this is bbc news. these are the latest headlines in the uk and around the world. queen elizabeth has been reflecting on the hardships of the pandemic as she and prince philip break tradition by staying in windsor. people have risen magnificently to the challenges of the year, and i am so the challenges of the year, and i am so proud and moved by this quiet, indomitable spirit. european union ambassadors get details of the christmas deal in a meeting led by michel barnier. thousands of lorry drivers are spending christmas day in the camps near dover as military personnel continue to test stranded hauliers. pope francis gives his

christmas address, urging nations to share coronavirus vaccines and calling for peace in war—torn regions. hello and welcome if you're watching in the uk or around the world. in her christmas day message, queen elizabeth has praised the scientists and medical staff, to whom, she said, we owe a debt of gratitude this year. she said this christmas was tinged with sadness because of the distance between people, many of whom just wanted a simple hug or squeeze of the hand. nicholas witchell reports. christmas 2020, a quiet day at home. this was the queen with members of her family at windsor castle just over two weeks ago, before the tier 4 covid restrictions were announced.

for christians, jesus is the light of the world, but we can't celebrate his birth today in quite the usual way. the pandemic had disrupted so much for people of all faiths, and yet the queen said it had brought us closer. in the united kingdom and around the world, people have risen magnificently to the challenges of the year and magnificently to the challenges of the yearandl magnificently to the challenges of the year and i am proud and moved by this quiet, indomitable spirit. to oui’ this quiet, indomitable spirit. to our young people in particular, i say thank you for the part you have played. she thanked front line workers and the achievements of modern science. we owe them a debt of gratitude, she said. she also acknowledged that this was the centenary acknowledged that this was the ce nte nary of acknowledged that this was the centenary of the burial of the unknown soldier in westminster abbey, an unknown hero from an earlier generation who had become a symbol of selfless duty. he became a

symbol of selfless duty. he became a symbol of selfless duty. he became a symbol of those like him who throughout history have put others before their own. many will be doing so before their own. many will be doing so today. for me, this is a source of enduring hope in difficult and enduring times. for many, the queen said, christmas would be a particularly difficult time. for many, this time of year will be tinged with sadness. some mourning the loss of those dear to them, and others missing family members, distanced for safety, when all they really wa nt distanced for safety, when all they really want for christmas is a simple hug or squeeze of the hand. if you are among them, you are not alone. let me assure you of my thoughts and prayers. the reference toa thoughts and prayers. the reference to a hug ora thoughts and prayers. the reference to a hug or a squeeze of the hand was a human touch, the kind of language the queen does not often used publicly, deployed today in a

christmas day message of hope and reassurance. after a historic brexit trade deal, the european union's chief negotiator, michel barnier, has been briefing ambassadors from the 27 member states on the details. the document setting out the deal runs to over twelve hundred pages. the prime minister — who was in downing street yesterday when the deal was confirmed — has also received a copy. here's our political correspondent leila nathoo i have a small present for anyone who may be looking for something to read in that sleepy post—christmas lunch moment, and here it is... tidings, glad tidings of greatjoy, because this is a deal. some light reading. the post—brexit deal agreed yesterday between britain and the eu runs to more than 1,200 pages. this morning, the man who negotiated it for the eu side, michel barnier, briefed ambassadors of eu member states on its details.

mission accomplished. what's in that blue folder sets out how the eu and uk will trade and co—operate from the new year — to finally have something on paper is a success for both sides. the deal was done in the nick of time with the uk already out of the eu and transition arrangements expiring within days. mps and peers will have until wednesday to digest the detail before being called back to parliament for a debate. there are unlikely to be any hold—ups in westminster, though — labour is set to back it. we will certainly be better off with this deal, and we have to make it work. no deal would have terrible consequences for our country, and the labour party could not enable that to happen. during the long months of negotiations, both sides seemed determined not to give ground. what is now on the table is a compromise, but those who campaigned for brexit have broadly given the deal thumbs up. if the contents are as described

by the prime minister, then i think it is a very satisfactory outcome, and actually a very good one, given the rather bum hand he had been dealt when he took over from theresa may. britain's new relationship with brussels is now more defined. eu ambassadors are weighing up how the future looks with the uk on the outside. the deal will need time to play out in practice, but both sides will be relieved it was, against the odds, done. leila nathoo, bbc news. thousands of lorry drivers are spending christmas day in their cabs near dover. extra military personnel are being deployed to help clear the backlog of lorries waiting to cross the channel. one of the stipulations the france imposed is that lorry drive test negative for coronavirus — and in the last half an hour, the uk's transport secretary says of the 10,000 tests carried out in the last 2a hours,

