WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Auckland rang in 2026 with a downtown fireworks display launched from New Zealand’s tallest structure, Sky Tower, making it the first major city to greet the new year at a celebration dampened by rain.

South Pacific countries are the first to bid farewell to 2025. Clocks strike midnight in Auckland, a population of 1.7 million, 18 hours before the famous ball drops in New York’s Times Square.

The five-minute display involved 3,500 fireworks launched from various floors of the 787-foot Sky Tower. Smaller community events were canceled across New Zealand’s North Island on Wednesday due to forecasts of rain and possible thunderstorms.

Australia plans defiant celebration after country’s worst mass shooting

Australia’s east coast welcomes 2026 two hours after New Zealand, but in Sydney, the country’s largest city, celebrations will be held under the pall of Australia’s worst mass shooting in almost 30 years. Two gunmen targeted a Hannukah celebration at Bondi Beach on Dec. 14, killing 15 and wounding 40.

A heavy police presence monitored the thousands who thronged to the downtown waterfront on Wednesday to watch a fireworks show centered on the Sydney Harbor Bridge. Many officers openly carried rapid-fire rifles, in a first for the annual event.

An hour before midnight, the massacre victims will be commemorated with one minute of silence while images of a menorah are projected on the bridge pylons. The crowd has been invited to show their solidarity with Australia’s Jewish community by shining their phone torches across the harbor.

New South Wales Premier Chris Minns urged Sydney residents not to stay away through fear, saying extremists would interpret smaller crowds at New Year’s Eve festivities as a victory.

“We can’t be in a situation where this horrible, criminal, terrorist event changes the way we live in our beautiful city,” Minns told reporters on Wednesday.

“We have to show defiance in the face of this terrible crime and say that we’re not going to be cowered by this kind of terrorism,” he added.

Indonesia and Hong Kong hold subdued events

In Indonesia, one of Australia’s nearest neighbors, cities scaled back New Year’s Eve festivities as a gesture of solidarity with communities devastated by catastrophic floods and landslides that struck parts of Sumatra island a month ago, claiming more than 1,100 lives.

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The capital, Jakarta, will not ring in 2026 with its usual fanfare, choosing instead subdued celebrations with a calm and reflective program centered on prayers for victims, city Gov. Pramono Anung said last week.

Makassar Mayor Munafri Arifuddin urged residents of one of Indonesia’s largest cities to forgo parties altogether, calling for prayer and reflection instead. “Empathy and restraint are more meaningful than fireworks and crowds,” he said.

Concerts and fireworks on Indonesia’s tourist island of Bali have been canceled and replaced with a cultural arts event featuring 65 groups performing traditional dances.

Hong Kong, too, will ring in 2026 without the usual spectacular and colorful explosions in the sky over its iconic Victoria Harbor, after a massive fire in November killed at least 161 people.

The city’s tourism board will instead host a music show featuring soft rock duo Air Supply and other singers in Central, a business district. The facades of eight landmarks will turn into giant countdown clocks presenting a three-minute light show at midnight.

Many parts of Asia welcome the new year by observing age-old traditions.

In Japan, crowds will gather at a Buddhist temple in Tokyo for a bell striking at midnight. In the South Korean capital Seoul, a bell tolling and countdown ceremony will be held at the Bosingak Pavilion.

China’s Xi renews threats against Taiwan

Chinese President Xi Jinping in a New Year’s Eve address broadcast by state media hailed his country’s technological progress in areas such as artificial intelligence and semiconductors while renewing threats against Taiwan, which it claims as part of its sovereign territory.

“We Chinese on both sides of the Taiwan Strait share a bond of blood and kinship,” he said. “The reunification of our motherland, a trend of the times, is unstoppable.” China this week launched large-scale military drills around the island.

Berliners celebrate in snow

Tourists and Berliners alike marked the end of 2025 by enjoying snowfall, taking selfies and making snowmen in front of the German capital’s cathedral and the iconic Brandenburg Gate. The famous Berlin TV Tower was nearly invisible thanks to the falling flakes and fog.

