Times Square Ball drop preps

Workers inflate balloons, that will be distributed to the crowds during New Year's Eve celebrations at Times Square in Manhattan, New York on Monday. The New Year’s Eve Ball drop in Times Square is one of the most popular celebrations in the world where crowd estimates reach around a million people. 

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NY mayor criticized for being on campaign trail during blackout

NEW YORK, United States - New York Mayor and 2020 presidential candidate Bill de Blasio found himself under fire Sunday -- notably from the state's governor -- for being out of town when a major blackout hit the city because he was campaigning in Iowa.

The hours-long blackout on Saturday night, which plunged Times Square into darkness and brought subways to a halt, affected more than 70,000 customers on Manhattan's West Side.

The power returned gradually from around 10:00 pm (0200 GMT Sunday), with full service restored at about midnight. The cause is still under investigation.

De Blasio had planned to spend the night in Iowa, and initially told CNN he needed more information before he could decide whether or not to rush home. That hesitation earned him quick scorn on the internet and beyond.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat like De Blasio, pulled no punches when he himself appeared on CNN.

"Mayors are important and situations like this come up and you have to be on site," Cuomo said late Saturday.

Despite their party affiliation, there is no love lost between the pair, and they are often at odds politically.

Cuomo arrived in the city as the blackout was still ongoing and was giving a press conference as the lights started to come back on.

De Blasio eventually returned home late Saturday and took to the airwaves on Sunday to defend himself.

"The important thing is to have the hand on the wheel and make sure things are moving effectively and communicate to people," he told CNN.

"When you're a mayor, or a governor, you're going to travel for a variety of reasons."

But Cuomo said during his eight years in office, "I can count the number of times I leave the state basically on my fingers."

"I think it's important to be in a place where you can always respond but everybody makes their own political judgment," he added.

tu/sst/wd

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Huge power outage plunges Manhattan into darkness

NEW YORK - A power outage gripped New York's Manhattan on Saturday, sending Broadway theaters plunging into darkness, subways grinding to a halt and flicking off billboards in Times Square.

About 42,000 customers lost electricity in the early evening, according to the Con Edison utility.

Mayor Bill de Blasio said on Twitter that the outage was caused by a "manhole fire," but later told CNN it was under investigation.

"This appears to be something that just went wrong in the way that they transmit power from one part of the city to another to address demand," de Blasio said.

On social media, dozens of users posted photos of subway stations bathed in darkness.

"While Con Edison works to restore power in Manhattan, we encourage everyone to avoid below-ground subway stations," New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority said on Twitter.

Firefighters said they were responding to numerous requests for help, particularly from people trapped in elevators.

New Yorkers took Saturday's outage in stride, with passersby standing in intersections to direct traffic and a disrupted Carnegie Hall concert continuing in the street.

The cut affected the western chunk of Manhattan, particularly the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood and the Broadway theater district.

It took place on the anniversary of the 1977 "Blackout" power cut that affected virtually the entirety of New York in the midst of an economic crisis.

Looting and vandalism then broke out, affecting more than a thousand businesses.

Twenty-five hours and several hundred arrests later, the lights came back on.

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Women's World Cup fans party in New York's Times Square as US tops France

A throng of soccer fans, office workers and curious tourists crowded into New York's Times Square on Friday afternoon to watch a giant screen show the United States defeat France in one of the hottest matches in the history of the women's World Cup.

The quarter-final game, pitting the No. 1 seeded Americans against the host of this year's World Cup, was considered the best matchup yet in a tournament that has generated unprecedented excitement and TV ratings for the women's game.

The crowd that filled the square, best known for its annual New Year's Eve celebration, watched the Fox Sports broadcast on the largest TV display in the world, mounted on a skyscraper at the head of the so-called Crossroads of the World.

Most of the fans in Times Square were rooting for the powerful U.S. national team, and they were not disappointed by the 2-1 final.

Sitting on one of the improvised seating areas clad in a red, white and blue jersey, Alex Schnur followed the U.S. team's every move.

"I am a huge soccer fan," said the 20-year-old student from Connecticut. "The talent that the women's team has displayed - everything they do both on and off the field - is what a lot of Americans want to see; it's inspiring."

Cheers erupted when Megan Rapinoe, the violet-haired star of the U.S. squad, fired a shot into the goal in the first five minutes of the match, giving the Americans an early advantage over their opponent.

But Sophie Jimenez, 41, a nurse from France’s Brittany region who was visiting New York with her children, was unfazed when her home country fell behind in the match broadcast from Paris.

"I want to see France win! In the United States!” Jimenez chirped cheerfully.

Television ratings for this year's broadcast have been strong in the United States and abroad, with a record-breaking 1.5 million supporters expected to attend the matches in France, underscoring the growing popularity of the women's game.

