welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in the uk and around the world. i'm david willis. the headlines — brazil declares three days of national mourning following the death of pele, the footballer many consider the greatest player of all time. he won three world cups for brazil — a unique feat — and scored over 1,000 goals during his career. we'll look at the legacy of the man who gave the world �*the beautiful game�* and did more than anyone to shape modern football. also ahead — israel's new government takes power with ultra—orthodox and nationalist parties shaping the coalition. countries around the world start to impose covid tests on arrivals from china as cases

surge across the country. and she gave the world dangerously high heels and went we hear tributes to the designer vivienne westwood, who has died in london. a woman of colour was wearing it on the runways so also diversity, gender bending, all of that made vivienne westwood so important to me. everyone to bbc news. —— a very warm welcome to bbc news. we begin with news of the death of pele, widely regarded as the greatest person ever to play what he himself

described as �*the beautiful game'. he passed away in hospital in sao paulo, surrounded by his family at the age of 82, having suffered from cancer. during his career he became the first — and so far only — player to win three world cups, and scored over 1,000 goals. he spent almost all of his club career playing in his native brazil after the government declared him a national treasure and blocked moves overseas, but was also a key part in the short—lived north american soccer league, playing for the new york cosmos. during his life, he was also a charity fundraiser and a campaigner on several issues. joe wilson reports on the life of a true sporting great. the greatest. it's opinion. but pele led, others stand on his shoulders. well over 1,000 goals, a career of over 20 years, three times a world cup winner. brazilian football, synonymous with flair and success, was built on pele. in 1958, pele took part in his first world cup tournament, aged just 17.

he scored six goals in four matches, playing himself to the point of exhaustion. when brazil beat sweden in the final, one opponent said when he watched pele, he felt like applauding. injury limited his role in the 1962 world cup. in 1966, well, opposing teams knew they had to stop pele one way or another. four years later, in 1970 in mexico, pele was part of a brazilian team widely regarded as the best set of players ever. they won the world cup with a freedom of expression and fluency never seen before. it was pele�*s last world cup. without him, brazil waited another 2a years before winning the trophy again. pele remained in demand — after all, he was one of the most famous names and faces in the world. he spent 18 years with one club, santos, averaging nearly a goal a game. by 1975, he was in the united states — the ultimate acquisition for a new league hungry for glamour. the league didn't last, but pele still thrilled

new york. after football, he took on ambassadorial roles, commercial opportunities and, naturally, collected recognition, and pele expressed no regrets. if i have to do every single game again since i was born until now, i would do everything again. and i thank god. the popularity of football, the very idea of what makes it entertaining, began more than any other man with pele. the government of brazil has declared three days of national mourning, and crowds have gathered outside the hospital in sao paulo where pele spent his final hours. from there, here's our correspondent katy watson. this is a moment that so many people knew was going to happen, but at the same time, dreaded, of course, happening. and now, you can see the world's media, as well as fans who've come to pay their respects,

have gathered outside the hospital where he died. even the hospital put out a statement, saying that they shared in the pain and the suffering that came with the loss of their beloved king of football. i think that just shows how important he was for so many millions of people. whether you watched him play as a young footballer or you were a younger brazilian who was told about his phenomenal skills, he united this country, and i think that's so important in a country that has been torn apart by partisan politics these last few years. he didn't get involved in politics. at times, he was criticised for not getting involved, but at the same time, that meant that he remained a universal icon for so many millions here. the president—elect, lula da silva, who takes over from sunday, he said there was no number 10 shirt like him. he really was the king here in brazil. and, of course, this country is now in mourning. katy watson reporting there.

