Welcome 2015! New Year's Eve celebrations from around the world
Ontario, Canada
Fireworks light up Celebration Square in front of the City Hall in Mississauga.
Celebrations to mark the start of 2015 have taken place around the world, with firework displays in a host of major cities.
New Zealand led the way, with Sydney Harbour providing a spectacular backdrop to Australia's display.
There was shock in Asia as a crush in Shanghai, China saw 35 people die marking the start of 2015.
The Gulf Arab emirate of Dubai aimed to break the world record for the largest LED-illuminated facade.
It launched its spectacular display centred on the world's tallest building.
Thousands of people celebrated in New York's Times Square for the city's annual New Year's Eve festivities, but this year security was tight as a protest took place nearby against police use of force and the state of race relations in the country.
The Gulf Arab emirate of Dubai aimed to break the world record for the largest LED-illuminated facade
Las Vegas, Los Angeles and San Francisco were among the last major cities to see in the new year.
Thousands thronged the streets of New York to see in the new year
The world renowned strip in Las Vegas saw a spectacular display of fireworks
In London the celebrations were centred around the London Eye by the River Thames
In France revellers gathered near the Arc de Triomphe on the Champs-Elysees Avenue in Paris
Grandfather Frost - the Russian equivalent of Father Christmas - and his granddaughter joined Kyrgyzstan's new year parade in Bishkek
In Italy people welcomed the new year on the Piazza Venezia in Rom
A firework display was held in central Prague
Europe's celebrations began in Moscow with fireworks over St Basil's Cathedral and the Kremlin.
In Berlin a huge open air concert was held in front of the Brandenburg Gate, while in Paris the Champs-Elysees was closed to traffic so that pedestrians could witness a visual spectacle projected onto the Arc de Triomphe 15 minutes before the start of the new year.
The arrival of 2015 was also significant for Lithuania as it became the 19th country to join the euro currency.
In Spain, millions of revellers converged around Madrid's Puerta del Sol, while in Barcelona huge fireworks displays or street parties were held. Similar events took place in the UK cities of London and Edinburgh.
Up to 1.5m people lined the shores of Sydney harbour to see the city's famous firework display.
The city's Lord Mayor, Clover Moore, said the recent hostage crisis in the city had focussed the minds of Sydney residents.
Sydney's Harbour Bridge was the centrepiece of the city's new year fireworks
Celebration plans were muted in Indonesia in the wake of the recent AirAsia Flight QZ8501 crash.
But across the rest of Asia there were lavish parties, with a sound and light show at Beijing's Olympic stadium and an eight-minute firework display in Hong Kong.
"I think a more peaceful year would be good for everyone," Louis Ho, 65, told AFP news agency, as the territory bade farewell to a year that saw widespread street protests.
Moscow's display led the way in Europe, with President Vladimir Putin describing the 2014 annexation of Crimea as "a historic landmark" for Russia.
Moscow's skyline lit up as fireworks flared over the Kremlin and St Basil's Cathedral
Mr Putin also sent messages to several world leaders, telling US President Barack Obama that the US and Russia had a shared interest in "maintaining peace and international stability".
In Brazil, more than one million people gathered on Rio de Janeiro's Copacabana beach, while the Pacific Islands just to the west of the international date line were the first places to herald the new year.
Musician Elton John for the first time performed in New York City on New Year's Eve
Revellers celebrated as fireworks exploded during new year festivities on Copacabana Beach, Rio de Janeiro
Hong Kong's Victoria Harbour was lit up by fireworks as the clock hit midnight
Students at China's Shenyang Agriculture University found their own way of marking the start of 2015
Students at China's Shenyang Agriculture University found their own way of marking the start of 2015
It was a similar picture from students in Ahmadabad, India
A woman prays during new year celebrations at Jogye Buddhist temple in Seoul, South Korea
2015 is the "Year of the Sheep" in China, as illustrated by this student in eastern Shandong province
Winter storm freezes much of US
A man walks dogs wearing winter coats in New York, January 7, 2015.
Oregon's Carrington, Ford benched after positive drug tests
Hong/AP Photo
Oregon wide receiver Darren Carrington scores under pressure by Florida
State defensive back Trey Marshall Jan. 1 in Pasadena, Calif. The Ducks
won 59-30.
DALLAS (AP) -- Oregon wide receiver Darren Carrington and
running back Ayele Forde will not play in Monday's national
championship game after positive NCAA drug tests, coach Mark Helfrich
said Saturday.
