People
in different parts of the world on Wednesday marked the beginning of the new
year 2014, with New Zealanders being among the first to celebrate.
People
in New Zealand's Auckland city were among the first to celebrate. In Australia,
hundreds of thousands gathered for a spectacular fireworks display around
Sydney's Harbour Bridge, BBC reported.
East
Asian cities were next to ring in the new year, with Beijing, Jakarta and
Singapore all hosting celebrations.
Meanwhile,
tens of thousands of people enjoyed watching fireworks over Hong Kong's
Victoria Harbour.
In
Japan, Shinto priests gathered at shrines, as Japanese traditionally visit
shrines and temples to pray for their families at this time.
Dubai
was aiming for a world record for the largest display. Dubai's fireworks
display will be streamed live on the internet.
The
show will feature a flying falcon made out of fireworks that will move across
the emirate.
New
Year's in Times Square an endurance contest
Crowds
jammed Times Square on Tuesday to ring in 2014, braving bone-chilling cold and
ultra-tight security for the chance to see Miley Cyrus, a final countdown from
a US Supreme Court justice and the drop of the shimmering crystal ball.
The
sea of horn-tooting, hat-wearing humanity that filled the Crossroads of the
World was part celebration, part endurance sport because post-Sept. 11 security
measures force spectators into pens at least 12 hours in advance, with no food,
no warmth and no place to go to the bathroom.
"We've
got adult diapers. We're wearing them right now," said teenager Amber
Woods, who came with friends from the New York City's suburbs to experience the
event for the first time. They entered their corral at 10 am For nourishment,
they brought lollipops and popcorn. For the cold, they did a lot of jumping in
place.
Putin
breaks tradition, gives 2 New Year's talks
Vladimir
Putin has added a twist to the stolid ritual of Russian presidential New Year's
Eve address by doing two versions this year.
Russian
leaders traditionally make short, prerecorded messages to be broadcast as the
year begins in each of the country's nine time zones.
The
address broadcast in Russia's Far East was typical, showing Putin at the
Kremlin and calling for Russians to work together, according to Russian news
websites. But an hour later, Putin came out with a different speech mentioning
this week's suicide bombings in Volgograd that killed 34 people and vowing to
destroy terrorists.
Putin
made that recording, which was broadcast in other time zones as well, on
Tuesday while visiting the city of Khabarovsk. Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said
there wasn't time to get it to the Far East, according to Ekho Moskvy radio.
Wall
Street ends best year since 1990s with moderate gains
US
stocks closed out their best year in more than 15 on Tuesday, with major
indexes advancing throughout 2013 on the back of the Federal Reserve's massive
stimulus and expectations for accelerating growth going forward.
Wall
Street ended 2013 with its positive momentum intact, advancing in its final
trading day of the year on the back of positive consumer confidence data.
The
S & P 500 rose 29.6 per cent over the year, its best annual performance
since 1997, while the Dow climbed 26.5 percent in its best year since 1995. The
Nasdaq jumped 38.3 per cent, its best year since 2009.
Both
the Dow and the S & P 500 finished the final trading day of 2013 at record
closing highs.
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