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 gunman who killed seven people in a mass shooting in Kyiv on Saturday (18 April) had quarrelled with his neighbour before he opened fire on passersby, public broadcaster Suspilne cited Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko as saying on Tuesday.
Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on Thursday an Easter ceasefire with Ukraine lasting 32-hours and said that Kyiv has agreed to abide by the measure. The ceasefire is expected to begin at 16:00 (13:00 GMT) on Saturday 11 April and last until midnight Sunday 12 April, the Kremlin said.
Russia has welcomed remarks by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy suggesting the U.S. is making security guarantees conditional on Kyiv relinquishing control of the Donbas region.
An industrial area near one of Russia's biggest oil refineries was damaged in a Ukrainian drone attack, a Russian official said on Thursday.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards targeted three vessels, seizing two of them for alleged maritime violations and transferring them to Iranian shores, as U.S. President Donald Trump said Washington is extending its ceasefire with Iran until Tehran submits a proposal.
The U.S. military has intercepted at least three Iranian-flagged tankers in Asian waters and is redirecting them away from their positions near India, Malaysia and Sri Lanka, shipping and security sources said on Wednesday, exclusively to Reuters.
Two local trains collided head-on north of Copenhagen on Thursday (23 April), injuring 17 people, five of them critically, according to emergency services.
The U.S. military is redirecting at least three Iranian-flagged tankers after intercepting them in Asian waters near India, Malaysia and Sri Lanka, shipping and security sources said on Wednesday. Meanwhile, Tehran said U.S. breaches, blockades and threats are undermining “genuine negotiations.”
The European Union is preparing its 20th round of sanctions against Russia over the war in Ukraine. The measures are close to being approved, after earlier delays linked to energy concerns in Slovakia and Hungary eased following repairs to the Druzhba oil pipeline.
The European Union adopted its 20th package of sanctions against Russia on Thursday (23 April), introducing sweeping new restrictions aimed at weakening Moscow’s war economy and limiting its capacity to sustain the war in Ukraine.
European Union leaders were set to discuss the bloc’s mutual assistance clause at a summit in southern Cyprus on Thursday, as U.S. President Donald Trump’s criticism of traditional allies raises concerns over his commitment to NATO.
International cyber agencies on Thursday (23 April) urged organisations to strengthen defences against covert networks used by China-linked hackers to conceal malicious activity, Britain’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) said.
SoutSouth Korea’s national data protection agency said on Thursday it had imposed a significant fine on matchmaking service Duo following a cybersecurity failure that led to the leak of highly sensitive personal information.
China has released a military propaganda video hinting at a possible fourth aircraft carrier - its first to be nuclear-powered.
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