From Sydney to Vladivostok to Mumbai, communities around the world began welcoming 2025 with spectacular light displays, eclipses and other ways to say goodbye to 2024.
In Auckland, the first major city to be celebrated, thousands went into the city center or climbed a circle of the city's volcanic peaks for a viewing point of fireworks. There was a light show recognizing the Native Americans.
Countries in the South Pacific were the first to ring in 2025, with midnight in New Zealand striking 18 hours before the ball dropped in Times Square in New York City.
Silent conflicts marked the new year in places like the Middle East, Sudan and Ukraine.
Fireworks burst off the Sydney Harbor Bridge and across the bay. Over a million Australians and others gathered at Sydney's iconic Harbor to celebrate. British pop star Robbie Williams led the crowd in singing.
The celebration also featured traditional ceremonies and celebrations.
Communities in New Zealand, Australia and Hong Kong were among the first in the world to ring in 2025, and they did so in style with the help of music, lasers and fireworks.
Toronto was to feature a 10-minute fireworks display along the river and a series of pop-up shows. In previous years, around 250,000 people attended the exhibition at the seaside.
Asia prepares for the Year of the Snake
Much of Japan shut down ahead of the country's biggest holiday, as temples and homes were thoroughly cleaned.
The Year of the Snake in the Asian Zodiac in 2025 is known as one of rebirth – referring to the shedding skin of reptiles.
Stores in Japan, which observes the zodiac cycle from January 1, have been selling snake-themed products. Other places in Asia celebrate the Year of the Snake later with the Lunar New Year.
In South Korea, concerts were cut back or canceled during national mourning after Sunday's Jeju Air plane crash in Muan 179 people were killed.
In Bangkok, shopping malls competed for crowds with live music concerts and firework displays. A fireworks show in Jakarta featured 800 drones.
Western rivals exchange goodwill
Chinese state media covered an exchange of 2025 wishes between Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin as a reminder of a growing rapprochement between two leaders who face tensions with the West.
Xi told Putin that their countries will “always move forward hand in hand,” the official Xinhua News Agency reported on Tuesday.
China has maintained strong ties and trade with Russia since the latter invaded Ukraine in 2022, helping to counter Western sanctions and efforts to isolate Putin.
In India, thousands of revelers in the financial center of Mumbai flocked to the busy 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 the fireworks display In Nairobi, scattered fireworks were heard as midnight approached.
Conflict casts a shadow in the Middle East
Celebrations were expected to be held in Israel and Gaza, where the war against Hamas is in its 15th month, with tens of thousands of people killed and dozens of hostages still in captivity.
Dubai welcomed the new year with fireworks over the iconic Burj Khalifa, while Bangkok's fireworks made from sticky rice lit up the sky in colour. pastel and gold. In Damascus, people gathered at a Christmas market to ring in 2025, some waving Syrian flags and recording a fireworks display on their phones.
Lebanon is in the grip of a serious economic crisis, and many areas were severely damaged during the war between Israel and Hezbollah. Meanwhile, Syrians have expressed hope and uncertainty for the year ahead following the ouster of Bashar al-Assad as president.
A holy year begins
Rome's traditional New Year's Eve celebrations had an added attraction: Pope Francis' initiation of the New Year, the once-a-season celebration expected to bring some 32 million pilgrims to the eternal city in 2025.
On Tuesday, Francis was due to celebrate vespers at St Peter's Basilica, followed by mass on Wednesday, when he is expected to make another appeal for peace amid the escalating wars in Ukraine and the Middle East.
A few hours before Germany rang in the new year, Chancellor Olaf Scholz called on its 84 million inhabitants to stick together despite world crises and wars, the country's sick economy and deadly conditions. Christmas Market Attack which shocked the nation.
“We are a nation together and we can draw strength from this – especially in difficult times like this,” Scholz said in his pre-recorded speech.
Download the Olympic spirit in Paris
Paris was going to end 2024 on a very important note with its traditional festive and fireworks display on the famous Champs-Élysées.
The Summer Olympics and Paralympic Games held in the French capital from July to September transformed the city into a site of joy, brotherhood and incredible sporting achievements, and marked a milestone another important milestone in recovering from deadly terrorist attacks in 2015 by al-Qaeda and the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
London, meanwhile, was expected to ring in the year with a pyrotechnic display along the River Thames and a parade through the city center on Wednesday.
With a storm bringing bitter weather to other parts of the UK, however, celebrations in Edinburgh – including the Kiln Street party, a garden concert and the castle's pyrotechnics display – were canceled around early
2 million traitors
Rio de Janeiro was to throw the main New Year's Eve basket in Brazil on Copacabana Beach, with 10 ferries off the coast with 12 minutes of fireworks., and thousands of tourists in six ships trips intended to see the show up close.
Rio's city hall closely guarded its plans for a light and sound show.
American traditions old and new
In New York City, the group in charge of Times Square tested its famous ball drop and explored the numbers 2025, lights and thousands of crystals, as part of a tradition dating back to 1907. music by TLC, Jonas Brothers, Rita Ora and Sophie Ellis- Bextor was scheduled for this year's celebration.
The party, covering several blocks around the city's main tourist and theater center, was expected to attract a large crowd despite the rain and cold weather.
Las Vegas was going to say goodbye in 2024 with old traditions – and some new ones. His annual eight-minute pyrotechnic show takes place on the Las Vegas Strip, with 340,000 people expected when fireworks are launched from the roofs of nine casinos.
Nearby, the large Sphere complex was to display for the first time a countdown to midnight in different time zones.
