Fireworks light up the London skyline and Big Ben just after midnight. Thousands of people lined the banks of the River Thames in central London to ring in the new year with a spectacular fireworks display. (Dan Kitwood / Getty Images)
Fireworks are launched from boats off Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro to celebrate the new year. (Yasuyoshi Chiba / AFP / Getty Images)
Visitors watch fireworks during a New Year’s Eve celebration at Legoland. The festivities included a Lego drop and bands. (Sandy Huffaker / Associated Press)
Fireworks explode over Victoria Harbor in Hong Kong to welcome 2014, one of a wave of pyrotechnic displays climaxing New Year’s Eve celebrations in major cities around the world. (Alex Ogle / AFP/Getty Images)
The sky lights up above Sydney Harbor as Australians welcome 2014 with a fireworks display. (Nikki Short / EPA)
Revelers release balloons to celebrate the new year at the Prince Park Tower Tokyo. Some 2,000 balloons were released in the air carrying visitors’ wishes. (Kazuhiro Nogi / AFP/Getty Images)
The Taipei 101 tower in Taipei, Taiwan, greets city dwellers with a New Year’s message. At midnight, the skyscraper was the base for a fireworks show. (David Chang / EPA)
A Palestinian girl writes “2014” in the sand on the banks of the Mediterranean Sea on Tuesday during the last sunset of the year in Gaza City. (Mohammed Abed / AFP/Getty Images)
Artist Michael Murphy, right, installs his “L.A. 2014 Particle Sculpture” in preparation for Tuesday night’s New Year’s Eve celebrations at Grand Park in downtown Los Angeles. (Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times)
Thousands of Filipinos simultaneously blow their torotots (party horns) for the attempt to break the Guinness world record for the “most number of people blowing party horns simultaneously” on New Year’s Eve in Davao, Southern Philippines. (Ritchie B. Tongo / EPA)
Balinese girls in traditional costumes gather for a parade celebrating the last sundown of the year. (Firdia Lisnawati / Associated Press)
A Pakistani man photographs his relatives riding a camel on the beach as the sun goes down on 2013 in Karachi. (Asif Hassan / AFP/Getty Images)
Buddhists attend New Year’s Eve celebrations at the Bongeun Buddhist temple in Seoul, South Korea. (Ahn Young-joon / Associated Press)
