the challenges they face couldn't be more daunting here, and they do, we were the ones who had life on what was going on in a way that most mean the media didn't. there's nothing static about them on, there's always in the information. we have the agency to create a viable open generation on al jazeera as 2022 jewels to place. we were slacked on the major stories. did she tell julie now? does he ever per series of in depth, of looking back at this year and to head to 2022. ah, the us joins a growing list of countries putting,

covet 19 restrictions on travelers arriving from china. ah, i'm carry johnston. this is al jazeera, well i from deb also coming up with fi engulfed a hotel on the cambodian border with thailand. people trapped on the roof. maternity hospitals hits has a russia steps up a tax on a ukrainian city liberated from russian control and frozen in time. we have an update on what the big thought is. we're feeling from a shilling, winter storm in the us and canada. ah, the world is becoming increasingly wary of how china is handling a coping 19 outbreak. the u. s. has now put restrictions on people arriving from

china. a day off to beijing announced it would drop all quarantine meshes for inbound travelers, but it joins italy, taiwan, india, and japan in requiring a negative tests for any one traveling from china. us officials say they're concerned about the lack of transparency surrounding corona bars. cases with china reported just 3 koby 19 related deaths on tuesday, even though hospitals and funeral homes are under intense pressure should be a good job. you can, fisher, all countries go through other stations when they adjust their coffee. the policy, china is no exception. currently china, the p. w ration is all predictable and under control. beijing is the 1st city to pause the peak of infections. work and life are going back to normal now. chinese or how it is have also conducted scientific assessments and made necessary preparations for a possible search in other provinces. we have full confidence in ensuring a smooth and orderly transition. on the spot, the 30 infections travel websites have announced

a spike in traffic from people in china. booking overseas trips off the 3 years of quarantine measures. hong kong says it's scrapping most remaining restrictions for people traveling to its territory. and watch correspondence can be how it has more well, the bag, no ministration is concerned that the chinese government is not being fully transparent with regard to the number of infections that are occurring in china with the lifting of those restrictions. and so as a result is putting in place strict measures for those who are traveling from china as well as macau and hong kong and what those measures are going to look like is effective midnight on january 5th. all travelers are going to need to show a negative cobra, 900 tests. this is either a p c r or an average, a test within 48 hours of departure. and this is regardless of vaccination status. and this is for all travelers above the age of 2 years. now the reason for this is

not only because of the concern that the chinese government is not being fully transparent in terms of the data is providing to the united states. but also because the united states feels in the absence of the day that it is not fully able to monitor sort of the, i'm a crime, very attendance sub variance that are already present in the united states. and the fear is that this is something that could be on the rise as a result. and so this is something that the united states is doing as a precaution. and we should point out that this is also going to affect travelers coming from canada as well. because a lot of these travelers are transiting through canada. scientists worldwide are watching developments in china. dr. patrick tang is the division, the chief of microbiology to situate madsen in doha. he says, there are concerns about the rise of new more transmissible variance from what

would be your instance. and the evidence that we have so far about how to handle the pandemic. it would be in bed. it may be que abrupt of a change from the 0 colgate policy tier to allowing, you know, pretty much ramping spread the virus now in their country. so what we worry about is the right new, more, you know, a more transmissible barrier of cobra. 19 as well, and having very spread to other parts of the world. but the theme time there is a lot of the unity and the rest of the world. and especially immunity from back to nation, as well as community from infection. that's really hard to say what the effect will be if you knew that when into the variance that arrived in china, would they have that much of their act on the rest of the world which has gone

through multiple ways of cove it including the recent on the way, i think from the fact that waived the different oma crime, barion we being around the world, we're getting close to the point where they're going to be equity. agree where we're going to reach some level of and the mr. d are not quite there yet. and especially for china, they're definitely not quite there yet. they're, they're going to be are in large, former conway, just like the rest of the world did back in late december, early january of this year. and then the subsequent additional ways that different cron, the barrier a number of people are trapped by fire on the roof of a hotel in cambodia. the blaze broke out at the grand diamond hood tell him to see what her, early on thursday morning. people have been hanging from window waiting, rescue. media is 45 degrees st from lingering toilet.

