World welcomes 2025 with light shows, hugs and ice plunges
Revellers worldwide celebrate with hopes for a brighter future, as nations usher in the New Year with fireworks and festivities
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Cities around the world welcome 2025 with spectacular New Year’s fireworks
From Sydney to Mumbai to Paris to Rio de Janeiro, communities around the world welcomed 2025 with spectacular light shows, embraces and ice plunges.
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 Times Square. 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.
Conflict muted acknowledgements of the start of 2025 in places like the Middle East, Sudan and Ukraine.
American Samoa will be among the last to welcome 2025, a full 24 hours after New Zealand.
Fireworks in Sydney
A few hours after Auckland, fireworks blasted off Australia’s Sydney Harbour Bridge and across the bay. More than a million people gathered at iconic Sydney Harbour for the celebration. British pop star Robbie Williams led a singalong with the crowd.
