Spectacular fireworks exploded over Sydney in a blaze of light and colour Tuesday to ring in the New Year, as the city kicked off a wave of global celebrations from Dubai to London to welcome 2013.
Australia's famous harbour city brought in the New Year on a balmy summer night with a US$6.9 million display curated by pop icon Kylie Minogue, who pressed the button to start the pyrotechnics.
To the roars of the crowds, the sky erupted in light at midnight as fireworks shot up from barges and jet skis in the harbour and cascaded from the Harbour Bridge and burst and glimmered overhead.
Officials were expecting up to 1.5 million people to gather in the city and crowds jammed all vantage points along the waterfront to watch the seven tonnes of fireworks ignite the sky.
Fireworks will also light up the Thames in London, Moscow's Red Square and Kremlin and Hong Kong's Victoria Harbour, as well as central Kuala Lumpur, Taipei, Stockholm, Amsterdam and cities across China.
Revellers in New York will celebrate the stroke of midnight with the traditional New Year's Eve ball drop over Times Square, where South Korean Internet and pop sensation Psy will join a host of American music stars.
In Rio de Janeiro 24-tonne display opposite Copacabana Beach while in Germany, fireworks will cap a party at Berlin's Brandenburg Gate with the Pet Shop Boys, Bonnie Tyler and Blue.
US Election
Obama got what every president wants: A second term. With his place in the history books secure — and no concerns his initial win will be seen as fluke — Obama, who took 51 percent of the popular vote and won 332 electoral votes, will begin his second term on Jan 20. The 2012 election -- the most searched news topic on Yahoo! -- dominated news coverage and online conversation thisyear.
Suu Kyi's End oflsolation
Myanmar's democracy icon ended her long isolation form the rest of the world this year. She received a rock star reception in her Europe tour where she received her Nobel Prize for peace after 21 years of waiting. She also visited US and became more active in politics.
'Innocence of Muslims' and Benghazi Attack
"Innocence of Muslims," a low-budget US film that mocked the Prophet
Muhammad, sparked a violent internationalresponse.
The 14-minute film trailer was posted on YouTube, prompting riots throughout Muslim communities killing dozens. Libyan protesters were said to have exploited the situation after the US Consulate in Benghazi was attacked by al-Qaeda terrorists on Sept 11 which resulted in the death of US Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three others.
The attack on the US consulate in Benghazi, Libya, derailed the ambitions of one of Obama's closest advisers, UN Ambassador Susan Rice, and could impact the 2016 presidential race if Secretary of State Hillary Clinton opts to run.
Syria Civil War
As the war is entering its final stage as suggested by reports that rebels are gaining grounds and pushing towards the capital, the humanitarian crisis is mounting rapidly.
More than 45,000 people have been killed and tens of thousands of refugees have fled to neighboring countries since the conflict broke out in March 2011. Nearly 90 percent of those who have died in the 21-month conflict were killed in 2012.
Malala and Girl's Education
On Oct 9, Malala Yousafzai, a 15-year-old Pakistani women's rights activist, was shot in the head and neck by Taliban gunmen for campaigning for girl's education.
Yousafzai was hospitalized in critical condition and eventually transferred to a UK hospital, where she continues to recover.
In November, Time magazine nominated Malala as one of its 2012 "Person of the Year" candidates. Malala, Time said, "has become an inspiration not only in her native Pakistan—where the culture wars over women's rights and religious diversity have taken many violent turns—but all around the globe."
Bo Xilai ouster
China's Communist Party was rocked by one of the biggest political scandals in decades when Bo Xilai was ousted from the party in April. Bo is accused, among other things, of abusing his power in the case of a British businessman who the authorities say was killed by Bo's wife, and of taking “massive bribes” directly and through his family.
David Petraeus Scandal
The admission by the CIA director of an
extramarital affair led to his resignation and ended the career of a man once talked about as a possible presidential candidate.
Jump from Space!
A crazy man from Belgium, Felix Baumgartner, jumped off the edge of the space; from 127,000 feet of altitude all the way back down to Earth, breaking some world records and getting vital information for NASA in the process.
Gangnam Style
For the first time in history, a South Korean dance track, Gangnam Style, became the first video to clock up more than one billion views on YouTube.
The was posted online in July, propelling pop star Psy to worldwide fame.
It has inspired hundreds of parody clips, from members of the British army, Thai navy and Minecraft gamers, among others.
Mass shooting in US
America had already been roiled by eight rampages in 2012—among them the shootings at Oikos University in Oakland, Calif., (7 dead); the movie theater in Aurora, Colo., (12 dead); and the Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wis., (6 dead). The horror in Newtown unfolded among its most vulnerable residents. The gunman, Adam Lanza, shot his mother, Nancy Lanza, in her bed. With his mother's guns, Lanza allegedly shot 20 children and six adults in a school, then killed himself after police arrived.