The world ushered in 2025 on Tuesday, with huge crowds waving goodbye to the old year that brought Olympic glory, a dramatic Donald Trump return and turmoil in the Middle East and Ukraine.
It is all but certain that 2024 will go down as the hottest year on record, with climate-fuelled disasters wreaking havoc from the plains of Europe to the Kathmandu Valley.
“It’s been a rather complicated year, but at the same time you always have to look at the positive side of things. So it’s nice to end the year here,” said Florence Coret in Paris, where a police source said that more than one million visitors were expected for the night’s festivities.
In Britain, thousands of people lined the banks of London’s River Thames for a firework extravaganza, though bad weather saw events cancelled in other cities, including Edinburgh’s Hogmanay street party.
Pro-European Georgians meanwhile rang in the New Year by setting off fireworks at ongoing month-long rallies against a ruling party they accuse of being under Russia’s influence.
And Serbian students marched in Belgrade and two other cities demanding accountability over the fatal collapse of a train station roof in November which killed 15 people.
Before that, a spectacular pyrotechnics display lit up Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbour as Asia joined in popping champagne corks and launching New Year’s Eve parties.
Thousands thronged the streets of Taipei to watch Taiwan’s tallest skyscraper erupt in a dazzling display of fireworks.
And Sydney — the self-proclaimed “New Year’s capital of the world” — sprayed nine tonnes of fireworks from its famed Opera House and Harbour Bridge to begin the year’s farewell.
In 2024, Taylor Swift brought the curtain down on her Eras tour, pygmy hippo Moo Deng went viral and teenage football prodigy Lamine Yamal helped Spain conquer the Euros.
The Paris Olympics united the world for a brief few weeks in July and August.
Athletes swam in the Seine, raced in the shadows of the Eiffel Tower and rode horses across the manicured lawns outside the Palace of Versailles.
– Election upheaval –
It was a global year of elections, with countless millions going to the polls across more than 60 countries.
Vladimir Putin prevailed in a Russian ballot widely dismissed as a sham, while a student uprising toppled Bangladesh’s reigning prime minister.
However, no vote was as closely watched as the November 5 contest that will soon see Trump back in the White House.
The US president-elect has threatened to pile economic pain on China and boasted of his ability to halt the Ukraine war within “24 hours”.
A change of government is likewise afoot in Ghana, where John Mahama will be sworn in on January 7.
“The peaceful transition after the election gave me hope that maybe things will improve for people like me,” Kwesi Antwi, 26, an unemployed graduate, told AFP in the capital Accra.
– Hope and trepidation –
Turmoil rippled across the Middle East as Bashar al-Assad fled Syria, Israel marched into southern Lebanon and doctored electronics exploded in a wave of Israeli assassinations targeting Hezbollah.
Civilians grew weary of the grinding war in Gaza, where dwindling stocks of food, shelter and medicine made a humanitarian crisis even bleaker.
“May security and safety return, and may the war finally come to an end,” Wafaa Hajjaj told AFP from Deir el-Balah, where masses of displaced residents now cram into crowded tents.
Umayyad Square in Damascus hummed to the throngs of people brandishing “revolution” flags as Syria saw in the new year following 13 years of civil war — even as soldiers patrolled the capital’s streets.
“Now I have a lot of hope. But all we want now is peace,” taxi driver Qassem al-Qassem, 34, told AFP.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine inches towards its three-year anniversary in February.
Outgunned on its eastern flank, Ukraine must now contend with a Trump administration seemingly intent on winding back crucial military aid.
But President Volodymyr Zelesnky remains defiant, acknowledging in his new year address that “peace will not be given to us as a gift, but we will do everything to stop Russia and end the war”.
In Sudan, marking its second new year under the shadow of war between the regular army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, many voiced their hopes for peace.
“We hope to come back to our houses safe and sound this year, for this war to end and just to be able to see home once more,” Fatma Mohamed told AFP in Port Sudan.
Tens of thousands have been killed in the fighting, while more than 12 million have been uprooted and millions more face mass starvation.
– Comebacks, football, festivals –
With AI advances on the horizon and rampant inflation tipped to slow, there is plenty to look forward to in 2025.
Britpop bad boys Oasis will make a long-awaited reunion, while K-pop megastars BTS return to the stage after military service in South Korea.
Football aficionados will discover a revamped 32-team Club World Cup hosted by the United States in an already crowded calendar.
And about 400 million pilgrims are expected at the spectacular Kumbh Mela festival on India’s sacred riverbanks — billed as the largest gathering of humanity on the planet.
The UK weather service has already forecast sweltering global temperatures for 2025, suggesting it is likely to rank among the hottest years recorded.
On the stock front, Wall Street and Europe’s major indexes rang out the year with solid gains, as investors’ eyes turned to the impact Trump’s policies will have on the world economy.
