Pope John Paul (77) marked the New Year and the Catholic Church's World Day of Peace yesterday with an appeal to strive harder for justice and reconciliation. "The Church sees in the start of the new year under the sign of prayer for peace," he told the congregation during a solemn New Year's Day mass in St Peter's Basilica.
Shortly after the 90-minute mass, the Pope used an Angelus address to pilgrims in St Peter's Square to emphasise his World Day of Peace message - that globalisation of the world's economy had to go hand-in-hand with solidarity.
"The process of globalisation under way in the world needs to be orientated in the direction of equity and solidarity to avoid the marginalisation . . . of people and groups," he said.
"Will the year 2000 mark a significant step forward in the construction of peace?" he said. "That is everyone's wish, but in order for that to happen, it is indispensable for everyone to strive for justice in the respect of human rights," the Pope added.
Wearing white and gold vestments, he looked drawn during the service. Across most of the world celebrations were spectacular but peaceful as fireworks exploded over major capitals.
One of the most spectacular displays took place in Sydney, where fireworks lit up the harbour in a dry run both for the millennium and the city's hosting of the Olympic games in the year 2000.
Asian countries managed to forget the region's economic crisis at least temporarily, despite warning messages from many of their leaders that 1998 would bring hardship and austerity.
Revelry was so intense in the Philippines that over 350 people were injured, mostly hit by firecrackers let off at midnight to ward off evil spirits and bad luck.
One of the year's most unusual New Year sights was to be seen in the Turkish capital of Ankara.
With revellers still thronging the streets, drummers came out to rouse devout Muslims for predawn meals to mark the start of the fasting month of Ramadan, which coincides with the Christian New Year for the first time in 33 years. Turks, under secularist rule for 75 years, have few problems reconciling the New Year and Ramadan, known respectively as times of debauchery and abstinence.
Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim-populated nation, celebrated New Year in a subdued fashion as authorities banned public partying.
Unlike past years, hotels at the capital limited celebrations to early dinners or programmes with Islamic connotations while clubs, pubs and cafes remained closed following a decree aimed at respecting Ramadan, the month of abstinence.
Instead of celebrating New Year, people thronged mosques for the ritual Muslim evening prayer and churches for mass early in the evening. Thousands later began to converge on Jakarta's central square around the towering National Monument.
Festivities turned ugly in France where the homeless and unemployed have been staging a series of demonstrations.
Police in the eastern city of Strasbourg reported 53 vehicles set on fire overnight, while some 60 homeless activists in Paris briefly occupied the lobby of the Hotel Royal Monceau.
On Mir, flight engineer Pavel Vinogradov produced a large soft plastic bottle of champagne which floated around the cabin. Big crowds turned out in Scotland, where nearly 200,000 partygoers packed into central Edinburgh, while around 80,000 revellers flocked to Trafalgar Square in London to hear Big Ben ring in 1998. Both events were mostly peaceful, police said.
Temperatures were low in the US, but not enough to stop a record 500,000 people gathering in New York's Times Square, counting down the seconds as a computerised ball made its annual descent at midnight.
Two Egyptian boys playing in Cairo with a toy replica of a cannon traditionally used to announce the end of the Ramadan fasting day accidentally killed their father by firing a nail into his eye.
In Italy, more than 850 people, including a two-year-old girl, lost fingers or suffered burns and other injuries as Italians saw in the new year with an explosion of fireworks. Officials said for the second year running no deaths were reported.
Nineteen people are being held after a New Year's rampage in the southern Polish town of Glucholazy, police said. Dozens of drunken revellers started brawls, smashed windows with baseball bats, looted shops, destroyed a police van and sent police running for safety, a local officer said.