feisty— strong on brexit lord frost was very feistv and _ strong on brexit lord frost was very feisty and eu negotiators were certainly, he was formidable and they were — certainly, he was formidable and they were probably a little bit wary of him. _ they were probably a little bit wary of him, whereas it is possible that liz truss— of him, whereas it is possible that liz truss may be seen as a soft touch — liz truss may be seen as a soft touch this— liz truss may be seen as a soft touch. this is a big blow for boris, lord _ touch. this is a big blow for boris, lord frost— touch. this is a big blow for boris, lord frost was a big ally and a stronq — lord frost was a big ally and a strong character.— lord frost was a big ally and a strong character. lizzie. that is interesting- _ strong character. lizzie. that is interesting. also _ strong character. lizzie. that is interesting. also liz _ strong character. lizzie. that is interesting. also liz truss - strong character. lizzie. that is interesting. also liz truss also | strong character. lizzie. that is . interesting. also liz truss also has a number of other responsibilities, she is foreign secretary, the women —— back to the minister for women and equalities, she has quite a lot on her plate and the brexit brief is important and will take up quite a lot of time. there may be some concerns about how much time she can dedicate specifically to this, because brexit was the entire role for lord frost and he was able to spend the time on that and liz truss has other priorities. it is an interesting choice because she is very popular with tory grassroots, she is popular with tory mps, and in some ways you could see it as an attempt to try and steady the ship, but lord frost, was very combative, very driven towards a specific, to battling europe, to try and resolve the northern ireland protocol and it will be interesting to see whether liz truss takes such a hard line stance. ., liz truss takes such a hard line stance. . , ., _, , quickly take this to the front page of the yorkshire post, because there was an awards day one and we need to comment on emma raducanu. fantastic news. i comment on emma raducanu. fantastic news- i thought — comment on emma raducanu. fantastic news. i thought she _ comment on emma raducanu. fantastic news. i thought she had _ comment on emma raducanu. fantastic news. i thought she had won _ comment on emma raducanu. fantastic news. i thought she had won it - news. i thought she had won it already— news. i thought she had won it already and it is great she has. that— already and it is great she has. that was— already and it is great she has. that was the one bright light in this slightly brilliant year watching her when that final and here is— watching her when that final and here is to — watching her when that final and here is to many more!— watching her when that final and here is to many more! lizzie, we will aet here is to many more! lizzie, we will get your— here is to many more! lizzie, we will get your thoughts _ here is to many more! lizzie, we will get your thoughts on - here is to many more! lizzie, we will get your thoughts on this - here is to many more! lizzie, we will get your thoughts on this in | will get your thoughts on this in the next paper review. we have run out of time. that's it for the papers this hour. we will be back at half past eleven for another look at the papers. goodbye for now. christmas is coming, and so is omicron — at speed. the covid variant was first reported by south africa in november. it's already spread to dozens of countries. and the who has this message for us... omicron's very emergence is another reminder that, although many of us might think we're done with covid—i9, it's not done with us. to put it mildly — this is not where we hoped we'd be. ifeel like we're... it's 2020 all over again, in a way, you know? we're back where we were. i want to consider where we were with covid and where we are, and look what we've learnt about this virus in 2021. back injanuary, wealthier nations had onlyjust started their vaccine roll—outs. this was israel. the pandemic death toll passed two million, and the number of cases reached 100 million. in the uk, the infection rate was rising, as was the pressure on hospitals. we have a very significant problem. the next few weeks will be the worst weeks of this pandemic. and, amid all this, the who had a message of defiant hope. this was from february. i don't want to ask people to hide under their desks or duvets in fear. actually, i want people to be connecting with each other and saying, you know, "this is a virus that's particularly nasty. "but it is within our power to be able to resist it." almost 12 months on, have we shown we can resist it? to answer that, we need to look at how this pandemic and our understanding of it have evolved, this year. certainly on one thing, there's been no change — we were told the vaccines worked, and they do. in the uk, as vaccinations increased, the number of hospitalisations dropped dramatically. the number of deaths dropped dramatically, too, right across the year. what was less clear was whether vaccines stopped infections. what we really don't know, though, at the moment, is, does the vaccine reduce transmission? does it block infection? that was in january. by the summer, the picture was clearer. what we know with the vaccines is that they are actually remarkably effective at preventing hospitalizations and deaths. they are less effective at preventing infection. the vaccines did reduce serious illness, but wouldn't stop the spread of the virus. delta in particular had made sure of that. and, by the end of the summer, it was also clear that two jabs would not be enough. people's immunity was waning. and, in many richer countries, including the us, that's exactly what happened. we are announcing our plan to stay ahead of this virus l by being prepared to offer covid—19 booster shots. . now at this stage, boosters were a response to waning immunity. but right now, they're needed for another reason, too — the omicron variant. we know that two doses of vaccine are not enough to stop you getting infected with omicron. but a booster will cut your risk of symptomatic infection by around 70%. that's why in the uk, we've seen people queuing for hours to get a booster. this year has shown the need for a third jab. and omicron has also taught us other ways the pandemic has evolved. for one, just like the scientists said they would, variants have arrived. alpha, beta, and delta drove covid infections globally with devastating consequences in india. my colleague yogita limaye described the situation. every crematorium we've been to, we've seen body after body being brought in. it's hard for anyone to keep count, but what workers have been telling me is that the real scale of deaths caused by covid—i9 in india is a lot higher than what official numbers reflect. the threat of variants was real — and their threat was being explicitly connected to vaccination rates. this is the co—creator of the astrazeneca vaccine. we need to be able to find the funds and the means to vaccinate widely across the world. if we don't, what will happen is more mutations arising in