Shanghai to curtail Chinese New Year celebrations after deadly stampede

Shanghai is toning down Chinese New Year celebrations by cancelling events and limiting people at tourist spots after a stampede killed 36 people seven weeks earlier.

Revellers, many of them young women, were trampled to death on New Year’s Eve after flocking to the historic riverfront, known as the Bund, a popular tourist destination.

Police on foot patrol and driving golf cart-like vehicles kept an eye on tourists who flocked to the Bund on Wednesday, the eve of the traditional festival.

Large stretches of the Bund remain closed off to the public by a temporary wall put up by the city shortly after the accident.

“Shanghai is safe. That was just a chance accident,” said one tourist from the southern province of Fujian, taking a group photo with family and friends near where the crush occurred.

In the wake of the accident, the Shanghai government has cancelled at least five events during the week-long holiday, including a food fair and traditional bell-ringing at the Longhua temple.

The city has also announced it will restrict the number of visitors at more than 70 tourist spots, including the viewing platform of the Oriental Pearl TV Tower and the flagship Shanghai Museum.

Restrictions on numbers have not been announced for the Bund, where the crush also injured 49 people. However, police and security guards were limiting access to an elevated promenade along the riverfront through just a few designated points.

“This kind of accident is common in China, everyone going in one direction without thinking,” said another tourist from central Henan province, who gave his surname as Chao. “The government is giving it lots of attention now.”

An investigative report blamed police and city officials, who were aware of overcrowding but failed to act and communicate the risk to higher-level authorities.

In January, the city announced that 11 officials would be punished, with four removed from their posts.

China’s State Council, or cabinet, has called on local governments nationwide to control large gatherings at tourist spots during the Chinese New Year.

At the Yu Garden, another tourist site located on the site of Shanghai’s former old city, metal barriers and security guards loudly blowing whistles kept the crowds in check.

http://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1718053/shanghai-tones-down-chinese-new-year-celebrations-after-fatal-stampede

Structure of the Lead：

   WHO-not given

   WHEN- New Year’s Eve

   WHAT- a stampede killed 36 people

   WHY-not given

   WHERE- Shanghai

   HOW- trampled to death

Keywords：

   1. curtail：縮短

   2. stampede：踩踏

   3. flagship：旗艦

   4. promenade：漫步

   

2 NYPD police officers 'assassinated'; shooter dead

By Joshua Berlinger, Ray Sanchez and Shimon Prokupecz, CNN

updated 11:43 PM EST, Sat December 20, 2014

Officer Rafael Ramos sat in the driver's seat. Officer Wenjian Liu was at his side.

The two cops weren't at their usual precinct -- normally, the pair was assigned to downtown Brooklyn, but they were working a "critical response" detail in an area with higher crime, police said.

That's where they were slain, ambush-style -- Saturday afternoon as they sat in their patrol car, New York Police Commissioner William Bratton said at an evening news conference.

The gunman approached the passenger side of the patrol car and took a shooting stance, witnesses told police. He opened fire several times, striking both officers in the head, Bratton said.

They were "shot and killed with no warning, no provocation," Bratton told reporters. "They were quite simply, assassinated."

The gunman was found dead in a nearby subway station from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

The families of the fallen officers rushed to Woodhull Medical Center on Saturday, as dozens of their comrades gathered in a show of support.

Ramos had just turned 40 this month; Liu got married two months ago.

Both dreamed of being police officers, Bratton said.

"One of the unfortunate realities of policing is that you put that blue uniform on and you become part of the thin blue line between us and anarchy," Bratton said.

Mayor Bill de Blasio and Bratton met with the families of the victims. De Blasio said that Ramos' 13-year-old son couldn't comprehend what had happened to his father.

"When a police officer is murdered, it tears at the foundation of our society," the mayor said. "It is an attack on the very concept of decency."

Police identified the shooter as Ismaaiyl Brinsley.

He arrived in New York from Baltimore, but had a residence in Atlanta. Bratton said that Brinsley was somehow connected to Brooklyn, but would not discuss that information.

Bratton said at this time, there was no indication Brinsley was connected to any terrorist groups or organized entity.

Police were investigating posts Brinsley allegedly made on social media. Bratton said that the suspect had earlier shot and seriously wounded a woman believed to be his ex-girlfriend in Baltimore.

Baltimore police received information that Brinsley had made threatening comments about police, and sent a warning to police in New York, Bratton said.

That message came almost the same time the ambush happened.

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder called the attack "an unspeakable act of barbarism."

De Blasio also called the shootings an "assassination."

"It is an attack on all of us," he said. "It is an attack on everything we hold dear."

A White House official says President Barack Obama was briefed on the shooting.

http://edition.cnn.com/2014/12/20/us/new-york-police-officers-shot/

Structure of the Lead：

   WHO- two cops

   WHEN- Saturday afternoon

   WHAT- shot and killed

   WHY- not given

   WHERE- Brooklyn

   HOW-not given

Keywords：

   1. precinct：管理區

   2. slain：被殺

   3. provocation：挑釁

   4. comrades：同志