Fireworks lit up the midnight sky over Sydney Harbour Bridge and Sydney Opera House during New Year’s Day celebrations in Australia. Credit: AFP via Getty Images.

The UK rings in the new year with a spectacular fireworks display over London’s Big Ben. Credit: EPA

The London Eye is illuminated by the fireworks display in central London. Credit: PA Media

Scotland welcomes 2026 with world-renowned fireworks over Edinburgh Castle. PA Media

Fireworks light up the sky over the Brandenburg Gate during celebrations in Berlin. Credit: EPA

Crowds on Champs-Elysees avenue in Paris, France enjoy a light show and fireworks on the Arc de Triomphe. Credit: EPA

A firework display from the top of Auckland’s Sky Tower welcomed in the New Year. Credit: Shutterstock

Then Australia lit up the sky over the Sydney Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge. Credit: Shutterstock

Source: BBC

•Guinea President Mamady Doumbouya (C) greets supporters during his final campaign rally ahead of the country’s presidential election in Conakry on December 25, 2025. (Photo by PATRICK MEINHARDT / AFP)

Guinea’s junta chief Mamady Doumbouya, who had pledged not to run for office after he seized power four years ago, has been elected president.

Doumboya secured a sweeping majority of the vote – 86.72 percent of the first-round vote, according to the General Directorate of Elections, well over the threshold that would trigger a runoff vote.

Voter turnout stood at 80.95 percent, according to Djenabou Toure, head of the General Directorate of Elections, on Tuesday

Doumbouya, 41, faced eight rivals for the presidency but the main opposition leaders were barred from running and had urged a boycott of the vote held over the weekend.

Doumbouya had placed well ahead in districts of the capital Conakry, often winning more than 80 percent, according to official partial results read out by Toure earlier on RTG public television.

He had a similar lead in several other areas, including Coyah, a town near Conakry, and in other parts of the country, such as Boffa and Fria in the west, Gaoual in the northwest, northern Koundara and Labe, and Nzerekore

Image: China digital currency

China will on January 1 launch an “action plan” for boosting management and operations of its digital currency, a deputy governor of the country’s central bank said Monday.

AFP reports that monetary authorities around the world have in recent years been exploring ways to digitalise currencies, propelled by a boom in online payments during the pandemic and the increased popularity of cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin.

People’s Bank of China (PBoC) Deputy Governor Lu Lei, said “The future digital yuan will be a modern digital payment and circulation means issued and circulated within the financial system.”

In the next step towards that goal, a “new generation” arrangement for digital yuan will be launched on January 1, Lu said, encompassing a “measurement framework, management system, operating mechanism and ecosystem”.

The “action plan” will see banks pay interest on balances held by clients in digital yuan — a move to incentivise broader adoption of the currency.

The plan also includes a proposal to establish an international digital yuan operations centre in the eastern financial hub of Shanghai, the report said.