By SAMANTHA GROSS and VIRGINIA BYRNE
Associated Press Writers
NEW YORK – The crystal ball has dropped and confetti has showered the crowd of hundreds of thousands of revelers in Times Square who are greeting 2010 with cheers.
With hugs and kisses, partygoers tried to look forward to a more hopeful decade after 10 years marred by war, an uncertain economy and terrorism.
Fifty-eight-year-old Joao Lacerda (ju-WOW’ lah-SER’-duh) of Brazil offered this wish after the ball dropped: “Much happiness and for the world, much peace.”