When will the clocks strike midnight in different countries around the world?
I am writing today’s blog from London. Using UK time, here is a quick rundown of when (some very select) countries will ring in the new year:
Kiribati -10:00 GMT
New Zealand – 11:00 GMT
Most of Australia’s east coast – 13:00 GMT
North Korea, South Korea and Japan– 15:00 GMT
Taiwan, Hong Kong and China – 16:00 GMT
Thailand – 17:00 GMT
India and Sri Lanka – 18:30 GMT
Russia (Moscow) – 21:00 GMT
Ukraine – 22:00 GMT
Germany, France, Spain, Switzerland and Italy – 23:00 GMT
The UK, Ghana and Portugal– 00:00 GMT …
Brazil and Argentina – 03:00 GMT
The east coast of the US – 05:00 GMT
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Updated at 16.05 GMT
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Zelenskyy’s new year address says Ukraine will not agree a ‘weak deal’ to end war
Volodymyr Zelenskyy has issued his new year address to the people of Ukraine. Reuters reports that in it he has said Ukraine wants an end to the war but not at any cost or at a danger to Ukraine. He has said those who think Ukraine is ready to surrender are mistaken, and that he won’t sign a “weak deal” that will only prolong the war.
More details soon …
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I don’t make it a secret that one of the reasons I always enjoy doing the New Year’s Eve live blog is that it immediately relieves any pressure to be having a great time somewhere else.
I can be quite an introverted person and big parties aren’t my natural habitat, so I really enjoyed this from Laura Barton earlier today: My big night out – I realised I could leave the house party behind – and everything else that made me feel small
After a while, a thought occurred to me: What if I just left? The TV producer was mid-sentence when I stood up and walked out of the room. And then down the stairs. And past the living room where people were dancing, and the kitchen, where my boyfriend stood laughing with his friends. And then out of the front door, into the cool, sweet morning.
That New Year’s morning, as I walked slowly home through the grey and empty streets, I felt my first surge of quiet liberation; the light of a new thought dawning: you can leave the party, the town, the relationship. You can quit the big night out if it makes you feel small. We do not always have to stay.
NOTE TO EDITOR: I am not going to walk out of the live blog
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It is an annual tradition for this blog to feature the celebrations in Laupen, Switzerland, where the “Baesemanne” have dressed up in masks and used juniper brooms to drive away evil spirits.
Broom men with juniper brooms and wooden masks prepare for the traditional ‘Achetringele’ procession in Laupen, Switzerland. Photograph: Anthony Anex/APA wooden mask pictured before the ceremony. Photograph: Anthony Anex/EPA
It has, in my experience, been less usual to get pictures out of Syria on this night, but we do have them tonight.
A father and his daughter take a photo next to a Santa Claus figure during New Year celebrations in Damascus. Photograph: Bilal Al-Hammoud/EPAShare
It has just gone midnight in Moscow. As my colleagues reported earlier, Vladimir Putin used his new year’s address to project an image of Russian strength, vowing victory in Ukraine.
“You have taken on the responsibility to fight for your native land, for truth and justice,” Putin was quoted as having said by the Moscow Times, addressing Russian soldiers on the frontlines. “Millions of people across Russia, I assure you, are with you on this New Year’s night.”
“I congratulate all our soldiers and commanders on the coming New Year. We believe in you and in our victory,” he added.
Russian President Vladimir Putin delivers his annual New Year’s televised address to the nation. Photograph: Mikhail Metzel/ReutersShare
I mentioned earlier some suggestions for things to watch on television tonight, but if film is more your thing, a lineup of our writers has this list of suggestions to settle down with. Obviously while still second-screening my live blog, right?
It does include Cath Clarke recommending The Shining, which I actually saw again in the cinema on Monday, and I’m not entirely convinced it has the New Year’s Eve vibe.
In fairness to Cath, her reasons for suggesting it includes this brilliant nugget: “I first watched it aged nine or 10, plucking a VHS at random from the stack next to the telly, monitored with negligent parental guidance, and have watched it at least a dozen times since”. That has made me feel better about my own parenting skills.
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I was very taken with this picture of fireworks being let off in Houhai Village, Hainan Island, China. You can draw your own conclusions as to whether it has been cleverly framed or not.
