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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A Ukrainian strike has damaged a school building in a Russian-controlled area of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region, according to local authorities cited by the TASS news agency. No injuries were reported in the incident.
Russia and Ukraine exchanged new attacks overnight on Thursday. Missiles struck Kyiv while Ukrainian drones hit a major oil refinery in Moscow, just hours after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy held talks with U.S. President Donald Trump and European leaders on efforts to end the war.
A discreet visit to Kyiv by Russian billionaire and businessman Roman Abramovich has reignited debate about the role of unofficial diplomacy in efforts to end the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
Russian drone and missile attacks on Ukraine's north-eastern Kharkiv region killed a pregnant woman and two other people, Ukrainian officials said on Tuesday, as renewed diplomatic efforts to end the war continued.
Tehran has agreed to let the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) recommence inspections of its nuclear programme, U.S. Vice President JD Vance has said. The U.S. and Iran have settled on a 60-day roadmap aimed at reaching a final deal, according to mediators Qatar and Pakistan.
A Ukrainian strike has damaged a school building in a Russian-controlled area of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region, according to local authorities cited by the TASS news agency. No injuries were reported in the incident.
Israel's defence minister said on Wednesday Israeli troops will not withdraw from southern Lebanon, highlighting a hurdle to Iran-U.S. peace talks, as the top U.S. diplomat tours the Middle East to win over allies sceptical about a proposed deal.
U.S. President Donald Trump said that Iran had agreed to nuclear inspections into "infinity, despite Tehran's denials, and that unfrozen Iranian assets would be used to buy humanitarian supplies from the United States.
Authorities in France are reporting that about 20 people have died over the weekend while swimming in unsupervised areas of rivers, lakes and coastal waters as they tried to escape the heatwave.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said he will “most likely” hold bilateral talks with U.S. President Donald Trump during next month’s NATO summit in Ankara, where the American leader is expected to attend.
Russia has called for clarification on whether U.S. President Donald Trump has changed his position on the war in Ukraine following remarks made at the recent G7 summit in Evian-les-Bains.
The European Union and Taliban officials held talks in Brussels on Tuesday on consular services and the situation of Afghans whose asylum applications have been rejected in Europe.
China’s anti-corruption authorities have launched an investigation into Bian Zhigang, a senior defence and space official, over suspected serious violations of discipline and law, officials said on Wednesday.
Alibaba, one of the world's largest technology and e-commerce companies, has sued the U.S. Pentagon after being added to a blacklist of firms it claims support China's military, escalating a dispute with potentially significant consequences for the company.
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