"We want to give it absolute big-game treatment," said David Neal, executive producer of Fox Sport's FIFA World Cup broadcast.

Neal said that a possible France-U.S. bout had been on his team's radar since December as a potential marquee event and that once the match was set his team decided to "pull out all the stops."

Through the round of 16, ratings for this year's women's World Cup were up 21% compared with 2015 - the year of the previous women's World Cup - Fox Sports said, with France's victory over Brazil earning the highest-ever ratings for a non-U.S. women's World Cup match.

"Coming into this event, we knew that the bar that we all collectively set was very high," said Neal. "It's extremely gratifying the numbers exceeding even our lofty goals."

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Times Square ball drop in New York pays tribute to press freedom

NEW YORK -- Thousands of hardy merrymakers, many in plastic ponchos, watched on Monday as the shimmering New Year's Eve ball was raised high above a rainy Times Square, hours ahead of its annual midnight descent, a New York City tradition for more than a century.

This year, the Times Square Alliance, the business association that organizes the event, is paying a special tribute to press freedom as part of the festivities, after a year in which journalists have come under attack around the world, including in the United States.

A minute before midnight, journalists, including from ABC News, NBC News, the Washington Post, Reuters and other outlets, will join Mayor Bill de Blasio in pushing the button to initiate the ball drop.

Rappler CEO Maria Ressa, whose news website has drawn the ire of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, will be among the select group of journalists, according to a Time Magazine report which she posted on her Twitter feed. Ressa is among the publication's "Persons of the Year."

Christina Aguilera, New Kids on the Block and Sting were among the musical performers slated to entertain the throngs filling the plaza formed by the intersection of Broadway and Seventh Avenue in midtown Manhattan.

A steady rain, forecast to last for the rest of the evening, failed to dampen the spirits of the assembled multitudes, many of whom donned colorful, oversized top hats handed out by organizers.

"It was a bucket-list thing," said Daniela Ramous, a 34-year-old sales manager from McAllen, Texas. "You grow up watching it on TV, you see all the excitement. There's something magical about New York during this time of year."

Visitors began gathering inside penned-off enclosures in the morning, starting an hours-long marathon of standing in one place, with no access to public restrooms.

Belying the idea that New Yorkers themselves eschew the Times Square festivities, Eskie Garcia, a 59-year-old city worker living in Brooklyn, said she has come every year for about a decade.

"You have to come here in person," she said before applying lipstick and asking a stranger to take her picture on her cellphone. "Especially when you live by yourself. You come, you meet people."

Janette Masson, 29, said she preferred this year's rain to last year's bone-chilling cold. Masson, who works in retail in Boston, had been in her pen since 9:30 a.m., eating granola bars for lunch and dinner.

"I can deal with it," said Masson's 61-year-old mother, Judy Masson, as she stood in the rain with many hours of waiting still to come. "You make the best of a bad thing."

Umbrellas were banned as part of the tight security plan, police said, reflecting concern over the possibility of random attacks. That did not faze the huddled masses in Times Square.

"My boyfriend's coming and he's bringing us garbage bags, so we'll put those over ourselves," said 21-year-old Annika Clary, a dancer from Vancouver, Canada, who was counting down to 2019 with her sister. Plastic ponchos were allowed, with street vendors selling them for $5 on nearby avenues.

The tradition of watching a giant ball drop from a pole on top of the narrow building at the head of Times Square in midtown Manhattan began in 1907.

The current ball, in use since 2008, is a glittering, LED-studded sphere made by Waterford Crystal and Philips Lighting. Weighing 11,875 pounds (5,386 kg) and measuring 12 feet (3.7 meters) in diameter, it sits year-round on the roof of One Times Square, the one-time headquarters of the New York Times.


SHARPSHOOTERS AND DETECTORS

The New York Police Department screened people entering the corrals, deployed sharpshooters on rooftops and used radiation detectors throughout the event.

It also had planned to use an aerial drone for the first time to monitor the crowds, but canceled the effort on Monday evening given the wind and rain.

The organizers chose to honor press freedom and the contribution of journalists partly because of the deadly hostility that some reporters have faced this year.

Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi columnist for the Washington Post and US resident, was killed inside a Saudi Arabian consulate in Turkey. In June, a gunman shot dead five employees of The Capital, a newspaper in Annapolis, Maryland.

This month also marked the first anniversary of the imprisonment in Myanmar of Reuters reporters Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo for investigating how the country's security forces killed members of its Muslim Rohingya minority.

-- with ABS-CBN News

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New Year's Eve party in Times Square to cheer for press freedom

NEW YORK—Reporters will be the guests of honor at the New Year's Eve party in New York's Times Square on Monday, in what organizers said was a celebration of press freedom after an unusually deadly year for journalists at U.S. news outlets.

