this is bbc news, the headlines... volunteers in england hoping to give vaccines. the government is offering every adult a boost by the end of the month. millions around the world faced travel disruption over christmas as the surge in the omicron variant sees thousands of flight cancelled due to staff shortages. airline say they are contacting those passengers affected before they arrive at the airport. the queen is expected to give a very personal christmas message later, the first since the death of her husband prince philip. final preparations are under way for the launch of a rocket carrying a space telescope that could transform our understanding of the universe. the rocket carrying the james webb space telescope will take off from french guiana later. this is bbc news.

now an bbc news review 2021 the year in sport. 0ur sports presenter adam wilde takes a close look at the highs and lows of a memorable year. there's never been a sporting year quite like 2021. it would, though, take a little time for the volume to be turned up. like everything else, it had to wait. as the year began, the backing track was the sound of silence. fans were still some way behind. covid's cancellations and chaos continued, the pandemic still providing all the background noise. the empty stadia, a stark, constant reminder that no amount of fake sounds or even fake

crowds could drown out. that was over here. 0ver there, well, this was how the world's best tennis players were preparing for one of the first major sporting events of the year, the australian open. strict hotel quarantine divided opinion. tennis was struggling to keep calm and carry on. novak djokovic became the men's champion, the first of three grand slams for him this year. naomi 0saka, the women's champion, herfirst and final grand slam of 2021. her withdrawal from the others to protect her mental health, the starting point for another of the year's major sporting narratives. in truth, many were still questioning whether sport should be going ahead at all. rugby union's six nations did — just about — and despite everything off the field, on it, it was one of the best we've ever seen. an empty twickenham and defending champions england is where scotland began. intimidating, perhaps,

but they came with a plan. commentator: he gets - the touchdown, australia and —— a strange and silent twickenham, save only the cheers and roars of the scotland players. wales became at home, no crowd of course. the team in red would do just that. to the snow and murrayfield. the rugby once more, read. he's going to get it! what an important win for wales. back home, the neighbours were waiting. will england catch fire? when will they catch fire? cardiff, the questions didn't end there. back home, the neighbours were waiting. will england catch fire? when will they catch fire?

not in cardiff. the questions didn't end there. he can't quite gather it. it has gone forward, has it? to paris for an extraordinary finish. to the match and ultimately the championship. surely it's going to be... for the bonus point try! that will win france the game. wales beaten. could scotland now help them out? they could scarcely have left them later. want an end to this championship! that met wales were champions. drama that deserved an audience. the women's six nations,

that felt the impact even more. restructured, reorganised, the culmination and england, france final. wonderful stuff from england. they cannot stop winning. they are champions again in 2021. england couldn't stop winning, and neither it seemed could rachael blackmore. never getting carried away. in april, she became the first female jockey to win the grand national. the gender thing was never an issue. i just carried forward. it was just such a special race. i'm absolutely honoured to be able to put my name beside it. the roar was finally back. the snooker championships became the first major british event

to welcome back fans. raising the roof, champion mark selby. fans returning in football and revolting proposals for european super league sparked outrage. fan power won for now. manchester city are the premier league champions. one of those involved was manchester city. having won the league cup, they added the premier league... celebrations. as did chelsea women after they had to wait to the last of the season to clinch the domestic prize of. chelsea are the champions of england! still very little could match the scenes of jubilation in glasgow. in one side of it, at least. it's a big moment. we are right at the top.

the cups both belong to stjohnston. still no fans without... that is what partly made the fa cup final so extraordinary. 21,000 inside wembley to witness one of the great cup final goals. what a shot! fa cup winners for the very first time. one of the year's most poignant sporting moments. chelsea women's champions league final was played behind closed doors. fans back home they will have watched through their fingers, beaten 4—0 by barcelona. for some, it was time to get reacquainted. manchester united course danced for a europa league final. a continental full english chelsea

against manchester city. chelsea returned as kings of europe. in club football, at least 2021 was a year of international football. europe was finally opening up. the euros began with a nod to the past but a turn to the future. the journey begins. lit up rome tonight. we are looking forward to a competition and something

much more important is at stake. plays it into sterling! they are back and eager to make up for lost time. anguish. a really big night ahead. and his team have done the nation proud! goodness me, it's loud. yikes. only a win will do. two players now isolating, his team criticised. the start of the knockout stage of the european championship. lovely touch. flag stays down. it's 4—0 for this tournament. this time, that's that. this is an amazing story

being told in budapest. it is the first shock knockout at euro 2020, and the reign of portugal as european champions is over. has to find the back of the net. the world champions, france, are going home. it's not the final, it just feels that way. in comes the captain! it's finally happened. this is one of those landmark football moments that don't come around too often. things could get better and better and better. kane! ukraine blown away. england on their way. england and denmark!

