New Years celebrations are underway around the world, with firework displays in Auckland and Sydney starting a night of global partying.

Christmas Island in the Pacific Ocean was the first to welcome in 2009 at 10am Greenwich Mean Time. before the New Year arrived in New Zealand an hour later.

Aucklands dazzling firework show, launched from the Sky Tower in the centre of the city, was broadcast around the world in a prelude to the enormous pyrotechnic display in Sydney Harbour two hours later.

A record crowd gathered in the Australian city to watch Sydneys biggest fireworks display yet. Around 5,000 kilograms of shells, comets and experimental fireworks lit up the sky over the Opera House and the iconic steel bridge, which dominate the citys harbour.

Fortunato Foti, the fireworks director, said: Its probably 30 per cent bigger on the bridge alone than what its been in previous years. Personally, I dont think you can have too many fireworks. The more the better.”

The show cost an estimated five million Australian dollars (£2.4 million) with thousands of the citys four million residents queuing for harbourside spots some 12 hours before the main event. Police estimated that up to 1.5 million people watched the spectacle.

Jessica Williams, 29, a British tourist said New Years Eve in Sydney was world-renowned. Coming from overseas youve kind of got to do the whole Sydney and fireworks thing, she said. It was a great experience.”

A similar event will be held on the Thames in London tonight, although the temperatures will be rather different to the balmy summer’s night in Australia. Forecasters are predicting the coldest New Years Eve in Britain for more than a decade.

The Met Office warned those who do venture outside to wrap up well in readiness for a return to the deep freeze of a few weeks ago, during the coldest start to December since the mid 1990s.

Temperatures could drop to minus 6C (21F) in parts of Scotland and minus 4C (25F) in England. Many parts will be below zero and very frosty. Its a big contrast to the milder weather weve had in the past five years or so, a Met Office spokesman said.

Up to half a million people are expected to gather in Central London nonetheless for a £1.6 million party on the banks of the Thames.

In Edinburgh, a record 20,000 people took part in the annual torchlight procession last night as the city prepares for its Hogmanay party tonight.

In Dubai, however, opulent multimillion-pound New Year’s Eve celebrations have been cancelled due to the Gaza violence, leaving hordes of expatriates hastily making alternative plans.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, ruler of the Gulf state, called off festivities late last night.

He said “all public New Years celebrations” should be stopped “in solidarity with the Palestinian people, who are currently enduring death, suffering and destruction in Gaza”.

The city, home to thousands of Western expatriate businesspeople and tourists, usually holds spectacular public firework displays and open-air entertainments worth millions.

British and other foreigners living in the city were today planning alternative celebrations. Hotels were said to be holding revised indoor entertainments, but any outdoor elements would be called off.

Weapons used in this video(Not in order):
• AK-47
• Barrett
• Desert Eagle
• Dragonov
• G36C
• M1014
• M14
• M249
• M21
• M40
• M60
• M1911 (Silencer)
• M9 (Silencer)
• MP5
• Mini-UZI
• P90
• Skorpion
• USP
• W1200
• Grenade

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See how Bruce Lee, Jet Li, and Jackie Chan express the meaning of chinese martial arts.

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Check out Overall Medal results -

The official website of the BEIJING 2008 Olympic Games

She has been called the “Smiling Angel in Wheelchair” and the “Most Beautiful Torchbearer” by Chinese citizens after showing incredible courage in protecting the Olympic torch in Paris from repeated assaults by Tibetan separatists.

Jin, from Shanghai, lost part of her right leg at nine after suffering a malignant tumor in her ankle. She later returned to school after a year of chemotherapy. Refusing to use a cane for fear that she would get in people’s way, Jin insisted on getting around on one foot, which would lead to a lot of pain.

She successfully survived the cancer and became a member of the Chinese national wheelchair fencing team. She won a silver and a bronze in the 2002 Busan Far East and South Pacific Games (FESPIC).

