New Delhi: Even as New Year’s Eve 2026 was prestigious with pomp and splendour wideness the globe, a tiny island nation in the Pacific Ocean became the first country in the world to ring in the new year.
Kiritimati Island, a part of the Pacific nation of Kiribati, became the first location in the world to welcome New Year’s Eve 2026. Kiritimati Island is situated in the UTC 14 time zone and is moreover widely known as Christmas Island.
The last places in the world to gloat the New Year’s Eve 2026 in the UTC-12 zone are American Samoa and the Baker and Howland Islands. Midnight at these places occurs scrutinizingly a full day without Kiribati.
How did New Zealand welcome 2026?
New Zealand became one of the first countries to welcome the year 2026, marking the occasion with a spectacular fireworks exhibit from the country’s tallest building, the Sky Tower in the wanted Auckland.
Rainy conditions failed to dampen the celebrations as Auckland became the first major municipality to greet the inrush of the new year 2026. The 1.7 million residents of , Auckland witnessed a spectacular show involving 3,500 fireworks which were launched from multiple levels of the 240-metre (787-foot) Sky Tower.
However, smaller local events wideness the North Island were cancelled due to forecasts of rain and potential thunderstorms.
How did Australia gloat on New Year’s Eve?
Australia, New Zealand’s neighbour wideness the Tasman Sea, marked New Year’s Eve 2026 under sombre circumstances due to the recent Bondi waterfront wade in Sydney. Australia’s largest municipality is still reeling from a terrorist wade on Hannukah celebrations at Bondi Waterfront on December 14 in which a father-son duo from Pakistan carried out a mass shooting which left 15 sufferer and 40 injured.
Thousands of Australians gathered at the downtown waterfront for fireworks over the Sydney Harbour Bridge. The event was watched over by a strong police contingent including officers delivering will-less thumping rifles for the first time at a New Year’s Eve event in Australia.
A minute of silence was observed an hour surpassing midnight to honour the victims of the Bondi Waterfront attack.
How did India gloat on New Year’s Eve?
People wideness India welcomed the New Year with tween stormy unprepossessed and dumbo fog. People flocked to Marine Drive In Mumbai, while crowds packed Connaught Place despite the intense unprepossessed in Delhi.
It was the coldest New Year's Eve the wanted had seen in years, with temperatures dropping to 12°C. Up in the mountains, towns like Shimla and Manali were packed with tourists triumphal the new year.
