Happy New Year to Samoa, Kiribati and Tonga – the first three nations in the world to enter 2020!
As the clock struck 3:25 PM in India on Tuesday, those in the South Pacific officially entered the new decade. Samoa and Kiribati, also known as Christmas Island, lie immediately west of the International Date Line in the Pacific Ocean and have officially kick-started celebrations across the globe.
New year celebrations were sombre than usual in Samoa. as people burst crackers and fireworks erupted at from Mount Vaea, near the capital of Apia.
The new decade is born at a time Kiribati is battling drought and rising sea levels - consequences of climate change. Its name is a respelling of the English word "Christmas" according to the Kiribati language's conventions for the Latin script.
The island has the greatest land area of any coral atoll in the world, about 388 square kilometres and lies 232 km north of the Equator, 2,160 km and 5,360 km from San Francisco.