New year celebrations: World welcomes 2019
Many parts of the world have already rung in the new year.
There have been celebrations around the world to welcome in 2019.
Paris
The Champs-Elysees was the scene of festivities in Paris.
Berlin
Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel also addressed the people ahead of fireworks over central Berlin.
Sydney
One of the most complex displays in Australia’s history included gold, purple and silver fireworks pulsating to the tune of (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman, made famous by Aretha Franklin, who died in August. The show used 8.5 tonnes of fireworks and featured more than 100,000 pyrotechnic effects.
Earlier, a thunderstorm drenched tens of thousands of people as they gathered for the traditional display, creating a show of its own with dozens of lightning strikes.
In Melbourne, 14 tonnes of fireworks deployed on the ground and on roofs of 22 buildings produced special effects including flying dragons. In Brisbane, an estimated 85,000 people watched as fireworks exploded from five barges moored on the Brisbane River.
New Zealand
Across the southern hemisphere nation, thousands took to beaches and streets, becoming among the first in the world to usher in 2019. Fireworks boomed and crackled above city centres and harbours.
— ANI (@ANI) December 31, 2018
South Korea
A “peace bell” was tolled at Imjingak, a pavilion near the border with North Korea.
Japan
The American boxing legend soundly defeated his opponent, Japanese kickboxer Tenshin Nasukawa, in the first round of what was billed as three rounds of entertainment with no official record, meaning both fighters still retain their undefeated tallies.
“I told Tenshin to hold your head up high,” Mayweather said of his advice after the bout. Nasukawa was floored three times in the first round, and although he kept getting up, teetering, his father in the corner threw in the towel.
Thailand
Participants believe the ceremony — symbolising death and rebirth — helps rid them of bad luck and allows them to be born again for a fresh start in the new year.
Participants held flowers and incense in their hands as monks covered them with pink sheets and chanted prayers for the dead.
Bangkok is filled with modern glitzy shopping centres and high-rise buildings, but superstitious beliefs still hold sway in many aspects of Thai society.
United Arab Emirates
Fireworks crackled at Dubai’s Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building, as hundreds of thousands of spectators gathered downtown to watch the spectacular display.
The fireworks replace last year’s somewhat anticlimactic LED lightshow that ran down the facade of the 828-metre-tall (2,716-foot) tower.
Moscow
Russia marked the new year with a firework display over the Kremlin in Russia.
United Nations
UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres issued a bleak New Year’s message that called climate change an existential threat and warned that “it’s time to seize our last best chance”.
He noted growing intolerance, geo-political divisions and inequality, resulting in people “questioning a world in which a handful of people hold the same wealth as half of humanity”.
“But there are also reasons for hope,” he said. “As we begin this New Year, let’s resolve to confront threats, defend human dignity and build a better future — together.”
United States
Crews used squeegees to try to remove water from the stages, but New Kids On The Block still splashed up puddles while performing their hit Step By Step on a giant set of steps.
At midnight, fireworks erupted over Times Square, couples kissed, families hugged and Auld Lang Syne played over loudspeakers.