Two attacks in particular weighed on organizers as they discussed in autumn whom to give the honor of initiating the ceremonial ball drop just before midnight, according to Tim Tompkins, president of the Times Square Alliance.

One was the killing of Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi columnist for the Washington Post and U.S. resident, inside a Saudi Arabian consulate in Turkey. The other was the mass shooting in June in the newsroom of The Capital, a newspaper in Annapolis, Maryland, in which five employees were killed.

"Throughout the year it's been a big issue," Tompkins said in an interview. "Times Square itself is the ultimate agora and public space," noting that the area was named after the New York Times, and that it was a Times publisher, Adolf Ochs, who began the tradition of the ball drop in 1907.

Joel Simon, executive director of the Committee to Protect Journalists, said the Times Square Alliance approached his group because of "the perception that the journalism and journalists in particular are under threat and their role is being questioned."

Simon, who said he usually spends New Year's Eve playing Scrabble with his wife in New Hampshire's White Mountains, will be in the spotlight at the Times Square festivities, joining Mayor Bill de Blasio to launch the ball drop a minute before midnight.

Simon will be joined onstage by an array of journalists from U.S. and international news outlets. The names were still being finalized on Friday, the Times Square Alliance said.

The button-pressing honor has in previous years gone to United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, an Iraq War veteran, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor and the singer Lady Gaga.

The Times Square Alliance contacted Simon in November, Simon said, several weeks before Time magazine would devote their annual "Person of the Year" issue to several prominent journalists who have faced attacks and hostility.

Among those journalists were Khashoggi, and Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, two Reuters reporters imprisoned by Myanmar for investigating how the country's security forces killed members of the country's Muslim Rohingya minority.

U.S. President Donald Trump has become a vociferous critic of parts of the press, routinely chiding reporters and outlets he views as publishing "fake news," calling them "the enemy of the people."

Simon said this was in the background of his discussions with the Times Square Alliance.

"Unavoidably, Trump was the subtext, but not front and center," he said. "We wanted to have a unifying message." (Reporting by Jonathan Allen; editing by Jonathan Oatis)

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Snowstorm hits New York

A man walks through a snowstorm in Times Square in New York City, New York, U.S. on Thursday. At least 2-3 inches of snow covered major roads and highways as a nor’ easter continues to affect the Tri-state area.

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Thousands of yogis search for serenity in Times Square

NEW YORK - Thousands of yoga aficionados celebrated the summer solstice amid the neon lights and cacophony of Times Square Wednesday, searching for inner peace in the heart of New York on International Yoga Day.

"I have always wanted to come to yoga in Times Square. This year I retired so now I can," said 62-year-old former school principal Kathy Gaffney, who took the ferry bright and early from Staten Island to get a good place in line.

Around 12,000 people were expected to take part in six one-hour yoga classes beginning at 7:30 am (1130 GMT) to celebrate the official start of summer and the longest day of the year. The event is now in its 15th year.

For the last three years, it has coincided with International Yoga Day.

"It is mind over matter," laughed Magdalena Leszko, 40, of the surrounding Times Square din. "To have fun and to be part of a community. It tests the limits."

Chloe Liu, a Malaysian living in New York, came with two Chinese friends.

"To be able to do yoga in Times Square, in the middle of this chaotic and noisy scene, to be able to find calmness and equanimity," she said. "I was able to -- not the whole time, but in and out," said the delighted 49-year-old.

Under the watchful eye of police in one of the busiest plazas in the world, organizers handed out green yoga mats and bottles of water, before talking participants through their postures.

"The first year there were only three people who participated, the weather that day was horrible, raining," said Douglas Stewart, yoga teacher and co-founder of the event. "But it started to grow year after year," he added.

In 2015, when the event coincided with the first International Yoga Day, 17,000 people took part, including then UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Car plows into crowd on Times Square

Injured people are seen on the sidewalk of Times Square after a speeding vehicle struck pedestrians in New York City, U.S. on Thursday. One person was confirmed dead and at least 20 were injured.

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After New Year's Eve debacle, Mariah Carey wishes for 'more headlines'

(Note: Strong language in second paragraph.)

Grammy Award-winning singer Mariah Carey shrugged off a botched New Year's Eve show in New York's Times Square, telling fans and critics on Sunday that life does not always go as planned.

"Shit happens," Carey, the world's million-selling female singer, wrote on Twitter. "Have a happy and healthy new year everybody! Here's to making more headlines in 2017."

Carey, named the Grammy's Best New Artist in 1991, was the final musical act on ABC's "Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve with Ryan Seacrest," taking the stage just before midnight.

