Firework Displays Mark The Start Of 2012 As Samoa And New Zealand Mark The Start Of 2012

New Zealand, Samoa and Australia have become the first countries to mark the end of 2011 and celebrate the start of a new year.
Crowds took to the streets of New Zealand's capital Auckland to watch a fireworks display over the Sky Tower.
Heavy rain over most of the country put a damper on parties, with two major celebrations in the North Island cancelled due to the weather.
But in Australia more than 1.5 million people were estimated to have massed at vantage points along Sydney Harbour to watch a spectacular fireworks show.
The display went on for over 10 minutes and could be seen from across the whole city.
It was designed around the theme "Time to Dream" - a nod to the eagerness many felt in moving forward after a rough year.
Tourists and locals in Samoa became the first in the world to welcome in the new year.
The South Pacific nation used to be the last country in the world to celebrate the new year after being aligned with the American side of a date line that zigzags vertically through the Pacific Ocean.
But the island, together with neighbour Tokelau, decided to realign itself with the Asia side this year, to be more in tune with key trading partners.
People in Japan were expected to spend Saturday visiting shrines and temples, offering their first prayers for the year. The giant hanging bells at temples will ring 108 times to purify the world of evil and bring good luck.
In Hong Kong, more than 400,000 people were expected to watch a 4-minute, $1m display of fireworks that will shoot off from 10 skyscrapers, lighting up Victoria Harbour.
Elsewhere across the globe, people prepared to say goodbye to a year that was marked by upheaval and mass protests in several Arab countries, economic turmoil and a seemingly endless string of devastating natural disasters.
World leaders evoked the year's events in their New Year's messages. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who starts his second term on New Year's Day, said he wants to help ensure and sustain the moves toward democracy protesters sought in the Arab Spring.
German prime minister Angela Merkel said the new year would be more difficult than 2011 but that dealing with Europe's debt crisis would bring the countries closer.