a bucking on life together to you wedding. some money on em, present. ah, ringing in 2022 with scaled down celebrations. fears about a rise of cold with 19 infections overshadow festivities around the world. ah, by this and this is al jazeera alive from door up also coming up under the homes, destroyed in colorado as a wildfire sweeps through towns north of denver, forcing thousands to flee. ah, the golden girl of comedy,

betty white passes away just weeks before her 100th birthday and al jazeera looks back at 2021 and the stories that shapes the year. ah happy new year. new york has just counted down to 2022 and marked its arrival with the famous ball drop on times square with all the con cases on the rise. on the 50000 people to be john allowed to join the party in person. that's a fraction of the usual number. they all have to be master vaccinated. mirabelle de blasio got some criticism going ahead with even bes scaled down festivities. but he said it sends a message to new york is fighting through the pandemic. ah .

bill diblasio had said that the answer was to double down on vaccinations to help protect new yorkers and noted 91 percent of new york city adults. i've received at least one corporate 19 vaccine dose. he's leaving office and he's being replaced by the cities next. mary eric adams. he's going to take the office the oath of office in time square, early on saturday. of thousands of people in brazil celebrated the new year on the beach. they watched the fireworks and rios degeneres oper. cabana beach is a party that almost didn't happen was i'm a crown on the rise. the city's mayor cancelled the vista of it is before reconsidering the vice scaled back with smaller crowds than in previous years. and vaccination stations were set up on the beach. europe and most of west africa have already welcomed the new year under the cloud of oma cross. victoria gave him the reports on the skilled box celebrations elsewhere in the world and how covered as crash the party again. ah, in capital cities around the world,

new year's eve celebrations were more muted than they would be normally in london, official events were cancelled. so 2 in berlin, where uneasy party at the brandenburg gate took place without a live audience. as a tv show, only madrid was one of the few cities in europe to celebrate new year's eve. but there the crowd was limited to less than half its usual size. ah thailand. welcome the new year with the fireworks display in bangkok on the heavy cove in 19 restrictions. oh, it was one of the few places in the country to host end of the year celebrations after other events were cancelled due to the spread of all mcclellan i today's kind of compensation for the past 2 years that i didn't get to celebrate . that's why i decided to bring the whole family here today. my kids are happy and

we will come back again next year. so oh, in hong kong fi works, little the victoria hobble waterfront with the music concept by the cities for the morning orchestra marked the beginning of 2020 to better me, but a home called medical visited. yeah, well we hope everyone will be healthy and happy and we hope to find the older through that we all can open the border and get trouble in north korea. that will say fi works ah, tie one to lighting up the night sky. ah, our zillion usina had been one of 1st to ring in the new year. it's neighbor, australia didn't hold that. tens of thousands of people gathered around sydney hob, a bridge in

a tribute also to the front line workers in the fight against coven 19. but elsewhere, there were bands on big gatherings in china away 2 years ago. corona virus 1st emerged, events were canceled with the nation on high alert and the city of shan on the look down. since the 1st reported case, more than 5400000 people have died around the world. and with the omicron variant taking hold, many governments have re imposed restrictions to try to ease the strain on overwhelmed hospitals. even in those countries where gatherings are allowed, many people have chosen to stay at home. the one wish shed by people around the world. this new year is that 2022 is better than the last 2 years and sees an end to the pandemic. victoria gates and be al jazeera, well austria is tightened. its entry roles, especially for visitors from countries deemed to be high risk. men. there are several new measures to prevent large gatherings during the fastest season. those

as a body has more from vienna, cases have fallen sharply here in austria since november 22nd. that's when this country became to 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 year's eve celebrations. and that's why there's been a curfew. and post 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 the government that can check to see whether or not people are on it. and 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, or they say is a frenchman's on their civil liberties. there are also very specific rules here in austria when you want to go anywhere, even the source as a special math are required, not any kind of mastic is accepted. and there's also a very strict test and trace policy. you have to be tested every 48 hours to enter

