Boxing and funerals to welcome in the new year

As Russians raised toasts to celebrate across the country’s 11 time zones, president Vladimir Putin stressed the need to rely on internal resources to improve living standards.

In a televised address just before midnight, Mr Putin said that “we can achieve positive results only through our own efforts and well-coordinated teamwork”.

While many Thais celebrated New Year’s Eve with fireworks, hundreds travelled to Takien Temple in a suburb of Bangkok to lie inside coffins for traditional funeral rituals.

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.

In Japan, many people welcomed the New Year with a visit to a temple or shrine, but some 30,000 boxing fans at Saitama Super Arena did it with Floyd Mayweather.

The American boxer 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.

The Pacific island nation of Kiribati was the first in the world to welcome the new year, greeting 2019 with muted celebrations after spending 2018 on the front line of the battle against climate change.

Kiribati is made up of low-lying atolls along the equator which intersect three time zones, the first of which sees the new year 14 hours before midnight in the UK.