Hollywood’s first awards show of the new year included a visit from Wonder Woman Gal Gadot and a promise from Jessica Chastain that “major change is coming” to how women are treated in the industry.

Actors Gary Oldman, Holly Hunter, Sam Rockwell and others journeyed out to the desert Tuesday night for the opening gala of the 29th annual Palm Springs International Film Festival, a non-televised ceremony that offers a chance for honorees to reconnect with friends, prepare for the more high-profile upcoming Golden Globe Awards and promote critically-hailed but mostly little-seen movies.

In her speech to the crowd gathered for dinner at the city’s convention center, Chastain predicted that there would be changes to what she called a “flawed system” in Hollywood. The “Molly’s Game” star was one of several actresses at the ceremony supporting the just-announced Time’s Up, an anti-harassment coalition.

“Major change is coming. And change is good. Change is needed,” she said. “We must be better. And we will.”

The 40-year-old actress grew emotional in recalling her first trip to the festival five years earlier, telling a story of spying on Gary Oldman while he was eating lunch.

Oldman also made a return trip to the festival, and was honored for his lead role in “Darkest Hour.” The 59-year-old British actor drew perhaps the loudest applause of the night when he told the crowd he and his wife were planning to make Palm Springs their permanent home.

“So it feels a little bit like local boy makes good,” he said with a sly smile.

Gadot appeared to hold back tears as she took the stage alongside her “Wonder Woman” director Patty Jenkins.

“I’m dancing from within,” the 32-year-old Israeli actress told the crowd. Professing her admiration for Jenkins, Gadot teased her director, saying, “You’re going to get tired of me” when filming begins this year on the sequel.

Like Gadot, newcomer Timothee Chalamet was honored as a rising star by the festival. The 22-year-old actor noted the gap at the box office between his movie, “Call Me By Your Name,” and her superhero hit.

“Your film has literally made 250 times more money than my movie has. So I’m feeling a little insecure, unqualified to be up here, but that’s OK,” he said. Chalamet also thanked the wife of Armie Hammer, his co-star in the gay romance, “who let me crawl all over her husband for two months.”
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Pop superstar Justin Timberlake on Tuesday announced his first album in nearly five years, promising more “personal” songwriting inspired by his home and family.

The 36-year-old singer and actor said that “Man of the Woods,” his fifth solo studio album, will come out on February 2 — two days before he headlines entertainment during the Super Bowl, generally the most watched television event of the year in the United States.

Timberlake unveiled the album with a short video on social media that, true to the album’s title, shows him walking reflectively in scenes of nature from a snowy forest to a sunny corn field.

“This album is really inspired by my son, my wife, my family, but — more so than any other album I’ve ever written — where I’m from,” Timberlake says in the video. “And it’s personal.”

Timberlake — who had a son in 2015 with his wife, actress Jessica Biel — grew up near Memphis, Tennessee, one of the capitals of blues and soul music as well as rural-rooted country.

The video features snippets of acoustic guitar, hinting perhaps at a more somber sound for the album, but closes with Timberlake in the studio with all-star pop producer Pharrell Williams.

Timberlake, one of the top-selling artists of the 21st century both as a solo artist and with boy band NSYNC, rose to fame with an electronic pop sound before finding a new voice by bringing in R&B, notably on his 2006 album “FutureSex/LoveSounds.”

Timberlake has been offering hints of his upcoming album for years. In a 2016 interview with the BBC, Timberlake declined to describe it as a country album but acknowledged the influence.

“I really did grow up in a place in America where I was like two hours from the country music capital of the world (Nashville), home of the blues, birthplace of American rock ‘n’ roll,” he said.

Timberlake last released full albums in 2013, putting out “The 20/20 Experience” and “The 20/20 Experience — 2 of 2” in quick succession.

Even without albums, Timberlake has kept putting out music, scoring a mega-hit in 2016 with “Can’t Stop the Feeling!” a giddy summer song that appeared in the animated film “Trolls.”

But Timberlake has focused increasingly on acting rather than music in the past several years, most recently starring as a bookish and seductive lifeguard in Woody Allen’s “Wonder Wheel.”
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A music publisher is seeking at least $1.6 billion from Spotify for alleged copyright violations, the latest lawsuit to hit the fast-growing streaming company.

