Sydney and Auckland are the first major cities to ring in 2024 as war shadows celebrations elsewhere

Open this photo in gallery: Tourists walk around New Year’s Eve sign ahead of New Year’s Eve in Times Square, on Dec. 29, 2023, in New York.Yuki Iwamura/The Associated Press Sydney and Auckland were among the world's first major cities to ring in 2024, with revelers cheering spectacular fireworks displays that lit up the skies over Sydney Harbor and New Zealand's tallest structure, Sky Tower. As the clock struck midnight in Australia, tons of explosives erupted in a 12-minute display that focused on the Sydney Harbor Bridge. More than 1 million people - a number equivalent to one in five…