Carrington did not travel with the team to Dallas
after testing positive for marijuana. The results of Forde's test were
not immediately clear.
Helfrich said the team has faced many
issues during the season, including injuries. But he insisted that the
team is not distracted heading into the first College Football Playoff
title game.
"How you manage those things is what matters most.
And our guys have managed all those situations very, very well,"
Helfrich said.
Not having Carrington leaves the Ducks down two
key wide receivers against Ohio State. Carrington, a 6-foot-2,
191-pound redshirt freshman, had seven catches for 166 yards and two
touchdowns in Oregon's Rose Bowl victory over Florida State.
Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota said the team was disappointed. He hadn't been able to talk to Carrington.
"But
at the same time I think a lot of guys feel guilty like they should
have helped, including myself," Mariota said. "It's tough. But we'll
have to be ready for the next one, whoever the next guy is to step up."
Last
week Oregon lost redshirt freshman receiver Devon Allen on the opening
kickoff with a knee injury. Allen had 41 catches for 684 yards and
seven touchdowns.
The Ducks have also been playing for the last
four games without star tight end Pharoah Brown, who went down with a
season-ending leg injury against Utah.
And before the season
started, junior receiver Bralon Addison tore a ligament in his left
knee. Although Addison said Saturday at the team's media availability
in Dallas that he could play in the championship game, Oregon's coaches
don't want to burn his redshirt year.
"We've had stuff happen all
year long where a guys missed and the next guy has jumped in there and
done a great job," receivers coach Matt Lubick said. "Our guys are
going to be fine."
Carrington's absence leaves Oregon, which
regularly uses three- and four-receiver formations, with Byron Marshall
(66 catches for 834 yards), Dwayne Stafford (39 for 578), Keanon Lowe
(25 for 359) and freshman Charles Nelson (11 for 101) to rely on.
"We
all know as receivers that we're going to have to step up. It's the
last game of the season. We're going to have to make plays and play
basically our best game ever," Nelson said. "But losing him, losing a
great receiver and a great kid with a great talent, it's sad."
Forde,
a running back who is a contributor on special teams, played in all 14
games this season, with three carries for 17 yards. He had a carry for
five yards in the Pac-12 championship against Arizona.
The NCAA
does random drug testing for championship events and bowl games. Those
tests can be done before or after an event and the school is given no
notice about which players will be tested or how many players.
A
failed test for recreational drugs results in the NCAA requiring the
school to declare the player ineligible. The penalty for a failed test
is 50 percent of a season, which means Carrington and Forde could miss
up to five games next season.
Oregon can appeal the NCAA ruling and ask that a player be reinstated.
"I
think anytime you put something in your body that doesn't belong there
it's a bad decision," Oregon offensive coordinator Scott Frost said.
In
November, voters in Oregon approved Measure 91, which legalizes
marijuana for recreational purposes. However, the law does not take
effect until July 1.
----
Associated Press College Football Writer Ralph D. Russo and AP Sports Writer Stephen Hawkins contributed to this report.
Whether winter blues or cabin fever, depression in winter months is real in Pittsburgh, nationwide
© Rebecca Droke/Post-Gazette
As seen from Beechwood Boulevard, snow blankets a Squirrel Hill
residential development overlooking the Monongahela River on Jan. 7.
When Karen Jardine moved from Virginia to Washington County, more than just her address changed.
It
was January 1978 and the Northeast was gripped in what is now called
the Great Blizzard with record snowfall and bitter cold temperatures.
Pittsburgh had 27 inches of snow on the ground — surrounding rural
areas had more — and some of it remained for 64 days in a row.
“I never saw so much snow,” Ms. Jardine, now 58, recalled.
She
was used to sunshine and warmer weather, but she and her husband,
Jamie, who moved to Amwell to take a job in a glass plant, began
adjusting to life here.
Yet, there was something the young
musician just couldn’t shake -- not homesickness, exactly, but bouts of
depression-like symptoms.
Still, she loved the music scene in
Pittsburgh and, before long, was raising three children. But every
winter, around February, Ms. Jardine slipped back into the abyss, some
days finding it nearly impossible to pass up a bed without curling up
in the covers.
“I wanted to sleep more. I was depressed and I turned to comfort food,” she remembered. “I never felt like that in my life.”
Looking
back, Ms. Jardine now thinks she was suffering the initial stages of
Seasonal Affective Disorder, or SAD. Similar to so-called cabin fever
or the winter blues, the disorder is a type of depression that is
related to changing seasons.
Winter-onset SAD is the most common, though sufferers can experience symptoms any time of year.
