New Year

Around the world, 2026 has begun to arrive. Crowds around the world have gathered to ring in the new year, often accompanied by an increase security measures.

In some communities, traditional celebrations were overshadowed by grief. Hong Kong adjusted its plans in honor of the 161 people who recently died in a high-rise apartment fire, while public events in Sydney, Australia, paid tribute to the 15 people killed in a terrorist attack at a Hanukkah celebration on December 14.

This is what the world sounds like in 2026, in photos.

Greater security for New Year’s Eve in Europe

A few hours before midnight struck in Europe, Pope Leo XIV gave his last general audience of 2025 in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican. He quoted the late Pope Francis, led the congregation in a traditional prayer and recalled the events of 2025.

In Paris, a New Year’s Eve concert was canceled because authorities feared “unpredictable crowd movements” on the Champs-Elysees, which were “deemed to be undersized” for the event. The new year will be celebrated with a video projection on the Arc de Triomphe.

Increased security and traffic measures have been implemented in the French capital, including the mobilization of 10,000 police officers.

London will host a ticketed fireworks event in the city centre, but Primrose Hill, a popular viewing point, will be inaccessible, the Metropolitan Police Department said. Law enforcement has been deployed throughout the city to “provide a calming presence, deter those who want to take advantage of crowds to commit crimes and respond decisively to any incidents,” said MPD Commander Nick John, in charge of the New Year’s Eve police operation. There will also be greater security on public transport.

Berlin residents and tourists marked the end of 2025 by taking selfies and making snowmen in front of the German capital’s cathedral and the iconic Brandenburg Gate. The Berlin Television Tower was almost invisible among the falling snowflakes and fog.

In Ukraine, residents of Odessa held a traditional celebration called Malanka, which featured traditional costumes, folk characters, songs, dances, theatrical performances, and other rituals meant to bring prosperity in the new year.

Ukraine marks its fourth New Year at war following Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.

In Greece and Cyprus, officials turned down the volume and replaced traditional fireworks with low-noise pyrotechnics, light shows and drone displays in capitals. Officials said the change is intended to make celebrations more welcoming to children and pets, particularly animals sensitive to loud noise.

A global welcome to 2026

Fireworks and street festivals were the order of the day in many cities around the world.

Solemnity and celebration mix in Australia and New Zealand

The South Pacific countries were the first to welcome the new year, as midnight arrived in New Zealand 18 hours before the ball was scheduled to drop. New York City Times Square.

In Auckland, New Zealanders welcomed 2026 with a fireworks display launched from the country’s tallest structure, the Sky Tower, in a celebration that attracted thousands of people despite the rain. The five-minute pyrotechnic display involved 3,500 fireworks launched from various floors of the 787-foot tower. Smaller community events across New Zealand’s North Island were canceled on Wednesday due to gloomy weather forecasts.

Australia’s east coast welcomed the year 2026 just two hours later, but in Sydney, the country’s largest city, celebrations took place under the cloak of Australia’s worst mass shooting in nearly 30 years. two gunmen He attacked a Hanukkah celebration in Bondi Beach on December 14, killing 15 people in what authorities called an ISIS-inspired anti-Semitic terrorist attack.

Authorities had said more than 2,500 officers would be available to patrol the area around Sydney’s iconic harbour, the epicenter of New Year’s Eve celebrations. Many openly carried automatic rifles, something rarely seen in Sydney.

Amid those security measures, thousands of people crowded the waterfront to watch a fireworks show centered on the Sydney Harbor Bridge.

New South Wales Premier Chris Minns had urged Sydney residents not to stay away out of fear, saying extremists would interpret smaller crowds at New Year’s Eve festivities as a victory.

“We cannot be in a situation where this horrible, criminal, terrorist event changes the way we live in our beautiful city,” Minns told reporters Wednesday. “We have to show defiance in the face of this terrible crime and say that we will not be cowed by this type of terrorism.”

An hour before midnight, the victims of the Bondi Beach massacre were commemorated with a minute’s silence, while images of a menorah were projected onto the bridge towers. The crowd was invited to show solidarity with Australia’s Jewish community by illuminating the harbor with their phone lights.

Celebrations throughout Asia

In Indonesia, one of Australia’s closest neighbors, cities scaled back New Year’s festivities as a gesture of solidarity with communities devastated by catastrophic floods and landslides which struck parts of the island of Sumatra a month ago and claimed more than 1,100 lives.

The capital, Jakarta, opted to scale back the usual fanfare and opted for subdued celebrations with a quiet, reflective program centered on prayers for the victims, the city’s governor, Pramono Anung, said last week. But still a large crowd gathered to welcome 2026.

Concerts and fireworks on the Indonesian resort island of Bali were canceled and replaced by a cultural arts event in which 65 groups performed traditional dances.

Hong Kong was also going to welcome the year 2026 without the usual spectacular and colorful explosions in the sky over its iconic Victoria Harbour, after a huge Fire devastated apartment complex in November and killed at least 161 people.

Instead, the city’s tourism board organized a musical show featuring soft rock duo Air Supply and other singers in Central, a commercial district. The facades of eight monuments would become gigantic countdown clocks that would present a three-minute light show at midnight.

Chinese President Xi Jinping, in a New Year’s Eve speech broadcast by state media, praised his country’s technological progress in areas such as artificial intelligence and semiconductors, while renewing threats against Taiwanwhich it claims as part of its sovereign territory.

“We Chinese on both sides of the Taiwan Strait share a bond of blood and kinship,” he said.

“The reunification of our homeland, a trend of these times, is unstoppable,” Xi said, as his country’s army announced the conclusion of Large-scale military exercises around Taiwan which were condemned by the democratically governed island’s leaders as “highly provocative and reckless.”

In Seoul, the capital of South Korea, bells were rung at the Bosingak Pavilion and fireworks lit up the sky.

Temple bells rang across Japan and some people climbed mountains to see the first sunrise of the year. Others ate noodles in a traditional wish for long life due to the shape of the noodles.

The Philippines welcomed the year 2026 with fireworks over Manila, where skyscrapers were also illuminated.

In India, crowds gathered and monuments were illuminated to herald the new year.