ukraine's military says, russian forces have stepped up more to an artillery attacks on the city of cassandra, which was liberated from muscle control last month. ukraine. it says 33 miss hours where fire that civilian targets some hit a hospital maternity ward official say staff escaped on hurt shovel, bullet vocal juggling. there were 2 strikes. one was right here. we have covered the crater. the 2nd strike. you can see the consequences after the attack explosions started. we instantly moved the pregnant women to the basement and then moved them to our main what, where they spent the night after a checkup hot, we let them go home. i was just the federal level and there was an abrupt explosion i grabbed went ahead and reached the blanket. anything i could see and quickly ran to the corridor. the windows and glass started to shatter. illnesses were civilians

are now trying to get out of hair. saunas attacks intensify, ukraine's military has resumed its counter offensive and the eastern ridge of the hands, too large cities, there are still under russian control. charles stratford has more from keith, the governor of care, so the region says the city and the surrounding area has come under more heavy shilling today by russian forces, the majority of which it is believed have been targeting the area from across the river. we know that careful city was liberated by the ukrainians last month. the governors saying that infrastructure hit includes the maternity ward, a medical facility, a kindergarten, and a brace factory, you know, reports miraculously, of any casualties. we do know that the city had a population of around 70000 people, many of whom had returned since the liberation of care so on. and we understand

that many of fleeing back out of the city as this shelly continues. also, interestingly, more reports of what seems to be the beginnings of a ukrainian push around the town of crimean and crimean. it is occupied by russian forces very close to the look. guns could do net sc borders. it's an area that a pretty much seen stalemate since a new front line was established there following a ukranian counter offensive to and a half months ago. this area very strategically important. now we've been speaking to the advisor to the president's office mchale products. and this is what he had to say about the situation in his son and around criminal, which now more which now most of the know when the butcher, mr. wouldn't, you know, we don't see any intention preparation for a russian counselor offensive towards her son and russia. doesn't have the necessary military resources in order to do that from the south. the russians, i even to make her son

a dead city to completely destroy all civilian infrastructure in the center of the city and in residential areas criminal. so there's always a little camina is highly imported strategically and logistically because of its location in the loo, hands on its border. and it is currently a logistical hub for the russians. but the army is actively pushing toward jemina. the question of the timing for the salt is one for the general command that, but it's obvious. we will take carmina because it's vital for al counter offensive . meanwhile, ukraine's national electricity provider says more shelling of electricity facilities in the east of the country has a meant that there is now a further deficit of electricity, country wide that comes of course, in the wake of these devastating so called kamikaze drone and cruise missile attacks that have been targeting ukraine's energy infrastructure already. it's understood that there are still millions of ukrainians across the country without electricity or heat. russia has dismissed the ukrainian presence,

10 point piece plan for the mezzo lensky proposal includes the withdrawal of russian troops and the restoration ukraine's borders. for the kremlin, says, eve must accept russia's annexation of 4 ukrainian regions before. torques can take place. there isn't any peace plane by ukraine yet, and there can't be any green in peace plan. the fears to take into account today's realities regarding the russian territory, the incorporation of the new 4 regions into russia. any plan that fails to acknowledge these realities can not be considered a peace plan. police and national guard members have been going door to door and parts of the eastern us, but what worst affected by an arctic storm, but it still causing nationwide disruption to travel. as gabriel, it is on the reports from new york airline travel chaos and united states continues prompted primarily by ongoing delays and cancellations at southwest

