FROM Sydney to Pyongyang, fireworks, lion dances and prayers for good fortune ushered in the Year of the Tiger yesterday as a cold snap across China failed to dampen celebrations.

ICONIC buildings across Ireland turned their lights off and prevented the release of an estimated 30 tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere during Earth Hour.

The floodlit cream shells of the famed Opera House dimmed today as Sydney became the world’s first major city to plunge itself into darkness for the second worldwide Earth Hour, a global campaign to highlight the threat of climate change.

FIREWORKS exploded over Sydney’s shimmering harbour yesterday as the world’s first major city to ring in 2009 celebrated the end of a rocky year with cheers, beers and a sense of relief.

Fireworks exploded over Sydney’s shimmering harbour today as the world’s first major city to ring in 2009 celebrated the end of a rocky year with cheers, beers and a sense of relief.

THE Irish community in Sydney has rallied around the family of Ballyvolane-native David Keohane.

THOUSANDS of pilgrims have converged on Sydney as it braced itself for this weekend’s arrival of the Pope and the start of World Youth Day, the biggest event held in Australia since the 2000 Olympics.

Thousands of pilgrims converged on Sydney today as the city braced itself for the weekend arrival of the Pope and the start of the World Youth Day festival, the biggest event held in Australia since the 2000 Olympics.

From the Sydney Opera House to Rome’s Colosseum to the Sears Tower’s famous antennas in Chicago, floodlit symbols of civilisation went dark for Earth Hour, a worldwide campaign to highlight the threat of climate change.

Hundreds of thousands of revellers flooded New York's Times Square today to watch the famed crystal ball as it dropped to mark the New Year.

Hundreds of thousands of revellers watched fireworks burst over Sydney Harbour for New Year’s Eve, while in Japan thousands scaled Mount Fuji to catch the first glimpse of the sun in 2007.

Irish supergroup U2 are planning to take time out of the Australian leg of their Vertigo World Tour next year, to climb Sydney's famous Harbour Bridge.

THE next pope will have a hard act to follow in Asia and the Middle East, where Muslims, Jews, Hindus and Buddhists alike mourned the loss of a man they saw as a messenger of peace and tolerance.

The new year got off to a subdued start around disaster-ravaged Asia, where prayers frequently substituted for parties.

Happy New Year? Not this year, not in quake-tsunami region.

Leukaemia survivor Lloyd Scott completed his Australian coast-to-coast charity odyssey today as he steered his penny farthing bicycle into the waves at Sydney’s Bondi Beach.

NEW YEAR’S in Sydney is different. They celebrate it in a bombastic yet laid-back way, so typical of the city itself.