Security was tight ahead of New Year's festivities in major cities worldwide, with some 1,700 police patrolling streets and beaches in Australia's largest city to prevent any outbreaks of violence, following suburban race riots earlier this month.

Sydney's landmark Opera House was illuminated at midnight by the most spectacular pyrotechnical display the city has ever seen, including a giant heart attached to the city's famous Harbour Bridge.

Australia has 900 troops in Iraq and the government has warned repeatedly of militant attacks on home soil, but around one million people turned out in one of the first cities to leave 2005 and its violence behind.

With sweltering night-time temperatures expected to rise to 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) on New Year's day, T-shirts and shorts were the order of the day as people partied into the early hours.

Street parties and glittery displays marked the festivities across Asia and the Pacific, with Hong Kong boasting a light and sound show including fireworks set off from 20 buildings around its harbour.

In the Chinese capital Beijing, bells and drums were sounded 108 times at midnight (1600 GMT) to mark an auspicious start to the year, signifying the elimination of worldly troubles in accordance with Buddhist tradition.

Authorities in Indonesia -- already on high alert for possible attacks by Islamic extremists during the New Year period -- fanned out in restive Central Sulawesi province after a bombing in a crowded market Saturday left eight dead.

The festive mood across much of the region contrasted with last year, when prayer vigils and fundraising events replaced jubilant blow-out bashes in the wake of the devastating December 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.

As Asia struggled to rebuild in 2005 after the giant waves killed more than 220,000 people, natural disaster sent it reeling again this October, when a massive earthquake killed at least 74,000 people in Pakistan and India.

Hundreds of thousands of Malaysians were gathering in Kuala Lumpur for New Year's Eve celebrations, which will range from concerts to elaborate fireworks displays, although heavy evening rains threatened to spoil events.

In the Philippines, hospitals braced for a spate of casualties as revellers traditionally set off firecrackers and fire guns into the air at midnight. Two people died and more than 130 were injured in the run-up.

Not everyone was preparing to greet the New Year with mass parties -- police in the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka raided university dormitories Saturday, detaining more than 100 people ahead of planned parties.

"Most of them are not students of the university and we have learnt that they came here to join the New Year's revelry," Dhaka police chief Mizanur Rahman said.

Police and commandos were out on the streets of several Indian cities amid fears of militant attacks.

Hoax bomb threats led to police evacuating a luxury hotel in India's IT hub Bangalore Saturday as well as an office and entertainment complex in nearby city of Hyderabad.

In Europe, six months after Britain fell victim to suicide bombers, with 52 people killed plus the attackers, Prime Minister Tony Blair said the country should not waver in the fight against terrorism.

"We will not let our resolve slip to tackle the dangers we face, both at home, as so tragically illustrated on July 7, and abroad," Blair said in his New Year message.

Hundreds of thousands were expected to descend on London to ring in the New Year, but a planned 24-hour strike by railway workers on the British capital's Underground subway system could spell travel misery for partygoers.

Across the Channel in France, where a state of emergency is still in force following three weeks of rioting in the country's suburbs, some 25,000 police and gendarmes have been deployed to prevent a flare-up of violence.

About 4,500 officers were on hand in Paris, where 500,000 people were expected to gather near the Eiffel Tower and on the French capital's most famous avenue, the Champs-Elysees, to welcome the New Year.

In the United States, one million partygoers were expected to pack into New York's Times Square to remember the victims of Hurricane Katrina and salute relief workers toiling to clean up New Orleans, ravaged by the August storm.

Trumpeter Wynton Marsalis, a native of the southern US city, was to press the button triggering the descent of a half-tonne crystal ball to count down the last 60 seconds of the year.

"We want to concentrate on rebirth and rebuilding," Marsalis said.

In Africa, tens of thousands of Kenyan prisoners made a positive start to 2006 when they decided to skip a meal on New Year's day to save money in a bid to assist millions of people facing severe food shortages.

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