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[h=4]Nations welcome 2016 in age of uncertainty[/h]Despite the never-ending specter of terror attacks around the globe and a fire that raged in a mega-high-rise Dubai hotel, the world's revelers drank, cheered and partied their way toward 2016 in New Year's
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Auckland, Sydney, and Beijing have already rang in the New Year with dazzling fireworks. VPC
Fireworks light up the sky over Sydney's Opera House during New Year celebrations in Sydney on January 1, 2016.(Photo: AFP/Getty Images)
Despite the never-ending specter of terror attacks around the globe and a fire that raged in a mega-high-rise Dubai hotel, the world's revelers drank, cheered and partied their way toward 2016 in New Year's celebrations from Sydney to Saskatchewan.
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Take a look at some fun moments from the New Year's Eve celebration in Times Square. VPC
In France, still reeling from the Nov. 13 Paris attacks that left 130 people dead, over 50,000 police and military personnel will be watching over New Year's celebrations.
"The same troops who used to be in Mali, Chad, French Guyana or the Central African Republic are now ensuring the protection of French people," said Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian.
A similar tone resounded throughout other nations, whose leaders said they are pressing ahead with New Year's Eve celebrations. A sampling of the New Year festivities that have either happened or are in the works:
NEW YORK: Around 1 million people are already packing into New York City's Times Square for the annual celebration. The party begins with musical acts, including Luke Bryan, Charlie Puth, Demi Lovato and Carrie Underwood, and ends with fireworks and the descent of a glittering crystal ball from a rooftop flagpole.
This year's festivities will also be attended by nearly 6,000 New York City police officers, including members of a specialized counterterrorism unit.
People usually begin filling the square and adjoining blocks before sundown for the televised spectacle. Everyone arriving will be screened for weapons with a metal-detecting wand.
"This is the center of the world on New Year's Eve," Rick Milley, 60, told Yahoo News. He traveled from Boston with his wife, Debbie, 59, to ring in the new year in Times Square.
AUSTRALIA:
A spectacular show of lights overtook the landmark Sydney Opera House. Throngs of partiers watched fireworks around the Sydney harbor, with estimates ranging from 600,000 to 1 million people in attendance.
Australian officials, struggling to contain the threat from home-grown extremists, encouraged revelers to enjoy the evening and assured them that thousands of extra police were patrolling major cities.
The Sydney Morning Herald reported that police made 30 arrests, mostly related to occasional drunken brawls that erupted, but otherwise the evening was peaceful in the land down under.
CHINA: An official New Year's Eve celebration was staged near Beijing's Forbidden City with performances and fireworks, and one of China's most popular TV stations broadcast a gala from the National Stadium, known to most as the iconic Bird's Nest.
For safety reasons, Shanghai closed subways near the scenic waterfront Bund,, mindful of a stampede last New Year's Eve that killed 36 people and blemished the image of China's most prosperous metropolis.
VATICAN CITY: In the final hours of 2015, Pope Francis is encouraging humanity to hang on to recollections of good deeds, so that gestures of goodness can be seen triumphing over evil.
Francis presided over a year's end prayer service Thursday evening in St. Peter's Basilica, where he mused about how people are sometimes driven by "insatiable thirst for power and by gratuitous violence." He says it was impossible to forget "so many days marked by violence, by death, by the unspeakable suffering of so many innocents."
GERMANY: Up to a million revelers were expected at Berlin's annual New Year's Eve party at landmark Brandenburg Gate. Authorities searched nearby Tiergarten park and fenced off the entire area. Big backpacks and bags, fireworks and sharp objects were banned from the party zone around the gate.
Traditionally, Germans welcome the new year with fireworks, jelly doughnuts and lots of champagne and sparkling wine.
Armed police officers stand outside of The Queen Elizabeth Tower and The Houses of Parliament in London ahead of the New Years Eve fireworks in, London, Britain, 31 December 2015. Police have increased security for London's New Year's Eve celebrations amid fears of a mass terrorist attack in the capital.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>(Photo: EPA)
BRITAIN:
Major celebrations marked by fireworks spectaculars are planned in London, Edinburgh and other big cities despite a terror threat judged to be "severe." Scotland Yard plans a major deployment of roughly 3,000 officers in central London, including hundreds of specially trained and equipped firearms officers. Police said "all available staff" will be called on to protect people at the festivities.
Police advised revelers not to come to the fireworks display without a ticket and to be ready to have their belongings searched.
Police have thwarted a number of attacks this year as a tiny but increasing number of British Muslims have endorsed the cause of Islamic State extremists.
Contributing: The Associated Press
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