Celebrations kick off as world rolls towards 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.

Sydney, one of the world’s first major cities to see the dawn of the new year, held a preliminary children’s fireworks display at 9pm local time (10am Irish time), before the main event at midnight.