Wixen Music Publishing Inc., which holds rights to songs of major artists including Neil Young, the Doors, Tom Petty and Santana, charged in a lawsuit that Spotify failed to seek licenses for significant parts of its 30 million-song catalog.

“While Spotify has become a multibillion-dollar company, songwriters and their publishers, such as Wixen, have not been able to fairly and rightfully share in Spotify’s success, as Spotify has in many cases used their music without a license and without compensation,” said the lawsuit filed last week in a federal court in Los Angeles.

The lawsuit said that Spotify initially tried to work with record labels but, “in a race to be first to market, made insufficient efforts to collect the required musical composition information.”

Wixen, which is seeking a jury trial against the Swedish company, presented a list of 10,784 songs for which it questioned Spotify’s permission to stream.

The publisher said it was seeking the maximum allowed $150,000 in damages for copyright damages for each song, meaning an award of at least $1.6 billion, along with the fees of its lawyers.

Spotify did not immediately comment on the latest suit. In May, it reached an agreement to settle a pair of two similar lawsuits under which Spotify said it would set up a $43.45 million fund to compensate songwriters.

Wixen called the settlement, which still needs final approval from a judge, “grossly insufficient” and said that it would opt out of the deal insofar as possible.

Even if unsuccessful, lawsuits amount to a headache for Spotify as the company considers going public.

Spotify, which has been valued at anywhere from $8 billion to $16 billion, has maintained its dominance as streaming rapidly grows and transforms the recorded music market.

Spotify said in July that it had 60 million users worldwide who pay for subscriptions, with 80 million more using its free tier.
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The International Olympic Committee (IOC) welcomed on Tuesday the possibility of North Korea competing at next month’s Pyeongchang Games in South Korea and said the invitation remained open.

A spokesman said the IOC “welcomes the mutual intention” of the two governments to start direct talks about North Korean athletes participating in the Feb 9-25 Games.

“In this context, the IOC continues its discussions with the NOC [national Olympic committee] of DPRK [North Korea],” he added.

“To allow for such a participation in respect of the Olympic Charter, the IOC is keeping its invitation for a delegation of the NOC of DPRK open and will take the final decision in due time.”

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un referred to the Games in a New Year’s Day speech in which he also spoke of “mass-producing nuclear warheads and ballistic missiles for operational deployment.”

“North Korea’s participation in the Winter Games will be a good opportunity to showcase the national pride and we wish the Games will be a success,” he said. “Officials from the two Koreas may urgently meet to discuss the possibility.”

South Korea has welcomed Kim’s offer but U.S.-based experts saw Kim’s speech as a clear attempt to divide Seoul from its main ally, the United States.

Washington has led an international campaign to pressure North Korea through sanctions to give up weapons programs aimed at developing nuclear missiles capable of hitting the United States.

The Pyeongchang Games will take place just 80 km (50 miles) from the world’s most heavily-armed border, the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea.
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Alabama record producer Rick Hall, who recorded some of the biggest musical acts of the 1960s and ’70s and helped develop the fabled “Muscle Shoals sound,” has died.

Longtime friend Judy Hood said Hall died at his home Tuesday following a fight with cancer. He was 85.

Hall founded FAME Recording Studios in northwestern Alabama in 1959 and went on to record major acts including R&B stars Aretha Franklin and Wilson Pickett. 

Hall also recorded country artists, including George Jones and Brenda Lee, and produced pop acts Paul Anka and the Osmonds, among others.

A new generation of listeners came to know Hall through the 2013 documentary Muscle Shoals. The movie tells the story of Hall, the region’s musicians and its distinctive, soulful sound featuring heavy bass, electric piano or organ, and drums.
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Viewers intrigued by the Gianni Versace murder case featured in the new season of American Crime Story can retrace the fashion designer’s steps at his former mansion in South Beach.

Tourists stop on its stone front steps every day to pose for pictures where serial killer Andrew Cunanan fatally shot Versace in 1997. There’s more to the Mediterranean-style mansion than Versace’s death, however.

