so it's my role to give these down. it's different idea that they can leave the wants of this community. 3 short films show how performance creates a home and family, and gives hope and opportunity a j select on al jazeera. ah, this is al jazeera ah hello, there i'm to clock. this is the news i live from doha, coming up in the next 60 minutes. the omicron and delta variance, dr. a dramatic increase in the numbers of infections across the world. about south africa is lifting some restrictions,

saying the latest wave of infections is piqued. thousands of people evacuated as the most destructive wildfire and recent history take hold in the state of colorado . and as the clock winds down on 2021, we look back at some of the biggest stories covered by algebra. and i'm devin, ashwin, sports, manchester city pa is our can sell. it was injured fighting off burglars and his time on his international teammate christiana went out. i house, manchester, united beet funding in the premier ah so 2 years ago china told the world health organization about new and mysteries cases of pneumonia and woo hon city. now almost 5 and a half 1000000 people have died from corona virus around the world, and the virus continues to spread in china. 13000000 residents in the city of john have been locked down for a week. there are reports of people,

a struggling there to find food supplies, and the omicron and delta veterans have coven, 19 a chattering daily infection records in the u. s. in europe. on thursdays, nearly 2000000 new cases were recorded loudly, but south africa says it will ease restrictions. offer infections dropped by almost 30 percent last week. the government believes it's past the peak of the omicron very well will be getting more amusing of restrictions in south africa with for me to mila shortly. and pull brennan is standing by in london for more on the situation in europe. the 1st katrina you begins our coverage from beijing in a suburban neighborhood in the city of she. anne instructions from a loudspeaker tell residents not to leave their apartments unless absolutely necessary. 3 year old, long dull is making the most of the opportunity to stretch his legs. members of his family are only allowed outdoors to take curve at 19 tests, and collect to livid supplies. there along the 30000000 people who will spend new

year's eve under strict lockdown or mm hm. yes. my son is very young and doesn't understand a lockdown or where the increase in case numbers me. yeah. he only knows there many people outside are sick. and if we go out we could be infected, shall he panics a bit and feel scared. and he tells me i don't want to be infected and going to quarantine on the guy. yeah. without vaguely his mother junk. so when is a kindergarten teacher? she was shocked to received notice of the lockdown last week. more than $1000.00 cases have been reported and she and since the beginning of december, it's the worst outbreak. china's faced in months and the most severe measures and persons to woo hon lockdown last year. a policy allowing one member of the household to buy groceries every 2 days were scrapped earlier this week. after infections continued to rise. some residents have taken to social media to complain about a lack of access to food and other essential goods. the complaints prompted authorities

to offer free food deliveries. they say the problem is with delivery and not supply tall thong to junker. the supply of daily necessities is she on is sufficient. on the whole, the commerce ministry will take further measures to ensure a stable supply and the process of a daily necessities. it's been 2 years since w h. o. officials and china were 1st notified of the mysterious flu like illness emerging in one and 2 years since dr. lee. when leann sounded the alarm about the outbreak before be silenced, and eventually dying from the corona virus himself. since then, officials responsible for mishandling information in the early days of the pandemic had been punished, and most of the country's population has been dull vaccinated. but it's still unclear how the coroner virus originated. china has defended it 0 tolerance approach to corbet. 19 officials here say close borders and heavy handed measures

have kept total infections to about 100000 deaths to below $5000.00. but international experts have question to government figures. beijing is under increased pressure to control this latest outbreak and lifted the she unlocked out before the winter olympics open in february for junk. so when at her son they have little choice but to try to stay fit and healthy at home fe. long dos, favorite sport is swimming. but he doesn't know when he'll be able to do it again for real. katrina, you al jazeera, they didn't. or the situation in china, let's get more in the pitcher in south africa from you to mila jones is from tough for me to tell us more about the restrictions being lifted. and well, the government here has been under immense pressure, especially from the hospitality sector to reduce the lockdown restriction level. because this really is the peak holiday period in south africa and the countries

