New Year celebrations in US and into the rest of the World

Times Square celebrates 100th ball drop

NEW YORK - Not even a fractured foot could keep Ryan Visto from joining more than a million revelers in Times Square to watch the symbolic sphere make its 100th descent into the new year.
The 18-year-old visitor from San Francisco had taken a tumble on his skateboard in Central Park and landed in the hospital. His family decided the mishap wasn't going to stop them from missing the city's biggest New Year's Eve party.
"They wanted to keep him for surgery", said Sheena Visto, his mother. "But I told them to throw a cast on and do surgery later. We had to come".
So the family — with Ryan sitting in a wheelchair borrowed from the hospital — merged with the masses who counted down the new year as a ton of confetti rained down on the urban canyon.
University of North Carolina junior Reid Medlin, 21, and a couple of his friends arrived for the party without hotel reservations and planned to stay up all night.
"I think the best part is being here with friends", he said as people in the crowd kissed. "This was beautiful. It makes you appreciate everything".
Organizers said well over a million people attended the festivities.
The Times Square tradition of dropping the new year's ball began a century ago with a 700-pound ball of wood and iron, lit with 100 25-watt incandescent bulbs. This year's event featured an energy-efficient sphere clad in Waterford crystals, with 9,576 light-emitting diodes that generated a kaleidoscope of colors.
The newly designed Times Square New Year's Eve Ball is lit as it is unveiled at Macy's department store in New York, November 2007. The ball that drops in New York's Times Square to ring in the New Year celebrates its 100th anniversary on Monday night, with a dazzling display of new environmentally-friendly lights.
The entertainment lineup included Dick Clark and Ryan Seacrest handling the countdown to 2008 and musical performances by Carrie Underwood and Miley Cyrus. Even New York Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez showed up, shaking hands and posing for photos.
MTV VJ Lyndsey Rodrigues, Angela Simmons, Tila Tequila, Rapper Flo Rida, Damien Fahey, Musicians Niia and Wyclef Jean perform at MTV Studios in Times Square, Trevor McCoy, Rapper Fabolous, Musicians Jeremy Davis, left, Joshua Farro, Hayley Nichole Williams and Zachary Farro, right, of the music group Paramore, Musicians Billy Martin, left, Dean Butterworth, Paul Thomas, center, Benji Madden and Joel Madden, right, of the music group Good Charlotte, Musician Mary J. Blige, Celebrity Blogger Perez Hilton, Rappers Rev Run and Kid Rock, makes their apperance at MTV Studios in Times Square for 'MTV's Tila Tequila's New Years Eve Masquerade Party 2008'.
Jordin Sparks and Lenny Kravitz performs during the New Years eve celebration at Times Square in New York.
Police officer Karolina Wierzchowska and Mayor Michael Bloomberg have start the countdown to midnight in Times Square.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg speaks on camera at Times Square in New York.
Democratic presidential hopeful and New York Senator Hillary Clinton (L) speaks as daughter Chelsea Clinton (2nd R) and husband former US president Bill Clinton (R) listen at a New Years Eve celebration in Des Moines, Iowa. Barack Obama leads Clinton in Iowa by seven points among Democrats, according to a new poll, with just two days of campaigning before the state opens the 2008 White House nominating race.
Female impersonator Gary Marion, also known as "Sushi," begins to descend on Duval Street in Key West December 31, 2007 with less than a minute to 2008.
Thousands of New Year's Eve revelers party in front Bourbon Street Pub Complex for the "Big Red Shoe Drop" in Key West December 31, 2007. Featuring female impersonator Gary Marion who portrayed "Sushi," the event was a spoof of New York City's Times Square ball drop.
A different sort of ball-drop was planned in Brooksville, Fla., north of Tampa, where a 200-pound fiberglass tangerine would ring in the new year. And in downtown Miami, the Big Orange was to slowly climb to the top of the Hotel Inter-Continental, followed by a laser and fireworks show.
