Exhibit A:
"Many revelers are intent on leaving 2012 behind; Start of new year revives hopes around globe" by Jennifer Peltz and Verena Dobnik | Associated Press, January 01, 2013
NEW YORK —Security in Times Square was tight, with a mass of uniformed police and plainclothes officers assigned to blend into the crowd. Officers used barriers to prevent overcrowding and checkpoints to inspect vehicles, enforce a ban on alcohol, and check handbags.
What, no false-flag, patsy plot terror attack this time?
Elsewhere, lavish fireworks displays lit up skylines in Sydney, Hong Kong, and Shanghai. In the United Arab Emirates city of Dubai, multicolored fireworks danced early Tuesday up and down the world’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa. In Russia, spectators filled Moscow’s iconic Red Square as fireworks exploded near the Kremlin.
Organizers said about 90,000 people gathered in a large field Yangon, Myanmar, for their first chance to do what much of the world does every Dec. 31: watch a countdown. The reformist government that took office in 2011 in the country, long under military rule, threw its first public New Year’s celebration in decades.
‘‘We feel like we are in a different world,’’ said Yu Thawda, a university student who went with three of her friends.
Elsewhere, the atmosphere of celebration was muted with concern.
Parts of Europe held scaled-back festivities and street parties, the mood a bit restrained, if hopeful, for a 2013 that is projected to be a sixth straight year of recession amid Greece’s worst economic crisis since World War II.
Yeah, hard to celebrate that when you wake up the next day and nothing is new.
Related:
"The new year was starting with a 24-hour strike by subway and train workers in Athens to protest salary cuts that are part of the government's austerity measures."
Cut from the web version and scrubbed from the web. Why? I think we all know why.
Hotels, clubs, and other sites in New Delhi, the Indian capital, canceled festivities after the death of a rape victim on Saturday touched off days of mourning and reflection about women’s safety.
Also scrubbed from the spot:
"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."
WTF is with the censorship? It's only an article about New Years!
In Times Square, some revelers checked their cellphones to keep up with news of lawmakers’ tentative deal to skirt the fiscal cliff combination of expiring tax cuts and across-the-board spending cuts that threatened to reverberate globally. And the elementary school massacre in Newtown, Conn., and Superstorm Sandy mingled into the memories of 2012.
What the Boston Globe web version cut from my printed copy:
In the Philippines, where many are recovering from devastation from a
recent typhoon, a health official danced to South Korean rapper Psy's
"Gangnam Style" video in an effort to stop revelers from setting off
huge illegal firecrackers, which maim and injure hundreds of Filipinos
each year.
Other things I found in my web search:
About 22,000 revelers in the Madrid square celebrated the arrival of the new year under umbrellas as rain fell steadily.
What the Globe web version added:
In Rome, Pope Benedict XVI celebrated New Year’s Eve with a vespers service in St. Peter’s Basilica to give thanks for 2012 and look ahead to 2013. He said that despite all the death and injustice in the world, goodness prevails.
In Rio de Janeiro, revelers dressed head-to-toe in white as dictated by Brazilian new years’ tradition flooded onto Copacabana beach for a concert.
London, the often soggy British capital, was dry and clear, as the familiar chimes of the clock inside the Big Ben tower counted down the final seconds of 2012 and a dazzling display of fireworks lit the skies above Parliament Square....
In Times Square, Elvis Rivera, of Manhattan, was taking photos to capture the moment. He wasn’t planning to ring in the new year there but went by to take pictures.
How did he feel about the end of 2012? ‘‘Relieved,’’ Rivera said, adding that there had been a death and job losses in his family this year.
His hopes for 2013?
Not surprising my monied mouthpiece media left it there.
--more--"
"France counts 1,193 cars torched on New Year’s Eve" AP, January 02, 2013
PARIS — Hundreds of empty, parked cars go up in flames in France each New Year’s Eve, set afire by young revelers, a much lamented tradition that remained intact this year with 1,193 vehicles burned, Interior Minister Manuel Valls said Tuesday.
His announcement was the first time in three years that such figures have been released. The conservative government of former president Nicolas Sarkozy had decided to stop publishing them in a bid to reduce the crime — and not play into the hands of car-torching youths who try to outdo one another.
