The World Celebrates New Year’s Eve

In Sydney, rainbow fireworks sparkled off the Harbour Bridge in celebration of Australia’s recent legalization of gay marriage. (Sydney was among the first major cities to celebrate with fireworks at the stroke of midnight.)

In Japan, people paraded in fox masks to attend the first prayer of the year at a Shinto shrine in Tokyo.

In the Philippines, revelers gathered — phones in hand — at the Eastwood Mall in Manila to watch balloons and confetti rain down at midnight.

Big pots of tea were prepared for New Year’s Eve celebrations in Beijing. The country will also celebrate the Lunar New Year, in February.

It was raining in Singapore, but New Year’s Eve celebrants sheltered under umbrellas and raincoats as fireworks sparkled overhead.

Tourists donned party hats to watch fireworks in front of the famous Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Hundreds of couples got married at a mass wedding in Jakarta on New Year’s Eve.

Fireworks light up the Acropolis in Athens during the New Year’s Eve celebration.

Revelers in Times Square vie for scarfs from volunteers as they await the ball drop.

The Burj Khalifa was lit in anticipation of the New Year’s celebration in Dubai.

People captured the moment as fireworks exploded over the Kremlin in Moscow.

Members of the Maasai tribe performed their traditional dance on Nungwi Beach in Zanzibar, Tanzania.

Fireworks exploded over Big Ben and the London Eye Ferris wheel.