IN PICTURES: New Year celebrations around the world

Our Picture Editors select the best New Year 2024 celebrations from around the world.

Fireworks are seen over the Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge during New Year’s Eve celebrations in Sydney, Australia, 01 January 2024. Picture: EPA-EFE/DAN HIMBRECHTS

Thai Buddhist monks chant during the mass morning alms-giving ceremony to mark the start of the new year at Wat Phra Dhammakaya Temple in Pathum Thani province, Thailand, 01 January 2024. Thousands of devotees gathered in a morning almsgiving ceremony to offer foods and essentials to more than 3,000 Buddhist monks to mark the start of 2024 new year, the year of the dragon. Picture: EPA-EFE/RUNGROJ YONGRIT

A handout photo made available by the Rio de Janeiro Mayor’s Office shows fireworks in front of the statue of Christ Redeemer in Copacabana beach during New Year Celebrations in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 01 January 2024. Picture: EPA-EFE/Rio de Janeiro Mayor’s Office

A person crosses a footbridge as the first sunrise of the new year is seen in Seoul on January 1, 2024. (Photo by Jung Yeon-je / AFP)

An illustration photo taken on December 31, 2023 in Budapest, Hungary, shows the numbers of the year 2024 painted with light in front of an illuminated Christmas tree. (Photo by ATTILA KISBENEDEK / AFP)

People kiss as they celebrate New Year’s Eve in Times Square in New York, New York, USA, 31 December 2023 (issued 01 January 2024). Thousands gathered in the area each year to watch the New Year’s Eve Ball drop, a tradition that dates back to 1907. Picture: EPA-EFE/STEPHANI SPINDEL

Fireworks explode around the London Eye and The Elizabeth Tower, commonly known by the name of the clock’s bell, “Big Ben”, at the Palace of Westminster, home to the Houses of Parliament, in central London, just after midnight on January 1, 2024. (Photo by HENRY NICHOLLS / AFP)

Fireworks explode over the city skyline during the New Year’s Eve celebrations in Nairobi on January 1, 2024. (Photo by LUIS TATO / AFP)

Members of the indigenous Gurung community wearing traditional attire dance on the occasion of ‘Tamu Lhosar’ festival marking the commencement of Gurung new year in Kathmandu on December 31, 2023. (Photo by Prakash MATHEMA / AFP)

Fireworks explode next to the Arc de Triomphe with “2024” projected, at the Avenue des Champs-Elysees during New Year celebrations in Paris, early on January 1, 2024. (Photo by Bertrand GUAY / AFP)

Fireworks light up the sky by the landmark Burj Khalifa skyscraper, the world’s tallest building, in Dubai at midnight on new year’s eve on January 1, 2024. (Photo by Ryan LIM / AFP)

People release balloons during a New Year celebration in Nanjing, in eastern China’s Jiangsu province on January 1, 2024. (Photo by AFP)

People take part in a traditional sea bath to mark the New Year’s celebrations on a nudist beach in Le Cap d’Agde, southern France, on December 31, 2023. (Photo by Sylvain THOMAS / AFP)

People pray in Jing’an Buddhist Temple for good luck at the beginning of the new year, in Shanghai, China, 01 January 2024. Picture: EPA-EFE/ALEX PLAVEVSKI

A couple release a lantern as people fire fireworks to mark the arrival of the New Year at a beach in Sihanoukville, the coastal capital of Preah Sihanouk province, on January 1, 2024. (Photo by TANG CHHIN SOTHY / AFP)

Fireworks explode behind the quadriga of Berlin’s landmark Brandenburg Gate to usher in the New Year on January 1, 2024. (Photo by JOHN MACDOUGALL / AFP)

Revellers wear 2024 glasses during the New Year Eve firework celebrations on the River Thames in London, Britain December 31, 2023. Picture: EPA-EFE/NEIL HALL

MORE: 24 hours in pictures, 29 December 2023

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