Happy NewYear! How the world welcomed in 2018
From spectacular fireworks in Hong Kong and Australia to a huge LED light show at the world’s tallest building in Dubai, here is a look at how revellers around the world have welcomed in 2018..
NEW YORK With a burst of confetti and fireworks, throngs of revellers ushered in 2018 in a frigid Times Square as the glittering crystal ball dropped.
It was the second-coldest on record, with the temperature only 10°F (-12°C) in New York at midnight.
Partygoers bundled up in extra layers, wearing warm hats and face masks, dancing and jogging on the spot to ward off the cold.
The coldest ball drop celebration was in 1917, when it was only 1°F (minus 17°C). BRAZIL Rio de Janeiro’s main party was celebrated with fireworks erupting on Copacabana beach after the clock struck midnight to usher in the new year.
After 17 minutes of a multi-coloured show in the skies, singer Anitta led the party on stage with her single Vai Malandra, a song that scored 84 million views on YouTube in two weeks. Some of the city’s most traditional Carnival samba schools performed later.
New mayor Marcelo Crivella said he believed the celebrations would bring three million people to the famous beach. In 2017, two million people showed up at Copacabana beach, a number that has not changed much over the years.
Almost 2,000 policemen patrolled the Copacabana region after yet another violent year on the streets. GERMANY Germans rang in 2018 under tight security from police mindful of widespread sexual abuse of women in Cologne two years ago and of a terrorist attack on a Christmas market about a year ago.
Police in Berlin added 1,600 officers on duty and said that large bags and rucksacks would not be allowed on the Party Mile leading from Brandenburg Gate, where thousands of people celebrated at midnight. UNITED ARAB EMIRATES Dubai’s Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building, again served as the focal point of New Year’s Eve celebrations – though this year authorities decided against fireworks and chose a massive LED light show on it.
That was in part due to safety in the city-state in the United Arab Emirates, which saw a massive skyscraper fire on New Year’s Eve in 2015.
The display, running down the east side of the 828m (2,716ft tall) tower, showed Arabic calligraphy, geometric designs and a portrait of the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the UAE’s first president. VATICAN Bidding 2017 farewell, Pope Francis decried wars, injustices and environmental decay which he said had “ruined” the year.
Francis presided at a New Year’s Eve prayer service in St Peter’s Basilica, a traditional occasion to say thanks in each year’s last hours.
He said God gave to us a 2017 “whole and sound”, but that “we humans in many ways ruined and hurt it with works of death, lies and injustices”. But, he added, “gratitude prevails” thanks to those “co-operating silently for the common good”. AUSTRALIA Fireworks lit up the sky above Sydney Harbour, highlighting the city’s new year’s celebrations.
The massive fireworks display included a rainbow waterfall cascade of lights and colour flowing off the harbour’s bridge to celebrate recently passed legislation legalising gay marriage in Australia. More than one million people were expected to gather to watch the festivities. NEW ZEALAND Tens of thousands of New Zealanders took to streets and beaches, becoming among the first in the world to usher in 2018. As the new year dawned in this southern hemisphere nation, fireworks boomed and crackled above city centres and harbours, and party-goers sang, hugged, danced and kissed.
In Auckland, New Zealand’s biggest city, tens of thousands gathered around Sky Tower as five minutes of non-stop pyrotechnics exploded from the top of the structure. UGANDA Thousands of Ugandans gathered at churches across the country to mark the end of 2017.
The raucous events, during which some preachers are known to make dubious predictions, have become such a staple of New Year’s Eve festivities that the country’s longtime president, Yoweri Museveni, sometimes makes time to make an appearance at a church. But many in the East African country prefer to celebrate at crowded beaches on the shores of Lake Victoria or in darkened halls listening to the music of pop stars who take turns offering crowd-pleasers until midnight. RUSSIA As Russians counted down the last moments before 2018 ticked over into each of the country’s 11 time zones, President Vladimir Putin called on them to be considerate and conciliatory with each other in the new year.
“Say the most cherished words to each other, forgive mistakes and resentment, admit love, warm up with care and attention,” Mr Putin said in a televised message broadcast just before midnight. JAPAN Many Japanese celebrated the arrival of the Year of the Dog in the traditional way of praying for peace and good fortune at neighbourhood Shinto shrines and eating new year’s food such as noodles, shrimp and sweet black beans.
Barbecued beef and octopus dumpling stalls were out at Tokyo’s Zojoji Temple, where people took turns striking the giant bell 108 times at midnight, an annual practice repeated at other Buddhist temples throughout Japan. INDIA Security was tight in the southern Indian city of Bangalore to prevent a repeat of incidents of groping and molestation of several women during New Year’s Eve celebrations a year ago.
Police commissioner Sunil Kumar said at least 15,000 police officers were on duty and were being aided by drones and closed-circuit television cameras. PHILIPPINES Scores of people were injured by celebratory firecrackers in the Philippines, which has some of the most raucous new year’s celebrations in Asia. Many Filipinos, largely influenced by Chinese tradition, believe that noisy new year’s celebrations drive away evil and misfortune. But they have carried that superstition to extremes, exploding dangerously large firecrackers and firing guns to welcome the new year despite threats of arrest. TURKEY Security measures were ramped up across Turkey, which a year ago was hit by a new year’s attack that killed dozens of people.
In Istanbul, 37,000 officers were on duty, with multiple streets closed to traffic and large vehicles barred from entering certain districts. Several New Year’s Eve street parties were cancelled for security reasons. CALIFORNIA The Golden State went green when the calendar turned to 2018.
Starting at midnight, California joined the growing list of US states to legalise recreational marijuana. The moment is significant but will not be met with a non-stop pot party. LAS VEGAS Las Vegas police officers surrounded hundreds of thousands of tourists gathered to welcome the new year on the Strip, where just three months earlier 58 people died in the deadliest mass shooting in modern US history.
A roughly eight-minute fireworks display at the top of seven of the city’s world-famous casino-hotels started 10 seconds before midnight.