Saturday, January 01, 2005 (Philippines)

Near Cebu City’s Fuente Osmeña, a young woman offers a safer and cheaper alternative to firecrackers for the New Year’s Eve revelry. But elsewhere in Asia, the celebrations were subdued for far more grim reasons than austerity.(Sun.Star Cebu photo/Amper Campaña) Three robberies and five thefts were committed each day, on the average, in Cebu City last year, but fewer crimes were reported overall in 2004 than in the year before, police said. Theft and robbery incidents were the most common crimes in Cebu City for 2004. [full story]