Hong Kong police fired tear gas a few minutes into 2020 as anti-Beijing protesters took their movement into the New Year with midnight countdown rallies and a massive march planned for January 1.
The city has been battered by more than six months of unrest with marches attended by millions, as well as confrontations in which police have fired tear gas and rubber bullets - and protesters have responded with petrol bombs.
Before midnight on Tuesday, thousands of protesters gathered across the financial hub, including along the waterfront of Victoria Harbour and at nightlife hotspot Lan Kwai Fong.
Protesters at the harbour front counted down chanting "Ten! Nine! Liberate Hong Kong, revolution now!" as they lit up their phones in a sea of lights.
Smaller crowds of protesters in the Mong Kok district set fire to barricades - and riot police unleashed 2020's first volleys of tear gas in response.
Shortly before the final day of 2019 drew to a close, police used water cannon to disperse protesters in the same area while, in nearby Prince Edward neighbourhood, officers arrested several protesters staging a candlelight vigil.
Human chains
Earlier in the evening, thousands of people linked arms in human chains that stretched for miles along busy shopping streets and through local neighbourhoods.
They chanted slogans, sang "Glory to Hong Kong" - a protest anthem - and held up posters calling for people to fight for democracy in 2020.
"Thanks to 2019, which tore off the ugly masks of the police and the government and let the people see the truth," said protester Kris, a medic who joined protest.
"The movement is kind of like at its bottleneck now. Hopefully a huge turnout at tomorrow's march could bring back people's passion," he added.
The city's traditional New Year Eve's bumper fireworks display was cancelled due to safety concerns, but a light show and smaller-scale fireworks took place instead.
Economic disruption
In late November, the city's anti-Beijing camp scored a landslide victory in a municipal-level vote seen as a referendum on the Beijing-backed government's handling of political unrest.
The protest movement has since become quieter but sporadic clashes have persisted.
In a New Year's video message broadcast on state media, Chinese President Xi Jinping said Hong Kong's recent upheaval was concerning and that the "people of our motherland" expected stability in the restive city.
But protesters have vowed to continue their effort to push for greater democratic freedoms and police accountability.
On Tuesday night, demonstrators also swarmed major shopping malls, which have become regular protest venues in an effort to cause economic disruption.
"2019 is a remarkable and special year for every single Hongkonger," 25-year-old teacher Sam told AFP as he celebrated New Year's Eve with his family at the harbour front.
"People's demands are loud and clear, but the government is not listening. In 2020, I really hope it will be a better year for all Hong Kong people."
The Civil Human Rights Front, the chief organiser of marches, hopes for a huge turnout at Wednesday's rally to urge the government to respond to the demands of the anti-government movement - which include an independent inquiry into the police, amnesty for arrestees and fully free elections.
Police have arrested nearly 6,500 people since June - nearly a third of them aged under 20.
"The youngsters have sacrificed a lot for justice...2019 is a wake-up call," a 63-year-old retiree, who gave his surname as Shiu, told AFP.
"People will be more determined in the new year. People know that the future of Hong Kong depends on whether we can achieve the five demands."
The demonstrations were sparked by a now-abandoned bill to allow extraditions to the authoritarian mainland, but have since morphed into a popular revolt against Beijing's control - the biggest crisis since the former British colony's return to Chinese rule in 1997.
Source: AFP
New year, new you. The start of a new decade is upon us, and there's no better way to celebrate the fresh beginning than with a charismatic social media post.
Whether you're uploading a boomerang of the ball dropping in Times Square, celebrating with champagne at a neighborhood bar or sharing the new year with takeout and sweatpants, there's a way to say how you're feeling with humor, grace or gratitude.
The changing decade gives many inspiration to reevaluate their failures, successes and goals moving forward. So make your resolutions, or scoff at the idea of one, and start the year by standing out online. You're sure to catch attention, new followers and personal satisfaction from selecting the perfect caption for that New Years' photo that's exquisitely you.
Here are some of the best quotes to caption your photos, send to loved ones or reflect on as you ring in the new year.
New Year 2020 wishes for wife and girlfriend&
The New Year comes with new hopes, new resolutions, new ambitions and lots of memories of the time that has passed. No matter how many challenges your relationships have faced in the last year, you always come together on New Year ’s eve and there is nothing but love for each other. Ringing in the new year with each other is one of the most romantic things to do.
