25/12/2016 BBC Weekend News

For the first time in almost 30 years, the Queen has missed

the Christmas Day church service at Sandringham.

Buckingham Palace say she's still recovering from a heavy cold.

Later today, in a pre-recorded Christmas broadcast,

she will speak of drawing strength from meeting ordinary people doing

Our Royal correspondent, Nicholas Witchell, reports.

Morning service at Sandringham, part of the Royal family's Christmas Day

routine but with one significant absentee this year, the Queen. While

other members of her family, including the Duke of Edinburgh,

gathered at the church, the Queen remained at Sandringham house is

continuing to recover from what Buckingham Palace described as a

heavy cold. In a statement the palace searcher would take part in

the family celebrations. Her absence from the church service, the first

time in many years she hasn't attended, is understood to be a

precautionary measure, there is no sense of on due concern. Almost --

also absent were the Duchess and Duke of Cambridge and their

children. They attended a service with the Middleton family. In the

Christmas Day broadcast, the Queen talks about inspiration and reflects

on the achievements of Olympic and Paralympic athletes from Britain and

the Commonwealth, many of whom she met at a palace reception in

October. This year when the Queen has marked her 90th birthday, she

will refer to the inspirational work of many of the charities with which

she has been associated. She will also talk about the work of many on

the unsung heroes she meets, carers, community leaders and good

neighbours, ordinary people doing extraordinary things, as she puts

it. Nicholas Witchell, BBC News. A Russian military plane with more

than 90 people on board has The plane was carrying 64 members

of the renowned Red Army Choir and was heading from Sochi

to Latakia in Syria. The Russian Defence Ministry says

there are no survivors. From Moscow, Steve Rosenberg

sent this report. This is one of the final images

of the Tupolev-154 jet. It was taken by a journalist before

he boarded the plane. The aircraft crashed

into the Black Sea. The Russians scrambled helicopters

and ships but the search became The plane had taken off from

a military airfield near Moscow. It flew south, stopping

in Sochi to refuel. The final destination was Syria,

and Russia's airbase near Latakia, but minutes after leaving

Sochi, it crashed. At the Russian Defence Ministry,

a spokesman said that more than He said the recovery

operation was continuing. On board were more than 60 members

of the Russian army's famous song and dance ensemble,

once known as the Red Army Choir. They had been due to give a concert

at the Russian airbase in Syria. Most civilian airlines have stopped

using the Tupolev-154, once the workhorse of

the Russian aviation industry. In 2010, a Tupolev-154 carrying

the Polish President crashed The following year,

a similar plane caught fire Now the investigation begins

into another disaster, to find out why this Russian plane

fell from the sky into the sea. Church leaders are using their

Christmas sermons to reflect on the emotional impact of global

events in 2016. The Archbishop of Canterbury,

Justin Welby, told his congregation that the end of the year leaves

people in a less predictable world. Entering Canterbury Cathedral in

time-honoured fashion, Archbishop Justin Welby focused his Christmas

Day sermon on the uncertainty and division that has marked both

domestic and international politics over the last year. He described

2016 as a year of unpredictability and uncertainty, where fear and

division were in danger of overwhelming us and went on to

suggest that our anxiety is a clear sign that placing our trust in

material prosperity has failed. In Rome, where additional security was

in place following the Berlin attack, Pope Francis also criticised

materialism and appealed to Christians to stand out as people of

compassion and self-sacrifice. That's it for now, the next news

on BBC One will be at 2:50pm. Good morning. It is one thing not

having a white Christmas, as most of us don't. It's another, it's not

even feeling like winter out there. It seems like this like Aberdeen --

in Aberdeenshire from one of the Weather Watchers this morning, many

Sunni part of the UK have broken 14 Celsius today but it is widely into

double figures, exceptionally mild for Christmas Day, close to a record

and we will keep watching as the day goes on. Not all of us have seen

sunshine, a fair amount of cloud and some outbreaks of rain to western

parts of the UK. More persistent rain southwards through parts of

Scotland and Northern Ireland as the day goes on. Windy again with strong

gusts in