Associated Press writers around the world contributed to this report.

The 2025 season began with a four-game losing streak, a sign of things to come for the Twins, who lost more than 90 games for the first time since 2016.

Eclipsing that, however, was a series of decisions that signaled a major shift in direction for a franchise that has been competitive for the past several seasons without making much of an impact in the postseason. With a different executive chair, team president and manager, the Twins have switched gears.

Over the past 12 months, the Twins moved from Joe Pohlad to Tom Pohlad as executive chair, from Dave St. Peter to Derek Falvey as team president, and from Rocco Baldelli to Derek Shelton as manager, seismic changes for a team that finished fourth in the American League Central and sparked ire among the fan base after sending 10 regulars away at the July trade deadline.

Here is a look back at the storylines:

Sale process takes a turn

Chicago-based billionaire Justin Ishbia emerged as a candidate to buy the Twins late in 2024; months later, he dropped his bid to buy the Twins and increased his stakes in the rival Chicago White Sox. The Pohlad family — which has owned the Twins since 1984 — continued to field offers, but Ishbia’s withdrawal seemed to be a turning point and the team ultimately remained in their hands. More on that down below.

Twins president Dave St. Peter

Dave St. Peter steps aside

In early March, after 22 years in the role and 35 years with the organization, St. Peter, the club’s longtime president, stepped aside and moved into an advisory role with the organization. St. Peter began as an intern in the organization in 1990 and worked his way to the top, calling his time with the Twins a “storybook run.”

In his place, the Twins promoted Falvey to a dual role of president of baseball operations, his job since 2016, and business operations. “Nobody not named Pohlad cares about the Minnesota Twins more than Dave St. Peter,” Falvey said at the time of the announcement. “Nobody ever has.”

13-game winning streak

The Twins began their season with four straight losses. They finished March/April 13-18.

But the beginning of May provided a glimmer of hope when the Twins rattled off a 13-game winning streak to pull themselves back above .500. A Kody Clemens three-run home run at Fenway Park, in front of his father — former Red Sox ace Roger Clemens — helped kickstart the streak.

The team weathered the losses of stars Carlos Correa and Byron Buxton, who collided during a game in Baltimore and suffered concussions, but was led by the starting pitching during the streak. They went two weeks without losing, remarkably similar to the way the team started slow in 2024 before winning 12 in a row.

Minnesota Twins’ Byron Buxton (25) acknowledges the crowd during a curtain call after hitting a solo home run for the cycle during the seventh inning of a baseball game against the Pittsburgh Pirates, Saturday, July 12, 2025, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)

Buxton hits for the cycle

Buxton was a consistent bright spot all year. He made the All-Star Game for the second time in his career and just finished outside of the top-10 in MVP voting. He hit a career high 35 home runs and did that while playing in 126 games, the most for him in a single season since 2017.

He made some personal history on July 12, hitting for the cycle for the first time in his career on the same day the Twins passed out a “Buck Truck,” bobblehead. Buxton collected his single in the first inning, tripled in the second and doubled in the third. After another single in the fifth, he completed the cycle with a home run in the seventh.

Playoff hopes die

The Twins reached the All-Star Game break a couple of games under .500, well behind the Detroit Tigers in the division race but still in the mix for a Wild Card playoff spot. Had they played well out of the break, perhaps they could have convinced the front office to go in a different direction.

Instead, against the worst team in baseball, the Colorado Rockies, Chris Paddack gave up two doubles, a triple and a home run to the first four batters he faced and the Twins lost 2 of 3 in Denver to start the unofficial second half. They never recovered. Two more losses to the Dodgers in Los Angeles made for a dreadful, season-altering road trip.

A wild trade deadline

The selloff began on the Monday before the July 31 deadline when Paddack was shipped to Detroit.

On Wednesday, the Twins were blown out 13-1 the day before the deadline. During that game, utilityman Willi Castro was removed, prompting confusion and speculation that he had been traded. And in the ninth inning, after he was pulled from the game, reliever Griffin Jax yelled at manager Baldelli in the dugout in a fit of frustration.

