New Year’s around the world

Associated Press

On a New Year’s Eve haunted by fears of terrorism, a spectacular fire in one of Dubai’s tall towers captured the world’s attention. With few exceptions, the celebrations rolled on, and while fire still raged, the Dubai Media office declared on Twitter: “New Year celebrations in Dubai will continue as scheduled.”

As 2015 drew to a close, many people were bidding a weary and wary adieu to a year marred by attacks that left nations reeling and nerves rattled.

In Bangkok, site of a deadly bombing months ago, police flanked partygoers. In Paris, residents recovering from their city’s own deadly attacks enjoyed scaled-back celebrations. And in Munich, police warned of the threat of a terror attack.

A look at how people around the welcomed the new year:

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

In the megacity of Dubai, a fire broke out two hours before midnight in The Address hotel, in the area where a massive fireworks display was being prepared.

The five-star hotel is near the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building. At least one person suffered a heart attack from the smoke and overcrowding during evacuation, and 14 suffered minor injuries.

Organizers said the Burj Khalifa had been fitted with 400,000 LED lights and 1.6 tons of fireworks would be used in the display.

FRANCE

The French still are recovering from the Nov. 13 attacks that left 130 people dead in Paris, and authorities prepared for a possible worst-case scenario on New Year’s Eve. About 60,000 police officers and troops were deployed across the country, and revelers said that made them feel safer.

French President Francois Hollande used his traditional New Year’s Eve speech to warn that the terrorist threat is still at its “highest level.”

Paris canceled its usual fireworks display in favor of a five-minute video performance at the Arc de Triomphe just before midnight.

THAILAND

Less than six months after a pipe bomb killed 20 people at the Erawan Shrine in Bangkok, tens of thousands of people rang in the new year at the intersection with live music and a countdown.

PHILIPPINES

Concern in the Philippines on New Year’s Eve focused on the use of illegal fireworks, which last year injured more than 850 people. Shopping malls and cities organized fireworks displays to discourage people from lighting their own firecrackers.

VATICAN CITY

In the final hours of 2015, Pope Francis encouraged humanity to hang on to recollections of good deeds so that gestures of goodness can be seen triumphing over evil.

Francis presided over a year’s end prayer service Thursday evening in St. Peter’s Basilica, where he mused about how people are sometimes driven by “insatiable thirst for power and by gratuitous violence.”

NEW ZEALAND

New Zealand, the first nation with a sizable population to celebrate the New Year, counted down the seconds to midnight with a giant digital clock on Auckland’s landmark Sky Tower.

GERMANY

Rainy weather dampened the New Year celebrations in Berlin, where security was tighter than in previous years.

In Munich, police warned about an hour before the New Year of a “serious, imminent threat” of a terror attack. Despite the call by police for people to stay away from crowds, thousands of people were still on the streets to meet the new year with fireworks.

BRITAIN

Celebrations marked by fireworks spectaculars were planned in London, Edinburgh and other big cities despite a terror threat judged to be severe.

NEW YORK

About 1 million people were expected to converge on Times Square for the annual New Year’s Eve celebration.

This year’s festivities were being attended by nearly 6,000 police officers, including members of a specialized counterterrorism unit.