Parties and fireworks as the world ushers in new year

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New Year's celebrations have been taking place around the world 

Firework displays, parties and other celebrations are taking place around the world to usher in the new year.

Festivities ranged from the release of thousands of silver balloons in Toyko in Japan, to the first countdown of a western new year in Hanoi, Vietnam.
In Sydney, crowds watched what is hailed as the world's biggest New Year's Eve fireworks display.
Earlier, thousands of revellers took to the streets in New Zealand - the first major country to see in 2011.

Revellers crowded Hong Kong's Times Square

Meanwhile, party-goers in Europe are gearing up for firework displays and other events planned across the continent.
A musical and fireworks are planned at the UK's London Eye big wheel -
which is marking its 10th anniversary.
Crowds have also gathered in Madrid's Puerta del Sol square to take part in "Las Uvas" (The Grapes), a tradition in which people eat a grape for each of the 12 chimes of midnight.
And in the US, up to a million people are expected in New York to see the famous Times Square Ball drop at midnight.
The municipal authorities and warmer weather have combined to clear the streets following the snowstorm which blanketed the city this week.
Dragon display In Hong Kong, hundreds of thousands of people gathered along Victoria Harbour to watch fireworks explode from the roofs of the city's most prominent buildings.
At the Zojoji temple in central Tokyo, Japan, monks chanted as visitors packed in to count down until midnight. Thousands released a mass of silver balloons carrying notes with their hopes for the future.
And in Taipei, the capital of Taiwan, fireworks formed the shape of a dragon spiralling up the tallest skyscraper.
This year's display is the country's biggest ever, costing $2m (£1.3m), to mark the beginning of year 100 on the Taiwan calendar.

Sydney was packed as spectators gathered for a massive display of fireworks

In Sydney, about 1.5 million people came out with blankets and camping equipment ahead of the seven-tonne fireworks display above the Harbour Bridge.
Crowds began arriving more than 12 hours before the main display, with new visitors turned away as early as 1500 (0400 GMT), the Associated Press news agency reports.
"We know how to party on new year back home, but Sydney is a bigger and better party than anywhere else," Marcio Motta, a 26-year-old spectator from Brazil, told the Press Association.
This year, meanwhile, marked the first time Vietnam's capital, Hanoi, officially celebrated a Western-style countdown. In previous years, the city authorities have focused on Tet, the holiday marking the lunar new year, which begins on 3 February.
In the Philippines, safety officials urged caution after firecrackers injured at least 245 people in recent days. According to tradition, many believe noisy celebrations drive away evil and misfortune.
In Burma, however, the military government has banned all fireworks and said severe action would be taken against anyone using them.
Political activist Aung San Suu Kyi, who was released from house arrest in November, called for the Burmese people "to struggle together with new strengths, new force and new words in the auspicious new year".
The tiny Pacific nation of Kiribati was the first to welcome in the new year at 1000 GMT. The religious island nation was set to mark the event with church and village services.