Now a boutique hotel, The Villa Casa Casuarina, Versace’s former home still reflects his glamorous designs and opulent lifestyle. Visitors can swim in the pool he lined with 24-karat gold tiles, sleep on double-king-sized beds so large they require custom-made sheets, gaze at the ocean from his rooftop observatory and dine in a gourmet restaurant established in his former dining room.

A resident artist maintains the mosaics and frescos that Versace had made for the property, including designs showcasing his signature snake-haired Medusa head, said Chauncey Copeland, the hotel’s general manager.

“We actually have preserved what Versace created here and just augmented it with some modern touches for the convenience of our hotel guests and restaurant patrons,” Copeland said.

Versace spent $33 million renovating the three-story building he purchased in 1992. It was originally an apartment complex built in 1930 by Standard Oil heir Alden Freeman. After Versace’s death, his family sold the property. The Villa Casa Casuarina now is part of the Victor Hotels group, which acquired the mansion at a 2013 auction for $41.5 million.

The opportunity to sleep in Versace’s former bedroom stands out among other luxury hotel experiences, even in glitzy South Beach, said Joey Cargill, of Manila, the Philippines, a hotel guest relaxing in the pool just after Christmas.

“It’s just the history, and Versace was an artist, and I kind of consider myself a little bit of an artist. Maybe I can grasp a little bit of that, in a different fashion,” Cargill said.

To live like Versace is to live large, transforming the most ordinary things into outrageous memories. “I can’t even hit all sides of the bed, it’s so big. I just take a corner of it,” Cargill said.

The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story premieres January 17 on FX.

The cast and crew spent about a month filming at the hotel, Copeland said. “It’s really striking just how accurate they are,” he said.
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More than 300 top women in Hollywood — from Meryl Streep and Jennifer Lawrence to Emma Thompson and Cate Blanchett — unveiled an initiative Monday to tackle pervasive sexual harassment in workplaces, calling special attention to their “sisters” in less than glamorous blue-collar jobs.

The initiative, dubbed Time’s Up, caps a year in which the Harvey Weinstein sexual misconduct scandal touched off a deluge of allegations that brought down powerful men in entertainment, politics and the media, prompting companies, government agencies and even the U.S. federal court system to re-examine harassment policies.

But in an open letter printed in The New York Times, the new initiative lends the star power of its A-list members to the cause of women in less prominent fields, urging support and respect for farm workers and others whose humble positions leave them vulnerable and voiceless.

“We fervently urge the media covering the disclosures by people in Hollywood to spend equal time on the myriad experiences of individuals working in less glamorized and valorized trades,” the group says in its full-page ad.

“To every woman employed in agriculture who has had to fend off unwanted sexual advances from her boss, every housekeeper who has tried to escape an assaultive guest, every janitor trapped nightly in a building with a predatory supervisor, every waitress grabbed by a customer and expected to take it with a smile … we stand with you. We support you.”

 $15 million goal

Last month, the head of Ford Motor Company apologized to employees at two factories in Chicago and promised changes, after a scathing expose by the Times detailed pervasive harassment and mistreatment of women at the plants dating back to the 1990s. It was one of the first major media investigations into sexual harassment in blue-collar workplaces.

Among the specific steps it announced, Time’s Up has established a legal defense fund that, in just 12 days, has raised $13.4 million toward a $15 million goal aimed at providing legal aid for women and men who were sexually harassed, assaulted or abused in the workplace.

It has vowed to push for legislation to strengthen laws on workplace harassment and discrimination.

The group insists that more women must be brought into positions of power and leadership, while every woman should have equal benefits, opportunities, pay and representation.

As for Hollywood, it wants “swift and effective change to make the entertainment industry a safe and equitable place for everyone.”

And it called on women to wear black at Sunday’s Golden Globes as a statement against gender and racial inequality, and to raise awareness about the group’s efforts.

‘Dear Sisters’

The open letter in the Times, which also appears in the Spanish-language La Opinion, opens with the words “Dear Sisters” in large, bold type, and closes with the words “in solidarity,” followed by the names of the 300 women.

