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Navigation Primary Navigation Home Singapore Asia Pacific World Business Entertainment Sports Technology Top Stories Most Popular Secondary Navigation Australia China India Indonesia Japan Malaysia Philippines Thailand Vietnam Search Search: Record Sydney crowd gets New Year party started AFP - 1 hour 27 minutes ago SYDNEY (AFP) - - A record crowd of up to 1.5 million Australians and tourists watched a massive fireworks display alongside Sydney's world-famous Opera House Thursday, kicking off global New Year celebrations. The show included never-before-seen lightning and thunder effects and was the biggest ever to be mounted in the city, costing an estimated five million dollars (3.43 million US). Sydney was the first major world city to see in the New Year, but was beaten to midnight by two hours by New Zealand, which staged a dramatic fireworks display from Auckland's Sky Tower. However, as a sometimes gloomy 2008 gave way to 2009, not all New Year celebrations were expected to be quite as spectacular. India was set for a subdued New Year's Eve, with the country still coming to terms with the trauma of November's Mumbai terror attacks that left 172 people dead. Tight security was planned in the vast city, with police keeping an especially close watch on the traditional boat parties along Mumbai's famed waterfront. Some of the militants who took part in the November attacks slipped into Mumbai from the sea, and joint police commissioner K.L. Prasad said partygoers on boats would not be allowed to return to shore once celebrations had begun. "It may create a sense of fear among the crowd if they see somebody alighting from the boat," Prasad said. The resort state of Goa has banned its famous beach parties -- a huge draw for foreign tourists -- and extra paramilitary troops have been deployed to ensure security. A sombre note will also be sounded in neighbouring Pakistan as December 31 falls on the second day of the Muslim mourning month of Muharram, which marks the death of the Prophet Mohammed's grandson in the seventh century. "There are no New Year's functions at the hotel due to Muharram," said Jamil Khawar, a spokesman for the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad, which reopened at the weekend, three months after it was gutted in a suicide truck bombing. In the southern port of Karachi, luxury hotels are not planning events due to Muharram but people were expected to gather on the city's Arabian Sea beaches to ring in 2009 -- with hundreds of paramilitary police on watch. Apart from the carnage wrought by militant violence, the global financial meltdown will also dampen some spirits. In Tokyo, laid off workers are camping out in the city's Hibiya Park during the holidays after companies -- including leading carmakers -- cut tens of thousands of jobs. Anti-poverty activists will offer a soup kitchen and put on a concert to entertain laid-off temporary workers who lost their corporate housing. In Hong Kong, the Times Square shopping mall said it had prepared "cheering sticks" printed with phrases of blessings in Chinese characters for its countdown event -- including "everyone's got a job" and "a blooming stock market." South Korean police were on alert against a possible anti-government protest at Bosingak Pavilion in downtown Seoul after some Internet websites called for a candle-lit demonstration. The annual event at Bosingak, which features 33 strikes of an ancient bronze bell to announce the start of the New Year, usually draws more than 100,000 revellers. But in many cities, the difficulties of the past year will be forgotten as the party mood takes hold, giving hope for the new year. More than 250,000 people are expected to crowd Singapore's waterfront Marina Bay area for a fireworks show, while authorities in the Philippines are bracing themselves for traditional New Year's Eve festivities, often marked by setting off gunfire and firecrackers. Hospitals are on alert for injuries while the police and military are being warned against firing their guns into the air. China's main festivities will come later in the month with a week-long holiday for the traditional Chinese Lunar New Year celebrations. However, many Chinese will also enjoy a mini-holiday thanks to the New Year, with January 1 a national public holiday and companies also giving staff Friday off. As the celebrations move across the Middle East, Europe and the Americas, festival goers in New Zealand's east coast city of Gisborne will be the first in the world to see the first sun rise of the New Year. 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