only 2a have come back positive. grant chaps said a500 lorries are back over the channel. 0ur correspondent frankie mccamley has been in mansten airfield for us, with the latest on the situation there. this is not the christmas that thousands of drivers were expecting. some have been stuck here with no access to washing facilities and just portaloos dotted along the side of the airfield. we have heard beeping protests as drivers are getting more and more frustrated. i have been speaking to some who'd say they just want to be at have been speaking to some who'd say theyjust want to be at home. they feel like this is a political protest a nd feel like this is a political protest and they are caught in the middle. you can seejust behind me, some local people are rallying together, trying to provide hot food and drinks to give these drivers something on christmas day. every half an hour, we are seeing around

eight doesn't lorries leave this site to take the a0 minutes journey over to the port of dover. each have been tested negative for coronavirus and each will be carrying a letter signed by uk and french authorities allowing them access to mainland europe. last night, we saw around 800 troops deployed to try and speed up 800 troops deployed to try and speed up this testing process. that does seem to have worked as lots of the roads surrounding dover have cleared and residents are now able to travel. but this is not back to normal. there are thousands of drivers stuck here. they may be getting water, drinks, and food, but this is not where they were hoping to be, especially on christmas day. the uk's biggest testing lab has been hit by an outbreak of coronavirus. a number of scientists at the lighthouse laboratory in milton keynes, are believed to have been affected

along with admin and warehouse staff. the lab, which is being asked to process about 70,000 tests a day, say it follows covid secure work procedures. at least three people have been injured ina at least three people have been injured in a big explosion in the us city of nashville in tennessee. police have confirmed that it has come from a park vehicle. a bomb squad has been sent to the area. smoke could be seen billowing from a building in the down town area. police believe this was an intentional act and reporting that they are expecting a suspicious vehicle. india's prime minister has announced... amid pressure for his government to scrap controversial reforms. this will loosen the rules

around the sales, pricing and storage of stored items. the government here of prime minister modi has been trying to reach out to various sections of the reformers highlighting points regarding the new agrarian reforms which were passed in september this year, one of them has been inviting more foreign investment, private investment in agriculture and second thing is they want to abolish antiquated procedures like people are using some of the agents to sell their produce, which means farmers they have to pay money so these agents will be removed from the system and then the farmers are allowed to sell their produce for example from different states, now they have certain restrictions like a farmer from southern india can now sell to the farmers or the merchants in northern india. these are the key points of the government's agrarian reforms and that is what the government has been trying to sell to the other farmers. 0n the other hand, what the farmers are saying is that india

is predominantly an agricultural nation, more than 60% of the la billion population depend on agriculture. many of them are small landowners, so, the reforms will benefit only big corporations and we don't have the power to take on these big corporations in setting the price, when did the market ever give an advantage to poor farmers and the rest of the world? this is a classic case of deregulation of markets and the poor farmers and they are up against it, whereas the typical case of globalisation versus developing countries problem. in chilly‘s president has said the vaccination is a symbol of hope. chilly, costa rica, and mexico have begun vaccination campaigns as the first in latin america.

in chilly, help comes from the skies. the first delivery of the coronavirus vaccine is arriving here in santiago. the precious cargo was moved onto a helicopter. translation: it is a day of much excitement seeing this helicopter transporting help. many people have worked to get this vaccine. 0ur compatriots will have an effective and timely vaccine. the first compatriot, a health worker. the president is there to witness this important moment. in mexico, they queued up for their jabs. important moment. in mexico, they queued up for theirjabs. doctors, nurses, members of the military. this country has had more than

120,000 covert fatalities, the fourth highest death toll in the world. so palpable was the excitement, the whole thing was shown live on television. argentina will begin its vaccine programme imminently. they have sought help from russia rather than america or western europe, a decision that has led to some raised eyebrows. translation: the first vaccines have arrived in the country. there was some scepticism, but as we always say, we do not want to get entangled in any type of discussion, other than preserving the health of our people. another plane touching down, another batch of the vaccine arriving, this time in costa rica. as the country's president put it, this may be the beginning of the end of this pandemic. in his christmas message, pope francis has urged

leaders to share the coronavirus vaccine, saying ones of nationalism should not be there in the fight against the pandemic who knows no borders. this time last year, there were 50,000 people in st peter's square watching the pope's christmas urbi et 0rbi to the world from the balcony of st peter's basilica. this year the square is completely cordoned off by police, we are in the middle of a christmas lockdown, and the pope spoke from inside the palace. the world has changed, and many people's faith has been shaken and coronavirus was very much at the heart of the pope's christmas message. he called on people to care for and to offer generosity to the victims of the pandemic. he also called on world leaders to co—operate, so that there should be access to vaccines, for all countries. he said "we cannot erect walls", perhaps a message to the outgoing

