It's hard to tell which country is the most extravagant when it comes to welcoming the New Year. Fox News showed readers what nations around the world are planning for New Year's Eve, from blasts of firecrackers in the Philippines to world record setting fireworks in Dubai.
Over 1 million people crowded into the Sydney Harbor at midnight in Australia to see the famed fireworks show. The fireworks display, said to be Sydney's most spectacular, erupted from the four white sail-shaped canvases of the Sydney Opera House. It's the first time fireworks were seen at the opera house in over 10 years, Fox News reported.
Things got a little dicey in the Philippines. Over 260 people suffered injuries from firecrackers in pre-New Year's Eve celebrations, Fox News reported.
Eric Tayag, spokesman for the Department of Health, told Fox News he predicts the number of injuries will rise as Filipinos are eager to say goodbye to a year full of tragedies, especially Typhoon Haiyan that killed more than 6,000 people.
"Many here are welcoming the new year after losing their mothers, fathers, siblings and children so you can imagine how it feels," Maria Rosario Bactol, village chief of Anibong community in Tacloban, told Fox News. "I tell them to face the reality, to move on and stand up, but I know it will never be easy."
Dubai, home to the world's tallest tower, is planning to set a Guinness World Record for the largest fireworks show.
The six-minute, computer synchronized show will include 500,000 fireworks from 400 launch points that will light up Dubai's entire coastline, Barrett Wissman, co-chairman of IMG Artists, which is organizing the show, told Fox News.
The show includes a falcon made out of fireworks that will fly across an enormous man-made island. On top of that, there will be a grand explosion of fireworks meant to imitate the sunrise, along with a United Arab Emirates flag that could break the world record for largest flag made out of fireworks, Fox News reported.
"It is really mind-blowing, the size of this," Wissman told Fox News.
More planed celebrations around the world here.
