A New Year rolls in

The world has already begun to welcome 2011, as the New Year has been entered by people living on some Pacific islands, Australia and Asia. As the Earth revolves today, bringing the rest of us into the year 2011, I'll be updating this entry, to show people all over as they ready themselves, celebrate and welcome the New Year. 2011 will be observed as the Year of the Rabbit in the Chinese zodiac, a year with attributes of gentleness, persistence and luck. Happy New Year everyone! (41 photos so far)

Fireworks explode over the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Opera House during a pyrotechnic show to celebrate the New Year January 1, 2011. Local authorities planned for over 1.5 million people to crowd the Sydney Harbour foreshore and welcome in the new year under the massive fireworks display. (REUTERS/Tim Wimborne)

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Members of Sao Paulo's Commerce Association release balloons with the colors of the Brazilian flag to celebrate the end of the year in Sao Paulo, Brazil on Thursday, Dec. 30, 2010. (AP Photo/Andre Penner) #

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Children wear bear furs during New Year ritual dances in Comanesti, Romania on Sunday Dec. 30 2010. In pre-Christian rural traditions, dancers wearing colored costumes or animal furs, toured from house to house in villages singing and dancing to ward off evil. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda) #

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The Times Square New Year's Eve Ball is tested they day before New Year's Eve December 30, 2010 in New York City. The 11,875-pound Waterford crystal ball will descend a 141-foot tall flagpole to mark the beginning of 2011. (Mario Tama/Getty Images) #

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New Year's wishes for 2011 are tacked on the Carnival Cruise Lines Wishing Wall at the Times Square Visitors Center in New York, December 20, 2010. The slips of paper with people's wishes on them will be included in the confetti that will fall from the tops of buildings around the Square on New Year's Eve. (REUTERS/Ray Stubblebine/Carnival Cruise Lines) #

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Men dressed as Vikings lead the torchlight procession as it makes its way to Princess Street for the start of the New Year celebrations December 30, 2010 in Edinburgh, Scotland. Thousands of people joined in the torchlight procession, followed by the burning of a Viking long ship. (Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images) #

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Thousands gather for the torchlight procession in Edinburgh which starts the New Year celebrations December 30, 2010 in Edinburgh, Scotland. (Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images) #

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Zoo owner Manny Tangco holds up a rabbit and a tiger cub while surrounded by local children at the Malabon Zoo in Malabon, in northern Metro Manila, Philippines on December 28, 2010 to illustrate the shift from the "Year of the Tiger" to the "Year of the Rabbit". (NOEL CELIS/AFP/Getty Images) #

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A man has his beard trimmed in the shape of the number 2011 to welcome the New Year inside a barbershop in the western Indian city of Ahmedabad on December 29, 2010. (REUTERS/Amit Dave) #

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Faithful pour cider on a statue of Yemanja, Goddess of the Sea, during a ceremony that is part of traditional New Year's celebrations on Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on Wednesday Dec. 29, 2010. Yemanja is from the African Yoruban religion brought to America by West African slaves. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana) #

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Performers from the Guo Guang Opera Company pose after their rehearsal for a new program titled "Pan Jin Lian", to be performed on New Year's Eve, at the National Theatre Concert Hall in Taipei, Taiwan on December 30, 2010. (REUTERS/Pichi Chuang) #

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A woman holds an offering of fruits as shamans perform a ritual for good luck for the new year in Lima, Peru on December 29, 2010. (REUTERS/Mariana Bazo) #

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Men driving on an open vehicle are splashed with water thrown from an office building in Montevideo's old district in Uruguay on December 31, 2010. Ripped pages from calendars and water from buckets or in balloons are typically launched from office windows in this neighborhood to celebrate the end of year. (MIGUEL ROJO/AFP/Getty Images) #

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A pyrotechnic crew installs fireworks atop Seattle's Space Needle on Thursday, Dec. 30, 2010, in preparation for the New Year's firework show. (AP Photo/Seattlepi.com, Joshua Trujillo) #

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A child wears a pair of 2011 glasses during New Year Eve celebrations in Hong Kong's Times Square December 31, 2010. (REUTERS/Tyrone Siu) #

Update 1: Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur and more

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Fireworks explode above Singapore's financial district at the stroke of midnight to mark the New Year celebrations Saturday, Jan. 1, 2011. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E) #

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Women in rabbit costumes pose in front of the Tokyo Tower which is illuminated to celebrate New Year after a countdown event at the Zojo-ji Buddhist temple in Tokyo January 1, 2011. The year of 2011 is the Year of The Rabbit on the Chinese zodiac calendar. (REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon) #

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People release balloons as the Tokyo Tower is illuminated to celebrate New Year at a countdown event at the Zojo-ji Buddhist temple in Tokyo January 1, 2011. (REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon) #

