Profile Facts, about celebrities,Country profiles provide information on geography, maps, flags, history, populations, cities, ethnicity, literacy, economics, government, current rulers,
Showing posts with label New Year smoking. Show all posts
Showing posts with label New Year smoking. Show all posts
Tonight Taio Cruz performed a medley for the crowds in Times Square. The entertainer sang a medley of his hits for ‘Dick Clark’s Rockin’ New Year’s Eve.’ One of the dozen acts tonight seen on the streets of New York City, the entertainer had the crowd moving and singing while waiting for Midnight to ring in the New Year 2011.
Looking like he was having a great time, Cruz interacted with the crowd during his performance and wore his stylish trademark sunglasses. The stage, set above the crowd and in perfect angles of the camera not only helped capture the performance of the night but shared the excitement in Times Square.
New York (Profile Facts) -- An estimated 1 million people marked the passing of one year and the beginning of another in New York's Times Square with the descent of an iconic ball.
With the help of Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Medal of Honor recipient Staff Sgt. Salvatore A. Giunta, the dazzling crystal ball began its 70-foot drop at 11:59 p.m. Friday to the harmonious chants of New Year's Eve revelers counting down the final seconds of 2010.
More than one ton of confetti was released at midnight, with personal individual wishes written in more than 25 languages, a tradition from the past three years.
Weighing in at 11,875 pounds with a diameter of 12 feet, the sparkling sphere is covered with 2,668 triangular crystals and is powered by 32,256 LED lights. By mixing red, blue, green and white light elements, the ball's lighting system is capable of producing a kaleidoscopic array of 16 million hues and colors, and billions of patterns, the event's website says.
Each giant New Year's numeral making up "2-0-1-1" will stand seven feet high and the numerals will use a total 453 9-watt LED bulbs. As in the past three years, the numerals were designed to be more energy efficient, as Duracell Batteries set up a lab in which visitors rode stationary bikes to provide the stored battery power that will light the numbers on the ball Friday night.
More than one ton of confetti will be released at midnight, with personal individual wishes written in more than 25 languages, a tradition from the past three years.
Times Square has served as one of the most popular sites of New Year's festivities since 1904, though the New Year's Eve ball made its inaugural drop down the flagpole at One Times Square in 1907. That first ball, built with iron and wood, featured one hundred light bulbs and was designed by Jacob Starr, a young immigrant metalworker.
The New Year's Eve ball has beamed and dropped every year since with the exceptions of 1942 and 1943, when the United States was embroiled in World War II and New York City observed a city-wide "dim-out" to cut energy costs.
According to New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly, this New Year's Eve celebration, like years in the past, is a product of a lot of hard work and planning by many people.
"We don't ever take it for granted," Kelly said. "The situation changes somewhat, we have sort of a core plan but we always add to it or change it -- we don't want to get stuck in a rut where we simply take a plan off the shelf."
As in previous years, security will be tight. Times Square will be closed to traffic at approximately 3 p.m. on Friday. Backpacks and alcohol are prohibited at the event and party-goers can expect a beefed-up police presence, according to the statement from the New York Police Department.
"It is a big complex operation and you know you always breathe a sigh of relief when it's over," Kelly said.
MOSCOW — Russian police on Friday detained several opposition leaders among nearly 120 protesters during New Year's Eve rallies held in central Moscow and Saint Petersburg, news reports said.
Moscow authorities allowed the opposition to stage a traditional end-of-month demonstration to assert their right to gather under the Russian constitution.
The 300-strong crowd chanted slogans in support of the jailed Kremlin critic and former oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky, whose jail term was extended by six years Thursday, and called for broader political freedoms, news reports said.
But several opposition leaders, including former first deputy prime minister Boris Nemtsov, broke through police lines, prompting their immediate arrest, the RIA Novosti news agency reported.
Nemtsov, a key leader of Russia's liberal opposition, was to be kept in police custody until Sunday, opposition activist Lyudmila Alexeyeva told the Interfax news agency.
Police also detained Eduard Limonov, an opposition writer and leader of the radical National Bolshevik Party, near his Moscow home about an hour before he and his supporters were to hold an unsanctioned rally alongside the authorised one.
Shortly after his arrest, a court sentenced Limonov to 15 days in prison for insulting police during his detention, a court spokesman, Pyotr Chenik, was quoted as saying by the RIA Novosti news agency.
"They wrote in the police report that I made rude remarks and violated the public order law," Limonov told Moscow Echo radio, calling the allegation "a lie".
Ilya Yashin, the leader of the youth wing of the liberal Yabloko group, was also detained during the Moscow protest, news reports said.
Russian police said they detained 68 people in Moscow and 50 in Saint Peterburg during two unsanctioned rallies.
