Seeing the World usher in the new year

2012 
  SEEING THE WORLD

USHER IN THE NEW YEAR

From Dubai to New York's glittering Times Square, to Berlin's Brandenburg Gate and Hong Kong's jostling harbour, crowds will gather to usher in 2012 in a blaze of light, sound and music.

UAE joins the rest of the world in 2012 celebrations with thousands of people expected to gather in and around iconic landmarks in Dubai, Burj ul Arab and Abu Dhabi for some midnight fireworks.Traffic jams have begun to build up on roads leading to Burj Khalifa where a firework display is expected at midnight.

New York will rock with pop diva Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber. They are expected to draw an estimated 1 million revellers to Times Square, where a 12-foot, illuminated crystal ball will drop at the stroke of midnight.

Hong Kong: More than 400,000 people were expected to watch a 4-minute, $1 million (Dh3.67 million) display of fireworks that will shoot off from 10 skyscrapers, lighting up Victoria Harbour.

Australia: 7 tonnes of explosives will light up the sky for a colourful midnight display that is expected to attract more than 1.5 million people at vantage points along Sydney Harbour. "Every year we make sure our celebrations are bigger and better than the one before," said Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore.

London: A huge fireworks display will be seen above the River Thames as Big Ben chimes out midnight.

Paris: Tens of thousands of people are expected to gather on the Champs Elysees to mark the celebration known as la Fete de Saint-Sylvestre.

Rio: A white party, with at least two million people dressed in white, is expected to ring in the New Year on the Copacabana beach, which will feature a "green" fireworks extravaganza.

In other parts of the world, New Year will be a sombre occasion, especially in calamity-hit Japan and the Philippines