already suffering international travel bands. and so the tourism industry has been severely affected as well as the economy. and so now is relying on domestic tourism to try and boost the economy. so the government has said it's lowered restrictions as far as possible. and the main issue there was a curve you between 12 midnight and for a m, that's no longer exists and people are allowed to move freely throughout the day. and this comes just ahead of new year's eve celebrations. the government has said this is based on the numbers of infection, so the number of infections rather dropping significantly by 30 percent on south africa. and now having a far fewer active corona, virus infections in the country. and also saying that the hospitals and their ability and resources to accommodate people who might need hospitalization. there are enough resources. there really isn't that issue. and experts have also said,

what is interesting is that yes, the army con variant is highly infectious. but they saw a very rapid peak and then also a steep decline in a matter of weeks. and so that's the kind of information that has led to, to the restrictions been lowered that along with the uptake of vaccines. the i was going to say i was of after was amy food, 70 percent of rights, people being vaccinated by the end of 2021. how's that been? well, what's the latest update like, while they certainly many would say that was very ambitious for the south african government, given that there is a significant amount of vaccine hesitancy. they've just passed about a 45 percent mark in terms of people going out and getting jobs. they also allowing now for boosters booster jobs for people, especially who might be vulnerable or have their immunity compromise. they're working hard, trying to convince people to get vaccinated, saying this is the safest alternative aside of from any sort of non pharmaceutical,

a preventative measures. and this is really key to keep people remaining safe. there is a lot of work to be done. vaccine hesitancy is an issue, but south africa has more than enough vaccines in stock for that. 70 percent target . it hasn't reached yet. they continue to try and create awareness to ensure people come out and get vaccinated. as i said, there are booster shots available as well. but they really are relying on people taking personal measures to keep safe. and also i think their confidence boosted by the severity of the on the con very and saying that it appears that illness is not as severe. and hospice asp delay zation rates remain low. right, okay, for me to. thanks for that to for me to minute in cape town, let's switch over to europe to london. in fact, we'll brennan stymied by frista and paul. here we are at the end of the year and the prime minister there, boris johnson says we're in a better place than this time last year. being comparatively bad according to bar,

as johnson on his social media, twitter account in the last hour. a typically bullish account of the year, so far from the prime minister saying that the, the economy is better and that the battle against the covey pandemic is also better as well. to a certain extent, he's right. i mean, the aim that the government had of offering booster shots to every adult in england has been achieved. if you take offering the shots as the target, some said it was actually boosting people, getting jobs in arms, which should have been the target. and some 28000000 people have now had that booster shots and the rest of them have at least been offered it and many more have been booked in and we'll have it in january. other issues that are a glimmer of light on the horizon that's from it. a said the lower hospitalization rate. it seems from the micron. various figures from south africa show that on the cross results in about 5 percent of cases ending up in hospitalization compared to

around 15 percent of those who had to delta very intending up in hospital. there are difficulties comparing, like with like, between south africa and the u. k. and europe because of demographic differences, but this is a glimmer of hope on the gamble that the prime minister is taking is that he can keep hospitality open, keep the economy going without putting too much pressure and strain on the health care systems. it's a tricky gamble, but it's one that he's hoping to pull off. pulled december 31st. what's the impact on a celebration? well, he hasn't introduced any extra restriction. so we're still in a kind of plan b scenario where people are being urged to wear masks in doors for example. but i can tell you, with my own eyes anecdotally, it's rather widely being ignored, and people are still on trains without wearing masks are still going into shops without wearing masks. and that seems to be not very much. and forced means of mask

wearing across the country that. 5 said though they've can so many authorities of council the large scale organized events that were due to take place on new years. even what i think we can anticipate is more family orientated gatherings and those will take place as no doubt about it. there is concern about the number of older people who are reporting positive cases, positive tests, and that some help chiefs of worried that that might feed into more hospitalized ations in the new year. but essentially what we're looking at is the biggest intergenerational mixing events of the year. the impact of it won't be known for several days afterwards or a full tank. so that's a full brand in london. staying in england, we get a high wycombe now reg valley as frontline, and it just dr. and clinical epidemiologists at the university of cambridge that dr . ellie, welcome to the program. so we have another new to new year for most people around the world. do you agree with the british prime minister that the outlook looks

