World looks to 2013 after violence, economic woes

Confetti flies over New York's Times Square after the clock strikes midnight during the New Year's Eve celebration as seen from the Marriott Marquis hotel Tuesday, Jan. 1, 2013 in New York. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

Confetti flies over New York's Times Square after the clock strikes midnight during the New Year's Eve celebration as seen from the Marriott Marquis hotel Tuesday, Jan. 1, 2013 in New York. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

Fireworks explode over Elizabeth Tower housing the Big Ben clock to celebrate the New Year in London, Tuesday, Jan. 1, 2013. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

Fireworks light up San Francisco Bay as the west coast city rings in the New Year 2013. The Embarcadero was again the focal point of the New Year's celebrations as people from all over the Bay Area came to ring in the new year on Tuesday, Jan. 1, 2013. (AP Photo/San Francisco Chronicle)

Fireworks light up San Francisco Bay as the west coast city rings in the New Year 2013. The Embarcadero was again the focal point of the New Year's celebrations as people from all over the Bay Area came to ring in the new year on Tuesday, Jan. 1, 2013. (AP Photo/San Francisco Chronicle)

Confetti and other items from the New Year's festivities litters the street in New York's Times Square early Tuesday morning Jan. 1, 2013. (AP Photo/Tina Fineberg)

(AP) ? As the world rang in 2013 with spectacular fireworks displays and showers of confetti, the specter of economic uncertainty and searing violence dimmed some festivities and weighed on the minds of revelers hoping for a better year.

"With all the sadness in the country, we're looking for some good changes in 2013," Laura Concannon, of Hingham, Mass., said as she, her husband, Kevin, and his parents joined hundreds of thousands of people who celebrated the new year in Times Square on Monday.

Matias Dellanno, 37, of Buenos Aires, Argentina, stood in the middle of the square with his wife and 3-year-old son. His eyes caught the multicolored lighting illuminating the square just before midnight.

"I feel a completely new hope for 2013," he said. "It can't be any worse than last year, when my business lost clients. It was a rough year for everyone. The new year has to be better!"

Revelers with New Year's hats and sunglasses boasting "2013" packed the streets in the 35-degree cold to count down the first ball drop in decades without Dick Clark, who died in April and was honored with his name printed on confetti and on one of the crystal panels on the Times Square ball.

Syracuse University student Taylor Nanz, 18, said she and a friend had been standing in Times Square since 1:20 p.m. Monday. They hadn't moved from their spot because "if you leave, you lose your place," she said.

"It's the first time - and the last time," she said. "Never again."

Security in Times Square was tight, with a mass of uniformed police and plainclothes officers assigned to blend into the crowd. Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly claimed that Times Square would be the "safest place in the world on New Year's Eve," and officers used barriers to prevent overcrowding and checkpoints to inspect vehicles, enforce an alcohol ban and check handbags.

In the state capital of California, a midnight fireworks show was canceled after a fight at a Sacramento restaurant ended with two people fatally shot and three injured.

But in Las Vegas, police and about 300 Nevada National Guard troops kept the night peaceful, with only 13 people arrested. Sin City hosted sold-out concerts featuring Beyonc?, the Red Hot Chili Peppers and the Black Keys, and revelers jammed the Strip to watch as seven hotel-casinos unleashed identical eight-minute rooftop fireworks displays at midnight.

The celebrations on the West Coast took place nearly 24 hours after lavish fireworks displays lit up skylines in Sydney, Hong Kong and Shanghai.

In Myanmar, about 90,000 people gathered in a field to watch a countdown for the first time, according to organizers. The reformist government that took office in 2011 in the country, long under military rule, threw its first public New Year's celebration in decades.

In the United Arab Emirates city of Dubai, multicolored fireworks danced up and down the world's tallest building, the Burj Khalifa.

In Rome, Pope Benedict XVI celebrated with a vespers service in St. Peter's Basilica to give thanks for 2012 and look ahead to 2013. He said that despite all the death and injustice in the world, goodness prevails.

In Russia, spectators filled Moscow's Red Square as fireworks exploded near the Kremlin. In Rio de Janeiro, revelers dressed head-to-toe in white as dictated by Brazilian tradition flooded onto Copacabana beach for a concert.

In London, the chimes of the clock inside the Big Ben tower counted down the final seconds of 2012 and fireworks dazzled the sky above Parliament Square. Streamers shot out of the London Eye wheel and blazing rockets launched from the banks of the River Thames.

But parts of Europe held scaled-back festivities and street parties, the mood was restrained - if hopeful - for a 2013 that is projected to be a sixth straight year of recession amid Greece's worst economic crisis since World War II.