Fireworks on the beach in Houhai Village, Hainan Island, China. Photograph: Alex Plavevski/EPA
As much as they can be enjoyed, there are serious environmental repercussions with the use of fireworks though. Alex Plavevski also pictured people clearing up the beach after the event.
A woman collects used firework shells on the beach. Photograph: Alex Plavevski/EPAShare
Fireworks greet new year in Dubai
The first pictures have dropped on the wires of new year celebrations in Dubai, with fireworks at the Burj Khalifa in the United Arab Emirates.
People hold their phones and watch fireworks near the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, UAE. Photograph: Amr Alfiky/Reuters
In Edinburgh they are getting set for Hogmanay celebrations.
Edinburgh Castle lit up ahead of Hogmanay. Photograph: Steve Welsh/PAShare
Updated at 20.24 GMT
You might be in tonight in the UK, planning watch to watch things on television if, like me, you grew up with linear transmission, and the idea of “streaming” seems new-fangled nonsense.
I very much subscribe to the Douglas Adams view of the world …
Anything in the world when you’re born is normal and ordinary and just a natural part of the way the world works. [For example, BBC Two, which launched in 1964].
Anything invented between when you are 15 and 35 is new, exciting, revolutionary and you can probably get a career in it. [The world wide web! It went public when I was 21!]
Anything invented after you are 35 is against the natural order of things. [Vapes, YouTube influencers, 48 teams in a World Cup].
Anyway, our TV critics have you covered with some recommendations of what you can watch tonight, which is mostly Graham Norton, Jools Holland, Ronan Keating and so on. Film4 has got Withnail and I on at 11.40pm. “We’ve stayed in and ignored NYE by mistake …”
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Updated at 20.22 GMT
If you are hosting a party tonight and still looking for some gems to put on your playlist, so you can go “Oh yes, I’ve been into them for simply ages darling, although I do prefer their earlier work” can I point you in the direction of the best songs of 2025 you may not have heard from our music scribes?
[I get a free pass on that list because I did go and see Anika in April].
Or if you fancy a more route one approach, you have a bit more time tonight, and a dedication to the bit, you can check out our 50 best albums of 2025.
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Updated at 20.21 GMT
We are a way away from new year yet where I am – London – but people are apparently already queueing up for the celebrations in New York, which is five hours behind.
A reveller poses for a photograph on 6th Avenue in New York. Photograph: Ryan Murphy/ReutersShare
Updated at 19.28 GMT
If you were worrying about your savings or mortgage payments in 2026, I have some good news we just published. Oh no, scrap that, the news is that billionaires added record $2.2tn in wealth in 2025. Happy new year!
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London park closed to the public
One traditional place in London to go and watch the New Year’s Eve fireworks – immortalised in Blur’s For Tomorrow – will be off limits tonight.
Primrose Hill has been closed by the royal parks charity after about 30,000 people gathered there to see in the new year last year. The decision also follows the fatal stabbing of 16-year-old Harry Pitman during New Year’s Eve celebrations in 2023. Earlier this year, a teenager was found guilty of Harry’s murder.
Inevitably this has turned into a culture war issue, with the leader of the Conservatives in the London assembly – and failed mayoral candidate – Susan Hall telling GB News the decision was “ludicrous”, and blaming mayor Sadiq Khan.
The Metropolitan police said: “The decision to close Primrose Hill on New Year’s Eve is one taken by the royal parks, not the police.”
Fencing surrounding Primrose Hill. Photograph: Jordan Pettitt/PAShare
Updated at 19.15 GMT
Here are some more pictures from around the world as people greet 2026.
Children pose for a picture with ‘Santa Claus’ as he distributes sweets to displaced children in Gaza City. Photograph: Xinhua/ShutterstockPeople attend celebrations in Jakarta, Indonesia. Photograph: Ajeng Dinar Ulfiana/ReutersA performer gets his make-up done before the start of the celebration at the Great Wall in Juyongguan, Beijing. Photograph: Andrés Martínez Casares/EPAFrench police officers at a control checkpoint at a rail station in Garges-Sarcelles, a suburb of Paris. Photograph: Jocard Alain/Abaca/ShutterstockShare
Updated at 18.41 GMT
Pope Leo XIV presided over a New Year’s Eve vespers service in St Peter’s Basilica this evening in Italy, giving thanks for what the Roman Catholic church has declared a holy year.