In addition to the television audience, the program was watched in person by the hundreds of thousands of people who gathered in what is called the "Crossroads of the World" to mark the beginning of 2017.

Carey's opening song, a rendition of Robert Burns' "Auld Lang Syne," seemed to go as planned. But then the singer, surrounded by dancers and a sea of humanity, appeared flustered and complained of technical difficulties.

"We can't hear," she said, as the music from her 1991 hit song "Emotions" began to play. "It is what it is," she said. "Let the audience sing, OK?"

But the awkwardness persisted, prompting Carey to say: "I want a holiday, too. Can I not have one? I'm trying to be a good sport here."

The next song, "We Belong Together," Carey's 2005 hit, went awry as well. Carey dropped her hand-held microphone to her side and the song went on playing, revealing that she may have been only syncing her lips to the words.

"It just don't get any better," a frustrated Carey said after the song.

After the debacle, some fans came to Carey's defense on Twitter, while others were less than kind. Several tweets compared her to the disgraced pop duo Milli Vanilli, who lost their Grammy for Best New Artist in 1990 when it emerged they had never sung on their records.

A spokeswoman for Carey said later on Sunday that there was no lip-syncing. "It is not uncommon for artists to sing to track during certain live performances," spokeswoman Nicole Perna said in a statement.

Carey's ear piece was not working before or during the performance and technicians could not fix it, but she took the stage anyway "essentially flying blind" so she could honor a commitment, Perna said.

A spokesman for ABC declined to comment.

(Reporting by David Ingram; Editing by Alan Crosby and Sandra Maler)

source: news.abs-cbn.com

New York's Times Square abuzz with New Year's Eve excitement

NEW YORK - Tens of thousands of merrymakers converged on Times Square on Saturday evening, hours before the giant New Year's Eve ball makes its midnight descent, a century-old New York tradition unfolding this year under an unprecedented blanket of security.

As many as 2 million people, surrounded by a ring of 40-ton sand trucks and some 7,000 police, are expected to gather in the "Crossroads of the World" to watch the kaleidoscopic sphere complete its minute-long drop, marking the beginning of 2017.

By sunset, a veritable sea of humanity had already streamed into the V-shaped plaza and down the avenues that cross at the square. Organizers handed out purple-and-gold "2017" top hats as police herded the revelers into temporary corrals designed for crowd control, each holding about hundreds of people. Anyone who leaves, even for a bathroom break, will lose his or her spot, according to the official website.

Michelle Adkins was so excited to be at America's most celebrated New Year's fete that she left her sleepy friend behind at the hotel and headed for the bright lights long before the witching hour.

"I've waited my whole life to see Times Square," said Adkins, 51, who works in a tire manufacturing plant in Rocky Mount, North Carolina. "I didn't come to New York to sleep! I ain't got no time for sleep!"

Even though city and federal officials say they are not aware of any credible threats, a protective perimeter of 65 hulking sanitation trucks filled with sand, as well as about 100 other smaller vehicles, encircled the Times Square area.

Placed in strategic positions, the "blockers" are intended to prevent a repetition of the truck attacks in Berlin and Nice earlier this year, officials said.

Despite the heavy police presence, or perhaps because of it, throngs of people, many from overseas, arrived early to get a prime view of festivities, which include live musical performances by Mariah Carey, Thomas Rhett and Gloria Estefan.

John O'Leary, 57, his wife, Claire, 51, and their two children were passing through Times Square on Saturday afternoon during a visit from their native England.

"It's just amazing," O'Leary said. "I just can't believe how they can manage all this, in terms of security."

For New York in winter, temperatures were relatively comfortable at just above 40F (5C) under cloudy skies, though the city warned of intermittent wind gusts.

At 11:59 p.m. (0459 GMT), the ball, formed by nearly 2,700 crystal triangles and lit by 32,000 lights, will begin to slide down a pole that sits atop a building at the head of the plaza. When it completes its descent at midnight, a giant "2017" sign will illuminate and a shower of fireworks will light up the sky.

CIRCLE OF TRUCKS

It is not the first time that New York has set up a perimeter of heavy trucks at large gatherings. The same strategy helped protect crowds at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in November, after Islamic State militants encouraged followers to target the event, which drew about 3.5 million people.

At times since Donald Trump's election in November, blocker trucks have been positioned near Trump Tower, his Fifth Avenue headquarters and residence, a short distance from Times Square. The president-elect is spending the holidays in Florida.

For New Year's Eve, New York also deployed heavily armed police teams, snipers, bomb-sniffing dogs and helicopters. Coast Guard and police vessels patrolled waterways around Manhattan.

U.S. defense and security agencies said they believed the threat of militant attacks inside the United States was low during the New Year's holiday, though the possibility of an attack, no matter how remote, was always present, they said.

