World bids farewell to year of conflicts, celebrity deaths
As 2016 drew to a close, revelers around the world bid a weary adieu to a year filled with political surprises, prolonged conflicts and deaths of legendary celebrities.
How people ushered in the new year:
Russia
President Vladimir Putin invoked a bit of seasonal enchantment in his New Year’s Eve remarks to the nat i on. “E a c h of us may become something of a magician on the night of the New Year,” Putin said in a short televised address broadcast in the closing minutes of 2016 in each of Russia’s 11 time zones. “To do this we simply need to treat our parents with love and gratitude, take care of our children and families, respect our colleagues at work, nurture our friendships, defend truth and justice, be merciful and help those who are in need of support. This is the whole secret.” New Year’s Eve is Russia’s major gift-giving holiday, and big Russian cities were awash in festive lights and decorations.
Paris
Tourists and French revelers swarmed along Paris’ illuminated Champs Elysees Avenue on a frost y night, admiring the laser display from the Arc de Triomphe and lines of trees sparkling with lights. Some people were happy to say goodbye to 2016. “It’s been such a horrible year, with all these (entertainment celebrity) deaths, Syria, Brexit and Trump. I say good riddance,” said Karine Dublot, from Lyon.
The Vatican
Pope Francis c alled on the faithful to help young people find a place in society, noting the paradox of “a culture that idolizes youth” but has made no place for the young. Francis said during vespers marking New Year’s Eve that young people have been “pushed to the margins of public life, forcing them to migrate or to beg for jobs that no longer exist, or fail to promise them a future.”
Australia
Sydney sent up a dazzling tribute to the fallen icons of 2016 with a New Year’s Eve fireworks display honoring the late singer David Bowie and late actor Gene Wilder, becoming the first major city to bid a bittersweet adieu to a turbulent year. The glittering display over Sydney’s harbor and bridge featured Saturn- and star-shaped fireworks set to “Space Oddity,” the classic song by Bowie, among the seemingly endless parade of beloved entertainers who died in 2016. Wilder was honored as the bridge lit up in a rainbow of colors while a song from his film “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” played.
China Residents in Beijing and S h a n g h a i , C h i n a ’ s t w o largest cities, passed New Year’s Eve quietly in a relative state of security lockdown, according to Chinese media reports. The Bund waterfront in Shanghai had no celebrations, authorities announced, while the sale, use and transportation of fireworks in central Shanghai was prohibited. Large buildings that often display light shows also stayed dark. More than 30 people died t wo years ago in a deadly stampede on Shanghai’s waterfront, where 300,000 people had gathered to watch a planned light show.
Philippines
The Philippines’ notorious tradition of dangerous New Year’s Eve celebrations persisted after President Rodrigo Duterte delayed to next year his ban on the use of powerful firecrackers, often worsened by celebratory gunfire. Powerful firecrackers and gunfire have maimed hundreds of people and killed some each year across the Philippines, despite government crackdowns, an annual government scare campaign and efforts by officials to set up centralized fireworks displays. Duterte’s southern Davao City hasn’t been tainted by the bloody record because of a largely successful firecracker ban he enforced while he was the city’s crime-busting mayor. Last month, he said he would delay his plan to replicate his Davao ban nationwide by a year because many have invested in firecrackers and he was concerned about the impact of an abrupt ban on poor Filipinos employed in the industry.
Mexico City
Thousands of people in Mexico City turned out for a New Year’s Eve concert downtown at the Monument to Independence, better known as El Angel. Workers spent several days setting up a stage and a booming sound system along a stretch of the central Paseo de la Reforma boulevard. Streets were blocked off in the area, and 2,000 police officers were on hand to provide security.