NEW YORK, Jan 1: Revellers rang in the New Year worldwide on Thursday, although global economic jitters, conflict in the Middle East and tragedy in Thailand cast a long shadow on the dawn of 2009.

Up to one million people braved frigid temperatures in New York City to witness the traditional midnight dropping of the Times Square crystal ball as confetti rained down from skyscrapers and fireworks filled the sky.

Crowds shouted out the last seconds of the year as the huge orb glowing and glittering through 2,668 crystals and more than 32,000 red, blue, green and white LED bulbs descended a special pillar.

Mayor Micheal Bloomberg warned on NY1 television that 2009 promised “tough times” for New York, whose vitality is directly linked to Wall Street’s fortunes.

In Washington, where Barack Obama on vacation in Hawaii moves into the White House in 20 days, heavy winds were blamed for one death in the area and forced the cancellation of fireworks in two suburbs.

Tragedy marred New Year’s celebrations in Thailand where fire ripped through a trendy Bangkok nightclub, killing at least 58 revellers and injuring 243. On-stage pyrotechnics were the suspected cause of the inferno.

Four Britons and two French were among the injured, their foreign ministries said.

Several Arab states, meanwhile, cancelled planned celebrations as Palestinians in the Islamist-run Gaza Strip suffered a sixth straight day of Israeli bombardment on New Year’s Day.

Egypt, Jordan, Dubai and Syria all called off festivities including concerts by renowned Arab singers, with Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashed al-Maktoum giving the order “as a sign of solidarity with the brotherly Palestinian people”, his office said.

In South America, as many as two million people squeezed onto Brazil’s Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro, with poor families from the favelas partying alongside the city’s champagne-popping wealthy.

Across the Atlantic, crowds braved chilly weather in London to enjoy fireworks along the River Thames, while in Paris, more than half a million thronged the Champs-Elysees to ring in the new year.

Nearly one million gathered at the Brandenberg Gate in Berlin, which this year will mark the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.

In Athens’ Syntagma Square scene of recent violent protests by Greek youth the mood was upbeat, but there was unrest in Thessaloniki as young people set fire to trash cans and hurled Molotov cocktails at police.

Elswhere in Europe, 445 vehicles were set on fire in France, most of them in troubled suburbs where car burnings are a fixture of the country’s New Year celebrations.—AFP