A million revelers cheered fireworks in Sydney. Summer Olympics organizers hosted dance and music in Beijing. And rare celebrations resounded in war-torn Baghdad.
Around the globe, people gathered for parties, shot off fireworks and held out hopes for a peaceful and prosperous 2008.
But reminders of violence were apparent as security was tightened in many nations.
Fireworks were canceled in downtown Brussels, Belgium, where police last week detained 14 people suspected of plotting to help an accused al-Qaeda militant break out of jail.
Festivities in Paris centered on the famous Champs-Elysees avenue and the Eiffel Tower, where about 4,500 police and 140 rescue officials patrolled the streets.
In Thailand, an army spokesman said he believed that five bombs set off by suspected Muslim insurgents in a Thai-Malaysian border tourist town likely targeted New Year’s revelers. The bombs, which wounded 27 people, exploded in the hotel and nightlife area of Sungai Kolok, the spokesman, Col. Akara Thiprote, said.
Baghdad witnessed something Iraq had not seen since before the U.S.-led invasion of 2003 — people publicly partying to welcome in a new year. The ballrooms of two landmark hotels — the Palestine and the Sheraton — were full of people for New Year’s Eve celebrations. After years of car bombings, mortar fire and suicide attacks, Iraq’s capital was sufficiently calm to warrant the high-end parties in the once-posh hotels.
Several European countries rang in the new year with new habits.
The smoke-filled cafe became a thing of memory in France. Following up on a ban last year on smoking in many indoor locations, cigarettes were prohibited in dance clubs, restaurants, hotels, casinos and cafes.
Two European Union newcomers, Cyprus and Malta, start using the euro at the stroke of midnight. The islands scrapped the Cyprus pound and Maltese lira to bring the number of countries using the shared currency to 15.
In France, President Nicolas Sarkozy gave the first traditional New Year’s greeting of his presidency, with a “message of hope, faith in life and in the future.”
In Russia, Vladimir Putin delivered the last New Year’s Eve address of his eight-year presidency, boasting of economic improvements and claiming to have restored a sense of unity among Russians, who are likely to see him stay in power as prime minister after he steps down in a few months. Thousands gathered in Moscow’s Red Square to watch a concert beneath the colorful onion domes of St. Basil’s Cathedral, and fireworks above.
Along with the innovations, traditions were maintained.
In London, people were gathering in Trafalgar Square and along the banks of the River Thames to watch a fireworks display and hear Big Ben — Parliament’s iconic bell — welcome the new year with 12 resounding bongs.
In a quirky tradition in Spain and other Spanish-speaking countries, Madrid residents dine on 12 grapes — one for each chime at midnight.
Berlin held a massive fete: In a stretch leading from the city’s famous Brandenburg Gate along Tiergarten park to the western part of town, officials set up three stages, 13 bands, a 40-yard-tall Ferris wheel and more than 100 beer stands and snack joints.
Authorities in several U.S. cities, including Phoenix, Dallas and Detroit, pleaded with residents not to ring in the new year by shooting bullets skyward. Emergency Medical Service technicians in New Orleans even planned to don combat helmets.