Hours later, closer Jhoan Duran was sent to Philadelphia, and the very next day the front office executed seven more trades, shipping away most of the bullpen, some impending free agents and star shortstop Carlos Correa in a salary dump move. After that, the results on the field were predictably bad.

Pohlad family calls off sale

Just weeks after their trade deadline sell off, the Pohlad family announced that instead of selling the franchise, it would instead maintain control of the Twins and add limited partners, a move aimed at taming the team’s considerable debt. The decision drew disappointment from a fanbase that had largely been hoping for change.

It took months for the identities of the new minority owners to publicly emerge, but following approval by Major League Baseball, the Twins finally announced that Glick Family Investments, George G. Hicks — with a group of other local business leaders — and Wild owner Craig Leipold had joined the ownership group.

Rocco Baldelli fired

A day after finishing the season in fourth place for the second consecutive year, the Twins fired Baldelli. He had managed the Twins for seven seasons, leading them to the playoffs three times, but a late-season collapse in 2024 followed by 2025’s season spelled the end of his time in Minnesota.

In concert with ownership, Falvey said it was determined that this was “the right moment for a change in voice and direction.” The decision came after Baldelli’s contract option for the 2026 season had been picked up.

Derek Shelton hired

A little over a month after firing Baldelli, the Twins announced Derek Shelton as his replacement.

Shelton was a finalist for the managerial position in 2018 which went to Baldelli, his good friend. Instead, Shelton, who had served as the Twins’ bench coach that year under Paul Molitor, stayed in that position under Baldelli. He then departed to take over as manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates, where he recorded a 306-440 (.410) record in five-plus seasons before being fired partway through the 2025 season.

Tom Pohlad takes over

The day the Twins finally released the names of their limited partners, they announced that Tom Pohlad would take over as the team’s executive chair, a role his younger brother Joe had held since November 2022. In addition, Tom Pohlad is expected to be approved as the organization’s Control Person, taking over that role from his uncle, Jim.

Tom Pohlad, who had been serving as the Executive Chairman of Pohlad Companies, was leading the sale transaction on behalf of the family. He takes over the Twins at a time when fan morale is low and anger at ownership is high. At his introductory press conference, he acknowledged the need to earn the trust of the fanbase back.

“We think that, with the conclusion of the transaction, now is the time to put new leadership in place and have a renewed sense of energy, a renewed sense of focus, a different level of accountability and, ultimately, a clear direction on where we’re taking this organization,” he said.

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The state of hockey lives up to its name this week as the Twin Cities hosts the 2026 World Junior Hockey Championships at Grand Casino Arena and 3M Arena at Mariucci.

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The 10-day event features national teams of top players under the age of 20 competing for the gold medal, with semifinals and finals held Sunday and Monday in St. Paul. The undefeated U.S. team will face Sweden, another undefeated team, at 5 p.m. New Year’s Eve at Grand Casino Arena.

Follow game results at twincities.com/tag/world-juniors-hockey or sign up for our Scoreboard newsletter at twincities.com/newsletters.

For those looking to occupy their time between games or forgoing the tournament altogether, here’s a list of five activities to indulge in around Minneapolis and St. Paul.

Go ice skating

Head Coach Bob Motzko signs a banner during a Minnesota Gophers open practice at the Roseville Skating Center in Roseville on Jan. 7, 2019. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)

Centennial Lakes Park in Edina offers outdoor ice skating through a 10-acre lake. Skaters are able to glide through a path full of narrow, meandering canals that connect three main ponds.

The activity is free for those who bring their own skates. Those looking to rent skates can do so inside of Hughes Pavilion for $10.

Concessions such as snacks and hot cocoa are available for purchase at the site.

Indoor ice skating is also available at nearby places such as Bloomington Ice Garden and the Roseville Skating Center, which has an indoor ice arena, outdoor skate park and “North America’s largest sheet of refrigerated ice.”