Festivities were canceled across New Delhi, the Indian capital, amid days of mourning and reflection about women's safety after a rape victim died on Saturday.

In Times Square, some revelers checked their cellphones for news of lawmakers' tentative deal to skirt the so-called "fiscal cliff," a combination of expiring tax cuts and spending cuts that threatened to reverberate globally. The U.S. Senate approved a bill to avert the cliff well after midnight, though a vote in the House was pending Tuesday or Wednesday.

The recent elementary school massacre in Newtown, Conn., and the devastation from Superstorm Sandy also mingled amid the memories of 2012.

"This has been a very eventful year, on many levels," Denise Norris said as she and her husband, the Rev. Urie Norris, surveyed the Times Square crowd waiting for the countdown show with Ryan Seacrest as host.

Seacrest remembered Clark and his legacy, saying it was one that would be continued, and that Clark himself had told him: "Seacrest, the show must go on."

Yvonne Gomez, 53, a physician from Grand Forks, N.D., glowed as she and her husband, 63-year-old potato farmer Gregg Halverson, took in the festivities in New York.

"I couldn't begin the new year in a more beautiful way," she said. "I married him two weeks ago and here we are in the middle of Times Square celebrating the new year ? two widowers who found each other."

For Elvis Rivera, of Manhattan, who stopped by Times Square to take photos, 2012 a death and job losses in his family. How did he feel about its end?

"Relieved," Rivera said.

___

Associated Press writers Hannah Drier in Las Vegas; Colleen Long in New York; Aye Aye Win in Yangon, Myanmar; Silvia Hui in London, and Ashok Sharma in New Delhi contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-01-01-New%20Year's%20Celebrations/id-5597e712cd3444d3bf66382eed261214

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Food Marriage: Drink Recipe: White Sangria with Pomegranate & Lime

Happy New Year's Eve to everyone!! ?I thought now was a good time to take a tiny break from the cookie recipes and share the fun drink that my friends surprised me with at my?2012 Cookie Exchange! ?Last year, I made some signature cookie cocktails for the 2011 Cookie Exchange:?Mint Milano Cookie Cocktails?and?Chocolate Chip Martinis. ?White they were tasty and quite a hit, they required so many ingredients and I ended up with a lot of leftover bottles of liquor.

This year, as much as I really wanted to do a signature drink again, I decided to just take the easy way out and pick up wine and beer. ?My friends Allison and Nicole surprised me with a delicious White Sangria, complete with red and green fruit to make it perfect for Christmas! ?Because of the beautiful colors, I re-named the drink "Christmas Fancys!" ?It is so easy to put together that you can still run out and make it tonight for New Year's Eve!


Recipe: White Sangria with Pomegranate & Lime aka "Christmas Fancys"

Ingredients:

  • 1 bottle white wine
  • 3 cans of 7up or Sprite
  • Grand Marnier (a few ounces)
  • Seeds of 1 pomegranate
  • Slices of two limes
  • Ice


Directions:

  • Pour all ingredients into a punch bowl. ?Wait for the seeds to float.
  • Serve!


Don't want a whole bottle of leftover Grand Marnier?? ?Just buy a few of the tiny one-ounce bottles at the liquor store! ?Cheers!!!!!

Source: http://www.foodmarriage.com/2012/12/drink-recipe-white-sangria-with.html

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Change Your Life With These Great Self Improvement Tips | Stumble ...

You?re in the correct place if you?re concerned about you can grow personally. Keep a positive mindset and remember that the more you know, the better chances you have at self improvement, so look through this article and see what tips apply to you and your self improvement goals.

Getting and staying healthy is one of the most important parts of personal development. Exercising and eating nutritious foods are core to a healthy lifestyle, but you also need to be able to stay with your regimen. When you put your health at the forefront of your priorities, you will feel and look better, maximizing your mood.

Try not to take yourself too seriously. Everyone is only a small part of the universe. It is impossible to know everything. We can all learn and grow. Keep this in mind and seize the chance to learn something new whenever you can. By keeping an open mind in all situations, you can let others teach you.

When you are engaging in the self improvement process, experiencing failure often deals a damaging blow to your self-concept. Failure doesn?t have to leave you feeling down, think about it as a learning experience. Failure is a way of learning your weaknesses and your strengths. If you look at it that way, when you fail, you should be happy, because you now know more about you.

Excessive alcohol use can lead to liver, kidney and circulatory disorders. Do you do other harmful things like smoke cigarettes? Mistreating your body will lead to illness, premature aging and an early death. Cutting bad habits out of your life is a way to improve it. Analyze your life and habits, and make a point to cut out any habits that are not good for you or your body.

