Fireworks exploded over Sydney’s Harbor Bridge as a million onlookers greeted the new year. In London, thousands of revelers gathered to cheer as Big Ben rang in 2007.
In the Australian metropolis – one of the world’s first major cities to see the dawn of the new year – people crammed the harbor shore for a lavish fireworks display celebrating the 75th anniversary of its iconic bridge.
Pope Benedict XVI prayed at a New Year’s Eve service at Vatican City that 2007 would bring the world “peace, comfort, justice.” But he cast a cold eye on some secular New Year celebrations, saying such social “rites” are “often carried out as an escape from reality.”
In London, Big Ben’s chimes were relayed by sound systems along the banks of the great, gray River Thames. Crowds flocked to the banks near the Houses of Parliament to watch a light show countdown projected onto the 443-foot London Eye Ferris wheel, followed by a 10-minute fireworks display.
At least a million revelers were expected to pack Times Square in unseasonably warm New York City to hear singers Christina Aguilera and Toni Braxton and watch a 1,070-pound Waterford crystal ball fall at midnight.
In North Korea, an editorial carried in all three state-controlled newspapers celebrated the new year by boasting that the country’s possession of nuclear weapons “serves as a powerful force for defending peace and security … and guaranteeing the victorious advance of the cause of independence.”
Meanwhile two former communist Eastern bloc states, Romania and Bulgaria, took another step toward the West as they became the newest members of the European Union at midnight. Fireworks thundered through the sky in the Romanian capital.
“Citizens of Bucharest, welcome to the EU,” EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn said, standing on a stage with Romania’s president and European foreign ministers. The ministers from Germany, Denmark, Austria and Hungary wished Romanians a happy new year and planned to fly today to Bulgaria for celebrations there.
Glasgow officials said high winds and rain had forced them to cancel Hogmanay, or traditional New Year’s celebrations, in the Scottish city. Edinburgh at the last minute also canceled its Hogmanay party, which was to be headlined by the Pet Shop Boys.
In the Philippines – where many believe noisy New Year’s celebrations drive away evil and misfortune – police threatened to arrest anyone setting off oversized firecrackers. Despite the warning, 284 people were injured by firecrackers and celebratory gunfire in the two weeks before New Year’s Day, a 75 percent rise from last year, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said.
In Japan, thousands climbed mountains, some scaling famed Mount Fuji, to greet the first dawn of the year.
Many Japanese – ranging from families with children to elderly couples – usually start climbing at night so they can reach the top in time for sunrise.
Police anticipated 95 million visitors to the country’s major Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines over the first three days of the new year, as people offer prayers for peace, health and prosperity in one of the few religious rites in which most Japanese regularly take part.
