New Year's Celebrations Around The World

Coloured spheres light up the Marina Bay area in front of the Financial District during New Year's Eve celebrations, Sunday Jan. 1, 2006 in Singapore. In a New Year's Day message delivered by the city-state's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, Singaporeans were urged to continue in their efforts to building a vibrant global city, a land of opportunity, an inclusive society and a cohesive nation. He also announced that the Singapore economy has grown by 5.7% in 2005, better than expected.(AP Photo/Wong Maye-e)

A boy jumps off from a recently used props on the eve of the celebration of New Year Saturday, Dec. 31, 2005 in Manila, Philippines, as his parents sell different items used in greetings the New Year. Filipinos usually explodes firecrackers to greet the New Year on the belief that it will ward off bad luck but others prefer the cheaper and safer way by blowing horns and creating any loud noise for the celebration. (AP Photo/Pat Roque)
A Buddhist monk swings himself with a hammer to strike a huge bell at a rehearsal for the bell ringing on New Year's Eve at Chionin temple in Kyoto, western Japan, Tuesday, Dec. 27, 2005. (AP Photo/Kyodo News)
Chechen teenagers dance in downtown Grozny, capital of the breakaway Russian region of Chechnya, Saturday, Dec. 31, 2005, during New Year's Eve celebrations. (AP Photo/ Kazbek Vakhaev )
Party goers walk towards the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Saturday, Dec.31, 2005 in preparation for New Year eve celebrations. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

A Gypsy family celebrate the New Year's eve at their home in Belgrade, Saturday, Dec. 31, 2005. (AP photo/Darko Vojinovic)

Lebanese couples celebrate New Year's eve in downtown Beirut, Lebanon, late Saturday Dec. 31, 2005. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Tawil)


In this photo provided by Legoland, fireworks go off over a replica of New York City made out of Lego building blocks during a New Year celebration at Legoland in Carlsbad, Calif. on Saturday, Dec. 31, 2005. (AP Photo/Legoland, Sandy Huffaker)

Ethnic Hmong girls walk in a Hmong New Year parade Tuesday, Jan. 3, 2006, in Nong Hoi Mai village, near Chiang Mai, Thailand. The Hmong, who trace their roots back to China, have large populations in Thailand, Myanmar and Laos. (AP Photo/David Longstreath)


Coolbone Brass Band plays for New Year's Eve in Jackson Square, New Orleans, Saturday, Dec. 31, 2005. Despite the destruction still evident four months after Hurricane Katrina, the city decided to welcome the New Year with fireworks, concerts, and in a twist on the Times Square ball drop, the lowering of a giant gumbo pot to mark the start of 2006. (AP Photo/Cheryl Gerber)