World welcomes 2025 with light shows, ice plunges and joy
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From Sydney to New York’s Time Square to Nairobi, communities around the world welcomed 2025 with spectacular light shows, warm embraces, joy, happiness and ice plunges.
New Zealand’s Auckland became the first major city to celebrate, as thousands thronged downtown or climbed the city’s ring of volcanic peaks for a fireworks vantage point.
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 drop in New York’s Times Square, where revellers donning silver top hats emblazoned with “2025” gathered hours early.
A tide of humanity washed onto Rio de Janeiro's Copacabana Beach, where as many as 2.5 million people attended the city's fireworks display and danced to the sounds of Anitta and other Brazilian performers.
"What's better than starting the new year with strangers from all over the world?" said native New Yorker Norquan Tirick Goldson, one of tens of thousands of partygoers who braved freezing temperatures to cram into Times Square.
Couples kissed and strangers hugged as the Times Square ball descended and more than a ton of confetti fluttered from surrounding rooftops.
More than a million gathered in the centre of Paris to see out what resident Florence Coret described as "a rather complicated year".
Thousands also lined the banks of London's River Thames for a firework extravaganza, although bad weather washed out events elsewhere.
Pro-European Georgians rang in the new year by setting off fireworks at month-long rallies against a ruling party they accuse of being under Russia's influence.
And Serbian students marched in Belgrade and two other cities demanding accountability over the collapse of a train station roof in November that killed 15 people.
Sydney sprayed nine tonnes of fireworks from its famed Opera House and Harbour Bridge to begin the year's farewell.
A spectacular pyrotechnics display then lit up Hong Kong's Victoria Harbour as Asia joined in, popping champagne corks at New Year's Eve parties.
Thousands thronged the streets of Taipei to watch Taiwan's tallest skyscraper erupt in a dazzling display of fireworks.
Celebrations were more muted in Beijing, where visitors crammed into Yonghe Temple to light incense sticks, spin prayer wheels and pray for good fortune in 2025.
In 2024, Taylor Swift brought the curtain down on her Eras tour, pygmy hippo Moo Deng went viral and teenage football prodigy Lamine Yamal helped Spain conquer the Euros.
Conflict muted acknowledgements of the start of 2025 in places like the Middle East, Sudan and Ukraine.
Earliest fireworks
Fireworks blasted off the Sydney Harbour Bridge and across the bay. More than a million Australians and others gathered at iconic Sydney Harbour for the celebration. British pop star Robbie Williams led a singalong with the crowd. The celebration also featured Indigenous ceremonies and performances that acknowledged the land’s first people.
Asia prepares for year of the Snake
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 will mark the Year of the Snake later, with the Lunar New Year.
In South Korea, celebrations were cut back or cancelled during a period of national mourning following Sunday’s crash of a Jeju Air flight in Muan that killed 179 people.
In Thailand’s Bangkok, shopping malls competed for crowds with live musical acts and fireworks shows. A fireworks display in Indonesia’s Jakarta featured 800 drones.
China and Russia exchange goodwill
Chinese state media covered an exchange of New Year’s greetings between leader Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin in a reminder of growing closeness between two leaders who face tensions with the West.
Seaside celebrations and beyond
In India, thousands of revellers in the financial hub of Mumbai flocked to the city’s bustling promenade facing the Arabian Sea.
In Sri Lanka, people gathered at Buddhist temples to light oil lamps and incense sticks and pray.
In Dubai, thousands attended fireworks show at the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest skyscraper. And in Nairobi, Kenya, scattered fireworks were heard.
A holy year begins
Rome’s traditional New Year’s Eve festivities have an additional draw: the start of Pope Francis’ Holy Year, the once-every-quarter-century celebration projected to bring some 32 million pilgrims to the Eternal City in 2025. On Tuesday, Francis celebrated a vespers at St. Peter’s Basilica. During Mass on Wednesday he is expected to again appeal for peace in Ukraine and the Middle East. Jan 1 is a day of obligation for Catholics, marking the Solemnity of Mary.
Paris recaptures the Olympic spirit
Paris capped a momentous 2024 with its traditional countdown and fireworks extravaganza on the Champs-Elysées. 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,” proclaimed Mayor Anne Hidalgo. The Summer Olympics and Paralympic Games hosted in the French capital from July to September had transformed the city into a site of joy, fraternity and astonishing sporting achievements.
Wintry weather, for good and bad
London rang in the New Year with a pyrotechnic display along the River Thames. With a storm bringing bitter weather to other parts of the United Kingdom, however, festivities in Edinburgh, Scotland, were cancelled. But in Switzerland and some other places, people embraced the cold, stripping and plunging into the water in freezing temperatures.
Rio expects 2 million revellers
Rio de Janeiro was throwing Brazil’s main New Year’s Eve bash on Copacabana Beach, with barges shooting off 12 straight minutes of fireworks. Thousands of tourists in cruise ships and charter boats were dropping anchor to witness the show up close, while many were streaming onto the sand to find their spot.
More than 2 million people — most decked out in white to keep with tradition — were expected on Copacabana. They packed together to enjoy concerts by Brazilian music legends Caetano Veloso, Maria Bethânia and Ivete Sangalo, among others. Right after the fireworks conclude, Brazil’s biggest pop star, Anitta, will take the stage.
American traditions, old and new
In New York City, the organisation managing Times Square has tested its famous ball drop and inspected 2025 numerals, lights and thousands of crystals as part of a tradition going back to 1907. This year’s celebration will include musical performances by TLC, Jonas Brothers, Rita Ora and Sophie Ellis-Bextor.
By Tuesday evening, people who had been in line for hours moved through a gauntlet of security checks, and then rested up for the night of performances and cheering ahead, with some even laying on the pavement. “It’s the biggest party in the world. There’s no other place to celebrate New Year’s than Times Square,” said Tommy Onolfo of Long Island, who started attending regularly 8 years ago.
Las Vegas’ pyrotechnic show will be on the Strip, with 340,000 people anticipated as fireworks are launched from the rooftops of casinos. Nearby, the Sphere venue will display for the first time countdowns to midnight in different time zones.
In Pasadena, California, Rose Parade spectators were camping out and hoping for prime spots. And some 200,000 people were flocking to a country music party in Nashville, Tennessee. American Samoa will be among the last to welcome 2025, a full 24 hours after New Zealand.–Agencies