THE Sydney Opera House fireworks soared into the sky, but the harbour below was empty as a ghost town, a fittingly creepy send-off for a year that will not be missed. No light show will illuminate Beijing from the top of the TV tower. The lions of London's Trafalfar Square will be barricaded off. In Rome, crowds will not assemble in St Peter's Square, the Pope will lead no mass, and revelers will not make their yearly dive into the Tiber. The New Year's Eve ball will drop on Broadway. But in place of hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers…