New Year's celebrations around the world ring in 2025
CBC
From Sydney to Vladivostok to Mumbai and St. John's, communities around the world welcomed 2025 with spectacular light shows, embraces and other ways to say goodbye to 2024.
A fireworks display over Quidi Vidi Lake in St. John's, N.L., helped usher in the new year in Canada.
In Auckland, the first major city to celebrate, thousands took to the downtown area or climbed the city's ring of volcanic peaks for a fireworks vantage point. A light display recognized Indigenous people.
Countries in the South Pacific Ocean were the first to ring in 2025, with midnight in New Zealand striking 18 hours before the ball drop in Times Square in New York City.
Conflict muted marking the new year in places like the Middle East, Sudan and Ukraine.
Fireworks blasted off the Sydney Harbour Bridge and across the bay. More than a million Australians and others gathered at iconic Sydney Harbour for the celebration. British pop star Robbie Williams led a singalong with the crowd.
The celebration also featured Indigenous ceremonies and performances.
Toronto was set to feature a 10-minute waterfront fireworks display and a series of pop-up performances. In previous years, about 250,000 people attended the display at the waterfront.
Much of Japan shut down ahead of the nation's biggest holiday, as temples and homes underwent a thorough cleaning.
The Year of the Snake in the Asian zodiac in 2025 is heralded as one of rebirth — alluding to the reptile's shedding skin.
Stores in Japan, which observes the zodiac cycle from Jan. 1, have been selling snake-themed products. Other places in Asia will mark the Year of the Snake later with the Lunar New Year.
In South Korea, celebrations were cut back or cancelled during a period of national mourning following the Sunday crash of a Jeju Air flight at Muan that killed 179 people.
In Bangkok, shopping malls competed for crowds with live musical acts and fireworks shows. A fireworks display in Jakarta featured 800 drones.
Chinese state media covered an exchange of 2025 greetings between Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin in a reminder of growing closeness between two leaders who face tensions with the West.
The Ontario government says the $200 rebate cheques it promised to deliver to 15 million Ontarians this year are expected to arrive in mailboxes in late January or early February.
WARNING: This article contains graphic content and disturbing images.
In a rather busy span last month, the Alberta government confirmed that former prime minister Stephen Harper would be the chair of a completely remade board of Alberta's investment megafund AIMCo, forecast a bigger-than-anticipated budget surplus, and announced the most substantial changes to the province's auto insurance system in at least two decades.
Interest rate cuts and changes to Canada's mortgage rules could set the stage for change in the Greater Toronto Area's real estate market this year, experts say.
Green Party Leader Elizabeth May says Canada should not go into a federal election with a second Donald Trump administration about to take office in Washington — an administration that could follow through on Trump's threat to impose punishing tariffs on Canadian goods entering the United States.
Alberta NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi says he's seeking the party's nomination to run as a candidate in Edmonton.
While the FBI hunts Canadian fugitive Ryan Wedding, U.S. authorities are warning he remains a threat and likely still has a team of contract killers at the ready.
All 21 residents at a seniors' apartment complex in Stratford are safe after reports of a fire around 2:30 a.m. Friday.
Londoners spent the last year listening to music, and record store owners say the city's 2024 soundtrack was a mix of trending hits and nostalgic favourites.
Canadian forests are increasingly primed for severe, uncontrollable wildfires, a study published Thursday said, underlining what the authors described as a pressing need to proactively mitigate the "increased threat posed by climate change."
Calgary's downtown office vacancy rate is still the highest in the country, but things are trending in the right direction, according to figures from commercial real estate services company Altus Group.