By The New York Times

NEW YORK
En ergiesNet.com 01 01 2025

In plazas and parks and bars and homes across the globe, people gathered to commemorate the end of 2024 and welcome the New Year. Bold swimmers plunged into a frigid lake in Switzerland, joggers in Poland took one last whimsical run of the year and fireworks crackled in cities large and small.

The celebrations heralded the end of a tumultuous year during which more than half of the world’s population went to the polls, shaping the future of democracies in more than 30 countries.

In Syria, a revolution overthrew a brutal, decades-long dictatorship, as wars widened in the Middle East and ground on in Ukraine and Sudan. The year was almost certainly the hottest on record, beating the high set in 2023.

There was triumph, failure and shimmering pageantry at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. And on April 8, millions looked skyward, gazing in awe as a total solar eclipse bathed parts of Mexico, the United States and Canada in darkness.

Here’s how celebrations looked around the world:

Fireworks erupt around the London Eye along the River Thames. (AP)

Torches and flaming barrels were carried through the streets during the Allendale Tar Barrel festival in northern England.

Fireworks illuminating the night sky over the Arc de Triomphe in Paris.

Times Square in Manhattan after midnight.

The Christ The Redeemer statue overlooking fireworks exploding all over Rio de Janeiro.

A fireworks show at Copacabana Beach in Brazil.

A child having her face painted in Damascus, Syria.

Fireworks light up the Bab Touma neighborhood in Damascus, Syria.

Confetti rains down on revelers gathered in Times Square.

Crowds watching fireworks in front of the Parliament building in Tbilisi, Georgia.

Fireworks lit up the sky over Big Ben and the Eye in London.

Fireworks erupting over the Colosseum in Rome.

Fireworks lit up the sky above Prambanan Temple, a 9th-century Hindu temple complex, in Yogyakarta, Indonesia.

People counted down to midnight in Auckland, New Zealand, one of the first major cities to welcome 2025.

People in old-fashioned swimming clothes rushed to the water at the beach in Cabourg, France, to take part in the traditional last swim of the year.

Watch video: Ras al-Khaimah, a city in the the United Arab Emirates, welcomed the new year with a drone and fireworks show

Revelers gathered for the New Year celebration in Taipei, Taiwan.

Performers at a New Year’s Eve countdown event in Beijing.

Balloons shaped like hearts were released into the air to mark the New Year in Wuhan, China.

Fireworks rose in the sky and were reflected in the water at the New Year’s Eve celebration at Ancol Beach in Jakarta, Indonesia.

A gathering in Vladivostok, a port city in eastern Russia.

Fireworks lighting up the Taipei 101 skyscraper in Taiwan.

An illuminated sea promenade in Mumbai, India.

People bundled up to participate in a New Year’s Eve race around a Christmas tree in Siberia, Russia, where temperatures plunged below minus 52 degrees Fahrenheit.

A group in Damascus, Syria, got more use out of some Santa Claus costumes on New Year’s Eve.

Tourist boats before the New Year fireworks at Chao Phraya river in Bangkok.

Revelers pulled out their cellphones to capture fireworks over Victoria Harbour in Hong Kong during the New Year.

Revelers gathered around Sydney Harbour to watch a fireworks display.

Swimmers in Moosseedorf, Switzerland, braved the cold waters of Lake Moossee in a traditional New Year’s Eve dip.

reuters.com 01 01 2025