The traditional party of the year will be a sombre affair across the globe.

From Asia to Europe, nations have reined in their New Year celebrations and revellers have been urged to donate some of their "party" money to help the millions affected by Asia's deadly tsunami.

"We can't look forward to New Year as we normally do given this catastrophe. We're horrified," said Franz Seegeroth, a visitor from Essen in western Germany. "There are conflicting emotions, but I think there'll be greater restraint."

In Sweden, northern Lulea plans a torchlight procession and other Nordic towns are being urged to drop fireworks and follow suit.

German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer has asked Germans to donate to charity some of the €100 million they would normally have spent on fireworks, a central part of German New Year. Similar calls have been made across Europe.

"We don't want to make anyone feel bad for celebrating. They should, but if they buy fewer fireworks and give a little more, that wouldn't be bad," said a German Red Cross spokesman yesterday.

Many Asian countries have cancelled New Year celebrations altogether. Sri Lanka's plush Hilton Colombo hotel has called off its end-of-year dance and the Thai Prime Minister has shelved a party with tennis stars.

Tinsel has been stripped from hotel foyers and resorts.

Malaysia will not hold official festivities, Bangkok called off outdoor celebrations and the Indian president cancelled the traditional New Year's practice of entertaining visitors.

More than 120,000 have been killed and millions are now threatened with disease and hunger following Sunday's massive earthquake and resulting tsunami on Indian Ocean shores.

Hopes dimmed for some 5,000 tourists, most of them Europeans.

Festivities are mostly going ahead in Europe, but the mood is expected to be more muted.

"Normally at this time, we look forward to the events, hopes and fears of the New Year in Britain. At this moment, however, our thoughts are focused on what has just happened in Asia," British Prime Minister Tony Blair said in a New Year message.

Norway's leading daily Aftonbladet has urged readers to celebrate with moderation and media reported that the country's richest man, billionaire Kjell Inge Rokke, had cancelled his fireworks display.

Thomas Jakuscheit, 33, from Thuringia in east Germany, said he would donate the €20 he would typically have spent on fireworks.

At Berlin's Brandenburg Gate, where a million people typically throng on New Year's Eve, flags at half-mast flanked an ice bar and food stalls. Organisers expect a minute's silence in the run-up to the midnight countdown.

Germany could be facing its worst post-war disaster, albeit thousands of kilometres from its shores. Thirty-three Germans have so far been confirmed dead, and more than 1,000 are missing. Around 340 people were killed by a flood in Hamburg in 1962.

Italy's two biggest newspapers will donate €0.10 from every copy of their New Year's Eve editions.

Norwegians and Germans can donate money directly by mobile phone. Londoners will get the chance to dig deep at the traditional New Year's day parade.

In Hong Kong, organisers of a large January 1 anti-government protest have decided to hold a fund-raising campaign instead.

Yet few expect muted celebrations to be fully sober. The "restrained" post-September 11 Oktoberfest in 2001 still produced comatose drunks. In France, where media has reported women spend on average €150 for a New Year's Eve outfit, papers are full of gourmet food tips.

In Rio de Janeiro, the world's biggest beach party will go ahead as per normal.

"Life must go on," said German mechanic Horst Emscher.

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