Likewise, New York Police Commissioner James O'Neill said at a briefing this week that there were "no direct concerns" related to this year's festivities in Times Square.

Even so, he said, "we are going to have one of the most-policed, best-protected events and one of the safest venues in the entire world given all the assets we deploy here."

Chicago, San Francisco and other big U.S. cities have also put heavy security in place to protect crowds expected to gather at public fireworks displays and other "first night" events.

In Washington, where federal budget cuts have done away with traditional New Year's Eve fireworks on the National Mall, no major events were planned. Police declined to comment on any special security plans, saying only that events across the world are monitored for their potential impact on the U.S. capital. (Additional reporting by Chris Francescani in New York, Ian Simpson in Washington; Editing by David Gregorio, Steve Orlofsky and Nick Zieminski)

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Throngs usher in 2016 at bash in New York's Times Square

NEW YORK — A throng of 1 million revelers in Times Square rang in the New Year with raucous cheers and a blizzard of confetti, striking an optimistic, even defiant, tone amid jitters over extremist attacks and heavy security that included 6,000 police officers.

"You haven't lived until you've experienced Times Square on New Year's," said Eric Robertson, 25, of Philadelphia, who kissed his girlfriend as the crowd counted down the seconds to the New Year and the ball dropped at the stroke of midnight.

Partygoers from around the world had waited hours at the famed Manhattan crossroads — some since before dawn — for the countdown. Mayor Bill de Blasio pushed the button to send a 11,875-pound Waterford crystal ball into its minute-long decent.

As the clock struck 12 o'clock, cheers erupted as fireworks shot into the sky and people shared hugs and their first kisses of the year.

The revelers were protected by an unprecedented number of police officers — some in civilian clothes, many heavily armed — as well as rigid security screenings.

"This is the iconic New Year's celebration for the world," New York Police Department Commissioner William Bratton said. "We have no threats we're aware of directed against this event tonight but nevertheless we still plan for the worst and then expect the best."

Officers from the NYPD's elite emergency services unit surveyed the scene from Times Square rooftops, peering below through binoculars and scopes as snipers stood beside them. Heavily armed officers carrying tactical rifles stood on nearly every corner for blocks as police helicopters buzzed overhead after checking in on other parts of the city, including the World Trade Center and Statue of Liberty.

Some in the crowd admitted to being nervous to gather in such a famous location in the weeks after the Paris and San Bernardino attacks. Just hours earlier Thursday, an ex-con was charged in upstate New York with planning to carry out a New Year's Eve attack at a bar to prove he was worthy of joining the Islamic State terror group. That case prompted the city to cancel its New Year's Eve fireworks celebration.

Ashley Watters, 18, a freshman at Temple University hailing from Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, called the threat of terrorism "the elephant in the room."

"I talked to my dad before I left and said 'I love you and hopefully ISIS doesn't come,'" said Watters. "My dad said, 'Keep your eyes out.' He feels the same way, you can't live in fear. I'm not going to miss out on an opportunity."

Others were heartened by the massive security presence for the party to send off 2015 that featured musical acts by Carrie Underwood, Nick Jonas and Demi Lovato and temperatures that, to the relief of the bundled-up spectators, stayed well above freezing.

"I actually believe this is the safest place in the world," said Eku Kabba, 27, who has made the trip from Gaithersburg, Maryland to Times Square for the last five years.

"It could happen anywhere, but you can't start the world panicking," he said as a recording of the James Brown song "Living in America" blared from the stage. "Look around; there are men in uniform everywhere."

source: philstar.com

LOOK: Pia Wurtzbach spends New Year's Eve in Times Square

MANILA - "This is beyond exciting."

These were the words of Miss Universe 2015 Pia Wurtzbach after she spent New Year's Eve at the famed Times Square and celebrated the arrival of 2016 by witnessing the traditional dropping of the crystal ball.

On the official Facebook page of Miss Universe on Friday, the 26-year-old Wurtzbach posted a photo of her in New York. The caption read: "I just watched the ball drop! This is beyond exciting - New Year's [Eve] here is the best!"

In an earlier post, the Filipina-German beauty queen also recalled the year that was. She wrote: "First of all. Thank you, Lord! ...When everything seemed unreachable or impossible, You found a way."

"I trained well and despite all the challenges, everything fell into place and I finally got the crown the whole country has been waiting for for 42 years. It is true. Focus on the ordinary and God will take care of the extraordinary."



She also thanked her team and those who supported her journey to the Miss Universe crown, including her Filipino fans.

"Thank you for cheering and rooting for me. Whether you were a die hard supporter at the Axis Theater in Las Vegas or just a silent supporter watching me from TV, thank you," Wurtzbach continued.

