Confetti falls at midnight on the Times Square New Year's Eve celebration, Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2020, in New York. (Photo by Ben Hider/Invision/AP)
People across the globe are bidding farewell to a decade and ushering in New Year 2020. Photos from around the world are trickling in as people ring in New Year 2020. In major countries of the world, New Year is marked with traditional fireworks to welcome the new decade. In New Delhi, people assembled at Connaught Place circle to celebrate New Year while fireworks marked celebrations across New York City's Times Square. From New York to Rome to Delhi, people welcomed New Year 2020. Indiatvnews.com brings you moments from the celebrations across the globe.
NEW YORK
Fireworks burst and confetti fell as throngs of revelers cheered the start of 2020 in New York City's Times Square. In one of the globe's most-watched New Year's Eve spectacles, the crowd counted down the last seconds of 2019 as a luminescent crystal ball descended down a pole. About 3,000 pounds (1,360 kilograms) of confetti showered the sea of attendees, many of whom were also briefly rained on earlier in the evening as they waited in security pens for performances by stars including rap-pop star Post Malone, K-pop group BTS, country singer Sam Hunt and singer-songwriter Alanis Morissette.
The crowds packed into the heart of Manhattan mouthed lyrics and waved yellow and purple balloons in a frenzy as midnight approached.
“It was a dream, I wanted to do it so this year a lot of people helped me to get here so I’m here, and I’m thankful for that," said Mariemma Mejias, 48, who flew to New York for the festivities from San Juan, Puerto Rico.
The fun was evident, but some important global issues were driven home as well.
Spotlighting efforts to combat climate change, high school science teachers and students pressed the button that begins the famous 60-second ball drop and countdown to the new year.
RIO DE JANEIRO
About 3 million people welcomed 2020 at Brazil's iconic Copacabana beach as almost 34,000 pounds (15,420 kilograms) of colorful fireworks went off for 14 minutes after midnight. Rio de Janeiro holds one of the biggest New Year parties in the world, with music, drinks and religious rituals on the shores. Many dress in white in a traditional sign of their hope for peace. About 2,000 policemen are working to ensure party-goers are safe. Authorities say only minor incidents have been reported so far.
Many locals and tourists are expected to stick around Copacabana until Wednesday's sunrise for their first dip of the year in the ocean, expecting to wash away their troubles from 2019. Summer in Rio often brings high temperatures early on.
The party in Sao Paulo, Brazil's metropolis, took about 2 million people to Paulista Avenue, the city's main road. Nearly all the 6,000 pounds (2,720 kilograms) of fireworks used there were silent so pets did not get too bothered by the noise.
PARIS
A joyful crowd of Parisians and tourists walked, biked and used scooters to reach the Champs-Elysees for the new year celebrations, in a city with almost no public transport amid massive strikes. Revelers converged at the famous avenue to watch a light show at the Arc de Triomphe, followed by a fireworks display at midnight. Paris police set up a security perimeter around the Champs-Elysees area with a ban on alcohol and traffic restrictions.
All metro lines in the French capital were closed except for two automatic lines, and only a few night buses were running, as Tuesday marked the 27th consecutive day of transport strikes against President Emmanuel Macron’s plans to overhaul the French pension system.
ROME
Pope Francis delighted tourists and Romans in St. Peter's Square on Tuesday night when he took a stroll to admire the Nativity scene. Shouts of "Pope! Pope!" and "Happy New Year!" resounded as families rushed to catch a glimpse of him or thrust out their infant in hopes he would pat their heads or pinch their cheeks.
One woman grabbed the pope's hand and pulled him toward her to shake it. Francis, 83, exclaimed and then struck the woman's hand twice to free his hand.
At a New Year's Eve Vespers service in St. Peter's Basilica, Francis urged people to practice more solidarity and to "build bridges, not walls." Since becoming pontiff in 2013, Francis has preached openness — a reform-minded agenda that has irritated a small but vocal group of ultra-conservatives in the church.
Australia, New Zealand
Sydney welcomes New Year with fireworks and celebrations.