brighter than this time last year? it afternoon? yes, i mean the big difference compared to this time last course is last year and almost nobody in the world in the you have been selected. whereas this time over 9 t, 5 percent of those are high risk, have been to the okay. and the vast majority cases in terms of the individual level of protection that people have. this is much, much better than it was last year. the content has been with chrome, is that because it's been very quickly if enough people are infected at the same time, even a small proportion of those kids end up in causing a number of hostile missions, which in a chest saw generally would struggle to keep it still tim snell. exactly how that's going to pan out. but so the only indication that the severity of disease that we're seeing and hospitals not just in canada and other countries

but it is putting pressure, but it is putting pressure on on hospital hospital beds. and so forth. what's your experience within the health system, if the situation for currently it doesn't, it's not as bad as love to even if you look at the number of admissions that was got to the moment and left the last, the title president of the hospital bent, occupied guilty less than last year, and one of the most significant differences is the impact on intensive care units or admission. so this time last year or the 10th of k units with filling up with the patient that really hasn't happened yet so far in this way. and the best stable if not, falling slightly setup steps and encouraging early sign. let's go to what the impact of christmas and mixing between interactions will be the early signs of providing some cautious kind of optimism. right. what is your sense about whether it's on the chrome variances heading? have you been surprised, for example, of the speed at which the on the con,

driven 4th wave rose and it peaked and then swiftly declined. it seems in south africa. so i think it has, it has be exhausted and many people were expecting was with an event, you never know what's going to happen. there are differences in africa compared to your not just the demographics, both of the season and some other. and also the difference between that condition right now or, or industry right now compared to when they have that dealt with in europe and in the u. k. a level of the community. similar to when we faced the delta ways, we wouldn't expect a big difference in, of course, so when to her as well, spending much more time in doors and mixing much more time in those so i don't anticipate it will fall and rise quite as quickly and europe is out again, that's an encouraging sign that it didn't go as high as expected and it didn't put the pressure on hospitals that was expected lending result of many desks as was scared to that's of course,

currently. but we need to look our own data before we say, like it have in europe. yeah. and this is apparently weaker very into the micron. well, that is causing more hospitalisation. is this the way it is now going? do you think or could there be another very that could be more powerful, more infectious, and potentially more deadly? it's difficult to predict the single, the think not giving to as a is a new virus given what's happening in previous current viruses release, going back before could be one. it does seem to have a time the more likely to cause mild symptoms. and that's not only because of itself in the coming weeks is because it will have more immunity. so in, so to community throughout the world. now, the majority of people, whether 3 vaccination on natural infection have some degree of immunity. and that's the main driver really behind the symptoms with same of course, they've a time to increase more and more either through natural section or 3. i know all,

you know, annual based shops. that's the direction of travel we would expect. and i think the predictable about what we would expect, but we can exclude the possibility of a more severe coming in the future shop. right. about the, appreciate your expertise on this. thanks very much. thank you. but more still ahead on the news are including us troops of ended their combat mission in iraq. but there still opposition to the few remain on the ground. will tell you why the temporary fix is much needed. a decenter thousands of refugees in mid mar of the days of fighting your report from the ty border. i, we got support coming up to these jockeys in argentina. were horsing around explain later. what is all about? ah,

now the us stay to colorado is battling some of the most destructive wildfires in his history. hundreds of homes would be destroyed in tens of thousands of people have been evacuated to towns near denver. hard is hits. it's been described as a life threatening situation nor burden manly as this report. this is the moment a huge fire came rolling down the foothills of boulder, county and colorado. the fast moving blaze engulfed hundreds of homes. local say they haven't experienced anything like it. you know, this is the 1st time i've really been involved in anything like this and i'll tell you it is really scary ditches and things in the trees. oh, they're all up in flames like there's embers everywhere. so it makes me very frightened, of course, with the wind that it's gonna continue to spread to other home. strong winds and dry conditions are fueling the flames. official say some of the fire to spark by falling power lines which ignited prairie grasses. estates were merchant thrusting

