Rwandans last night joined the rest of the world to usher in the New Year in style. Across the country, revelers gathered at happening places, including concert venues and places of worship, as they bid farewell to 2011, while welcoming 2012. In Kigali City, there were plenty of options for everyone.

Various local and foreign artistes performed to ecstatic crowds into the New Year at different venues while there were also overnight prayers and worshiping at Amahoro National Stadium. "I thank God that I am finally there; it’s always a nice feeling to begin another year,” said Peace Igihozo as she screamed at the top of her voice moments before midnight. 

President Paul Kagame delivered a televised New Year’s message to the nation reflecting on yet another good year for the economy, while friends and families gathered and exchanged pleasantries, with thousands sending messages of goodwill to friends.

In some parts of the world, the New Year had been ushered in hours earlier. Sydney heralded the New Year with a 15-minute multi-million dollar firework display at midnight (3p.m Rwandan time). More than 1.5 million people watched the shimmering pyrotechnic display designed around the theme "Time to Dream” — a nod to the eagerness many felt in moving forward after the rough year.

Thousands of people in Tokyo released balloons carrying hand-written wishes for the New Year.

In Hong Kong huge crowds turned out to witness the countdown to 2012, which was made in giant illuminated numbers on the side of a skyscraper.

Taiwan celebrated with a jaw-dropping firework spectacle that obscured the world’s second-tallest building, Taipei 101, in a blaze of light and smoke.

The first places to celebrate were Samoa and Tokelau after they jumped across the international dateline.

As the clock struck midnight at the end of 29 December, the two South Pacific island nations fast-forwarded to 31 December, missing out on 30 December entirely.

Tourists and locals partied throughout Saturday as Samoa revelled in being the first country to ring in the new year, rather than the last.

Musical medley

Sydney’s firework spectacular had the theme "Time to Dream”, which producer Aneurin Coffey said was about giving people a chance to put a bad year behind them.

An estimated million-strong crowd watched the pyrotechnics around Sydney Harbour Bridge, which were accompanied by a medley of wild animal sounds and pop music.

Some of the fireworks resembled waterfalls, rainbows and clouds - which Mr Coffey said was "because every cloud has a silver lining”.

Bad weather prompted some New Zealand planners to cancel outdoor events, but a low-key fireworks display went ahead at Auckland’s Sky Tower.

Heavy rain meant celebrations in Palmerston North, Mount Maunganui, Rotorua and on Wellington’s waterfront were called off, the New Zealand Herald reported.

"We hate having to cancel events but especially for something like New Year’s Eve,” Wellington’s events manager Lauren Fantham told the paper.

"We’d rather have people safe inside somewhere than catching colds from a cold wet southerly,” she explained.

Hopes and fears

In Tokyo, people released helium balloons in front of the Tokyo Tower at midnight with notes attached listing their hopes for 2012.

Many wished for a better year, following the earthquake and tsunami that brought devastation to the north-east of Japan in 2011.

"I hope it will be a year full of smiles. For those who are crying now, I hope they’ll be smiling too,” said 21-year-old Horie Soichiro.

The mood was a bit less bright in Europe, where leaders set the tone for a continent hammered by an unprecedented economic crisis that has put the euro’s existence in question, turning in New Year’s messages that 2012 will bring more financial hardship — but also opportunities.

A downbeat tone was reflected in the new year’s message of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who said 2012 would be more difficult than 2011, but hoped Europe’s debt crisis would bring its member states closer. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin wished well being and prosperity to all Russians "regardless of their political persuasion” after large-scale protests against him.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who polls suggest will be defeated by his Socialist challenger in spring elections, warned Europe’s crisis is not finished and "that 2012 will be the year full of risks, but also of possibilities.” Big crowds gathered under twinkling holiday lights on Paris’ wide Champs Elysees boulevard to pop Champagne corks at midnight.

For his part, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who starts his second term today, said he hoped the New Year would continue the move towards democracy that protesters had started during the so-called Arab Spring in 2011.

Paris and other European cities celebrate the end of a year that has seen the continent embroiled in economic woes.

For the UK, meanwhile, New Year’s Eve is just the start of a year of festivities that will include the Queen’s diamond jubilee and the London Olympics.

In Brazil, revelers enjoyed a fireworks display on the beaches of Rio de Janeiro.

In the US, hundreds of thousands packed into New York’s Times Square for the ceremonial ball-dropping at midnight, and put it through a test run, 400 feet (122 meters) above the street. The sphere, now decorated with 3,000 Waterford crystal triangles, has been dropping to mark the New Year since 1907, long before television made it a U.S. tradition.

"2012 is going to be a better year. It has to be,” said Fred Franke, 53, who was visiting the city with his family even after losing his job in military logistics this month at a Honeywell International division in Jacksonville, Florida.

Additional reporting by BBC and AP