A large crowd gathered in downtown LA for the sixth annual New Year’s Eve celebration at Grand Park. Annette Arreola reports Jan. 1, 2020.

A look at New Year’s celebrations in five major cities around the world.

Pope Francis has apologized for swatting away the hand of a woman who tugged his arm as the head of the Roman Catholic Church greeted pilgrims in St. Peter’s Square on New Year’s Eve. In video of the incident, a woman reaches out, grabs his hand and then jerks him forcefully toward her. In his impromptu remarks Wednesday, Francis...

A visibly indignant Pope Francis had to pull himself away from a woman in a crowd in St. Peter’s Square after she had grabbed his hand and yanked him towards her. The pope in his new year’s wishes to the public in St. Peter’s Square on Wednesday apologized, saying he had lost his patience with the woman.

Mariah Carey’s Twitter account was hacked on New Year’s Eve allegedly by the same group that took control of Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey’s account. Dozens of tweets were posted on the hacked account, some using the N-word and others referring to the Chuckling Squad, a hacker group that took control of Dorsey’s account, among other celebrities. Dorsey’s account was hacked...

Santa Monica’s own Pacific Wheel will dazzle us into the new decade.

2020 is being rung in around the globe. More than 1 million people descended on Sydney Harbour to see fireworks despite the wildfires ravaging other parts of Australia. 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 11 time zones. Samoa’s New...

Tens of thousands of people are expected to descend on downtown Los Angeles Tuesday night for the seventh annual New Year’s Eve bash in Grand Park, but a variety of events are planned across the area to help ring in 2020. The Grand Park + The Music Center’s N.Y.E.L.A. will be held over a seven-block area stretching from City...

Several cities and counties in Southern California are offering free or discounted options to get to and from your New Year’s Eve celebration, encouraging people to avoid drinking and driving. In LA, people looking to party on New Year’s Eve can avoid drinking and driving by taking advantage of free transit rides that will be offered throughout the Metro...

Los Angeles will host a New Year’s Eve celebration at Grand Park for the seventh year. Annette Arreola reports Dec. 31, 2019.

Here are photos of New Year’s Eve fireworks events and celebrations around the globe, as revelers welcome a new decade in 2020.

Couples kissed. Others cheered and waved balloons as fireworks burst into the night sky 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...

A pair of daytime parties will help families get festive a half day before midnight on Dec. 31.

Chef Hilary Henderson gave a sneak peek of what diners can expect on New Year’s Eve at CUT Lounge in the Beverly Wilshire. As seen on California Live on Monday, Dec. 30, 2019.

Snow and shimmer will lend the very end of the year a bit of mountain magic.

The mega (and free) Grand Park bash is just one way to enter the ’20s in style.

A 2004 study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said people struck by gunfire shot into the air are most likely to be hit in the head.

This year’s New Year’s Eve celebration in Times Square will spotlight efforts to combat climate change when high school science teachers and students press the button that begins the famous 60-second ball drop and countdown to next year.

See what it looks like right now at the Crossroads of the World.

Long Beach Transit announced Thursday that free rides will be offered starting at 5 p.m. on New Year’s Eve to all customers. In addition, LBT will offer late night service on select routes, with some routes leaving the Transit Gallery on First Street between Long Beach Boulevard and Pine Avenue as late as 2:45 a.m. on New Year’s Day....