New Year’s Eve Celebrations Usher In 2014 Across The World

From London to Dubai and from Tokyo to Times Square, millions around the world welcomed 2014 yesterday and this morning with fireworks and revelry.

A sea of horn-tooting, hat-wearing revelers cheered as the famed crystal ball dropped in freezing New York City’s Times Square to ring in 2014.

Bronx-born U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor led the 60-second countdown and pushed the button that unleashed the shimmering orb with 2,688 crystals, a role usually filled by the New York City mayor. Mayor Michael Bloomberg, on his last day in office, sat out the celebration after 12 years on the job, while newly elected Mayor Bill de Blasio took the oath of office just after midnight at his Brooklyn home.

On the other side of the Atlantic, London welcomed 2014 with a mixture of futuristic fireworks and torch-lit tradition.

In Russia, where two suicide bombings in two days killed 34 people, eerily empty busses lumbered through the streets of Volgograd, where authorities canceled mass events for New Year’s Eve and asked residents not to set off fireworks.

In Dubai, a Persian Gulf city known for glitz, glamour and over-the-top achievements like the world’s tallest skyscraper, officials sought to break another record by creating the largest fireworks show. The Dubai skyline was a canvas for a dazzling 30-minute show.

{Matzav.com Newscenter, with reporting by Fox News}