People around the world said goodbye to a sometimes challenging 2025 and expressed hopes for the new year to come. Midnight arrived first on the islands closest to the International Date Line in the Pacific Ocean, including Kiritimati, Tonga and New Zealand.
In Australia, Sydney began 2026 with a spectacular fireworks display, as per tradition. Some 40,000 pyrotechnic effects stretched 7 km (over 4 miles) across buildings and barges along its harbour and featured a waterfall effect from the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
This year, it was held under an enhanced police presence, weeks after gunmen killed 15 people at a Jewish event in the city.
"After a tragic end to the year for our city, we hope that New Year's Eve will provide an opportunity to come together and look with hope for a peaceful and happy 2026," Sydney's Lord Mayor Clover Moore said ahead of the event.
In Seoul, thousands gathered at the Bosingak bell pavilion, where a bronze bell was struck 33 times at midnight - a tradition rooted in Buddhist cosmology, symbolising the 33 heavens.
DRUMS AT THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA
An hour to the west, there were celebrations and a drum performance at the Juyong Pass, at the Great Wall of China just outside Beijing.
Revellers wore headgear and waved boards emblazoned with "2026" and the symbol of a horse. February will mark the arrival of the Year of the Horse on the Chinese lunar calendar.
In Hong Kong, the annual New Year's fireworks display was called off after the apartment complex blaze in November that killed 161 people. Instead, a light show with the theme of 'New hopes, new beginnings' transformed facades in the Central district.
In Croatia, revels got off to an early start. Since 2000, the town of Fuzine has held its countdown at noon, a tradition that has since spread across the country.
Crowds cheered, toasted each other with champagne and danced to music - all in the middle of the day. Some brave souls in Santa hats took a plunge into the icy waters of Lake Bajer.
Elsewhere, preparations got under way for the more traditional midnight toast. In subzero temperatures in New York, organisers began putting up security barriers and stages ahead of the crowds that will flock to Times Square for the annual ball drop.
Similarly, on Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro - albeit with warmer weather - staging was being set up for a massive music and fireworks party known as "Reveillon."
Organisers were hoping to beat their 2024 Guinness World Record for the biggest New Year's Eve celebration.
Greece's ancient Parthenon Temple on the Acropolis had a quiet New Year. The mayor of Athens said silent, environmentally friendly fireworks were used, citing distress caused by loud displays to pets, animals and some people.
In snowy Kyiv and Moscow, both Ukrainians and Russians saw in the new year, expressing hopes of peace after nearly four years of conflict.
"I wish for the war to end, I think that this is the main and most important topic for our country," said a woman in central Moscow who gave her name only as Larisa and said she had traveled from distant Altai Krai to see the Russian capital in the winter holidays with her family.
Many Ukrainians lamented that peace still seemed a distant prospect.
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Russia has outlined potential areas for economic cooperation with the Trump administration, including a possible return to using the U.S. dollar in bilateral dealings, Bloomberg News reported, citing an internal Kremlin memo.
Ukraine’s allies have pledged nearly $48 billion in military support at a meeting of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group (UDCG) in Brussels, vowing to intensify pressure on Russia and strengthen Kyiv’s battlefield position.
The Ukrainian capital came under a “massive” Russian missile attack early Thursday (12 February), with explosions heard across the capital according to authorities. The assault unfolded as uncertainty lingers over upcoming U.S.-brokered peace talks.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said air defence systems are being restructured and repaired as Russia’s latest attacks on energy infrastructure left parts of the country, including Kyiv, facing electricity and heating shortages during freezing winter conditions.
U.S. Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker said China has the power to bring an end to Russia’s war in Ukraine, arguing that Beijing is enabling Moscow’s military campaign.
Austria’s Janine Flock won the gold medal in the women’s skeleton event at the Milano-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics on Saturday.
Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Secretary Ali Larijani said the United States could evaluate its own interests separately from those of Israel in ongoing negotiations between Tehran and Washington.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Sunday (15 February) called it “troubling” a report by five European allies blaming Russia for killing late Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny using a toxin from poison dart frogs.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Saturday that Russia’s decision to change the leadership of its delegation for upcoming peace talks in Geneva appeared to be an attempt to delay progress.
The Pentagon has threatened to designate artificial intelligence firm Anthropic as a “supply chain risk” amid a dispute over the military use of its Claude AI model, according to a report published Monday.
Representatives of Ukraine, Russia and the United States are set to meet in Geneva for a third round of trilateral negotiations aimed at ending the nearly four-year war, even as both sides intensify military pressure on the ground.
The Prime Minister, Mark Carney, announced on 16 February that the Honourable Janice Charette has been appointed as the next Chief Trade Negotiator to the United States.
Cuba’s fuel crisis has turned into a waste crisis, with garbage piling up on most street corners in Havana as many collection trucks lack enough petrol to operate.
Day 10 of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics delivered high-stakes semifinals, dramatic finishes and classic podium moments across Milan and the Italian Alps. Photographers captured split seconds of symmetry before puck drops, explosive turns on the ice and triumphant celebrations.
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