several landmarks around the world are being used to pay tribute to pele. here in london, the arch at wembley stadium have been lit in the green and yellow colours of brazil. and in rio dejaneiro, the statue of christ the redeemer has also been lit in the same national colours. joining me now is our reporter emily brown, who's been taking a look at some of the tributes being paid. tributes from the world of football have come on social media. arguably the greatest footballer of all time, pele, tributes of income again from both sports stars but also politicians. it's notjust his football achievements that have been recognised by the cultural

impact he had. let's look at some of the tributes on twitter. argentina's world cup—winning captain lionel messi posted this photo. brazil's neymar said: really picking up on his cultural impact. meanwhile, on twitter, the brazilian attacking midfielder rivaldo tweeted: france's kylian mbappe posted: and german football great franz beckenbauer tweeted:

and in the past few hours, gianni infantino, fifa's president, shared this video on his instagram. we lost pele, the king, 0 rei, and we feel a void, we feel sad but, actually, we never lose him, we never lost him — he is forever. some moving words from the world of football there, and there have also been tributes from politicians? yes, and at the highest level. us presidentjoe biden: former us president

barack 0bama tweeted: and the president—elect of brazil, lula da silva, posted: no surprise that today, everyone is dominating the papers, described as the real goat, a player who is gifted and the kinga football. thank ou for joining us. —— king of football. pele spent most of his career playing for santos, and fans of the club have been gathering outside the stadium to pay their own tributes in the club's colours. away from football, pele also had a lasting effect on race relations in brazil —

a country where just five decades before he was born, slavery was still legal. adjunior is a prominent afro—brazilian and a tv executive with trace brazil. i asked him about pele's legacy regarding race relations in brazil. for us, for black brazilians, it was the beginning of a very ambiguous situation, because for so many times, people were saying that he didn't talk about race and stuff, but he lived in a world that was very different from the world where we live today. but for us, it's a very interesting situation today to talk about somebody that, in the late years, been talking very openly — he has been talking very openly about race, and he really is a person who led a very big amount of fans all over the country about how he represented us as a black person — even though in the beginning or years ago, he didn't talk so much about that, but in the end, he talked a lot about this. and he was very — i wouldn't say apologetical, but very aware of his legacy

as a black man in the sports field and to represent society as well. i was going to say, for all his storied legacy, he has been criticised, hasn't he, for failing to denounce racism in brazil and elsewhere, in quite the way of, say, muhammad ali, for example? yes, i think we need to understand how the race relations are happening in this country, brazil. in a country where if you would dare to speak about race relations in the �*60s and �*70s, you will be totally seen as a person who was a militant, that was very like — how can i say — a person that did not follow with the brazilian rules of being a racial democracy — that's pretty much what was inputted into his head. i believe that was pretty much the situation he lived in that moment. but later on, he would be talking about race and i really believe that people need to see what kind of world he lived in the �*60s and in the �*70s, where black people wouldn't

have been able to talk about that, in brazil mostly. and much has been made of his humble upbringing — the family were so poor, they couldn't even afford a football, i believe. yes, he comes from very humble beginnings, in the state of minas gerais, he was born in a very small city, and he came to prominence. he was born in a city called three hearts and we all say he came from a city called three hearts and he took the whole heart of the world, being a person that is so beloved all over the country — so not only all of the country, but all over the world. so, he comes from a place of poverty and he became like a prominent — and, as a black person, he was like a role model for so many other black guys or black kids that would say, "wow! "this guy was somebody who came into fame and became this big

"personality and showed all over the world or put "the brazilian country in the map." adjunior. much more on our website, including a look at how the footballing world is paying tribute to pele. just log on to bbc.com/news or go via the bbc app stay with us on bbc news. still to come: tributes from the fashion world for vivienne westwood, the pioneering british designer who's died aged 81. the most ambitious financial and political change ever attempted has got under way with the introduction of the euro. tomorrow in holland, we're gonna use money we picked up in belgium today and then, we'll be in france, and again, it'll be the same money. it's just got to be the way to go. crowd yelling

george harrison, i the former beatle, is recovering in hospital after being stabbed - at his oxfordshire home. a 33—year—old man from liverpool- is being interviewed by police on suspicion - of attempted murder. i think it was good. just good? no, fantastic. big ben bongs welcome back to bbc news. benjamin netanyahu is once again prime minister of israel after his new coalition government was sworn into power on thursday. it will be the most religious and hard—line administration

in the country's history, containing ultra—nationalist and ultra—0rthodox parties. mr netanyahu has been criticised for his choice of allies, but has promised to pursue peace and to protect civil rights. 0ur middle east correspondent yolande knell reports. a familiarface back in office, but the new government of benjamin netanyahu marks a shift to the far right. these are his new ultranationalist partners celebrating after last month's election. more liberal parties refused to join a coalition led by a prime minister on trialfor corruption, which he denies. now, many israelis are voicing concerns. protesters outside parliament opposed the government's plans to expand jewish settlements in the occupied west bank, which could inflame tensions with palestinians. they warn proposals to overhaul the judicial system could