"I've never been more proud to be a Filipina. I'll never forget it. It was a proud yet humbling experience. And now as I continue on with my journey as Miss Universe, I hope I inspired you all. Not just my fellow countrymen but all of you."

"Keep your faith, fight for what you believe in and hold on to your dreams! They do come true! I know I still have much to learn and a huge responsibility ahead of me... So thank you 2015 and bring it on, 2016!"

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

World welcomes New Year despite terror fears

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - The world greeted 2016 with Champagne and cheers, but tightened security put a damper on the party in Europe and a huge fire at a hotel in Dubai scared gathering revellers.

Fireworks were cancelled in Brussels and Paris as November's terror attacks cast a pall, but Dubai put on a spectacular show as it refused to let the hotel blaze, which injured 16 people, disrupt celebrations.

Sydney, traditionally the first to host a major New Year's bash, kicked off the global festivities when it lit up the skies with pyrotechnics at the stroke of midnight (1300 GMT).

In Dubai, a huge fire ripped through a luxury 63-storey hotel, the Address Downtown, close to the world's tallest tower where people had gathered to ring in the New Year.

Despite the dramatic scenes from the inferno, the festivities went ahead as planned and crowds cheered the arrival of 2016 with bursts of light and colour in a massive fireworks show that started at the iconic Burj Khalifa skyscraper, even as smoke was still billowing from the nearby blaze.

The cause of the fire was not immediately known.

After Asia and the Middle East, the chimes of midnight will move across Africa, Europe and finally the Americas.

In the heart of Europe, more than 100,000 police were deployed throughout France to guard celebrations that come six weeks after the jihadist attacks in Paris.

Annual festivities and fireworks in Brussels were cancelled as the Belgian capital -- home to NATO and the European Union -- remains on high alert.

Belgian officials are battling terror on two fronts -- with police holding five people over an alleged New Year attack plot in Brussels as well as arresting a tenth suspect over the Paris attacks.

Paris, still reeling from the November 13 slaughter of 130 people, has also cancelled its main fireworks display on the Champs Elysees avenue.

But authorities agreed France's biggest public gathering since the attacks can go ahead on the famous boulevard, with bolstered security.

"The people of Paris and France need this symbolic passage into the New Year," Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo told the weekly Journal du Dimanche.

In his New Year address, President Francois Hollande said France "has not finished with terrorism yet" and that the threat of another attack "remains at its highest level".

- High security -

Hong Kong, Beijing, Singapore and other Asian cities may rival Sydney's pyrotechnic splash, but Brunei will offer a sober evening after banning Christmas in a shift to hardline Islamic law.

Jakarta remains on high alert after anti-terror police foiled detailed plans for an alleged New Year suicide attack in the Indonesian capital.

Turkish police have detained two Islamic State suspects allegedly planning to stage attacks in the centre of the capital Ankara which is expected to be packed on New Year's Eve.

Meanwhile, in Moscow police will for the first time close off Red Square where tens of thousands of revellers traditionally gather.

"It's no secret that Moscow is one of the choice targets for terrorists," Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin said recently.

In Britain, Scotland Yard said there will be around 3,000 officers across central London in what is reported to be an unprecedented anti-terror security effort.

"Our plans are purely precautionary and not as a result of any specific intelligence," said Superintendent Jo Edwards, spokeswoman for Scotland Yard.

Fireworks were banned in towns and cities across Italy, in some cases because of a recent spike in air pollution but also because of fears that, in the current climate, sudden loud bangs could cause panic.

In Madrid, thousands of people will flock to Puerta del Sol square, however police will limit the number allowed in to just 25,000.

Berliners will do better with about a million expected at the Brandenburg Gate for a free mega-street party.

- Party at the pyramids -
Cairo meanwhile is trying desperately to attract tourists to bolster the economy.

The government is staging celebrations in front of the pyramids near the Egyptian capital, with ambassadors, artists and intellectuals all invited.

Egypt has been in turmoil since the 2011 uprising but was further hit by the October 31 crash of a Russian airliner over the Sinai killing 224 people.

In stark contrast, Sierra Leone's capital Freetown is hoping to reclaim its mantle as host of the best beach parties in Africa after Ebola scared people away.

The city of 1.2 million was deserted 12 months ago during the worst Ebola outbreak ever recorded.

"This New Year's Eve I am going to dance and party until the cock crows," said 35-year-old Franklyn Smith.

In the United States, authorities said they had arrested and charged a 25-year-old American Muslim convert over an alleged attempt to launch a New Year's Eve attack in upstate New York in the name of the Islamic State group.

