New Year 2026: New Zealand kicks off celebrations with spectacular fireworks – National
Auckland rang in 2026 with the city’s fireworks display launched from New Zealand’s tallest building, the Sky Tower, making it the first major city to ring in the new year in a rain-soaked celebration.
South Pacific countries are the first to bid farewell to the year 2025. Clocks strike midnight in Auckland, a city of 1.7 million people, 18 hours before the famous ball drops in New York’s Times Square.
The five-minute show included 3,500 fireworks launched from various floors of the 240-meter (787-foot) Sky Tower. Small community events were canceled in New Zealand’s North Island on Wednesday due to forecasts of rain and possible thunder.
Australians are defiant after the mass shooting
The east coast of Australia welcomes 2026 two hours after New Zealand, but in Sydney, the largest city in the country, the celebrations will be held under the worst shooting incident in Australia in almost 30 years. Two gunmen targeted a Hannukah celebration at Bondi Beach on December 14, killing 15 and injuring 40.
A police force guarded thousands of people who gathered in the city center on Wednesday to watch the Sydney Harbor Bridge fireworks display. Many police officers openly carry rapid-fire rifles, a first for the annual event.
An hour before midnight, the victims of the massacre will be remembered in a minute of silence while menorah images are removed from the bridge statues. The crowd was invited to show their solidarity with the Australian Jewish community by lighting their torches across the harbour.
New South Wales Premier Chris Minns has urged Sydney residents not to live in fear, saying extremists will interpret the crowds at New Year’s Eve celebrations as a victory.
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“We will not be in a situation where this terrible, criminal, terrorist incident changes the way we live in our beautiful city,” Minss told reporters on Wednesday.
“We must show contempt for this horrible crime and say that we will no longer be intimidated by this type of terrorism,” he added.
China’s Xi renews threats against Taiwan
In Indonesia, one of Australia’s closest neighbours, cities have postponed New Year celebrations as a gesture of solidarity with communities devastated by floods and landslides that hit parts of Sumatra island last month, killing more than 1,100 people.
The capital, Jakarta, will not enter 2026 in the usual way, opting for modest celebrations with a calm and thoughtful program focused on the prayers of the victims, said Gov. Pramono Anung last week.
Makassar Mayor Munafri Arifuddin urged residents of one of Indonesia’s largest cities to stop partying altogether, calling for prayer and meditation. “Sympathy and self-control are more important than fireworks and crowds,” he said.
Concerts and fireworks on the Indonesian tourist island of Bali have been canceled and replaced by a cultural event featuring 65 traditional dance groups.
Hong Kong, too, will cry in 2026 without a spectacular and colorful explosion in the sky over its Victoria Harbor building, after a huge fire in November killed at least 161 people.
The city’s tourism board will host a music program featuring soft rock duo Air Supply and other artists in Central, the business district. The front of the eight landmarks will turn into giant countdown clocks that will present a three-minute light show at midnight.
Many parts of Asia welcome the new year by keeping old traditions.
In Japan, crowds will gather at a Buddhist temple in Tokyo for the midnight bell ringing. In the South Korean capital of Seoul, the tolling and countdown ceremony will be held at the Bosingak Pavilion.
China’s Xi renews threats against Taiwan
Chinese President Xi Jinping in a New Year’s Eve speech broadcast by state media praised his country’s technological progress in areas such as artificial intelligence and semiconductors while renewing threats against Taiwan, which it says is part of an independent country.
“We Chinese on both sides of the Taiwan Strait share blood and kinship,” he said. “The reunification of our country, which is the trend of the times, cannot be stopped.” China this week launched large-scale military exercises around the island.
Berliners celebrate in the snow
Tourists and Berliners marked the end of 2025 by enjoying the snow, taking selfies and making snowmen in front of the German capital’s cathedral and the iconic Brandenburg Gate. The famous Berlin TV Tower was almost invisible due to falling flakes and fog.
© 2025 The Canadian Press
