street may have celebrated 2020 an hour ago, their counterparts on the other side of the road only just joined them in the new decade.
This would normally lead to both provinces having their own fireworks displays - and a cheap excuse to have twice as much of a party - however a display planned for the area was called off to allow funds to instead be spent on victims of the nation's wildfires.
Italian police seize 52 tons of fireworks
Italy's police have seized 52 tons of illegal fireworks in Naples and surrounding areas in the weeks ahead of New Year's celebrations, which often cause hundreds of injuries across the country.
The largest amount of illicit fireworks — 30 tons — was confiscated in Giugliano, a town close to Naples, with a total value of about half a million euros.
Police confirmed 11 people had been arrested in relation to the seizures.
Naples has a longstanding tradition of both public and private fireworks displays at New Year's Eve and often suffers the grimmest toll of people injured in the midnight frenzy.
Lemon pig trend returns for 2019
Carrying on from a tradition that appears to have mostly been established last year, people across the world are heralding a new year of citrus-based crafts by creating lemon piglets.
Popularised on Twitter in 2018 after the discovery of a recipe that recommended the creatures be made "for good luck in the new year", lemon pigs have been a craft project stretching back to the 1800s.
Now people worldwide appear to be joining in with the exercise and sharing the results on social media.
North Korea sees in the New Year
North Korea has celebrated the new year with a televised mass celebration in Pyongyang centre for the second time in its history.
The regressive authoritarian state had its first ever outdoor concert and light show in 2018 - taking on a style reminiscent of the nation's southern neighbors in approach, if not in the tone of its music which deploys more soviet-operatic melodies than its pop-loving counterpart.
Now with a need to present a more modern hermit kingdom, citizens in Kim Il-Sung square were seen waving rainbow sticks and cheering along with a countdown - a rare example of North Koreans being allowed near live microphones for broadcast into the outside world.
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