airlines. one of america's largest carriers that operates mostly in the united states, but also in the caribbean and central america. dear line cancelled over 2000 flights on wednesday. hundreds of thousands of passengers left stranded and it's not over yet. the airline has preemptively canceled more than 1000 flights on thursday as it scrambles to reposition planes and crews during a system wide operational breakdown. during a massive snow storm during peak travel season, the storm that triggered some of the travel disruptions has mostly passed, but has left behind destruction and death in buffalo, new york's 2nd largest city. the city was subjected to more than 40 straight hours of blizzard like conditions. it wasn't just buffalo further north in canada, homes along lake erie, where fully crystallized in ice after the storm. but it was buffalo that was hit

the hardest. and on wednesday, residents were trying to dig out and help rescue crews look for anybody still trapped in their homes or car behind walls of snow. i was out here trying to get my driveway clear and they rode past they see me out here. so they stopped and asked me, did i need help? and i told them yes. and they stopped and they did me. and then they saw him across the street and they helping her. and then i asked them nicely that they do this lady over here because she's of her ninety's. and that's what they're doing right now. the death toll was expect to climb the grim work of recovering bodies left to the police. the good news is a reprieve is in sight, as the temperatures are supposed to be above freezing for the next few days, giving residence a chance to regroup. but it also means another worry. of course when temperatures rise, all that snow and ice melts. turning into water. so now there's

a real risk of severe flooding. the governor of new york is so concerned about the flood risk. late wednesday, she announced she's deploying resources there to try to deal with it. more than 300 generators and 775000 sand bags are on their way to buffalo. gabriel's dondo al jazeera new york. now to more wild weather in other parts of the world, tornado has been caught on camera tearing through western bolivia. local authorities say at least 5 homes were damaged in our alto, but no casualties were reported. the twist, if formed in a matter of minutes during thunderstorms, in the city, if phenomenon lasted for about 20 minutes. well sort of head here and also sierra israel's newly formed dominance is to prioritize the expansion of the legal service . oh,

and we're united off to month support because of conflict ethiopians reconnecting with family. ah hello, that is more wintery weather to come for japan that's despite the latest front blowing its way out east, across the sea. but we got cooler air coming in behind that it's going to knock temperature down significantly above northern areas of china rushes far east. and once again the korean peninsula. tokyo however, won't see a lot of that cold that thanks to the mountains. when instead see snow flurries edging down from chicago all the way to han shoe, the snow falling heaviest, across western areas, behind that clear skies across much of the north of china, the temperature in beijing recovering slightly,

we will see some of that sunshine coming back into shanghai as the gloomy weather works its way for the south, some heavy rain to come for taiwan on friday. now within heavy rain affect northern areas of pakistan, thanks to a storm system that's moved its way east of the middle east. we need some heaviest snow to like the cobble in afghanistan, some of that wet weather, edging into a horse suddenly on thursday, but as it moves its way across the north of india, it could clear some of the bad quality for the south of this clear a skies a few clouds here and there in the south and some showers coming into for lanka, possibly the maldives as well, but all in all a much clearer picture from much of india and bangladesh that she, whether ah progress or a serious mistake. artificial intelligence is slowly invading every aspect of our lives. but very few of us really understand its capabilities. for

better or worse, al jazeera explores the impact of a i accessing vast amounts of our personal data. data land on al jazeera. ah ah, it without us as a reminder of our main stories now, the u. s. has joined a growing list of countries imposing cope with 19 restrictions on people arriving from china. he joins italy, taiwan, india, and japan, and requiring a negative tests for anyone traveling from china. ukraine's military says,

russian forces have stepped up more to an artillery tax. on a city of class on 33, missiles were fired at civilian targets, some hit on hospital maternity. several western states. the us um battling major flooding. days after severe winter storm struck most parts of north america, california, oregon, and washington state in effect. so from israel's incoming coalition, government is promising to make expanding illegal israeli settlements in the occupied west bank a top priority, a statement of policy, prioritized the system by benjamin netanyahu, could part. he says, quote, the jewish people have an unquestionable exclusive right to the whole land of israel. israel's parliament, the connects, it has passed a highly contentious law to cement control over the police. the so called been given the grounds, the far right in coming security minister. it's a month and an unprecedented power over the police. benjamin netanyahu,

