The UK celebrated the start of 2025 with a spectacular fireworks display on the banks of the River Thames – as London defied weather concerns which led to the cancellation of other events around the country.
Thousands listened to Big Ben ring in the new year after celebrations had already taken place across the world – with fireworks lighting up the night skies in major cities including Sydney in Australia, Mumbai in India and Damascus in Syria.
The 11-minute display in the UK capital took place over the London Eye and began with the message “Your New Year Is Unwritten”.
To a diverse soundtrack which featured music from the likes of Sir Elton John, One Direction and Charli XCX, the display looked back at 2024 with topics including the weather, the Paris Olympics, the Paralympics and Euro 2024.
The new year has been welcomed in by millions, with fireworks lighting up the skies above New Zealand, Australia, Thailand, Dubai, China and several European countries as the world rang in 2025.
More than one million people packed the area around Sydney Harbour to watch around nine tonnes of fireworks be blasted from the famed Opera House and Harbour Bridge. The self-proclaimed ‘New Year’s capital of the world’ welcomed in 2025 11 hours before Big Ben rings in the new year in London.
Celebrations were more muted in South Korea after the country was rocked in recent days by political turmoil and the Jeju Air plane tragedy, with a moment of silence held for the 179 victims.
With Seoul’s famous Lotte Tower countdown called off and parties cancelled, the new year milestone was marked by somber crowds who watched as the traditional Bosingak bell was rung, without the performances that usually accompany it.
In Japan, crowds gathered at Tokyo’s Tokudai-ji to offer their prayers for the new year and take part in the yearly bell-tolling to mark the start of the new year.
In Brazil, revelers at Copacabana Beach were treated to a 12-minute long fireworks display over the shore, as the celebrations moved to the Americas, where thousands of people packed New York City’s Times Square to watch as a 12-foot ball adorned with nearly 3,000 crystals dropped at midnight, despite rainy and stormy weather.
The first place to ring in the new year was Christmas Island, officially known as Kiritimati, which is home to more than 7,000 people and is the farthest forward timezone in the world.
The island, which is part of the small nation of Kiribati, was followed by Tonga, Somoa and New Zealand’s Chatham Islands soon after.
UNITED STATES: Thousands of people packed New York City ‘s Times Square to watch as a 12-foot ball adorned with nearly 3,000 crystals dropped at midnight
UNITED STATES: Thousands of people packed New York City ‘s Times Square to watch as a 12-foot ball adorned with nearly 3,000 crystals dropped at midnight
