Spectacular firework displays have lit up night skies across the globe as cities held huge celebrations for revellers gathered to welcome 2019.
More than 100,000 people descended on London for the capital’s official New Year’s Eve party in the heart of the city. The skyline was filled with an array of colours as dazzling fireworks exploded over the Thames, ensuring the New Year arrived with a bang.
As Brits waited for the big countdown, cities such as Paris, Tokyo, Sydney and Moscow had already welcomed the New Year with stunning firework shows of their own.
Australia and New Zealand were among the first to welcome the arrival of 2019 in fine style with displays of fireworks watched by millions of people.
The first to bring in the New Year were people in Samoa.
It became 2019 there at around 10am UK time.
Festive lights later splashed the night sky of Downtown Dubai as the city held an impressive celebration. The skyline across the city was filled with an array of colours and smoke as a spellbinding fireworks display flew across the Burj Khalifa tower – the world’s tallest building - in the United Arab Emirates city.
In Paris, hundreds of revellers were seen lining the streets in the Champs-Elysees as the city celebrated its New Year's Celebrations.
Concerts and light shows were also held across the city of Moscow, in Russia, where parks and more than 1,000 ice rinks were opened for revellers.
More than two million people celebrated the New Year on Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro.
A 14-minute fireworks display ushered Brazil into 2019 only hours before far-right politician Jair Bolsonaro was to be sworn in as president.
Many Brazilians were on the road to the capital of Brasilia on Monday night to watch the former army captain's inauguration Tuesday afternoon.
The last evening of 2018 in Rio was a sticky 85 degrees Fahrenheit (29 degrees Celsius), and many Brazilians took a dip in the water and made their offerings to Yemanja, a sea goddess in the Afro-Brazilian Candomble faith.
While many celebrate New Year's Eve with fireworks, hundreds of Thais travelled to Takien Temple in a suburb of Bangkok to lie inside coffins for traditional funeral rituals.
Participants believe the ceremony - symbolising death and rebirth - helps rid them of bad luck and allows them to be born again for a fresh start in the New Year.
They held flowers and incense in their hands as monks covered them with pink sheets and chanted prayers for the dead.
New Year's Eve isn't celebrated widely in mainland China, where the lunar New Year in February is a more important holiday. But countdown events were held in major cities, and some of the faithful headed to Buddhist temples for bell-ringing and prayers.
Beijing held a gala with VIP guests at the main site of the 2008 Summer Olympics. The event looked ahead to the 2022 Winter Games, which also will be held in the Chinese capital.
Outdoor revellers in Beijing had to brave temperatures well below freezing.
Additional police were deployed in parts of Shanghai, where a New Year's Eve stampede in 2014 killed 36 people.
In Hong Kong, festive lights on skyscrapers provided the backdrop for a fireworks, music and light show over Victoria Harbor on a chilly evening.
