From Sydney to Mumbai to Paris to Rio de Janeiro, communities around the world welcomed in the new year with spectacular light shows, embraces and ice plunges.
The New Year’s Eve ball dropped in soggy Times Square, where thousands of people stuck it out in heavy rain to celebrate in New York City.
Countries in the South Pacific Ocean were the first to ring in the New Year, with midnight in New Zealand striking 18 hours before the ball dropped in Times Square. Auckland was the first major city to celebrate, with thousands thronging downtown or climbing the city’s volcanic peaks for a fireworks vantage point.
Photo: AFP
American Samoa was among the last to welcome the year, a full 24 hours after New Zealand.
Conflict muted acknowledgements of the start of 2025 in places such as the Middle East, Sudan and Ukraine.
In New York City, crowds cheered and couples kissed when the ball weighing about 5.4 tonnes and featuring 2,688 crystal triangles descended a pole in Times Square.
The celebration included musical performances by TLC and the Jonas Brothers.
The revelry culminated with a dance party and a carpeting of soggy confetti as attendees left singing along to Frank Sinatra’s version of New York, New York.
Angie Cuadradu, from Virginia, said she hopes that this year is going to be great.
“We’re sending positive vibes everywhere,” she said.
Much of Japan shut down ahead of the nation’s biggest holiday, as temples and homes underwent a thorough cleaning.
The upcoming Year of the Snake in the Asian zodiac is heralded as one of rebirth — alluding to the reptile’s shedding skin. Other places in Asia are to mark the Year of the Snake later, with the Lunar New Year.
In South Korea, celebrations were cut back or canceled during a period of national mourning following Sunday’s crash of a Jeju Air flight in Muan that killed 179 people.
In India, thousands of revelers in the financial hub of Mumbai flocked to the city’s bustling promenade facing the Arabian Sea.
In Dubai, United Arab Emirates, thousands attended a fireworks show at the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest skyscraper.
Paris capped last year with its traditional countdown and fireworks extravaganza on the Champs-Elysees. The city’s emblematic Arc de Triomphe monument was turned into a giant tableau for a light show that celebrated the city’s landmarks and the passage of time with whirring clocks.
“Paris is a party,” Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo said.
In Switzerland and some other places, people embraced the cold, stripping and plunging into the water in freezing temperatures.
Rio de Janeiro threw Brazil’s main New Year’s Eve bash on Copacabana beach, with barges shooting off 12 straight minutes of fireworks.
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