Daily Times

Australia rang in the New Year with a spectacular fireworks display in Sydney, sending rainbow-coloured showers into the night sky and defying the global terror attacks that cast a pall over 2016.

Around 1.5 million people packed Australia’s biggest city to watch as the seven tons of midnight fireworks erupted from Sydney Harbour Bridge, with the extravaganza beamed to television sets and phones across the world.

Two hours later, Japan ushered in 2017 in style, with thousands packing the streets of Tokyo and releasing balloons into the air in celebration of the New Year.

North Korea, South Korea, Russia, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia have also now rung in the New Year with street celebrations and fireworks.

Tonga and Samoa in the Polynesian Triangle and Kiribati in the Central Pacific were among the first places in the world to see in 2017.

They entered the New Year at 10am on Saturday, celebrating with traditional dancing and flame throwing.

Auckland, in New Zealand, followed ringing in the New Year at 11am. Five hundred kilos of fireworks were blasted from the city’s Sky Tower in just five minutes with Max Key, the son of former Prime Minister John Key, performing a DJ set.

Danish tennis star Caroline Wozniacki, who is in Auckland, Tweeted, “Wishing everyone a happy and healthy New Year from Auckland! Excited to see what 2017 has in store.”

The last place on earth to observe 2017 will be remote and uninhabited US islands, including Baker Island and Howland Island.

Sydney’s visual feast paid tribute to some of the international musical legends who died this year, including David Bowie and Prince, with purple rain pouring off the bridge in an early display and firework ‘stars’ soaring high above the harbour. Bowie lived in Sydney for about 10 years during the 1980s and ’90s.

The fireworks launched from barges on the harbour also included a ‘Willy Wonka moment’ in tribute to the late actor Gene Wilder’s most famous role.

The year 2016 has seen repeated bloodshed, most recently a deadly truck attack at a Berlin Christmas market, a similar incident on Bastille Day in France that killed 86 people, and atrocities in Turkey and the Middle East.

But the New South Wales state premier urged “business as usual” as a larger-than-usual crowd gathered due to the weekend timing and warm weather.

“My encouragement to everyone is to enjoy New Year’s Eve in the knowledge that police are doing everything they can to keep us safe,” premier Mike Baird said.

Around 2,000 extra officers were deployed in Sydney after a man was arrested for allegedly making online threats against the celebrations. There were a number of other reported threats during the holiday period, in Asia-Pacific and elsewhere.

In Melbourne, police foiled a “significant” Christmas Day terror plot. Indonesia said it foiled plans by an IS-linked group for a Christmas-time suicide bombing, and 52 died in the Philippines in bomb attacks blamed on Islamist militants.

Israel on Friday issued a warning of imminent ‘terrorist attacks’ to tourists and western targets in India.

Despite the terror fears, revellers in Hong Kong and Taipei lined the city streets to watch firework performances.

Shoppers in Japan had earlier filled markets to buy tuna and crabs – seen as expensive items for special feasts – for New Year’s Day family gatherings. This year’s feverish countdown to midnight will also last longer than usual – an extra second – as a so-called ‘leap second’ is introduced to compensate for a slowdown in the Earth’s rotation.