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From New York to Canberra: 2020 New Year preparations across the world
The new decade is going to witness a major celebration in various parts of the world.
The new decade is going to witness a major celebration in various parts of the world. Let's take a look at how the world is preparing to usher in the new year 2020.
London:
12,000 fireworks are set to light up the London skyline as the iconic Big Ben chimes in the first seconds of 2020 after being silent for the whole year due to renovation. Around 2,000 of the fireworks will be set off from the London Eye and the rest along the River Thames. The display will be set to a soundtrack "inspired by London and Europe" as per official reports. Over 100,000 tickets have been sold for the event and police is making sure of the security arrangements.
Travel on Transport for London services will be free between 11.45 pm on New Year's Eve and 4.30 am on New Year's Day. Many services are going to finish earlier than usual and there will be no mainline trains running beyond Basingstoke or Guildford after midnight.
Other parts of UK:
Annual torchlight procession In Edinburgh followed by a river of fire created along the city's Royal Mile.
Fireworks to be burst in Manchester, Cardiff, Newcastle, Inverness and Nottingham.
New Zealand:
Elsewhere around the world, the first major country to welcome in 2020 will be New Zealand at 11 am UK time followed a few hours later by parts of Australia's east coast.
Australia:
Sydney, Australia's largest city, has been choked by smoke from bushfires for many weeks and officials needed permission from the fire service for the annual fireworks display to go ahead this year.
New South Wales Rural Fire Service Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons stated: "The pyrotechnics organisations and local authorities are used to working with us around exemptions in the summer period, whether it is Christmas, New Year or some other event." publicly.
The Australian capital Canberra cancelled its display over bushfire fears and a petition calling for Sydney's display to be cancelled - with the money instead of being donated to firefighters, farmers and animal carers - has been signed by almost 300,000 people.
The mayor, however, says the fireworks have been paid for, already.
New York:
Thousands of police officers will be on duty in Times Square, some with long guns and bomb detector dogs to ensure security.
For the first time, police drones are expected to watch over those celebrating - similar plans were shelved last year due to rain.
John Miller, the NYPD's deputy commissioner for counterterrorism and intelligence, said: "Times Square is probably going to be the safest place on the planet Earth on New Year's Eve because nobody else puts that kind of effort into an event like this."
