and after three months of spewing lava and ash, the volcanic eruption on la palma, finally comes to an end. the queen has spoken movingly in her christmas day message about her grief at the death of her husband, prince philip. she said there was one familiar laugh missing and expressed empathy with other families who d lost loved ones this year. our royal correspondent, nicholas witchell, reports. windsor castle on christmas morning. the royal standard signifying that the queen was in residence. merry christmas. the prince of wales and duchess of cornwall joined the congregation at st george s chapel for morning service. the queen, though, did not attend as a precaution against covid, according to officials. from the very first moments of the queen s broadcast, there was a keen sense of the loss she has felt over the death of prince philip last april, after their 73 years of marriage. although it is a time of great happiness and good cheer for many, christmas can be har
into space than ever before a revolutionary telescope is due to blast off over the coming hours. hello and welcome to bbc news. for much of the world christmas day has begun and in england volunteers are working at covid vaccination sites today as the push to offer every adult a booster by the end of the month continues. nhs england says thousands of first, second and boosterjabs will be given on christmas day as part of its response to the omicron variant threat. the number of people getting their firstjab of the covid 19 vaccine rose by around 46% in the week up to december 21. the nhs says about 60% of adults have now received a boosterjab in the uk, with a record number of vaccinations taking place in the last seven days. the largest increase was seen among young people, with an 85% increase in first doses for those aged 18 and 2a and a 71% increase in first doses for those aged 25 to 30. our reporter emily unia is at a london pharmacy where some patients are already wa
in bbc news it is the travel show. they re exploring japan to find out how exhibition delete my accessibility has improved in the wake of this year s paralympics in tokyo. oh, wow. look at the size of this place. this is tokyo stadium and it was home to the football, the rugby, and the pentathlon during the olympics. and i m glad to finally be here. japan s delayed summer of sport finally got under way in 2021. my name s steve brown and i was supposed to come over the paralympic coverage. not being able to make it out was a huge blow. the whole thing about sport, it s not just about watching it, it s about feeling it, that immersive experience. before i was a presenter, i was captain of the london 2012 rugby wheelchair team. and when i was in hospital sport was what got me out. it was definitely the building blocks to the person that i have become. tokyo holds a special place in paralympic history. it was all the way back at the 1964 games that the term paralympic was first u
hello and welcome to bbc news. and a merry christmas if you are celebrating. and a merry christmas if you are celebrating. families and communities have been marking christmas day across the globe despite varying levels of coronavirus related restrictions. in england, thousands of people are expected to get boosterjabs today. the number of coronavirus cases hit a record high across the uk yesterday. more than 122,000 new infections were reported. the health secretary sajid javid has urged people to make the booster part of their christmas this year. meanwhile, the number of people getting their firstjab of the covid 19 vaccine rose by around 46% in the week up to december 21. the nhs says about 60% of adults have now received a boosterjab in the uk, with a record number of vaccinations taking place in the last seven days. the largest increase was seen among young people, with an 85% increase in first doses for those aged 18 and 2a and a 71% increase in first doses for those a
hello, and welcome to bbc news. a revolutionary telescope which is aiming to detect some of the earliest stars and galaxies in the universe is due to head off into space in the next few minutes. we will be following the launch of the james webb space telescope from this point which is the launch pan in french guiana. nasa s james webb space instrument, which has cost £10 billion, will be released from a rocket 26 minutes after blast off. our science editor, rebecca morelle reports. stunning images revealing the beauty of our universe, but we ve only seen a tiny fraction of it. now, a new astronomy mission is set to revolutionise our view. this is the james webb space telescope. it s a successor to hubble, but 100 times more powerful. after three decades in the making and a cost of $10 billion, it is finally ready to launch. we ve never attempted anything like that in space before. we are going to be entering a whole new regime of astrophysics! a new frontier! and that is wha