this 9, the top temperature, the sas stay here with heavy rain for the east. oh, the weather sponsored by katara always. oh, you want to help save the world oh, sneeze into your elbow. ah, this is al jazeera ah 11 o'clock. this is the news i live from doha, coming up for the next 60 minutes. new year's celebrations begin in the shadow of covert 19 australia honors. it's frontline workers with firework service to the b o. mccrendon delta verin's drive. a dramatic increase in the numbers of infections across the world, but a drop in south africa sees restrictions east. thousands of people flee as

wildfires destroy large sways of land and homes. the state of colorado and a temporary fix for thousands of refugees in men law as much needed aid is sent in after days of fighting. we report from the ty border. i'm john ash and i'll be looking back at some of the major sport stories in 2021, including am i right. economy is incredible victory at the u. s. hyphen where the teenager became the 1st qualifier to win a grand slam title. ah, so we start this out in sydney, australia, where a major coby 90 not break, hasn't stopped crowds watching. while the world's largest new years fireworks displays tens of thousands of people are celebrating the 90th anniversary of the sydney harbour bridge and 6 tons of fireworks. to be used in a display that included a thank you to the frontline work,

caring for the community during cave it 19th. as we watch these pitches we should catch the fact that there were 21000 new cove cases in the state of new south wales . in the past 24 hours, bringing that current title to more than 89000 active cases, while 93 percent of people in the state have been vaccinated. there have also been large protests from people who don't want to be vaccinated and also oppose restrictions straight. it once had some of the toughest cov, 19 restrictions in the world, shutting international folders for 21 months from march 2020 until november of this year. and it'll skip at 19 as quickly spread off. so that whole is reopened. with a government says vaccines will protect many australians from dying from the virus all the while. the u. k. prime minister barak johnson has cooled on those celebrating new year to get tested for crone of ours. as omicron spreads across the country that he urged people to be cautious and sensible to nights at let's be nuts . oh brennan, who's in london joins us live at poll. so as we approached the year end in europe,

what's the sense there about what's happening? well here in england and i have to say england as opposed to the u. k. as a whole, we are somewhat of an outright at, for the rest of the continent. i mean, germany, the netherlands, even scotland and wales have imposed restrictions which will restrict local social gatherings. this new year's eve, whereas england under boris johnson has not. you are free to go to when i pull up, for example, go to a restaurant, go to a bar here in england at least. and the advice is simply to wear a mask where possible. but it's not being legally mandated. there are mask wearing restrictions in force, but they're not exactly being strictly enforced. and so it is a very big gamble that the prime minister is playing here. and so far the data would suggest that he's on the right side of it. but the data is incomplete. we've

got a christmas period where data it takes a few days to come through. even the government's own statistics, say that, you know, there's a couple of days missing and they will come later. poppy as a result of stat absences within the n h s who the staff are doing the reporting part. some statistics come after a couple of days and get bundled together and they kind of skew the statistics somewhat. but it does appear that alma cron is being having a milder effect on those who test positive for it. and although the infection rate is, is escalating highly, the number of hospitalizations remains relatively low, certainly much lower than last year. that was certainly the message from bar johnson in a social media video that he put out on twitter this morning. but there was a caveat and he still wants people to go about getting the booster jobs. let's have a listen. the people who think the disease can't hurt them. look at the people going into hospital now. that could be you look at the intensive care units and the

miserable needless suffering of those who did not get that booster. that could be you. so making your new year's resolution far easier than losing weight or keeping a diary. find a walk in center or make an online appointment. get that job and do something that will make 2022. a happy new year. russell, to pull i much the well the u. k. facing pretty muted years eve. yes, i mean, a lot of it's down to personal behavior. there is evidence that many people kind of limited their social contacts in the run up to christmas. so as to give themselves the best possible chance of having a family christmas together and being able to mix and mingle with close relatives and family. certainly many company parties, for example, throughout december were cancelled and many local authorities and even the national authorities, the government here in london, the london authority has as canceled it that