First visuals of new year celebrations came from down under as New Zealand and Australia step into the new decade with a massive fireworks show in all major cities. Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Wellington, Aukland were the first major cities in the world to celebrate the new decade.
New Zealand's major cities greeted the new year with traditional fireworks Wednesday morning (31 DEC. 2019). In Auckland, half a ton (453kg) of fireworks burst from the Sky Tower above the city center as large crowds celebrated below. The country is one of the first nations in the world to welcome 2020 and the new decade.
Brisbane: Crowds watch a fireworks display during New Year's Eve celebrations in Brisbane, Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2019.
Japan
Tokyo: Fireworks explode on the Tokyo skyline near the Rainbow Bridge for the Christmas and New Year festive season at Odaiba in Tokyo, Japan, Saturday, Dec. 28, 2019.
People flocked to temples and shrines in Japan, offering incense with their prayers to celebrate the passing of a year and the the first New Year's of the Reiwa era.
Under Japan's old-style calendar, linked to emperors' rules, Reiwa started in May, after Emperor Akihito stepped down and his son Naruhito became emperor.
Although Reiwa is entering its second year with 2020, Jan. 1 still marks Reiwa's first New Year's, the most important holiday in Japan.
“We have a new era and so I am hoping things will be better, although 2019 was also a good year because nothing bad happened," said Masashi Ogami, 38, who ran a sweet rice wine stall at Zojoji Temple in Tokyo, drawing a crowd of revelers.
Other stalls sold fried noodles and candied apples, as well as little figures and amulets in the shape of mice, the zodiac animal for 2020. Since the Year of the Mouse starts off the Asian zodiac, it's associated with starting anew.
The first year of the new decade will see Tokyo host the 2020 Olympics, an event that is creating much anticipation for the capital and the entire nation.
South Korea
Buddhists light candles to form letters meaning, "Best wishes for a Happy New Year," during New Year celebrations at Jogyesa Buddhist temple in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2020. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
Thousands of South Koreans filled cold downtown streets in Seoul ahead of a traditional bell-tolling ceremony near City Hall to send off an exhausting 2019 highlighted by political scandals, decaying job markets and crumbling diplomacy with North Korea.
Dignitaries picked to ring the old Bosingak bell at midnight included South Korean Major League Baseball pitcher Hyun-Jin Ryu and Pengsoo, a giant penguin character with a gruff voice and blunt personality that emerged as one of the country’s biggest TV stars in 2019.
The annual tolling of the “peace bell” at Imjingak park near the border with North Korea was canceled due to quarantine measures following an outbreak of African swine fever.
Samoa
In Samoa, New Year's Eve was more somber than usual. While fireworks erupted at midnight from Mount Vaea, overlooking the capital, Apia, the end of the year was a time of sadness and remembrance.
A measles epidemic in late 2019 claimed 81 lives, mostly children under 5.
More than 5,600 measles cases were recorded in the nation of just under 200,000. With the epidemic now contained, the Samoa Observer newspaper named as its Person of the Year health workers who fought the outbreak.
“We have experienced extreme sadness and sorrow,” the newspaper said. “Since the first measles death, the pain has only deepened. But amidst much hopelessness and tears, we have also seen the best of mankind in this country's response.”
Hong Kong
Protesters hold up their hands to symbolize the five demands of the pro-democracy movement as New Year's fireworks light up the sky during a demonstration in Hong Kong, Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2020. Chinese President Xi Jinping in a New Year's address Tuesday has called for Hong Kong to return to stability following months of pro-democracy protests that began in June over a proposed extradition law, and have spread to include other grievances and demands for more democracy. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
Revelers, as well as pro-democracy protesters, flocked to sites across Hong Kong to usher in 2020.
The semi-autonomous Chinese city has toned down New Year's celebrations amid the monthslong demonstrations. The protests have repeatedly sparked pitched battles with police and have taken their toll on Hong Kong's nightlife and travel industries.
A fireworks display that traditionally lights up famed Victoria Harbor was canceled amid safety concerns, while some roads were closed and barriers set up in the Lan Kwai Fong nightlife district for crowd control.