declared and tens of thousands of people evacuated from the towns of superior and louis phil. many getting stuck in traffic jams as they tried to escape. gusts of a 100110 miles an hour can and have moved this fire down a football field in a matter of seconds. very little time. and to get out a very little time to even get the most important parts of your life. we currently have thousands of individuals in the south, south part of our county and in the areas of superior and lewisville who have been evacuated. we know that there are structures, both homes and businesses that have been burned and loss of speaking about hundreds of structures in boulder, county, tens of thousands of people have been left in the dark with power lines down or destroyed. patients in critical care of being moved out of hospitals because of the threat from smoke wins a gradually weakening,

giving fire fighters some respite. but the billowing smoke could be a bigger hazard as it travels across colorado. laura that manly al jazeera, the russian and u. s. presidents have spoken for the 2nd time this month, and a bid to deescalate tensions over ukraine at the white house as the court between joe biden and vladimir putin lasted 50 minutes. i hadn't repeated the threat of sanctions if moscow invades ukraine. pimpton said such a move could lead to a complete breakdown of ties between countries. john hunter has worn off from washington, dc. in a 50 minute conversation between us president joe biden and russian president vladimir putin. the 2 sides laid out their diplomatic positions over growing tensions in ukraine. that is where a 100000 russian troops are amassed on the russian side of that border. after that, talk us press secretary for the president, jim saki issued a statement saying, quote,

president biden urged russia to de escalate tensions with ukraine. he made clear that the united states and its allies and partners will respond decisively if russia further invades ukraine. president biden also expressed support for diplomacy. she went on to say that the president reiterated that substantive progress in these dialogues can occur only in an environment of de escalation rather than escalation. then we have the response from the russian side assistant to president vladimir putin. uri you shock, i've said one conclusion was underscored if the security negotiations are successful, it should naturally lead to certain normalization of relations and perhaps an improvement in bilateral relations. the conversation with entirely focused on issues of security guarantees instead. and he went on to say that these conversations will continue at a lower level in europe in january. the russian position is clear. it wants to, once i legally bindings guarantee that ukraine will never enter nato when it wants

to make sure that later weapons are never stationed in ukraine or other buffer countries around russia. the u. s. position is that that is a decision between ukraine and nato. and it can't be decided in bilateral talks between the us and russia. ship the u. s. is also threatened economic sanctions against russia if it were to invade ukraine with all of those troops amassed on the border, president putin says that would cause a rupture in relations. well, let's say not from lewis, nevada, who's a fellow with the foreign policy research institute. he previously served the last us senate chief of staff to joe biden, and he says the criminal underestimated washington's response to its tactics in ukraine in georgia. this is a crisis of the kremlin, make it, and it is what is unclear in all of this is what constitutes in vladimir putin's mind. the security of russia and normalization that does not require

a treating its neighbors such as ukraine in georgia, as satellites. an implicit in all of this and in explicit in one of the demands of the kremlin, is that the ukraine and by extension, any other country, such as georgia, that might be interested in joining nato to be denied. and the administration is made clear that that is not acceptable, that sovereign nations are precisely that. i think that to the right of the russians, by placing these troops on the border, sought to precipitate crisis, sought to force a back down by the administration and its liter our lives. and instead, what they have found is that now after 2 calls in the rob to this next set of discussions that the u. s. is organized western europe to agree to even stronger sanctions. and have it ever been in, in force before. and more importantly,

perhaps, that forward deployment into poland been to the baltic states as well as defensive military assistance for ukraine are all on the table. and these are precisely the sort of actions that russia doesn't want to see happen. and so i think that is why couldn't initiated this call. now then is that another year draws to an end. we take a look back at some of the most important elections in 2021 and how those plans for the new year will shake the news agenda or latin america to send you as report. oh, in the world's most powerful country, a sharp turn away from right wing populism. unit duration of democrat, joe biden. donald trump became the 1st outgoing president in modern u. s. history not to attend. but 2 weeks before the inauguration, many of trumps loyal supporters attacked the united states capital building in washington, following an unsuccessful bid by trump to overturn his defeat. to day,

we celebrate the triumph not of a candidate, but of a cause. the cause of democracy. the people, the will of the people has been heard and the war people has been here. for the 1st time, a bi racial woman camel harris was elected as the u. s. vice president are showing in what many c as a milestone across the atlantic, the end of in europe. after 16 years of leading her country and europe, german chancellor angle america decide that it was time to step down. after general elections, she was replaced earlier this month by olive shots, a social democrat. this coming year could see more changes in europe, incumbent french president, emmanuel in my conch, is expected to face strong competition. in april. the leader of the right wing national rally party marine lipper,