it was delightful! sterling! wembley is alive and thundering with noise! into the final of a major tournament for the first time in 55 yea rs! england versus italy in the final of the european championship. excitement around wembley that hasn't been felt since, you know in. it's luke shaw! it's the start of dreams! this is a problem, it is in. england once again are involved in a penalty shoot—out. the nation holds its breath.

saved! italy are the champions of europe. huge disappointment for england. the aftermath of the final equally so. the racist abuse of some players prompted more national soul—searching. the boys have done so well for us, which i think is brought so many parts of our country together for some of them to be abused is unforgivable. the final two saw the dark side of the turning fans. images of crowd trouble at wembley before the game were being around the world. a damning report would call it a day of national shame.

what happened was a very near miss, and that near miss would be a significant loss of life or injuries, probably on a scale that sadly we saw at hillsborough. across the capital, things were far more serene. new stars were emerging whilst others were shining once more. the championships are back. the all england club looks _ picture—perfect and ready to welcome back the fans. back where he belongs. he has done it again. i feel very lucky- i get to do it again. i'm going to do it - again, i want to play. we have just heard one of the sporting roars of the year. wimbledon has a new star. 18—year—old emma raducanu. ashleigh barty!

destiny fulfilled. and the celebrations can begin. it's the sixth wimbledon title. there was a new name on the list of golf�*s open champions. what an incredible debut. the american winning in the first attempt. not for either of them, their final victory of the year. cycling's biggest moment was won by the british focus, on mark cavendish. harlequins were crowned men's premiership rugby union champions.

before a much disrupted tour ended with the british and irish lions narrowly beaten in south africa. there were some fans back at wembley. st helens is all off castleford. but the summer of 2021 will be remembered for the biggest sporting event of all — the delayed 0lympics that almost didn't happen again. the global games and it's a global crisis, athletes bringing home both medals and memories.

# wondering what the world would be like # i knew i had to change my mind # didn't realise what would happen oh so soon. still the olympic champion. we love you. # the way it's so different now... # there's a place... # when i don't know what to say # when i don't know what to do # there's a room i need to sit in # surrounded by my favourite view. skye brown will take bronze! looking really good at the moment. can you believe that?

# independence cost me the price of questioning your own advise # i know will be all right #ido # what i do. # i see the world # there's a place that i see, and there's my time # when i don't know what to say don't know what to do # there's a room i need to sit in # surrounded by my favourite view # when i need a hand to hold # so i can tell the truth

# would it be ok if i came home to you? triathlon will be golden for great britain in tokyo. worthington is absolutely smashing the second rung out of the park! it is a glittering fifth gold medal for laura kenny. we're olympic champions. i'm so proud. jason kenny! double olympic champion. # when i see the world so different now # because there's a place by the sea, and that's my town # when i don't know what to say # when i don't know what to do # would it be ok if i came home to you? # no, would it be ok

if i came home to you? a captivated audience back home barely had time to draw breath. no sooner had the olympians returned with their medals, the paralympians were off to tokyo set on winning more. she was crying, and i was too, but you never really expect it to come together like that. i literally gave everything i had. one tenth of the second. it was ridiculous. now i am so much more than an anxious girl. - i worked for this for such a long time, but i worked independently, so now ifinished all three. we're finished. i'm going home.

as britain was gaining champions, it was also losing one for now. anthonyjoshua lost all four of his heavyweight titles, beaten by alexander erucic. england's netballers were winning their series against new zealand. whilst over in the united states, there was a genuinely astonishing story unfolding. # one night in new york # feels like a lifetime anywhere. having caught the eye at wimbledon, 18—year—old emma raducanu is now making her mark at the us open. # this town is champaign # so shake

the bottle, pop the core. going through qualifying, she won her first nine matches without dropping a set incredibly, all the way to her final in history. before the match, i was nervous. i felt like something wasn't quite right. something felt a little bit off. i think that'sjust usual nerves, but once i got onto the court, i was just having a lot of fun out there, and i think that's what helped because i wasn't distracted. i wasjust focusing on what i had to do. this fairy tale caught the world's imagination. emma raducanu, a teenage grand slam winner, now with the world at her feet. # one night in new york. the united states also was the venue for golf�*s most eagerly anticipated events.