any store. you have to show a negative p c r test. that is no older than 48 hours. so there is a continuous search 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. the philippines is recorded almost 3000 covered 19 cases on friday. that means numbers of nearly doubled in just 24 hours. the spikes prompted concerned about another wave of the virus, while millions of people are still reading from a devastating typhoon. on a low reports from manila filipinos packed malls in shopping districts during the holidays as cases, colby late teams appeared to be dropping to new logs. the government had east most restrictions had one of the busiest seasons. but experts warned there was no room for complacency. fighting december 9th we, we somehow had that alarm alert that there's already like a switch off then,

you know, and the increase in the particular, the rate is very, very fast. and in terms of patterns, we see that most of the cases currently are. i think the might be mild and the are coming from the 23rd, this age group. so somehow, somehow weekend or late this, this kind of, they not mix to might be of people because of that highly, the more on the con patient had been identified. this week, but the health department, well, a traveler from the united states, tested positive, had reached quarantine regulations in order to party, at least a dozen of her close contacts. now have the virus on the front variance is driving with 1900 cases to record numbers. in many countries, philippines has largely been spared. but daily infections are on the right and all this possible, the virus variance is reading health. department officials say it's too early to

make that conclusion. a new wave of the virus is likely not only to stream the country's health care system. it could exacerbate the humanitarian crisis in regents, still suffering, and the impact of super typhoon ride. as it is, there are already outbreaks of diarrhea and gastro enteritis in those areas forced hit by the store. we have nbc of, of fi, shineman, and sam for an increase of k as in the urea. cough and cold. but, but, you know, cough and gone. i among the seamen dumps, you know, seem wanted, aren't out there. i know, on practitioner division in the evaporation sensor. so i oh, there is an air boring. i'm the see since i just nbc on. so i spent 8 workers hope an increase in coven 19 cases. would be the last thing they would have to deal with,

as they're still struggling to provide basic needs like food and clean drinking water, to the millions affected by the typhoon bar and below al jazeera manila. you know, the fast moving wildfire, the tor, through several times in the u. s. state of colorado is largely burned itself out. almost a 1000 homes have been destroyed. every snows forecast and it's expected to help put out any remaining embers, john 100 reports, tens of thousands of colorado ins are waiting for the smoke to clear to learn what they've lost. things look ok from up here, but there is a smouldering in there until you really get down there. it's almost impossible to know. david marks who lives in fire ravaged, boulder county knows 3 people who've lost their homes for home. and so 5060 feet high probably it was really i've never seen any like it. i mean just house after house fences. just stuff flying through the air just caught on fire. authority say they believe as many as 500 homes have probably been destroyed as the

fire tor, through drought stricken neighborhoods. it least one 1st responder and several other people were injured. as winds of up to a 169 kilometers per hours, bread intense flames with terrifying speed. colorado governor jared poll is in boulder, county sheriff joe kelly took the devastation from the air. this was a disaster in fast motion. all over the course of half a day, nearly all the damage, many families having minutes, minutes to get whatever they could, their, their patch, their kids into the car, and leave. last 24 hours have been devastating polish as president job why group promised to free up federal funds with an expedited declaration of a major disaster. john henry and al jazeera. going ahead and i'll just say, sacrificing one to save the rest time. some afghan families are forced to sell their daughters just to be able to eat.

ah hello, here's her weather report for the 1st day of january 2022. hello everyone. good to see across the middle east. disturbed weather, both in the west and the east. so for the west, we've got this weather maker swirling around some showers for egypt and the levant, and the line of showers from the red sea right through to the gulf. so we'll go in for a closer look there on saturday. risk of century downpours really widespread here buffer. raining cats are you a t, e, oman, in, for eastern sections of saudi as wall on saturday. now, by sunday, this energy lists further toward the north to ki, weights over into iran, where we could see some flooding. raines here, off the pakistan right now. we'll get a few more warm days before those temperatures really go down. so let me put this for now to wednesday. so high of 14 for his love about 13 for the hor,

and 20 degrees for crouching in some way. whether to be expected back to the here and now a few showers working across the boss for us for is stumble. nothing major, nothing out of the ordinary. and for central africa also nothing out of the ordinary. got our storms come in and go in through the equitorial countries here, south san disturbed whether we can trace it pretty much formed and gold right through to madagascar and downpours. never too far away from johannesburg, and serving happy new year. we'll see again soon. take care ah, the african stories by african filmmaker turbo le, let's go to join over with all more the song model, really short documentary from for keener fossil and synagogue to do with the man who plants bow. bob and

