This is a photo collection curated by AP photo editors.
A man swims in the Sky Pool on a sunny day in London, Thursday, May 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
A man swims in the Sky Pool on a sunny day in London, Thursday, May 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
People sunbathe on a sunny day at a park in London, Thursday, May 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
People walk in front of the House of Parliament on a sunny day in London, Thursday, May 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
People sunbathe on a sunny day at a park in London, Thursday, May 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
People swim in the Sky Pool on a sunny day in London, Thursday, May 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
A family enjoys a moment under the shade of a large tree in Muscat, Oman, Friday, April 25, 2025. (AP Photo/ Fatima Shbair)
People enjoy the flourishing lilac sitting on the slopes above the Dnipro river near the thousand-year Vydubetsky Monastery in the Botanic Garden in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, April 28, 2025.
People enjoy blooming cherry blossoms during the start of the famous cherry blossom season, in Berlin, Germany, Saturday, April 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
People enjoy blooming cherry blossoms during the start of the famous cherry blossom season, in Berlin, Germany, Saturday, April 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Abigail, the albino kangaroo at Marlow Bird Park, gets flowers for breakfast on her first birthday, in Marlow, Germany, Tuesday, April 29, 2025. (Bernd Wuestneck/dpa via AP)
A bed of white tulips in bloom is viewed from outside the gates of Gramercy Park, Monday, April 28, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Pamela Hassell)
Clouds drift over a field with blossoming rape in the outskirts of Frankfurt, Germany, Friday, April 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)
Two men walk between rape fields in the outskirts of Frankfurt, Germany, Wednesday, April 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)
A woman walks her dog in an alley in Frankfurt, Germany, on a rainy Thursday morning, April 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)
Children pose for a photo next to a blooming cherry blossom tree in the Friendship Garden during snowfall, in St. Petersburg, Russia, Saturday, April 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky)
People sit at outdoor tables of a cafe on a sunny day as the temperature reached 25 degrees Celsius (77 degrees Fahrenheit) in Moscow, Russia, Saturday, April 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Pavel Bednyakov)
A bee searches for pollen on a flower during a sunny day in Belgrade, Serbia, Sunday, April 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)
A man sunbathes on a sunny day at a park in London, Monday, April 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
A blossoming rape filed is seen in Wehrheim near Frankfurt, Germany, Wednesday, April 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)
People walk on a sunny day at a park in London, Wednesday, April 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
People have ice-cream on a sunny day at a park in London, Wednesday, April 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
People enjoy the sun along the Seine river Wednesday, April 30, 2025 in Paris where temperatures rose up to 27 degrees Celsius (80 degrees Fahrenheit). (AP Photo/Michel Euler)
People sunbathe on a sunny day at a park in London, Wednesday, April 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
A woman feeds a pigeon on a sunny day at a park in London, Wednesday, April 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
A man uses his computer on a sunny day at a park in London, Wednesday, April 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
People have lunch on a sunny day at a park in London, Wednesday, April 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
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A man swims in the Sky Pool on a sunny day in London, Thursday, May 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
A man swims in the Sky Pool on a sunny day in London, Thursday, May 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
People sunbathe on a sunny day at a park in London, Thursday, May 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
People walk in front of the House of Parliament on a sunny day in London, Thursday, May 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
People sunbathe on a sunny day at a park in London, Thursday, May 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
People swim in the Sky Pool on a sunny day in London, Thursday, May 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
A family enjoys a moment under the shade of a large tree in Muscat, Oman, Friday, April 25, 2025. (AP Photo/ Fatima Shbair)
People enjoy the flourishing lilac sitting on the slopes above the Dnipro river near the thousand-year Vydubetsky Monastery in the Botanic Garden in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, April 28, 2025.