Several of Weinstein’s accusers signed the open letter. They include Ashley Judd, Gwyneth Paltrow and Kate Beckinsale, as well as Salma Hayek, whose lengthy account of mistreatment by Weinstein — “my monster,” she called him — was widely circulated on social media after appearing last month in The New York Times.

Weinstein has denied some of the allegations, including Hayek’s assertion that he pressured her to do a nude sex scene in one movie.

Other prominent women lending their names to the Time’s Up cause are actresses Natalie Portman, America Ferrera, Amy Schumer, Halle Berry, Julianne Moore, Keira Knightley, Nicole Kidman, Penelope Cruz, Reese Witherspoon, Scarlett Johansson, Susan Sarandon, Uma Thurman and Viola Davis; producer Shonda Rhimes; Universal Pictures chair Donna Langley; feminist activist Gloria Steinem; lawyer and ex-Michelle Obama chief of staff Tina Tchen and Nike Foundation co-chair Maria Eitel.
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(Variety.com)  In a battle of box office heavyweights, Luke Skywalker just managed to hold off Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson as the world rang in another year.

Disney and LucasFilm’s “”Star Wars: The Last Jedi” retained first place for the four-day New Year’s holiday weekend despite steep competition from Sony’s “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle.” “Last Jedi” picked up an estimated $68.4 million, bringing its domestic haul to $533.1 million.

Don’t weep for “Jumanji,” however. The fantasy reboot, which finds Johnson, Jack Black, and Kevin Hart transported into a video game world, has outperformed expectations, picking up a lordly $66.5 million over the holiday weekend. It now has a hefty $185.7 million domestic gross and should continue to draw crowds in 2018. The “Jumanji” sequel has also done well internationally, racking up $350 million worldwide, and has provided a much-needed hit for a studio that has struggled to keep pace with the Disney’s and Warner Bros.’s of the world.

Sony claims the film has a $90 million budget. Those alleged production costs have raised eyebrows around town as to their veracity given the film’s Hawaii location and starry cast, but regardless of creative accounting and aggressive spinning, the result is impressive. A sequel seems preordained.

“Star Wars: The Last Jedi” closed 2017 as the year’s highest-grossing release and the seventh highest-grossing domestic movie of all time with $517.1 million. It will bypass its fellow franchisee “Rogue One” at some point on New Year’s Day to take the seventh spot on the stateside charts and has already blown past the $1 billion mark globally. The film carries a $200 million price tag, and has generated controversy for a series of creative decisions by director and writer Rian Johnson that have, depending on your perspective, either infused new energy into decades-old series or deviated dangerously from the Jedi canon.

It’s been a dismal year for the domestic box office, which ends 2017 with $11.12 billion in sales, down 2.3 percent from last year’s $11.38 billion and off slightly from 2015’s $11.14 billion, according to comScore. After a bruising summer, when revenues plummeted more than 6 percent in the wake of costly flops such as “The Mummy” and “Transformer: The Last Knight,” the gap did narrow. Fall and winter hits such as “It,” “Thor: Ragnarok,” “Coco,” and “Murder on the Orient Express,” helped make up the difference. The industry was also aided by record ticket prices.

Empirically, fewer people made it to the multiplexes. Attendance is expected to hit a 27-year low when official numbers are tallied.

Universal’s “Pitch Perfect 3” took third place on the stateside charts, grossing $22.7 million for the four-day period and pushing its domestic total to just under $70 million. The a Cappella comedy carries a $45 million production budget and has been billed as the final installment in the franchise.

Hugh Jackman’s musical drama “The Greatest Showman” is finishing a close fourth with $20.7 million. The Fox-Chernin Entertainment production chronicles the rise of circus impresario P.T. Barnum. It got a boost from the holidays, and showed the biggest gain in the top 10 movies from the Christmas Eve weekend with an impressive 73 percent surge. The domestic total should hit $54.3 million through Monday. It’s a pricey movie, though. All that singing and dancing didn’t come cheap and “The Greatest Showman” cost $84 million to make.

Fox’s second weekend of “Ferdinand” rounded out the top five with $14.6 million, giving the animated comedy $56.8 million domestically.

