65 years, we are abolishing the special pension plans because these are real injustice and there are real discrepancies. so we are shutting them down. but labor unions are opposed to the proposal, which would save the cupboard billions of dollars. frances, here a strikes may be over, but the government is poised to make changes for retiring workers. the unions in the past have been able to postpone the proposed reforms, but 2023 is likely to be a year on track for more strikes and more union action. unless wages are increased and there are more jobs, some of the job without the 0 part. now the new year is being run in around the world. ah. hong kong has been celebrating the 1st day of 2023, with the spectacular fireworks display spectators watch from boats in victoria harbor. the australian city of

sydney is also famous for its fireworks displays. it delivered a spectacle that lit up the night sky for several minutes. ah, let's take you through some of the headlines here now da 0. now. the former pope benedict the 16th has died at the age of 95 step down in 2013, becoming the 1st pontiff to resign in 600 years after suffering ill health leaders from around the world of paid tribute. at least one person has been killed in russian strikes across ukraine's capital. key of about 10 explosions were heard on saturday and smoke billowed over the city. oh, towel was damaged and several people injured. charles stratford had reports now from keith follows down. we'll show you the crater with the sheer power of this explosion, made evident by the size of this crater,

the main head gathering evidence. they've been collecting pieces of shrapnel. i guess that's about a 2 meter deep crater. we understand that there were a number of people that were injured in this neighborhood. in this attack, seen a large pool of blood back there on the paths. they just tanks happened around 2 in the afternoon. local time came explosions. china's president shading thing says the nation is heading into a new phase of the pandemic in a new year's address. he said the right policies are in place by aging abruptly dropped 0 cove, its trust g. and early december after a series of protests, the numbers of infections have search insane. it's officially 2023 in some parts of the world. this trade in city of sydney is famous for its fireworks display. it delivered a spectacle that lit up the night sky. the several minutes it's inside story

now, stay with us. ah, one player of the century football great pele has died leaving an unprecedented legacy. and having inspired millions worldwide, as football as the most popular sport in the world. how will he be remembered? this is inside story. ah hello and welcome to the program. i'm

a homage and jerome the king of football. that's what brazilians called him. they're observing 3 days of morning after pele died on thursday following a long battle with cancer. the 82 year old played a crucial role as football rose to become the most popular sport on the planet. pele played in for world cups, and was the only player in history to win 3. but his legacy stretched far beyond his hall of trophies and record of remarkable goal scoring. as a black man, pele rose to the status of national treasure in a country with a deep history of slavery and legacy of segregation that persists. he won fans across all. busy continents of the world pele will be laid to rest in his adopted hometown of santos. as monica in ocoee of reports, phyllis museum in santos has never been so full since people heard the news that he had died on thursday. crowds have been gathering here $600.00 people per hour. the museum says to see the legacy and the history of this man that has become a legend not only in football. now santos itself is preparing itself to pay

a last tribute to pay let his body will be brought over here in the early hours of monday. there will be a 24 hour wait at the santo stadium where he played for so many years and the public will go and visit them. we spoke earlier to his barber told us that he was expecting to go there to say good bye to ed, so i don't this not to pay less because according to him, but that will live on forever. after the wake on tuesday, there will be a funeral. it will be a close ceremony for the family. bella had already decided where he wanted to be buried. he had acquired a space on the 9th floor of a vertical cemetery overlooking the st. the stadium that he loved so much, pallet's global fame was cemented by the tours. he went on with his santos team to

route his career. his fondly remembered in africa. in nigeria, it's long been claimed that his arrival in 1969 resulted in a 48 hour cease fire in an ongoing civil war fellow largely got on for bullets. so you're like a war leader. well, want to give other charges give you. i mean, you always sat there for a boy without, without, without, without boots on it. he will do it, brother to ward callback a thing. i do what you can play with with making love for boys that. oh yeah. yeah . hit the football. if you are, you see play play. ah, you love fully loadable. because play give you the brand it for. you give it you give what it you live pill. i spend most of his career with santos in his homeland, despite big money offers from europe. he began a career of relentless goal, scoring at the age of 15 by 17 pele was a world cup winner. he would inspire brazil to 2 more triumphs in 19621970. by the end of it all, he'd scored nearly $1300.00 goals that's recognized as

a guinness world record, although disputed by many because it includes friendly matches. but pele was remembered for a life that extended beyond the football field. he became a symbol of hope and inspiration to countless people, while seemingly exempt from criticism on a pitch pele faced, much for his closeness to authoritarian figures. from 1995 to 1999 pillow went on to become minister for sports and once hoped to become president. ah, for more on all this i'm joined by our guests in madrid is fernando callous brazilians sports journalists for reuters. fernando has covered 3 world cups in leeds is james varley. he is a communications consultant and founder of varley media. james is the grandson of britishness photographer john barley, who took the famous shot of pele and bobby, more than 1970 fif, a world cup and in mar, say is my home. as i football journalist, covering africa a warm welcome to you all. and thanks so much for joining us today. a friend let me start with you today. pele, of course, wasn't just the symbol of

