New Year celebrations are taking place across the world. The first major city to move into the new year was Auckland in New Zealand. Thousands of people came to watch as fireworks were set off from the top of the Sky Tower, the tallest man-made structure in New Zealand. Australia was the next major country to bring in the new year, greeting 2011 with a traditionally impressive firework display in Sydney Harbour. The display cost five million Australian dollars to mount, more than three million pounds. Firework displays are expected across the globe as 2011 arrives, with Hong Kong and Taipei among the locations set for large-scale displays before the New Year reaches Europe. In South Korea, up to 100,000 people are expected to come out for a bell-ringing ceremony in central Seoul, with officials and 11 ordinary citizens striking the large bronze bell hung in the Bosingak bell pavilion 33 times at midnight (1500 GMT), according to the Seoul Metropolitan Government. At midnight in Taipei, Taiwan, fireworks will form a spiraling dragon climbing up the city's tallest skyscraper. Some 50 dancers will beat drums in the freezing cold river in a dance to underscore how people should live with nature in harmony. In Europe, many people will be partying simply to forget their economic woes after a year that saw Greece and Ireland needing financial bailouts and others, such as Spain and Portugal, battling speculation that they will need similar aid. In the Irish capital of Dublin, people will flock to the Christchurch cathedral to listen as the bells chime in the New Year. In London, thousands will witness a musical and firework display at the 135-metre high London Eye, located on the southern banks of the Thames River. The Eye, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary, lies almost opposite the Big Ben clock tower at Parliament that will chime in 2011. In Paris, tens of thousands are expected to pack the Champs Elysees and the area around the Eiffel Tower for dazzling light and firework displays. And in New York City, nearly a million revellers were expected to cram into the streets of Times Square to watch the traditional midnight ball drop.