Seeing as you are more knowledgeable about personal development, start working on your goals. Always keep an eye out for useful new tips that you can use to grow from. If you do, you should become more successful in your personal development.

Source: http://stumblepeach.com/change-your-life-with-these-great-self-improvement-tips/

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Melinda Liu on Xi Jinping and the ?China Dream?

From the start, I?ve been optimistic about Xi Jinping and his administration. Melinda Liu of the Daily Beast has just outlined many of the reasons why:

Then, China?s new top graft buster, Wang Qishan, met with a number of anti-corruption experts and interrupted one who addressed him as ?dear respected secretary.? ?Drop the formalities,? Wang reportedly told the group. The new message from the top: just get to the point. After less than a month into his job, Xi ushered in a new leadership style that?s taken China by surprise. He has exhorted citizens to pursue ?national rejuvenation? and a ?Great Chinese Dream,? while cracking down on graft, trimming official perks, and streamlining bureaucracy. At least in some key areas, Xi seems poised to break with the past decade of stagnation, during which time China?s economy slowed and political reforms regressed. If the changes take hold, they could have far-reaching implications both at home and abroad. Many Chinese seem heartened, even inspired, by Xi?s down-to-earth style. But many of China?s jittery neighbors worry that Beijing?s dream could become their nightmare, leading to an increasingly nationalistic and aggressive foreign policy.

Reforms will never come fast enough for some people (ahem, Nicholas Kristof wrote about Ai Weiwei the day before Liu?s article), but at least we?re back in a positon to talk about it realistically.

And about that ?China Dream?:

In the eyes of the outside world, however, the big question remains: what exactly is this Chinese Dream? The symbolism is potent but vague on details. The phrase evokes China?s past glories, but not any precise period. Rather, says Hu Xingdou, of the Beijing Institute of Technology, China?s renaissance refers to achievements related to innovation and creativity?such as the compass, papermaking, movable type, and gunpowder, which are collectively known as the ?four great inventions.?

?The Chinese Dream is different from the American Dream , which focuses on individual success,? says Hu. ?We mainly stress national power and dignity.? But he also cautioned, ?If a nation cares only about the dignity of the state and not of the individual? it could turn into a horrible country. The Chinese Dream should mean more power to the citizenry.?

Maritime tensions and increased Internet restrictions are two issues that dampen our enthusiasm, but we can save these topics for another time.

While you?re on the Daily Beast website, it may be worth checking out its slideshow, Love on China?s Assembly Lines.

China?s Great Dream (The Daily Beast)

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Source: http://beijingcream.com/2012/12/melinda-liu-on-xi-jinping-and-the-china-dream/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=melinda-liu-on-xi-jinping-and-the-china-dream

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12 pop-culture trends that can stay in 2012

By Courtney Hazlett, TODAY

OPINION: Wouldn't it be great if the promise of a new year also meant a promise that some of pop culture's more odious trends could be left behind?? Here are 12 I could happily leave in 2012.

Getty, Reuters, YouTube

Blow us a kiss goodbye? Lindsay Lohan, left, a galloping PSY, center, and Brad Pitt mumbling for Chanel.

Gangnam style
More than 2 billion people have "liked" the video for "Gangnam Style" on YouTube since it debuted there on July 15, and I can firmly assert that I am not among them. I can appreciate a good earworm; I've been caught humming "Call Me Maybe." But I see no up side to the irritant that is PSY. The dance moves are unflattering, the melody nonexistent. And then it gets stuck in your head. Please: no more.

Lindsay Lohan
I'll keep this brief. Lindsay, I want the best for you, I do. But in 2013 I'd like to not read a word about you. Please stay away from clubs. Call a cab. Pay for everything.

Bad celeb ads
I get it -- endorsements are easy money. Signing on to be the face of a product is little work for a whole lot of dough and if Chanel came knocking on my door, I'd take the gig -- this is the one thing Brad Pitt and I have in common. But I'd want the ad to be spoof proof. Not just to save ego, but because it's not good for the career when you're starring in a film and all the viewer can think of is your silly perfume ad.

Rihanna?s Instagram
The photo-sharing social network, Instagram, has been under scrutiny lately for its advertising policy, but the real scandal is the fact that it allows Rihanna to play along. Sadly, it's a job requirement to keep track of her feed -- how else would I know if she and Chris Brown were together again? How else would I know if she had a new tattoo, or if the skin on her upper thighs was blemish-free? Sharing is one thing, over-sharing another.

