for battle and their opponents or anyone who is different. prejudices tried in hungary on al-jazeera. london's big ben rings in the u.k. as formal departure from the european union's single market. hello i'm daryn jordan this is our 0 live from doha also coming up a leading expert on infectious diseases in the u.s. says despite vaccines the pandemic will get worse before it gets better. donald trump cuts his vacation short to seek more republican support for opposing the official approval of joe biden's election win.

and any moment now the famous times square ball drops in new york city as the world says goodbye to 2020 and hello to 24. well as millions around the world welcome in the new year britain has marked the end of an era officially breaking its decades long relationship with the european union the u.k. is no longer now a member of the single market or customs union and the break the transition period has formally expired prime minister johnson has hailed it as a new beginning this is an amazing moment for this country we have our freedom in our hands and he's up to us to make the most of it. and i think it will

be the overwhelming instinct of the people of this country to come together as one united kingdom england scotland wales and northern ireland working together to express our values around the world leading both the g 7 and the cop 26 climate change summit in glasgow well i reports now from london on how the changes will affect people and businesses. finally the bells of big ben bring bricks it in with the trade deal taking the u.k. out of the european union the end of a relationship that dates back nearly half a century brussels had set the time midnight in belgium 11 o'clock here in the u.k. e.u. had already made its other adjustments with only a day to spare the trade treaty had been signed and sealed within the shores of this island nation british politicians say sovereignty has been fully restored the

political slogan we must take back control had gone down well with the majority of voters now it's going to be put to the test it's good to be better we need to govern ourselves and be our own bosses but it's going to be a lot of stress between everyone anyway because it's a very unknown and people don't do a change. in legal terms it was 11 months ago that the u.k. left the e.u. nearly a year of transition followed with the trade deal now in place brics it is set to show its true colors. the u.k. may have it's done but there's still a lot of haggling ahead the fisheries agreement seen by many in the industry as a sell out come to proper fruition for 5 years and that will be subject to negotiations. decisions still have to be made in the services sector which makes up 80 percent of the economy living clude spine and szell services and data sharing that won't be any new taxes to pay on exports at the border but there'll be plenty

of bureaucracy and delays are likely everyday freedoms will also end new rules on travel immigration mobile phone use bank accounts to name a few and there are big implications for the future of the united kingdom the scottish national party promise to restore e.u. membership to largely pro e.u. startle and if it becomes independent northern ireland is the only part of the u.k. that will continue to follow many of the e.u.'s rules that's to avoid the return of a contentious hard border with e.u. member the republic of ireland but that means new checks on goods entering northern ireland from the rest of the u.k. unionists fear isolation i think the deal is made northern ireland yes apart we want to come out of the european union the same terms of the rest of dedekind sadly that opt for 4 and a half years bracks it split the country even dividing families. those tensions may

well have subsided but now the clock is ticking new year and what boris johnson describes as a new beginning with a global britain more power more influence but could the opposite to be the case that diminishing level of power and a diminishing influence by the end of 2021 we may have an idea andrew simmons how does it. well as the u.k. faces the reality of brags that it's also dealing with an escalating coronavirus pandemic surging infections in england forcing north origins to reactivate emergency hospitals that were set up when the pandemic began most nightingale hospitals have been largely unused beneficial say they're now being prepared to admit patients if other medical centers which capacity challenge has more on the situation in the u.k. from outside the royal london hospital. whence they had some good news with the

announcement the oxford astra zeneca vaccine has been cleared for use in the u.k. and it will be rolled out from january the 4th thursday there was a case of do you want the bad news or the worst news 20000000 more people in england started the day. before they joined 24000000 people already living under the toughest level of coronavirus restrictions now 3 quarters of the english population hospitals in london and the southeast are saying the i.c.u. use intensive care units are operating at more than 100 percent capacity this one royal london hospital in recent days has been in the eye of the storm with ambulances of patients queuing up outside the emergency wards it begs the question why aren't the nightingale hospitals being used properly now. the.

the field hospital set up all around the country at the peak of the 1st wave by and large they have stood empty now the government says they're being ready ready for use as backups but i've just been down to the london one and had a look inside and was told that it's been temporarily closed and that most or some of the equipment at least. moved out the government's position is that it would prefer code patients to be treated in proper hospitals like this one and not in the emergency field hospitals as well equipped as they may be but the sounds of the calls that are coming out from frontline n.h.s. staff is that things are getting dire and something soon has got to give. well more than 25000 coronavirus related deaths have been recorded in the u.s. state of california in los angeles one person is dying every 10 minutes medical workers are struggling to cope and are housing patients in the hallways conference rooms and even gift shops fewer than 3000000 people across the u.s.

