Cities Around the Globe Ring in 2011

NEW YEAR'S -- December 31, 2010 at 2:30 PM EDT

Cities Around the Globe Ring in 2011

Sydney, Australia and major cities in Asia were among the first to celebrate the arrival of 2011 with fireworks and festivities. In the U.S., New Yorkers are preparing for the annual Times Square ball drop amid melting snow and slush across the Big Apple.

Below is a look at some of the early celebrations:

Beginning October 24, 2012, PBS NewsHour will allow open commenting for all registered users. We hope that the elimination of our moderation process will enable a more organic discussion amongst you, our audience. However, if a commenter violates our terms of use or abuses the commenting forum, their comment will be removed. We reserve the right to remove posts that do not follow these basic guidelines: comments must be relevant to the topic of the post; may not include profanity, personal attacks or hate speech; may not promote a business or raise money; may not be spam. Anything you post should be your own work. The PBS NewsHour reserves the right to read on the air and/or publish on its website or in any medium now known or unknown the comments or emails that we receive. By submitting comments, you agree to the PBS Terms of Use and Privacy Policy, which include more details.