2024: Count down for Countries already in the New Year

Countries across the globe are celebrating the New Year, with many hoping for better times despite conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine. The Pacific region is the first to ring in 2024. DW has the latest.

The Pacific region is the first to see in 2024, with big celebrations in Auckland and Sydney.

13 hours ago13 hours ago

First in line — Kiribati’s Line Islands

Kiribati’s Line Islands are the first part of the globe to welcome in 2024, although no major events were planned on the main island of Kiritimati.

Line Islanders tend to celebrate the change of year with roast pig and crayfish and other traditional foods, washed down with the popular beverage of coconut sap.

12 hours ago12 hours ago

Chatham Islands celebrate alone

New Zealand’s Chatham Islands have celebrated the New Year, just 15 minutes after parts of Kiribati.

The islands are a little unusual in having standardized their time to 12 hours and 45 minutes ahead of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT/UTC) back in 1868.

11 hours ago11 hours ago

New Zealand and Samoa light up skies

In New Zealand, fireworks have lit up Auckland’s Sky Tower, along with a laser light and animation show synchronized with other landmarks such as the city’s Harbour Bridge.

The display began with a digitized countdown projected onto the base of the tower before some 500 kilograms of pyrotechnics were launched from the structure.

10 hours ago10 hours ago

Parts of US, Australia, France and Russia usher in 2024

Various island domains of the United States, France, and Australia have welcomed in the New Year, as have two far easterly mainland regions of Russia.

Australia’s Norfolk Island, France’s Wallis and Futuna and the US Wake Island all in ring the changes one hour ahead of Australia and one behind New Zealand. So, too, to the Chukotka and Kamchatka regions of Russia, on the opposite side of the International Date Line to Alaska.

9 hours ago

Australia celebrates big with fireworks.

Australia’s largest city, Sydney, which proclaims itself the “New Year’s capital of the world,” has taken its moment in the spotlight, with its traditional firework display above the Harbour Bridge.

The bridge stood in relative darkness during the countdown, before giving way to a dazzling display of bright colors after the stroke of midnight.

8 hours ago

Queensland lets the New Year arrive on its own schedule

It’s time for the Australian state of Queensland to tick over into 2024, an hour after New South Wales and Victoria.

That’s because Queensland does not change clocks in the summer to allow for more sunlight in the evening. It’s further north and gets more light, making the hour change unnecessary.

7 hours ago

Fireworks in Tokyo and Seoul as parts of Far East welcome New Year

Parts of the Far East have welcomed 2024 with huge fireworks displays, including in Seoul and Tokyo.

In Japan, temple bells rang out across the nation as people gathered at shrines and temples to welcome in the new year.

6 hours ago

Curtain falls on 2023 for many Asian nations.

There were spectacular light shows as eastern parts of Asia rang in the New Year in style.

Taipei, Bangkok, Manila, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur and the Chinese cities of Beijing and Shanghai welcomed 2024 with huge firework displays.

In Taiwan, about 16,000 fireworks were set off at the country’s landmark Taipei 101 building, which is 509 metres tall.

5 hours ago

Thailand’s Chao Phraya River lights up

In Thailand’s capital, Bangkok, celebrations centered on the Chao Phraya River which reflects the lights of the fireworks display each year, with many taking to party boats to enjoy the show up close.

Thailand, which follows the Buddhist calendar, is welcoming the year 2567.

4 hours ago

India says hello to 2024

India has welcomed 2024 with light shows and fireworks displays across the nation.

The cities of Calcutta, Bombay, New Delhi and Bangalore were among those to attact thousands of revellers.

The year 2023 saw India surpass China as the world’s most populous country.

3 hours ago

Pakistan falls quiet this New Year’s Eve

In Muslim-majority Pakistan, the government has banned all New Year’s Eve celebrations as an act of solidarity with the Palestinian people.

In an overnight televised message, caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar urged Pakistanis to “show solidarity with the oppressed people of Gaza” by beginning the new year with simplicity.

2 hours ago

UAE celebrates with fireworks, lasers and world record attempt

Huge crowds assembled at the foot of the world’s tallest building, Dubai’s Burj Khalifa, to witness an extravagant display to ring in 2024.

The Burj Khalifa was the focal point of Dubai’s celebrations, which combined lasers and a lot of fireworks.

In Ras Al Khaimah, the sixth largest city in the United Arab Emirates, there was an attempt to break two world records at their New Year’s Eve show.

1 hour ago

Celebrations on mute in Moscow

Moscow celebrated the turn of the year in a low-key fashion once again amid a backdrop of Russia’s war in Ukraine and rising household costs.

54 minutes ago

Zelenskyy urges Ukrainians to craft their future, Putin skirts war mention

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on his compatriots to shape the new year according to their own ideas and keep sight of the future of their homeland.

“We Ukrainians know better than anyone that a better tomorrow does not come by itself, because we defend each of our tomorrows with our own hands,” he said in his video address on Sunday.

As was the case last year, there were no fireworks at Moscow’s Red Square and an absence of major public gatherings.

Parts of Asia and the Middle East welcome turn of the year, Pakistan falls quiet in solidarity with Palestinian people.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz voices optimism that Germany can meet the challenges of a “more unsettled and harsher” world in 2024

The German capital, Berlin, braces for a possible repeat of last year’s violent unrest

Celebrations are likely to be muted in parts of the world amid a string of ongoing conflicts including Israel’s war with Hamas and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

12 minutes ago12 minutes ago

Countdown to New Year in Berlin

With about an hour to go the big New Year’s Eve party at the Brandenburg Gate in Germany’s capital, Berlin, was well underway.

Around 4,500 police officers from the capital and other states were on duty in Berlin, where celebrations last year were overshadowed by violent clashes, with revelers attacking the emergency services.

Nigeria and some African Countries 38 minutes to go…….. 2024