While some of you might not be with your loved one this year but you can always send across the sweetest messages to profess your love for the person. This year, make it a point to express your love for one another at every opportunity you get instead of giving it any second thoughts. Here are some options in case you are stuck with what to send to your spouse on New Year’s.
Here's wishing you a Happy New Year!
Stay tuned with us for more updates.
From New Zealand to New York, millions around the world are set to enjoy spectacular firework displays to celebrate the arrival of 2020 — and the start of a new decade.
You can watch some of the biggest fireworks live in the video player above.
The Line Islands of the Pacific Ocean were the first to say goodbye to 2019, followed by Auckland, New Zealand, where half a ton of fireworks burst from the Sky Tower above the city centre.
In Australia, Sydney was given official permission to go ahead with its iconic pyrotechnics despite a total fire ban triggered by huge deadly wildfires. Other Australian cities, including Canberra, cancelled their celebrations due to the worsening wildfire risk.
In Beijing, there was a spectacular choreographed display of dancing and music. The tallest building in the world was the centrepiece of the United Arab Emirates' show, with fireworks framing the Burj Khalifa.
In France, more than 100,000 police and gendarmes were deployed across the country to keep crowds safe watching firework displays.
Athens' Acropolis was lit up by an impressive show of fireworks.
London's Big Ben, which had been silenced for more than a year by a major refurbishment, is expected to chime at midnight, while hundreds of thousands will celebrate Hogmanay in Edinburgh.
Here's a look at the best photos from New Year's celebrations around the world:
The capital has brought in 2020 with ‘the best fireworks London has ever seen’ as the UK enters one of its most important decades yet.
More than 100,000 have gathered around Victoria Embankment and cheered as they watched the impressive display light up the sky above the River Thames, to the soundtrack of some of the country’s biggest hits.
Big Ben’s chimes loudly rang out 12 times signifying the start of the display, before around 12,000 dramatic fireworks exploded in the air featuring music songs by Stormzy, Wiley and Bastille.
The theme of this year’s display is based on London hosting a number of key games such in the Euro 2020 football tournament and the crowds could be heard proudly chanting ‘it’s coming home’ towards the end of the show.
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said he hoped the display would show the world that it is still a confident ‘global city’, as the UK prepares to leave the EU in the new year.
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He said: ‘Fairly or unfairly, people around the world saw the Brexit referendum vote as the UK somehow turning its back on the rest of the world, including Europe.
‘The fear was, we would become insular, inward-looking, and what I’m keen to show is the opposite…
‘And it’s really important that we show the world who will be watching our fireworks that we are a confident, global, outward-looking European city.’
London’s event sold out and travel on Transport for London (TfL) services will be free between 11.45pm on New Year’s Eve and 4.30am on New Year’s Day.
Meanwhile, Hogmanay celebrations began in Edinburgh, as crowds gathered for the city’s annual street party, with around 100,000 visitors expected to attend the event.
Large fireworks shows will also take place in cities including Manchester, Cardiff, Newcastle, Inverness and Nottingham.
As Brits celebrated across the country, the prime minister focused the next decade’s attention on Brexit and told the public it could look forward to 10 years of ‘prosperity and opportunity’.
Boris Johnson will be watching London’s display from television, as he is bringing in the next decade with girlfriend Carrie Symonds on the private Caribbean island of Mustique.
In his New Year message, the PM said that with the UK set to leave the EU on January 31, the Government could focus on the ‘people’s priorities’.
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‘As we say goodbye to 2019 we can also turn the page on the division, rancour and uncertainty which has dominated public life and held us back for far too long,’ he added.
‘We can start a new chapter in the history of our country, in which we come together and move forward united, unleashing the enormous potential of the British people.’
He said although the ‘first item’ on his agenda was to take Brexit out of the EU as soon as possible, he wants to be a ‘prime minister for everyone’, including the millions who backed Remain or did not vote Conservative in the general election.
‘If you are one of them, I want to reassure you that I will be a prime minister for everyone, not just those who voted for me,’ he said.