People enjoy blooming cherry blossoms during the start of the famous cherry blossom season, in Berlin, Germany, Saturday, April 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
People enjoy blooming cherry blossoms during the start of the famous cherry blossom season, in Berlin, Germany, Saturday, April 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Abigail, the albino kangaroo at Marlow Bird Park, gets flowers for breakfast on her first birthday, in Marlow, Germany, Tuesday, April 29, 2025. (Bernd Wuestneck/dpa via AP)
A bed of white tulips in bloom is viewed from outside the gates of Gramercy Park, Monday, April 28, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Pamela Hassell)
Clouds drift over a field with blossoming rape in the outskirts of Frankfurt, Germany, Friday, April 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)
Two men walk between rape fields in the outskirts of Frankfurt, Germany, Wednesday, April 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)
A woman walks her dog in an alley in Frankfurt, Germany, on a rainy Thursday morning, April 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)
Children pose for a photo next to a blooming cherry blossom tree in the Friendship Garden during snowfall, in St. Petersburg, Russia, Saturday, April 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky)
People sit at outdoor tables of a cafe on a sunny day as the temperature reached 25 degrees Celsius (77 degrees Fahrenheit) in Moscow, Russia, Saturday, April 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Pavel Bednyakov)
A bee searches for pollen on a flower during a sunny day in Belgrade, Serbia, Sunday, April 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)
A man sunbathes on a sunny day at a park in London, Monday, April 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
A blossoming rape filed is seen in Wehrheim near Frankfurt, Germany, Wednesday, April 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)
People walk on a sunny day at a park in London, Wednesday, April 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
People have ice-cream on a sunny day at a park in London, Wednesday, April 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
People enjoy the sun along the Seine river Wednesday, April 30, 2025 in Paris where temperatures rose up to 27 degrees Celsius (80 degrees Fahrenheit). (AP Photo/Michel Euler)
People sunbathe on a sunny day at a park in London, Wednesday, April 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
A woman feeds a pigeon on a sunny day at a park in London, Wednesday, April 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
A man uses his computer on a sunny day at a park in London, Wednesday, April 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
People have lunch on a sunny day at a park in London, Wednesday, April 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
HONG KONG (AP) — Fireworks are typically a celebratory centerpiece of Hong Kong's New Year celebrations. Not this year.
The territory will ring in 2026 without spectacular and colorful explosions in the sky over its iconic Victoria Harbor after a massive fire in November that killed at least 161 people.
The city’s tourism board will instead host a music show Wednesday night featuring soft rock duo Air Supply and other singers in Central, a business district that also is home to the famous nightlife hub Lan Kwai Fong. The facades of eight landmarks will turn into giant countdown clocks presenting a three-minute light show at midnight.
Fireworks have long been part of the city’s celebrations for the New Year, Lunar New Year and National Day. The pyrotechnic displays against Hong Kong’s world-famous skyline of skyscrapers typically draw hundreds of thousands of people including many tourists to both sides of the promenade.
Rosanna Law, the territory's secretary for culture, sports and tourism, acknowledged Tuesday that having no fireworks would affect some hotel and restaurant businesses.
The financial hub’s worst blaze since 1948 broke out at Wang Fuk Court, in the northern suburban district of Tai Po, in late November. The apartment complex was undergoing a monthslong renovation project with buildings covered by bamboo scaffolding and green netting.
Authorities have pointed to the substandard netting and foam boards installed on windows as contributing factors in the fire’s rapid spread. Thousands of affected residents have moved to transitional homes, hotels and youth hostels, struggling to recover from the loss of lives and homes that took them years to buy. The casualties pained many residents across the city.
Past tragedies in Hong Kong have forced similar cancellations of fireworks. They include the 2013 National Day festivities following a vessel collision that killed 39 people on Oct. 1, 2012, and the 2018 Lunar New Year celebration after a bus crash that left 19 dead. During the 2019 anti-government protests and the COVID-19 pandemic, multiple displays also were scrapped.
The origin of fireworks is believed to date to China in the second century B.C., when someone discovered bamboo stalks exploded with loud bangs when thrown into fire, creating the first natural “firecrackers,” according to the American Pyrotechnics Association, a U.S. trade group.
The Guinness World Records organization says the first accurately documented firework, the Chinese firecracker, was created by Li Tian, a monk from China’s Tang dynasty dating to around 618 to 907 C.E. Li discovered that putting gunpowder in enclosed hollow bamboo stems created loud explosions and bound crackers together to create the traditional New Year firecrackers to drive out evil spirits, Guinness said.
People gather at Lan Kwai Fong to celebrate the start of 2026 in the Central district of Hong Kong, Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Chan Long Hei)
People attend the New Year countdown event to celebrate the start of 2026 in the Central district of Hong Kong, on Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Chan Long Hei)
People take selfies at Lan Kwai Fong to celebrate the start of 2026 in the Central district of Hong Kong, on Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Chan Long Hei)
People pose for photographs at Lan Kwai Fong to celebrate the start of 2026 in the Central district of Hong Kong, on Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Chan Long Hei)
FILE - Fireworks explode over Victoria Harbour to celebrate the start of 2025 at Tsim Sha Tsui in Hong Kong, Jan. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Chan Long Hei, File)