Opposition leaders call regular demonstrations on the 31st day of the month in honour of Article 31 of the constitution, granting Russians freedom of assembly.
Moscow authorities have until recent months refused to sanction such rallies, prompting frequent scuffles with the police.
There were no initial reports of violence during Friday's demonstrations.
Chicago - Once again the CTA will be offering penny rides on all trains and buses the night of New Year’s Eve.
Penny rides will start at 8 p.m. and end at 6 a.m. on Saturday.
Several bus and train routes will also have later service hours to accommodate for the holiday and offer a safe option for travelers.
If you’re still looking for some ideas for how to celebrate New Year's Eve, one of the best places to ring in the New Year will be the North State Street outpost Pops for Champagne. It's offering a light menu until 8:30 p.m., with the Jason Ellis Quartet on deck to play from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m.
If you're looking for a bit of music -- and emo-punk at that -- you might want to head down to Reggie's Rock Club on South State Street and catch the Smoking Popes.
For a campy way to bring in the New Year, there's the film being screened at the Music Box Theatre on Southport. Chicago personality Richard Knight, performing as his Dick O'Day sleazy lounge host character, will emcee a screening of The Poseidon Adventure, the water-logged film about an ocean liner sinking on New Year's Eve.
A much more traditional way to greet 2011 will be at Navy Pier to check out the annual fireworks display.
There will be two shows. One is at 8:30 p.m. for those not wanting to wait until midnight, plus a second fireworks extravaganza carefully scheduled to start at exactly 11:59 p.m.
Fireworks light up the sky near the landmark Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpa as the world celebrates the start of 2011.
Auckland, New Zealand, was the first major city to celebrate the New Year before Australia, Singapore and China followed suit later today.
The iconic towers in Kuala Kumpa were lit up as fireworks went off at midnight - temporarily banishing the misery of extreme weather which has struck countries across the world.
Roads were due to be cordoned off in London as the capital prepared itself for its own fireworks display tonight.
Australia has welcomed 2011 with a spectacular fireworks display over Sydney Harbour. Despite losing the Ashes this week, thousands of party-loving Aussies had camped out for hours at parks alongside the Sydney Harbour Bridge to win the best view of today's spectacular New Year's Eve fireworks.
As the clock ticked closer to 2011, Europeans were looking forward to celebrations that could help them forget their economic worries.
Japan and South Korea both celebrated New Year at 3pm GMT - and India was readying itself for it's celebrations in the next few hours.
In New York City, nearly a million revellers were expected to cram into the streets around Times Square to watch the traditional midnight ball drop several hours after the UK has marked the start of 2011. The 20-inch snowstorm that blanketed the city will be just a memory thanks to work crews and warmer temperatures.
At least 1.5 million people lined the harbour in Sydney, the first major city where the new year arrives after 2011 hit New Zealand. Celebrations begin with aerial displays by vintage aircraft and a parade of boats around the harbour.
In Christchurch, New Zealand, two minor earthquakes Friday did not shake plans for all-night celebrations.
'There is more reason than ever for people to get together and celebrate the beginning of a New Year,' Christchurch's acting mayor Ngaire Button said, urging residents to celebrate in the central Cathedral Square, where workers were removing loose masonry after the quakes.
A powerful 7.1-magnitude quake wrecked thousand of buildings in Christchurch on September 4, but nobody was killed.
This year marks the first time Vietnam's capital, Hanoi, officially celebrates the new year with a countdown blow out, complete with a light show and foreign DJs in front of the city's elegant French colonial-style opera house.
Vietnamese in the past paid little attention to the changing of the calendar, instead holding massive celebrations during Tet, the lunar new year that begins on Feb. 3. But in recent years, the Western influence has started seeping into Vietnamese culture with teens, who have no memory of war or poverty and are eager to find a new reason to party in the Communist country.
In South Korea, up to 100,000 people went to a bell-ringing ceremony in central Seoul, with officials and citizens striking the large bronze bell hung in the Bosingak bell pavilion 33 times at midnight.
Some South Koreans also go to the mountains or beaches on early Saturday to watch the first sunrise of the new year.
At midnight in Taipei, Taiwan, fireworks will form a spiraling dragon climbing up the city's tallest skyscraper. Some 50 dancers will beat drums in the freezing cold river in a dance to underscore how people should live with nature in harmony.
In Japan, New Year's Eve is generally spent at home with family but those who venture out go to temples to pray for good luck in the new year. At Zojoji, a 600-year-old Buddhist temple in central Tokyo, thousands were expected to release balloons at midnight carrying notes with their hopes for 2011.
In Beijing, about 500 people were expected to gather at the Ancient Bell Museum for the chance to ring in the new year on the 46-ton bell. The city is also trying to start a new tradition, with an orchestra playing a 'Hymn to China' at the China Century Monument just two minutes before midnight.
