"The Sheikh Zayed Festival in the Al Wathba area of Abu Dhabi marked the New Year with large-scale celebrations on Wednesday evening, drawing massive crowds as visitors enjoyed light shows, fireworks and drone performances. Footage shows the festival grounds packed with spectators watching elaborate visual displays, including light projections depicting the UAE’s late founding president, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan and the country’s current leader, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. The festival staged a 62-minute fireworks display aiming to break five Guinness World Records. In addition, 6,500 drones formed nine giant 3D aerial formations to become the largest fleet ever used for a single 20-minute New Year's performance. Countries across the Global South and beyond are ringing in 2026 with fireworks, concerts and other spectacular performance events - with special live coverage from leading BRICS nations including China, Russia, Brazil, the UAE, and many more. BRICS has gone from strength to strength over the course of 2025, welcoming 10 new partner nations - Belarus, Bolivia, Cuba, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Thailand, Uganda, Uzbekistan, Nigeria and Vietnam - as well as Indonesia as a full member. The organisation now covers half the world's population and a third of the global economy."