In New York City, despite a pledge of tight security for Times Square, a million people are expected to turn out to see the ball descend.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

New York reassures tourists after terror threat

NEW YORK, United States - New York is reassuring tourists that America's biggest city is safe as it prepares to welcome more than five million visitors for the busy holiday season after the Paris attacks.

The winter tourism season officially kicked off with Thursday's Thanksgiving Parade, where hundreds of thousands of people lined the streets to watch the three-hour event amid tight security.

After the Paris attacks on November 13, an Islamic State group propaganda video broadcast images of New York from Times Square. US authorities hit back that there was no credible threat against the city or anywhere else in the United States.

"We had some hotel cancellations from small groups," said Chris Heywood, senior vice president of global communications at NYC and Company -- the city's official marketing and tourism organization.

Despite what he calls a "sprinkling of a few cancellations," he is still encouraging people to visit the metropolis for the "magical holiday season" that lasts through December until New Year.

"The city is open," he told AFP. "It is business as usual."

Eighty-nine people were killed at the Bataclan concert hall in the Paris attacks, but the Broadway League says there has been no drop in attendance since the carnage in France.

The US State Department has issued a worldwide travel alert, warning Americans of a heightened terrorist threat in "multiple regions," which has added to the worry among tourist industry professionals.

"We have seen a fall in reservations," said the CEO of Air France, Alexandre de Juniac, during a visit last week to New York, the prime target in the September 11, 2001 attacks on the US.

A US airline also said reservations from Europe were down, without wanting to give figures.

"I was in a plane 90 percent empty," Christine Priotto, mayor of Dieulefit, a town in southern France, told AFP after arriving this week in New York on a private visit.

"It was a little strange."

- 'People don't want to come' -

In Times Square, where police armed with heavy guns can be seen patrolling, bus ticket tout Farid Et Takaouy said he had never seen so little trade for the end of November.

"It's really dropped over the last two weeks," he said. "People take photos of the police and send them to their friends everywhere and so people don't want to come any more," he told AFP.

He says people who dress up as Mickey Mouse, Buzz Lightyear and as Statues of Liberty to pose with tourists in exchange for a few dollars have also seen their business fall.

Tourism is a hugely important industry in New York City: an influx of 5.3 million people was expected for the holiday season, which authorities say brings $3.7 billion to the local economy.

On Tuesday, the famous Rockefeller Center Christmas tree will be lit. The open-air skating rinks are open, the famous department stores have already got their Christmas windows decorated.

But some tourists are still thinking twice, particularly those from France.

Alexandra, a French woman from Aix-en-Provence, planned a trip to New York with her husband and their two teenagers long ago. But the Paris attacks and the IS group's propaganda video dampened their enthusiasm.

"In all the emotion, we questioned whether we should travel and at the moment our son doesn't want to go," she told AFP, not wanting to give her second name.

The family are thinking about it. Reassured by the stepped-up security, Alexandra thinks in the end they will still visit New York.

"We are more aware," said the mayor Priotto. But she says she has been more touched by the welcome from New Yorkers than the police patrols.

"When I went to the Statue of Liberty, one man, a ticket seller, took me into his arms," she said, still surprised. "And another said, 'Vive La France.'"

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

FBI, New York police aware of Islamic State video, say no specific threat

NEW YORK - There is no "specific and credible threat" against New York City, despite a newly released Islamic State video suggesting America's most populous city is a potential target of attacks such as those in Paris, Mayor Bill de Blasio said on Wednesday.

Police Commissioner William Bratton agreed with the mayor during an evening news conference by both men outside a police precinct in Times Square, adding that there was nothing new about the video, which he called "hastily produced."

"There is no credible and specific threat against New York City," de Blasio said, encouraging New Yorkers to "go about their business" as normal, while remaining watchful.

Islamic State has claimed credit for Friday's attacks in Paris that killed 129 people in shootings and suicide bombings at a concert hall, restaurants and a soccer stadium in Paris.

The assault on the French capital stirred memories in New York of the Sept. 11, 2001, hijacked plane attacks that felled the World Trade Center's Twin Towers, killing more than 2,600 people.

The Islamic State video, which runs for nearly six minutes, includes a scene that appears to show a suicide bomber making preparations and zipping up a jacket, according to a description provided by SITE Intelligence Group, a Bethesda, Maryland, organization that tracks militant groups.

The clip briefly shows Times Square and Herald Square, two Midtown Manhattan crossroads popular with tourists, and a suicide bomber holding what appears to be a trigger. Most of the footage is scenes of Paris and French President Francois Hollande.

"Footage of New York shown in the ISIS video was taken from a video released by the group in April of this year. So while NYC is, and has been, a target for ISIS, today's video does not warrant any kind of panic," SITE director Rita Katz said in an email to Reuters.

De Blasio said New York City's police force of 35,000, the country's largest, was working tirelessly to keep the city safe from another attack.

