{"id":210040,"date":"2025-12-31T13:35:17","date_gmt":"2025-12-31T13:35:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/210040\/"},"modified":"2025-12-31T13:35:17","modified_gmt":"2025-12-31T13:35:17","slug":"new-years-eve-2026-celebrations-kick-off-as-the-new-year-dawns-down-under","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/210040\/","title":{"rendered":"New Year’s Eve 2026 celebrations kick off as the new year dawns Down Under"},"content":{"rendered":"

On the other side of the world, 2026 has already arrived. Countries in the South Pacific are first to ring in the new year, and midnight struck in New Zealand a full 18 hours before the ball was scheduled to drop in New York’s Times Square<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In Auckland, New Zealanders welcomed 2026 with a fireworks display launched from the country’s tallest structure, Sky Tower, in a celebration that drew thousands despite rain.<\/p>\n

The five-minute pyrotechnic display involved 3,500 fireworks launched from various floors of the 787-foot tower. Smaller community events were canceled across New Zealand’s North Island on Wednesday due to dismal weather forecasts.<\/p>\n

\"new-zealand-new-year-2026.jpg<\/p>\n

In Auckland, New Zealand, fireworks help usher in the new year with a display launched from the country’s tallest structure, Sky Tower, Jan. 1, 2026.<\/p>\n

Reuters<\/p>\n

Australia’s east coast welcomed 2026 just two hours later, but in Sydney, the country’s largest city, celebrations were held under the pall of Australia’s worst mass shooting in almost 30 years. Two gunmen targeted a Hannukah celebration at Bondi Beach on Dec. 14, killing 15 people in what authorities have labeled an ISIS-inspired, antisemitic terror attack<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Officials had said that more than 2,500 officers would be on hand to patrol the area around Sydney’s iconic harbor, the epicenter of New Year’s Eve celebrations. Many were to openly carry automatic rifles, a sight rarely seen in Sydney.<\/p>\n

Thousands thronged to the waterfront to watch a fireworks show centered on the Sydney Harbor Bridge.<\/p>\n

\"Sydney<\/p>\n

Fireworks light up the sky over the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Sydney Opera House during New Year’s Eve celebrations, Jan. 1, 2026, in Sydney, Australia.<\/p>\n

Izhar Khan\/Getty<\/p>\n

An hour before midnight, the massacre victims were commemorated with one minute of silence, while images of a menorah were projected onto the bridge’s pylons. The crowd was invited to show solidarity with Australia’s Jewish community by shining their phone torches across the harbor.<\/p>\n

New South Wales Premier Chris Minns had urged Sydney residents not to stay away due to fear, saying extremists would interpret smaller crowds at New Year’s Eve festivities as a victory.<\/p>\n

“We can’t be in a situation where this horrible, criminal, terrorist event changes the way we live in our beautiful city,” Minns told reporters on Wednesday. “We have to show defiance in the face of this terrible crime and say that we’re not going to be cowered by this kind of terrorism.”<\/p>\n

\"Sydney<\/p>\n

An image of a menorah is projected onto the pylons of Sydney Harbour Bridge during New Year’s Eve celebrations, Dec. 31, 2025, in Sydney, Australia. The projection was in tribute to the 15 victims of the Bondi Beach terror attack on Dec. 14.<\/p>\n

Izhar Khan\/Getty<\/p>\n

In Indonesia, one of Australia’s nearest neighbors, cities scaled back New Year’s Eve festivities as a gesture of solidarity with communities devastated by catastrophic floods and landslides<\/a> that struck parts of Sumatra island a month ago, claiming more than 1,100 lives.<\/p>\n

The capital, Jakarta, will not ring in 2026 with its usual fanfare, choosing instead subdued celebrations with a calm and reflective program centered on prayers for victims, city Gov. Pramono Anung said last week. Concerts and fireworks on Indonesia’s tourist island of Bali have been canceled and replaced with a cultural arts event featuring 65 groups performing traditional dances.<\/p>\n

Hong Kong, too, was to ring in 2026 without the usual spectacular and colorful explosions in the sky over its iconic Victoria Harbor, after a massive fire tore through an apartment complex in November<\/a> and killed at least 161 people.<\/p>\n

The city’s tourism board was instead hosting a music show featuring soft rock duo Air Supply and other singers in Central, a business district. The facades of eight landmarks were to turn into giant countdown clocks presenting a three-minute light show at midnight.<\/p>\n

Many parts of Asia welcome the new year by observing age-old traditions.<\/p>\n

In Japan, crowds will gather at a Buddhist temple in Tokyo for a bell striking at midnight. In the South Korean capital Seoul, a bell tolling and countdown ceremony will be held at the Bosingak Pavilion.<\/p>\n

Chinese President Xi Jinping in a New Year’s Eve address broadcast by state media hailed his country’s technological progress in areas such as artificial intelligence and semiconductors while renewing threats against Taiwan<\/a>, which it claims as part of its sovereign territory.<\/p>\n

“We Chinese on both sides of the Taiwan Strait share a bond of blood and kinship,” he said. <\/p>\n

“The reunification of our motherland, a trend of the times, is unstoppable,” Xi said, as his country’s military announced the conclusion of large-scale military drills around Taiwan<\/a> that were condemned by the democratically governed island’s leadership as “highly provocative and reckless.”<\/p>\n

While much of the United States likely remained asleep, preparations were well underway for celebrations in major cities and towns across the country \u2014 including in New Orleans<\/a>, where a New Year’s Day terror attack<\/a> one year ago left 14 people dead.<\/p>\n

A National Guard deployment authorized by President Trump began on Tuesday, as part of a heavy security presence for New Year’s celebrations in the “Big Easy” a year after the attack targeted revelers in the early hours of Jan. 1, 2025, on Bourbon Street. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\n More from CBS News\n <\/p>\n

\n Go deeper with The Free Press\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On the other side of the world, 2026 has already arrived. Countries in the South Pacific are first…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":210041,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[33841,127831,111,43,139,69],"class_list":["post-210040","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-fireworks","tag-new-year039s-eve","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210040","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=210040"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210040\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/210041"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=210040"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=210040"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=210040"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}