and the digital economy with the new job creation law, indonesia is progressively ensuring the policy reform to create quality jobs. invest park when the reaches growth and progress in the, in the media. now. ah, this is al jazeera. ah, hi, there i'm giving out. this is the news. our law from dover, coming up in the next 60 minutes. ah! australia rings in the new year with attributes to its front line workers. the world begins to greet 2022, overshadowed by the coven. 19 pandemic. well grown of iris cases surge globally, south africa sees a full allowing restrictions to be east all that

a 100 were hanging to refugees drifting for days at sea. a toad to safety by the indonesian navy. and as the clock winds down on 2021, we look back at some of the biggest stories covered by algebra. and i'm jemma nash with sport, manchester city, pleasure. i'll come so i was injured fighting off burglars at his home. on his international t made christiane i went out. i house. manchester, united, big, burly in the premier league with the world has started bidding farewell to 2021. in the shadow of the pandemic. and a surging on the chrome variant. sidney was one of the 1st to greet the new year with a pyrotechnic spectacle. the display included thank you to front line workers. many of the world cities have called off their displays to help control the spread of coven 19. but south africa is allowing the public to renew the new year with

a bang. it has lifted nighttime curfews and says it's past the peak of the serge caused by the on the con variant, which was 1st reported there. new york is preparing to hold a scaled down version of its annual time square celebration. the ball drop was canned for 2021, but it's back this year with a restricted crowd because of record infections. and health officials and britain have warned people about traveling to england from scotland and wales due to being high number of cases. you k prime minister brush johnson has called on those celebrating to get tested. i roy talons joins us now live from london roy just by giving us the picture of the u. k. in terms of case numbers and the hospitalization race will can, there has been yet again and other recalls a number of new infections. 189 thousands was the latest figure across the u. k. in english hospitals, 11400 people are conver,

currently in there with cove it. and so we are being told that sir, infections and hospitalizations arising in all age groups except for young children . now, while that does not seem to be yet filtering into a peak increase in the number of people being admitted to intensive care units, it is still very worrying for the national health service and is putting a big stride on that embodies normally a busy time of the year, winter time with other forms of you know, respiratory illness, flu, etc. so yes, there are warnings being raised across the u. k. from politicians and all the parts of the u. k. developed nations, etc. at boris johnson, he's once again banging the drum for vaccinations, urging people to go out there and get that jobs. 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 for russell rory, i'm sure i'm not the only one who is ready to say good bye to 2021. what is the case numbers in the u. k, though, and then obviously what we heard bars johnson just say, what does all of that mean for new year's eve celebrations there? well, i think i depends on where you are in the u. k. here in london, ah, there are no big civic celebrations. there are no big civic celebrations anywhere in the united kingdom. on a normal year where i'm standing at the moment later on in the evening would be

absolutely thronging with people coming down to watch the big fireworks display that would be taking place over my shoulder. that's not happening this year. there were plans for celebrations in trafalgar square. that's not happening any more that was cancelled when the full her to the impact of omicron started to become clear. but in the you can, in england's there are still allowed her gatherings of, of significant numbers of people big numbers of people. that's not the case in other parts of the u. k. in scotland, wales, northern ireland, night clubs, a close, big limitations on gatherings of, you know, more than a several more than a few households or more than a 100 or 200 people, et cetera. so there are worries in those parts and, and in england that people are going to be flocking to england to come and come and celebrating and spend politicians have be warning against that saying go to stay home and make sure this is a low key. and hopefully not infectious new year's eve or i thank you very much

for that roy. tell him that i for us in london the french governments introduced new measures aimed at reducing the spread of the on the con variant residents and visitors in paris and are required to wear face masks outdoors. a capitals also cancel the annual new year's eve fireworks display on the shops and easy people have been urged to avoid large gatherings, but no curfew has been imposed. germany's new, the appointed chancellor has used his 1st new year's speech to try to rally the population against the koran of ours on our shouts called on germans to get vaccinated. as protests continue against restrictions, germany announced almost to 43000 new cases on thursday. the up and here the i appeal to you again, get vaccinated on it. at some ostrich to cool a fear will have negative consequences. but today almost 4000000 people worldwide are vaccinated without major side effects. austria has tightened its entry rules,