Not every film was feeling the holiday spirit. Paramount’s “Downsizing” is a costly bomb. The comedy about a man (Matt Damon) who shrinks to the size of thimble in order to live in a materialistic utopia collapsed at the box office, eking out $6.1 million over the long weekend. Its total stands at $18.5 million

— a paltry result given its $65 million budget. It also prolongs a box office losing streak for Damon. The actor also struck out with “Suburbicon” and “The Great Wall,” both of which opened during and flopped in 2017.

Warner Bros. and Alcon’s comedy “Father Figures” was another casualty of the Christmas crunch. The story of two twin brothers (Ed Helms and Owen Wilson) on a quest to find their biological father netted $5.1 million over the four-day weekend. Its total tops out at $14.1 million, making it unlikely that it will recoup its $25 million production budget as well its marketing costs.

And Sony’s “All the Money in the World” struggled to appeal to older audiences. The drama about the kidnapping of John Paul Getty III attracted lots of attention for the filmmakers’ last minute decision to re-cast a key role played by disgraced actor Kevin Spacey. The breakneck reshoots took place in a matter of weeks, with Christopher Plummer assuming the Spacey part as

parsimonious billionaire J. Paul Getty, and added $10 million to the film’s $40 million budget. Alas, audiences failed to show up. The movie grossed $7.5 million over the holiday weekend, bringing its domestic total to $14.7 million.

Foreign audiences picked up the slack as domestic attendance sputtered in 2017. The global box office is projected to hit $40 billion for the first time in history, propelled by the return of China. Total ticket sales in the Middle Kingdom grew by 22.3 percent, ending the year with $8.6 billion in revenues. That, at least, gives a beleaguered movie business some cause for celebration.
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China’s total domestic movie ticket sales rose 13.5 percent in 2017 to 55.9 billion yuan ($8.6 billion), a state news agency said Monday.

The top-grossing title was the mainland-made action picture “Wolf Warrior 2,” which took in 5.7 billion yuan ($875 million), the Xinhua News Agency said, citing data from the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television.

China is the second-largest global film market and is narrowing the gap with the United States, where last year’s domestic box office is estimated to have declined 2.6 percent from 2016 to $11.1 billion.

Mainland-made movies accounted for 54 percent of 2017 ticket sales, or 30.1 billion yuan ($4.6 billion), according to Xinhua.

The No. 2-grossing title was the Hollywood action movie “The Fate of the Furious,” which earned 2.7 billion yuan.
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When you think about America’s national parks, what probably comes to mind first is Yellowstone — America’s very first national park. That was Mikah Meyer’s next stop as he neared the half-way point in his quest to visit every one of the 417 national park sites. He shared highlights of his visit there with VOA’s Faith Lapidus.
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The roses are ready, and the skies will be blue in Southern California on New Year’s Day.

Only a few clouds are expected in Pasadena as the city celebrates the 129th Rose Parade, and temperatures are expected to reach a high of the mid-70s.

Hundreds of thousands of people are expected to line a street to watch floats decked out with hundreds of thousands of flowers.

It has rained on the Rose Parade only once in the past 67 years — that was in 2006 — and it has never been canceled because of weather.

Actor Gary Sinise is this year’s grand marshal.

Spectators started lining the 3.5-mile (5.6-kilometer) route on Sunday, many of them camping overnight to watch the floats that will start drifting by in the morning.
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On the last day of the calendar year, “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” has surpassed “Beauty and the Beast” as the top grossing film in North America in 2017. It also topped the charts for the weekend for the third time, but just barely – Dwayne Johnson’s “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle” is close on its tail.

According to studio estimates on Sunday, “The Last Jedi” will add $52.4 million over the weekend bringing its domestic total to $517.1 million. “Beauty and the Beast,” also a Disney release, netted out with $504 million for the year.

With the weekend’s earnings, “The Last Jedi” will also cross the $1 billion mark globally – even before it opens in China on Jan. 5.

But “Star Wars” is facing some hefty competition still, from the likes of The Rock, Jack Black and Kevin Hart, whose “Jumanji” sequel took in $50.6 million in its second weekend in theaters to take second place. The Columbia Pictures film has earned a stunning $169.8 million to date and could even reach $300 million domestically by the end of its run.