Jin was supposed to be the third torchbearer in the Paris relay on Monday but the plan was changed because of the chaotic protests. The torch was eventually passed to her on the banks of the Seine River.

But before her torch could be lit, several protestors threw themselves at Jin and her two companions, one of who is blind. Jin appeared a little scared in her wheelchair but protected the torch from the separatists.

“My first instinctive react was to protect the torch,” Jin told Xinhua on her way back to the city center from the Beijing airport.

Jin said the separatists wanted to grab the torch away from her and her chin and shoulders were scratched, but she refused to give the torch away.

“I felt no pain from the scratches and injury on my right leg,” she said. “I only wanted to protect the torch.”

Although she has captured the hearts of millions of Chinese people, Jin said that she just did a natural thing.

一位网友在BBS上发贴中说：

中午去了现场，心情沉重，更打了暴徒份子。　　　　　在这个不是中国的地盘上，zd支持者们和反奥运者可以表达自己的意见，愿意在各国记者 的摄像机前展示也没有人拦着；就像我们的人拿着国旗支持奥运一样。　　　　　但不幸的是今天的活动掺杂了太多的暴力。　　　　　我在艾菲尔铁塔出来后的那 段塞纳河边，火炬手是个一条腿被截肢的年轻的姑娘，另还有一 男和一女保护，几乎隔5秒就冲出一个人试图去抢火炬，前进的道路异常艰难，于是为了保 护这位姑娘，那一男和一女就将轮椅暂且推到了路边停放的两辆汽车中间的辖道缝隙避一避 ，正在我的面前。此时从路边突然冲出一个暴徒去抢火炬，而保护她的一男一女因汽车挡着 无法近身，勇敢的姑娘低下头让出自己的背保护火炬，暴徒就拉扯她的胳膊还打她，那一刻 我脑子里啥都没有，本能的冲上去拉拽那个暴徒，用手里的相机打他。随后我左边又有一个 人冲过来打那个暴徒（还好不是打我的），还有一个法国警察过来最终把暴徒揪走了。这一 切都只发生在瞬间！火炬手姑娘重新抬起头，大眼睛中含着泪水，我左边的一个中国女生向 她高喊：加油，要坚强！我才缓过神来，也喊到：加油，加油！此时我的眼泪才唰的一下下 来，我很悲愤，一个手无寸铁的女生，更何况是个残疾人，也要打？起码的人道主义都没有 。政治运动中，永远有一些暴徒打着民主与自由的旗帜进行暴力行动。

[关于背景音乐]:

大 家可能对用日本音乐做背景比较反感，我先说一下这段音乐本身的背景。 On your mark是1995年宫崎骏为C&A的新作制作的一部长六分多钟的Music Video。影片中反映的是一个被核辐射所威胁的世界，人们为了安全而躲进了地底苟延 残喘。两位主人公是类似突击警察之类的成员（凭其特征很容易就认出他们就是C&A中的 两位成员）。在一次歼灭邪教组织中发现了活着的有翼”天使”，她被认为是和人类重返地 表的重要相关元素（有点宗教色彩），因此政府马上将她送进了实验室。两位正义的主人公 经过内心的一番挣扎，终于决定营救这个唯一生存着的”天使。

这 首歌我听过很多遍，我本人非常喜欢。我查遍了我iTunes里面中日美英近2000 多首歌，没有找到比这首歌更加能够表达我想表达的感情。如果这个世界上真的有什么不应 该和政治，种族挂钩的东西，那么它就应该是音乐。我希望大家对这个要宽容一些，毕竟这 首歌本身以倡导和平为主的。我不会忘记自己是谁，但音乐，应该是无国界的。

当然，如果大家觉得有更合适的选择，你要推荐给我，我才能够知道，才能够进一步的修饰 ，昏睡百年，我的中国心这些都太强调中国，表达起来要么太钢，要么太柔，而且民族性太 强，我觉得不适合，奥运是世界的奥运。我正在改编一个全中文版的，大家有什么好歌，请 推荐。谢谢