Security tight in London as thousands celebrate new year

Revellers in Australia and New Zealand were among the first to welcome 2016.

Celebrations away from the palm-fringed beaches will be muted, however, as people remember nearly 4,000 victims of the epidemic.

Police in Kenya, which has been repeatedly attacked by al-Shabaab militants from neighbouring Somalia, urged vigilance as many people prepared to celebrate 2016 in hotels and watch midnight fireworks displays.

“Normally I go out to the bars on the Asian side of Istanbul but this year, because of the danger of ISIS (Islamic State), I will spend New Year’s Eve in my home”, said Seyda Yilmaz, a 26-year old IT expert.

Since the Paris assaults in November, which noticed Islamic state jihadists slaughtering one hundred thirty individuals in a collection of gun and suicide assaults, Europe has been on excessive alert with France and Belgium cancelling their conventional New Year fireworks shows of their respective capitals.

In New York, around 6,000 police were watching over a bustling Times Square as Mayor Bill Blasio flicked the switch, sending the city’s massive glittering glass ball down in the final seconds of 2015.

Tens of thousands lined banks and bridges along the Thames, braving intermittent spells of rain ahead of a midnight display featuring around 12,000 fireworks which produced 50,000 projectiles.

Everyone welcomed 2016 with various celebrations around the globe on New Year’s Eve.

In Scotland, fireworks lit up the skies over Edinburgh.

Jakarta remained on high alert after anti-terror police foiled detailed plans for an alleged New Year suicide attack in the Indonesian capital.

And in NY state, U.S, authorities said they thwarted a planned attack by arresting a man who had hoped to prove he was worthy of joining the Islamic State group by attacking and killing people celebrating the New Year in a bar in Rochester.

Concern in the Philippines on New Year’s Eve focused on the use of illegal fireworks, which last year injured more than 850 people.

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.

Photos and videos fill the Twitter stream tonight, complete with fireworks, confetti and insane New Year’s Eve hats.

In India, news agencies reported that the country’s Parliament and prime minister, Narendra Modi, could be targeted in New Year’s Eve attacks.

Mounted police in central London during the New Year celebrations.

In Ivory Coast, 3,100 prisoners held after post-election violence in 2010-11 will also start 2016 on a happy note after President Alassane Ouattara announced in his New Year’s address he would reduce their sentences.

On Dec. 26, Vienna police said a “friendly” intelligence service had warned European capitals of the possibility of a shooting or bomb attack before New Year, prompting police across the continent to increase security measures.

Lutchman, who was arrested a day earlier, has a criminal record dating back almost a decade, and served about five years in prison for robbery, federal officials said. As in more recent years, the City Hall once again will be illuminated with a “light countdown” to ring in the New Year.