has launched her 3rd bid for the presidency. she 2 faces stiff competition from afar. right candidate, eric zimmer, who has been compared to donald trump in hungry, rattling nationalist victor. oregon has held officers prime minister for the last 11 years, and in april he to face a strong electoral challenge. 2021 was marked by an alarming number of kuda taz and growing authoritarianism that were cruising molly and guinea a military takeover in sudan. an unsuccessful co attempt to niger and an arbitrary transfer of power in chad. in the new year, kenya and angola will hold general elections and marley will see if the transitional authorities do, in fact hold elections as promised. in the middle east, serious president bashar al assad obtain 95 percent of the vote in the reelection that was widely described as fraudulent. while in iran ultra hard liner,

abraham racy was declared the winner in an election that saw the lowest turn out in iranian history. in latin america, 2021 was a turbulent year with nicaragua, leader, daniel ortega assuring his reelection last month after disqualifying and arresting the vast majority of his would be competitors. ah, but in neighboring honduras, you're mad. castro, the wife of a former president who was ousted in 2009, was elected as the country's 1st woman president. a year ended with a 35 year old former left wing student leader. gabrielle bought each elected in chile with the largest number of votes in history. there's no indication that the regions more authoritarian governments will be less so in the new year. but after a decade long swing to the right, the election of gabriel burridge in chile could signal the beginning of

a new shift back to the left in the continent, starting with latin, america's largest country, brazil. the new year will it populist conservative president jade bull sonata against his arch political phone. we see now sula desilva, brazil's left wing, former president, whose prism conviction for corruption was overturned in april, and was now leading in the polls. but they were also compete against the man who sent lula to prison, former and to corruptions are said, your mortal. columbia could also shift from the right to the left in may bull's put former bulletin mer, gustavo petro, in the lead. south korea will hold presidential elections in the new year, but perhaps the most attention will be on the philippines, where current press didn't ros. legal to death day could be replaced by ferdinand marcus junior, the son of the country's former dictator. and that this daughter sada, who's running as his vice president,

there's concerned that the ticket aims to perpetuate their respective political dynasties. to see a newman al jazeera santiago, still a head heron out zera. we visit italy's steel making company linked to high cancer rates and toxic pollution. will the government succeed tony green and in the n b a 500 returns from a cave in 90 protocols or that story later. it's ah hello parts of the u. k. are enjoying their warmest new year's eve on rack or temperature in that liverpool in the north west of england. was it say 15 degrees celsius at 5 am this morning. so it's going to warm up a little more as we're going through the next few hours. of course, the record was 14 point a, so that's been smashed. here we go though,

when i say enjoying looking at cloud and rain and quite a stiff wind blowing in across that northwestern corner of you, the mild air is across many western and central parts. if the truth be known, even towards the east temperatures are running above average as that won't fall away down towards the iberian peninsula. lisbon, 20 celsius. as we go through friday afternoon, must be showers will clear away from much of the u. k. and the are invalid, where to where the pump making its way across denmark pushing across the baltic, states with northern areas of poland. still some wet weather in at east side of the mediterranean, pulling away from those flood hit parts of south was turkey. dry skies come back. it is all very mo bile. things do rattle through. as we go on through sat stay more showers there for the new year and still very warm. 14 celsius there in a london dry cross, much of north west africa. but though showers in the east side of the mediterranean will bring some heavy rain into the far north of eat it. ah,

a rite of passage preserved to the generation. my cousin was laying down there until was claiming she was helpless. the woman who, after indoors it goes through cycles of paint for what fat manime meets the women affected by f g m. and those re shaping perception. do you think people will abandon the site eventually, but to those take al jazeera correspond because when you break side is tornado, like everything it touched in mayfield. when people need to be heard and the story town, he has done his job to tell us what's going on with exclusive interviews and in depth reports i get on my right the wind and just b 3. i'll j 0 has teens on the ground to where you are award winning documentaries and light on air and online

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