The world rang in the New Year yesterday with a string of spectacular firework displays watched by millions, a moment to overlook what the global economic crisis might have in store in 2012.
Turning the page on 2011, a year which saw nations battered by the financial downturn, uprisings across the Arab world, devastation in Japan and the end of terror chief Osama bin Laden, revellers looked to the skies as they welcomed in the New Year.
Sydney and Hong Kong set the standard with glittering extravaganzas. The mood was more sombre in Tokyo but Dubai led the way in the Middle East and Europe spared no expense on the pyrotechnics.
London hosts the 2012 Olympics and its firework display kicked off with a recording of the moment the capital learned it would host the Games.
An estimated 250,000 people lining the banks of the River Thames then saw the London Eye observation wheel explode into an 11-minute extravaganza, with firework rings in the Olympic colours launched into the sky.
Fireworks shot out of Parliament’s famous clock tower with each chime of the Big Ben bell.
Further north, an estimated 80,000 party-goers descended on Scotland’s capital Edinburgh to attend its Hogmanay street party, erupting into a mass rendition of “Auld Lang Syne”.
Across the Atlantic in Rio de Janeiro, two million white-clad party-goers – Brazilians and foreign tourists – rang in the New Year on Copacabana beach, watching a spectacular fireworks extravaganza.
And more than a million revellers flocked to New York’s Times Square where pop diva Lady Gaga and tenor Placido Domingo are among the star-studded lineup, and the traditional crystal ball drops at the stroke of midnight.
Two hours later there were celebrations in Tokyo as balloons and fireworks filled the sky, with the Tokyo Tower turning blue.
Russia’s far eastern regions entered 2012 eight hours ahead of Moscow.
Thousands gathered in the capital’s Red Square for another massive firework display that sent rockets 140 metres (400 feet) into the midnight sky.
But the sale of all alcohol was banned in a bid to prevent the streets getting out of hand. And the mood was less festive in Russia’s second city of Saint Petersburg. As the clock moved through the timezones, celebrations in Dubai centred on the Burj Khalifa skyscraper, the world’s tallest man-made structure, with a pyrotechnics display even more extravagant than 12 months ago.