With fireworks, dancing and late-night revelry, millions around the world have welcomed 2014, gathering for huge displays of jubilation and unity as the new year arrived across 24 time zones.
In Australia, fireworks sprayed from the sails of the Sydney Opera House and the city’s harbour bridge at midnight. Revellers in Dubai awaited what was supposed to be the world’s largest fireworks show.
In Ukraine, anti-government protesters hoped to set their own record for the most people to sing a national anthem at the same time.
Revellers heading to New York City’s Times Square could expect the annual ball drop but no mayor this year. The new year is to be rung in by US Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor instead.
Closer to the edge of the International Dateline, New Zealand bid farewell to 2013 with fireworks erupting from Auckland’s Sky Tower as cheering crowds danced in the streets of the South Pacific island nation’s largest city.
Known for glitz, glamour and over-the-top achievements like the world’s tallest tower, Dubai hopes to break another record by creating the largest fireworks show ever.
Organisers plan to light up the city’s coastline with a flying falcon made out of fireworks that will move across a massive man-made palm-shaped island alongside a countdown in fireworks. Organisers say they will also create a burst of light out of fireworks to imitate a sunrise and dazzle spectators with a United Arab Emirates flag that could also break records for being the largest ever made of fireworks.
The six-minute extravaganza will include 500,000 fireworks from 400 firing locations, all synchronised by 100 computers from stations across the city, said Barrett Wissman, co-chairman of IMG Artists that is managing the event. Guinness World Record officials will be on hand to measure the scale of the event.
Mr Wissman said the display will cover 30 miles (48km) of seafront. “It is really mind-blowing, the size of this,” he added.
In Sydney, organisers had expected to set off seven metric tons of pyrotechnics in 12 seconds. The estimate appeared accurate. “It filled up the whole sky,” said Mona Rucek, a 28-year-old tourist from Munich, Germany.
In Tokyo, five priests at the Zojoji temple used ropes to swing a wooden pole against a large bell, sounding the first of 108 gongs to mark the New Year. Simultaneously, “2014” lit up in white lights on the modern Tokyo Tower in the background.