New Zealand welcomed 2024 with an impressive fireworks display from the Auckland Sky Tower and the capital city’s Harbour Bridge as the rest of the world papers to bid adieu to 2023.
Jubilant crowds gathered in the Kiwi capital — one of the first to welcome the New Year. However, as opposed to popular belief, New Zeland is not the first country to welcome the New Year as according to National Geographic, Kiribati's Kiritimati Island — also known as Christmas Island — is the first territory that is the first to bid farewell to the outgoing year,
The territory welcomed 2024 at 10 GMT or 3:00pm as per Pakistan Standard Timing (PST) and will be followed by — apart from New Zealand — Australia, Japan and South Korea, respectively.
The fact that the world is divided into 24 primary time zones means that the New Year’s celebrations will continue throughout the day with the island nations of Niue and American Samoa — located southwest of Kiribati in the South Pacific — being the last territories to welcome 2024.
The outgoing year has proved to be rather tumultuous for the world on political, economic, geopolitical and other fronts. From the war in Ukraine to the conflicts in Africa and the Middle East — most notably Sudan, Israel and Palestine — the world remained polarised amid deteriorating financial indicators, rampant inflation and a whole plethora of crises.
Nevertheless, countries around the world are likely to welcome 2024 with “open arms” with public countdowns and fireworks expected at landmark locations such as Australia’s Sydney Harbour and the Opera House, New York’s Times Square in the United States, Rome’s Circus Maximus, Westminster in London and others, reported CNN.
Although, like the rest of the world, the new year is marked by celebrations all across the country with fireworks etc, this year the government has prohibited all New Year's celebrations as a gesture to express solidarity with the Palestinians who have been subjected to brutal Israeli offensive since October 7 that has martyred more than 22,000 Palestinians — including over 8,000 children.
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