a big ticketed event that was due to take place in trafalgar square tonight at mark new year's eve. so there is a hope from an expectation that the officials and government agencies are actually limiting a social contact. but it's open to people to mix and mingle as they wish. and viruses like pottage in a throwing your arms around strangers in the streets and wish them a happy new year in embracing people and wishing them good luck for 2022. it's inevitably going to happen. so the full impact of what some people are seeing as this biggest intergenerational mixing events of the year this christmas new year period won't actually is we won't feel the full impact of it until the middle of january or polt. thanks. let's pull brenda in london. what, at least $13000000.00 people in the chinese city of shyanne will be beginning the new year and district locked down. the cities struggling with a highest number of cases recorded in china this year. with 1200 in december, the government is under pressure to bring numbers down before the winter olympics

open in february, katrina, you know, as this report from aging in a suburban neighborhood in the city of she instructions from a loudspeaker tell residents not to leave their apartment unless absolutely necessary, 3 year old long door is making the most of the opportunity to stretch his legs. members of his family are only allowed outdoors, take corporate 19 tests and collect delivered supplies. there among the 30000000 people who will spend new year's eve under strict lockdown. we had just, yeah, my son is very young and doesn't understand a lockdown or what the increasing case number is. yeah, he only knows that many people outside are sick. and if we go out, we could be infected. he panics a bit and feel scared. he tells me, i don't want to be infected and going to corn t big guy, big his mother junk. when is a kindergarten teacher?

she was shocked to received notice of the lockdown last week. more than 1000 cases have been reported and she, and since the beginning of december, its the worst outbreak, china's faced in months and the most severe measures and persons who hon. locked up last year. a policy allowing one number of the household to buy groceries every 2 days was 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 junk their supply of daily necessities. if she on is sufficient on the whole, the commerce ministry will take further measures to ensure a stable supply or 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 and will hon. and 2 years since dr. lee, when leanne 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 have 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, who about 100000 death 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 or been in february for junk. so when at her son they have little choice but to try to stay fit and healthy at home fe, mangoes 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. well, it's a different case in south africa where restrictions are being lifted after infectious draughts by almost 30 percent last week. and nighttime curfew has not been scrapped and alcohol shops will be able to stay from past 11 o'clock at night . and the government believes it's past the peak of a 4th wave fuel by the on the convent. fast spreading variant cause of massive surge of infections in mid december. me to miller has more now from kept on hold. the government year 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 curfew between 12 midnight and 4 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 infections or the number of infections rather dropping significantly by 30 percent on south africa. now having a far fewer act of corona, virus infections in the country and also saying that the hospitals are and their, their ability and resources to accommodate people who might need hospitalization. there are enough resources. there really isn't. that issue. and expos of 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 this is a kind of information that has led to the restrictions been lowered that along with

the uptake of vaccines are the only cronan delta variance of covered 19 pushing daily infection records. in the united states, an average of 355000 cases were reported every day in the past week experts were wanting, the figures will keep rising. let's speak now to our course. one of my connor who joins us from washington. d. c, a my. what impacts is all of us having on emergency departments? well, the figures are continuing to rise. indeed for the 2nd a 24 hour period. there's been a new record rate of infections. 486000 recorded in the past 24 hours. now in terms of impact on the health services, there are some 81000 americans hospitalized throughout the country. this a massive figure leading to a huge struggle in all the health services. and also experts are predicting that some 30000 people could die within the next 3 weeks. so the impact of the variance

adult and the army kron is having a major effect throughout the united states. a particular concern to is the increase in child hospitalization rates. the health authorities say that this is increasing sharply at some 381 children have been admitted to hospital each day over the past week. now that is a 66 percent increase over the figure the previous week. remembering too that the vast majority of these children are unvaccinated, many of them below the age of 5. and this vaccination figure is what is the greatest cause of concern for health officials. and there is one simple stock fact that is driving this pandemic and this new wave that is that only 63 percent of americans are fully vaccinated. and off that figure, just over 30 percent have actually received a booster shot which health authorities are adamant is essential in terms of

curbing the effects, particularly of the armor chronic variant. so certainly a very bleak new year for health officials within the united states. and for the people in the country as a whole, or mike, thanks very much and my kind of a in the united states. alrighty bally is a frontline, a chest dot and clinical epidemiologist at university of cambridge in england. he says the outlook for this new year is looking better than last in terms of the individual level of protection that people have. this is much, much better than it was last year. and 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, but listen in a chest so gently would struggle with it still to at least know exactly how that's going to pan out there currently it's, it's not as bad as love to even if you look at the number of admissions that we've

