World Welcomes 2020
Posted: Tue Dec 31, 2019 7:42 amVOA - USA
Crowds watch fireworks display during New Year's Eve celebrations in Brisbane, Australia, Dec. 31, 2019.
Planet Fitness, in partnership with Time Square Alliance, tested the "air worthiness" of the confetti prior to Times Square's New Year's Eve 2020 celebration in New York City, Dec. 29, 2019 in New York.
Crowds watch fireworks display during New Year's Eve celebrations in Brisbane, Australia, Dec. 31, 2019.
People across the world are gathering for traditional celebrations to welcome the year 2020.
Revelers in New Zealand and other Pacific islands were among the first to celebrate the new year with fireworks displays.
Events elsewhere in the world are being overshadowed by other concerns, including in Australia where the fireworks show in Sydney is going forward as other communities in the country cancel theirs due to fears of making a wildfire crisis worse.
In Hong Kong, the usual fireworks show was canceled due to what officials said were security concerns in the city that has seen months of pro-democracy protests.
Planet Fitness, in partnership with Time Square Alliance, tested the "air worthiness" of the confetti prior to Times Square's New Year's Eve 2020 celebration in New York City, Dec. 29, 2019 in New York.
Events are scheduled to take place as the new year rolls around in major cities from Berlin to Dubai and London to New York.