The acapella franchise “Pitch Perfect 3” took third place in weekend two, with $17.8 million, bringing its total to $64.3 million – still less than what “Pitch Perfect 2” earned on its opening weekend alone in May 2015 ($69.2 million).

Another musical, “The Greatest Showman,” with Hugh Jackman as P.T. Barnum, came in fourth place with $15.3 million after adding 310 screens. The animated kids film “Ferdinand” took fifth with $11.7 million.

In its first weekend in theaters after debuting on Christmas Day, Ridley Scott’s “All the Money in the World” took in $5.5 million, bringing its total to $12.6 million. The film got some added recognition when Scott replaced Kevin Spacey with Christopher Plummer and reshot portions of the film only 6 weeks before it was set to hit theaters. But the hype of the impressive feat hasn’t translated into big earnings.

Another adult-targeted film, Alexander Payne’s “Downsizing,” is struggling in theaters, taking in $4.6 million in its second weekend in theaters. The Matt Damon-starrer has earned only $17.1 million to date against a $68 million production budget.

In limited release, Aaron Sorkin’s “Molly’s Game,” starring Jessica Chastain, earned $2.33 million. The film about the “poker princess” Molly Bloom expands on Jan. 5. And Paul Thomas Anderson’s “Phantom Thread” earned $220,000 from four theaters over the weekend after its Christmas opening. Starring Daniel Day-Lewis as a designer, “Phantom Thread” has grossed $531,000 to date.

“As end of year marketplaces go, this is a great time to be a moviegoer,” said Paul Dergarabedian, a senior media analyst for comScore. “There are so many movies out there, the only trick is how do you see all of them.”

The year as a whole will surpass $11 billion again, with comScore projecting $11.12 billion, which is down 2.3 percent from last year’s record-breaking grosses ($11.4 billion), and almost on par with 2015’s $11.14 billion.

“We actually had a really great end of year surge,” Dergarabedian said. “‘Star Wars’ adding about a half billion dollars didn’t hurt. But ‘Star Wars’ didn’t do this alone. It’s not just about the big movies at the top, it’s also about the smaller movies that provided a really great foundation. Every dollar counts.”

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to comScore. Where available, the latest international numbers for Friday through Sunday are also included. Final domestic figures will be released Tuesday.

1.”Star Wars: The Last Jedi,” $52.4 million ($68 million international).

2.”Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle,” $50.6 million ($67 million international).

3.”Pitch Perfect 3,” $17.8 million ($13.1 million international).

4.”The Greatest Showman,” $15.3 million ($28.5 million international).

5.”Ferdinand,” $11.7 million ($23.1 million international).

6.”Coco,” $6.6 million ($21.4 million international).

7.”All the Money in the World,” $5.5 million ($1.4 million international).

8.”Darkest Hour,” $5.3 million.

9.”Downsizing,” $4.6 million ($1.4 million international).

10.”Father Figures,” $3.7 million.

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Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at international theaters (excluding the U.S. and Canada), according to comScore:

1. “Star Wars: The Last Jedi,” $68 million.

2. “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle,” $67 million.

3. “Ex-File 3 (Quan Ren 3),” $41.1 million.

4. “Goldbuster (Yao Ling Ling),” $38.4 million.

5. “Youth,” $28 million.

6. “Hanson and the Beast,” $25.5 million.

7. “Ferdinand,” $23.1 million.

8. “Namiya,” $21.4 million.

9. “Coco,” $21.4 million.

10. “Along with the Gods: The Two Worlds,” $20.1 million.

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Universal and Focus are owned by NBC Universal, a unit of Comcast Corp.; Sony, Columbia, Sony Screen Gems and Sony Pictures Classics are units of Sony Corp.; Paramount is owned by Viacom Inc.; Disney, Pixar and Marvel are owned by The Walt Disney Co.; Miramax is owned by Filmyard Holdings LLC; 20th Century Fox and Fox Searchlight are owned by 21st Century Fox; Warner Bros. and New Line are units of Time Warner Inc.; MGM is owned by a group of former creditors including Highland Capital, Anchorage Advisors and Carl Icahn; Lionsgate is owned by Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.; IFC is owned by AMC Networks Inc.; Rogue is owned by Relativity Media LLC.
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Thousands braved a frigid New York night to celebrate the start of 2018 in Times Square, an annual celebration that dates back to 1904.

