New Year’s Eve around the world: Australia, China, Thailand, and others ring in 2012

The tiny Kiribati Islands in the South Pacific were the first to ring in 2012, as New Year’s celebrations began around the globe.

The entire population is just over 100,000 and revellers were soon joined by those in Australia, China, and Thailand.

Sydney launched into 2012 with a spectacular fireworks display over the harbour on Sunday (yes, they’re a day ahead).

Thousands of people lined the foreshores around the harbour to watch the skies light up with fireworks launched from seven barges and seven city skyscrapers as well as the Harbour Bridge.

The theme for this year’s display was ‘A Time to Dream’. The display lasted for 12 minutes and used seven tonnes of fireworks which included new cloud-shaped fireworks and a coloured waterfall effect from the Harbour Bridge.

The heavy chimes of one of China’s biggest bells marked the first seconds of 2012 in Beijing on Sunday.

About 200 residents swarmed to the Chinese capital’s Big Bell Temple to witness or take part in the traditional bell-ringing.

As the countdown came to an end, the temple’s staff began hitting the 46 tonne bell amid cheers and applause.

They rang the enormous Yongle Bell — or the Bell of Eternal Happiness — 108 times. The chimes were meant to free the mind from the 108 burdens, according to Buddhist tradition.

Beijing residents also wished that the bell would bring them good fortune for the new year.

“At the beginning of the year, everyone wishes to build upon the life they have now and improve upon it. They wish for health for the elderly and happiness for the children. They wish for stability in their lives,” said 64-year-old local man Chen Taiyu.

In Thailand, people celebrated at Central World shopping mall.

After enduring months of flooding and then the big cleanup, many residents were looking to take some much  needed rest.

Security was tight with about a thousand military and police officers working at checkpoints and throughout the Central World plaza, which is located in the heart of Bangkok.

Fifty-year-old Linda Schlieper brought her entire family from Ayutthaya, one of the hardest hit provinces,   hoping to end the year on a happy note.

“I want to find something to celebrate with my family. Because the house was really flooded, we lost a lot.”

Russia’s president Dmitry Medvedev called on citizens to “build a progressive state” in his televised New Year greeting, broadcast on Russian channels just before midnight on Saturday.

“Exactly 20 years ago we celebrated our first New Year in a country called Russia – a name celebrated for the illustrious deeds of our great ancestors, who over the centuries built up a huge and very strong power, a great   country. It is our duty to preserve it and to build a progressive state, where all of us can live comfortably and   do stimulating work,” Medvedev told Russians as clocks counted down to midnight in Moscow.