Trending 
People around the globe toasted the end of 2025 on Wednesday, bidding farewell to one of the hottest years on record, packed with Trump tariffs, a Gaza truce and vain hopes for peace in Ukraine.
Russian President Vladimir Putin used his traditional New Year’s address to tell his compatriots that their military “heroes” would deliver victory in Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War II, while his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky, said his country was “10 per cent” away from a deal to end the fighting.
Earlier, New Year celebrations took on a sombre tone in Sydney as revellers held a minute of silence for victims of the Bondi Beach shooting before nine tonnes of fireworks lit up the harbour city at the stroke of midnight.
Heavily armed police patrolled among hundreds of thousands of people lining the shore barely two weeks after a father and son allegedly opened fire on a Jewish festival at Bondi Beach, killing 15 people in Australia’s deadliest mass shooting for almost 30 years.
Parties paused for a minute of silence an hour before midnight, with the famed Sydney Harbour Bridge bathed in white light to symbolise peace.
Pacific nations, including Kiribati and New Zealand, were the first to see in 2026, with Seoul and Tokyo following Sydney in celebrations that will stretch to glitzy New York via Scotland’s Hogmanay festival.
More than two million people are expected to pack Rio de Janeiro’s Copacabana Beach for what authorities have called the world’s biggest New Year’s Eve party.
In Hong Kong, a prominent New Year fireworks display planned for Victoria Harbour was cancelled in homage to 161 people killed in a fire in November that engulfed several apartment blocks.
Truce and Tariffs
This year has brought a mix of stress and excitement for many, war for others still and offbeat trends, with Labubu dolls becoming a worldwide craze.
Thieves plundered the Louvre in a daring heist, and K-pop heartthrobs BTS made their long-awaited return.
The world lost pioneering zoologist Jane Goodall, the Vatican chose a new, American pope, and the assassination of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk laid bare America’s deep political divisions.
Donald Trump returned as US president in January, launching a tariff blitz that sent global markets into meltdown. Trump used his Truth Social platform to lash out at his sliding approval ratings ahead of the midterm elections in November.
“Isn’t it nice to have a STRONG BORDER, No Inflation, a powerful Military, and great Economy??? Happy New Year!” he wrote.
After two years of war that left much of the Gaza Strip in ruins, US pressure helped land a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in October, though both sides have accused each other of flagrant violations.
In contrast, there was optimism despite abiding internal challenges in Syria, where residents of the capital Damascus celebrated a whole year since the fall of Bashar al-Assad.
Sports, Space and AI
In Dubai, thousands of revellers queued for up to nine hours for a spectacular fireworks and laser display at the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building. After a build-up featuring jet skis and floating pianos on an adjacent lake, a 10-minute burst of pyrotechnics and LED effects lit up the needle-shaped, 828-metre-tall (2,717-feet-tall) tower.
The coming 12 months promise to be full of sports, space and questions over artificial intelligence.
NASA’s Artemis II mission, backed by tech titan Elon Musk, will launch a crewed spacecraft on a 10-day flight to circle the moon, more than 50 years since the last Apollo lunar mission.
After years of unbridled enthusiasm, AI is facing scrutiny, and nervous investors are questioning whether the boom might now resemble a market bubble.
Athletes will gather in Italy in February for the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics. And for a few weeks in June and July, 48 nations will compete in the biggest football World Cup in history in the United States, Mexico and Canada.
