NEW YORK -- More than a million revelers in Times Square cheered as the giant crystal ball made its 100th drop and a ton of confetti rained down on the urban canyon, ushering in the new year. Earlier, a million revelers cheered fireworks in Sydney, Australia, one of the first cities to celebrate 2008.
Beijing started the year with fireworks, singing and dancing put on by the organizers of the Summer Olympics. In France, cafes filled with the last night of cigarette smoke before a smoking ban goes into effect.
Revelers celebrated around the globe. In India, lit candles wrote out the new digits of the new year.
In Baghdad, Iraqis publicly welcomed a new year with singing, dancing and general revelry -- something not seen there since before the 2003 invasion.
The ballrooms of two landmark hotels -- the Palestine and the Sheraton -- were full of people for the first New Year's Eve celebrations after four years of violence that has bloodied Iraq. About 200 guests, mostly men, danced to traditional Iraqi music at the large hall in the Palestine, decorated with blue, white and yellow chiffon. A woman in a glittery pink, spaghetti-strap dress sang for the crowd, which alternately hooted and danced.
At the strike of midnight, the pops of gunfire spread across Baghdad, bullets streaking into the night sky -- a sight that has become relatively rare the last six months as violence fell more than 80% in the city, according to the U.S. military.
'Green' New Year's
New York's new year's tradition began with a 700-pound ball of wood and iron, lit with 100 25-watt incandescent bulbs a century ago. This year's event featured an energy-efficient sphere clad in Waterford crystals, with 9,576 light-emitting diodes that generated a kaleidoscope of colors.
Organizers said well over a million people attended the festivities. They were treated to an entertainment lineup that included Dick Clark and Ryan Seacrest handling the countdown to 2008 and musical performances by Carrie Underwood, Miley Cyrus, Lenny Kravitz and Kid Rock.
Jennelle Joset and her mother, Wanda Bowers, arrived at Times Square around 1 p.m., wearing hats with big plastic wheels of cheese to show pride in their hometown, Milwaukee. "I had to do this once, to see it once before I die," Ms. Bowers said.
University of North Carolina junior Reid Medlin, 21, attended the celebration with his friends Rachel Rand, 20, and Jeremy Crouthamel, 20. They were in the city for the first time and planned to stay up all night because they had no hotel. "I think the best part is being here with friends," Mr. Medlin said as confetti floated down on him and people kissed around him. "This was beautiful. It makes you appreciate everything."
The Chicago Transit Authority continued its New Year's Eve tradition of offering penny fares on buses and trains as thousands were expected to head to the city's fireworks shows on Navy Pier. More than 300,000 people were expected to crowd the Las Vegas Strip and downtown resorts for the countdown to midnight.
Authorities in several cities including Phoenix, Dallas and Detroit pleaded with residents not to ring in the new year by shooting bullets skyward.
Revelers took to the Las Vegas Strip to watch more than 30,000 effects rocket from the rooftops of seven casinos. They were expected to spend more than $200 million in restaurants, theaters and clubs.
Sleeping bags and folding chairs were already in place Monday in Pasadena, California, at prime viewing spots for the 119th Rose Parade and its New Year's Day floats and marching bands.
Some 37 same-sex couples decided to be the first to take advantage of New Hampshire's new civil-unions law with a midnight ceremony on the Statehouse steps in Concord. Snow and freezing temperatures were forecast. "I don't have any winter coats with rhinestones and glitter, so I'm just going to dress warmly," said organizer and participant Jennifer Major of Gilmanton, N.H.
Fireworks Canceled
Security was tight around the world. Fireworks were canceled in downtown Brussels, where police last week detained 14 people suspected of plotting to help an accused al Qaeda militant break out of jail. In Paris, where festivities centered on the famous Champs-Elysees avenue and the Eiffel Tower, 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, including two inside a hotel dance club and one hidden in the basket of a motorcycle outside a hotel, spokesman Col. Akara Thiprote said.
Meanwhile, several European countries rang in 2008 with new habits. Starting at midnight, 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 will now be off-limits in dance clubs, restaurants, hotels, casinos and cafes.
Two European Union newcomers, Cyprus and Malta, started using the euro at the stroke of midnight. The Mediterranean islands, both former British colonies, were scrapping the Cyprus pound and Maltese lira to bring the number of countries using the shared currency to 15.
Along with the innovations, old European traditions were maintained.
In London, people gathered 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's with 12 resounding bongs.
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, 40-yard tall Ferris wheel and over 100 beer stands and snack joints.
In Vatican City, Pope Benedict XVI took a somber note, lamenting what he called the "trivialization" of sexuality and lack of faith among young people during a vespers' service in St. Peter's Basilica.
In Havana, a television presenter read a message from ailing leader Fidel Castro who saluted the Cuban people for their "half century of heroic resistance" against the U.S.
In Brazil, about two million people gathered at Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro, witnessing a fireworks display that lasted nearly 20 minutes.