‘I know that you love this country no less, simply because you voted for another party or wanted to Remain.
‘More than that, I want to work with you, as friends and equals, as we build the future this United Kingdom deserves.
‘So let’s together make the 2020s a decade of prosperity and opportunity.’
He reiterated that the main concern on people’s lists of priorities was more investment in the NHS.
‘The NHS is a wonderful British invention, there for us and our families when we are ill, whatever our background and regardless of ability to pay. So the NHS will always be my top priority.’
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Mr Johnson said he was also determined to make the UK ‘the best place on Earth’ for ‘quality education and cutting-edge science’.
‘Our vision is clear: to unite and level up across the whole United Kingdom – spreading opportunity more fairly – with better infrastructure, superb education and high technology,’ he said.
This is a breaking story, more to follow…
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He suspected something was amiss when he did not get the usual Sunday video calls from his two sisters working as domestic helpers in Singapore.
Mr Reynaldo Nucos' worst fears were confirmed when he called his wife, also a domestic helper here, late on Sunday.
His sisters were among groups of Filipinos celebrating the festive season on a pavement in Nutmeg Road, next to Lucky Plaza, when a car ploughed into them.
One sister, Ms Arlyn Picar Nucos, 50, died in Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH) and the other, Ms Arceli Picar Nucos, 56, is in critical condition in TTSH.
Mr Nucos, who lives in La Union province on Luzon island, told a local radio station his sisters had remitted money to the family for the Christmas and New Year holidays.
He said he and another sister, Alice, a teacher, were working on getting Ms Arlyn's remains to be flown home and to make sure Ms Arceli pulls through.
The sisters had been working in Singapore since 1990, and Ms Arceli was due to return home next month, reported online news website Rappler.
A relative described the sisters as kind and generous in helping to put their nephews and nieces through school.
Ms Ana Marie Nucos, 37, told The Straits Times from the Philippines that the sisters also helped her sister-in-law land a job as a domestic helper here.
"They helped with everything. They were very kind."
The sisters were among six Filipinas hit by the car, which then crashed through a railing and plunged onto the Lucky Plaza carpark exit road, taking four victims down with it.
A male driver was arrested for dangerous driving causing death.
The six victims were taken to TTSH, where Ms Arlyn and her close friend, Ms Abigail Danao Leste, 41, died from their injuries.
Ms Arceli and Ms Egnal Layugan Limbauan, 43, are still warded.
The New Paper understands that Ms Arceli is in intensive care and has undergone an operation, with another scheduled for today.
Ms Egnal, who is in the high dependency ward, has started talking but is still experiencing pain in her femur, and may need to undergo surgery.
Ms Arceli's cousin and close friends, who declined to be named, told TNP yesterday that she had regained consciousness and was able to recognise faces but could not eat and drink.
The remaining victims - Ms Laila Flores Laudencia, 44, and Ms Demet Limbauan Limbauan, 37 - were discharged yesterday.
At the mortuary yesterday, a woman claiming to be Ms Leste's relative said she had seen a video of the accident but did not realise Ms Leste was a victim.
Giving her name only as Lynn, 28, she said: "I knew it was her only after I received news from the Philippines."
She said Ms Leste, is survived by a daughter, 21, and a son.
Philippine Embassy consul-general Adrian Bernie Candolada said yesterday that Ms Leste and Ms Arlyn were long-time friends.
He said the embassy has been in touch with the families of the victims and the employers of the deceased victims.
The process of shipping their remains back to the Philippines has begun.
Mr Candolada said of the victims: "All six of them are good friends, and they frequent Lucky Plaza on Sundays to exchange stories over food.
"Many of them have been working in Singapore for a very long time, for at least eight to 10 years."
Filipinos at Lucky Plaza yesterday told TNP their community has been traumatised as many had used the accident scene for gatherings.
Domestic worker Judith Canoy, 47, frequently had picnics there with friends on Sundays.
She said: "My friends and I come here all the time to picnic or just to chit-chat. But after the accident, I will never come back here. It is too traumatic.
"This incident is a big loss to our Filipino community in Singapore because we are all so close to each other."
Infographic: Lucky Plaza crash: How it happened
Volunteer firefighters in South Australia will receive the same financial support as their NSW counterparts, the state government has confirmed.
