Countries welcome 2024 with New Year fireworks and celebrations; Tributes for Australian journalist John Pilger after his death at the age of 84; and in football, Melbourne Victory finish the year at the top of the A-League Men's table.
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TRANSCRIPT
- Countries welcome 2024 with New Year fireworks and celebrations
- Tributes for Australian journalist John Pilger after his death at the age of 84
- And in football, Melbourne Victory finish the year at the top of the A-League Men's table
Crowds crammed into vantage points for Sydney Harbour's world-renowned fireworks, with revellers welcoming 2024.
The night's festivities over, another year of uncertainty has dawned with hangovers from 2023 of extreme weather, cost-of-living woes and unaffordable housing.
These revellers watched the fireworks for the first time from the Sydney Harbour foreshore.
They told SBS, they're hoping for good things in 2024.
"For me, particularly and personally, [my wish] is to be kind to everyone. Be considerate. And you be kind to others - and people will be kind to you."
"I started to just change it up. Start the new year looking different. Everything different - and why not? I'm just starting uni. So I have high expectation for my school life and everything else going on good in my life, yes."
In his New Year's message, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says he is "hopeful and optimistic" about Australia's economic conditions in 2024.
He pointed to falling inflation, jobs growth and wages increasing, and he flagged further cost of living relief measures for lower and middle income earners in the new year.
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Other countries in the Asia-Pacific welcomed 2024.
In Japan, on the grounds of Zojoji temple in Tokyo, priests and members of the public took turns swinging a wooden pole against the huge bell to ring in the new year.
The tolling of bells at midnight is an ancient tradition for Buddhists, who believe that humans are born with 108 worldly desires and that these are removed when a bell is struck 108 times.
Taiwanese tourist Amanda Liu says she has clear goals for 2024.
"We are here to pray and it’s peaceful – that’s why we come here...I prayed for my family’s health, second (I hope) my business will be successful, and thirdly my relation to be ‘love love’ (laughs)."
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Heavy rainfall is expected to batter parts of Australia's east coast on New Year's Day, with flood-ravaged communities bracing for more potential flash flooding.
Residents of Queensland's far southeast including the Gold Coast, Coolangatta, Tamborine Mountain and Springbrook were on high alert on Sunday night with a severe weather warning forecasting locally intense rainfall.
The Bureau of Meteorology has forecast three to six-hourly rainfall totals of between 80 mm and 160 mm.
Total 24-hour rainfall totals could exceed 200mm in some areas, more likely around the ranges.
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Residents and medics in central Gaza say Israeli jets have intensified attacks on area, as battles raged through the rubble of towns and refugee camps in a war that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said would take "many more months" to end.
Mr Netanyahu's comments signal no let-up in a campaign that has killed many thousands and levelled much of Gaza, while his vow to restore Israeli control over the enclave's border with Egypt raises new questions over an eventual two-state solution.
Juliette Touma from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees says an immediate humanitarian ceasefire is needed to stop the air strikes and to allow more aid through.
"As the world counts down, there is another countdown that is happening in Gaza and that is the countdown against the risk of looming famine, which could happen in the coming few weeks, if no more food supply is coming to Gaza - adequate food supplies."
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Veteran investigative journalist and documentary filmmaker John Pilger has died at the age 84.
A statement from his family, posted on X, formerly Twitter, said Mr Pilger died on New Year's Eve in London.
The statement said while his journalism and documentaries were celebrated around the world, to his family he was simply the most amazing and loved dad, grandad and partner.
Born in Bondi, New South Wales in 1939, Pilger relocated to London, England in the 1960s and worked for the Daily Mirror newspaper, ITV's former investigative programme "World in Action" and Reuters.
An outspoken critic of western foreign policy and of Australia's treatment of Indigenous Australians, Mr Pilger was also an award-winning documentary filmmaker who made over 50 films.
His 1979 film "Year Zero: The Silent Death Of Cambodia", shot less than a year after the Khmer Rouge downfall, gave a stark insight into the impact of the regime's rule.
Pilger won an Emmy award for his 1990 follow-up ITV documentary, "Cambodia: The Betrayal".
Kevin Lygo, managing director of media and entertainment at ITV, described Pilger as “a giant of campaigning journalism” who offered viewers a level of analysis and opinion that was rare in mainstream television.
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In football,
Melbourne Victory have ended the year at the top of the A-League Men's table after a convincing 2-0 win over Adelaide United.
Victory, who had most of the chances throughout the encounter, finally broke the deadlock after 73 minutes.
Zinedine Machach scored the first goal. He told Channel Ten that the results stem from the good environment in the team created by manager Tony Popovich.
"When I come here, the boss gives me full confidence and he gives all players confidence and this is not easy because we are 20-25 players. But he tries to give all players confidence and we see in the pitch, all the players are happy, he'll fight for the players, the player enters, (he'll) put (on) someone extra, and this is good."
