New year celebrations around the world – as it happened
An elderly lady waits for customers to snap up her New Year's Eve party hats and masks in Yangon, Myanmar. A process of reform has been under way in the country, also known as Burma, since November 2010, when military rule was replaced by a new army-backed civilian government
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Celebrations are in full swing in Taipei, Taiwan, where the tourist board estimates more than 1m people have travelled to the city to marvel at the spectacle of thousands of fireworks exploding from the famous 101 skyscraper
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On New Year's Eve last year, about 100 women in Cologne's central square and other German cities were sexually assaulted. A year on and Cologne police have deployed 1,500 officers - 10 times the number of officers compared to last year. Extra security guards are also on duty to ensure the area is safe for New Year's Eve party-goers
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Paramedics struggling to cope with level of emergency calls hours before midnight
The Press Association is reporting that paramedics are dealing with a high level of emergency calls on New Year's Eve:
Paramedics were struggling to reach patients in parts of the south-east on New Year's Eve amid a high level of 999 calls.
South East Coast ambulance service NHS foundation trust (Secamb) said 999 callers in Kent in particular were being hit by delays in crews reaching them due to the high demand.
Managers said they were focusing on responding to life-threatening 999 calls as they urged people to think carefully about whether they really needed an ambulance.
Secamb's on-call gold incident commander Richard Webber said: "We are already receiving a high volume of emergency 999 calls, especially across Kent and are struggling to reach many of these in a timely manner. Our staff are already working extremely hard but this does mean that for certain emergencies, some patients can expect to wait longer for an ambulance as we focus our efforts on responding to calls which are deemed life-threatening."
During the festive period, Secamb saw a 10% rise in demand compared to last year. From 7pm on Christmas Eve to 11pm on Boxing Day it responded to 4,840 emergency calls.
Last year, between 10pm on New Year's Eve and 4am on 1 January, the trust handled 1,135 calls – an average of more than three 999 calls a minute – and this year is expected to be even higher.
Webber urged people to only dial 999 in a "serious emergency" and asked them to consider other options, including the NHS 111 service.
Partly in response to high call levels, it emerged this week that Secamb's specialist critical care paramedics are being brought into the overall cover plan system to make them available to respond to all types of call.
The change, revealed in a leaked memo, provoked criticism among CCPs who fear lives could be endangered by them being tied up with non-urgent calls instead of dealing with life-threatening emergencies as they have done previously.
Secamb managers have defended the move, saying that with high demand and poor response times it could not continue the current model of not sending CCPs to certain categories of patient.
The change will run until the end of March 2017 when it will be reviewed.
Secamb, which covers Kent, Surrey, Sussex and north-east Hampshire, was put into special measures in September after the Care Quality Commission ranked it inadequate. The change is part of its recovery plan.
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Fears that selfie sticks would become passé in 2017 appear totally unfounded as new year partygoers in Hong Kong capture the turn of the year.
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Swedes see in 1 January with a nyårstårta, or new year's cake. Here's a trifle cake inspired by Pokémon Go. One of many being baked up and down the country this evening. Looks good ...
Sarah Bernhardt (@sanasilb)
Årets nyårstårta är klar. Tryffeltårta á la PokemonGo. #pokemongo #HAPPYNEWYEAR pic.twitter.com/hW9lYGDH6y
December 31, 2016
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Martin Pengelly
Having completed the important diplomatic work of saluting his "many enemies and those who have fought me and lost so badly they just don't know what to do", President-elect Donald Trump will see in the New Year with 800 guests at an "elegant and sophisticated" party at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.
Rather in the vein of a planned inauguration in which big names and smaller names – such as those of individual Rockettes and members of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir – have declined to perform, in the last case preferring not to be seen to endorse "tyranny and fascism", the calibre of celebrities on the guest list seems uncertain at best.
As of Saturday morning, ageing Hollywood action star Sylvester Stallone, who reportedly turned down Trump's offer of a job with the National Endowment for the Arts, was still due to attend. The legendary music producer Quincy Jones, however, was not.
In a call with reporters on Friday, incoming White House spokesman Sean Spicer mentioned the two stars as guests. Later, a spokesman for Jones – a Clinton donor – said he did not know how Spicer got that idea, as Jones would be seeing in 2017 with his family in Los Angeles.
Ongoing concerns about potential conflicts of interest between President Trump and Businessman Trump have also infringed on the party. Politico reported on Friday that Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks rejected suggestions that the sale of tickets, at between $525 and $575 a head, constituted the sale of access to the president-elect and his family.
"The transition is not concerned about the appearance of a conflict," Hicks said, on the same call as Spicer. "This is an annual celebratory event at the private club, like others that have continued to occur since the election. "Additionally, the president cannot and does not have a conflict."
Some beg to differ.
Koreans celebrate their day of birth but also mark growing a year older from 1 January.
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I am handing over to my colleague Marc Walker, who will be continuing this live blog. I would like to thank all those who have sent in their photographs and tweets, and for everyone who has commented under this article.
I'll sign off with one of my favourite pictures of the celebrations so far. Happy New Year, everyone.
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