After a year like this, expect a strange New Year’s Eve

NEW YORK (AP) — If ever a year’s end seemed like cause for celebration, 2020 might be it. Yet the coronavirus scourge that dominated the year is also looming over New Year’s festivities and forcing officials worldwide to tone them down. From New York’s Times Square to Sydney Harbor, the pandemic is turning big public blowouts into TV-only shows and digital events. Fireworks displays have been canceled, including on the Las Vegas Strip and at the Arc de Triomphe in curfew-bound Paris. Private parties are restricted in some places, too. The occasion stirs mixed feelings for some people whose sense of joy at the year’s end is muted by its sorrows and the ongoing pandemic.