Dec. 31 (UPI) --New Year's Eve celebrations and fireworks around the world are ringing in 2025, as New York City's Times Square gears up for the traditional ball drop at midnight before an estimated one million revelers. New Zealand was one of the first to ...

Dancers performed the dance of releasing the sun 2024, welcoming the sun 2025, a New Year's Eve celebration in Bali, Indonesia A "family fireworks" display lit up the Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge, three hours before midnight.

As Americans prepared to celebrate New Year's Eve on Tuesday, millions of people around the world were ringing in 2025. The big picture: Countries in the Asia-Pacific region were the first to see New Year's Day.

New Zealand and Australia were among the first countries in the world to kick off its New Year's Eve celebrations. | ITV National News

The Pacific island nation of Kiribati was the first country to ring in 2025, its 133,500 citizens celebrating the new year at 5 a.m. ET on Tuesday.

From Sydney to Vladivostok, communities around the world have begun welcoming 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.