The New Year's Eve ball drop in New York City will sparkle in red, white, and blue to kick off celebrations for the U.S.'s 250th birthday in 2026.

From live DJ sets and midnight countdowns to special character appearances, the excitement spans Universal Studios Florida, Universal Islands of Adventure, Universal Epic Universe, CityWalk, and the resort’s hotels.

After more than a year of nightly disruptions, the Orange County Board of Commissioners has approved a new ordinance restricting fireworks use to just three days.

Japan’s economy grew at a better-than-expected annual rate of 2.8% in October-December, underlined by steady exports and moderate consumption.

Las Vegas will host the 2027 College Football Playoff national championship game.

Atlanta leaders say the New Year’s Eve vehicle attack on Bourbon Street in New Orleans has helped guide their security plans for college football’s national championship game.

Donald Trump is expected to hold a big Washington rally the day before he’s sworn in as the nation’s 47th president.

The brother of a man who was shoved onto subway tracks ahead of an incoming train in New York City on New Year’s Eve says he's expected to make a full recovery.

President-elect Donald Trump says he’s planning to attend the funeral of former President Jimmy Carter.

New Year’s Eve celebrations are renowned for their unique and vibrant drops. In Florida, each drop reflects the local culture and spirit of its city. Here’s a glimpse into some of these festive traditions.

Once again, AAA is offering free rides to stranded drivers as part of its “Tow to Go” program, according to a news release.

Downtown Orlando’s traditional Orange Ball Drop on New Year’s Eve will happen in the Thornton Park neighborhood district.

From Sydney to Mumbai to Paris to Rio de Janeiro, communities around the world are welcoming 2025 with spectacular light shows, embraces and ice plunges.

The crystal-covered ball that descends down a pole in Times Square to ring in the new year was taken for a test run, as New York City officials laid out their plans for the iconic New Year’s Eve event.

Sunday is the day our next front arrives, dragging in plenty of moisture, rain, and a few isolated stronger storms for some before we enter a beautiful evening to celebrate the new year.

Lighting fireworks is a holiday tradition for some, but it is important to keep yourself and those around you safe, and notify neighbors with PTSD ahead of time that you plan to use them.

Angel Blue, one of the most admired singers of her generation, is headlining the Metropolitan Opera’s first new production of Verdi’s “Aida” in 36 years.

Unfortunately, according to the National Safety Council, both Christmas and New Year’s Eve are among the most dangerous driving holidays in the United States.

On Dec. 31, the park’s New Year’s Eve Celebration will include fireworks, lively dance parties, plus animal encounters and spectacular shows.

One Georgia city will welcome 2025 with a larger-than-average bang.

A retired paramedic who lives close to where the fatal crash happened said he heard it from his home and then rushed to the scene to help.

You may have noticed after seeing fireworks displays late in the evening (or setting off your own) that the smoke just seems to sit there long after the show’s over.

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.

Around 40,000 fans are expected to watch Kansas State take on North Carolina State in this year's Pop-Tarts Bowl.

In a release, deputies said that Jeremy Franklin, 36, was speeding in the 400 block of Howland Boulevard shortly before midnight on Dec. 31, 2022.

People may see The Wheel at ICON Park in Orlando lit up for the first time in weeks since it lost power on New Year’s Eve, but the attraction is not welcoming riders back on yet.

A celebration to start the new year ended with one teen in the hospital, missing pieces of his right hand.

Lake Mary police are investigating after they say a woman was hit in the face with a bullet on New Year’s Eve.

The twins were born on differing sides of midnight New Year's Eve.

TMZ has released video of UFC Pesident Dana White slapping his wife, Anne.

You may have noticed after seeing fireworks displays late in the evening (or setting off your own) that the smoke just seems to sit there long after the show’s over.

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.

Businesses and police are getting ready to say hello to 2023 in downtown Orlando, and that means crowds, celebrations and security.

The preparations to ring in 2023 are underway across Central Florida.

AAA is providing tow services for free through New Year’s weekend to help keep the roads free of impaired drivers.

usinesses in downtown Orlando and neighboring areas are preparing for one of the biggest celebrations of the year — New Year’s Eve.

With the new year fast approaching, we compiled a comprehensive list of Central Florida events to help you celebrate New Year’s Eve no matter what your bedtime is.

Despite a record amount of COVID-19 cases in the state, several block parties and other events were expected to draw in large crowds.

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.

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.

Safety is key for so many restaurant and bar owners ahead of their New Year’s Eve festivities amid the latest omicron surge.

The Big Orange isn’t rising up the side of the Intercontinental Hotel in Miami this year, and a festival with food trucks and performers in a northeast Florida beach town has been canceled.

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.

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.

The end of 2021 is approaching and it’s time to ring in the new year.

Central Florida’s theme parks are preparing to ring in the new year with some big celebrations.

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.

ORLANDO, Fla. – As they do every year, Orlando Police want people to be safe as they ring in 2021, not just on the road but also staying safe from the virus. Officers don’t anticipate big crowds as they have in other years, there will still be extra patrol units in Downtown Orlando on Thursday night. The department collaborated with the Orange County business Strike Team to make sure businesses are doing everything they can to try and keep people safe on New Year’s Eve. “We’ve been going to all the businesses that are downtown all the bars and nightclubs that will be open tonight. To report a business to the Orange County Business Compliance Teams, residents should call 311 or go toOCFL.net/311.

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.

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – As we inch closer to New Year’s Eve, county leaders and business owners alike prepare for another holiday in which crowds could pose a problem. On Tuesday, strike teams visited several businesses, including those that requested a visit as a precaution. On Dec. 4, Mayor Jerry Demings ordered his strike teams to begin fining businesses not in compliance, with penalties ranging from a couple hundred dollars up to $15,000. Since the fines went into effect, Tim Boldig, the deputy director for Orange County’s Community, Environmental & Development Services Department, told News 6 the strike teams issued nine fines and another 40 warnings. “What we find is the fast in-and-out places such as your gas stations and convenience stores, those are the areas we see the most noncompliance.”Boldig said strike teams will continue with unannounced visits as many ring in the new year.

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.

ORLANDO, Fla. – Sunday is the transition day to warmer times for the last week of 2020. After another cold start, temperatures warm back into the upper 60s. Future radarTemperatures warm back to the 70s Monday and through the middle of the week. Rain chances return later in the day New Year’s Day. Slightly cooler air returns for the first few day beyond New Year’s Day.

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.

Crowds hit downtown Orlando for New Year's Eve celebrations to ring in 2020. If you need help with the Public File, call 407-291-6000.

As the clock strikes midnight on New Year's Eve, many people follow what, from the outside, may look to be odd traditions in order to bring luck and prosperity in the new year.