Belgium

Security ramped up as Brussels under threat

It may look like the holiday season in Brussels – but it depends on your view.

Security has been ramped up after two people were arrested in connection with a possible New Year’s Eve attack plot.

The security threat level was raised from two to three at police facilities in the capital.

Prosecutors say police found military clothing and Islamic State propaganda but no weapons or explosives.

Belgium has been at the heart of investigations into last month’s Paris attacks because two of the Paris suicide bombers had been living in Belgium.

Later yesterday authorities in Brussels called off the city’s traditional New Year’s Eve fireworks display, citing fears of a militant attack.

On Tuesday, federal prosecutors said two people suspected of plotting an attack in Brussels on New Year’s Eve had been arrested during house searches in different parts of the country. (Reuters)

Germany

Town bans New Year fireworks at refugee hostels

Refugees in a western German town have been banned from setting off fireworks to mark the New Year, partly out of concern that loud blasts could traumatise people who have fled war zones.

The town of Arnsberg in North Rhine-Westphalia has issued directives in several languages banning the sale of rockets and firecrackers to residents of refugee shelters, a spokesman told the Neue Westfaelische daily.

The Arnsberg fire brigade also recommended that townspeople consider not launching any fireworks “to avoid reawakening memories in people who have fled war and conflict of the horrors that threatened them”.

Setting off fireworks at midnight to welcome the start of the new year is traditional and a spectacular show at Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate is broadcast live on television. Last year, Germans spent €120 million on New Year’s Eve fireworks, according to the pyrotechnics industry.

However, “people who come from a war zone connect loud bangs more with shots and bombs than with New Year’s Eve fireworks,” the spokesman was quoted as saying. No one was immediately available in Arnsberg to comment to Reuters.

Placards in refugee homes have been hung up explaining the ban, imposed partly for fear of fires breaking out in buildings used to house refugees.

Gymnasiums, unused hotels and empty buildings such as Berlin’s defunct Tempelhof airport have been turned into shelters for some of the million people who have sought asylum in Germany this year, many fleeing conflict in the Middle East and Africa. Temporary buildings have also been erected. (Reuters)

Italy

Many cities ban fireworks

About 800 Italian towns and cities have ordered a ban on fireworks and other similar devices this year.

In 2010, around 500 people were injured in New Year’s Eve celebrations, with 44 of these considered to be serious.

But preventing injury is not the only reason. For example, Milan, Bergamo and Brescia have cited pollution prevention, while Bologna and Reggio Calabria have placed an emphasis on the well-being of animals, as wildlife and domestic pets are often left terrified by the explosions.

The southern city of Cosenza has banned fireworks for fear of fires, as the city has experienced high temperatures and very little rainfall lately.

In the Calabrian municipality of Vibo Valentia, over €250,000 worth of explosives have been detained by the police this month, as these failed to meet the minimum safety requirements set out by current legislation.

Fireworks are easily accessible in Italy, with market stalls and newsagents often selling them, and thus making a complete ban difficult to enforce.

China

A year after stampede, Shanghai opts out of celebrations

Authorities in the Chinese city of Shanghai opted not to organise New Year celebrations at the historic riverfront Bund this week, a year after a stampede killed 36 people.

“There will be no activities on the Bund to greet the 2016 new year. Citizens who go there on their own, please pay attention to maintaining order,” city spokesman Xu Wei was quoted as saying.

The deadly crush last year occurred at around midnight on steps up to a riverside walkway as thousands of people gathered by the Huangpu River. Most of those who died were in their 20s while 49 people were injured.

Two years ago, a New Year’s Eve fireworks and laser show on the Bund drew a crowd of 300,000 people, and officials cancelled last year’s show days before it was set to take place due to concerns about crowd management, the Shanghai Daily reported at the time.

Despite that, a huge crowd still gathered.

Four district-level officials were fired and stripped of their Communist Party posts after the stampede and another seven were disciplined after an investigation concluded they had not done enough to mitigate the risks of such a big crowd.

The municipal government later cancelled a series of events, including annual Lantern Festival celebrations and an agricultural produce exhibition that has run for 14 years. (Reuters)

The US

High security around Times Square, New York

A six-ton crystal ball is ready to be lowered above New York City, colourful paper has been ground into confetti that will rain on Times Square and about 6,000 police officers will guard revellers on New Year’s Eve at one of the city’s highest-profile events.

“We are ready,” mayor Bill de Blasio told a news conference.

“We are the best prepared city in the country, the best prepared city to prevent terrorism and to deal with any event that could occur.”

An estimated one million people are expected in the vicinity of One Times Square today for the New Year’s Eve dropping of the ball, a tradition begun in 1907 and broken only during wartime blackouts.

In the aftermath of Islamist-inspired attacks in San Bernardino, California, and Paris, the city will draw on its new Critical Response Command counterterrorism unit, which includes more heavily armed officers, to patrol Times Square. The unit, trained to detect and respond to attack plots, was commissioned days before the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Officers communicating with smartphones and loud speakers will be empowered to shut down the event at any time and evacuate the area, Police Commissioner William Bratton said, adding that there were no known credible threats against New York City.

In November, after attacks in Paris that left 130 people dead, the Islamic State militant group, also known as ISIS, released a video that showed a glimpse of Times Square and then a suicide bomber.

Early this morning police will start closing off major thoroughfares, using barricades to contain celebrants and detour traffic. The city will also deploy about 6,000 uniformed and undercover officers, some 500 more than last year, to patrol Times Square.

Backpacks and large bags have been barred from the area. All other bags will be searched and metal detectors will be used to screen everyone in the crowd.

Bomb-sniffing dogs and radiation detectors will also be employed during the event.

“We are very confident that New Year’s Eve in New York City will be the safest place in the world to be,” said Chief of Counterterrorism James Waters. (Reuters)

Britain

Majority of Brits to spend ‘big night in’

Nearly three-quarters of adults are set to see in the New Year with a “big night in”, a survey has found.

Some 73 per cent of people surveyed by Post Office Money Home Insurance expect to welcome 2016 from the comfort of their own home or that of a friend or relative.

This percentage equates to 37 million people across the UK spending the night in. But those who plan to spend the night indoors will not necessarily be saving money, compared to those venturing out.

People planning to host a dinner for their loved ones on the big night expect to spend £116 on average, while those who plan to head to a restaurant, pub or a nightclub expect to spend slightly less, at £96 typically.

Meanwhile, people planning to hold a house party expected the bill to come to £50 on average.

But one in 10 party hosts said their home was damaged by a New Year’s party last year, which could push the expected cost higher. The most common mishaps were food and drink ending up on the carpet, broken crockery and damaged furnitureor technology.

While many people may be waking up with a financial hangover tomorrow, a thrifty 12 per cent of people surveyed said they will not spend any money at all on seeing in 2016.

And one in seven (14 per cent) people across the survey said they will see in the New Year alone.

The average amount people plan to spend on the night this year is £54 per person, which is slightly up from a typical spend of £47 in 2014. Thirtysomethings were found to be the biggest spenders, with this age group expecting to splash out £84 each on average.

There were also wide variations across the country, with people in London planning to spend an average of £110 per person, while those in the northwest of England plan to keep the tightest rein on their finances, spending £34 each, the survey of more than 2,000 people found.

In Scotland, people plan to spend £50 typically seeing in the New Year, while in Wales the average expected spend is £38 and in Northern Ireland it is £61. (PA)