Tarana Burke, a social activist who started the #MeToo movement to draw attention to sexual abuse, pushed the button that started the famed ball drop – a hallmark of the New York celebration for 110 years.2017 saw a sea change in attitudes and awareness of sexual assault and sexual harassment, as millions of people used the hashtag to show how pervasive abuse is in the wake of accusations made against dozens of high profile men, including celebrities, members of Congress and business leaders.

“We need to go into the new year as a new beginning, with a new set of commitments to a better world,” Burke told the New York Daily News.

As they do each year, the crowd counted down as the crystal ball slid down a pole, arriving at the bottom as 2018 began, accompanied by confetti and fireworks. 

Hundreds of thousands of people – watched over by thousands of police and other security personnel – crowded the square, despite temperatures around -12 C (10 degrees Fahrenheit). 

“Our toes are frozen, so we’re just dealing with it by dancing,” Remle Scott told the Associated Press. She traveled to New York with her boyfriend from San Diego to ring in the new year. 

The frosty festivities in Times Square included performances by Mariah Carey, Sugarland and Nick Jonas.

Fireworks around the world

In London, fireworks and the sound of Big Ben – the massive bell in the Elizabeth Tower clock – welcomed the start of 2018 for about 100,000 revelers near the River Thames.Big Ben has been silent since August, when a renovation project on the clock began.It’s not scheduled to return to regular service for about four years.

Fireworks were also part of the celebrations in Paris and Moscow.In the Russian capitol, fireworks lit up the sky over the Kremlin, while in Paris the display was held at the Arc de Triomphe.

Thousands gathered around Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbor to watch a 10-minute musical firework display, which included “shooting stars” fired from rooftops and revelers dancing to “Auld Lang Syne.”

In the Indonesian capital of Jakarta, over 400 couples participated in a New Year’s mass wedding provided for free by authorities.

Nearly 1.5 million people gathered to watch a rainbow fireworks display above Sydney’s iconic Harbour Bridge and the opera house, as the country celebrated legalizing gay marriage.

Security tight

In preparation for celebrations in cities around the world, hundreds of thousands of law enforcement, military and security officials are being deployed to keep New Year’s Eve revelers safe.

In Australia, officials were out in full force on the ground, air and sea as part of the largest security operation in the country. Police in Melbourne last month arrested a man for planning to shoot revelers on New Year’s Eve.

In the United States, New York City officials used two-step screening, snipers, street closures and specially trained dogs to secure Times Square.
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The U.S. Library of Congress says it will no longer collect every single tweet published on Twitter as it has been doing for the past 12 years. 

The library said this week that it can no longer collect everything across the entire social media platform because of recent changes Twitter has made, including allowing longer tweets, photos and videos. 

It said in a blog post this week that its first objective with collecting and archiving tweets was “to document the emergence of online social media for future generations.” The library says it has fulfilled that objective and no longer needs to be a “comprehensive” collector of tweets. 

The Library of Congress said it will still collect and archive tweets in the future, but will do so on a more selective basis. It said going forward “the tweets collected and archived will be thematic and event-based, including events such as elections, or themes of ongoing national interest, e.g. public policy.”

The library said it generally does not collect media comprehensively, but said it made an exception for public tweets when the social media platform was first developed. 

The library said it will keep its previous archive of tweets from 2006-2017 to help people understand the rise of social media and to offer insight into the public mood during that time. “Throughout its history, the Library has seized opportunities to collect snapshots of unique moments in human history and preserve them for future generations,” it said.

“The Twitter Archive may prove to be one of this generation’s most significant legacies to future generations. Future generations will learn much about this rich period in our history, the information flows, and social and political forces that help define the current generation,” it said.
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It’s not an Olympic sport, at least not yet, but pinball has a growing body of top-level athletes, and a growing number of international competitions. Faith Lapidus reports.
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