The Associated Press reports that he recalled how the late Pope Francis, who inaugurated the holy year on 24 December 2024, had asked that Rome be a more welcoming place. “I would like it to be so again, and I would say even more so after this time of grace,” Leo said.
“What can we wish for Rome? That it may be worthy of its little ones. Of children, of lonely and fragile elderly people, of families who struggle to get by, of men and women who have come from afar hoping for a dignified life,” he said.
Pope Leo XIV visits the nativity scene on New Year’s Eve at the Vatican. Photograph: Vincenzo Livieri/ReutersShareMartin Belam
Hello, it’s Martin Belam here in London, taking over our New Year’s Eve live blog for a few hours. I’ll be keeping you company as we edge towards midnight in the UK, bringing you pictures from around the world, a bit of scene-setting, and the odd distraction if you are staying in.
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If you pay attention to American politics, chances are you are going to hear a lot about incoming New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani in 2026 and beyond. For more on why he is such a Big Deal, here’s coverage from the Guardian’s Joseph Gedeon of Mamdani’s November meeting with Donald Trump, which went surprisingly well considering they appear to be ideological opposites:
For Mamdani, the meeting represented vindication of his strategy to focus the discussion on economic issues rather than ideological divides. He described the meeting as “productive” and “focused on a place of shared admiration and love, which is New York City”.
“We spoke about rent, we spoke about groceries, we spoke about utilities, we spoke about the different ways in which people are being pushed out,” Mamdani told reporters after emerging from the Oval Office.
Trump added: “We had some interesting conversation, and some of his ideas really are the same ideas that I have.” He pointed to their agreement on lowering crime and building housing.
The meeting marked the first face-to-face discussion between the combative Republican president and the defiant democratic socialist.
For Mamdani, a leftwing state assembly member until his shock primary victory, the sit-down presented an early test of his ability to negotiate with a president who controls vast federal resources that the city depends upon. Mamdani’s team made the first move in reaching out for a meeting, all while Trump earlier threatened to withhold federal funding from New York if Mamdani took office, though he has since suggested a more conciliatory posture, telling Fox News: “I’m so torn, because I would like to see the new mayor do well, because I love New York.”
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Updated at 17.57 GMT
Mamdani to be sworn in as New York City mayor after midnight
The most populous city in the United States will get a new mayor when the clock strikes midnight in just over 12 hours.
Zohran Mamdani will be sworn in as New York City mayor in the first minutes of 1 January, and has chosen a disused subway station beneath city hall as the venue for the private ceremony that he said in a statement would mark the “inauguration of a new era”.
“It was a physical monument to a city that dared to be both beautiful and build great things that would transform working peoples’ lives,” Mamdani said of the station.
City Hall Subway station in New York. Photograph: Michael Freeman/Alamy
Outgoing mayor Eric Adams, by contrast, took his oath of office in Times Square on 1 January 2022:
Eric Adams is sworn in as mayor of New York City in Times Square on 1 January 2022. Photograph: Robert Bumsted/AP
Here’s more on Mamdani’s choice of venue:
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Updated at 17.31 GMT
New year arrives in Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos
It’s officially 2026 in a swath of southeast Asia, with the clock striking midnight in Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos.
Here’s how they were celebrating in Bangkok in what is now yesterday:
A Thai woman applies gold leaf to a Buddha statue for good fortune ahead of the new year at the City Pillar Shrine in Bangkok on 31 December. Photograph: Rungroj Yongrit/EPAShareTom Phillips
Some 2.5 million people are expected to flock to Rio de Janeiro’s Copacabana beach in a few hours for what the Guinness World Records this week declared the biggest New Year’s Eve party on Earth.
But local authorities are warning people not to venture off the sand into the water during the massive display of fireworks and music because stormy weather means dangerously high waves of over two metres.
Life guards are reportedly searching for a 14-year-old boy who disappeared after going for a swim off the world-famous beach on Wednesday morning. At least two other people have been rescued.
“Obviously people are going to want to take a dip – it’s going to be hot – but … don’t swim in the sea,” the fire and rescue representative Fábio Contreras told the local news site G1.
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