incoming coalition is considered one of the most right when the ministrations, in that case, senior fellow what the middle east institute college of india says. the new plans could make life even harder for postings. well, i think palestinians are quite nervous on so many levels. you have someone like it's a mar, been good beer, who is in self convicted of incitement, racist incitement, and support for terrorism. and this is someone who's going to be in charge of the national police, including security forces in jerusalem, who are already known for their abusive tactics and their excessive force. and it's, it's really quite a dangerous situation. it's, it's a bit like waiting for, you know, a matcher is in the hands of pyromaniac. the iran human rights organization,

which is based in no way says at least $476.00 people have been killed in months of nationwide protest including $64.00 children. the demonstrations were sparks by the death and custody of 22 old master, meaning in september, she was detained in tehran for allegedly violating strict dress codes rights group, say at least 100 protests as a risk of execution death penalty charges or loan jail sentences. meanwhile, to see mel urena and the chess players have been competing at an international tournament without head scarves, both women are playing in the world rapid and blitz chest championships. an automatic has extern, they have followed other iranians sports women in abandoning the headscarf, which is mandatory under iran's strict dress code. united nations and age groups urging authorities in afghanistan to reverse orders against women's work and education. they say critically needed monitoring programs have stopped because of

a ban by the town about administration. on female aid workers. last week, the taliban government said that women were no longer allowed to attend. university girls have been banned from high school since march and dozens of ro hanging refugees. her arrived in northern indonesia earlier this week, receiving medical care. when he spent weeks at sea, before arriving in our province, un says 2022 has been one of the deadliest ears for a year at sea or tongue. they're charging reports from cox's bizarre where he spoke to refugees about their desperation to leave bangladesh. i tell him a captain is inconsolable after the death of a 19 year old son. he was on the road, one of the several boats that made it to archer indonesia a few days ago, but could not survive the ordeal. mom at no man, sister, i shall captain under 2 daughters are among the missing. they were trying to reach

militia in a boat with a dream to reanimate with her husband, my sister with her 2 daughters, left camp on the 2nd of december by a tech nav. last time i talked with my sister, was on the 3rd of december. since same, we have lost touch you there. we are now worried that the boat carrying my sister and nieces may have something to say. not nearly 1000000 ro hang and muslims have been living in bangladesh, refugee camp since 2017, after fleeing persecution in may on march, 5 years on with no hope for repatriation inside mustard. desperate to leave us consciously, there is no livelihood for us here. with your and die poverty and has no education for children. one, which is why many offline, the candidate is blue and abeline facing increasing restriction and poor living condition. in the camps. many rowing refugees are turning to smugglers, willing to risk the dangerous journey by sea to sick a better life. the un says 2022 could be one of the deadliest ears at sea in almost

a decade for the rowing gas. as growing number, fleet desperate condition and refugee camp site that will hold up for full of my way of my parents are old and in bad health, which is why my brother decided to leave the camp medical center longest asia like he had been to school family it was told that my brother jumped in tennessee desperation because he was starving. i. my mother says it's trying to stop rowing or refugees from risking their lives in boats. but with little result of jesse, as request for an interview was declined by the cox's bizarre police. bangladesh has been generous holds to displace ro hanger, but the international community has so far failed to put pressure on me and mar, and the crisis appears to be far from over time, which audrey al jazeera, cox's bizarre, a serbs who been protesting in northern casa, though have a great remove road barricade starting on thursday. he comes off to almost 3 weeks of protest that the detention of a former police officer,

demonstrations turn voluntary roads have been blocked with chocolate, tractors, say, been present. alexander view church met members of the crossover said community on wednesday, live in the east tension goes up to the 2 or sutra. from the morning hours, the removal of the barricades will begin. this is not a simple process and can't be done in 2 hours as some have imagined. within 24 to 48 hours, the barricades will be removed, but distrust is not removed. those who are playing with the very existence of serbs and kosovo must know that we will not allow in you. not now, nor in the future will agree mister the bolivian, the police have detained the main opposition leader. after weeks of protests, there is for an under camacho, who is also governor of santa cruz, is accused of leading a coup in 2019 opposition. leaders deny this, though, arguing the events were only protests that led to the resignation of 10 questions. even moran is. the caliber carnival in southern nigeria was going ahead despite the

