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STORY: Fireworks lit up the skies of Sydney over the city's harbor in the annual display as the Australian city was one of the first to celebrate the new year on Thursday (January 1).

An estimated one and a half million people gathered at Sydney Harbor, event organizers said.

This year's theme was 'Inspire' and seven tonnes of fireworks were set off on the Harbor Bridge, the Sydney Opera House, on barges on the water and at different locations throughout the city.

Organizers estimate that the pyrotechnics display, would be watched by as many as a billion people around the world.