Go skiing or snowboarding

The slopes at Afton Alps are almost ready for skiers and snowboarders on Nov. 28, 2023. The popular ski and snowboard resort was making snow for the opening day of its 60th season. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)

Go-to skiing and snowboarding spots for Twin Cities residents include Hyland Hills Ski Area in Bloomington and Buck Hill in Burnsville. Both are known for their accessibility and family friendly activities such as tubing.

Hyland Hills Ski Area is open Monday through Friday from 9:30 a.m. to 9 p.m., and 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekends. Their holiday hours and rates can be found by visiting threeriversparks.org/location/hyland-hills-ski-area.

Buck Hill is open Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., and 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekends. Their holiday hours and rates can be found by visiting buckhill.com.

A larger resort offering a more extensive experience in the east metro is Afton Alps, which is part of the Epic Pass network.

Afton Alps is open Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., Saturday from 9:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Sunday from 9:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Their holiday hours and rates can be found by visiting aftonalps.com.

Visit the Ice Castles

People explore ice archways at the Ice Castles at the Minnesota State Fairgrounds on Jan. 3, 2025. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)

The Ice Castles attraction located on the State Fairgrounds has returned for its 15th year this winter season.

Complete with ice slides, caverns and archways, crawl tunnels, LED-lit ice sculptures, frozen tap, concessions and snow tubing, the immersive experience is dubbed a winter wonderland.

Ticket prices and hours of operation can be found by visiting icecastles.com/minnesota.

Watch a play or musical

Adelyn Frost and Reed Sigmund in Children’s Theatre Company’s production of “Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas,” which runs through Jan. 4. (Glen Stubbe / Children’s Theatre Company)

The Twin Cities has a thriving arts scene, making it easy to find a play or musical to watch. A few to catch this week include “How the Grinch Stole Christmas,” “Dinner for One” and “White Christmas.”

“How the Grinch Stole Christmas” is a stage adaptation of the beloved children’s book by Dr. Suess. The show runs until Jan. 4 at the Children’s Theatre in Minneapolis. Showtimes and ticket prices can be found by visiting childrenstheatre.org.

“Dinner for One” is a comedic show full of improvisation inspired by a European physical comedy sketch from the 1960s. The show runs until Jan. 4 at the Jungle Theater in Minneapolis. Showtimes and ticket prices can be found by visiting jungletheater.org.

“White Christmas” is a stage adaptation of the 1954 film inspired by the Irving Berlin Christmas song popularized by Bing Crosby. The show runs until Jan. 4 at the Chanhassen Dinner Theaters in Chanhassen. Showtimes and ticket prices can be found by visiting chanhassendt.com.

Listen to live music

Around every corner in the Twin Cities is a venue with live music leaking out from under its doors, inviting inside anyone with ears willing to listen.

The historic Bunker’s Music Bar and Grill in Minneapolis, for example, offers beer and burgers with a side of live rock, blues and reggae performances from local musicians. Their hours of operation and events calendar can be found by visiting bunkersmusic.com.

Berlin in Minneapolis, on the other hand, is a cozy space known for live jazz, electronic and experimental music performances from local musicians and DJs, accompanied by a full cocktail, wine and beer menu. Their hours of operation and events calendar can be found by visiting berlinmpls.com.

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A larger live music venue is Green Room in Minneapolis, which features a balcony, a lounge and an outdoor patio. The venue is known for throwing lively events, including hosting local bands and international touring DJs. Their hours of operation and events calendar can be found by visiting greenroommn.com.

Similarly, Minnesota Music Cafe in St. Paul attracts an energetic crowd every night with the venue’s retro interior, full bar, large dance floor and local and touring musicians alike jamming out to a diverse range of music. Their hours of operation and events calendar can be found by visiting minnesotamusiccafe.com.

For a more casual, divey setting, head to Turf Club in St. Paul. This historic bar is known for hosting local and touring musicians in genres such as indie rock, punk and country on both their main stage and their smaller basement stage called the Clown Lounge. Their hours of operation and events calendar can be found by visiting first-avenue.com/venue/turf-club.