France’s current Socialist government decided otherwise, deeming total transparency the best method, and the rate of burned cars apparently remained steady....
Wow, that's refreshing, huh?
Like many countries, France sees cars set on fire during the year for many reasons, including gangs hiding clues of their crimes and people making false insurance claims.
But car torching took a new step in France when it became a way to mark the arrival of the New Year. The practice reportedly began in earnest among youths — often in poor neighborhoods — in the 1990s. It also became a voice of protest during the fiery unrest by despairing youths from housing developments that swept France in the fall of 2005. At the time, police counted 8,810 vehicles burned in less than three weeks.
Yet even then, cars were not burned in big cities like Paris, and that remained the case this New Year’s Eve....
--more--"
"Celebratory gunfire kills Filipino girl" AP, January 03, 2013
MANILA — A 7-year-old girl died Wednesday after being hit in the head by a stray bullet during New Year’s Eve revelry in the Philippines, heightening calls to halt one of Asia’s most violent celebrations of the new year.
Stephanie Nicole Ella was watching fireworks with her family in their working-class neighborhood in Caloocan City, in suburban Manila, when she suddenly collapsed, blood spurting from her head. As she fought for her life in a government hospital, watched by her stunned parents, extensive media coverage of her ordeal turned her into a symbol of widespread concern over the violent celebrations.
Nearly 700 people were injured by fireworks and celebratory gunfire in the days leading to the new year, despite government warnings and a crackdown on prohibited firecrackers and gun firing. A boy died when he was accidentally shot in the back with a homemade shotgun by an intoxicated man in Mandaluyong City at the height of New Year’s revelry, police said, adding a suspect has been arrested.
--more--"
Looks like gun control for the Philippines, 'eh?
"France counts 1,193 cars torched on New Year’s Eve" AP, January 02, 2013
PARIS — Hundreds of empty, parked cars go up in flames in France each New Year’s Eve, set afire by young revelers, a much lamented tradition that remained intact this year with 1,193 vehicles burned, Interior Minister Manuel Valls said Tuesday.
His announcement was the first time in three years that such figures have been released. The conservative government of former president Nicolas Sarkozy had decided to stop publishing them in a bid to reduce the crime — and not play into the hands of car-torching youths who try to outdo one another.
France’s current Socialist government decided otherwise, deeming total transparency the best method, and the rate of burned cars apparently remained steady....
Wow, that's refreshing, huh?
Like many countries, France sees cars set on fire during the year for many reasons, including gangs hiding clues of their crimes and people making false insurance claims.
But car torching took a new step in France when it became a way to mark the arrival of the New Year. The practice reportedly began in earnest among youths — often in poor neighborhoods — in the 1990s. It also became a voice of protest during the fiery unrest by despairing youths from housing developments that swept France in the fall of 2005. At the time, police counted 8,810 vehicles burned in less than three weeks.
Yet even then, cars were not burned in big cities like Paris, and that remained the case this New Year’s Eve....
--more--"
"Celebratory gunfire kills Filipino girl" AP, January 03, 2013
MANILA — A 7-year-old girl died Wednesday after being hit in the head by a stray bullet during New Year’s Eve revelry in the Philippines, heightening calls to halt one of Asia’s most violent celebrations of the new year.
Stephanie Nicole Ella was watching fireworks with her family in their working-class neighborhood in Caloocan City, in suburban Manila, when she suddenly collapsed, blood spurting from her head. As she fought for her life in a government hospital, watched by her stunned parents, extensive media coverage of her ordeal turned her into a symbol of widespread concern over the violent celebrations.
Nearly 700 people were injured by fireworks and celebratory gunfire in the days leading to the new year, despite government warnings and a crackdown on prohibited firecrackers and gun firing. A boy died when he was accidentally shot in the back with a homemade shotgun by an intoxicated man in Mandaluyong City at the height of New Year’s revelry, police said, adding a suspect has been arrested.
--more--"
Looks like gun control for the Philippines, 'eh?
I've got some obits from 2012 that I'll be posting here and there regarding people I found influential (or not).
A cold and icy one.
Time to give the Globe a cold shower as I skip the newsstand today.
UPDATE: Braving frigid waters a New Year’s rite
UPDATE: Braving frigid waters a New Year’s rite