a sport. he was also the symbol of a country. tell us about how important he is to brazil and to brazilians. and about the depth of sadness that brazilians feel over his death. wow. there was one brazil before and after bella is the main reason why brazil was why famous? because he, he and mohammed ali, they were the 2 biggest sport stars in their area. there was a, he was the 1st global superstar and it was so important for our country. you know, we're building our, i don't know, our, our identity, you know, our identity is directly connected with music and with football and most of it because of that. so he was a genius inside the beach. he was a great gracious. no. gina is because he was always smiley, already treating people so well. he wasn't ambassador of brazil all over the word.

he is the, you know, like, never for letters were so meaningful when so important and so well recognize that his face is until with a it's, it's well, no, whatever he, you know, you see the portal of that. and i saw you reacting, smiling along with a lot of what to fernando was saying there he was talking about the fact that really, really became an ambassador all around the world. of course, you know, he transcended the game. you posted a thread on twitter in which you talked about pillar in africa, and you said that he was always revered there for what he represented. what did pele come to represent in africa? it before i touch on that, let me just piggyback on what some of what fernando was saying, go ahead, racist, smiling, connecting with people the people's champion, you know, and, and he's right to like him to mohammed ali. and that's because when kelly was emerging, you know, in the late 19 fifties, the early 1960 s,

it was really coinciding with the democratization of television across the world. and the 1st, you know, televised live televised world cups. and so he really coincided with at the beginning of the television era. and that's why one of the reasons why he was shot of a sudden into, you know, people's living rooms in africa and asia and south america, north america. and he's young, he's black, he's brash, his playful is unapologetic. i think that's what a lot of africans drew what were drawn to. they didn't love that about him. you know, they love the symbol of what pele represented. and so, as at the same time, on our continent, in africa, for example, there were many decomposition and independence movements around the same time in the late nature of these and the early 1960 s. and what a lot of these countries did is they're looking for ways to jeremiah themselves. how can we really prove that we're an independent country that's was worth worth it being respected. and one of the things that was seen by celebrities over and pele was so gracious against these fernando's words. when he travelled all over the place, you travel to all gerry and morocco, egypt, mozambique, senate go gun and

a junior all over the place. always willing to take pictures of people shaking hands with some of the greatest leaders, but also smiling with the children. and i think that's why he was so beloved in africa. james, you know we spoke when we introduced you about this, a personal connection that your family has a with pele. more specifically, this iconic photograph that your grandfather took of pele and england football hero bobby. more swapping shirts and smiling at each other during the $970.00 world cup . tell us about what this photo has come to symbolize why it's so important. i think it's come to symbolize hack of a law, especially in the sporting sphere. i think it symbolizes as sportsmanship. new all respects between the 2 players and the guys that talks about pele, not only just been a great football of a great humanitarian, and i think that really comes across in this photograph of that. there are so much i think the same which symbolism in the shop. it's a, it's pal, a, the greatest,

the greatest player role time, bobby more arguably, one of the greatest defenders of all time. you got england, which of course back a we like to call the home of football and brazil, probably the greatest and most successful football nation. i'm appellate himself said about the phonograph that he thought he was very important it going around the world because it showcases respect and sportsmanship. and these are the values that you need to pass to the next generation of players. and i think pele was the perfect exponent of that. he passed sportsmanship and you know, being gracious and being a great humanitarian. and so the next generation, i think that's why so beloved around the world. fernando you were talking before about the great significance of, of pele and all that he symbolizes in brazil and around the world. i want to talk about one specific component of that, that the fact that here's a, a black football player from a very poor background in brazil becoming such a huge success. what did that mean to a country like brazil, where,

where there has been so much racism so much classism. what did it mean for the marginalized communities there and, and also what kind of discrimination did pele face when, when he was coming up in the sport? i think that it's amazing how my her so talk about the air, his impact in africa because we are talking about a 17 year old kid from a very fourish childhood, a black man that became the face of sports all over the world. and it's any of the time that most of black africa, most of africa, it was under colonization steel. you know, so it's, it was so important. what he meant for many of the, the not like the back people, black people in brazil that from the african diaspora and all because it was the 1st time that ethic ethnic minorities saw one of their own. you know,

like being this very successful person by his own terms. so it was the seem bow off of the lapse for, you know, like being a black man in being the face of sports all over the world. it's, it's, it's so remarkable because people just in the like starting to relate it because of him, you know, and it was the message had been, he's sandy and being this gracious man. there was a genius inside the beach, but it was also in the like this. he was a beast inside the be, she was the most powerful and at the same time, the most technical and most dominating player in the beach. so the message that he sent, you know, it was so important only for brazil, but for black people and for epic, my on it is all over the work. so i think that's very important. you know, because it was a time that even, you know, like, people were starting to realize what racism was, you know,

there wasn't this really like today. you know, i think it's very easy to i maybe i see a lot of people like judging you know, like, and criticizing by 21st century standards. you know, in a time that it was completely different than today. i think that the lab assembled, there wasn't a thing about brazil and the fifty's. there was really where there was a lot of racism inside football in brazil because the black layers there were there were always refer for being lazy, not emotionally stable. belinda, he showed this 2 guys over here. they started on the bench on, on, on 1958 and then big became 2 of the best players in the words, you know, at that time. so at all of, because of bob was there was a brazilian go, can you go there was a black and he was he, he made a mistake on the 950 workup where brazil last him back. and now, you know,

it was so important to get races at that time because brazil was the 1st theme in sports. there was a multicultural scene that was successful all over the world. the message was so important at that time, my were talking right now in this part of the discussion about, you know, issues of racism, how, how pele dealt with that. you know, the fact is that he didn't talk much about racism throughout his career and he was criticized for that as, as fernando was saying. why didn't he speak about it more? and how disappointing was that to, to his fans around the world. look to be completely honest. i don't think, you know, the, the fans, but i can algeria are back in san via even understood portuguese at the time to listen to interviews. he was given, you know, in the 60 seventy's and eighty's, you know, what his positions were with the, you know, just a government or with the other politicians. i think when it comes to figures like

this, people sort of divorce the symbol and the man and they tend not to judge the man because they don't 1st of all get on. know what he's saying. they don't know what anything about brazilian politics. they don't know anything about that, but they would, they do know what they see on the television set. again, they see like we've been saying, you know, this young, black, playful, unapologetic brilliance footballer that they can relieve to and who is willing to take time out of his day to come and visit dumps. i know he was being paid on the strips, but just let's take for a moment. let's compare you know, pele mohammed ali, the stars of the 1960 s to some of the modern superstars that we have today. think about christian are and i'll go are leona massey coming in doing a tour of africa and you know, spending, you know, weeks on and meeting people and shaking hands. it's just the stars to, they are so inaccessible. they've become become conglomerates that become businesses in and of themselves. they become per, they don't have personalities anymore. and it's not

a criticism because it's unfair to expect people to act like pele and all the stars of the 19 sixties and seventies, because they didn't even have their own personal lives after they belong to the world. and that's what i think you're seeing celebrated now. is that people from africa, from asia, people like james, everybody has a personal story of that time they met pelley or that time their uncle's friend met pelley and when he said, and some of the stories are true and some of the stories aren't true, but it doesn't even matter what matters is that people want to know him. that's why the, some of the stories are made up. they want to know what they want to, you know, make up an invent, you know, stories that, that he might upset or might not have said. and that's just an expression of love. people loved him because of what he represented. james pelley, of course, was an incredible athlete. he was so praised for his creativity for his improvisation on the pitch. he was seen as an innovator, wasn't he? i mean, how did his style of play change the game? i think the great thing about pele when you, when you look at the stats, when you look at his starts, it's just incredible. the number of goals he school,

the number of assess that he scored. but the thing that stands out for me is that he did everything on a football page and he did it brilliantly left for right for he was great in the air. he could run up people. ready and also as well we, i, you know, you look at the old footage of the way that he, the way that he kicked the ball even because it was different back then, you know, the pictures weren't as good. the football was a lot heavier and to see him being this incredible figure back in the you know, the late fifties in the sixty's. if you look on some of the old footage and it looks like he's playing a different game compared to the rest of the other players at that time. and that for me is why, you know, i've always considered him to be the greatest. he's the whole round greatest player, you know my, my grandfather, he was, you know, lucky enough to see him in action. a number of times and he covered a heck of a lot of football every career. he said there was no, there was any one play listed out for him and, and it was pele, i think, you know,

play as play as like that. take the game to a new level. and in a way ahead of that time, and i think pele pele would have been the greatest in any era, and he took the game to a different level that, you know, we've, we've never really seen since. i don't think there's a player even even messy over now that now i don't think there's a player compared to him that can do everything. absolutely brilliantly. fernando appellate played for 2 and a half seasons, i believe in the 1970 s for the new york cosmos. how, how much did he help? popularize football in the united states in the country where it wasn't all that popular and, and did that change us sports history because a lot of people draw direct line between pele coming to the u. s. and then the u. s . ultimately, hosting the world cup in the ninety's. yeah, for sure. for sure. he was the main reason about the football today is a big deal in and that states in the entire north america. because of our cosmo and

