English Desk, Dec 31 (EFE) – As the clock strikes midnight, the world welcomes 2025 amid fireworks, local festivals, and celebrations.
The South Pacific island of Kiritimati was the first to strike midnight at 10 a.m. GMT. As they do every year, the nearly 7,000 people who live on the island, which is part of Kiribati, celebrated the start of the new year thanks to their time zone – the first in all of Oceania – followed just 15 minutes later by the New Zealand territory of the Chatham Islands.
An hour later, celebrations began in Tonga and Samoa, followed by Fiji, Sydney, and Vanuatu, still reeling from the 7.3-magnitude earthquake that killed 14 people in December.
Next, the clock will strike midnight across time zones in Asia, leaving behind big celebrations in China, India, and the Philippines, among others.
As the hours , Russia will be the first European country to welcome 2025, with several European and African capitals seeing increased security measures amid the celebrations.
While in the Americas, the celebrations will begin in Brazil, Argentina, and Chile, followed by the US East Coast, the rest of South America, and Central America until midnight arrives in the Hawaiian archipelago. EFE
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