World welcomes 2026 with fireworks, lightshows and hopes for peace
From Paris to Dubai to Sydney, crowds ring in the new year with exuberant celebrations
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World ushers in New Year with dazzling fireworks display
As Wednesday turned to Thursday, people around the world said goodbye to a sometimes challenging 2025 and expressed hopes for the new year to come.
In Croatia, celebrations 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 and 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 throughout the world, people celebrated with a more traditional midnight toast. In New York, thousands gathered in freezing temperatures amid tight security for the traditional ball drop in Times Square.
In Brazil’s Rio de Janeiro, revellers packed more than 4km of the city’s Copacabana Beach for concerts and a 12-minute fireworks show, despite high tides that had both organisers and tourists worried and large waves that rocked barges carrying fireworks.