Australia led the world in a global minute of silence, parties were cancelled and trees on Paris's grand Champs Elysees were shrouded in black as Asia's devastating tsunami darkened global New Year celebrations.
Sydney, the world's first major city to start celebrations, went ahead with its annual New Year's Eve firework displays today, but revellers who flocked to the harbourside city centre were urged to remember the dead.
Nations worldwide urged revellers to rein in their excesses and spare thoughts for victims and money for survivors.
The Asian disaster has cast a long shadow over global New Year celebrations, particularly in Europe. Europeans made up the majority of the more than 2,200 foreign tourists known to be dead and more than 6,000 missing.
Sweden, Norway, Finland and Germany planned to fly flags at half mast to start 2005 as a mark of respect for their many dead and missing, who had left Europe's cold, dark winter for the sunshine and golden sands of Asia.
Paris draped black mourning crepe on the trees lining the Champs Elysees to pay homage to the victims. Thousands of Parisians traditionally collect on the tree-lined boulevard in the centre of the French capital on New Year's Eve.
Istanbul, with memories of a massive earthquake that rocked northwestern Turkey in 1999 and killed more than 18,000, cancelled a concert and firework display in the city centre.
Around the world, party plans were dropped or toned down. In Sri Lanka, where more than 28,500 people died, the plush Hilton Colombo hotel called off an end-of-year dance. T
Thailand called off outdoor celebrations in memory of its 4,500 victims and Malaysia decided against official festivities.
In Singapore, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong called for muted New Year celebrations and a fireworks display over the Marina Bay area was cancelled. A minute's silence was to be observed just before midnight on state television and at outdoor parties.
In Hong Kong, where disgruntled residents are used to marking public holidays with anti-government protests, political parties across the spectrum decided to postpone a New Year's Day march and instead planned to raise funds for tsunami victims.
In Europe, a number of Italian cities abandoned plans for major New Year's Eve parties, deciding instead to send the money saved to charities helping the victims. Bologna and Turin cancelled parties, while Naples, Bolzano, Padova and Benevento scrapped firework displays.
Near Berlin's Brandenburg Gate, where a million people typically throng on New Year's Eve, flags were being flown at half-mast. Around 1,000 Germans are missing after the disaster. Germany urged revellers to donate some of the €100 million they would normally spend on fireworks, a call repeated across Europe.
Norwegians were urged to celebrate with moderation and media reported that Norway's richest man, billionaire Mr Kjell Inge Rokke, had cancelled his fireworks show. The Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra cut Strauss's merry Radetzky Marchfrom its New Year concert.
The Mediterranean island of Cyprus cancelled celebrations, and money that would have been spent at New Year parties in the capital Nicosia and the port town of Limassol is to be donated towards relief funds instead, the town councils announced.