London welcomes 2016 with dazzling fireworks

Police spokesman Werner Kraus told The Associated Press that “after evaluating the situation, we started evacuating the train stations and also asked partygoers to stay away from big crowds outside”.

Gaza’s Islamist Hamas rulers banned New Year celebrations in the Palestinian coastal enclave. After Christmas celebrations, Austrian media reported that they had received news of a terror warning which had been issued for European capitals as potential attackers were heading to the EU. He pleaded guilty December 17 to attempting to support a terrorist organization and is scheduled for sentencing in March.

Extra security measures were being put in place in other cities, including Tokyo, Kuala Lumpur and New Delhi, where police and anti-terror squads have conducted mock terror drills this week.

Department officials have said they are unaware of any specific, credible threat to the Times Square gathering. Although not officially acknowledged, the rare move appeared aimed at concerns of terrorism following the October downing of a Russian passenger jet over Egypt and Russia’s ongoing bombing campaign in Syria.

Prosecutors said the alleged New Year plot is not connected to the November Paris attacks where jihadists, including several linked to Belgium, killed 130 people.

“This New Year’s Eve I am going to dance and party until the cock crows”, said 35-year-old Franklyn Smith.

Metropolitan Police spokeswoman Superintendent Jo Edwards said: “New Year’s Eve is a major celebration in the diary and the Met has been working with colleagues to ensure celebrations run smoothly and the event is safe and enjoyable for everyone who attends”. He was quoted as saying, “It’s better not to take any risks”.

According to prosecutors, the plot is suspected of targeting police, soldiers and famous locations in the Belgian capital, including its bustling central square, the Grand Place.

Officials gave no other immediate details on the latest suspects, but the two arrested earlier in the week were part of a motorbike group known as the Kamikaze Riders, whose members are mostly of North African origin and carry out stunts.

Molenbeek is home to the Paris attacks fugitive Salah Abdeslam and has served in the past decades as a haven for jihadists.

‘We’ve been policing at the threat level of severe for some time now.

The mayor’s fireworks display was ticketed for the second year and was sold out.

(160101) – DUBAI, Jan. 1, 2016 (Xinhua) – Fireworks explode as smoke billows from the nearby Address Downtown Hotel which caught on fire hours earlier, near the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest tower in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, on December 31, 2015.

Sydney will kick-start the global New Year’s Eve party with its biggest fireworks display ever, but fear of jihadist attacks has cast a pall with Brussels scrapping celebrations and many cities tightening security.

Rio De Janeiro kicked off its Olympic Year with a fiesta on Copacabana Beach. They included a text message sent from a suicide bomber to a phone in Belgium moments before three gunmen stormed a rock concert in the Bataclan theater, and Internet searches about the concert venue and the American headliner band, Eagles of Death Metal.