ABC World News Tonight with David Muir Full Broadcast - Jan. 1, 2026

>> David Muir ABC's world news tonight America's most watched. newscast now streaming same day with all the breaking news of. the day on Disney plus most watched most trusted now on. Disney plus every night. >> Tonight breaking news 2026 brings in with extreme weather. from coast to coast snow and bitter cold from the Great. Lakes to the northeast, millions waking up to frigid. temperatures, a heavy snow squall ripping through. Pennsylvania into upstate New York.

While in the west, millions of Americans are. under a flood threat as another round of heavy rain. and mountain snow hits California. The Rose Parade, a near washout. Our weather team standing by. what's in store for the coming week. The deadly New Year's Day tragedy in the. Swiss Alps. Dozens killed in a fire at a bar just. after midnight. The frantic scene flames quickly. spreading people running for their lives. The Swiss president calling it one. of the worst tragedies the country has ever.

experienced. Tom Sufi Burrage from the scene. A new year and a new reality. Healthcare costs soar for more. than 20 million Americans ahead of the looming political. fight over affordability and the dramatic reversal. President Trump abandons efforts to deploy the National. Guard to three major cities. Selena Wang reporting from South Florida. Zoran Mamdani makes history, officially becoming mayor of. the country's largest city. The enormous challenges ahead end his message to. New York and the world.

Aaron Katursky reporting. The new boat strikes the Pentagon releasing video of. one attack officials say killed five alleged drug smugglers. and another deadly strike on a convoy of three boats. Survivors spotted in the water. Now the race to find them. The urgent manhunt after a dentist and his. wife are found dead. Their two small children located unharmed inside the home. A dog dumped in a trash compactor comes up really lucky. How she found her forever home and parents this one's for you.

The annual tradition still going strong after 50 years. The list of words that wore out their welcome in 2025. From ABC News World Headquarters in New York. This is World News Tonight with David Muir. Good evening and thank you for starting the new year with us. I'm Mary Bruce in for David. We begin with the dangerous weather from coast to.

coast, bitter cold and snow in the northeast. and another round of flooding and mudslides threatening. Southern California. This time-lapse video capturing the snow accumulating. over Pittsburgh's Neville Island Bridge, that. wider area also getting hit by snow and lightning. Buffalo, New York could see more scenes like these. near whiteout conditions. Out west, millions of Americans are now under a. flood watch due to heavy rains in Southern California. In Pasadena, rain poured down on the annual Rose Parade. for the first time in decades.

Parade goers there forced to brave the elements. without umbrellas. Our weather team is standing by with the forecast, but first, ABC's Reena Roy leads us off. Tonight, the new year kicking off with extreme. weather on both coasts. Along the Great Lakes, new winter storm warnings in effect. People all over Syracuse shoveling and scraping. Some areas could get at least three feet of more. snow through this weekend. Happy New Year!

Just hours after the ball came down in Times Square, powerful snow squalls moved into the northeast, dumping nearly half a foot of snow outside Pittsburgh, along with lightning and thunder. [rain falling]. In the waterlogged west, more rain. Thousands of families in Southern California. bracing for the threat of more mudslides. And in Pasadena this morning, [upbeat music]. it literally rained on the 137th Rose Parade. for the first time in 20 years.

With no umbrellas allowed, parade goers braving. the weather in ponchos, performers getting soaked. along the route. Crews sweeping water off the. field at the Rose Bowl ahead of the big game. between Alabama and Indiana. And Mary back here in the northeast, we are dealing. with wind chills in the teens from New York City. to Boston and tomorrow morning, not looking much. better. Mary. Okay, Rena, thank you. So the big question now, when will the. east coast see some relief from this brutal arctic. air? So let's bring in meteorologist Brittany.

Bell from our New York station. W. A. B. C. Brittany. Mary, we have to wait until later next week to get. some relief from these very cold temperatures. I want to get right to those. frigid wind chills early tomorrow morning across. the northeast. It could feel like 11 degrees in New. York City, also 15 below across portions of. Maine. This arctic blast also bringing in lake. effect snow and that continues tonight through. tomorrow. There's a winter storm warning out for. Erie and Buffalo. They could see up to a foot. of snow, one to two feet possible in between Watertown. and Syracuse. Now, as we head into next week, the. eastern half of the country will likely see warmer.

than normal temperatures and near normal out west. and the last thing they need out west is more. rainfall. They will get that friday lasting throughout. the weekend. A widespread 1 to 2 inches of rain is. possible with up to 2 to 4 ft of snow and the. mountains. Mary, some wild weather to start the. year, Brittany, thank you. And overseas now to a New Year's celebration. turning deadly as flames ripped through a bar in a Swiss. ski resort town. Tonight, a memorial honoring the. victims. About 40 people were killed, dozens more. injured, and identifying the victims could take days.