especially for visitors from countries deemed to be high risk. and there were several new measures to prevent large gatherings during the festive season. dorset jabari has more from vienna. cases have fallen sharply here in austria since november 22nd. that's when this country became the 1st in western europe to re impose a full lockdown for over a month. before that point, their daily cases were over 15000 people being infected. and that this is a country of nearly 9000000. they've already lost over 13000 people to the corona virus, and over a 1000000 people have been, in fact, the chief medical officer and austria said that this is not a time to celebrate referring to new jersey celebrations. and that's why there's been a curfew. impose all the restaurants will be closing at 10 pm local time. so anybody who goes out for celebrations has to be out of those facilities by 10 pm. the officials are hoping that the can also improve the vaccination rates. only 70

percent of last areas are fully vaccinated. this is a country that will be one of the 1st thing. western europe also imposed as vaccination mandates. as of february, 1st it will be mandatory for people to be fully vaccinated to be able to go anywhere in this country. the officials have said that people who are not vaccinated they will be facing fines of up to 3600 euros. and there will be a registry database that's a government that can check to see whether or not people are on it. there of course has been criticism in all of this freedom party. the far right party has been holding rallies and demonstrations during the lockdown on weekends. crowds of nearly $40000.00 have come out to protest. they say is a frenchman on their civil liberties. there are also very specific rules here. and also when you want to go anywhere, even the source, a threshold masks are required, not any kind of magic is accepted. and there's also a very strict test and trace policy. you have to be tested every 48 hours to enter

any sort. you have to show a negative p c r test that is no older than 48 hours. so there is a continuous search of people being tested across the country. all of this is in the hopes that the country will be able to write out the next wave that is coming with the on the kron variance of the corona virus. as you had earlier new year celebrations of being scaled back in new york to stop the spread of the virus. my kind of has more now from washington d. c. on the situation across the united states. for the 2nd, the 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. 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 omby 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 of 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 cron variant in china with

a virus was 1st identified 2 years ago, hard to believe. and the $13000000.00 people in the city of sean will be starting the new year on district lockdown. it's struggling with the highest number of cases recorded in any chinese city this year. with 1200 in december, the government is under pressure to bring numbers down before the winter olympics open in february, katrina, you reports from pages in a suburban neighborhood in the city of he 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 to take corporate 19th 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's. 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 go into quarantined with 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 its the worst outbreak, china's faced in months and the most severe measures and poorest since the war, hon locked up last year, a policy allowing one member 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 junker the supply of daily necessity. you see she on is sufficient. on the whole, the commerce ministry will take further measures to ensure a stable supply of the process of 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 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 corbett. 19 officials here say close borders and heavy handed measures had kept total infections from about 100000 death to below $5000.00. but

international experts have pushed into government figures. beijing is under increased pressure to control this latest outbreak and lift the she unlocked out before the winter olympics opened in february for junk. so when at her son they have little toys 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 out a 0 dating but it's a different story in south africa where restrictions are being lifted off to infections drops by almost 30 percent last week. and nighttime curfew has now been scrapped and alcohol shops will be able to stay open past 11 p. m, the government believes it's past the peak of a 4th wave by the only con variant. the fast spreading strain 1st identified in south africa caused a massive surge of infections. ludmilla has more from cape town. south africa is in the peak of its holiday season,

and the government's been under immense pressure from the tourism, as well as other business sectors to reduce coven 19 restrictions. south africa's economy has been battered in the last 12 to 18 months because of those restrictions along with travel bands to south africa. now the government is saying that the decrease in the number of in fictions, at least 30 percent from one week to another, has boosted its confidence. and while experts are saying they're still worried about just how contagious the ami kron variance is there less worried about the severity of illness. as well as the number of hospitalizations which they say is, is very stable at this time of year. cities like this one, cape town, see many tourists coming through and south africans at this point. a list worried about covert 19 and really focus on the holiday season. the curfew that's been in place between midnight and for

