TOPLINE Times Square will welcome back thousands of revelers on New Year’s Eve after celebrations were called off last year because of the coronavirus — though attendees must be fully vaccinated or present a negative Covid-19 test, New York City announced Tuesday.
Times Square will welcome back thousands of revelers on New Year’s Eve after celebrations were called off last year because of the coronavirus — though attendees must be fully vaccinated or present a negative Covid-19 test, the city announced Tuesday.
Times Square will welcome back thousands of revelers on New Year’s Eve after celebrations were ...
Outgoing mayor Bill de Blasio said at a press conference that visitors who come to Times Square to watch the ball drop and ring in 2022 must be vaccinated against Covid-19 even though the event is outdoors because “You’re talking about a lot of people, really close for long periods of time. It makes sense to protect everyone,” according to the Wall Street Journal.
Attendees over the age of 5 must present proof of vaccination and a valid photo ID, and those who cannot be vaccinated for medical reasons must present a negative Covid-19 test taken within 72 hours and have to wear a face mask.
Major cities around the world are juggling how to ring in a second New Year’s Eve amid the Covid-19 pandemic. Sydney, Australia, called off its 9 p.m. fireworks for the second year in a row. The early celebration usually draws large crowds, though the midnight fireworks will still go off, according to Sydney.com. Toronto will announce its plans for the holiday next month, though festivities were called off last year. London’s fireworks were called off in October for a second year in a row, the BBC reported, though a celebration will still take place in Trafalgar Square.
Roughly 100 partiers celebrated the end of 2020 in Times Square. The city invited a small group of first responders instead of the usual tens of thousands of visitors that pack into the Manhattan neighborhood out of concern for the coronavirus pandemic.
Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve With Ryan Seacrest will ring in the new year with the broadcast’s first Spanish-language countdown in its 50-year history. The ABC special will host Puerto Rico’s countdown to 2022 at 11 p.m. EST.
‘Dick Clark’s New Years Rockin’ Eve’ To Hold First Countdown In Puerto Rico (Forbes)
How To Spend New Year’s Eve With The Covid-19 Coronavirus Pandemic (Forbes)
Im a breaking news reporter focusing on arts and entertainment. I previously worked as a features reporter at the New York Post, where I covered pop culture, and at the... Read More
TOPLINE At least one person was killed in western Canada after floods and landslides were triggered by torrential rain in the region, forcing the closure of the country’s largest port in the city of Vancouver while also impacting parts of the U.S. Northwest.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) confirmed the death of at least one woman after a landslide blocked a major highway in the province of British Columbia, CBC News reported.
Nearly 300 people trapped by the landslides were rescued by helicopters in British Columbia earlier.
Torrential rains have also forced the closure of two major rail routes in the province operated by Canadian Pacific Rail and Canadian National Railway.
According to the Associated Press, the floods also managed to cause major devastation across the border in the U.S. northwest region with several people being forced to evacuate their homes.
Hundreds of people were evacuated as water damage affected nearly 75% of homes in the small town of Sumas in Washington State, local officials said.
BIG NUMBER
$440 million. That’s the total value of cargo that the Vancouver port moves every day including automobiles, grain, coal, and other essential goods, according to Reuters.
TANGENT
The torrential rains and flooding damaged power lines across the western part of Washington state. According to the tracker PowerOutage.us more than 18,500 homes remained without power in Washington as of early Wednesday. More than 158,000 households in western Washington faced power outages at the height of the storm on Monday, according to the Associated Press.
KEY BACKGROUND
The devastating rains were caused by a so-called atmospheric river—a large plume of moisture—that extended over the Pacific Northwest region. British Columbia and the US northwest have been hit with several extreme weather events this year that experts have attributed to climate change. Earlier this year the region witness devastating wildfires that gutted an entire town in British Columbia and record-breaking high temperatures as a heat dome formed over the region. This week’s event is also the second major instance of flooding in the region in less than two years.
FURTHER READING
1 confirmed dead as rescue teams continue searching debris from B.C. mudslide (CBC News)
US Northwest, Canada devastated by flood, 1 death reported (Associated Press)
I am a Breaking News Reporter at Forbes, with a focus on covering important tech policy and business news. Graduated from Columbia University with an MA in Business and...
SOURCE : Forbes