ABC's Tom Soufie-Burge is on the scene tonight in Switzerland. Tonight, the deadly bar Inferno at a New Year's celebration. in a Swiss ski resort. The death toll now standing at around 40 people with. more than 100 injured. This video showing flames spreading on the ceiling in that. crowded venue as music blares. Another video capturing the desperate effort to get out.

Switzerland's president calling the blaze at the Kranz Montana. resort in the Swiss Alps one of the worst tragedies our. country has ever experienced. An investigation is now underway to determine the. cause which authorities believe to be an accident. Victoria was in the bar when the fire started and says she saw. waiters carrying giant sparklers with bottles of champagne. too close to the ceiling. Around the same time it caught fire. The sparklers that were alight were right next to the ceiling.

It took a fire and I realised, me and my friends, we were the first ones to realise that there was fire. Authorities now racing to identify the victims, who are from multiple countries as desperate. families now wait for word. Nane Gasparian and her friends telling me they know people who. were either killed or injured. I can't believe that all this happened. It's very terrifying. Now, leaving flowers at a growing memorial. Mary, officials say the investigation has just begun,

and identifying the victims could take days. Mary? And we are thinking. of all their families tonight, Tom, thank you. Now, tonight, with Affordable Care Act subsidies now. expired, health care costs for more than 20 million. Americans are spiking. Some may simply not be able to afford insurance at all. correspondent Selena Wang h. than 20 million americans. costs as those affordable.

have now expired premiums. Foundation. It's a massive. undergoing treatment for her liver and bones. She says her monthly premiums are now. jumping from $69 to $272 and her deductible from $0 to $6,000. Just the chemo drugs alone are thousands, tens of.

thousands of dollars. Are you able to afford that pretty significant. monthly increase? Not without dipping into savings. Dawn says she can't work because of her treatments. Her husband taking on more jobs to make ends meet. meet. I'm really kind of this year. The subsidies to lower insurance costs. Since then, enrollment in Act has nearly doubled fo. to extend the tax credits. heart of the fight on Cap.

to the longest government. But that effort failed. R still haven't agreed on a. Trump has not released on. campaign, he said he had. I'd like to see the money. insurance companies by the of dollars. I want that m directly and let the peop. Trump hasn't explained ho what it would mean for he.

especially for the million dollars. The president is now scrambling to figure out how to afford. or even keep their insurance. And also tonight, Mary, President Trump is. announcing that the National Guard is leaving. Portland, Los Angeles and Chicago, but warns, quote, We will come back if crime begins to. soar again. But Mary, the president is keeping the National. Guard troops on the ground in Memphis, New. Orleans and Washington, D.C. Okay, Selena, thank you. And now to a new era in New York City as Zoran Mamdani.

is sworn in as mayor. The 34-year-old is the first Muslim and first person of. South Asian descent to lead the nation's largest city. Here's ABC's Aaron Kotersky. Tonight a new era in the nation's largest city. I, Zoran Kwame Mamdani, do solemnly swear. 34-year-old Zoran Mamdani, propelled to office by. immigrants, transplants, young people, and minority groups, publicly sworn in as New York's first Muslim mayor before.

a freezing crowd, ushering in generational, religious, and ideological change. I was elected as a democratic socialist and I will govern. as a democratic socialist. Mamdani also extending a hand to skeptics of his ambitious. plans to make one of the world's most expensive. cities more affordable. If you are a New Yorker, I am your mayor. Mamdani's rise from political obscurity stunned. the city and the country and he's out to prove. it was no fluke.

So standing together with the wind of purpose at our backs, we will do something that New Yorkers do better. than anyone else. We will set an example for the world. Mamdani has already confounded expectations, as you well know, Mary, when he was charming President Trump there at the. Oval Office back in November. Tonight, he's on the street talking affordable housing. A lot of work ahead, Aaron, thank you.

And now to the deadly new strikes on alleged drug boats. The U.S. military targeting five more vessels this week. At least eight people killed over two days. But the U.S. military is providing few details. Here's ABC's Mola Langy. Tonight new deadly U.S. military strikes at sea. At least eight killed in separate incidents in just two. days, according to the Pentagon, who released this new video. overnight of two vessels being hit, saying the vessels were. transiting along known narco-trafficking. routes and engaging in narco-trafficking, but providing.

few details and no location. The Pentagon says five alleged drug smugglers were killed. No U.S. military forces were harmed. This comes after the U.S. military targeted what it says was a convoy of three boats in. the eastern Pacific Tuesday, the initial strike killing three. people, at least six others surviving but have not. been located. Tonight, the Coast Guard says search and. rescue is still underway. At least 115 people have been killed in at least 35. strikes in the Pentagon's escalating campaign against.

