New Year fireworks: London celebrates start of 2016

It’s New Year’s Eve, and people around the world are celebrating the occasion.

Photo / Getty Images Video Fireworks explode over the Wat Arun (Temple of Dawn) during the New Year’s Eve celebrations on January 1, 2016 in Bangkok, Thailand.

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.

Around 3,000 officers were deployed across central London, including firearms police, at a time of heightened global security in the wake of the Paris terror attacks. Some police officers were equipped with rifles or radiation detectors and bomb-sniffing dogs.

The specter of Islamist terrorism is casting its shadow over this year’s New Year’s Eve celebrations.

Around 40 lifeguards of the Swiss Lifesaving Society SLRG celebrate New Year’s Eve by jumping and swimming in the Reuss river with the Kappel bridge in the background in Lucerne, Switzerland. Emanuel Lutchman of Rochester was charged with attempting to provide material support to terrorists.

But investigators said the police action was not linked to the wave of deadly attacks in Paris in November which France says were prepared in Belgium. Authorities also asked the public to avoid large gatherings. 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.

Indonesia is on high alert after police uncovered plans for a terror attack on the capital during the festivities.

The New Year’s Eve fireworks display and all official events were canceled in Belgium’s capital due to threats of an extremist attack.

London New Year’s Day Parade spokesman Dan Kirkby said: “It has been wonderful and we’ve seen about 500,000 people come along – the best turn-out we have ever seen”.

Brussels mayor Yvan Mayeur said the decision was taken on Wednesday evening after consultation with government officials.

Two other people, including the suspected leader, have been arrested and a judge has ordered both men held for another month.

Despite the dramatic scenes from the inferno, which injured 16 people, the festivities went ahead as crowds cheering the bursts of light and colour from a fireworks show at nearby Burj Khalifa skyscraper, even as smoke billowed from the nearby hotel.

Moscow in Russian Federation was the first major European city to welcome in 2016, with a fireworks display over Red Square.

Pope Francis kisses a statue of Baby Jesus as he arrives to celebrate a New Year’s Eve vespers Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican on Thursday, Dec. 31, 2015.

Crowds counted down at Auckland’s Sky Tower in New Zealand, with a laser show and fireworks display.

An estimated two million people were expected to ring in 2016 on Rio de Janeiro’s Copacabana beach, with the Brazilian city hosting this year’s Olympics.

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

The “accomplice” paid $40 for supplies to use in the attack, which Lutchman said an Islamic State member told him to carry out so that he could join the group, according to the criminal complaint. They were believed to be planning suicide attacks on revelers in Ankara.