Residents fix the wall of a house in the city of Mamoudzou, on the French Indian Ocean territory of Mayotte, on December 21, 2024, after cyclone Chido hit the archipelago. Rescuers raced against time to reach survivors and supply urgent aid after the devastating cyclone Chido ripped through the French Indian Ocean territory of Mayotte, destroying homes across the islands. (Photo by Patrick Meinhardt/AFP Photo)




A thousand Christmas Day revellers wearing festive fancy dress take the plunge in to the cold sea at Boscombe at Bournemouth in Dorset, UK on December 25, 2024 for the Macmillan White Christmas Dip charity swim on an unseasonably warm morning. (Photo by Graham Hunt/Alamy Live News)




Visitors walk at a Christmas light tunnel during the 2024 New Taipei Christmasland on Christmas eve in New Taipei City on December 24, 2024. (Photo by I-Hwa Cheng/AFP Photo)




Two men dressed as Brodacze (Bearded men) pose for the picture with a young woman in Slawatycze, Podlasie region in eastern Poland on December 29, 2024. Brodacze (Bearded men) are a local new year tradition in Slawatycze in the Podlasie region and specific to this one town in Poland. On the last three days of the year, local young men dressed as bearded figures, wearing special masks and colorful costumes parade through the streets of Slawatycze and hassle passers-by to bid farewell to the old year and welcome the new one. (Photo by Wojtek Radwanski/AFP Photo)




Visitors walk under Christmas decorations at the local Catholic church on the eve of the Christmas celebrations in the village of Petrushan, near the town of Gjakova, Kosovo on December 22, 2023. (Photo by Armend Nimani/AFP Photo)




South Korean soldiers check near the wreckage of a passenger plane at Muan International Airport on December 29, 2024 in Muan-gun, South Korea. A plane carrying 181 people, Jeju Air Flight 7C2216, crashed at Muan International Airport in South Korea after skidding off the runway and colliding with a wall, resulting in an explosion. Early reports said that at least 120 people had died. (Photo by Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images)




An “Ano Viejo”, representing Honduran President Xiomara Castro, in the village of Germania, south of Tegucigalpa, Honduras, 30 December 2024. Effigies symbolizing the “Ano Viejo” (old year) will be 'burned' as part of New Year's Eve traditions. (Photo by Gustavo Amador/EPA)




Relatives of passengers of a Jeju Air Boeing 737-800 series aircraft react near a make-shift shelter at Muan International Airport in Muan, some 288 kilometres southwest of Seoul on December 30, 2024. The Boeing 737-800 was carrying 181 people from Thailand to South Korea when it crashed on arrival on December 29, killing everyone aboard -- save two flight attendants pulled from the twisted wreckage of the worst aviation disaster on South Korean soil. (Photo by Jung Yeon-Je/AFP Photo)




This aerial view shows sunken Syrian Osa-class missile boats that were hit by an Israeli strike on December 10, at the port of Latakia in western Syria on December 30, 2024. (Photo by Aaref Watad/AFP Photo)




Bulgarian Pomak (Bulgarian speaking Muslims) bride Selve Kiselova , 21, has gelina make-up applied to her face ahead of her wedding ceremony in the village of Ribnovo, on December 29, 2024. The people of this Bulgarian mountain village are famous for performing their unique wedding ceremonies in winter time only. Muslim bulgarians are descendants of Christian bulgarians who were forcibly converted to Islam by the Turks, during the 14th, 16th and the 18th century. (Photo by Nikolay Doychinov/AFP Photo)




A woman mourns during the 20th anniversary of the Republica Cromanon disco fire, in which 194 young people were killed and hundreds more injured in Buenos Aires on December 30, 2024. The names of the victims are still painted on the exterior walls of the wrecked nightclub. (Photo by Tomás Cuesta/AFP Photo)




Fireworks explode over the Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge during New Year's Eve celebrations in Sydney, Tuesday, December 31, 2024. (Photo by Bianca De Marchi/AAP Image via AP Photo)




Young “Baesemanne” (broom men), equipped with long-handled juniper broom, wooden mask, and air-filled pig bladders called “Soeiblaatere”, participate in the 101st traditional “Achetringele” procession on New Year's Eve in Laupen, Switzerland, 31 December 2024. The festive procession, which starts from Laupen Castle, uses bells, brooms, pig bladders, and masks to drive away evil spirits. The leader of the procession announces New Year's wishes, followed by a chase with the inflated pig bladders. Originating a century ago, the parade features masks crafted in 1924, and its roots may date back to the Germanic Julfest. “Achetringele” means “ring down”, symbolizing the banishment of the old year. Traditional juniper brooms are believed to ward off demons. (Photo by Anthony Anex/EPA/EFE)




People arrive to Times Square ahead of celebrations of the New Year's Eve, in New York City, New York, U.S., December 31, 2024. (Photo by Eduardo Munoz/Reuters)




Syrians celebrate the new year after the ousting of Assad regime, in Damascus, Syria, Tuesday, December 31, 2024. (Photo by Mosa'ab Elshamy/AP Photo)