New Year 2026 celebrations kick off as the new year dawns in Australia

On the other side of the world, 2026 has already arrived. South Pacific countries are the first to ring in the new year, and midnight struck in New Zealand 18 hours before the ball was scheduled to take place. Times Square in New York.

In Auckland, New Zealanders welcomed 2026 with fireworks launched from the country’s tallest structure, the Sky Tower, in a celebration that drew thousands despite the rain.

The five-minute fireworks show involved 3,500 fireworks launched from different floors of the 787-foot tower. Smaller community events were canceled on New Zealand’s North Island on Wednesday due to poor weather forecasts.

Australia’s east coast welcomed 2026 just two hours later, but in Sydney, the country’s largest city, celebrations took place under the cover of Australia’s worst mass shooting in almost 30 years. Two gunmen targeted a Hannukah celebration at Bondi Beach on December 14, killing 15 people in what authorities called a “ Anti-Semitic terrorist attack inspired by ISIS.

Authorities had announced that more than 2,500 officers would be on hand to patrol the area around Sydney’s iconic harbour, the epicenter of New Year’s celebrations. Many were expected to openly carry automatic rifles, a sight rarely seen in Sydney.

Thousands of people gathered on the waterfront to watch a fireworks display centered on Sydney’s Harbor Bridge.

An hour before midnight, the victims of the massacre were commemorated with a minute of silence, while images of a menorah were projected onto the bridge’s pylons. Crowds were asked to show solidarity with Australia’s Jewish community by lighting their phone torches on the harbour.

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

“We cannot find ourselves in a situation where this horrific criminal and terrorist event changes the way we live in our great city,” Minns told reporters Wednesday. “We must show defiance in the face of this terrible crime and say that we are not going to be intimidated by this type of terrorism.”

In Indonesia, one of Australia’s closest neighbors, cities have scaled back New Year festivities in a show of solidarity with communities devastated by catastrophic floods and landslides which hit parts of the island of Sumatra a month ago, killing more than 1,100 people.

The capital, Jakarta, will not ring in 2026 with its usual fanfare, choosing instead subdued celebrations with a calm, thoughtful program centered on prayers for the victims, city governor Pramono Anung said last week. Concerts and fireworks on the Indonesian tourist island of Bali have been canceled and replaced with a cultural and artistic event featuring 65 groups performing traditional dances.

Hong Kong was also due to ring in 2026 without the usual spectacular and colorful explosions in the skies above its iconic Victoria Harbour, after a huge fire ravaged apartment complex in November and killed at least 161 people.

The city’s tourism bureau instead organized a musical show featuring the soft rock duo Air Supply and other singers in Central, a business district. The facades of eight monuments were to be transformed into giant countdown clocks presenting a three-minute light show at midnight.

Many parts of Asia welcome the new year by observing centuries-old traditions.

In Japan, crowds gather at a Buddhist temple in Tokyo to hear the bell ring at midnight. In the South Korean capital, Seoul, a bell ringing and countdown ceremony will be held at Bosingak Pavilion.

Chinese President Xi Jinping, in a New Year’s Eve speech broadcast by state media, praised his country’s technological advancements 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 motherland, a trend of the times, is unstoppable,” Xi said, as his country’s military announced the conclusion of negotiations. large-scale military exercises around Taiwan which were condemned by leaders of the democratically governed island as “highly provocative and reckless”.

While much of the United States likely remained asleep, preparations were well underway for celebrations in major cities and towns across the country – including New Orleanswhere a New Year’s Eve terrorist attack a year ago, left 14 dead.

A National Guard deployment authorized by President Trump began Tuesday as part of a heavy security presence for New Year’s Eve celebrations in the Big Easy, a year after the attack targeting revelers in the early hours of January 1, 2025, on Bourbon Street.