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Fireworks light up the sky near the landmark Petronas Twin Towers during new year celebrations in Kuala Lumpur on January 1, 2011. (KAMARUL AKHIR/AFP/Getty Images) #

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A military helicopter hovers in the sky as the last rays of the final sunset of the year falls on the ruins of a tomb in Kabul, Afghanistan, Friday, Dec. 31, 2010 (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri) #

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Revelers wave during the New Year's Eve celebrations in Hong Kong's Times Square on Saturday Jan. 1, 2011. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu) #

Update 2: India, Austria, Dubai and more

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A Taiwanese performer plays a drum during the New Year's eve ceremony, Friday, Dec. 31, 2010, in Taipei, Taiwan. The events marked the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Republic of China, Taiwan's official name, after a revolution led by Sun Yat-sen toppled China's last Qing dynasty. (AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying) #

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The number 2011 is written in the air with a sparkler in front of Stephansdom (St. Stephen's Cathedral) during New Year's Eve celebrations in Vienna, Austria on December 31, 2010. (REUTERS/Lisi Niesner) #

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Daniela Calito from Los Angeles waits in Times Square for the evening's New Year's Eve celebrations to begin in New York December 31, 2010. (REUTERS/Gary Hershorn) #

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An Indian woman in traditional dress dances during festivities to welcome the new year in the village of Narlai, Rajahstan, India, late Friday, Dec. 31, 2010. (AP Photo/Kevin Frayer) #

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John and Anne Pham wear Santa hats as they pose for a holiday photo with their granddaughter Amanda Pham in front of the downtown Los Angeles skyline, on December 31, 2010 at Kenneth Hahn State Recreation Area in Los Angeles, California. Unusually low temperatures have brought the snow level down to between 2,000 and 2,500 feet (610 and 762 meters) in the surrounding mountain areas. (ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images) #

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People dance on a decorated street on New Year's Eve, in Bangalore, India, Friday, Dec. 31, 2010. India increased security in major cities across the country on Tuesday after receiving information that a Pakistan-based militant group was planning an attack over New Year's weekend. (AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi) #

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Fireworks explode over Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world, celebrating the new year in Dubai January 1, 2011. (REUTERS/Ahmed Jadallah) #

Update 3: Pakistan, Moscow and more

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In this time exposure photograph residents use sparklers to welcome 2011 during the New Year's festivities in Manila, Philippines on on January 1, 2011. (ROMEO GACAD/AFP/Getty Images) #

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People gather at Sofia's main square in Bulgaria to celebrate the new year January 1, 2011. (REUTERS/Oleg Popov) #

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Pakistanis watch the New Year fireworks in Karachi on January 1, 2011. (RIZWAN TABASSUM/AFP/Getty Images) #

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Tourists use sparklers to write 2011 for a photograph in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany, Friday, Dec. 31, 2010. Hundreds of thousands of people celebrate the beginning of the New Year 2010 in the German capital. (AP Photo/Gero Breloer) #

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Pakistanis welcome the New Year in Karachi on January 1, 2011. (RIZWAN TABASSUM/AFP/Getty Images) #

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Fireworks explode over St. Basil Cathedral at Red Square during New Year's Day celebrations in Moscow, Russia on January 1, 2011. (REUTERS/Mikhail Voskresensky) #

Update 4: Berlin, Tehran, London and more

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People gather to celebrate New Year's Eve at the Red Square in Moscow on January 1, 2011. (DMITRY KOSTYUKOV/AFP/Getty Images) #

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Fireworks illuminate the Quadriga sculpture atop the Brandenburg Gate during a New Year's Eve party in Berlin, January 1, 2011. (REUTERS/Tobias Schwarz) #

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A Christian girl lights a candle before a New Year mass at Saint Serkis church in central Tehran December 31, 2010. New Year is celebrated by the Assyrian and Armenian minorities in Iran, where a majority of its citizens are Muslim. (REUTERS/Morteza Nikoubazl) #

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Revellers celebrate the New Year on the Champs Elysees avenue in Paris, Saturday Jan. 1, 2011. Visible in background is the Arc de Triomphe. (AP Photo/Remy de la Mauviniere) #

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Lebanese crowds watch fireworks on New Year's Eve in the heart of central Beirut at midnight on January 1, 2011 as New Year revellers around the planet began welcoming 2011 in a blaze of fireworks and parties. (ANWAR AMRO/AFP/Getty Images) #

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The people of Hamburg celebrate the new year with fireworks at Landungbrueken on January 1, 2011 in Hamburg, Germany. (Stuart Franklin/Getty Images) #

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Fireworks light up the London skyline and Big Ben just after midnight on January 1, 2011 in London, England. Thousands of people lined the banks of the River Thames in central London to see in the New Year with a spectacular fireworks display. (Dan Kitwood/Getty Images) #