Millions around the world welcome 2016 amid tight security

Sydney welcomed 2016 with spectacular midnight fireworks as crowds thronged to harbourside vantage points

SYDNEY: Millions of people around the world welcomed in the New Year on high security alert, with Munich stations evacuated over an imminent terror threat and fireworks cancelled in Paris and Brussels, while a huge fire ripped through a Dubai hotel.

German police warned people to stay away from two of Munich's railway stations and avoid large gatherings after "indications that a terror attack" was being planned by extremists in the southern German city.

Elsewhere in Europe, terror fears also loomed large, with firework displays cancelled in Brussels and Paris, just weeks after militants killed 130 people on the streets of the French capital.

More than 100,000 police were deployed throughout France to guard celebrations, as defiant Parisians turned out on the Champs Elysees to greet 2016 in the biggest public gatherings since the November 13 attacks.

Belgian police were holding five people over an alleged New Year attack plot in Brussels, as well as arresting a 10th suspect over the Paris attacks.

In Dubai, a vast blaze ripped through a luxury 63-story hotel, the Address Downtown, close to the world's tallest tower where people had gathered to ring in the New Year.

But authorities put on a spectacular show, refusing to let the hotel blaze, which injured 16 people, disrupt celebrations.

Festivities went ahead as planned and crowds cheered the arrival of 2016 with bursts of light and color in a massive fireworks show starting at the landmark Burj Khalifa skyscraper, even as smoke billowed from the nearby blaze.

Sydney, traditionally the first to host a major New Year's bash, kicked off the global festivities when it lit up the skies with pyrotechnics at the stroke of midnight (1300 GMT Thursday).

In Moscow, police for the first time closed off Red Square, where tens of thousands of revelers traditionally gather.

In Britain, Scotland Yard said around 3,000 officers were deployed across central London in what was reported to be an unprecedented anti-terror security effort.

Fireworks were banned in towns and cities across Italy, in some cases because of a recent spike in air pollution and also because of fears that sudden loud bangs could cause panic.

In Madrid, only 25,000 people were allowed into the Puerta del Sol square due to security concerns.

In the United States, authorities said they had arrested and charged a 25-year-old American Muslim convert over an alleged attempt to launch a New Year's Eve attack in upstate New York in the name of the Islamic State group.

An estimated two million people were expected to ring in 2016 on Rio de Janeiro's Copacabana beach, with the Brazilian city hosting this year's Olympics.

Here are some of the amazing pictures of people celebrating new year's eve

Fireworks explode over the Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge as Australia's largest city ushers in the New Year, January 1, 2016. PHOTO: REUTERS

People hold balloons to release them at the turn of the New Year at a hotel in front of the landmark Tokyo Tower in Tokyo, Japan, December 31, 2015, 2016. PHOTO: REUTERS

Fireworks explode over the Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge as Australia's largest city ushers in the New Year, January 1, 2016. PHOTO: REUTERS

Shinto priests walk to the main shrine for a ritual to usher in the New Year at the Meiji Shrine in Tokyo, Japan, December 31, 2015. PHOTO: REUTERS

People pass through security checks at the venue of New Year celebrations at the Brandenburger Tor gate in Berlin, Germany, December 31, 2015. PHOTO: REUTERS

A woman walks past a New Year's decoration in central Moscow, Russia, December 30, 2015. PHOTO: REUTERS

The Times Square New Year's Eve Ball is tested atop the roof of One Times Square on the day before New Year's Eve celebrations in the Manhattan borough of New York December 30, 2015. PHOTO: REUTERS

An empty terrace is pictured on Brussels' Grand Place, December 31, 2015. Authorities in the Belgian capital Brussels on Wednesday called off the city's traditional New Year's Eve fireworks display, citing fears of a militant attack. PHOTO: REUTERS

Girls with New Year 2016 head bands cheer while waiting for the New Year's fireworks in Sydney on December 31, 2015. PHOTO: AFP

People dressed as Father Frost, the equivalent of Santa Claus, and his companion Snegurochka (Snow Maiden) take part in a New Year's parade in the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek on December 31, 2015. New Year, which was the biggest informal holiday of the year in the former Soviet Union, is also very popular in the predominantly Muslim Central Asian nation of Kyrgyzstan. PHOTO: AFP

Belgian soldiers patrol in central Brussels, December 31, 2015. PHOTO: REUTERS

Fireworks light up the sky over Sydney's Opera House during New Year celebrations in Sydney on January 1, 2016. PHOTO: AFP

Balinese young girl take a selfie during a New Year celebration in Denpasar, on Indonesia's resort island of Bali on December 31, 2015. Various form of dances and music have made Bali's art and culture one of the most diverse in the world. PHOTO: AFP

People release balloons at the turn of the New Year at a hotel in front of the landmark Tokyo Tower in Tokyo, Japan, January 1, 2016. PHOTO: REUTERS