World welcomes New Year in style

Revellers worldwide celebrate beginning of decade with parties and fireworks

Most tried to set aside concerns about the worldwide economic downturn as partiers from New Zealand to Asia to Europe toasted to hopes of a more prosperous year to come.

In New York, as many as a million people braved tight security and chilly temperatures on Friday night to take part in the storied Times Square New Year’s celebration, first begun in 1904.

Crowds counted down to midnight as the glowing six-tonne Waterford Crystal ball descended the flagpole at the top of One Times Square to mark the New Year’s arrival.

New York was the city in the spotlight as it coped with the lingering effects of a debilitating December 26 snowfall, which had not been entirely cleared even as visitors were arriving for the New Year’s celebration.

In Las Vegas, thousands braved temperatures that dipped into the low 30s to watch an eight-minute fireworks show launched from the roofs of seven casinos.

Jay-Z and Coldplay counted down the clock with crowds watching on the marquee of the $3.9 billion Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas. In Honolulu, President Barack Obama was expected to ring in 2011 with friendly competition at his family’s annual New Year’s Eve talent show. The White House kept keeping Obama’s talent a closely guarded secret.

More than 26,000 people turned out for a New Year’s Eve rave at the Los Angeles Sports Arena. The police presence was strong to try to prevent drug and other problems sometimes associated with the music events.

In Europe, Greeks, Irish and Spaniards were partying through the night to help put a year of economic woe behind them.As rain clouds cleared, around 50,000 people, many sporting large, brightly coloured wigs, gathered in Madrid’s central Puerta del Sol square to take part in Las Uvas, or The Grapes—a tradition in which people eat a grape for each of the 12 chimes of midnight.

In Asia

Thousands gathered along Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbour to watch fireworks explode from the roofs of the city’s most famous buildings.

At Japan’s Zojoji temple in Tokyo, monks chanted and revellers marked the arrival of the new year by releasing silver balloons with notes inside.

In Seoul, South Korea, more than 80,000 people celebrated by watching a traditional bell ringing ceremony and fireworks, while North Korea on Saturday welcomed the New Year with a push for better ties with its neighbour, warning that war “will bring nothing but a nuclear holocaust”. In Dubai, the world’s tallest building was awash in fireworks from the base to its needle-like spire nearly a half-mile (828 metre) above. Sparkling silver rays shot out from the Burj Khalifa in a 10-minute display.

In France, police were on alert for terror attacks and for celebrations getting out of hand. Rampaging youths typically set fire to scores of vehicles on New Year’s Eve.