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World celebrates arrival of 2012
Sunday January 01, 2012 09:38:00 AM,
IANS
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 Bringing in the new year with style
Party animals hit the most famous party spots right before
midnight to bid farewell to the old year and ringed in the new
year in style as others enjoyed last day of the year at their
homes, watching television, and munching midnight snacks.
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London: People in
different parts of the world took to revelry as they celebrated
the end of 2011 and ushered in the New Year 2012 at midnight.
The first places to celebrate were Samoa country, which is a group
of islands in Oceania, situated in the South Pacific Ocean, and
Tokelau, an autonomous region of New Zealand, after they jumped
across the international dateline.
As the clock struck midnight at the end of Dec 29, the two South
Pacific island nations fast-forwarded to Dec 31, missing out Dec
30 entirely. Tourists and locals partied throughout Saturday as
Samoa revelled in being the first country to ring in the new year,
rather than the last, BBC reported.
In Australia, Sydney heralded the new year with a 15-minute
multi-million dollar firework display at midnight (1.00 GMT).
Whereas thousands of people in Japan's capital city Tokyo released
balloons carrying hand-written wishes for the New Year.
They released helium balloons in front of the Tokyo Tower at
midnight with notes attached listing their hopes for 2012.
Many wished for a better year in the wake of the earthquake and
tsunami that had brought devastation to the north-east of Japan in
2011.
Huge crowds in Hong Kong turned out to watch the countdown to
2012, which was made in giant illuminated numbers on the side of a
skyscraper.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who commences his second term
Sunday, said that he hoped the new year would continue the move
towards democracy that protesters had started during the so-called
Arab Spring in 2011.
A downbeat tone, however, was visible in German Chancellor Angela
Merkel's new year message.
Merkel said 2012 would be more difficult than 2011, but hoped
Europe's debt crisis would bring its member states closer.
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 PM's New Year message: Be patient, we shall
overcome
Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh Saturday said his government took some
"transformational initiatives" to empower people and fight
corruption and listed five key personal challenges to address as
India enters the new year. »
Text of PM's message
Democracy is best guarantor of internal
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Picture of the Day |
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Union Human Resource Development
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Kerala on December 24, 2011.
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