Pre-New Year’s Eve, bad memories shredded in Times Square

Almost 6,000 NYPD officers, some armed with radiation detectors, bomb dogs or rifles, will be assigned to Times Square for Thursday night’s New Year’s Eve festivities, officials announced Tuesday. In much of the city, the focus will be on fast responses to any emergency rather than preventive measures like security checkpoints.

Asked whether all the attention on Times Square would leave lower-profile targets vulnerable, Bratton said police working overtime would be covering the rest of the city but added that “the ability to protect everything all the time is not possible anywhere”.

“I was broken up with a month before Christmas”, said 19-year-old Aliyah McLemore of Manhattan as she readied to feed the specialty gift wrap into the machine as part of Good Riddance Day.

Outside that zone, revelers and vehicles can come and go as they please. Around them, they will see K-9 cops, heavy weapons teams and emergency service officers “capable of responding within seconds”. The Jews, for instance, have their Rosh Hashanah in September, while the Chinese New Year takes place either in late January or early February, but the Balinese celebrate theirs in March.

All the embarrassing, heartbreaking and sad memories will then be recycled into confetti when Times Square rings in 2016 on Friday.

The unit was first formed after attacks in January at the French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo.

Japan – A symbol of renewal, the New Year is said to be the most important day in Japan.

The courageous who prefer to watch it in person will catch the acts of Jessie J, Carrie Underwood, Demi Lovato, Luke Bryan, Maluma and more. When the clock strikes midnight and the ball drops, so will 1 ton of confetti – scraps of paper with well wishes for the upcoming year.