Hyderabad News

  The eagerly awaited first seconds of 2021 fell on the Pacific nations of Kiribati and Samoa from 1000 GMT Paris : The world began ushering in the New Year with pandemic controls muting celebrations for billions of people eager to bid farewell to a virus-ridden 2020. After a grinding year that has seen at least 1.7 million people die from Covid-19, fresh waves of  infection  have sparked renewed lockdowns and forced would-be revellers to extend their 2020 tradition of watching events from the sofa. The eagerly awaited first seconds of 2021 fell on the Pacific nations of Kiribati and Samoa from 1000 GMT, with the uninhabited Howland and  Baker  Islands the last to tip over into the New Year, 26 hours later. New Zealand, which has won plaudits for its handling of the coronavirus, followed an hour later with large crowds gathered in Auckland to watch a fireworks display. Although still isolated by international border closures, months of zero recorded cases in the...