New Year’s Eve: New Zealand turns into first main nation to see in 2026 as events attain full swing internationally – dwell updates

Officials in Edinburgh are preparing fireworks as the Scottish capital gears up for the return of the city’s famous Hogmanay celebrations.

An estimated 100,000 people are expected in Edinburgh for the New Year events, the centrepiece of which is a street party and fireworks display on December 31

People were left disappointed last year after the festival was cancelled but forecasters expect dry conditions in the Scottish capital on New Year’s Eve this year.

Temperatures will reach about minus 2C in the city but festival-goers will avoid the weather warnings for snow and ice set to hit parts of Scotland from New Year’s Day at 6am.

Fiji has now officially welcomed 2026 as the island nation became the latest to see in the new year.

Canadian doctor and author Brian Goldman appeared to show a video of a beach party with fire dancers as people celebrated the final countdown.

Sydney Harbour Bridge will be lit white with a menorah projected onto its pylons to commemorate the victims of the Bondi Beach terror attack earlier this month.

Fifteen people were slaughtered in Bondi after two gunmen opened fire during a Hanukkah event in what marked the deadliest terror attack in Australia’s history.

The tribute will take place an hour before the main fireworks display at midnight.

New South Wales Premier Chris Minns encouraged Australians to enjoy the night.

‘We want to make it clear that we are not going to be in a situation where the way we live in our beautiful city is substantially altered as a result of the behaviour of these terrorists,’ he told reporters.

Thousands of armed officers have been deployed to metropolitan Sydney in a bid to bolster safety as Prime Minister Anthony Albanese encouraged everyone to show kindness.

A popular viewing spot for New Year’s Eve fireworks over London’s skyline has been turned into a no-go zone for ‘public safety’.

Primrose Hill offers panoramic views of central London and in recent years has become a popular site for people to see in the new year.

In 2024, an estimated 30,000 people celebrated New Year’s Eve there – but this year it is shut for the first time, with the gates locked from 8pm on Tuesday until 6am on New Year’s Day.

Areas of the royal park have been cordoned off with solid green hoarding, while other parts have just the temporary fencing to prevent would-be spectators from entering.

The park announced the decision that it will close, saying that they have ‘limited controls that we can deploy to ensure public safety’.

There have been growing concerns about the safety at the park following the fatal stabbing of 16-year-old Harry Pitman on New Year’s Eve 2023.

Celebrations are well and truly underway in New Zealand where it is officially 2026.

In Auckland, revellers watched the final countdown on the city’s Sky Tower before a fireworks display greeted the moment the clock struck midnight.

According to local reports, the five-minute pyrotechnics show took six months of planning.

The display launched from three separate levels on the tower with fireworks shooting up to 80 metres above the landmark – a combined height of 320 metres above the ground.

We’re just 10 minutes away from the clocks chiming midnight in New Zealand as it becomes the first major country to welcome 2026.

Fireworks will light up the skies across the nation including at Auckland’s Sky Tower and over Wellington Harbour.

You can watch live scenes from Auckland above

Fireworks have lit up the skies above Sydney with the first of two displays in the Australian city.

The first display, known as family fireworks, took place near Sydney Harbour Bridge three hours before the main one at midnight.

Here in Britain, we have more than 13 hours left of 2025 as the final countdown approaches in capital cities across the globe.

If you want to know when the rest of the world is ringing in 2026 then see our list below.

All UK times:

• 11am – Wellington and Auckland
• 1pm – Sydney and Melbourne
• 3pm – Tokyo, Seoul and Pyongyang
• 4pm – Beijing, Singapore and Hong Kong
• 5pm – Bangkok, Jakarta and Hanoi
• 6:30pm – New Delhi
• 8pm – Dubai
• 10pm – Cairo, Athens and Johannesburg
• 11pm – Paris, Rome and Madrid

A snow and ice warning has been issued for London as the New Year brings an artic freeze that has already seen temperatures plummet to nearly -10C.

Large swathes of the UK have been told to brace for wintry conditions and travel disruption from midnight until 12pm on Friday.

The Met Office issued a total of four new yellow weather warnings on Wednesday – with snow forecast across parts of the south east, London, Birmingham and Wales.

A 12-hour wind warning is now in place in north-east Scotland from 9pm tonight, as well as a snow and ice warning in Northern Ireland on Friday.

A 42-hour warning for heavy snow showers and ice in Scotland had already been issued from 6am on New Year’s Day until the end of January 2.

Sydney’s famous harbour is fast filling up as crowds flock to the city’s iconic landmarks to see in 2026.

People have gathered outside the Sydney Opera House and taken up vantage viewpoints at Mrs Macquaries Point as the city approaches 2026.

In Sydney, the clock strikes midnight at 1pm UK time.

Kiribati, an island nation in Oceania, is the first country to welcome 2026.

The nation is the furthest time zone behind Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) – 14 hours ahead of the UK.

Kiribati is made up of 33 atolls and islands in the Pacific Ocean and is unique as it is the only nation with terrirtory in all four of the world’s hemispheres.

Kiritimati, otherwise known as Christmas Island, was the first part of the country to ring in the new year.