Celebrations in Australia, Asia Ring In 2010

Starting at the International Date line in the mid-Pacific and spreading from east to west, crowds around Asia led the world in ringing in the New Year.

One of the first major cities to celebrate the beginning of 2010 was Sydney, Australia. More than a million people gathered along the Sydney harbor to watch the city’s annual fireworks show, set to booming rock music.

Hours before midnight people arrived at Harbor Bridge to stake out good seats for the 12-minute display. This year’s show involved more than 5,000 kilograms of explosive devices.

Other cities around Asia and the Pacific region celebrated with fireworks, such as Kuala Lumpur and Hong Kong. In Auckland, New Zealand, thousands of partygoers took to the streets to watch as fireworks shot from the Sky Tower. In the capital of Taiwan, 22,000 fireworks were shot from different angles off the Taipei 101 skyscraper. President Ma Ying-jeou was on-hand for the countdown party.

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