Those
symptoms, which can include low energy, trouble concentrating, feelings
of hopelessness and a craving for high-carbohydrate foods, are usually
triggered by the shorter daylight hours and decreased sunshine that
occur at the same time each year.
The disorder is thought to be
caused by disruptions to circadian rhythms — our biological clock. A
drop in serotonin, the brain chemical that affects mood, might play a
role in SAD, according to the Mayo Clinic.
The change in season also can increase the level of melatonin in the body, making a person want to sleep more.
To
be sure, Pittsburgh can be gray during the winter months, with an
average of just three sunny days each in December, January and
February. March isn’t much better, with an average of four bright days.
Pittsburgh
has an average of 59 days of sunny weather each year, according to the
National Climatic Data Center — one more than Seattle. Compare that to
Yuma, Ariz., which has 242 sunny days.
While subjective, most climatologists consider a day sunny if 30 percent or less of the sky is cloudy.
“I
think Pittsburgh actually has some of the worst changes in the light,”
said Allegheny Health Network psychiatrist Alicia Kaplan, who sees many
new patients suffering from the disorder, especially at this time of
year. “I see a lot of worsening psychosocial stress and expectations
over the holidays that can aggravate depression, especially if someone
has an anxiety disorder.”
Psychosocial means the condition relates to a person’s psychological development in, and interaction with, a social environment.
Most
of Dr. Kaplan’s SAD patients are women, which, she said, is to be
expected because clinical depression is twice as common in women as in
men.
“Definitely women are more sufferers, that’s for sure,” Dr. Kaplan said.
Nationwide,
3 out of 4 SAD sufferers are women. About 5 percent of the American
population suffers from SAD, but that number rises to 10 percent in
northern latitudes, according to a study from the University of
California at Berkeley.
Registered nurse Deborah Maguire doesn’t need a calendar to know that autumn has arrived.
Her symptoms, including a craving for comfort foods such as macaroni and cheese, mashed potatoes and soup, begin every October.
“Once
the season changes, it’s almost like my energy level totally
disappears. I would come home from work and go straight to bed,” she
said. “It’s like being hungry for light.”
Ms. Maguire, 59, of
Jefferson Hills, began noticing SAD symptoms about 20 years ago. In
those days, the largely unrecognized disorder carried a stigma.
“People
just thought I was tired,” she recalled. “Now that there has been so
much more attention brought to it, it has been accepted as a true
condition.”
Ms. Maguire began seeking professional help for the disorder about 10 years ago, as her symptoms became worse.
Among the treatments that have helped her are dietary charges, exercise and light therapy.
“I
eat lots of protein and vegetables, drink a lot of water, and I move,”
she said. “I walk every night right after work and I try to get outside
during lunchtime if the sun is out.”
Ms. Maguire doesn’t wear
sunglasses in cold weather unless she is driving because sunlight must
reach the retina of the eye to affect the hypothalamus, a part of the
brain that controls circadian rhythms. That doesn’t mean people should
stare into the sun or bright lights.
“Getting outside and exposure to light is important,” Dr. Kaplan said, along with a healthy diet, rest and exercise.
“Schedule
a time to meet with friends,” Dr. Kaplan suggested. “That social
component is important. Schedule something you used to like to do for
fun and keep busy. Force yourself to get out there.”
Ms. Jardine said she plans activities for each February, which she knows from experience will be her toughest month.
“I
plan activities like decoupage,” she said. “I know it’s coming and I
have to make a plan.” In addition, she usually plans a vacation in a
sunny location near the equator.
She also gets an extra boost
from writing music, wearing bright colors and replacing the lights
around her — including fluorescent lights at work — with bulbs that
mimic natural light. She also uses a full-spectrum desktop light each
day.
In light-starved Scandinavia, a European energy company
installed phototherapy lights in bus shelters, and the town of Rjukan
in Norway placed giant mirrors to reflect sunlight onto the town’s main
square to help combat winter blues.
Closer to home, a Portland,
Ore., entrepreneur recognized the importance of sunlight on mood by
building a “Lightbar” where people can sip coffee and listen to
relaxing music while bathing in light with an intensity of 10,000
lux, the recommended dose for SAD sufferers.
Antidepressant
medication, personal light boxes and cognitive behavioral therapy also
can be helpful for some severe cases of SAD, Dr. Kaplan said.
She said it’s important for those who think they need professional help to get it.
People
should seek help, she said, “if they are really having trouble coping
and they’ve talked to loved ones or a friend and they really aren’t
seeing much of a change or if they are isolating more.”
