South Korea holds muted New Year events after plane crashpublished

New Year celebrations in South Korea have been cancelled or scaled back following Sunday’s plane crash at Muan International Airport.

The country entered a seven-day period of mourning after 179 people were killed when a Jeju Air Boeing 737 crash landed on 29 December.

The Seoul Metropolitan government said its annual bell-ringing show would be a quiet one without performances and with a moment of silence following the tragedy.

Both South and North Korea enter 2025 at 15:00 GMT.

Tokyo and Seoul ring in new year with tolling of bellspublished at 16:0016:00

Japan and South Korea are the latest countries to ring in the new year, marking the start of 2025 there.

In Japan, crowds have gathered at Tokyo’s Tokudai-ji temple to take part in the ringing of bells to usher in the new year.

As we reported a little earlier, South Korea’s new year celebrations will be muted this year after 179 people died when a Jeju Air Boeing 737 crash landed on 29 December.

The Seoul Metropolitan government said its annual bell-ringing show would occur without performances.

A traditional welcome to 2025 in Tokyopublished at 16:1716:17

1 January is a major national holiday in Japan – homes and temples are cleaned on New Year’s Eve in preparation for the change of year.

In Tokyo, people gathered at the Tokudai-ji temple to offer prayers for the coming year before a bell tolled at midnight.

New year welcomed from Beijing to Kuala Lumpurpublished

Midnight has struck in several countries in Asia with firework displays taking place in Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines as millions gathered from Beijing to Kuala Lumpur to celebrate the end of 2024 and the start of 2025.

Ahead of the new year in China, President Xi Jinping told the nation the economy is on an “upward trajectory” and issued a warning to, what Beijing views as, pro-democracy forces in self-governed Taiwan after years of growing tensions.

We’ll be following the new year celebrations in the region so stay with us for more.

New Zealand welcomes in new year

The clock just struck midnight in New Zealand and Auckland is marking the arrival of 2025 with its traditional fireworks display at the city’s iconic Sky Tower.

The North and South islands lie in the same time zone but the Chatham Islands – some 1,088km (676 miles) east of the South Island – is 45 minutes ahead and has already kicked off celebrations.

Australia welcomed the New Year with fireworks over Sydney Harbour 🦘

Australia welcomed the New Year with a fireworks display featuring a golden waterfall effect falling from the iconic Sydney Harbour Bridge.

The 12-minute spectacular stretched seven kilometres along Sydney harbour and featured 23,000 individual pyrotechnic shots and more than 13,000 aerial shells.