Global new year festivities begin

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Australia welcomes in the new year

Celebrations are beginning around the world to mark the end of 2008 and usher in the new year.

In Australia, huge crowds turned out to watch multi-million dollar fireworks displays in Sydney and Melbourne.

Not to be outdone, New Zealand staged a dramatic pyrotechnics show from Auckland's Sky Tower.

Kiritimati, or Christmas Island, in the Pacific Ocean became the first inhabited place on Earth to celebrate the new year at 1000 GMT.

In Sydney, a record crowd of up to 1.5 million people watched fireworks explode over the iconic Harbour Bridge.

The display, featuring thunder, rain and lightning effects, was the largest ever staged in the city. About 5,000kg of fireworks were used.

Further south, thousands of people lined the banks of Melbourne's Yarra river for a colourful show.

Muted festivities

Organisers of the Sydney festivities said they were hoping it would offer revellers a brief respite from the economic gloom of 2008.

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I'll be sailing up and down the Thames on a boat party with close friends and watching the London fireworks above when the clock strikes 12.

Toni, London

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"There's so much misery around," fireworks director Fortunato Foti told reporters. "If we can get people to forget all that and think just about the fireworks for 15 to 20 minutes, we will have done our job."

In the Philippines, President Gloria Arroyo described 2008 as a "tumultuous" year.

"I hope that we can all work together as a global community to weather these storms," she said in a message.

In Malaysia, the government is not sponsoring any new year events because of the economic downturn.

In pictures: New year festivities

Celebrations were also expected to be muted in the Indian city of Mumbai, following November's deadly attacks.

Tight security was planned, with special measures in place along the city's waterfront - where the militants involved in the attacks slipped ashore.

But some Asian cities did opt to mark the end of 2008 in style.

Fireworks shot from the 101-storey Taipei Tower as midnight struck in Taiwan. In Singapore, more than 250,000 people attended a display in Marina Bay.

And in Hong Kong, half a million people watched - some on the shore, some from boats - as fireworks shot into the sky from 10 skyscrapers surrounding Victoria Harbour.

The display was intended to signify "a bright and hopeful New Year for Hong Kong and the world", organisers said.