Pago Pago, Jan. 1 -- With every country in the world already ushering in the new calendar year, American Samoa and Niue Island became the last inhabited regions in the world to welcome the new year as they officially entered 2026.

As of 4:30 PM (IST), both regions in the South Pacific entered the new year, becoming the last inhabited locations worldwide to transition into 2026.

American Samoa observes Samoa Standard Time (UTC-11), while Niue Island operates on the same time zone.

Meanwhile, it is already January 2nd in some regions of the Pacific Nation of Kiribati, which is also the first country to enter 2026 and operates in three time zones.

The New Year dawned first in Kiribati, where midnight marked the start of 2026 on Kiritimat...