alleged drug traffickers in the Pacific and the. Caribbean Sea. But the Trump administration has yet to. release evidence of the alleged crimes. The first known strike on September. 2nd reportedly killed two survivors in a follow up. blast, prompting allegations of a possible war crime, with. lawmakers demanding answers from the mission commander. The Trump administration claims strikes like this week's. target drug flow into the U.S. But White House officials have also indicated they may be part. of a larger pressure campaign to oust Venezuela's.

authoritarian leader, Nicolas Maduro, who the. Trump administration accuses of supporting the. drug trade, which he denies. Well, Mary, the president's pressure campaign has sparked. condemnation and concern from members of both sides. of the aisle, who argue these strikes amount to. extrajudicial killings, possibly even war crimes, Mary. Mola, thank you. Now to the manhunt after a chilling discovery. in Columbus, Ohio. A dentist and his wife found shot to death inside their home. Their young children were also inside, but safe.

Here's ABC's Ike Ajaci. Tonight police cars and crime scene tape surrounding. the Columbus, Ohio home in Wineland Park, a historic close-knit neighborhood now. gripped by fear. Inside, officers say 37-year-old dentist Spencer. Tepe and his 39-year-old wife Monique, parents. of two young children, were found shot to death Tuesday. after multiple 911 calls from friends and coworkers, this. one asking for a welfare check when he didn't show up for.

work. He is always on time and he. would contact us if there was any issues whatsoever and. we can't get in touch with his wife which is probably. the more concerning thing. Investigators say there were no obvious signs of forced entry. and no gun recovered at the scene and they do not believe. this was a murder-suicide. Two small children were found inside the home unharmed. Tonight a small memorial of sunflowers and roses just. steps from their front door. Mary, police are still searching for answers and they're. asking anyone with information to contact them immediately.

Mary? Thanks Ike, we know. you'll stay on this. And across the country tonight, the new year brings new laws. impacting how we work, live and play. Minimum wage increases from coast to coast in nearly 20. states, impacting more than 8 million workers. Washington state now has the highest. minimum wage at $17.13 and new paid family and. medical leave programs taking effect in Minnesota, Maine and Delaware, where eligible employees can. now take up to 12 weeks per year. And when we come back, the list of words.

that overstayed their welcome in 2025 parents, this one is for you and an historic landmark is. devastated by fire just after midnight on new. year's day. Two planes clip wings on the tarmac in. north Carolina and the pup who landed on her feet. after a harrowing ordeal. Next tonight, a mishap at Raleigh Durham. International Airport, two planes clipping wings on. the tarmac. Authorities say in a bellow aircraft. that was being towed, clipped a parked southwest.

plane. No one was on either plane and airport operations. were not interrupted. And overseas now to a historic Dutch church. devastated by a fire on New Year's Day. The flames triggered evacuations and. caused extensive damage to the 150-year-old. Amsterdam cultural landmark. No word tonight on the cause. And when we come back, the terrified pup who. caught a really lucky break and the words that some say. got too much use in 2025. To the index now, a university in Michigan is.

out with its annual list of words that they say wore. out their welcome in 2025. Topping the list, you guessed it, 6-7. A catchphrase for kids, 6-7 is followed by demure, cooked, massive, and rounding out the top five, incentivize. And a happy ending for a Southern California pup. who almost didn't make it. The one-year-old terrier mix, now known as. Flon, was discovered inside a trash compactor. by a Gardena police officer who heard her. whimpering on Christmas Eve. That same officer and his family adopting Flan,

giving her a fur ever home. And when we come back, ringing in the new. year around the globe. And finally tonight, the world celebrating a new. year and a new beginning. There was excitement around the globe last night. as billions gathered to ring in 2026. - S-R-E! Happy New Year! From Taiwan...

Shootout! ...to Egypt... ...and Rio de Janeiro, where crowds packed more than 2.5. miles along Copacabana Beach to watch a 12-minute. fireworks display. [fireworks popping]. [fireworks exploding]. [fireworks crackling]. Thousands of revelers gathered in Mexico City.

[fireworks exploding]. [crowd cheering]. In Berlin, a spectacular fireworks display. over the Brandenburg Gate. And lighting up the sky over the pyramids in Giza too. In China, the New Year welcomed with a spectacular.

light show at the Great Wall. In Madrid, a jubilant crowd of roughly 15,000 packed elbow. to elbow in anticipation. In Paris, the city of lights living up to its name, the. Champs-Elysees sparkling.

From every corner of the world, people coming. together, sharing a countdown and a common experience. (crowd cheering). Filled with hope for a fresh start. (crowd cheering). (fireworks exploding).

- And a very happy new year from David and all of the team. I'm Mary Bruce. Thank you for watching. Good night. - David Muir, the most watched newscast in America. And now, ABC's World News Tonight has won the Emmy. for Best Live News Program for the third year in a row.