"Just in this last week, we've initiated the first wave of our new Critical Response Command, which will grow to 500 officers specifically dedicated to anti-terrorism activities," he said.

The new unit will supplement an existing 1,000-officer counterterrorism program, police said.

The FBI said through a spokeswoman it was aware of news reports about the video and "ongoing terrorist threats to NYC," and would fully investigate.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Taylor Swift and Harry Styles Kiss at Midnight on New Year's Eve—See the Liplock Here!

Looks like we'll be seeing a lot of Taylor Swift and Harry Styles' relationship in 2013!

The young couple, who recently vacationed in Utah, shared a kiss in Times Square at the stroke of midnight, and of course, Twitter was there to document the liplock.

In the pictures, "Haylor" are seen embracing and and sharing a romantic smooch.


Check out Swift's performance of  "I Knew You Were Trouble" before her kiss with Styles

The pop star and One Direction member have been inseparable as of late, double-date skiing with Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez in Utah and spending time in England during a romantic getaway.

Swift performed her hit singles "I Knew You Were Trouble" and "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" during New Year's Rocking Eve and wrapped her set just minutes before the countdown to 2013 began. How lucky for Styles!

"Can't. even. verbalize. how stoked I am for 2013!" Swift tweeted earlier in the night. Hm...we wonder why!

source: eonline.com

Times Square revelers welcome the new year

NEW YORK— Revelers erupted in cheers amid a confetti-filled celebration in New York's Times Square to welcome in the new year, part of star-studded celebrations and glittering fireworks displays around the world to usher in 2012.

From New Zealand to New York, the world eagerly welcomed a new year Sunday and hoped for a better future, saying goodbye to a year of hurricanes, tsunamis and economic turmoil that many would rather forget.

In New York, hundreds of thousands gathered at the crossroads of the world to witness a crystal ball with more than 30,000 lights that descended at midnight. Lady Gaga and Mayor Michael Bloomberg led the crowd in the final-minute countdown of the famed crystal-paneled ball drop.

Matheus Campos, a law student from Brazil, threw both arms in the air as the new year began in Times Square.

"It's awesome," he said.

Revelers in Australia, Asia, Europe and the South Pacific island nation of Samoa, which jumped across the international dateline to be first to celebrate, welcomed 2012 with booming pyrotechnic displays. Fireworks soared and sparked over Moscow's Red Square, crowds on Paris' Champs-Elysées boulevard popped Champagne corks at midnight.

But many approached the new year with more relief than joy, as people battered by weather disasters, joblessness and economic uncertainty hoped the stroke of midnight would change their fortunes.

"It was a pretty tough year, but God was looking after us and I know 2012 has got to be better," said Kyralee Scott, 16, of Jackson, N.J., whose father spent most of the year out of work.

Some New York revelers, wearing party hats and "2012" glasses, began camping out Saturday morning, even as workers readied bags stuffed with hundreds of balloons and technicians put colored filters on klieg lights. The crowds cheered as workers lit the crystal-paneled ball that drops at midnight Saturday and put it through a test run, 400 feet above the street. The sphere, now decorated with 3,000 Waterford crystal triangles, has been dropping to mark the new year since 1907, long before television made it a U.S. tradition.

In Times Square, hundreds of thousands people crammed into spectator pens ringed by barricades, enjoying surprisingly warm weather for the Northeast. The National Weather Service said it was about 49 degrees in nearby Central Park -- about 10 degrees warmer than the normal high temperature.

As the country prepared for the celebration, glum wasn't on the agenda for many, even those who had a sour year.

"We're hoping the next year will be better," said Becky Martin, a former elementary school teacher who drove from Rockford, Ill., to Times Square after spending a fruitless year trying to find a job. "We're starting off optimistic and hoping it lasts."

Many expressed cautious hope that better times were ahead after a year in which Japan was ravaged by an earthquake and tsunami, hurricanes wreaked havoc across the country and a debt crisis devastated Europe's economy.

"Everybody's suffering. That's why it's so beautiful to be here celebrating something with everybody," said Lisa Nicol, 47, of Melbourne, Australia.

For all of the holiday's bittersweet potential, New York City always treats it like a big party -- albeit one that now takes place under the watchful eye of a massive security force, including more than 1,500 police officers.

Dick Clark, who suffered a stroke in 2004, put in a few brief appearances mentioning that he has hosted his namesake New Year's Eve celebration for years, but said "tonight, it's better than ever." Clark, looking cheerful but struggling with his speech, introduced a performance by Lady Gaga and also assisted in the countdown. The show, hosted by Ryan Seacrest also featured a performance by Justin Bieber.

source: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-naw-new-york-2012-20120101,0,4832226.story