New Year revellers welcomed in 2001 with fireworks, dancing and religious ceremonies throughout the world, with a few even leaping from a tall building in celebration.

Fifteen parachutists from the U.S., Europe and Asia leapt from the old millennium to the new as midnight chimed on Sunday, using the world's tallest skyscrapers as a launch pad. The jump started at 15 seconds before midnight, so that when they landed time had moved forward to a new millennium -- at least in the view of those who insist that 2000 was the last year of the second millennium A.D. In Argentina, police blocked of Corrientes Avenue in Buenos Aires to create space for a New Year's Eve tango-fest. Brazil's most famous city, Rio de Janeiro, spent 1.3 million reais ($666,000) this year to attract more foreigners for the December 31 gala. In New York, snow was being cleared from Manhattan's Times Square in preparation for celebrations after a foot (30 centimetres) fell in the last few days. Hundreds of thousands of party-goers are expected to brave freezing temperatures and bitterly cold wind chill to welcome in 2001. Pakistan's militant Muslims warned against celebrations and deployed extra soldiers to make sure no dancing took place, while authorities in Lebanon and Syria warned people to leave their guns at home. Lebanese authorities banned firing into the air after the nation's civil war ended in 1990. However, shooting remains a New Year's Eve tradition. In Japan, as the Year of the Dragon gave way to the Year of the Snake at midnight, temple bells sounded 108 times, symbolically driving out the 108 sins in the Buddhist catalogue.