The world has begun celebrating the New Year, with revellers in Australia and New Zealand among the first to usher in 2016. Crowds counted down the last seconds of 2015 at Auckland's Sky Tower in New Zealand at 1100 GMT, with a laser show and fireworks display. Up to 25,000 people had been expected to turn up for the festivities. In Australia, fireworks lit up Sydney harbour at midnight (13:00 GMT). A million were expected to turn up. New Zealand welcomed in 2016 an hour after Samoa and Kiribati, the first countries to ring in the New Year.

As the New Year sweeps across Asia, major cities like Hong Kong, Singapore and Beijing will kick off their own celebrations. In Egypt, festivities will be staged in front of the pyramids near Cairo, as the government works to revive its tourist industry. Meanwhile, in Dubai, an extravagant display will illuminate the Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building, with 400,000 LED lights and 1.6 tons of fireworks set to be used. When 2016 hits Europe, approximately one million people will countdown at the Brandenburg Gate in Germany's capital, Berlin.

Despite security fears across the continent, many major public events are going ahead, though with heightened security restrictions.

(Source: BBC)