Those battling the long-running NSW blazes could receive up to $6000 after the federal government on Sunday bowed to pressure pay volunteer firefighters.
Payments of up to $300 a day will be available to Rural Fire Service NSW volunteers who are self-employed or work for small and medium businesses.
They will be capped at $6000 per person and are tax-free.
SA Emergency Services Minister Corey Wingard said arrangements would be made for SA fire crews to get the same payments.
"We very much know and understand that the fires in NSW have been going for a lot longer," he said.
"But our volunteers here have been doing an outstanding job ... so to have the same arrangements is a big positive for South Australia."
Mr Wingard said SA firefighters' deployments to NSW would qualify to be counted for the payments, with payment details to be finalised in coming days.
Country Fire Service chief officer Mark Jones said anything that improved the conditions for his volunteers was a good thing.
"The consistent advice I have from them is that none of them volunteer to get paid," he said.
"However, there is a parity issue and if some states are to receive it, it's fair that they all do."
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the payments would be equivalent to 20 days of emergency leave for the eligible volunteers.
It follows the government's announcement last week that commonwealth public service volunteers would get at least four weeks of paid leave to fight bushfires under a plan to ensure more "boots on the ground".
Australian Associated Press
Wildfires seem to spark more often and last longer all over the world. If so, what does that mean for people and ecosystems?
This Christmas in Australia’s New South Wales has been hotter than usual. Wildfires which started creeping since September have grown into the region’s worst fire season since before 2003. Even by early December, the unprecedented “mega fire” had burnt over 2.1 million hectares and killed six people. Usually, Australia’s fire season peaks mid-January.
In the past year, various parts of the world took turns burning too long, too early. Though wildfires are embedded in the natural cycles of some ecosystems, their increased frequency and scale encroach on public and environmental health, with alarming effects in a more fire-prone world.
Over 1,600 wildfires – more than three times the decade’s average – have scorched the EU this year until mid-August, with France and Spain under higher than usual fires. In June, the Copernicus Atmospheric Monitoring System (CAMS), which tracks wildfire emissions worldwide, reported intense blazes in Siberia and the Arctic, overwhelming areas the size of 100,000 football fields. “Yakutia in particular had not experienced such widespread fires in the last 17 years,” says Dr. Mark Parrington, senior scientist at CAMS. While they fell within the normal fire season, they lasted longer and reached further than ever before. In Amazonia, 70,000 blazes overtook several Brazilian states. In Indonesia, September wildfire activity was comparable to the 2015 episode, when the blazes emitted 884 million tonnes of carbon.
In western USA, both the number of fires and the amount of land burnt have increased consistently since the 1950s, according to NASA, while megafires – fires burning over 40,000 hectares – appear on record only starting from the 1970s.
To make a wildfire, you need a combination of dry weather, something to burn (fuel) and something to spark the flames. Weather is the largest, most variable driver behind wildfires, researchers found, as temperatures, humidity, rainfall, and wind speeds affect how quickly and strongly fires spread. The worst fires occur under hot, dry and windy weather.
Australia’s early 2019 blazes overlapped with its hottest January on record, and one of its driest compared to 1981-2010. Experts analysing 35 years of weather data from ECMWF and NOAA observed that fire seasons have lengthened across one quarter of global vegetated land, with parts of South America and East Africa enduring fire seasons more than a month longer than almost four decades ago. Experts from the European Union’s Emergency Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS) have also warned about the rise of a “new wildfire context”, in which the blazes shift unpredictably, burn more intensely, grow fast and spread burning material over large distances, scorching massive areas across regions and countries. And although fires are part of nature’s cycle, ecosystems and communities might not be adapted to these changes. For example, fires in north-eastern New South Wales burnt in rainforests, which had not experienced that before, according to Dr. Parrington.
Tracking when and where fire danger appears can save lives, and contain environmental and economic costs. While CAMS provides data on the actual global number of fires, the Fire Weather Index (FWI) based on weather variables helps to provide forecasts. EFFIS of the Copernicus Emergency Management Service (CEMS) uses the index to make short term fire danger forecasts, whilst Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) uses the FWI to make fire danger projections on the seasonal and longer-term time-scales; this rates fire intensity, which refers to its spreading speed and how much fuel it consumes.