the virus, and we will have a harder and harder task to fight the virus as it continues to mutate. through the year, the richer countries pushed on with their vaccine roll—outs. nearly 70% of the uk population has been double—jabbed. but less than half of the overall global population has been. and in africa, it's 8%. and the who continues to focus on this issue. let me be very clear. who is not against boosters. we are against inequity. our main concern is to save lives everywhere. we started the year with the who warning about vaccine equity, we finish it with the same message. and, while richer countries push on with their boosters, omicron has shown that even vaccinating most people in a country may not be enough. this is austria — it's now made vaccines compulsory from february. and here, and in much of western europe, health care systems are under pressure — despite ample vaccine supply. this is the french health minister. translation: the load | in the intensive care units and the number of hospitalizations will continue to increase in the next two weeks. and that is weighing on our hospitals, which are already very mobilised. the question, then, is what to do about this? and bringing in new restrictions remains a live issue. in the house of commons this week, a significant number of borisjohnson's own tory mps voted against new restrictions. one of them was andrea leadsom. covid will be with us - for many years to come, and it's unthinkable that- every autumn from now on, we will be limiting the qualityi of life for all citizens just to be on the safe side. these restrictions were voted through, and polling in the uk and elsewhere suggests public opinion remains behind them. but, as covid becomes ever more long—term, opposition to restrictions becomes more pronounced. and one of the most contentious restrictions of them all this year has been travel bans. at the start of 2021, there were heavy restrictions. international travel was down 49%, compared with 2019. in addition, countries like australia and new zealand effectively sealed themselves off — they wanted to suppress the virus. but in the end, delta made sure this wasn't possible. by august, for australia, the aim was no longer keeping the virus out. instead... that is our goal — - to live with this virus, not to live in fear of it. globally, international travel has returned in a form. there are still some restrictions, prices are high, and tests have to be done. and the who continues to question travel bans as an idea. and, while the uk briefly introduced some of them for omicron, it quickly changed tack. now that there is community transmission of omicron in the uk, and omicron has spread so widely across the world, the travel red list is now less effective in slowing the incursion of omicron from abroad. 2021 taught us that travel restrictions may buy a little time, but more transmissible variants will find a way through. and so, here we are at the end of 2021 — variants spreading, unresolved disagreements over vaccine distribution, over restrictions, over travel bans — and the statistics tell their own story. more people have died in 2021 from covid than in 2020. the who report that over five million people have lost their lives so far during the pandemic. and, for all these reasons, and with omicron spreading, it can be difficult to gauge how to assess the state of the pandemic. i thought this clip of the who's michael ryan perhaps spoke for a lot of us. but it introduces a level of concern and a level of fear, and a sense of, erm... ..more exhaustion that we all feel. "well, here we go again." "here we go again," says michael ryan. and he also offered some advice. just because we have a new variant doesn't mean the situation is going to get worse. it means we have more uncertainty now. and that, perhaps, is the best way to summarise this year. two fundamental questions remain — can we vaccinate enough people, and how serious are these new variants as we try to do that? at the end of 2021, neither of those questions have definitive answers. and so, as michael ryan says, "we have more uncertainty now." hello there. there are some significant changes on the way over the week ahead and as we get closer to christmas it will be low pressure thatis to christmas it will be low pressure that is shaping our weather, bringing with it some cloud, and rain from the atlantic and lifting the temperatures as well. there is still the chance of some snow and this looks more likely to be in scotland for a while. we start monday with the coldest weather in scotland with the clear skies and a frost, more cloud to into other areas and the mist and fog will continue to lift and as the cloud base left, the crowd thins and sky should be brighter. best of the sunshine in northern and western areas of scotland are more clouded in north west england and wales than on sunday and we will not reach the 15 degrees we had in pembrokeshire. 6-8 15 degrees we had in pembrokeshire. 6—8 will be nearer the mark. high pressure is still close to the uk hence the quietness of the weather, it is starting to recede but underneath the high pressure we will probably have clear skies as we move into tuesday morning. probably a little bit more blue on the chart and a greater chance of more frost across england and wales. that is where we should see a bit more sunshine on tuesday during the day, more cloud continues to affect northern ireland and in scotland it will turn more cloudy more widely in the north of the country, a bit light rain and drizzle and the winds are still light, but quite a cold day on tuesday, the cloud increases in scotland and 7 degrees and south of england. we really set things up for the middle part of the week is that big area of low pressure fills in on the atlantic. pressure is falling, the bands of rain are around that area of low pressure. we start cold and frosty, eastern areas likely to stay dry and bright but in the west it is clouding over more quickly, getting wet as well, that wetter weather is pushing into the colder air and we are likely to find some snow for a while particularly in scotland, especially over the hills. stilla in scotland, especially over the hills. still a lot to play forfrom wednesday onwards with that low in the atlantic, trying to push in that milder airfrom the the atlantic, trying to push in that milder air from the south west, but there are still a block of colder air in the north and that colder air looks further north now and most of the country should be turning milder later in the wake with the chance of some rain at times. welcome to newsday. reporting live from singapore, i'm karishma vaswani. the headlines. there's a record low turnout in the first legislative elections in hong kong since china tightened control. we speak to democracy campaigner nathan law. netherlands starts a tough new lockdown, as the new coronavirus variant spreads fast across europe. a victory for the hard—left candidate in chile's most polarising election ever. and tennis star emma raducanu wins the bbc�*s prestigious sports personality of the year. live from our studio in singapore... this is bbc news. it's newsday.

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