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 Asia, Australia enter '99 with bangMood in Asia more subdued
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(CNN) -- Asia and Australia kicked off the world's New Year's celebrations Thursday, marking the end of 1998 with everything from somber assessments of lingering economic woes to a $1.2 million fireworks extravaganza in Sydney, Australia, that pulled out all the stops.
Sydney was one of the first major cities to bid farewell to 1998, and did so with a huge bang. Millions of Sydney residents partied Thursday night while watching fireworks explode over the harbor.
The Sydney Opera House was bathed in pulses of green, red and blue light as massive fireworks burst over the harbor in the first of two bombardments, which began at 9 p.m. (1000 GMT Thursday).
Sydney celebrates every major holiday and event with fireworks, but New Year's Eve is a pyrotechnic orgy, and this year's barrage was a dress rehearsal for upcoming sky shows to mark next year's welcome for the year 2000, and the summer Olympic Games set for September 2000.
Crowds cried "Ooooh" and "Aaaaah!" as combinations of fireworks, some formations bigger than most downtown buildings, lit the sultry southern summer night sky under low clouds. The upper parts of some fireworks were cut off by low cloud cover.
In addition to the usual star burst and mortar type fireworks, the show was punctuated by blasts that fanned out in heart or ring shapes, sometimes with another spherical explosion in the middle to create a Saturn-like effect.
A highlight of the show was the display rigged on the Sydney Harbor Bridge, with cascading white sparks from the roadway resembling a fiery waterfall, and red or white mortar blasts spewing from the girders supporting its huge arch.
Smoke shrouded downtown after the 20-minute display, but cleared quickly, to give revelers a clear view for the midnight finale.
In central Tokyo, crowds thronged Zojoji temple just before midnight, waiting for a Buddhist monk to strike the temple bell 108 times to dispel the evils of the past year and usher in good luck for 1999.
Much of the rest of Tokyo was eerily empty Thursday night, deserted by urbanites returning to hometowns in the countryside to celebrate New Year's, the most important holiday on the Japanese calendar.
In much of Asia, 1999 is the Year of the Rabbit, and Tokyo's department stores were well-stocked with calendars, cards and knickknacks bearing rabbit images.
For many Chinese, New Year's Eve is not nearly as important an occasion as the Lunar New Year on February 16, when hundreds of millions of people head home for family reunions.
Still, television and radio audiences were treated to a rare live prime time address by Chinese President Jiang Zemin, who was upbeat in summing up 1998, and urged his people to be confident about the future.
Meanwhile, many leaders in Asian countries hard hit by the region's ongoing economic crisis, tried to put the best spin possible on their official New Year messages.
Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said Thursday in his New Year speech that preserving stability, peace and cooperation among Malaysians is the key to ensuring the country's economic recovery.
Mahathir said that 1999 is poised to test the resilience of Malaysians and as such they should be prepared to take on the challenges.
In 1998, Malaysia opened the Kuala Lumpur International Airport, the National Sport Complex and completed the world's tallest building, the Petronas Twin Towers.
Mahathir defended these projects against criticism that they were a big waste of funds, saying they were erected at a time when the country's currency had more value.
Neighboring Singapore, which had weathered the economic crisis relatively well, fell into recession as 1998 ended, according to figures in the prime minister's New Year's message.
Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong said the city-state's growth for the entire year was 1.3 percent and described it as "not a bad performance, considering the unfavorable climate."
In spite of its economic woes, the Philippines was poised for a major celebration. Police and military forces were on high alert Thursday in preparation for rowdy New Year's eve revelers, as hospitals nationwide braced for the annual high rate of accidents from firecrackers and stray bullets
Muslim rebels on Thursday joined a government effort to bring down the number of accidents in the Philippines by ordering their forces not to fire guns to celebrate the start of 1999.
Ghazali Jaafar, deputy chairman of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, said the movement's fighters have been warned they will be punished for firing their weapons to commemorate the new year.
"For every bullet fired, the penalty would be equivalent to planting at least 20 banana plants," Jaafar said.
On Monday, President Joseph Estrada urged soldiers, policemen and civilians to refrain from firing weapons. He said soldiers and policemen will be dismissed from the service if caught, while civilians will face criminal charges and confiscation of their guns.
Europe was looking forward to the New Year as it prepares for its biggest-ever economic challenge -- the launch of a common currency on January 1, 1999.
Meanwhile, old challenges will be carried into 1999, including the conflict between ethnic Albanians and the Yugoslavia government in the Serbian province of Kosovo.
Despite a conciliatory New Year's message from Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, his government allies vowed Thursday to defend Kosovo with "all means" and fight against NATO if it intervenes in the troubled province.
In a year-end message read on state television, Milosevic said he expected 1999 to lead to a "multi-ethnic Kosovo, based on the principles of equality for all." But his government ally, Serbia's ultra-nationalist Vice Premier Vojislav Seslj, said Serbia is taking continued NATO threats of intervention in Kosovo very seriously, and "we are ready to defend it."
Centuries-old tradition will come together with modern technology in the Spanish pilgrim city of Santiago de Compostela. The Holy Door in the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela was to be opened on Thursday to mark the start of a Holy Year in the city, and an Internet camera will catch it all.
"The opening of the Holy Door has a special significance this year -- the gateway to the great jubilee of the year 2000," said a statement from the archbishop on an Internet Web site, which invites people to watch the ceremony from the burial site of Saint James via a live camera.
The pope has declared the year 2000 a Holy Year for Catholics throughout the world, but Santiago holds a Holy Year whenever Saint James' day, July 25, falls on a Sunday, as in 1999.
The faithful will be able to watch the ceremony at 1600 GMT Thursday via an Internet video camera which updates its view of the Holy Door every 15 seconds. The sculpted 17th-century Holy Door remains closed except in Holy Years.
Authorities expect some 2 million pilgrims during 1999, many of whom will walk some 500 miles (800 km) along the most traditional pilgrim route from St. Jean Pied-de-Port in the French Pyrenees to Santiago on the northwest tip of Spain.
The less energetic can content themselves with logging onto the official Web site at http://www.xacobeo.es.
France was also looking beyond January 1, 1999 to the start of 2000, promising to lay out the red carpet for the millennium celebration.
The Culture Ministry said Thursday it would set up 12 huge doorways through the heart of Paris, leading from the Louvre museum, along the elegant Champs Elysees up to the Arc de Triomphe.
The gates will be designed by artists, film directors and fashion designers, and linked by a massive red carpet.
"It will be the most amazing decor ever set up in the center of Paris," Culture Minister Catherine Trautmann told reporters
In addition, Paris has ordered a Ferris wheel, billed as the biggest in Europe, to be built at the foot of the Champs Elysees. It will be transformed into a giant clock on December 31, 1999, and lead the countdown to 2000.
The government has earmarked some $12.5 million for the Paris party. Officials expect up to 1 million people to pour into the center of the capital to celebrate the arrival of the new millennium.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
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