Deciphering greater meaning in celeb tattoos
If a celebrity gets a tattoo and doesn't take an Instagram picture of it, does the tattoo exist? Does it have MEANING? Ink up your skin all you want, kids, but let's not spend another moment wondering what its place is in the universe.

The wardrobe malfunction down south
If you're a celebrity and your stylist can't find an undergarment that works with your particular dress, you should probably get another stylist.?

Bump watching
People are either pregnant or they are not. And until someone decides to make it known that their uterus is occupied, we, the public, just cannot know more. I'm fine leaving it at that. (And I never thought the day would come that I'd write this: Thank you, Kim Kardashian and Kanye West. You did you part by sparing us from this ritual before the request even went out. Congrats on your baby-to-be.

Kimye, or any other lovers' contraction
The ill-fated romance between Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez kicked off the trend, and since" Bennifer" made it into the lexicon there appears to be some strange, unwritten obligation to give all celeb couples the same treatment. Here's the thing: Bennifer worked. It rolled off the tongue, it saved headline space.? But Kimye, for the aforementioned Kim and Kanye? No.

Celebs 'quitting' twitter
And by quitting, I mean making a grand "I am not doing this any more" gesture and then rejoining. Miley Cyrus, Chris Brown, Alec Baldwin are all offenders. You're either in or out, folks. Commit.

Teen Mom tweets
Speaking of Twitter: Admittedly, I have a strange fascination with "Teen Mom" (especially "Teen Mom 2"). But their tweeting habits -- the fighting, the new baby news, the marriages, the obvious amount of time they're spending on the social network and not with their kids -- ?it's too much.

The television over-think
You guys, don't ruin shows you love by thinking too hard about everything (Yes, I'm talking about "Homeland" here). Remember, this television-watching stuff is supposed to be fun.?

Madonna's concert stunts
Hopefully, the finale of Madonna's MDNA tour will put an end to her well-publicized concert stunts, but in case that's not her plan ... Please stop waving guns and dedicating stripteases to children shot by the Taliban. The stunts are so commonplace, it's hard to actually get mad about them, instead they're just really?irritating?and tired.

But let's end on a positive note; there were some great pop culture standouts in 2012. ?

Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee was great comedy and a perfect use of the digital medium.

Alec Baldwin's "Here's the Thing" podcasts for WNYC are real gems -- if you've never listened to any, trust me when I encourage you to check out the subjects that have no initial appeal. You'll be pleasantly surprised.

Jimmy Fallon and the Roots can put their classroom-instrument spin on any song as far as I'm concerned, and Emma Stone and Andrew Garfield proved that celebs can be just plain nice.

Here's to more of that in 2013. Happy New Year!

Related content:

Source: http://entertainment.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/12/31/16045683-12-pop-culture-trends-that-can-stay-in-2012?lite

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The Causes and Cure of Hemorrhoids - Health Fitness

The Causes and Cure of Hemorrhoids ? Health Fitness. Most people of adult age have probably suffered the indignity of having to cope with Hemorrhoids, otherwise known as Piles. As anyone who has suffered from piles knows, these can be very uncomfortable and painful. What exactly are Hemorrhoids? In a medical sense they are enlarged or swollen veins. They are somewhat similar to varicose veins that develop in the legs, except that these are veins located in the anus. These veins cushion and protect the anal canal. Problems arise when these veins are stretched and tear under pressure, resulting in the familiar discomfort and pain experienced with haemorrhoids. One may experience hemorroids as either internal or external. Internal hemorrhoids are located higher up in the anus and normally manifest themselves as stools covered in blood or blood on the toilet paper. Sometimes the hemorrhoids will protrude from the anal canal, in which case they should just be pushed back inside. External haemorrhoids, on the other hand, exist as hard lumps that can be felt by hand and are extremely painful compared to internal haemorrhoids. These may also cause bleeding which will be seen on the toilet paper or in the toilet bowl. Causes of Piles Constipation tends to be the main cause of Piles. The straining of bowel movement during prolonged siting on the toilet puts pressure on the blood vessel in the anal canal, causing swelling and irritation and eventual rupture of the blood vessels <b>?</b>

Related posts:

  1. How to Cure Hemorrhoids Naturally!
  2. Hemorrhoids Treatment ? Cure Hemorrhoids
  3. piles symptoms
  4. Hemorrhoid Miracle Cure Review
  5. Hemorrhoids symptoms

Source: http://treatmentforhemorrhoidz.com/the-causes-and-cure-of-hemorrhoids-health-fitness/

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