got at the moment. at last, the last, the title president of the hospital bent, occupied the author 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 in as we're filling up with k patients, that really hasn't happened so far in this way. in fact, that stable, if not, falling flatly set up stuff and encouraging early sign. let's go to what the impact of christmas and mixing between generations will be. the early fines are providing some cautious, kind of optimism. more still ahead on these are including we visit italy still making company linked to high cancer rates and toxic pollution. while the government succeed in turning green u. s. troops have ended their combat mission in iraq for this still opposition to the few remaining on the ground. tell you why. they got support coming up to take a look back at some of the biggest stories in 2021, including a record breaking wind for this retro

ah, so the u. s. h of colorado is baffling. some of the most destructive wildfire in its history. hundreds of homes have been destroyed in tens of thousands of people have been evacuated to towns near denver, a hardest hit. it's been described as a life threatening situation. norbert manly as this. this is the moment a huge fire came rolling down the foothills of boulder, county, and colorado. the 4th 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 and flames like there's embers everywhere. so it makes me very frightened. of course, the wind that it's gonna continue to spread to other home strong winds and dry

conditions are fueling the flames. officials say some of the fire to spark by falling power lines which ignited prairie grasses. estates were motion, 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 try to escape. gusts of a 100110 miles an hour can and have moved. there is fire. down a football field in a matter of seconds, very little time to get out 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, those manly al jazeera, the russian u. s. presidents have spoken for the 2nd time this month, and in an attempt to deescalate tensions have ukraine. the white house, as a call between joe biden of vladimir putin lasted 50 minutes, biden repeated the threat of sanctions. if moscow invades ukraine. freakin said such move could lead to a complete breakdown of ties between the countries. john hendern as more now 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 gen 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, it's enough for louis, sit nevada, who's a fellow with a foreign policy research institute. he brings, he served as the last us senate chief of staff to join biden. and he says that the criminal underestimated washington's response to his tactics in ukraine and in georgia. this is a crisis of the kremlin making,

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, many other countries such as georgia, that might be interested in joining nato to be denied that. and the administration is made clear that that is not acceptable, that sovereign nations are precisely that. i think that 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 later allies. 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. aid is being sent from thailand to people displaced by 15 men bow violence near the border ease in the past couple of days. but ethnic current fighters may most say they'll only negotiated sees far. if all government troops leave areas where fierce fighting has taken place, plenty cheng repose now from the border of thailand and min, more bags of rice and beans loaded up from a warehouse in the title of mess up its emergency aid desperately needed by people

who fled from fighting inside mamma, the relief package has been put together by local businessmen who come from mamma. but live here in thailand. they're doing it because no one else will. this is say, your name, our job. and we're, we're just like a small groups and we grassroot, we have not many capacity of like funding we're, you know, the gathering these kind of aids. but operating in me, emma is complicated. first volunteers have to negotiate with tied border guards to helpful, but whose 1st priority is security. then a call to a local contact on the other bank in men. ma. well, they're coming across the river now to get the supplies mirror boxes, events the little, some water and see so that with more than 10000 people displaced inside mamma. this is only a very temporary fix. on the high side, everyone retreats behind to take the barrier and not to cope at 19 protocols. the swim is then load the precious cargo on to make shift rafts. the waters shallow,

so ferrying it across the river isn't hard. that they can't afford to lose anything . looks of relief on the opposite bank. and not just because of the food. fighting between government troops and the ethnic current fighters has eased over the last 2 days. and the time military say that confident me will step back. because i got a little all this time, we've always received good cooperation when it comes to asking them to stop so that there won't be any threat to the safety of ties and their property the current fighters on so sure. they've been in conflict with me. amazon me for decades, and as little trumps, i know we don't trust the cease fire. they've been destroying villages killing villages and leaving on the ashes. so how can you trust them? how can you have a cease fire? all of that bad news for more than 5000 refugees on the high side. then now assembled in one camp. the tiles stores his are installing infrastructure,

