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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.
At 11am GMT, New Zealand became the latest country to start its celebrations, 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.
Thousands have already gathered in Sydney ahead of their iconic firework show, which sees eight tonnes of pyrotechnics launched from the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House, marking the start of a 12-minute spectacle.
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.
In pictures: Celebrations begin in Bali
Performers participate in a cultural parade in Bali
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
Couple queue at St Pancras with hope of spending New Year’s with their daughters
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
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).”
Rishi Sunak delivers New Year’s message as he looks ahead to 2024
Rishi Sunak delivers New Year’s message as he looks ahead to 2024
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.
Pictures: Thousands gather in South Korea to watch final sunset
Thousands gather to admire the final sunset in South Korea
A general view shows the last sunset of the year in Seoul
People take pictures as they observe the last sunset of the year on a viewing deck at Namsan tower in Seoul
How to watch the London fireworks on TV and in-person
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)
Rishi Sunak hails a ‘momentous’ 2023 in New Year’s message
Met Office issues severe weather warning as New Year’s revellers face galeforce winds
The Met Office has warned that travellers may face difficulties, with hundreds of train services across the country impacted and delays expected.
Read more here
Pictures: Crowds gather in Sydney ahead of countdown
Revellers turned out in large numbers to celebrate the new year in Australia
Crowds gather at Mrs Macquarie's Chair to watch the fireworks during New Year's Eve celebrations
Family hail New Year’s Eve miracle after getting unexpected Eurostar tickets home
A French family who feared they would not be able to get home until January 2 after Saturday’s Eurostar chaos saw their train cancelled have hailed their unexpected tickets home on Sunday as a New Year’s Eve “miracle”.
Isobel Ram, 49, her partner Amaury Ferrero, 52, and daughter Lee Ram, 20, live in Toulouse but their train home was cancelled on Saturday due to flooding in a tunnel in Kent.
Amid the chaos, they booked the first available return tickets, for January 2.
Eurostar passengers have been left disappointed after flooding caused cancellations (Yui Mok/PA)
Ms Ram told the PA news agency: “We spent the night in a hotel, we came back this morning and a miracle happened and they gave us three tickets for today’s Eurostar (12.30pm train). We were worried we would be here until January 2.
“We were super happy but a bit embarrassed because there was a huge queue of people waiting behind us and we didn’t want to show we got tickets, make it too obvious, in case other people didn’t. But we said a huge thank you to the lady who did the tickets for us.”
She said her daughter is especially pleased they will be home for New Year’s Eve, adding: “She has got a huge party in Paris tonight. It’s excellent, fantastic, brilliant, a miracle.”
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2023-12-31 12:29:19Z
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