More than half a day before Germany, people in the South Pacific have already celebrated New Year's Eve.

The residents of the island of Kiritimati, which belongs to the Kiribati archipelago, were the first in the world to start the new year on Saturday at 11 a.m. German time.

Little by little, more and more people around the world are toasting to 2023 – from 2 p.m. German time in Sydney, then in Japan, India and Germany, later in Rio and New York.

The new year in Hawaii starts comparatively late.

Tourists were able to celebrate at the New Year's Eve celebrations in Kiribati for the first time since the beginning of the corona pandemic.

The borders of the Polynesian archipelagos have been largely closed to foreigners since March 2020, and Kiribati has been welcoming international guests again since August.

The 388 square kilometer coral island of Kiritimati has only a few thousand inhabitants.

Samoa, which abolished daylight saving time this year, followed for the first time an hour later – at the same time as New Zealand and Tonga.

Huge fireworks over Samoa's largest island Savai'i and in the capital Apia on the island of Upolu should accompany the turn of the year.

The island state had had pyrotechnics experts flown in from New Zealand for the spectacle.

In New Zealand, where most events were canceled last year due to Corona, firecrackers were shot into the sky again for the first time.

The highlight is the fireworks from the Sky Tower in Auckland.

"It's an event seen around the world, and we're proud to start 2023 from our city," Mayor Wayne Brown said in advance.

Two hours later, at 2 p.m. German time, the traditional giant fireworks were ignited in Sydney, Australia, to mark the turn of the year.

A million people were expected to attend the light show against the iconic backdrop of the Harbor Bridge and Opera House.

A rainbow waterfall is the focal point of the eight-tonne fireworks show ahead of Sydney WorldPride, which kicks off in the metropolis in February.

Accidents and fires caused by firecrackers in Germany

In Germany there were already problems with fireworks before New Year's Eve.

For example, glowing firecrackers in the Bautzen district (Saxony) set a caravan on fire.

In Berlin's Schöneberg district, young people threw firecrackers on the street and at police officers on Friday evening.

Five people involved were temporarily arrested, the police said on Saturday.

The police and fire brigade were also shot at with fireworks during an operation in Koblenz.

On the night before New Year's Eve, several garbage cans burned in a settlement, as the police headquarters announced on Saturday.

When fighting the fires, the emergency services were then attacked with fireworks.

In some places, the disrupters had also erected barricades.

In Germany, after two comparatively quiet New Year's Eve nights, hospitals, police and fire brigades expect to have much more work and operations than in 2021/22 and 2020/21.

In the past two years, the sale of fireworks for New Year's Eve was also banned to relieve hospitals of additional patients during the pandemic period.