New Year latest: London sees in 2024 with huge fireworks display as bad weather cancels other celebrations

After standing in New York City’s Times Square for more than a dozen hours, thousands of revellers cheered in the New Year on Sunday night with the annual ceremony of a descending crystal-clad ball.

Many had arrived early in the morning for a spot in one of the barricaded pens set up by the New York Police Department, ahead of musical performances by Megan Thee Stallion and LL Cool J before the final countdown to midnight.

“This is my first time to celebrate the New Year in Times Square,” said Nadja Sjostrom, 44, who had travelled from Stockholm, Sweden, a few days earlier for the occasion and had been standing amid the giant illuminated billboards of Times Square since about 8am.

It was a shorter commute for Markus Washington, a 49-year-old resident of Brooklyn, but also his first time at the Times Square celebration.

“It’s a very good feeling,” he said. “Awesome. Cold, but awesome.”

Antonio Ruz, 51, had booked a flight from Granada, Spain, in order to make a lifelong dream come true, joining the crowds to get into the barricaded area at about 8.15am.

“Since I was a kid, I saw on TV this is spectacular show, so I had to live it,” he said. He called it a “once in a lifetime” moment, emphasizing that he did not plan to return. “I love New York, but 15 hours is too long to wait for a moment.”

The world welcomed 2024 with a mix of celebration and somber reflection.

Sydney sparkled under a shower of silver and gold fireworks commemorating the 50th anniversary of its iconic Opera House, while the mood in Gaza remained bleak, with residents more concerned with survival. In Europe, Denmark’s Queen Margrethe II announced her abdication after over half a century on the throne.

Russian president Vladimir Putin made only passing reference in New Year address to his war in Ukraine, hailing his soldiers as heroes but mostly emphasising unity and shared determination.

North Korea vowed to launch three new spy satellites, build military drones and boost its nuclear arsenal in 2024

At his Sunday prayers, Pope Francis said: “I wish everyone a peaceful end of the year, and please do not forget to pray for me”.

French president Emmanuel Macron in a televised address ahead of New Year celebrations said 2024 would be “the year of our French pride” marked by the Paris 2024 Olympic Summer Games and the reopening of Notre-Dame cathedral after a devastating fire.

It’s an annual end-of-year exercise in futility for many. But a clean slate awaits at the stroke of midnight for the next round of resolutions.

From the first spray of fireworks to the closing chorus of “Auld Lang Syne” 366 days into the future — 2024 is a leap year — it could be the year for finally achieving long-elusive goals, fulfilling aspirations and being resolute on all those New Year resolutions.

“As humans, we are creatures that aspire,” said Omid Fotuhi, a social psychologist who is a motivation and performance researcher.

“The fact that we have goals, the fact that we want to set goals is just a manifestation of that internal and almost universal desire to want to stretch, to want to reach, to want to expand and grow,” said Mr Fotuhi, the director of learning innovation at Western Governors University Labs and a research associate at the University of Pittsburgh.

“New Year’s resolutions are one of those ways in which we do that,” he said.

With any resolution, the goal is to improve your life and be in peace with yourself, say many, as they look for a clean slate.

In New York, tens of thousands of revelers are gathered in Manhattan’s Times Square to wait for the lighted ball to drop at midnight, after scheduled performances by musicians including Megan Thee Stallion and LL Cool J.

Tens of thousands of revellers started 2024 with a bang as fireworks and drones lit up the sky over London and told the world the city is “A Place for Everyone”.

After the bongs of Big Ben sounded midnight, “London: A Place for Everyone” was written high above the crowds as the unity-themed display welcomed the new year.

In a display that lasted almost 15 minutes, 100,000 people cast their eyes to the sky to take in the firework, laser, and drone spectacular.

As hits by the Spice Girls, Calvin Harris, Dua Lupa and others rang out across the city, revellers were invited to look back on 2023.

The celebration referenced the King’s coronation and also used Charles’ quote to mark the 75th anniversary of the Windrush crossing in which he said the new arrivals “collectively enrich the fabric of our national life”.

The Archbishop of Canterbury called on people to “stand with those suffering because of war and to seek to make peace” as he prayed for a peaceful 2024 in his New Year message.

The Most Rev Justin Welby said “wars seem everywhere at the moment” as he delivered his annual start-of-the-year address.

Speaking from RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire, he said: “Wars seem everywhere at the moment. Wars we know about, wars forgotten.

“I’ve seen for myself the ongoing human cost of war.

“Jesus Christ tells us to stand with those suffering because of war, and to seek to make peace.”

In his address, the archbishop also praised the armed forces as he said they embody the theme of the King’s coronation last year.

He said soldiers were at the centre of the celebrations not “just because the world marvelled at their displays of pageantry” but because they, “like many, many others in the country”, embodied service.

The Archbishop of Canterbury’s New Year Message will be broadcast on BBC1 and iPlayer at 12.55pm on Monday January 1.

Revellers at Edinburgh’s Hogmanay celebrations brought in the new year with an evening of fireworks and music from Pulp.

Thousands gathered at the sold-out Princes Garden Street Party and Concert in the Gardens for the festival’s 30th anniversary.

The event, organised by UniqueAssembly and City of Edinburgh Council, was be headlined by Pulp, who have not played in the city in 20 years.

Following the first part of set, the fireworks began at midnight and crowds cheered, roared and sang.

Mark Wright, 50, said: “This is the first time I’ve been here. The fireworks were brilliant.