Overview
- Hundreds of thousands packed the Champs-Élysées to watch fireworks from the Arc de Triomphe under a reinforced operation that mobilized about 10,000 police and gendarmes and banned nearby alcohol sales and glass containers.
- Early police figures in France described roughly 100 arrests overnight and extensive damage, including about 80 vehicles burned in Strasbourg, with totals expected to be updated.
- Sydney staged its harbour spectacle under a deployment of more than 2,500 officers and observed a minute of silence, projecting a menorah, a dove, and the words “peace” and “unity” in tribute to the Bondi attack victims.
- Hong Kong canceled its Victoria Harbour fireworks in mourning for 161 people killed in a November residential fire, as other Asian and Gulf cities held large displays.
- New Year messages doubled as geopolitical signals, with Vladimir Putin asserting Russia would prevail in Ukraine and Volodymyr Zelensky saying a peace deal was “90% ready,” while an Ipsos poll found most French expect 2026 to be worse than 2025.