a. m has now been removed and one of the few restrictions that remain in place is that moss have to be worn outside, as well as a limit to the number of people who gather indoors and outdoors, but certainly for many south africans, especially ahead of the new year it is as much as far as possible, a return to pre cova times in india daily infections have more than doubled in the past week. experts came, the country is entering a 3rd wave, have named thom has more from new delhi. the situation here is quite alarming. the government says we are in the initial phases off, it called way, but in this that it is better prepared. in fact, new jelly where we are and we're actually outside in jazz largest corbett, 900 facility. the government said it can handle up 200000 new cases a day and 300000 daily at this point because of how far infections are rising, most of the country is under some form of restriction. delhi has been put on yellow

a lot to schools and cinema, and jim's shot why restrictions are there on restaurants and public transport? one by which is in just financial capital has also seen a huge 3rd. and the government that has put a cap on gathering vaccination. no, we'll also get a big boost because starting monday children about 50, we'll start getting jobs. and many people will also be eligible for boosters, which will start later in january. at the same time. they are worrying signs that people are not necessarily following corporate protocol. for example, the images of markets that are crowded, where people are not social distancing, nor are they're wearing mom. the other place rec, over 19 protocols are not being followed. i lecture valley, you know, continued because india is headed for the state elections early 2022. it's a stock reminder. what happened this past summer when the death of variance was

infecting millions of people in india every day as election valleys and religious gatherings continued. i'd be more ahead on the news on including 10 prefix his much needed aid is sent thousands of refugees and me and all of the days of fighting. we report from the time border thousands of people flee their homes. wildfires destroyed large spots of land from the u. s. station, colorado. and in the 8 a fight up kevin durance returns from co. 19 political. one story a little later as fought ah. after days of drift, an open seas more than a 100 were hang, are refugees are now safe. and indonesia, a damaged vessel was towed to shore and utter indonesia initially planned to turn them away. but later, back down after international pressure, the un has praised indonesia response as jessica washington reports from jakarta,

indonesia ante 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. m. 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 in effort that was complicated by strong waves and heavy winds. representatives from the you and hcr and local, and jose waited anxiously for their arrival. ready to assist young farmer's gabriella family. the 1st thing we need to do is check their health, give them food and drink after their day stranded at sea. $47.00 children and 50

women are among those rescued from the damaged vessel. local fishermen from the town of buran 1st spotted the ship on sunday, near the coast of archie and immediately tried to assist them. some local said they felt solidarity with those on board as the plight of the ringo 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 now the refugees to decent bulk 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 its humanitarian spirit. it also praised indonesian authorities for it said, setting an example by once again, assisting ro hanger, refugees in distress at sea. human rights groups have also welcomed indonesia

decision that said the process should be improved, so rescues can be faster. so i bring by improving the residential regulation on your brushing the lever. i've been go one, be gone, views it any more in the future, and there will, there should be a quicker decision to help people in dangers. at 3, indonesia regards itself as only a transit country will. 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 al jazeera to carter aide is being sent from thailand to people forced from their homes spy fighting in me and mom after violence, say the border east in the past couple of days, but ethnic car and fight his and me. and i say they'll only negotiate a ceasefire if all government troops leave areas where fierce fighting has taken place. and he came reports from the border of thailand and me and my bags of rice

and beans loaded up from a warehouse in the ty town of mess up. it's emergency aid desperately needed by people who fled from fighting inside myanmar. the relief package has been put together by local businessman, who come from murmur, but live here in thailand. they're doing it because no one else will. this is their janese, our job, and our we're, we're just like a small groups and a we a grass route. we have not many capacity of like funding we're, you know, they're gathering this kind of aids. but operating in me, emma is complicated. first volunteers have to negotiate with time. border guards who are helpful, but whose 1st priority is security. then a call to a local contact on the other bank in miramar, but were coming across the river now to get the supplies mirror boxes of instant noodles, some water and some salt to with more than 10000 people displaced inside mamma. this is only a very temporary fix. on the high side,

