2015 Welcomed With Fireworks Displays, Concerts and Light Shows Across the World

From New Delhi to Dubai, Johannesburg, New York and Rio, millions around the world celebrated the new year with fireworks displays, concerts and light shows. Australia's biggest city kicked off the New Year celebrations with a massive fireworks display that lit up Sydney Harbor.

Europe ushered the new year with a spectacular fireworks display in Moscow after Hong Kong led the party in Asia. Red and green fireworks lit up the sky over St. Basil's Cathedral in the Russian capital after Dubai had laid on a similarly impressive light and sound extravaganza at the Burj Khalifa. In Taiwan the landmark skyscraper Taipei 101 was at the center of celebrations, with performances by pop singers and a firework display at midnight. In Japan, the Meiji Jingu shrine in Tokyo brought out stocks of lucky charms and set up large offertory boxes to welcome a huge wave of worshipers overnight.

In Berlin, Baywatch star David Hasselhoff joined a huge open air concert in front of the Brandenburg Gate, where he famously sang for freedom after the Berlin Wall fell 25 years ago. In Spain, millions of revelers descended on Madrid's Puerta del Sol, while in Barcelona a massive fireworks display was held. London staged New Year's Eve fireworks along the Thames and Edinburgh and also a traditional Hogmanay street party was held.

On Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro, more than two million people attended a huge fireworks show, and in New York about one million revelers descended on Times Square to watch the New Year's Eve Ball Drop.

Hundreds of revelers were due to gather around a popular British-colonial era shopping arcade in central Delhi to greet the New Year. Pubs and eateries were festooned with fairy lights and brightly colored balloons. But in Malaysia, a sombre mood prevailed after the crash of AirAsia Flight QZ8501 carrying 162 people in Indonesia and flooding in the northeastern part of the country which has displaced almost 250,000 people. Several year-end celebrations were cancelled, with many companies instead launching fundraising campaigns for flood victims. In Indonesia, Surabaya was holding a candlelight vigil in the hours leading up till midnight to remember the people on the AirAsia flight. In China, celebrations in the Bund area of Shanghai went awry as state media reported a stampede that saw people taken to hospital.

Source-Medindia