It was an ordinary day. From Sydney to Paris to China, communities around the world welcomed 2025 with spectacular light shows, embraces and pyrotechnics. The New Year's Eve ball dropped in soggy Times Square, where thousands of revelers stuck it out in heavy rain to celebrate the start of 2025 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 Time Square. Auckland was the first major city to celebrate, with thronging downtown or climbing the city's ring of volcanic peaks for a fireworks vantage point. Conflict muted acknowledgment of the 2025 in places like the Middle East, Sudan and Ukraine. American Samoa was among the last to welcome 2025, a full 24 hours after New Zealand. A few hours after Auckland, fireworks blasted off Australia's Syney Harbor Bridge and across the bay. More than a million people gathered at iconic Sydney Harbor 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. In New York City, crowds cheered and couples kissed when the ball weighing almost 6 tons an featuring 2,688 crystal triangles descended down a pole in Times Square. The revelry culminated with a canoe party and a carpeting of soggy confetti as attendees left singing along to Frank Sinatra's version of "New York, New York." Las Vegas' pyrotechnic show washed on the Strip, wit 340,000 people anticipated as fireworks were launched from the rooftops of casinos. Much of Japan shout down ahead of the nation's biggest holiday, as temples and homes underwent a through 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. 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. Xi told Putin their countries will "always move forward hand in hand," the official Xinhua News Agency said. Paris capped a momentous 2024 wit its traditional countdown and fireworks extravaganza on the Champs-Elysées. The city's emblematic Arc de Triumph monument was turned into a giant tableau for a light sow that celebrated the city's landmarks and the passage of time with whirring clocks. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.
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| Fireworks explode over Sydney Opera House in Australia |
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