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.বিস্তারিত