deaths of 7 people after car crashed into spectators. but as ask me, the address reports from caliber, people and businesses have welcome the return of festivities off to coven 19 forced organizes to suspend the event. organize is called it africa's biggest st party, with culture, music and dos on display. and like most people here we, abraham family is delighted the font types of bank. if i knew i was so interesting and i would love to be with my family. yeah. are some 10000 artists that include musicians, dances and our quotes are participating in. this is event that i also tend cultural groups from outside nigeria who are making a return to the festival. the caliber county values back up to 2 yard disruption caused by covered 19 for nearly 2 decades. it's been the destination for thousands of nigerians and taurus every year. local people look forward to the month long

celebrations as a charles to envy financially better off. or we should say the 2 year break has cost the local economy a lot with as the festival returns at him, small bolts shop has seen 6 months worth of sales in just 3 weeks with only bought that we are making you sell them as a result of that yeah. able to read. let me let you ask one of the number of participants this year may not be as big as the last carnival in printed i t but officious are confident troops from us. far away a south america will return next year. but most importantly, that is what the local economy will see

a significant boosting sales and job opportunities. how many degrees al jazeera caliber, a caught in ivory coast has handed down lie sentences to 4 men convicted of an attack. left 19 people dead. the group of gunmen stormed the beach, resort town of grand blossom before moving on to hotels and restaurants. in march 2016, the men were sentenced after a month long trout in abidjan arcadia claimed responsibility for the attack. it's your pin airlines have resume flights to northern to grier. reuniting loved ones of the 18 months of conflict. the route from addis ababa to mackenzie was suspended during the conflict between the government forces and to growing rebels who signed a ceasefire in november. alexandra bias repulse outside the airport and the addis ababa, the significance of this moment is impossible to ignore kasey.

hi lou and most of these families have lived in limbo for months um with um, what does it do? hm. what do i didn't i lived here apart from my husband and child who i love. i came here for my daughter's examination and suddenly got stuck. when i heard about the news of the flight, i fell to the ground and cried to america. not of course, with some left to see family, others for the birth of a grandchild. they planned to return to try in a week or 2, but in november 2020 war broke out communications and flights were suddenly impossible. another the gun, a couple of he got i'm extremely excited that i'm going to see my sister and my dad . i don't even know what to say. fighting began after the federal government accused the t drive people's liberation front of attacking an army base outside macaulay. the 2 year conflict has killed thousands of people and displaced millions . a peace agreement was signed in november. it includes the restoration of services

to t gray and the resumption of flights is the latest in that process. travel agent say the 1st flight was fully booked with an hours of the announcement government. it comes after a high level government delegation, visited rental held areas on monday when they were there to work on implementing the african union brokered piece deal under the deal. the t p a left fighters must disarm and allow security forces to take control, which is eritrea and forces will leave the region all over. what we have so far. busy officially, unemployment in relation between the governments into gripe and the federal government but broader ations, particularly the relationship is an integral and remain on addressed. and so far the negotiation has been going to the federal government, but it might be necessary that the integral government directly engaged to try this

for us. but on the runway in mckelly, the politics and broader conflicts, or at least temporarily forgotten. the families are reunited. no one expected to be gone this long, and the shock won't be easily forgotten. months of work remains to ensure the region doesn't slide back into conflict, but at least now they're finally home. alexandra buyers al jazeera. the vatican says their health of the former pope benedict is worsening, and he's receiving constant medical care. $9050.00 became the 1st pontiff, and 600 years to resign. when he step down in 2013, he's been living in the vatican since then. francis has visited his predecessor off the telling a general audience that benedict was very sick or not. but a year for track. i would like to ask all of you for.