Updated: World welcomes 2013 with a bang

Lavish fireworks displays have ushered in 2013 across the Asia-Pacific region and Europe is holding scaled-back festivities in the hope of beginning a new year that will be kinder to its battered economies. Asian cities kicked off New Year's celebrations in style and an atmosphere of renewed optimism, despite the "fiscal cliff" impasse of spending cuts and tax increases threatening to reverberate globally from the United States. Huge fireworks lit up skylines in Sydney, Hong Kong and Shanghai, and even the once-isolated country of Burma joined the countdown party for the first time in decades. Celebrations were planned around the world, including the traditional crystal ball drop in New York City's Times Square, where a million people are expected to cram into the surrounding streets. In Russia, Moscow's iconic Red Square was filled with spectators as fireworks exploded near the Kremlin to welcome in the new year. Earlier, about 25 people were reportedly arrested in Moscow for trying to hold an unsanctioned demonstration. But President Vladimir Putin gave an optimistic New Year's Eve address, making no reference to the anti-government protests that have occurred in his country in...