WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — From Sydney to Mumbai to Nairobi, communities around the world welcomed 2025 with spectacular light shows, embraces and ice plunges.
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 revelers donning silver top hats emblazoned with “2025” gathered hours early.
Conflict muted acknowledgements of the start of 2025 in places like the Middle East, Sudan and Ukraine.
central business district on January 01, 2025 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Asanka Ratnayake/Getty Images)” width=”720″ height=”479″ src=”https://img.huffingtonpost.com/asset/67745eef160000220070a69c.jpeg?ops=scalefit_720_noupscale”/>A general view of New Year’s fireworks and light-show looking towards the central business district on January 01, 2025 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Asanka Ratnayake/Getty Images)
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Fireworks explode as thousands of people gather in the main business district on New Year’s Eve in Jakarta, Indonesia, Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Tatan Syuflana)
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Earliest fireworks
Fireworks blasted off the Sydney Harbor Bridge and across the bay. More than a million Australians and others 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.
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 canceled 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.
A woman walks near an illuminated decoration on New Year’s Eve in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
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People watch fireworks released from landmark Taipei 101 to embrace the new year of 2025, in Taipei, Taiwan, on January, 1, 2025. (Photo by Daniel Ceng/Anadolu via Getty Images)
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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.
Xi told 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,