donald trump administration there. interestingly, he singled out among the victims women who had suffered from domestic violence during months of lockdown. he talked about how his thoughts were for families who could not come together, and those forced to remain at home, so the pandemic very much at the centre of this urbi et 0rbi message. he called for peace in the world's hotspots, but this is a year in which the world as a whole has been fighting a way, and the pope's message was to people, to arm themselves with compassion. the latest headlines here on bbc news. queen elizabeth has been reflecting on the pandemic. she and prince philip broke tradition by staying in windsor. european union

ambassadors get details of a post—brexit trade deal in a christmas day briefing led by michel barnier. and thousands of lorry drivers are spending christmas day in theircabs near drivers are spending christmas day in their cabs near dover, as 800 men treat personnel continue to stress 01’ treat personnel continue to stress or test stranded hauliers. some good news 110w or test stranded hauliers. some good news now in this most difficult of yea rs. news now in this most difficult of years. the first concerts to be held inside notre dame in paris since it was severely damaged by fire last year. there was no audience, and the socially distanced singers or hard hats and boiling sets because the cathedral is still a building site. as well as classical pieces, they also gave a rendition ofjingle bells. they play jingle bells

jingle bells and notre dame. what a year it has been for captain sir, dominic captain sir tom moore. we have been to meet him and find out about his christmas plans. it's been a year like no otherfor all of us. but for captain sir tom moore, 2020 has seen him catapulted from his back garden to worldwide adoration, and to a specially convened ceremony where he was knighted by her majesty the queen. december‘s always a time to look forward, but also back to boyhood christmases during the 1920s. you got up at six o'clock in the morning to see what father christmas had left overnight. when we were small boys, or small

children, we didn't get a stocking, we got a pillowcase. you knew there'd be an orange at the bottom of it somewhere. but not a lump of coal? no! and later, as a young officer in the british army during the second world war. all the officers gave the all the other ranks their christmas lunch. we served them their christmas lunch. and that was a happy occasion, with a little a bit of relaxation and some drink, which hadn't been readily available for some time. but that was a very good day. one of the main objectives of the captain tom foundation is to tackle loneliness, which can be especially cruel at christmas. for people who don't have a family who can come and knock on the door,

it must be a very lonely time. and, of course, how are they going to have a christmas lunch if there's only one of you? so i do hope that everyone will have more than one person to have the christmas lunch. but you would, of course, expect some of his famous optimism. we've always had all the family around us, and we've all had a lovely christmas lunch with turkey and all the little bits that go with it. and that's always been a joy for the parents, and for the children. this year, of course, with things as they are, things can't be quite the same for everyone, but things will get better and next year we'll be all right. he's spending the festive season not walking, but hopefully relaxing, having been invited to barbados.

i had a bucket list, and one of the items on that list was barbados. and this is going to come through. barbados has very kindly taken barbados off my bucket list. and what's next on that — do we know? what's the next plan on your bucket list? the next one is on the route 66 across america with bentley. well, let's hope you get that one soon as well. so as he works his way down the list, let's hope captain sir tom gets his kicks in the new year. john maguire, bbc news, bedfordshire.

with today's's news that the uk singles chart has been topped by a youtube star for the third time, what is happening to live music? this sheffield singer has made the offer to tens of thousands of fans to play an online gig for those alone at christmas after coronavirus restrictions were made tighter. thank you much forjoining us. what led to you making this very kind offer? it was quite a flippant comment, really. it was after the prime minister announced cancellation and restrictions on christmas for many. i thought, what cani christmas for many. i thought, what can i do? i don't know being about people being alone at this time. time is the only thing that musicians have in abundance at the

moment. so i thought i could ring people on zoom and have a bit of an actor and see their response. i think i'm going to extend it to boxing day and perhaps a bit of a new year stent. i thought be better to wring people directly rather than doing one zoom gig, which i thought might bea doing one zoom gig, which i thought might be a bit impersonalfor doing one zoom gig, which i thought might be a bit impersonal for lots of people. i like the kind of personal aspect to do lots of that stuff, like playing on peoples houses and going outside with a guitar after by normal gigs. i really wish i was playing gigs so it's good to have a bit of interaction. so you are missing playing gigs. tell us what 2020 has been like for you and the band, how much has this affected you? 0bviously, there's been no income for the band this year. we have not been able to do the festivals or play live which is a great thing that we love to do. in the greater scheme of things, as musicians, we are all right. we mustn't grumble,