damage its independence. another fear is that changes to antidiscrimination laws could be used against minorities, including the lg btq community. i am here, like all the rest of the people here, to demonstrate against the terrible homophobic, racist government. today is a very, very sad, tragic day for the state of israel. they are a government that is going to be here, is going to ruin democracy altogether. but inside parliament, mr netanyahu promised he would govern for all. he accused his critics of hypocrisy. translation: | hear- the opposition's constant laments about the end of the state, the end of democracy. members of the opposition, losing the elections is not the end of democracy. this is the essence of democracy. his opponents heckled him, calling him weak. they claim his hard—line allies are driving the agenda.

the government in israel may have changed, but its politics looks more polarised than ever. yolande knell, bbc news, jerusalem. the united nations says it is sending a top official to afghanistan to try to convince the taliban to reverse its ban on women working for aid agencies. the un says that its locally based officials have begun meeting with ministries in afghanistan to discuss the impact on aid programs. the un humanitarian coordinator for afghanistan says the taliban's decision is already harming urgent aid programmes, and that the country's humanitarian needs are the worst he's seen in years. it is enormous and important we continue to stay and deliver. as we do so, it is equally clearly important that the rights of the women and girls, which we talk so much about these days, are preserved and protected, and they are an important element — an undeniable element

— of the humanitarian action. let's get some of the day's other news. president zelensky of ukraine has said that most regions in the country are without power in freezing conditions. the latest damage was caused by a wave of russian missile attacks, hitting cities across the country. ukraine says it intercepted 5a of the 69 missiles which were fired. the us—british social media influencer andrew tate, who has been banned from several sites for comments which demean women, has been arrested in romania. that's according to his lawyer. mr tate, along with his brother, was detained in following an investigation into the sexual exploitation forfinancial gain of six women. the arrests were made by officers from romania's organised crime task force. emergency teams searching through the ruins of the hotel and casino which burned to the ground in cambodia

on thursday say they expect to find many more victims. 19 people are known to have died as a result of the fire at the grand diamond city resort. the first shop licensed to sell cannabis in new york city has opened a year after the drug was legalised in new york state. the store is run by a charity which fights homelessness and aids. there were long queues outside the shop in lower manhattan. hundreds more have applied for permits to open similar stores in the coming months. several countries around the world are imposing covid tests on people arriving from china after a surge in cases across the country. it comes after the government in beijing eased its zero—covid approach, which had seen millions of people forced to isolate during outbreaks. health officials in the european union have been meeting to discuss how to respond to an expected

influx of visitors from china in the coming weeks. here's our medical editor fergus walsh. the sudden lifting of china's zero covid policy after nearly three years has allowed the virus to let rip across and under immunised population with little natural immunity. that has worried neighbouring countries including japan, south korea and india who have imposed covid checks on arrivals from china. the us has followed suit saying a lack of adequate and transparent data from china was a part of the decision to require a negative covid test. italy is the only european country to impose checks, including a post arrival pcr test which will allow genomic surveillance of potential new covid threats. the outbreak in china is being driven by several 0micron sub

variants including bf7 which has been circulating in the uk. the latest estimates for the uk this month way that one in 45 people had the virus. that probably means 1 people had the virus. that probably means1 million people a week i getting infected so there is plenty of covid around here. but most of the uk population is very well protected from severe illness via a combination of vaccines and repeated natural infection, meaning that covid, while still a potential danger here, is no longer the threat it once was. fergus walsh there. let's take a moment to look at the winter storm which has struck north america. as you can see, it has turned the canadian town of fort erie into an ice town, with these houses fully encased in ice. no fatalities were reported in these homes, but more than 65 people have died in the past few days as a result of the storm. the freeze has also created these spectacular views of niagara falls on the border

between canada and the us. chunks of snow and ice have washed over the waterfall, although the niagara river is continuing to flow, the celebrated english designer vivienne westwood passing away at the age of 81. she came to prominence making clothes for the punk rock movement in the late 19705 before taking her work into the mainstream. she was also a campaigner on several issues, including the environment. a spokesman said she died peacefully surrounded by herfamily in clapham in south london. i've been speaking to steve karas, a fashion expert who collects clothes designed and made by vivienne westwood, and i began by asking him about what he was currently wearing. yes, this is all vivienne westwood. the hat is actually the first collection she has made back in 1981 for the pirates, and this is an original, so i am very, very proud to wear that today. and you have some other interesting pieces in your collection, i believe.