“There is a high degree of inter-annual variability in fire activity around the world,” says Dr. Parrington. “It's challenging to say how wildfire regimes are shifting; changes we are making to the Global Fire Assimilation System (GFAS) which assimilates fire radiative power observations from satellite-based sensors to produce daily estimates of biomass burning emissions will better reflect changing wildfire conditions by, for example, improving land cover maps and emission factors used to estimate them.”
Through smoke, soot and ash, wildfires spit out carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO2), methane, nitrogen oxides, black carbon, and aerosols, which affect air quality in the lower and upper atmosphere. According to Copernicus, the combination of pollutants emitted makes wildfires responsible for “far greater air pollution than industrial emissions”.
Exposure to smoke, and especially short-term exposure to particulate matter, creates a wide range of respiratory and heart problems that can linger long after fires die off; hundreds of thousands of deaths annually have been associated with smoke, according to the Centre for Disease Control (CDC). Throughout this year, fire-born suspended particles (PM 2.5) spiked air pollution in Spain, France, the Himalayas and many more regions, according to CAMS aerosol data. In Australia, several regions declared a state of emergency as particulate matter surpassed dangerous levels, with air quality in parts of Sydney even 12 times above health hazardous levels. Wildfire PM2.5 pollution causes between 10,000-30,000 premature deaths annually in the US, according to a recent study; researchers predict that the number is likely to double by the end of the century, compared to early 2000s.
Providing data on estimated wildfire emissions is thus increasingly important for public health in a future with increased fire occurrence. CAMS produces daily five-day forecasts for routes of smoke aerosols and pollutants from wildfires. “Through CAMS analyses and forecasts of global atmospheric composition, we can monitor and evaluate potential impacts of smoke pollution around the world”, says Dr. Parrington. “While long-range transport of smoke may not affect surface air quality, it is useful to track, as in some cases it can reach the surface.”
And then there’s the CO2. In the first 11 months of 2019, wildfires released about 6,735 Mt CO2 globally, according to CAMS monitoring. Peaks included the June-July 140 Mt of CO2 from Arctic fires, or about as much as the carbon output of 36 million cars, or the 708 Mt from Indonesian fires between August and November. Discussions on how wildfires contribute to climate change continue, as some of the carbon is reabsorbed by trees and plants once they regenerate; scientists still place it far behind the carbon output of fossil fuels. But the speed at which vegetation recovers varies widely. In some parts, damage can be lasting. Burning peatlands unlocks large amounts of carbon stored in their thick soils, continues to smoulder for weeks or months, and can take centuries to fully recover. In 2019, 43 percent of fires in Indonesia, which CAMS monitored for their far ranging plumes across South-East Asia, were on peatlands.
Peatlands under permafrost, which contain about 14 percent of the world’s soil carbon storage, are also threatened by more intense fires in the world’s far north, as the blazes are melting the frozen soil above that protects them. The mere melting of permafrost might release large amounts of methane, a gas 30 times as warming as CO2. At the same time, wildfire soot and ash settling on ice and snow amplify the ground’s warming, as it darkens it to absorb more solar radiation.
A new fire danger dataset from ECMWF and the Copernicus Emergency Management Service can now help explore if the changes seen in wildfire behaviour are unusual or have been the norm of the past. The world’s first open access long-term record for weather and climate going back to 1980 will help analyse current fire danger in relation to the conditions that favoured wildfires in the past, assess how big climate variability is, and see pattern changes in fire-prone areas globally.
“Information and forecasts of fire danger are essential to monitoring global wildfires as they provide the context for the environmental conditions where fires are observed”, says Dr. Parrington. “This dataset is vital as it provides the long-term context of how fire danger is changing worldwide, helps identify places where fire is becoming more common and aid civil protection agencies, and the general public in being aware of fire conditions.”
Measures against wildfires have been gaining momentum. In California, utilities companies have been adjusting to fire danger by shutting off power, fire districts have stepped up their planning and outreach, while the state’s carbon cap-and-trade program contributes funds forest health and fire prevention. In Spain, special units are preventing megafires by burning overgrowth in forests, while Australia has revised its national building code because of fire safety concerns.