While many Asian countries famed for their firework displays were planning to light up the night skies, Myanmar's military government banned all fireworks for New Year's Eve and said severe action would be taken against anyone selling or using them.
A local news journal, Modern, noted that last year 62 people were given 6 to 12 month prison terms for violating this ruling.
The government gave no reason for the ban but in the past has said that it feared "unscrupulous persons" might take advantage of the fireworks to create disturbances.
In Europe, many people will be partying simply to forget their economic woes after a year that saw Greece and Ireland needing financial bailouts and others, such as Spain and Portugal, battling speculation that they will need similar aid.
If not at home or at private parties, Spaniards traditionally gather in their main town squares to eat 12 grapes one by one as the bell in the square marks the countdown to 2011.
In the Irish capital of Dublin, people will flock to the Christchurch cathedral to listen as the bells chime in the new year.
In London, thousands will witness a musical and firework display at the 135-meter high London Eye, located on the southern banks of the Thames River. The Eye, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary, lies almost opposite the Big Ben clock tower at Parliament that will chime in 2011.
In Paris, tens of thousands are expected to pack the Champs Elysees and the area around the Eiffel Tower for dazzling light and firework displays.
Fireworks light up the sky near the landmark Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpa as the world celebrates the start of 2011
Spectacular: Fireworks light up the sky near the landmark Petronas Twin Towers during new year celebrations in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Singapore: Fireworks explode over Marina Bay in front of the Marina Bay Sands casino and resort during a pyrotechnic show
2011: Hong Kong joins in the celebrations - eight hours before the UK
Ready for 12: Revellers in Hong Kong, China, prepare for the New Year
Kicking off the world's celebrations: A curtain of fireworks cascades over the Sydney Harbour Bridge during the display that began at 9pm
Fireworks: The sky above tall Sydney city buildings light up as the country prepares to take the rest of the world into 2011
Happy New Year! Sydney Bridge is lit up as Australia becomes the first country to welcome 2011
Enthusiastic: Crowds gathered early at the naval base on Garden Island in anticipation of the annual New Year's Eve fireworks display over Sydney Harbour
Fireworks light up the sky near the landmark Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpa as the world celebrates the start of 2011
Spectacular: Fireworks light up the sky near the landmark Petronas Twin Towers during new year celebrations in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Singapore: Fireworks explode over Marina Bay in front of the Marina Bay Sands casino and resort during a pyrotechnic show
2011: Hong Kong joins in the celebrations - eight hours before the UK
Ready for 12: Revellers in Hong Kong, China, prepare for the New Year
Kicking off the world's celebrations: A curtain of fireworks cascades over the Sydney Harbour Bridge during the display that began at 9pm
Fireworks: The sky above tall Sydney city buildings light up as the country prepares to take the rest of the world into 2011
Happy New Year! Sydney Bridge is lit up as Australia becomes the first country to welcome 2011
Enthusiastic: Crowds gathered early at the naval base on Garden Island in anticipation of the annual New Year's Eve fireworks display over Sydney Harbour
In Paris, tens of thousands are expected to pack the Champs Elysees and the area around the Eiffel Tower for dazzling light and firework displays.
LANSING, Mich. — Some Michigan bar owners plan to protest the state's 8-month-old smoking ban by allowing partygoers to light up after 9 p.m. Friday.
Organizers won't reveal the names of participating bars.
"They're not necessarily promoting it, but rather they're not going to prevent people from smoking," said Steve Mace, spokesman for the protest being organized by Bloomfield Hills-based Protect Private Property Rights in Michigan.
The ban went into effect May 1. It prohibits smoking in workplaces, public buildings, bars and restaurants.
Mace said each bar will handle the protest as it sees fit. Some may simply put out ash trays for the first time since May; others may go further to encourage smoking.
The goal: to let lawmakers know that banning smoking is bad for business, according to some industry advocates.
"Of the calls I'm getting, 60% are from businesses saying it has hurt their business and ... they're barely able to survive now," said Ed Deeb, president of the Michigan Food and Beverage Association. "I don't know if the protest will be effective, but maybe it will draw some attention and cause legislators to change the law."
State officials say their own studies show the ban has had no major effect on bar sales.
A report released Dec. 21 by the state Department of Treasury showed a slight increase in sales taxes collected at bars, taverns, nightclubs and restaurants in the past year.
State health officials say they don't plan to monitor the protest but will investigate all complaints, said James McCurtis, spokesman for the Michigan Department of Community Health.
Bars that violate the ban face a $100 fine for the first offense and a $500 fine for subsequent violations, McCurtis said.
"Businesses that willfully break the law and allow smoking in their establishment are risking fines and potentially being shut down," he said.
Individual smokers or customers cannot be cited for violating the ban.
