Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Fireworks, prayers as revelers around the world ring in 2018
From spectacular fireworks in Hong Kong and Australia to a huge LED lightshow at the world’s tallest building in Dubai, a look at how revelers around the world are ringing in 2018:
United Arab Emirates
Dubai’s Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building, has again served as the focal point of New Year’s Eve celebrations — though this year authorities decided against fireworks and chose a massive LED lightshow on the structure.
That was in part due to safety in the city-state in the United Arab Emirates, which saw a massive skyscraper fire on New Year’s Eve in 2015.
The display, running down the east side of the 2,716-foot tower, showed Arabic calligraphy, geometric designs and a portrait of the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the UAE’s first president.
But a display of neighboring nations’ flags didn’t show Qatar’s flag. The UAE joined Bahrain, Egypt and Saudi Arabia in boycotting the tiny energy-rich nation in June over allegations Doha supports extremists and has too close ties to Iran. Qatar, which will host the 2022 FIFA World Cup, denies supporting extremists and shares a massive offshore natural gas field with Tehran.
France
Tens of thousands of Parisians and tourists were heading to the Champs-Elysees to attend a firework show at Napoleon’s Arc de Triomphe monument, at the end of the famous avenue with its lines of trees sparkling with lights.
Officials have warned the display might be cancelled at the last minute due to a storm expected to hit France overnight.
New Year’s Eve celebrations were placed under high security in France, which has been hit by a series of attacks by Islamic extremists in recent years.
French Interior ministry said 100,000 police officers and soldiers and 40,000 rescuers have been deployed across the country — including 2,500 on the Champs-Elysees.
Vatican
Bidding 2017 farewell, Pope Francis has decried wars, injustices and environmental decay which he says have “ruined” the year.
Francis on Sunday presided at a New Year’s Eve prayer service in St. Peter’s Basilica, a traditional occasion to say thanks in each year’s last hours.
He says God gave to us a 2017 “whole and sound,” but that “we humans in many ways ruined and hurt it with works of death, lies and injustices.”
But, he added, “gratitude prevails” thanks to those “cooperating silently for the common good.”
In keeping with past practice, the pope on New Year’s Day will celebrate Mass dedicated to the theme of world peace.
Australia
Fireworks lit up the sky above Sydney Harbor, highlighting the city’s New Year’s celebrations.
The massive fireworks display included a rainbow waterfall cascade of lights and color flowing off the harbor’s bridge to celebrate recently passed legislation legalizing gay marriage in Australia.
Over a million people were expected to gather to watch the festivities. Security was tight, but officials said there was no particular alert.
Sydney officials said the event would generate some $170 million for the city and “priceless publicity.” Nearly half the revelers were tourists.
New Zealand
Tens of thousands of New Zealanders took to streets and beaches, becoming among the first in the world to usher in 2018.
As the new year dawned in this southern hemisphere nation, fireworks boomed and crackled above city centers and harbors, and partygoers sang, hugged, danced and kissed.
In Auckland, New Zealand’s biggest city, tens of thousands gathered around Sky Tower as five minutes of nonstop pyrotechnics exploded from the top of the structure.
Uganda
Thousands of Ugandans were gathering at churches across the country to mark the end of 2017.
The raucous events, during which some preachers are known to make dubious predictions, have become such a staple of New Year’s Eve festivities that the country’s longtime president, Yoweri Museveni, sometimes makes time to make an appearance at a church.
Russia
As Russians count down the last moments before 2018 ticks over into each of the country’s 11 time zones, President Vladimir Putin is calling on them to be considerate and conciliatory with each other in the new year.
“Say the most cherished words to each other, forgive mistakes and resentment, admit love, warm up with care and attention,” Putin says in a televised message broadcast on Sunday just before midnight. “Let the trust and mutual understanding always accompany us,” he was quoted as saying by Russian news agencies after his statement aired in Kamchatka, the easternmost time zone.
Germany
Germans will ring in 2018 under tight security from police mindful of widespread sexual abuse of women in Cologne two years ago and of a terrorist attack on a Christmas market last year.
Police in Berlin added 1,600 officers on duty and said that large bags and knapsacks would not be allowed on the “Party Mile” leading from Brandenburg Gate, where thousands were expected to celebrate at midnight. Police in Frankfurt imposed similar restrictions in the celebration area along the Main River in the country’s financial capital.
Britain
A major windstorm was causing problems in Scotland, but organizers expected Edinburgh’s famed Hogmany New Year’s Eve celebration to be unaffected.
Storm Dylan is battering parts of Scotland with gusts of up to 80 miles per hour, with forecasters saying injuries are possible because of flying debris.
Japan
Many Japanese celebrated the arrival of the Year of the Dog in the traditional way of praying for peace and good fortune at neighborhood Shinto shrines, and eating New Year’s food such as noodles, shrimp and sweet black beans.