New York ? With a sing-along and a party befitting Superman, hundreds of thousands of revelers gathered to watch the glimmering Times Square ball drop, heralding the arrival of 2003.

Actor Christopher Reeve joined hands with his wife, Dana, as she and Mayor Michael Bloomberg pressed a small globe and sent a 1,070-pound Waterford crystal ball on a 60-second descent that culminated at midnight to mark the new year.

The Tuesday night countdown came after a throng of 750,000 people — under tight security — rang wrist-mounted bells, waved pom-poms and joined voices in a giant sing-along of the Beatles’ “All You Need Is Love” and the disco hit “Ring My Bell.”

Under the watch of 2,000 police officers and rooftop sharpshooters, the huge crowd marked the 99th observance of the annual tradition in a blizzard of red, white and blue confetti.

“It’s hard to take it all in,” said Alex Melvin, 32, of Birmingham, England. “You see it on TV all the time, but you can’t get a sense of how it is on television. The scope of the crowd is just enormous.”

City crews set up Times Square metal-detector checkpoints, sealed manholes and removed nearby mailboxes. A 12-hour flight ban over the city kept pilots from flying below 2,000 feet.

Streets were closed to traffic in mid-afternoon to make room for party-goers like Karim Simmons, 35, of Queens, who arrived about 1:30 p.m., wearing gold-colored “2003” glasses.

“I wouldn’t miss this for the world,” said Simmons, who has attended the bash every year since 1996.

European celebrations

Tuesday in Italy, security was stepped up at the Vatican, at airports and at the U.S. and Israeli Embassies in Rome, although the Interior Ministry said it wanted to keep the details secret. Pope John Paul II ended the year with a traditional New Year’s Eve homily.

“Let us thank God from the depth of our hearts for all the benefits he generously gave us during these past 12 months,” the ailing, 82-year-old pontiff told the faithful gathered in St. Peter’s Basilica.

Fireworks light New York's Times Square moments after the New Year begins. The American flag was draped from a building under construction behind the ball at 1 Times Square.

In addition to 6,500 police beefing up security in Paris, the city’s subway and suburban train network stayed open all night for the first time to discourage the use of private vehicles.

Unlike many European capitals, London planned no New Year’s Eve spectacles, forcing those wishing to mark the holiday to do it in private. Even Trafalgar Square, site of traditional merriment, was closed this year for construction. Scotland Yard put 2,000 officers on London’s streets. People out in large groups were warned to be vigilant.

Despite subzero temperatures across much of Russia, vast crowds thronged Moscow’s Red Square. Russian President Vladimir Putin delivered a sober but soothing message to his troubled nation. Police presence was high after terrorist attacks on a Moscow theater in October and the Kremlin-backed administration in Chechnya at the end of the year.

“Russia, a country with a thousand-year history, is meeting its future properly,” Putin said in a televised message broadcast as midnight arrived in each of the country’s 10 time zones.

Tensions set aside

In Ivory Coast, the government rolled back a shoot-on-sight military curfew for one night to allow for New Year’s celebrations. The curfew has been in place since Sept. 19, when a failed coup threw the West African nation into civil war.

The party spirit was high in Malaysia, where daredevil skydivers threw themselves off the world’s tallest buildings near midnight in a group jump from the 1,483-foot Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur. Tens of thousands of people — Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad among them — partied in the park at the foot of the towers.

Still, there have been jitters across Asia since Oct. 12, when bombs tore through two nightclubs on the Indonesian island of Bali, killing 192 people, including 88 Australians. President Megawati Sukarnoputri struck a gong to ring in the new year close to the site of the bombings, after prayers for the victims and pledges to fight terrorism.

In Australia, one of the globe’s first places to greet 2003, the cleanup was well under way today from a night of celebration. In Sydney hours earlier, 450,000 people watched blazing fireworks on Sydney Harbor Bridge that ended with the image of a dove carrying an olive branch and the word “PEACE.” Australia was on high terror alert but there were no reports of serious problems.