It’s an annual end-of-year exercise in futility for many.

New Year’s Day arrived to cheers from thousands in New York’s Times Square where a sparkling crystal ball descended to start 2024 with hope for some, even as the world’s ongoing conflicts subdued celebrations and raised security concerns across the globe.

UFC President Dana White was seen on video released by TMZ slapping his wife, Anne, while the two were on vacation in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, last month.

Residents in California's Central Valley are bracing for another round of powerful storms.

The Miami Children's Museum allowed kids to celebrate in a big way by bringing in the 'Noon Year' on Saturday,

Revelers are celebrating the traditional ball drop in New York City’s Times Square, ushering in 2023 in the largest New Year’s celebration in the United States.

DeSantis has not spoken recently about COVID-19 despite the record numbers of cases seen across the state.

Boisterous New Year’s Eve celebrations have kicked off in Serbia’s capital of Belgrade, where mass gatherings have been allowed despite fears of the fast-spreading omicron variant.

The cities of Miami and Fort Lauderdale are putting the finishing touches on outdoor festivities to ring in 2022 despite the pandemic still swirling.

Muted New Year’s Eve celebrations around the world ushered in the fourth calendar year framed by the global Covid-19 pandemic.

The annual New Year's Eve ball drop in New York City's Times Square has arrived just as the year prior began, with the pandemic clouding an already uncertain future.

While many crowd-drawing celebrations are being canceled due to the omicron variant, the show is on at Miami's Bayfront Park to ring in the New Year.

You might think you know everything there is to know about New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day, but there’s actually some cool history behind the big days.

The coronavirus testing sites are experiencing a high demand on Monday amid the spread of the omicron variant, holiday parties, and the end-of-year travel season.

New Year celebrations are approaching and across the world there is an urge to party.

Revelers will still ring in the new year in New York’s Times Square next week, there just won’t be as many as usual under new COVID-19 restrictions.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio says crowds will once again fill Times Square this New Year’s Eve.

NBC was the highest-rated broadcast network last week, averaging 4.6 million viewers in prime time. Fox News Channel had 1.7 million viewers, CNN had 1.6 million, Hallmark had 1.42 million, MSNBC had 1.4 million, HGTV had 1.3 million and TNT had 1.2 million. ABC’s “World News Tonight” won the evening news ratings race, averaging 9.75 million viewers. College Football Bowl Studio, ESPN, 16.1 million. College Football Playoffs Semifinal, ESPN, 13.4 millionCollege Football Bowl Studio, ESPN, 13.5 million.

A quiet Wardour Street in London, as the New Year's Eve fireworks display has been cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic, Thursday, Dec. 31, 2020. (Jonathan Brady/PA via AP)LONDON – British hospitals around the country face a perilous situation in January, medical workers warned Friday amid surging coronavirus infections blamed on a new virus variant. “In the short term, the additional increase of vaccine efficacy from the second dose is likely to be modest. The U.K.'s main union for doctors warned that delaying the second dose causes huge scheduling problems for thousands of partially vaccinated elderly and vulnerable people. ___Follow AP coverage of the coronavirus pandemic at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic and https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-vaccines and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak

BEIJING – Thailand's capital is shutting down venues including schools and entertainment areas as coronavirus cases continue to spread. Seven provinces including Bangkok have been designated red zones where places including entertainment venues, boxing rings, gyms and flea markets are ordered closed. Bangkok reported 180 cases in the last 24 hours. The requirements by the Shenyang and Dalian airports come amid a small but persistent growth in cases in the two cities located in Liaoning province just north of the capital Beijing. China on Friday reported a total of 19 new virus cases, including 10 that were brought from outside the country.

Many South Africans will swap firecrackers for candles to mark New Year's Eve amid COVID-19 restrictions including a nighttime curfew responding to President Cyril Ramaphosa's call to light a candle to honor those who have died in the COVID-19 pandemic and the health workers who are on the frontline of battling the disease. (AP Photo/Denis Farrell)JOHANNESBURG – Many South Africans swapped firecrackers for candles to mark New Year’s Eve amid COVID-19 restrictions including a nighttime curfew. Urging all South Africans to battle the virus, Ramaphosa called on the nation to celebrate New Year’s Eve in a different way. Instead, the mayor of South Africa's largest city will light a candle on the landmark Nelson Mandela Bridge. At midnight he will light a candle with his family and pray for everybody who has suffered from the pandemic.

A man wears a protective mask during the coronavirus pandemic in Times Square Thursday, Dec. 31, 2020, in New York. Small groups of revelers, some wearing glittery hats, filmed their distant view of Times Square on their phones and broke out in cheers at midnight. Preparing for the worst, the New York Police Department deployed its bomb-sniffing dogs and sand-filled sanitation trucks intended to guard against explosions. “It’s dead,” said Ali Jameel early Thursday, who owns a store a block from Times Square. “Coming to Times Square is a family tradition for some.

A different U.K.-EU trade deal will bring new restrictions and red tape, but for British Brexit supporters, it means reclaiming national independence from the EU and its web of rules. Hundreds of millions of individuals in Britain and the bloc also face changes to their daily lives. Britons and EU citizens have lost the automatic right to live and work in the other’s territory. For some in Britain, including the prime minister, it’s a moment of pride and a chance for the U.K. to set new diplomatic and economic priorities. In Scotland, which voted strongly in 2016 to remain, Brexit has bolstered support for separation from the U.K.

(AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)LAS VEGAS — Tens of thousands of people were walking on the casino-lined Las Vegas Strip on New Year’s Eve by early evening despite a plea from Nevada Gov. China on Friday reported a total of 19 new virus cases, including 10 that were brought from outside the country. ___LONDON — The coronavirus pandemic canceled London’s annual New Years’ Eve fireworks display, which usually draws tens of thousands of spectators. The nation’s most populated county has about 40% of California’s virus deaths. ___NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Tennessee ends the year ranked first in coronavirus cases per capita.

Fireworks and drones illuminate the night sky over London as they form a light display as London's normal New Year's Eve fireworks display was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic Thursday Dec. 31, 2020. As midnight rolled from Asia to the Middle East, Europe, Africa and the Americas, the New Year’s experience mirrored national responses to the virus itself. Some countries and cities canceled or scaled back their festivities, while others without active outbreaks carried on like any other year. In Chinese societies, the virus ensured more muted celebrations of the solar New Year, which is less widely observed than the Lunar New Year that in 2021 will fall in February. Initial reports about a mystery respiratory illness sickening people in the Chinese city of Wuhan emerged exactly a year ago.

FILE - In this Jan. 1, 2020, file photo, confetti falls at midnight on the Times Square New Year's Eve celebration in New York. If ever a year's end seemed like cause for celebration, 2020 might be it. (Photo by Ben Hider/Invision/AP, File)NEW YORK – If ever a year's end seemed like cause for celebration, 2020 might be it. From New York's Times Square to Sydney Harbor, big public blowouts are being turned into TV-only shows and digital events. The occasion stirs mixed feelings for people like Cesar Soltero, who was taking photos, and taking stock, in Times Square this week.

Before the Times Square Ball dropped at midnight, there were many other New Year’s Eve celebrations around the world. Here are some of the best:AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALANDSYDNEY, AUSTRALIAPYONGYANG, NORTH KOREATOKYO, JAPANTAIPEI, TAIWANHONG KONGBANGKOKKARACHI, PAKISTANDUBAIMOSCOWATHENS, GREECEBERLIN, GERMANYPARIS, FRANCELONDONRIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZILNEW YORK: Times Square ball drop

Last New Year's Eve, Billy Porter was working in New Orleans. This year he'll still be working — but in New York City. The “Pose” star will join Ryan Seacrest and Lucy Hale on ABC in Times Square on Dec. 31 for Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2020.” The broadcast is closed to the public due to the pandemic. “2020 has been a trying year for the world and I’m thrilled to have Billy and Lucy join me in ushering in a new year with fresh beginnings,” said Seacrest in a statement. As with last year, Ciara will once again oversee the Los Angeles festivities.

Mtley Cre is reuniting. (CNN) - Mtley Cre is reuniting. In 2014, the band signed a "cessation of touring agreement" and stopped touring together. Members Vince Neil, Nikki Sixx, Mick Mars and Tommy Lee had been together for 35 years, then broke up and stopped speaking to each other. Well, destruction has never been an issue for Mtley Cre."

(CNN) - The brother of Olympic gold medalist Simone Biles pleaded not guilty Friday to murder and other charges in connection with a shooting that killed three people in Ohio on New Year's Eve. Tevin Biles-Thomas's lawyer made the plea on his behalf in a Cleveland courtroom during the defendant's first court appearance Friday morning. The shootingOn the night of the shooting, a group of uninvited guests walked into a home and a fight began, Ohio authorities said. Biles-Thomas is the brother of Simone Biles, a five-time Olympic medalist and a 14-time world champion. Last week, Simone Biles said on Twitter that her "heart aches for everyone involved, especially for the victims and their families."

(CNN) - Olympic gymnast Simone Biles said Monday night she was "still having a hard time processing last weeks news," days after her brother was charged in a New Year's Eve shooting the left three people dead in Ohio. The five-time Olympic medalist and 14-time world champion said on Twitter that her "heart aches for everyone involved, especially for the victims and their families." Tevin Biles-Thomas has been charged with murder, voluntary manslaughter, felonious assault and perjury in a December 31 shooting in Cleveland. Authorities said the shooting started after a group of uninvited guests walked into a home and a fight began. Biles-Thomas was arrested August 29 in Liberty County, Georgia, where he is being held without bond pending extradition to Cuyahoga County, the Liberty County Jail said.

(CNN) - The brother of Olympic gold medalist Simone Biles has been arrested and charged in a New Year's Eve shooting in Ohio that killed three people. The charges were announced in a joint statement Cleveland Police and the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor's Office. Biles-Thomas is the brother of Simone Biles, a five-time Olympic medalist and a 14-time world champion. He was arrested in Liberty County, Georgia, on Thursday and is being held pending extradition to Cuyahoga County, the Liberty County Jail said. CNN has reached out to Simone Biles for comment.

With New Year's Eve almost here and December marking National Impaired Driving Prevention Month, take a look at which states have the most drunken drivers, as rated by CarInsuranceComparison.com. Hide Caption