Revellers around the globe welcome 2008
Attacks mar celebrations in Thailand
Last Updated: Tuesday, January 1, 2008 | 12:27 AM ET
CBC News
Revellers around the world, from Baghdad and Sydney to London and New York, rang in the new year with fireworks and parties stretching into the wee hours of 2008.
More than one million partygoers crowded New York's Times Square for the annual drop of the New Year's Eve ball — made of energy-efficient bulbs for the first time to mark its centennial.
Earlier, Iraq's capital city was reportedly calm at the stroke of midnight, with the sounds of bullets popping into the air coming only from those celebrating the new year.
The ballrooms of two landmark hotels — the Palestine and the Sheraton — were full of people for the first New Year's Eve celebrations since the 2003 invasion.
But violence did mar celebrations in a Thai tourist town bordering Malaysia when bomb attacks wounded 27 gathered for New Year's parties.
Muslim insurgents are suspected of the attack in Sungai Kolok, which involved two blasts inside a hotel discotheque and one from a motorcycle's basket outside a hotel.
In Sydney, Australia — one of the first cities to celebrate the new year — crowds packed the streets as fireworks showered the city's iconic Harbour Bridge in the annual display.
The Sydney skyline lights up during the New Year's Eve fireworks display.
(Rob Griffith/Associated Press)
Hours before the celebration, thousands staked out spots along the water, with others watching the 12-minute pyrotechnic show from a flotilla of 3,000 boats beneath the bridge.
In China, organizers of the Summer Olympics kickstarted the year with a countdown party featuring fireworks, singing and dancing.
President Hu Jintao said in a New Year's address broadcast on television that he hoped Beijing's hosting of the 2008 Olympics would help improve its relations with global partners.
In Japan, the three main mobile phone carriers asked partygoers to wait to call or send phone messages to family and friends in the first two hours of 2008 to prevent a system overload.
"We will try to deliver as many 'congratulations' as we can, but we may have to restrict services temporarily," read an advertisement sponsored by NTT DoCoMo Inc., KDDI Corp. and Softbank Corp., in Japan's major newspapers Monday.
In Moscow, thousands gathered in the Red Square to ring in the New Year. They watched a concert on a stage beneath the colourful onion domes of St. Basil's Cathedral, the and fireworks above.
As midnight struck, two new European Union countries, Cyprus and Malta, began using the euro, with the former scrapping the pound and the latter the lira.
Big changes in 2008 for some countries
Several European countries are headed for big changes in the new year.
At midnight, France's infamously smoky cafes became a distant memory as a smoking ban expanded to clubs, restaurants and many other indoor locations. But New Year's Eve festivities in Paris centred on the famous Champs-Elysees avenue and the Eiffel Tower, where about 4,500 police and 140 rescue officials patrolled the streets.
In London, partygoers gathered in Trafalgar Square and along the banks of the River Thames to watch fireworks and hear Big Ben chime in the new year.
Berlin had a massive fete involving 13 bands, a 40-metre tall Ferris wheel and more than 100 beer stands and snack joints set up along a stretch from the Brandenburg Gate to the western part of town.
With files from the Associated Press
