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LAST UPDATE | 31 Dec 2025
COUNTRIES AROUND THE world have begun waving goodbye to 2025 and ringing in the new year.
Australia was among the first nations to usher in 2026, with the annual spectacular fireworks display taking place in Sydney.
However, there was a sombre tinge to the celebrations following the attack that took place on Bondi Beach over two weeks ago.
A father and son allegedly opened fire on a Jewish festival at the beach, killing 15 people in the nation’s deadliest mass shooting for almost 30 years.
Parties paused for a minute of silence at 11pm (12pm Irish time) as the famed Sydney Harbour Bridge was bathed in white light to symbolise peace.
“Right now, the joy that we usually feel at the start of a new year is tempered by the sadness of the old,” Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said in a video message.
Hundreds of thousands of spectators lined Sydney’s foreshore, with nine tonnes of fireworks set off from the stroke of midnight.
Residents and tourists gathered by the city’s harbour and boats dotted the water to secure the best viewing spots near the Sydney Opera House.
“The fireworks have always been on my bucket list and I’m so happy to be here,” said Susana Suisuikli, an English tourist.
Security was tighter than usual, with squads of heavily armed police patrolling the crowds.
Pacific nations including Kiribati and New Zealand were the first to see in the new year.
The five-minute display in Auckland involved 3,500 fireworks launched from various floors of the 787ft Sky Tower.
Smaller community events were cancelled across New Zealand’s North Island due to forecasts of rain and possible thunderstorms.
Extravagant fireworks displays also marked the beginning of 2026 in the Thai capital of Bangkok and in Kaohsiung City in Taiwan.
A chain of celebrations will continue throughout the day, stretching from glitzy ball drop in New York’s Time Square to the Hogmanay festival on the chilly streets of Scotland.
More than two million people are expected to pack Brazil’s lively Copacabana Beach for what authorities have called the world’s biggest New Year’s Eve party.
In Hong Kong, a major New Year fireworks display planned for Victoria Harbour was cancelled to pay homage to 161 people killed in a housing estate fire in November.
The city’s tourism board instead hosted a music show featuring soft rock duo Air Supply and other singers in Central, a business district that also is home to the famous nightlife hub Lan Kwai Fong.
The facades of eight landmarks were turned into giant countdown clocks presenting a three-minute light show at midnight.
The pyrotechnic displays against Hong Kong’s world-famous skyline of skyscrapers typically draw hundreds of thousands of people including many tourists to both sides of the promenade.
Wang Miao, a teacher from the neighbouring economic hub of Guangzhou, planned to join the official countdown activities in Central despite the absence of fireworks. She said it was a pity that she could not see pyrotechnics, but she could understand why.
“It doesn’t affect our experience in Hong Kong,” she said.
In Rome, Pope Leo XIV closed out 2025 with a prayer that the city of Rome might be a welcoming place for foreigners and fragile people, young and old.
Leo presided over a New Year’s Eve vespers service at St Peter’s Basilica, giving thanks for the 2025 Holy Year that brought millions of pilgrims to Rome in the once-every-quarter-century celebration of Christianity.
He recalled that Pope Francis, who inaugurated the Holy Year on December 24 2024, had asked that Rome be a more welcoming place.
“I would like it to be so again, and I would say even more so after this time of grace,” Leo said.
“What can we wish for Rome? That it may be worthy of its little ones. Of children, of lonely and fragile elderly people, of families who struggle to get by, of men and women who have come from afar hoping for a dignified life.”
In London, tens of thousands of people will flock to the banks of the Thames to watch the annual fireworks display when Big Ben strikes midnight.
A countdown concert is taking place at Dublin Castle this evening to ring in the new year.
Inhaler will headline the concert, which will also include performances by BIIRD, Florence Road and DJ Shelly Gray. A family friendly matinee concert at the castle took place from 4pm.
Fireworks displays were also held in Howth Harbour and Dún Laoghaire Harbour at 7pm this evening as part of the New Year’s Festival Dublin Fireworks Spectacular.
With reporting from AFP and Press Association
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