everyone retreats behind the tape barrier and not to cope at 19 protocols. the swimmers then load the precious cargo on to make shift ruffles. the waters shallow . so ferrying 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 army will step back. eventually, good guys, 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 aren't so sure they've been in conflict with mia mars army for decades, and there's little trust that i don't know, we don't trust the cease fire and they've been destroying villages killing villages and leaving on the ashes. so how can you trust them all know why, how can you have

a cease fire? all of that bad news for more than 5000 myanmar refugees on the ty side. they're now assembled in one camp. the tile stores is, 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 their mom border. israeli forces have shot dead, a palestinian man in the occupied westbank. the incident took place near the isle settlement south of nablus. israel says this aspect was attempting to stab civilians and soldiers that abbas station. the palestinian palestinian ministry of health has confirmed the death the u. s, state of colorado is battling some of the most destructive wildfires on record has been widespread destruction of property and tens of thousands of people have been forced from their homes to towns near denver. our hardest hit, but the situation is described as life threatening,

nor burn mandibles. 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. did you some things in the trees. oh, they're all up and 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 homes. and strong winds and dry conditions are fueling the flames. official say, some of the fire to spark by falling power lines will night is prairie grosses estates for emergencies being 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 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. are 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 winds, 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 italian government is committing billions of dollars to transform. one of

europe's largest steel works into a hub for green steel. it's part of plans to tackle climate change and reduced carbon admissions. but activists a, the plant which has been linked to high cancer rates and toxic pollution should be shot at him. rainy reports from the southern city of toronto still works. italy casts a long shadow over the southern italian city of toronto. courts have ruled at toxins from the complex are responsible for increased cancers in the area, but the foundries continue to pollute the air every day. not far from the still works flawed yano down the low self panic. tony italian christmas cakes to raise money for parents like him who have a child living with cancer ophelia. ah lived what my daughter was full when she was diagnosed with leukemia. we feel we have been abandoned by the state. a recent study shows increased rates of child leukemia between 20172019 people in toronto

are 30 percent more likely to develop lung cancer than anywhere else in italy. the map reveals that cancers are especially prevalent and neighborhood close to the steel works like 10 body is not people leaving them board that they have some parents or some song or some thing. yes. i mean, yes, you have you. each family is a few more of the inside high levels of carson engines, dioxin has also been found in local sea food, not only damaging people's health, but putting another industry at risk. the italian government says it's now fully committed to cleaning up uva, producing so called green steel is central to its plan to tackle global warming using some of the you covered recovery funds. it is planning to invest upwards of

4 and a half $1000000000.00 to stop the steel works, burning toxic coal. it'll take years to update the factory here to make green steel until that time doesn't ship like this one will arrive every month. they're carrying millions of tons of coal, that fuel the furnace is to make the steel here. and that coal poison, the air for the local. so live here. back on land, we toward the perimeter of evo with activist channel mana, a former employee. he said overhauling the plant is not a good idea. invest in him down to the investing in a coal fired bond from the 960. it's from any a why they should build new plants, but they just keep spending money on this outdated plant. i should already be closed down like it would be in other parts of europe. those who faced the greatest risks, the workers are exposed to toxic fumes and dangerous conditions. day after day. recently, a worker who reported

a safety failure was fired. his unionist protesting the decision. he moved to the safety situation, spitballing the plant. the irony has been work has come forward to point dangerous conditions. they pin the blame on us and tried to silence, oscillates. those who clock in and out of here every day know the dangers, but it's steady work in a poor part of the country. jobs they hope will one day soon become safer. adarine al jazeera, toronto italy still head on al jazeera. we'll look back at how the ballot box shaped events around the world during 2021 and in sport, these jockeys and argentina were often around, well explain later and the use out ah.