About a million people were expected for the 32nd First Night celebration in Boston. The event included a half-dozen ice sculptures, each weighing 30 to 45 tons, performances by hundreds of artists, and a midnight fireworks display over Boston Harbor.
Authorities in several cities, including Phoenix, Dallas and Detroit, pleaded with residents not to celebrate by firing guns skyward. Emergency Medical Service technicians in New Orleans planned to don combat helmets made from the same fiber used in bullet-resistant vests.
The Chicago Transit Authority continued its New Year's Eve tradition of offering penny fares on buses and trains as thousands were expected to head to the city's fireworks shows on Navy Pier. Philadelphia also had a huge fireworks display planned, with 4,000 fireworks shells scheduled to explode over the Delaware River.
In Pasadena, Calif., thousands of spectators reveled and some even slept on sidewalks as they anticipated the Rose Parade. Celebrity chef Emeril Lagasse will serve as grand marshal of the floral extravaganza with the theme "Passport to the World's Celebrations". The parade also features 21 marching bands and 18 equestrian units.
People stand in the cold to watch fireworks in Newtown, Pa., during the town's First Night celebration to ring in the new year, Monday, Dec. 31, 2007.
Police kept a close eye on the crowd, which continued to celebrate despite winds and temperatures in the 40s — cold for Southern California. Jim Colligan, 47, of La Crescenta said he has been camping out at the parade for 14 years with his barbecue and heating lamp.
"We open the barbecue up to everyone. This is my Christmas, this is my time to give", Colligan said.
Revelers took to the Las Vegas Strip to watch more than 30,000 effects rocket from the rooftops of seven casinos. The eruption of light and color was choreographed to a playlist of pop music, country hits and, of course, crooner Dean Martin.
More than 300,000 people were expected to crowd the Strip and downtown resorts for the countdown to midnight. They were expected to spend more than $200 million in restaurants, theaters and clubs — with a big chunk of that going to the hefty door charge, usually around $250, at the Strip's slick nightclubs.
For that much money, patrons could see pop star Avril Lavigne, booked to host the party at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino. The LAX Night Club in the Luxor casino scored both Hilton sisters — Nicky and Paris — for its bash.
"It's a party city. It's wild out here !" said Stephanie Smith, 21, of West Covina, Calif., as her friends polished off yard-long margaritas and walked the sidewalk outside the Wynn Las Vegas resort.
By the time the West Coast partied, New York City sanitation crews had already taken control of Times Square. Most of the crowd had dispersed by 12:25 a.m. Tuesday and workers cleared up the confetti, plastic cups, gold streamers, water bottles and other party errata left behind by the revelers.
"It's amazing how much garbage people leave", said Brian Hawkes, visiting from Birmingham, England. "I wouldn't want this job to clean up after them".
People look on as fireworks light up the sky as 400th anniversary celebration of Quebec 2008 opens in Quebec City on Monday December 31, 2007.
Quebec Premier Jean Charest, right, shakes hands with Canadian Heritage Minister Josee Verner, left, as an actor dressed as Samuel de Champlain looks on as 400th anniversary celebration of Quebec 2008 opens in Quebec City.
Fireworks explode above the skyline of the financial district of Singapore on Tuesday Jan. 1, 2008 in Singapore as part of the city-state's New Year celebration.
People attend a New Year's celebration in downtown Skopje, early Tuesday, Jan. 1, 2008.
A girl plays with sparklers during a New Year's celebration downtown Skopje, Macedonia.
A man passes in front of a huge euro symbol during a celebration for Cyprus's entry into the euro zone in a Finance Ministry in capital Nicosia, Cyprus, early Tuesday, Jan. 1 2008, when the east Mediterranean island formally adopted the euro as its official currency.
Couples kiss after midnight during a New Year's Day celebration on an ice rink in Red Square in Moscow January 1, 2008.




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