NEW YORK—Revelers rang in the New Year in the Americas, hard on the heels of celebrations in Europe and Asia, as 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 at least one death in the area and forced the cancelation of fireworks in two suburbs.

But wool scarves gave way to bikinis in South America, where as many as two million people squeezed onto Brazil’s Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro despite rainy skies and economic storm clouds.

Families from some of the favelas, the poor neighborhoods that ring Rio de Janiero, descended onto the beach to celebrate alongside the city’s wealthy who uncorked bottles of champagne.

Across the Atlantic, revelers braved chilly weather in London to see the New Year fireworks spectacular along the River Thames, which engulfed the London Eye in a blaze of color.

In Paris, more than half a million people thronged on the French capital’s famed Champs-Elysees an hour before the bells.

About 100,000 people gathered in Bratislava’s main square, in part to celebrate Slovakia becoming the 16th member of the eurozone.

In Prague, the Czech Republic took over the European Union presidency from France at midnight as a top government official illuminated a giant pendulum on a hill above Prague with the EU colours of blue and yellow. AFP