Where to go, what to do for world's biggest party

Following is a partial list of events scheduled around the world to usher in the year 2000. The date is December 31 unless otherwise indicated.

Africa

South Africa - 200,000 people are expected to attend a naval display at the Cape and a light-show on Table Mountain. On Robben Island, near the Cape, Nelson Mandela and his successor as president, Thabo Mbeki, will attend a ceremony in memory of Mandela’s detention there for 18 of the 27 years he was held prisoner.

Nigeria - A programme of concerts, parades and traditional dancing is scheduled for the inauguration of a huge dome in Abuja, the capital. Democratic Republic of Congo - A Miss millennium will be elected and a

torchlight parade marking national unity will

be organised in Kinshasa.

Americas

United States - 600,000 people including Bill Clinton and his wife Hillary are expected to attend a millennium gala in Washington, including a high-tech light show on the Mall.

Scores of entertainers including BB King, Aretha Franklin and Chuck Berry are scheduled, as is an orchestra conducted by John Williams, Steven Spielberg will present a film on the most historic moments of the 20th century. More than a million people are expected to cram into New York’s Times Square to hear the 12 strokes of midnight.

Barbra Streisand will give a concert in Las Vegas, Nevada. Brazil - Between three and four million people are expected to turn out

for a fireworks display on Rio de Janeiro’s Copacabana, Ipanema and Barra beaches.

Argentina - A fireworks display will be held along the Rio de la Plata in Buenos Aires, while at Ushuaia, the world’s southernmost town near Tierra del Fuego, with daylight still visible in the midnight sky, a symphony concert and ballet will greet the new year. Panama - Festivities and a millennium marathon are being organised, as are ceremonies marking the handing back of the Panama Canal by the United States.

Peru - 700,000 people are expected to attend a light-show in the Pachacamac archaeological centre in Lima. The capitals of several countries, notably Chile and Mexico, are organising lavish festivities and fireworks displays.

Asia/Pacffic

Australia - The “world’s biggest fireworks display” will be held in Sydney Harbour, with at least two million people expected to attend. The event will be broadcast live.

Cambodia - The splendours of the ancient empire of Angkor Wat will be reconstructed in a son-et-lumiere display on the site, with King Sihanouk among the audience. Till January 2. China - Celebrations are being organised around an Altar for the Century.

Also January 1, the city of Harbin stages a snow and ice festival.

India - Festivities are scheduled at the Taj Mahal, and at Khajuraho, Madhya Pradesh, on the site of the temples of love.

New Zealand - A children’s chorus will greet sunrise on the summit of Mount

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Sydney Is gearing up for Hie "world's biggest fireworks display"

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Hakepa, on Pitt Islands in the Chatham archipelago, 800 kilometres east of Wellington, at 04.49 local time on January 1.

On Chatham Island itself, at midnight local time, the descendents of the island’s first inhabitants, the Moriori, will take part in New Year ceremonies. In Wellington, a 15metre pyramid-shaped Time Vault Memorial containing thousands of individual capsules will be sealed for 100 years.

In Christchurch, the “first golf tournament of 2000” will tee off at midnight. Tonga - A series of native ceremonies will be held from December 29 to January 4 in what the local authorities say is the first country to greet 2000.

Europe

Britain - Celebrations at the millennium dome near Greenwich, east of London, will be attended by Queen Elizabeth 11. The Mall, the avenue leading up to Buckingham Palace, will become a fairground from December 31 to January 2. On the site of the Greenwich Observatory, marking the zero meridian of longitude, a rock concert will feature Simply Red and the Eurythmics, and the London

Symphony Orchestra will play a concert of classical music.

The bells of Britain’s 5,200 churches will ring out at midday on January 1.

France - Millions of people are expected to flock to the Champs Elysses, scene of a rock concert featuring stars such as Johnny Hallyday. At midnight, 11 large wheels

installed on the Champs Elysees, designated

the Doors of the Year 2000, will start to turn.

A variety show has been organised at the Eiffel Tower where a huge counter will count down the minutes to the end of the year. Most of France’s Alpine ski-resorts will organise fireworks displays. At Viella, in southeastern France, the “first wine harvest of the millennium” will begin on December 31.

Greece - Festivities have been organised at the foot of the Acropolis in central Athens.

On January 1, at Cape Sunion, southeast of Athens, ceremonies at the ruins of the temple of Poseidon will mark the “first sunrise of the new millennium”.

Italy/Vatican - on December 24, at Saint Peter’s Basilica, the Holy gates will be opened, followed by midnight mass. In line with a 500-year-old tradition, the pope will

strike three blows against the wall blocking the Holy Gates, which are only opened on jubilee occasions. The wall is then opened and the pope enters the Basilica followed by pilgrims singing canticles and prayers.

Christmas mass is followed at midnight by the Urbi el Orbi blessing by the pope. On December 31, a Te Deum is celebrated at Saint Peter’s Basilica and at midnight the pope will make an Urbi and Orbi statement in the Vatican. Festivities are being organised in most capitals and main cities in Europe, most of which will focus on local historical or geographical features. Israel/Palestinian Territories - 2,000 pigeons will be released at Bethlehem, in the West Bank, to bring a message of peace, happiness and love, as part of the spectacle including Palestinian dances and a son-et-lumiere show, followed by a concert that will see in the millennium.

Egypt - The pyramids outside Cairo will provide the setting for an electronic opera by French composer Jean-Michel Jarre entitled The 12 Dreams of the Sun.

The show will include laser projections and a programme of contemporary and traditional dances. (AFP) ■