“Sometimes
people don’t know they can ask their family doctor for a referral,” Dr.
Kaplan said. “Also, just understand that it’s important to be assessed
by a mental health professional, and people should know they are not
alone.”
Britain has a new princess - and eagerly awaits her name
LONDON (AP) — From Prince Charles to the bettors at the corner store, everyone in Britain was hoping for a girl.
The
Duchess of Cambridge delighted her nation and royal enthusiasts around
the world Saturday by delivering one such princess. The royal birth was
greeted with cheers and elated cries of "Hip, hip, hooray!" outside St.
Mary's Hospital in London, where fans and the world's media have waited
for days.
The baby — Prince William and Kate's second child — was
born Saturday morning and weighed 8 pounds 3 ounces (3.7 kilograms),
officials said. She is fourth in line to the throne and the fifth
great-grandchild of 89-year-old Queen Elizabeth II. Britain hasn't
welcomed a princess born this high up the line of succession for
decades.
It may be a day or two before the world knows what to
call her. When Prince George, her older brother, was born in 2013,
royal officials waited two days before announcing his name.
Speculation
about the new royal's name has been frenetic, and all the top bets for
the baby's name have been for girls: Alice and Charlotte are the clear
favorites, followed by Elizabeth, Victoria and Diana — all names with
strong royal connections. Royal children are usually given several
names — the baby's brother was christened George Alexander Louis — so
the princess's name could incorporate more than one of those guesses.
Anticipation
had been building for weeks after Kate, 33, told a well-wisher she was
due around late April. Still, journalists were caught slightly off
guard when she delivered barely three hours after checking into the
hospital at dawn Saturday. William, 32, was present at the birth.
The
couple later emerged on the hospital steps with the infant to briefly
pose for photographers before leaving for their home at nearby
Kensington Palace. Kate, who wore a yellow-and-white floral shift dress
by British designer Jenny Packham, held the sleeping baby wrapped in a
white shawl.
The couple looked relaxed but didn't answer any
questions. William earlier told reporters he was "very happy" as he
brought young George to the hospital to meet his baby sister. George,
looking slightly alarmed by all the cameras, waved dutifully at the
adoring crowds.
Superfans prepare to welcome Kate and William's second child
The queen and senior royals were "delighted with the news,"
officials said. The queen marked the occasion by wearing a pink
ensemble while carrying out an official engagement in North Yorkshire,
250 miles (400 kilometers) north of London.
Cheers and chants of
"Princess! Princess!" rang out from the hundreds of well-wishers and
tourists gathered outside the palace and the hospital as soon as the
news was announced. One fan who had camped out outside the hospital for
days danced with joy.
"I'm top of the world," said royal camper
Terry Hutt, 80, decked out in patriotic Union Jack gear. He did not
expect the birth to happen as soon as it did but said: "Babies come
when they're ready."
"If Diana was here, she'd be very, very proud," he added, referring to the late Princess Diana, William's mother.
Alastair Grant/AP
Britain's Prince William and Kate, Duchess of Cambridge and their
newborn baby princess, pose for the media as they leave St. Mary's
Hospital's exclusive Lindo Wing, London. Alastair Grant/AP
The news was announced on social media sites like Twitter as well as
by a traditional bulletin on a gilded easel in front of Buckingham
Palace — a practice that dates to 1837.
A town crier in an
elaborate costume — with no official connection to the royal family —
shouted out the news at the hospital's door, clanging his bell to
welcome the new royal.
"May our princess be long-lived, happy and glorious," said Tony Appleton, reading from a scroll in a booming voice.
Britain's
political leaders — facing a hard-fought general election in just five
days — rushed to congratulate the couple on the baby. Goodwill also
poured in from the rest of the world: President Barack Obama said he
wished the family "much joy and happiness," while Canadian Prime
Minister Steven Harper said the British royal family held a "very
special place in our country."
At 21 months, George is third in
line to the throne, after his grandfather Prince Charles and his dad
William. The newborn princess becomes the fourth in line, bumping Uncle
Harry to fifth.
The last princess born so close to the throne was
Princess Anne, the queen's second child, in 1950. Princesses Beatrice
and Eugenie, the daughters of Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson, were
fifth and sixth in line at the time of their birth.
Thanks to a
recent change in the law, the new princess will hold her place in the
line of succession that for centuries had put boys ahead of their
sisters. That means no younger brother will be able to overtake the new
princess in the order of preference to inherit the throne.
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