declared a disaster after grassfires destroyed entire neighbourhoods in boulder county. more than thirty thousand people were forced to evacuate by the fires. countries around the world are seeing in the new year, with scaled back celebrations — as the omicron variant continues to drive up covid infections. coronavirus infections in the uk have reached a new record high. estimates suggesti in 30 people tested positive before christmas. one study suggests the risk of hospitalisation with omicron is about one—third that of delta. and mourners in south africa have been paying their respects to the late archbishop desmond tutu. now on bbc news, review

2021, the year in sport. the world of sport roared to life in 2021 as major events took place and spectators returned. adam wild takes a 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. over 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 osaka, 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: try and he gets the touchdown. l a strange and silent twickenham, save only the cheers and roars of the scotland players. wales began at home, no crowd of course. normally you would pause for the roar. the passion was very much there. the team in red would do just that. to the snow and murrayfield. the rugby once more, red hot. he's going to get it! what an important win for wales. two from two now. back home, the neighbours were waiting. will england catch fire? when will they cast fire? the answer not in cardiff.

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. france must score, surely. 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? the strangeness continues. they could scarcely have left it later. what an end to this championship! that meant wales were champions. drama that deserved an audience. the women's six nations, felt the impact even more. restructured, reorganised,

the culmination an england, france final. wonderful stuff from england. good support in there from harrison. 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. at the crucible, 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 a premier league title. celebrations. they dreamed of more. as did chelsea women after they had to wait to the last day of the season to clinch the domestic prize. 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 belong to stjohnston.

still no fans in scotland. 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 may well have watched through their fingers, beaten 4— 0 by barcelona. for some, it was time to get reacquainted. manchester united were in gdansk for a europa league final. beaten dramatically on penalties by villareal. porto was the venue for the champions league final.

a continental full english chelsea against manchester city. seeing chelsea return 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 suddenly something much more important is at stake right now. 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 much 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 when. 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 has 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 returning fans. images of crowd trouble at wembley before the game were beamed 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 seeing off castleford. but the summer of 2021 will be remembered for the biggest sporting event of all — the delayed olympics 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 advice. # 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. # when i 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?

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 champions. # when i see the world so different now. # because there's a place that i see, 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. 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 champagne. # 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, teenage grand slam winner, now with the world at her feet. # night in new york. the united states also was the venue for golf�*s most eagerly anticipated events.

# oh, say does that star—spangled banner... hitting all the right notes on the opening day, europe. the first irish woman to claim the competition. she was brilliant. team usa would come fighting. you just don't know what's going to happen next. victory inside for there, they wouldn't let go. matilda retained the title. absolutely brilliant. before emily pendleton. up in wisconsin, there was marketing desk celebrating 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. thirdfight

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 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 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 that cricket was forced to reflect on much graver issues. the racism scandal is 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 one in the desert. it was becoming clear that max verstappen was going to push him all the way. a tyre exploding to almost 200 miles an hour, robbing verstappen of victory.

silverstone 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 reins and the title. the amazing season deserved an amazing ending. this will live long in their memory. the arguments will go on perhaps just as long. few 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 of emma raducanu receiving her award and covid isolation. this extraordinary sporting year ending rather like it began.

hello. you're not imagining it, it is exceptionally mild and we will continue to remain in very mild air for the first few days of the new year. notjust the uk, but many of our european neighbours have seen record temperatures in new year's eve, certainly in parts of poland, austria, germany and the netherlands. and for new year's day, once again we could see records being rivalled or toppled for the day. this cold front will push across the uk through new year's

day, quite a skinny little weather front, not much temperature contrast across it and because it is such a narrow band of rain it will not stick around very long, perhaps an hour or so stick around very long, perhaps an hour orso of rain stick around very long, perhaps an hour or so of rain working west to east across england and wales. these showers in the west of scotland and northern ireland could be more persistent but look at the temperatures again. quite a lot of sunshine, widely highs in the mid teens. squally showers for the south—east of england on saturday morning into sunday, some heavier showers sweeping in from the west in wales in the midlands. a very mild night again. these are the temperature is more typical of daytime for this time of year, even slightly above. sunday, wetter weather again on the cards for england and wales and some blustery winds, some intense showers working their way through, the driest and brightest weather for sunday will be for scotland and northern ireland. on monday we fall into a bit of a pincer movement in terms of our

weather across the uk. we will see this weather front to the south trying to push rain and, this area in the north trying to turn things increasingly unsettled between the two some breezy conditions, but the best of any sunny spells for the midlands, the north of england but to the very south and north of the uk there could be heavier and more persistent rain. a little cooler on monday but temperatures still slightly above average for the time of year. however, for tuesday looks like we are going to flip around and pick upa like we are going to flip around and pick up a northerly wind and that will bring about a very dramatic change in the way things look, because we will have to add on the wind chill. temperatures in edinburgh for degrees on tuesday, down from eight in london. big contracts and a weather to come in the days ahead.

this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. countries around the world are seeing in the new year with a bang, but some are holding scaled—back celebrations to try to stop covid spreading. this is the scene at an empty red square in moscow as the clock strikes midnight. this is the scene there live. entire neighbourhoods in the us state of colorado have been engulfed by flames as wildfires force tens of thousands to leave their homes. the nhs warns of significant pressure in the coming weeks as covid infections in the uk reach a new high. the staff that are at work will be caring for more patients, trying to do more to cover for their missing colleagues, working extra hours, starting early, finishing late.

the pressure will be immense.