The world has begun to close out 2025, toasting the end of a year that brought an American pope, precarious peace talks in several parts of the globe and a U.S. president whose impact was felt worldwide.
The island nation of Kiribati in the Pacific Ocean was the first to ring in 2026 at 5 a.m. ET, closely followed by the first major city, Auckland, New Zealand.
Sydney, considered the New Year capital of the world, held a colorful if more subdued celebration in the wake of the terrorist attack that killed 15 people at a Hanukkah event on Bondi Beach.
Security was tight, and, before the traditional midnight fireworks, the iconic Harbor Bridge was illuminated in white as a symbol of peace and unity while the Australian city paused for a moment of silence for the victims.
New Year's Day began in Qatar when it was just 4 p.m. in New York City, and midnight struck in Mumbai, India, at 1:30 p.m. ET.
Many hours later, New York City revelers braved the chill — Central Park was around 28 degrees with wind chill included — to see the ball drop in Times Square.
Trump, truces and tariffs
The year began with President Donald Trump’s return to the White House, promising to bring peace to the ongoing world conflicts and to remake the global economic order.
Trump ruffled feathers early in 2025 with his ambitions over the Arctic island of Greenland, an autonomous Danish territory, as well as Canada and the Panama Canal. He then unleashed sweeping tariffs on U.S. trading partners around the world, including China, which retaliated before the world's two largest economies pulled back.
President Xi Jinping said in his New Year's address that the trend of China's national reunification was "unstoppable," renewing his vow to annex Taiwan after Beijing ended the year firing a warning to the U.S. with war games around the self-governing island.
Trump helped broker a historic ceasefire in Gaza in October, ending two years of bloodshed in the Palestinian enclave. His peace plan allowed for all but one of the Israeli hostages to be released, but the truce remains unstable, with hundreds killed in Gaza and uncertainty over each side's commitment to the complex second phase.
Trump has also claimed a role in halting numerous conflicts, including the war between Thailand and Cambodia. The ceasefire he helped to broker there has also been shaky, but the year ended with a renewed truce.
There was tragedy overnight when an explosion in a bar in the Swiss ski resort of Crans-Montana was feared to have killed dozens of people and injured as many as 100, authorities said.
Elsewhere in Europe, Russia and Ukraine will enter 2026 still at war, approaching four years since the Kremlin's full-scale invasion of its neighbor.
Trump promised to end the war in a day, but a deal has evaded him despite months of intense diplomacy — including a spectacular shouting match with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office, a red-carpet welcome for Russia's Vladimir Putin in Alaska and a proposed peace plan that has fueled a mix of hope, dismay and uncertainty across Europe.
There were no public New Year celebrations in Kyiv, as many Ukrainians again spend long hours in the dark under Moscow's unrelenting attacks. Midnight in the Ukrainian capital was at 5 p.m. ET in New York.
Fireworks displays were also canceled in Moscow’s Red Square, which was closed to visitors until 8 a.m. on New Year's Day because of security concerns, the BBC reported.
Trump, who was hosting a party at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, told reporters Wednesday night that his New Year’s resolution is “peace on Earth.”
Aside from the conflicts dominating the news in 2025, the world also watched American-born Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost become pope in May, taking the name Pope Leo XIV. He replaced Pope Francis, who died at age 88 in April.
The Louvre heist captured the world’s attention, and the year ends with the priceless jewels still not having been recovered after the daring daylight robbery.
