The last of the crystal triangles that make up this year’s Times Square New Year’s Eve ball were installed on Friday morning, marking the first time in 10 years that all 2,688 were replaced at once. Rapper Pitbull and inventor Joy Mangano were among those on hand to help the organizers of the celebration put the final pieces in place atop One Times Square, the skyscraper from which the 11,875-pound (5,386-kilogram) geodesic sphere drops to mark the new year. A New Year’s Eve ball was first dropped in Times Square in 1907. Built by a young immigrant metalworker named Jacob Starr, the 700-pound (318-kilogram), 5-foot (1.52-meter) diameter ball was made of iron and wood and featured 100 25-watt light bulbs. Six newer versions of the ball have been featured in the century-plus since...
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Every Friday, folk musician Enes Salman performs the Sevdalinka, an ancient form of love song from Bosnia and Herzegovina that this month was included in UNESCO's National Inventory of Intangible Cultural Heritage. Sevdalinka, often referred to as the Balkan Blues, is a melancholic urban love song dating back to the 16th century. It is a mix of South Slavic oral poetry and the music of the Ottoman Empire. Salman is one of a few musicians who are keeping the old tradition alive. Bosnian musician Enes Salman plays the accordion while performing the traditional love song Sevdalinka, in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, December 20, 2024. REUTERS/Amel Emric "I have been playing and singing Sevdalinka since I was 14," Salman said before a recent performance. Sevdalinka, often pe...
Read MoreFor centuries, Florence’s 16th-century Vasari Corridor was only accessible to dukes and lords. Now, the raised passageway that connects the city’s Uffizi Galleries to the former residence of the powerful Medici family, has reopened to the public after an eight-year restoration project. The corridor, named after the Renaissance architect and biographer Giorgio Vasari, who designed it, is some 750 meters (820 yards) long. It stretches from the Uffizi Museums to the imposing Palazzo Pitti, passing over Ponte Vecchio above the tiny historic jewelry boutiques that cross the Arno river. The corridor was built by Florence’s powerful Medici family to allow them to move secretly and safely from one part of the historic Italian city to another. “It’s a reopening that allows us to conne...
Read MoreOne of the world’s most active volcanoes spewed lava into the air for a second straight day on Tuesday. The eruption of Kilauea volcano on Hawaii’s Big Island has stayed within the mountain’s summit caldera inside Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. No homes were threatened. Molten rock began shooting from the volcano before dawn on Monday when fissures opened in the caldera floor and propelled lava 295 feet (90 meters) into the air. The red liquid formed tall fountains and then spread across 650 acres (263 hectares). The Hawaiian Volcano Observatory estimated the lava was about 1 yard (1 meter) thick. Scientists expect activity to fluctuate in the coming days. The lava paused Monday afternoon but fountains reemerged Tuesday morning. The eruption occurred in an area that’s bee...
Read MoreA restored Trevi Fountain was unveiled on Sunday after more than two months of cleaning and restoration, part of Rome's preparations for the 2025 Roman Catholic Holy Year. The work, for which the city of Rome set a 327,000 euro budget, included removing dirt, pollution, iron oxide and limescale from the 18th century monument, one of the best known of Rome's many tourist attractions. A view shows the Trevi Fountain on the day it reopens to the public after maintenance work, in Rome, Italy, December 22, 2024. REUTERS/Yara Nardi During that time, the fountain had been drained but visitors were able to view it from a temporary footbridge. To avoid a return of the big crowds that customarily engulfed the small square housing the fountain, Rome Mayor Roberto Gualtieri said visitors ...
Read MoreResearchers in Siberia are conducting tests on a juvenile mammoth whose remarkably well-preserved remains were discovered in thawing permafrost after more than 50,000 years. The creature, resembling a small elephant with a trunk, was recovered from the Batagaika crater, a huge depression more than 80 metres (260 feet) deep which is widening as a result of climate change. Researchers Gavril Novgorodov and Erel Struchkov pose for a picture next to the carcass of a baby mammoth, which is estimated to be over 50,000 years and was found in the Siberian permafrost in the Batagaika crater in the Verkhoyansky district of the Sakha Republic, also known as Yakutia, Russia, June 13, 2024. Courtesy Gavril Novgorodov via REUTERS The carcass, weighing more than 110 kg (240 pounds), was brought...
Read MoreCentury-old, architect designed custom clocks still ticking in Pennsylvania’s Capitol
Capitol buildings are almost always an imposing presence. The seat of government, they tend to be elegant and stately — and frequently capped by a dome. Visitors to Pennsylvania ‘s Capitol are drawn to its priceless artwork, polished marble and intricate carvings, but hidden behind the doors of some of its most ornate offices and chambers are another treasure: hundreds of antique clocks that were part of its original design. The 273 working clocks include many that are integrated into fireplace mantels and other building features. They are not low maintenance, requiring regular oiling and occasional mechanical overhauls. And every week, in a throwback to a time before wristwatches and cellphones, clock winders roam the halls — ensuring the century-plus-old timeke...
Read MoreWhen Hook was a child, he started his days by jumping off the boat that his family lived on and into the ocean. By age 3, he could already swim and dive in shallow waters. His home was a kabang, a boat, that his family sailed in Thailand’s southern waters. The ocean was his backyard. Now Hook, whose full name is Suriyan Klathale, lives on land like the rest of his community, a people known as the Moken. The recollections of his childhood, which many Moken of his generation still have, are mostly just memories. The community, a group of indigenous people from Thailand and Myanmar, came to worldwide attention for its members’ understanding of waves when the Indian Ocean Tsunami struck in December 2004 and killed more than 200,000 people. The few tourists who happened to be on the isla...
Read MoreWhen Pope Francis left the Vatican earlier this month for his traditional Christmastime outing downtown, he acknowledged what many Romans have been complaining about for months: That his big plans for a Holy Year had turned their city into a giant construction pit, with traffic-clogging roadworks tearing up major thoroughfares, scaffolding covering prized monuments and short-term rentals gobbling up apartment blocks. Francis urged Romans to pray for their mayor — “He has a lot to do” — but to nevertheless welcome the upcoming Jubilee as a time of spiritual repair and renewal. “These worksites are fine, but beware: Don’t forget the worksites of the soul!” Francis said. When he formally opens the Holy Year next week, Francis will launch a dizzying 12-month calendar of events that ...
Read MoreUNESCO will deploy a team of experts to assess possible risks for the conservation of Ha Long Bay in Vietnam as it is worried about development projects that may threaten the heritage-listed tourist attraction, the U.N. agency told Reuters. The bay and the adjoining Cat Ba archipelago of limestone islets celebrates this year the 30th anniversary of inscription on the UNESCO world heritage list, being considered by the agency "the most extensive and best known example of marine-invaded tower karst." The UNESCO designation contributed to the site becoming a massive tourist destination, drawing millions of visitors every year and boosting Vietnam's revenue from tourism. However, the United Nations' education, scientific and cultural agency, in a statement attributed to its World...
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