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Fireworks over Sydney
Photo: DAVID GRAY / AFP
Sydney started the new year with a colorful fireworks display.
Three hours after the first turn of the year on the South Seas archipelago of Kiribati, the traditional giant fireworks went off in the port of the Australian metropolis at midnight, 2 p.m. German time.
The highlight of the show, which lasted almost a quarter of an hour, was a rainbow of luminous bodies that rained down like a waterfall from the Harbor Bridge as a harbinger of Sydney WorldPride, which starts in the metropolis in February.
As early as 9 p.m. local time, the first fireworks lit up the sky as a family event.
According to the broadcaster ABC, the organizers expected more than a million visitors.
They watched the spectacle against the famous backdrop of the Harbor Bridge and the Opera House.
Numerous people had already moved into places with a good view of the harbor early in the morning.
An estimated half a billion viewers watched the event on screens worldwide.
The producers of the light show had promised a "kaleidoscope of colors" in advance - and delivered.
According to earlier information, the organizers had purchased a good 9,000 fireworks weighing eight tons for the equivalent of around 3.7 million euros for the bright play of light.
jpz/dpa