Jubilant crowd witness fireworks show at Auckland Sky Tower together with the capital metropolis’s Harbour Bridge
Because the world prepares to welcome 2024, New 12 months celebrations kicked off in New Zealand on Sunday (at this time) with elated crowds gathered to witness a formidable fireworks show from the Auckland Sky Tower together with the capital metropolis’s Harbour Bridge.
New Zealand is among the first international locations that welcomes the New 12 months. Nevertheless, it’s not the primary nation to take action, as Kiribati’s Kiritimati Island, often known as Christmas Island — in keeping with Nationwide Geographic — is the primary territory to welcome the brand new yr.
The Island welcomed 2024 at 10 GMT or 3:00pm as per Pakistan Normal Timing (PST) earlier within the day adopted by New Zealand, Australia, Japan and South Korea.
The truth that the world is split into 24 major time zones implies that the New 12 months’s celebrations will proceed all through the day with the island nations of Niue and American Samoa — positioned southwest of Kiribati within the South Pacific — being the final territories to welcome 2024.
The outgoing yr has proved to be reasonably tumultuous for the world on political, financial, geopolitical and different fronts. From the warfare in Ukraine to the conflicts in Africa and the Center East — most notably Sudan, Israel and Palestine — the world remained polarised amid deteriorating monetary indicators, rampant inflation and a complete plethora of crises.
However, international locations all over the world are prone to welcome 2024 with “open arms” with public countdowns and fireworks anticipated at landmark areas comparable to Australia’s Sydney Harbour and the Opera Home, New York’s Instances Sq. in america, Rome’s Circus Maximus, Westminster in London and others, reported CNN.
Though, like the remainder of the world, the brand new yr is marked by celebrations all throughout the nation with fireworks and so on, this yr the federal government has prohibited all New 12 months’s celebrations as a gesture to precise solidarity with the Palestinians who’ve been subjected to brutal Israeli offensive since October 7 that has martyred greater than 22,000 Palestinians — together with over 8,000 youngsters.