have been vaccinated against cope with 19 and that's far short of the government's target of inoculating 20000000 by now. the u.s. is top infectious disease expert dr anthony found she has told our jazeera that coronavirus prevention measures are not a political issue nor a matter of individual rights he says it's simply about public health. the issue is that science has been very successful in doing something that was unheard of or unimaginable years ago is to go from the identification of a new pathogen in this case this mysterious virus that just broke the pharmacy and then we identified it in the anywhere e of this here in less than an 11 month it actually now is going into someone's on into a lot of people's arms and it has been proven to be highly efficacious and say that

is a very successful coup de force of science my concern is that there is a lingering anti science feeling in this country that is sort of mixed in with an anti vaccine feeling that we've got to overcome by being transparent about what we've done and what we want to do with science and you can see the full interview with dr anthony fauci on the bottom line on friday at 530 g.m.t. right here on al-jazeera at least $140.00 republicans are reportedly set to vote against counting electoral votes next week when president elect joe biden's victory is expected to be certified although it could trigger a lengthy debate president trump supporters have no chance of overturning the results congress meets to count the votes and confirm the 2020 election result on jan and 6 republican senator josh holy has said he'll object to biden's victory and now some of his colleagues are engaging in similar tactics. our white house

correspondent kimberly health is in washington and explained why republicans are queuing up to oppose vice. well we can expect that there's going to be a lot of ground standing and ultimately joe biden will be the next president of the united states but between then and this of certification this taking place that typically was kind of a rubber stamping process there's going to be a lot of play for the cameras now the question becomes why are they doing this because it ultimately is not going to change the vote well the reason they say they're doing this is because they want to object to the certification process something that they say has precedent they say that the democrats in fact did this in 2016 objecting to donald trump's electoral win and they're simply exercising their right as members of congress to do this now what this is going to do is trigger a 2 hour debate it needs members of both the house and there are $140.00 members or

more and also at least one senator in the senate and we know that the republican from missouri just holly is that senator so this is what is going to trigger this mechanism but again this is not going to overturn the results still many of these republicans are allies of donald trump who firmly believe that there was voter fraud that there were election irregularities but as we've been reporting for weeks in fact that's not the case according to not only election officials but also the supreme court so this is going to certainly be a challenge in fact it's going to be unsuccessful even before it gets started. time for short break here now to 0 when we come back. australia without a bounce into the new year with a new anthem we'll look at what's behind the change. and we headed live to new york for a rather subdued new year's celebration and stay with us. fairly

quiet weather at the moment from turkey down to a man now there's a mass in the middle which is clad in generating some light showers in the not moving very fast now they're not lies do very much in a flash flooding here just occasional light shine and small chance they're all from doha from friday through to saturday as temp is slowly rising to 22 or 23 degrees by the average for this time of the year there is no great change throughout this whole area during saturday but we have seen change for the south the weather the more more active in southern africa. which you remember and across just north of bear in mozambique has spent most of the day going through zimbabwe to spend most of friday going through botswana on its way to namibia leaving behind again the

like that are generated showers in northern mozambique and this quite shop trough of active sundry stuff right through the middle of south africa and the city of forecasts continues in the same vein by the time we get to saturday brooke quite a good line of rain it goes from malawi or dance or northern zimbabwe nicole's back through south africa and significantly sits over new b. namibia not a place you think of as being particularly wet but the wind took forecasters got showers for the next 3 days. in a territory that's been under constant c. church 12 years. and in a state of perpetual conflict with its neighbor. women are swimming against the tides and challenging stereotypes in their isolated society ringback.

al-jazeera wild followers 5 palestinians making a difference. the new women of gaza on al-jazeera. ringback. what the yeard org. welcome back to the top stories here on al-jazeera the u.k. has formally completed its split from the e.u. after leaving its single market and customs union prime minister boris johnson hailed it as an amazing moment saying the country would make the most of what he called its new freedom. the royal london hospital says it's operating in disaster medicine mode as the u.k. reports $964.00 deaths and nearly $56000.00 cases in

a single day surging infections in england forcing all parties to reactivate motions the hospitals. and at least out in force republicans are reported to be ready to oppose counting electoral college votes next week when u.s. president elect joe biden's victory is expected to be certified although it could trigger a long debate president trump supporters have no chance of overturning the results . now 143 years after it was 1st composed down performed australia as updated its national anthem to reflect what the prime minister says is a spirit of unity. well damn was the old line the words have been changed to for we one and 3 no longer we are young men free it's an attempt to better recognize the country's indigenous history and december the national rugby players and indigenous version

of the anthem for the very 1st time. well professor langton the whole is the foundation chair in indigenous studies at the university of melbourne she says simply changing the words to the anthem won't make australia a fairer a country for its indigenous population. there are new. nike demands. and if yes they will not around the rim there are many numbers are like the martin song but one is that the national day of writing at night shines from its night of january 26th which is a long way to celebration of the landing of the 1st weight on the in command of the british night and that after philip and why that didn't sound broken. were everything from the maple really are a celebration of genocide and so. the other rotation.

