LAST UPDATE | 31 Dec 2024

COUNTRIES AROUND THE world have begun ushering in 2025, with Australia marking the new year in spectacular style with a fireworks display on Sydney Harbour. 

More than a million people were expected at the harbour for the traditional midnight display, where pop star Robbie Williams led a singalong and nine tonnes of fireworks sprayed from the city’s famed Opera House and Harbour Bridge.

Indigenous ceremonies and performances also took place to acknowledge the land’s first people.

An hour earlier, at 11am Irish time, Auckland became the first major city in the world to welcome 2025.

Thousands of revellers counted down to the new year and cheered colourful fireworks launched from New Zealand’s tallest structure, the Sky Tower, as part of a spectacular light show.

Fireworks above Sydney's Opera House and Harbour Bridge. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

Fireworks explode over the Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge during New Year’s Eve celebrations (Bianca De Marchi/AAP Image via AP)

Many also climbed the city’s ring of volcanic peaks for a fireworks vantage point, as well as a light display recognising Auckland’s Indigenous tribes. It follows a year marked by protests over Māori rights in the nation of five million.

Countries in the South Pacific Ocean are the first to ring in the New Year, with midnight in New Zealand striking a full 18 hours before the ball drop in Times Square in New York.

Other cities around the world have also started celebrating the New Year with celebrations highlighting local cultures and traditions after a year roiled by ongoing conflict and political instability.

Much of Japan has shut down ahead of the nation’s biggest holiday, as temples and homes underwent a thorough cleaning, including swatting floor mats called “tatami” with big sticks.

The upcoming Year of the Snake in the Asian zodiac is heralded as one of rebirth – alluding to the reptile’s shedding skin.

Stores in Japan, which observes the zodiac cycle from 1 January, have been selling tiny figures of smiling snakes and other snake-themed products. Other places in Asia will start marking the Year of the Snake later, with the Lunar New Year.

Heavy snowfall in Japan also meant some passengers at Hokkaido’s main airport may see in 2025 in the departure lounge.

“It was great to see snow, but I didn’t think I would be trapped here,” one man told local broadcaster HTB as flights were scrapped.

“I might have to stay at the airport tonight.”

A monk hits the bell at the Bentendo Hall of Sensoji Buddhist temple in a bell-ringing ritual called Joya no Kane on New Year’s Day in Tokyo (Hiro Komae/AP)

People gather in the main business district on New Year’s Eve in Jakarta, Indonesia (Tatan Syuflana/AP)

In South Korea, celebrations were cut back or cancelled as the country observes a period of national mourning following the crash on Sunday of a Jeju Air flight at Muan that killed 179 people.

Elsewhere, 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 that their countries would “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.

Meanwhile, a blackout hit nearly all of Puerto Rico early on Tuesday as the US territory prepared to celebrate New Year’s Eve.

More than 1.2 million out of 1.47 million customers were without power, according to Luma Energy, a private company that oversees electricity transmission and distribution on the island.

It was not immediately clear what caused the widespread outage or when power would be restored.

People light fireworks as they celebrate New Year’s Eve near the Gateway of India, in Mumbai (Rafiq Maqbool/AP)

Hong Kong welcomed the New Year with an elaborate fireworks display (Chan Long Hei/AP)