Overview
- Sydney marked midnight with a minute of silence and a menorah projected onto the Harbour Bridge, supported by about 3,000 police with many officers carrying long‑arm firearms.
- Hong Kong canceled its Victoria Harbour fireworks to honor at least 161 fire victims, and Indonesia scaled back festivities after Sumatra floods and landslides that killed more than 1,100 people.
- Across East Asia, celebrations mixed tradition and spectacle, including temple bells in Japan, a bell‑tolling ceremony in Seoul, and drumming with digital displays at the Great Wall near Beijing.
- New York readied Times Square with additional mobile screening teams without citing a specific threat, while London’s fireworks proceeded after authorities closed Primrose Hill as a safety measure.
- In Gaza, residents voiced hopes for an end to the war as negotiators worked to advance a fragile ceasefire into its next phase.