there's worse off. wright you mentioned no income, it must have been tempting to charge people a fee to do these gigs. why did you decide not to? i did toy with the idea. there's websites where you can charge people to say hello and so oi'i. charge people to say hello and so on. but it didn't seem the spirit of rock and roll for me to do that stuff. i think it's good to do some things for nothing and remember how you are able to get to where you got to do in life. i think it's your fans who put you there, so it's nice to try and give a bit back. are you operating on the basis that you think everything will be back to normal in a few months' time? yes, fingers crossed. we love the festival season. we are in the process of making a new album. each assigned a great new record deal. we are hopeful of a good year. i can't tell you how much i have missed

playing live. it's been a real big pa rt playing live. it's been a real big part of my life. 15 or 16 years now. hopefully, we will get back to making people jump up hopefully, we will get back to making peoplejump up and down and having a good time in the summer. i think we need a bit of a party in this country. when people say, yes please, give me a personal gig online, what do they actually get when they agreed to it? is at all of you comedy will play? no, we are all in different parts. my wife is actually in the band. my mum has beeniu actually in the band. my mum has been ill so my wife has had to step in cooking the dinner. so it will just be me on my own. i had to put a caveat in for your fans. i just be me on my own. i had to put a caveat in for yourfans. i said, make sure that you are genuinely on your own, i don't want 16 relatives hide in the corner. but my calendar how difficult that would be to verify. how much difference to think that makes to somebody‘s mood? a

much needed at there?” that makes to somebody‘s mood? a much needed at there? i don't want to blow my own trumpet too much but i have to put my self in the position of a fan. having one of my favourite singers call me up on christmas day, i would be over the itiooi'i. christmas day, i would be over the moon. i can only hope that someone feels like that. maybe they don't, maybe they are just casual fans and they want some company. either or, it's fine by me. we have got 50 seconds left of this bulletin. i wonder if you could play us out.|j will fill it with the most underrated christmas song ever. i wa nt underrated christmas song ever. i want a hippopotamus for christmas... # i want a hippopotamus

for christmas... we've got fairly quiet weather around for the rest of today. we have had some sunshine, the best of it across england. this was the scene earlier towards the south coast. further north—west, the cloud has been gathering somewhat. some rain in western scotland. the cloud is all associated with an area of low pressure is all associated with an area of low pressure near is all associated with an area of low pressure near iceland, which has already been named storm bella. that will cause problems across parts of the uk saturday night and on into sunday. more on that in a second, but through this coming night, an early patch of frost in southeast england, otherwise, it will turn cloudy, mild, a little bit of rain pushing in, rain at its heaviest in western scotland.

by the end the night, temperatures around a—8 celsius for most of us. tomorrow then, well, it will be a wet day for western scotland, heavy rain for most of the day, could cause localised flooding, gusty winds strengthened through the day as well. quite a bit of cloud further south, a few scattered showers for the south coast of england and wales. a mild day nationwide. temperatures reaching as high as 10—11 celsius. back to storm bella, then. now, as we go through boxing day night and into sunday, we get this band of heavy rain pushing south with strong gusts of wind as well. the winds will be at their strongest across the south coast of england and the south coast of wales, where we could see gusts of around 70—80 mph. these are potentially damaging disruptive gusts of wind, potentially strong enough to bring down a tree or two. aside from the strong winds, there will also be a band of heavy rain that pushes its way southwards. that could cause localised flooding given that the ground is saturated and we have seen flooding over recent days. as the rain clears through, sunshine comes out, lots of showers in the northwest, they will turn to snow, particularly over modest tales as colder air works in.

temperatures in scotland 3—a celsius, similar for northern ireland and the far north of england. storm bella that's the main focus, saturday night into sunday, it's likely to cause problems, damaging winds on the way, but also some potential for flooding. southern wales looks particularly vulnerable. now, beyond that into monday, storm bella slowly eases away, but not before bringing a mixture of some rain, some sleet and maybe a bit of snow for some of us as well, all the while staying windy in northern ireland. that's your latest weather. bye— bye.

hello. this is bbc news. the headlines... queen elizabeth has been reflecting on the hardships of the pandemic and her christmas speech as she and prince philip raked tradition by staying in windsor. people have risen magnificently to the challenges of the year, and i'm so proud and moved by this quiet indomitable spirit. european union investor gives details of approach that —— post—brexit deal briefing led by michel barnier. hope francis has given his christmas day address urging all nations to share koba 19 vaccines and calling for peace in war—torn regions. thousands of lorry drivers are spending christmas day in theircamps near drivers are spending christmas day in their camps near dover as 800 military personnel continue to test stranded whole years. government says more than 10,000 tests have been done.

now i'm bbc news,