Thank goodness for state governments. One of the most underappreciated stories in 2025 was the role states played in checking federal overreach. As the Trump administration barreled through norms, rules and laws, state officials — sometimes from both parties — supplied the friction to slow the administration’s power grab.

Trump swept into power with Republican control over both chambers of Congress, but he avoided working with Congress as much as possible. He spent the first year of his second term pushing the bounds of executive power. As his Chief of Staff Susie Wiles told a Vanity Fair journalist: Trump “operates (with) a view that there’s nothing he can’t do. Nothing, zero, nothing.”

Congress may have rolled over, but at the state level, things played out pretty much the way America’s founders intended. As James Madison wrote in Federalist No. 45: “The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the federal government are few and defined. Those which are to remain in the State governments are numerous and indefinite.”

Madison and his fellow visionaries settled upon a system that enshrined in the U.S. Constitution the legal authority for states to protect the freedoms of their residents and uphold the rule of law when the federal government abused its power.

President Donald Trump gave them ample opportunity to do that right out of the gate. Between Jan. 20, 2025, and Dec. 18, 2025, he signed 221 executive orders — more than he signed in the four years of his first term.

But that approach infringed on many fundamental rights held by states. Many of those executive orders intruded upon state authority over administering elections and enforcing crime. Twenty-two states sided with the District of Columbia to successfully stop the Trump administration from federalizing the National Guard to be deployed to Washington, although the decision has been paused to allow for appeal. Twenty-three states joined with Illinois and Chicago to oppose the administration’s federalizing of Illinois National Guard troops. And 12 states joined Oregon to challenge the use of the president’s emergency powers to impose import tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China.

An analysis from States United, a nonpartisan organization that supports state officials and law enforcement leaders, found that at least 33 of Trump’s orders are facing federal court challenges and 10 of the most controversial dictates have either been blocked or paused while a court reviews them — from Trump ending the constitutional right to birthright citizenship, to his order to reject absentee ballots that arrive after Election Day, to the massive deployment of National Guard troops in Democrat-run cities. Many of the lower court orders are still pending rulings in the appellate courts, but they have served to slow the speed with which Trump can dismantle state protections.

State pushback is important, not only to preserve state constitutional authority, but also because the American people don’t approve of Trump’s approach on many of these issues. A Reuters/Ipsos poll in September, for example, found that 7 in 10 Democrats and half of Republicans didn’t want the president to send armed troops into American cities unless those cities face an external threat.

Remarkably, Alexander Hamilton predicted this 238 years ago this month when he wrote, in Federalist No. 17, that because states “will generally possess the confidence and good-will of the people,” they can use that popular support to “oppose all encroachments of the national government.”

The conservative majority on the Supreme Court has demonstrated that it will continue to expand the president’s power despite the limits intended by the nation’s founders. Joanna Lydgate, CEO of States United, thinks the ultimate test of Trump’s executive overreach won’t be in the courts. “We’re going to win or lose it in the court of public opinion,” she told me. “At the end of the day, the power here is in the hands of the American people.”

The next challenge will be for states to make sure the Trump administration doesn’t attempt to tip the scales in November 2026, when voters will decide every seat in the U.S. House and 33 seats in the U.S. Senate. Trump signed a sweeping executive order earlier this year to take critical election power away from states. That brought challenges from more Republican states than any other Trump executive order this year. (That order has also been paused.) And there is bipartisan opposition to the Department of Justice’s attempts to seek access to voter data, with the likely intent of trying to undermine trust in elections.

In the last year, the balance between state and federal power faced an historic test. But upholding the rule of law also means making sure there are consequences for those who undermine it. States also should launch investigations, file bar complaints against administration lawyers who violate ethics codes by lying to judges and advocate for Congress to tighten the legal loopholes the administration has exploited.

It’s been heartening to watch states step up and become a bulwark against federal overreach. But next year, there is much more to do.

Mary Ellen Klas is a politics and policy columnist for Bloomberg Opinion. A former capital bureau chief for the Miami Herald, she has covered politics and government for more than three decades.

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