a western africa direct on al jazeera lou. ah, what you're going to say that reminder of our top stories, this are new york moms, the arrival of 2022 with the famous old rob on times square with all the con cases on them. eyes, only 15000 people have been allowed to join the party in person. that's a fraction of the usual number. 2 years after the covert, 19 pandemic was declared. the situation continues to decline. many countries have

been reporting a record in daily cases field, mainly bible contagious variance of wild farther tore through several times in the usa of colorado's largely burned itself out. almost a 1000 homes were destroyed, tens of thousands of people were forced to flee. but so far that have been no reported debts. okay, let's get more on the new year's eve celebrations. the u. s. east coast is just welcomed 2022 a few minutes ago. roughly about 16 minutes or so. one of the most popular places to ring in the new year is in times square in new york. gabriel elizondo is there, and it seems as though the people in new york have been making do the best to try to make the celebrations. go with a swing, but of course new york is still facing a lot of problems when it comes to overt that's right. we saw a lot of what we've seen every year with the typical new year's eve celebration here in time square. the pol,

dropping that down the count down the confetti when the clock struck 2022 people hugging and kissing each other. those were the scenes that we saw that we are accustomed to over the years that we saw this evening as well. what was different, though, not as many people were here, and that's because of the spread of the corona virus search. here in new york, they were expected to have 60 to 70000 people here. they scaled it back to only 15000. everyone had their show proof of vaccination mostly where a mask as well. and this was all because of the spread of corona virus here in new york city. new york has become the u. s. epis center of the pandemic once again. and just in the last 24 hours, 43000 people in new york city alone have tested positive for grown

a virus. it's spreading like wildfire. here. the positivity rate is 22 percent. one in for new yorkers is now testing positive for the virus, given all of these scenarios. and all of these numbers, if you will. that is why the new year's eve celebration was scaled back dramatically. here. you still saw the scenes or celebration, but it was certainly not nearly the numbers or the, or the, or the size that we have seen in previous years. maribel de blasio, who was mayor up until about friday and had been criticized as i mentioned for letting the celebrations go ahead. no. his replacement, eric adams has been taking the office just again a few minutes ago. one would imagine that cobra is going to be the 1st thing on his agenda. that's right. eric adams just got took office about 15 minutes ago. actually he was supposed to be

sworn in in a 6000 feet arena in brooklyn. that was cancelled because of corona virus concerning his warning here in times square. very small ceremony with his family around him and that was, it lasted all of a couple of minutes. eric adams has a big challenge ahead of him, dealing with verona virus here in new york city. he says he's going to tackle it by 2 things, vaccinations and testing, both of which new york city continues to ramp up there in long lines for testing throughout the city. shortage of testing services all over the united states. but here in new york city as well, but eric adams has made clear that he is going to push forward and not close down the city. like it was for much of 2020. he said he's going to try to keep the city open. he's going to try to continue to move forward. he said he is not going to add

any major new restrictions. he says that they are going to simply continue to do testing and continue to push out vaccines as quickly as possible here. but he has no intention whatsoever. he has said any more locked downs or restrictions here in new york city. he feels very strongly about that, but i'll tell you he has a huge challenge ahead of him because this corona virus is sweeping through new york city health experts say it's going to peak the 2nd or 3rd week in january. so the worst is still had to come on talking to us in times square in new york. a thanks very much indeed. today's drifting open seas more than 100. are you refugees and now safe in indonesia, their damage? the vessel was towed to shore in archie, indonesia initially planned to turn them away,

but later back down after international pressure. the un has praised indonesia, responds jessica washington reports from jakarta, indonesia anti province, a dangerous and exhausting journey has finally come to an end. these were hanging refugees are finally safe intending to reach malaysia, the perilous journey saw them stranded in indonesia waters for days. for now they are 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 jose waited anxiously for their arrival. ready to assist young for by my fellow family. the 1st thing we need to do is check the health, give them food and drink after their days stranded at say,