# 0h, say does that star—spangled banner yet wave? hitting all the right notes on the opening day, europe. the first irish woman to play in the competition. she was brilliant. team usa would come out fighting. you just don't know what's going to happen next. victory insight from there, they wouldn't let go. matilda retained the title. absolutely brilliant. before emily pendleton won it for europe.

up in wisconsin, there was marketly less to celebrate in the ryder cup. team usa were going to great lengths to make this look every bit the record breaker. that's ridiculous! unbelievable! it sucks losing. it sucks not being able to be competitive. - the atmosphere could have been predicted. the dominance of team usa should have been. in october, the london marathon was back, bigger than ever. another mile marker in this longest of races back to normality. nothing normal about what was taking place in las vegas the following week. the third fight

fury still champion of the world. back on england's green, there was so nearly a french champion in rugby league. catalan dragons of our side to super league's finale of season. there should have been a world cup to follow, but that now will have to wait another year. 2021 undoubtedly belonged to st helens, winning the women's title as well. chelsea finished their year before completing the much delayed fa cup final in front of 40,000. fa cup victory. the first silverware of the new season in scotland went to celtic.

cricket�*s t20 world cup was won perhaps surprisingly by the australia, where england's test side won their year. starting in the worst possible way. 2021 was a year cricket was forced to reflect on much graver issues. the racism scandal at yorkshire has posing questions. there seems to be an exception, no one ever stamps it out. the response could now define the domestic game for years to come. for sporting drama, there was little to rival the rivalry in formula one. the battle to be number one was possibly the most intense the sport has ever seen. lewis hamilton won in the desert. it was becoming clear that max verstappen was going to push him all the way.

a tyre exploding at almost 200 miles an hour, robbing verstappen of victory. silverstein was a turning point. hungary was chaotic. in italy, the pair needed to be separated once more. the rivalry was boiling over. there was nothing to prepare fans for what followed. allowed verstappen to co ntroversially ta ke the race and the title. the amazing season deserved an amazing ending. this will live long in the memory. the arguments will go on perhaps just as long. few though could really disagree with the bbc�*s sports personality of the year. emma raducanu. having created history in 2021, it was perhaps in keeping with

the last 12 months that emma raducanu received in covid isolation. this extraordinary sporting year ending rather like it began. we have got a bit of everything under the christmas tree today. in the southern part of the country it is quite mild, misty, rain and drizzle around but in the north and east of the country not only have we got a cold wind developing but one to have seen a bit of snow this morning to make it a white christmas, especially across shetland, parts of eastern scotland, down through the borders and on the tops of the pennines as far south as the dales. these areas continue to see some sunshine, one or two wintry

flurries but mostly dry and sunny with a strengthening wind. for northern ireland, central and southern england and wales the cloud will be in place. heavier burst of rain in the afternoon, south—west england, wales and northern ireland especially. to the south—west of thatis especially. to the south—west of that is the mildest of air but the wind coming from the north—easterly direction means that even though it shows four or five celsius on the thermometers at the moment it will feel much, much colder than that. it will feel sub—0 impact across much of scotland, northern and eastern parts of england. wrap up well if you are going for a walk later on. tonight, with the cold wind coming in from the east, clashing with these outbreaks of rain pushing north and eastwards across most parts be prepared across the hills of northern england into lower levels for others of some snow to take us into boxing day morning. it is going to be a cold one still across the north as we start the day, widespread frost away from those eastern coast but look in the south, eight, 9 degrees, the milder

air continues to work its way north. through boxing day we start off with the snow on the hills and even to low levels, lighter and patria maybe to sleet and rain as we go through the day as milder air tries to win its way. elsewhere, compared with today we will see brighter skies develop. heavy and thundery showers around parts of midland, southern england and wales a better chance of some sunshine. 11, 12, 13 degrees possible, four orfive in some sunshine. 11, 12, 13 degrees possible, four or five in the far north. as we go into next week low pressure systems lining themselves up pressure systems lining themselves up in the atlantic and each one will bring evermore warm air. in fact, a surge of very mild air always in the mid—atlantic coming our way into next week. it won't feel festive at all in between christmas and new year. look at the temperatures, potentially 16 or 17 celsius with some rain for some. what you

this is bbc news broadcasting in the uk and around the globe and around the globe i'm martine croxall. our top stories... volunteers staff vaccine centres in england as the race to fight the surging 0mricon variant doesn't stop for the holiday. little festive cheer for millions of travellers facing disruption as the world—wide record surge in 0micron cases means cancelled flights and staff shortages. andi and i am here at windsor where the queen is spending christmas day. she had wanted to be in sandringham, but like many of us, her christmas plans have been disrupted by coronavirus. and going further and deeper into space than ever before — a revolutionary telescope is due to blast off over the coming hours. this is the scene live, as scientists prepare for lift off.