SYDNEY, Dec 31, 2014 (AFP) - Australia’s biggest city was Wednesday preparing to lead the world in welcoming the New Year with spectacular fireworks over Sydney Harbour, defying terrorist fears days after a deadly siege.
From Hong Kong to London, New York to Rio, millions around the world will celebrate when the clock ticks past midnight, ringing in 2015 with massive fireworks displays, concerts and light shows. In Sydney, rocked by deadly drama just before Christmas when an Iranian-born gunman with a history of violence and extremism took 17 hostages in the city’s financial hub, tonnes of fireworks will explode over the harbour with an expected attendance of 1.6 million people.