$47.00 children and 50 women are among those rescued from the damaged vessel. local fishermen from the town of beerin 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. last of allah get, get us. we got for lamb. what other people he had 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 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 this residential 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 in dangers. at 3, indonesia 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 al jazeera to counter a growing number of families in of janice donna so desperate for money. they're being forced to sell off children as young as 6 into marriage. the taliban has banned force marriages, but agencies say that's not working. laura frick burke has more in this sprawling settlement camp in western afghanistan. live people displaced by drought and war.

but as these goals suffering doesn't in there, she is now trying to save her 10 year old daughter after her husband sold her into marriage without telling her where the sad fellowship and i started fighting with him and my heart stopped beating. i wished i could have died. i told my husband, i'm not going to give away my daughter at such a young age. aziz's husband told her he did it for money to feed his 5 children and that without it, they would starve. he was in his words sacrificing one to save the rest. but his ease married off her self at 15, refused. instead securing a divorce for her daughter. it cost the equivalent of around a $1000.00 with money. they don't have early douglas new york. now we are not only struggling with hunger, we also money to the man. if we cannot return the money and he comes to get my daughter, what will happen? i would rather die than let him take her. despite

a taliban ban on forced marriages, the practice is continuing with many afghans unable to afford even basic goods. a payment from a perspective, grooms family can amount to the difference between life and death. in some cases, families are now also giving up their sons heartbreak. so it's the right time for the humanity in community to stand up. and steve, the people of a man's down pleasure. in another part of the camp her meet, abdullah says he too is desperate for money to treat his chronically ill wife pregnant with their 5th child. 3 years ago he received a down payment for his eldest daughter. now 7 to be married when she's older, but he needs the money now. worth the dear do now, while arthur, i have another daughter, i'm even willing to sell her because i need to buy food and medicine. i don't have any other choice, and it's likely other afghan families will feel they'd to have to do the same.

according to the united nations, more than $3000000.00 children under 5 of facing acute malnutrition, more mothers like aziz facing the unthinkable. laura frick burg out 0. the legendary you are sac tyson. comedian betty white has died less than a month before her $100.00 birthday. she was named the female entertainer with the longest television career by guinness world records in a career spanning 9 decades. why began acting as a child and the 19th thirty's, and she won't write up until 2019 with a voice pot in toy story for. but she was best known worldwide for playing a role in island in the eighty's tv show, the golden girls. now as 2022 begins is time to look back at some of the biggest stories al jazeera is covered over the past 12 months. let's walk down pennsylvania avenue. ah, you, a capital building under su,

cannot, however, her from our responsibility to validate with joseph robinson by your new song. notions of what just is known to guilty is charity always. just mia mas, democratically elected leadership retained, as the military staged, a bit of a general thought of a bit bloodless qu. they couldn't be more wrong with the taliban has taken over the final departure of the u. s. military opposite 20 years. i believe this is the right to switch a violent day over dangerous

days, still ahead. nowhere in gaza feel safe flight. i'll just 0 will not be silenced. ah. didn't about him is reaping around the world. you see there present via the lack of political will. selfishness and music the new all mccomb variant is spread at 20. $22.00 must be the year we end the funding code read at a much there is no planet. there is no sign of blah blah blah blah blah blah blah, i'm deeply sorry. ah,

the government does call the fight against that security rebels on the special to damp general have paid a say they don't want committed to the rules. there was always liked only we're brave enough to see if only we're brave enough to be buses of runners had taken part in one of brazil's oldest races since sylvester road race is traditionally held on new year's eve. it's

a historical event in sal paulo that brings together runners from around the world . the 15 coloma to run was held with strict health measures, including proof of vaccination for those participating. it was cancelled last year because of covered 19 restrictions. ah. this is all to 0. these are the top stories has to be one of 2022. the famous ball drop on times square with all mccomb cases and the wise only 15000 people have been allowed to join the party in person. that's a fraction of the usual number of table elizondo in time square. with more we saw a lot of what we've seen every year with the typical new year's eve celebration here in time square. the pol dropping that down the count down the confetti. when that clock struck 2.