Revelers around the globe bid farewell Tuesday to a decade that will be remembered for the rise of social media, the Arab Spring, the #MeToo movement and President Donald Trump.
In the United States, fireworks burst and confetti fell as throngs of people cheered the start of 2020 in New York City's Times Square.
In one of the globe's most-watched New Year's Eve spectacles, the crowd counted down the last seconds of 2019 as a luminescent crystal ball descended down a pole. The button that begins the 60-second drop was pressed this year by high school science teachers and students spotlighting efforts to combat climate change.
"We often watched this in the TV and see this, and we totally want to be a part of it," said Mathieu Plesotsky, 25, who was visiting from Hesse, Germany.
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Amanda Camacho, 25, from Heredia, Costa Rica, said she and her mother realized on Christmas Day that they didn't have New Year's plans, and they booked their tickets to New York.
"We have been in here talking to people and meeting people and sharing," Camacho said. "We met people from Korea, we met people from Guatemala that were actually here just for New Year's Eve, so it has been pretty cool."
About 3,000 pounds of confetti showered the sea of attendees, many of whom were also briefly rained on earlier in the evening as they waited in security pens for the celebrity performances before midnight.
Christina Genovese and Jessica Vanich, friends from Buffalo, N.Y., said the security line was about 30 minutes long when they arrived at 10:30 a.m.
"It's not as cold as Buffalo, so we're OK," Genovese said. Temperatures at Times Square were in the mid-40s, compared with temperatures just above freezing in Buffalo.
In a much warmer climate, Key West, Fla., was taking its cue from New York's ball drop. The subtropical island planned six different "drops" Tuesday evening.
Gary Marion, known as the drag queen Sushi, was to be lowered at a bar in a huge facsimile of a woman's high heel.
At another bar, thousands of revelers were expected to watch the drop of a large man-made conch shell, the symbol of the Florida Keys.
A harbor-side resort planned to drop a big replica of a Key lime wedge into a giant margarita glass.
First Flight Island Restaurant & Brewery, billed as the birthplace of Pan American World Airways, planned to "land" a flight attendant in a section of a replica aircraft.
Also on the bill were a faux "tuna drop" and a "pirate wench" who was to be lowered from the top of a tall ship's mast.
THE WORLD REVELS
Cities around the world celebrated the new year in a variety of ways.
In Paris, a joyful crowd walked, biked and used scooters to reach the Champs-Elysees for the celebrations, which included a light show at the Arc de Triomphe and a fireworks display at midnight. Few people took public transportation, as Tuesday marked the 27th consecutive day of transportation strikes held to protest plans to overhaul the French pension system.
About 3 million people welcomed 2020 at Brazil's iconic Copacabana beach as almost 34,000 pounds of colorful fireworks went off for 14 minutes after midnight. Sao Paulo, Brazil's metropolis, hosted 2 million people and used 6,000 pounds of fireworks -- nearly all of which were silent, so pets did not get too bothered by the noise.
In St. Peter's Square, Pope Francis delighted tourists and Romans on Tuesday night when he took a stroll to admire the Nativity scene. One woman grabbed the pope's hand and pulled him toward her to shake it. A surprised Francis, 83, struck the woman's hand twice to free himself.
Revelers joined pro-democracy demonstrators across Hong Kong, which toned down its planned New Year's Eve celebrations after months of protests.
Russia, which spans 11 time zones, held the world's longest continuous New Year's Eve. Each of the time zones featured a short message from President Vladimir Putin broadcast just before midnight, urging Russians to work together in the coming year. State TV showed footage of fireworks in cities of the Far East.
Fireworks soared at midnight from Samoa's Mount Vaea, overlooking the capital, Apia. However, the celebration there was also a time of sadness. Samoa, with a population of about 200,000, lost 81 people to measles in late 2019. Most of the victims were children under 5.
Londoners watched a spectacular fireworks display from the banks of the River Thames, and they heard the familiar chimes of London's Big Ben clock tower -- an unusual occurrence because the bells were silent for most of 2019 because of extensive restoration work.
In Johannesburg, South Africa, officials were happy with how people were not celebrating. In past years, residents of the Hillbrow neighborhood marked the new year by ridding themselves of unwanted possessions, which usually meant tossing furniture and appliances -- even refrigerators -- from the balconies of high-rise apartments. It appeared today that the tradition was abating.
For nearly 10 minutes in the United Arab Emirates, fireworks lit the sky over Dubai's Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building at 2,716 feet. It was one of seven fireworks shows seen by people drawn to the UAE's December weather -- highs in the upper 70s, lows in the mid-60s.
Japan celebrated the first New Year's Eve of the Reiwa era. Under Japan's old-style calendar, linked to emperors' rules, Reiwa started in May, after Emperor Akihito stepped down and his son Naruhito became emperor. Although Reiwa is entering its second year with 2020, Jan. 1 still marks Reiwa's first New Year's Day, the most important holiday in Japan.
Information for this article was contributed by Rebecca Gibian and staff members of The Associated Press.
A Section on 01/01/2020