World welcomes New Year despite terror fears

“This is a unique atmosphere and we like to say we invented not just Hogmanay but New Year celebrations”, said Edinburgh Hogmanay director Pete Irvine.

Earlier, President Hollande in a New Year’s Eve address to the nation said that his country “has not finished with terrorism yet”, six weeks after gunmen and suicide bombers killed 130 people in Paris.

A few days after the Paris attack, a soccer stadium in Hannover in central Germany was evacuated after a terror threat against a friendly match between Germany and the Netherlands.

Officials in Las Vegas have urged people to leave bags, backpacks and buggies at home as police prepare for hundreds of thousands of partygoers to flood the Las Vegas Strip.

For security reasons, Shanghai is closing subways near the scenic waterfront Bund because of a stampede last New Year’s Eve that killed 36 people and blemished the image of China’s most prosperous and modern metropolis. In Milan, those attending the New Year concert in the square outside the Gothic cathedral will have to negotiate security corridors with barriers, checkpoints, police patrols and a ban on fireworks and glass bottles.

Belgian police arrested two people earlier this week suspected of plotting a New Year’s Eve terror attack on what they call “emblematic” targets. Officials said he was snared in an Federal Bureau of Investigation sting involving three paid informants.

Thousands of people, including North Korean refugees, were expected to gather at a town near the border with North Korea to watch one of the ceremonies and wish for unification between the two nations.

The arrival of the New Year was greeted by silence in Moscow – the fireworks display was five minutes late.

“I was at the Bronco game on Sunday, so I’m still thawing out from that one”, Russ Mueller said with a laugh.

In his New Year message, Prime Minister David Cameron said 2016 could be a “game-changer” for Britain.

German police warned people to stay away from two of Munich’s railway stations and avoid large gatherings after “indications that a terror attack” was being planned by Islamists in the southern German city.

According to the FBI, Lutchman and an informant bought knives, a machete, ski masks and plastic cable ties for the attack. Police advised revelers not to go to the fireworks displays without tickets and to be ready to have their belongings searched.

On Thursday morning, forklifts and trucks removed generators and other equipment from the Place de Brouckere, the broad square in central Brussels where the fireworks show was supposed to happen.

They were identified Thursday as Said Saouti, 30, and Mohammed Kerai, 27, members of a motorcycle club known as the Kamikaze Riders. Up here we work on Greenwich Mean Time, which means we will be celebrating at the same time as everybody else in the UK. 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.

Last December 31, 100,000 people turned out in the Belgian capital to ring in the new year.

In France, Parisians still recovering from deadly attacks in November held scaled-down celebrations.

Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman lamented the prospect that fear might keep people from celebrating New Year’s Eve.

“It’s pretty scary stuff”, she said.