Happy New Year

It was 2006 before it became 2007.
Here's a summary of things some folks felt to be of importance in 2006:

• An Associated Press-AOL News poll reveals that Americans see gloom and doom in 2007: Another terrorist attack, a warmer planet, death and destruction from a natural disaster. These are among Americans' grim predictions for the United States in 2007.

• On the other hand, the very same AP-AOL News poll stated that Americans are optimistic for 2007. The news from Iraq and other national headlines may be grim, but in Greenville, N.C., John Given has a new baby and his first home, and life is good.
  
  Headlines: what are they good for anyway?

• If the media's habit of combining celebrity names didn't cause word watchers enough heartburn in 2006, the past year had plenty of other words and phrases that language purists wish had "gone missing," according to AP.

• The Iraq war was voted top news story of 2006 by U.S. editors and news directors in The Associated Press' annual vote, followed closely by the U.S. election in which debate over Iraq played a pivotal role.
  
  Here are 2006's top 10 stories, as voted by AP members. There was a tie for seventh place:
  
  1. IRAQ
  2. U.S. ELECTION
  3. NUCLEAR STANDOFFS
  4. ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION
  5. SCANDALS IN CONGRESS
  6. SADDAM CONVICTED
  7. MIDEAST FIGHTING
  7. RUMSFELD RESIGNS
  9. AIRLINER PLOT
  10. DISASTER IN DARFUR

• Reuters presents their Pictures of the Year. Be on the lookout for the Green Helmet Guy and PhotoShopped news images manipulated by terrorists posing as press stringers.

• New laws for a new year: The new year will bring raises for hundreds of thousands of minimum-wage workers across the country. Musicians worried about copycats get some protection in Illinois. And California takes steps to reduce the power-plant pollution that is thought to contribute to global warming, reports AP.

• AP presents the Year in News photo gallery.

Tags: War, terrorism, Middle East, Operation Iraqi Freedom, United States, coalition, photography, photo, photos, pictures, images, photojournalism, Operation Enduring Freedom, Iraq, 2006, 2007
Global Tags: Washington DC, News and Politics, News, Politics, Current Events, Current Affairs, Life, Culture, Buzz, Tension

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