all because of him being at that time thinking about in all of the stories. it's amazing. oh he barry, the thing is that he was thinking about retirement and then he got to get, he lost all his money because of bad financial advisors. you know, so he had to, to, to, to find a way to, to make all of the money. again, you know, it was crazy to think about the happy of the leg up, or i don't know, 20 years of his career that he was broke actually. so he went through to that. i stated that he created this huge legacy that people all in the field today. they reverence him, you know, and i think that the thing about the delay and i today a friend was sent me a link from this bits friendly game from 1990 that i completely forgot. and we all saw it live in brazil because it's such a big deal. philip played in and his team at all, it was

a brazilian see me against the rest of the word team. mark over boston was playing a lot of you know, like this great footballers, employer in 1990 his few. you look at the play, you know, and then we, we just knew that he offered himself with 45 years old to play for brazil in 1986 work up. so he was this huge, actually i thought i saw this article in the new york times this week. i called him the football big bank and i thought that it was brilliant because, you know, sports they, they evolved constantly. you know, it's not, it's, i think it's fair to, to compare players from today, from the 50 year ago because it's a completely different game. but if they involve constantly, but they have to start somewhere, you know, and i think that when you, when you see the, the, the final of the work up with the embodied the new generations as being compared to

air massy, they'll know like that the end of the, his generation in the are both being compared to pillar. you know, so been there is the mo, the, you know, pallet's, their references and feel to day of water foot bowler needs to be in we were talking about a player from of 70 years ago. so i think his just remarkable how plays this, the big banga for or you know, he is the reference until today he's the mold until today. and i think that bad in self is just remarkable because we're talking about ah, today in the 21st century, this guy's year just this supreme athletes. no. so i think that that's one of the most amazing things about delay until today. he's still the reference of what a football net needs to be. myra, i saw your reacting, i quite a bit to fernando was saying there's, i'm gonna give you a chance to jump in. i just wanted to ask you, i mean pele really believed in the power of football to connect people across

racial societal national lines and, and he was really able to do that wasn't me. he said when he, when he went on the ass and the 1st african during the 960, is that it changed him, but it also changed the world san sorry, it also change the world. the way the world saw him, and he really transformed these countries when he went there. so, i mean there, there are to so many legends. i can tell you about his time in africa. it's said again, this is from 967 to 970. there was the nigerian civil war between the offer that was trying to came proclaim an independent republic. it was said that when pele arrived in nigeria and played a matching in lagos against the nigerian national team, there was a 48 hour ceasefire. now in his 2006 autobiography, he said, i'm not really sure that it's true. but what is for sure is that the whole country shut down to watch how they play and invention, 65 and algeria, he came to the program to play 2 matches, one on the 17th of june, and one on the 20th of june and $965.00,

they played the 1st match on the 17th of june and or honor. and when they were going to play a 2nd match and a capitol of algiers, there was a kuta and the minister of defense that carried out to could it did it because the whole country was shut down. focusing on a football match in unity could overtake the government. i mean, really when you talk about being a hero of, of the people people all over the place they were. i mean, it was rare in the 19 fifties and sixties to get 607080000 people in a stadium and he was doing that consistently. it all over the world. not just in brazil, not just in europe everywhere. james, even during the world cup here in doha, when, when news was hitting the hell i was in hospice care and that, and the, perhaps he was near the end of his life, people were expressing so much concern. i mean, he's not just considered one of the greatest football players of all time. he, he's considered one of the greatest athletes of all time. right? absolutely. yeah, great football, a great athlete. like i said before,

great humanitarian and just going back to a few of the points that were raised there about and you know, the power of football really and play appreciating the power football and the power that he had as the greatest football or on the planet you know, we saw during cut off 2022 in doha, for football is the greatest unifying tool in the world. it brings people together . i, like i said before it's 11 versus 11 on the page. it doesn't matter where you're from. it doesn't matter. your culture, your religion, your background, how much money you have, it's it's, it's a level playing field and i think have a extolled those virtues, better than, than anybody else in the world. you know, we, like i said, you know, about the cost of 2022 again, it was about, you know, bridging the gap between east and west, you know, uniting cultures. and i think pele was the human embodiment of that. and i think that's one of the reasons why the such now pouring is of grief now and you know, such concern during the tournament and yeah, he's, he's just, i think the,

the reaction to is that just shows what, what he means to people across the world. and to people from every single culture, every single religion and background it's, it's, it's, it's wonderful to see the outpouring of grief. all right, well, we have run out of time, so we're going to have to leave the discussion there. thanks so much to all of our guests. fernando callous, james barley and my her miss. i and thank you for watching. you can see the program again any time by visiting our website of 0 dot com. and for further discussion, go to our facebook page. that's facebook dot com, forward slash ha inside story. you can also turn the conversation on twitter or handle it at a j inside story. i mean, how much i'm doing the whole team here 5. ah ah.

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