is your right to them they hunt situation rick won't because we were have been excluded from the constitution since not a not written one and states 2 minor amendments in 969 we exist as an absence from the constitution so we've never been quoted and one word giant in the national anthem is not my to get when it's to. a celebration of genocide on. norbu our absence from the constitution an exodus of hong kong residents is expected to ramp up later this month as more people seek refuge in tough new security laws imposed by beijing from the end of january residents from the former british colony can move to the u.k. fructify the as and then apply for residency age and brown reports from hong kong. many people in today's hong kong tend to choose their words carefully but fred c.

is not afraid to speak his mind about the reasons for leaving a territory he says he no longer recognizes no place he would say you feel safe anymore everywhere when you see police actually get tense that's why especially as a parent with kids it worries me a lot fred hopes to soon join his family in the nearby democratic island of taiwan he owns a market research company another skilled worker who doesn't want to go but says he has to that decision motivated by concerns over the new national security law especially its impact on academic freedom when the children come to home you need to know. what lessons that they had in school would make you very tired always worried about your kids being brainwashed. was he took part in protests demanding political reform demonstrations that

often turn violent amid the subsequent campaign against ascent other families are also opting to leave this one else not to be identified because the father's worried about the repercussions of speaking out they've taken up the british government's resettlement offer and will soon leave their home for the last time. there is nothing to make me stay and it is torture to stay and if you're on the opposition side what the government is doing is not for the benefit of the people they have sacrificed hong kong's future for their own interests. kim watching is an outspoken political commentator also mulling a move to britain in the last few among a lot of people just as wise to me the closer in the poll mean the the they say maybe you have to be less if you choose to stay because it is tilted

a little what the government would do for you this kind of outspoken people it's not the 1st exodus from hong kong in the decade before the territory was returned from british to chinese rule in 1997 around half a 1000000 left but after securing a 2nd nationality many returned the mood among some of those leaving this time though is one of resignation a belief that they won't be coming back adrian brown al jazeera hong kong. it's been a difficult year for iran which is the country worst affected by the coronavirus in the middle east official say international sanctions that prevented medical aid from reaching those in need al-jazeera has dosage of buy reports now from tehran where doctors are pitching in to make up for the shortfall in supplies. a makeshift factory making masks in south help a village in south to her on a group of dentists made unemployed by the pandemic decided to use their own money

and buy these machines they got a permit from the health ministry and the local council provided the space free of charge. they now employ 20 women from this area who make about 120 dollars each month. for manaus new can as a single mother it's a job that would not have existed without the pandemic or u.s. led international sanctions yes they did a fairly good job of it yes i'm very satisfied with my work even if corona ends i'd like to continue my job the work environment is friendly and i like to work with this charity group. these women now produce 10000 masks daily working 6 days a week their soul to medical facilities and hospitals across the city in the heart of the modern would we have experience in every crisis when ordinary people assist the government would be result sooner faster and in a better way either in

a war than earthquakes floods and now in corona said these guys citee is an afghan national and a single mother of 5 this job is her only source of income more than most and. i've been working here for 8 months and i'm very satisfied with my work my husband lives with his other wife enough gonna stand and i support a family of 6 the doctors and the women here all say their work will continue even after the pandemic is over the main message from officials here during the pandemic has been one of self-reliance since iran can no longer rely on the international community to meet its medical needs and this small factories is one example of how necessity has forced the message ingenuity to meet demands and for women. it's been a life saving source of income. the president says iran is in an economic war since the united states withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal in 2013 and imposed

a series of crippling sanctions on the country's oil and banking sector. during the early days of the pandemic iranian officials try to buy protective equipment including masks from other countries but due to international sanctions on iran's banking sector paying for them has been difficult while iran has had the highest number of fatalities in the middle east during the pandemic this factory is one of the few positive things to emerge during hard times and for these women it's been a lifeline that could continue for years dorsetshire pari al-jazeera to her own. main also africa has announced a record daily increase of nearly $18000.00 infections a variant strain of corona virus is thought to be behind the surge which started at the end of november and average of $500.00 people a day die in south africa is part of the world health organization scheme that's helping poor and middle income countries receive vaccines the u.s.

