The New Year has officially begun, as midnight passed in Samoa, Tonga and Christmas Island/Kiribati, the first places in the world to welcome in 2018.
The last places on Earth to see in the New Year are minor outlying US islands like Baker Island and Howland Island – although these are uninhabited.
Millions of people are expected to gather in Berlin, London, Rio de Janeiro and New York to celebrate the arrival of 2018.
The New Year, which falls on January 1 according to the Gregorian calendar, is one of the most popular occasions across the globe when people celebrate the day forgetting their sorrows and make pledge for the coming year with new hope and determination.
The outgoing year, 2017, has been an eventful year for India; politically, economically, and socially. India rolled out the biggest tax reform since independence in the form of the Goods and Services Tax (GST). Lok Sabha also passed a landmark bill criminalising the controversial practice of divorce among Muslims called ‘triple talaq’. Space agency, Indian Space of Research Organization (ISRO), launched a record 104 satellites from a single rocket.
On sports front too, India hosted its first ever FIFA event successfully by being able to organise FIFA U-17 World Cup and bagged the Asia cup in both men and women’s hockey.
Security was tight in the southern Indian city of Bangalore to prevent a repeat of incidents of alleged groping and molestation of several women during last year’s New Year’s Eve celebrations.
