World starts welcoming New Year

Under explosive bursts of fireworks more than a million New Year revellers in Sydney got one of the world’s biggest parties started today – bidding farewell to the tough year that was 2009.

As the family-friendly, pre-midnight show illuminated Australia’s largest city, preparations were under way across the world for pyrotechnics, parties and prayers in the final countdown to herald the end of the period dubbed “the Noughties.”