has started to ring in the new year. but celebrations in new york are on a much smaller scale than normal in times square only a handful of invited guests including health care workers were allowed to gather to watch the crystal ball drop at midnight and inspect stop the site to prevent others from getting into the area with gabler's on the joins us live now from new york gabe so a very different celebration in times square tell us what's been happening. yeah it sure was different you know normally there and in years what happens in past years is people would start arriving more than 24 hours before the ball drop just to get a coveted spot to see that happen on new year's eve in times square normally there would be nearly up to a 1000000 people in and around times square this is a tradition that's been going on since 1907 but this year so very much different

with only about 40. invited guests 1st responders and their family members that were brought into times square to watch the ball drop and they were kept in separate pods to maintain social distancing this was the 1st time in 114 years that the general public was not invited to this annual celebration in new york city police blocked off all of the streets and even if you wanted to get in you simply couldn't do it it was just really surreal out of the performances were virtual a lot of the stars that performed weren't even live there they were videos that were pumped in from other areas and it to kind of give an idea of how this is i mean this is what you saw all over new york city on new year's eve with bars and restaurants and cultural venues that normally would have been open late into the night and celebrations all of it closed because of coronavirus and at the

celebration in times square gloria gaynor played her favorite song i will survive perhaps symbolic for many new yorkers that have gotten through a very very difficult 2020 yeah gave a lesser amount of cells that new york was the global coronavirus epicenter back in march april a 180 people a day were dying what's the situation now. yes certainly better than it was in march and april that's without saying there are some good news new york is doing very well on testing new york has tested more than 24000000 people since march in april that's more than any other state in the u.s. by far and new york is testing about 175000 people a day so that's the good news but numbers are also going up in other areas it is that are not good in the last several weeks the numbers of hospitalizations have gone up the number of people in the intensive care unit hospitals have gone up into

bay sions people that are on then to later has gone up and the death rate has also gone up it was down to less than 10 people a day dying in new york as of just a month or 2 ago and now it's up to in the last 24 hours 136 new yorkers died because of the krona virus infection and also now new york has surpassed 30000 people that have died here because of cove and 19 so while new york is not doing as bad as some other parts of america right now it is still very delicate situation here our gabriel is on the line for us and the your gave thank you. well the pandemic cast a shadow over new year's celebrations elsewhere around the world but some compress were able to ring in 2021 in traditional style as more about money reports for. new zealand was one of the 1st countries in the world to ring in the new year. it

has a new community cases of copied 19 and people celebrated in the streets. but a different story is a clock struck midnight 2 hours later in sydney the familiar bang in this a little fireworks to present the not the usual crowd to watch the plans to allow spectators were cancelled after a new cluster of coffee 1000 cases emerged. a few hours later this was the scene in china's hu han the city where covered 19 1st emerged more than a year ago and although new cases a scarce in the world's 4th largest country many still exercise caution by wearing masks. to the sun. everyone thinks that the 1st haul of 2020 was terrible if you look at the measures people took the things people did to control the virus people's kindness was felt by everyone and. most who also celebrated with this

annual tradition of pi works but its president vladimir putin had a sobering message but it stayed unfortunately the epidemic has not yet brain completely stopped the fight against it does not stop for a minute but doctors nurses and ambulance times continue to work right asleep many of them are on duty they're stressed of not. elsewhere empty streets in assemble many stated to host. and to paris is shown salie say police checked vehicles to ensure people stuck to a nighttime curfew. across the atlantic ocean new york prepared for its own form of celebrations familiar characters in the streets but not the usual crowd that filled the streets to cheer in the new year it's actually sad to see it's such a big distress. but i wanted to be here because it was my tradition i was here for quite many years i was going someplace in a big crowd. i was different new york is undefeatable you know and as the

world is as the country is and we're celebrating everything good and we have so much to be grateful for in spite of this horrific situation that we're in during this sign in new york times square a reflection of the times as many ask would things be better in 2021 there are about a man the al-jazeera. time for a quick check of the headlines here on al-jazeera the u.k. has completed its split from the e.u. after formally leaving the bloc single market and customs union prime minister bars johnson hailed it as a new beginning after 4 years of political drama this is an amazing moment for this country we have our freedom in our hands and he's up to us to make the most of it and i think it will be the overwhelming instinct of the people of this.