Kisses, cheers, fireworks welcome 2020 in Times Square

Couples kissed, others cheered and waved balloons as fireworks burst and confetti fell to welcome 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.

Throngs of people cheered and sang along to the X Ambassadors’ soul-stirring rendition of John Lennon’s “Imagine” just before midnight.

Confetti showered the sea of attendees, many of whom were also briefly rained on as they waited for performances by stars including rap-pop star Post Malone, K-pop group BTS, country singer Sam Hunt and singer-songwriter Alanis Morissette.

Law enforcers were monitoring the situation with security cameras, helicopters and drones.

Streets in and around Times Square were closed to car traffic hours before the ball drop and police cars and sand-filled sanitation trucks were positioned to stop vehicles from driving into the crowd.

Christina Genovese and Jessica Vanich of Buffalo, New York, said the security line was about 30 minutes long when they arrived at 10:30 a.m.

Amanda Camacho of Costa Rica says it’s “pretty cool” to meet people from around the world while waiting to greet the new year.

The new year of 2020 is being rung in around the globe, and each nation has their own special reason to celebrate.

More than 1 million people descended on a hazy Sydney Harbour to see fireworks even as a wildfire crisis is ravaging New South Wales, Australia’s most populous state.

In Hong Kong, revelers as well as pro-democracy protesters came out to usher in the new year.

Russia held the world’s longest New Year’s celebrations, spread across its 11 time zones.

In Auckland, New Zealand, half a ton of fireworks burst from the Sky Tower above the city center.

The Pacific island nation of Kiribati was one of the first countries to welcome the new decade, with its 3,200 coral atolls that are strewn more than 3 million square miles, straddling the equator.

Samoa’s New Year’s Eve was more somber than usual. Fireworks erupted at midnight as people remembered the 81 lives lost in 2019’s measles epidemic.

Pope Francis delighted tourists in St. Peter’s Square when he took a stroll.

In Indonesia, revelers were warned not to get too close to an active volcano.