suggesting an extended stay. that could mean it will be weeks if not months before they can cross these hills. and return home. tony chang al jazeera. on the time ma'am ma border. after days adrift in open seas, more than 100 percent refugees, amount safe and indonesia, that damage vessel was towed to shore in archie and the name 0 initially planned to turn them away. but later back down off the international pressure view and has praised indonesia, his response says jessica washington post now from jakarta, indonesia anti province. a dangerous and exhausting journey has finally come to an end. these were hanger. refugees are finally safe intending to reach malaysia. they perilous journey, saw them stranded in indonesian waters for days. for now they're staying in an empty government building in northern uh, j. o. they are off fellow muslims, so we aren't going to complain about having them here. overnight

a navy vessel pulled their boat to shore and effort that was complicated by strong waves and heavy winds. representatives from the you and hcr and local and g o. s waited anxiously for their arrival. ready to assist? young pamela, pamela, the 1st thing we need to do is check their health, give them food and drink after their days, stranded at say, 47 children and 50 women are among those rescued from the damaged vessel. local fishermen from the town of baron 1st spotted the ship on sunday, near the coast of archie and immediately trying to assist them. some local said they felt solidarity with those on board as the plight of their hunger reminded them of our chaise own struggle. us up while i get get thus we got for my mother, people here have experienced needing help from other countries. we can never forget was our situation was like when we were hit by the soon army, we thought although it took days for the government to confirm it would allow the

refugees to disembark in indonesia, the you and hcr has thanked them, saying they'd saved lives in a statement for you and hcr said it was grateful to indonesia for once again, proving it military and spirit. it also praised indonesian authorities for it said, setting an example by once again, assisting ro hanger, refugees in distress at seeing human rights groups have also welcomed indonesia, decision that said the process should be improved, so rescues can be faster. so i think by improving this residencia, regulation on your brushing the lever, i think there one be confusing anymore in the future. and there will, there should be a quicker decision to help people endangers at denisia regards itself as only a transit country where refugees cannot permanently resettle. so for these were hunger,

the danger is over for now. but the uncertainty remains as to what the future holds . jessica washington out his era to carter the death toll from the devastating super typhoon to hit the philippines before christmas has risen to 40515 rye was the strongest to hit the country. this year we left a trail of destruction in central and southern provinces and coast fresh fronts and landslides. 82 people are still reported missing. all right, let 2nd, the webinar is overton. hello there. we've got rain sleet and snow in the forecast for the middle east, and for some quite a bit of it. it will cause some disruption. you can see this line of cloud now making its way across the u. a ye around the streets of moves that brought a few spots of re to cutter as we went through the last 24 hours or so heaviest, painful i seems around 4 millimeters. we could see significantly more as we go on through the we can touch of storms here, they will sink their way further south was says that rain therefore carter for bahrain will see some heavy rain particular making its way into

a western parts of iran in that rank could cause flash flooding here as we go through sunday. it should dry up for cancer. see how the showers run their way back up towards q 8, pushing all the way back up into iraq. we wanted to show us over towards the levant . some of those showers also affecting the ne, a for africa. we have seen some way, whether recently across the northern half of egypt, around the sinai peninsula turning dryer. now for turkey, wanted to shout to just around the guinea coast. we might see some showers, the little wet weather early on saturday into cape town for the archbishop desmond tutu funeral. early in the day it could be wet, it will brighten up as you go one, there will be some sunshine come the afternoon, temperatures at around 19 degrees and rising. what a fish i was to for eastern path south africa, is to let her know sarah pluck winds down on a 2021 and we look back at to some of the bigger stories covered by al jazeera. i did support these jockeys intelligence, either were horsing around, it's my wife say,

ah, african stories by african filmmakers. turbo le let is that a dr. argued with that all more than i, you know, the resume modular? no real sure documentary from for keena fossil and synagogue. if you will, nikki, highly relief employee comedy. my he seniors at didn't give to them be able to wonderful the man who plants bow. bob and i rested history, africa diary on al jazeera. ah, mother nature's gift of cold full landscapes. but strong infrastructure governance arising were investments are waiting to flourish, were greeted even supplied by tradition.