2001 Arrives Around The World

L O N D O N, Dec. 31 -- Much of the world welcomed 2001 with fireworks,good cheer and optimism, and even in troubled lands the hope of abetter future prevailed.

Yugoslavia’s celebrations, the first since the ouster ofSlobodan Milosevic, were dubbed “the first free New Year,” templebells tolled in Japan and tens of thousands gathered for a carnivalin Hong Kong.

Dance of Defiance

In Argentina, police blocked off Corrientes Avenue in BuenosAires to create space for a New Year’s Eve tango-fest.

“What worries? I am just here to dance! Tango is one of thegreat wonders of Argentina,” said Alberto Pajesz.

Pakistan’s militant Muslims warned against celebrations anddeployed extra soldiers to make sure no dancing took place, andauthorities in Lebanon and Syria warned celebrants to leave theirguns at home.

“Gunfire is an uncivilized phenomenon,” said Al-Baath, thenewspaper of Syria’s ruling party. “Some people think that gunfireand fireworks reflect happiness. … They are very dangerous.”

Lebanese authorities banned firing into the air after thenation’s civil war ended in 1990. However, shooting remains a NewYear’s Eve tradition.

Drummers Drumming; Jumpers Jumping

In Paris, a thousand drummers from all over Europe wererecruited to beat the countdown to midnight in unison at theGeorges Pompidou Center.

Fifteen parachutists from the United States, Europe and Asialeaped from the old millennium to the new as midnight chimedtoday, using the world’s tallest skyscrapers as a launch pad.

“What a great New Year!” cried an exuberant Ed Trick, 38, acarpenter from Petaluma, Calif., one of the nine Americans whojoined in the dive from Malaysia’s Petronas Twin towers, each 1,483feet tall.

The jump started at 15 seconds before midnight, so that whenthey landed time had moved forward to a new millennium — at leastin the view of those who insist that 2000 was the last year of thesecond millennium A.D.