The world welcomes 2025 with light shows, embraces and ice plunges

From Sydney to Mumbai to Nairobi, communities around the world have welcomed 2025 with spectacular light shows, embraces and ice plunges.

The New Year’s Eve ball dropped in soggy Times Square, where thousands of revellers 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 Times Square.

In New York, crowds cheered and couples kissed when the ball weighing almost six tonnes and featuring 2,688 crystal triangles descended down a pole in Times Square. The celebration included musical performances by TLC and the Jonas Brothers.

“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.

Rio de Janeiro threw Brazil’s main New Year’s Eve bash on Copacabana beach, with barges shooting off 12 straight minutes of fireworks.

Thousands of tourists on cruise ships and charter boats witnessed the show up close, while many more streamed onto the sand to find their spot.

The crowd on Copacabana was expected to exceed two million people — most decked out in white to keep with tradition. They packed together to enjoy concerts by Brazilian music legends Caetano Veloso, Maria Bethânia and Ivete Sangalo, among others.

Right after the fireworks concluded, Brazil’s biggest pop star Anitta took to the stage.

Auckland was the first major city to celebrate, with thousands thronging downtown or climbing the city’s ring of volcanic peaks for a fireworks vantage point.

Fireworks blasted off the Sydney Harbour Bridge and across the bay. More than a million Australians and others gathered at the 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.

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.

Conflict muted acknowledgements of the start of 2025 in places like the Middle East, Sudan and Ukraine.

Chinese state media covered an exchange of New Year’s greetings between leader Xi Jinping and Russia’s Vladimir Putin in a reminder of growing closeness between two leaders who face tensions with the West.

Mr Xi told Mr Putin their countries will “always move forward hand in hand,” the official Xinhua News Agency said.

China has maintained ties and robust trade with Russia since the latter invaded Ukraine in 2022, helping to offset Western sanctions and attempts to isolate Putin.

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 a fireworks show at the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest skyscraper.

And in Nairobi, Kenya, scattered fireworks were heard.

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.

During Mass on Wednesday, the Pope is expected to again appeal for peace in Ukraine and the Middle East.

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 transformed the city into a site of joy, fraternity and astonishing sporting achievements.

In Switzerland and some other places, people embraced the cold, stripping and plunging into the water in freezing temperatures.

American Samoa will be among the last to welcome 2025, a full 24 hours after New Zealand.