tell us about the boots, the naomi campbell shoes. oh, the high, elevated court shoes. naomi campbell fell famously in 1993 in them, and believe it or not they are here. my goodness. those are probably the shoes that i — the item i cherish the most. it is one of my recent items, and ijust... 1993, i was six years old, so i have very little memory of that, but to be able to see that now with my own eyes, and to see the pictures and all the videos i have seen over so many years, it is very special. how on earth is anybody supposed to walk on those? i don't know because as you can see the heel is not really supported, the toe is not really supported, so you are kind of like on a little stilt. i'm very impressed to see those women walking the runway like this. i mean, it isjust incredible. i would notjoin — and i wear heels, but not those. and they tripped down naomi campbell, i believe, didn't they? they tripped down

naomi campbell. i mean, to take naomi campbell down, you have to wake up early, you know? what about those... they're amazing. ..those iconic corsets? the corset is something i really, really like as well, and i like it because westwood, since the beginning of westwood, men's and women's in corsets, so it did not really matter the gender of the models, and that is really important to me, and i think one of the most iconic ones would be one of the wallace collection. so, those are the actual paintings that you see in the wallace collection in london, and so this is originally from 1991, and back then a woman of colour was wearing it on the runway, so also diversity, gender bending, all that made vivienne westwood so important to me. and this was somebody who morphed rather easily from ripped t—shirts and safety pins and so on to haute couture, didn't she? yeah, from that very fancy blue to the punkish, plain galaxy print.

i think she just had multiple personalities, and i think this is why i liked her. from the pirate of the �*80s, the romantic, the �*90s, very glamorous and voluptuous, presenting the woman on a pedestal, and 2000, showing a lot of body, less print, more about all the drapery, i think that vision is so famous for drapery and showing the body off. and what about her legacy? will these designs endure, do you think? i think so. the thing that i love about westwood is that she always used the past and created something new and i think that is very smart because we all can create new ideas, but when there is a solid base, like she used a mediaeval pieces — all those gowns made of the 1600s, 1700s — all this construction — there is a link through history and by looking at her clothing we don't only see fashion of today but we can see the history through the century and i think this will make it

unforgettable for the future. i mean, when you look at now the museums they are more and more vivienne westwood clothing presented and notjust the punk era. now the corsets and gowns. everybody can see a new vision. the fashion expert steve karas on vivienne westwood whose creations adorn him and you can get that story and all the others be featured on our website. thanks forjoining us. hello there. after a day of sunshine and blustery showers on thursday, the winds are still going to be quite strong on friday. and we've got more rain heading our way as well. and that could be bringing some flooding issues in one or two places. have a look at the satellite picture from earlier on. you can see all that cloud that's been pushing in from the atlantic, thickening up, and these weather fronts, areas of low pressure, strengthening the winds and bringing rain into many western and northern parts of the uk. it's notjust rain around

though, because in northern scotland, it's cold enough in the hills to find some more snow falling, could be as much as 20 centimetres, perhaps. some heavier rain briefly across northern ireland, but it could be even wetter across southern parts of scotland, a couple of inches or more of rain, and here in the south of the country, we've got this amber rain warning from the met office. given how wet it's been recently, more rain is likely to bring some flooding and travel disruption. we've got rain notjust in scotland and northern ireland, but pushing eastwards quickly across england and wales on those stronger winds. you can see how most of that wet weather moves away for the afternoon, brightening up from the west with some sunshine, showers coming into northern ireland and southern scotland and turning drier across northern parts of the country, perhaps later as well. here, it's going to be quite chilly, 4 degrees in stornoway, 13 celsius, though, in london, another mild day for england and wales and mild again on saturday. but there is more rain at times and that rain could be a bit steadier and heavier in the south for a while. maybe some patchy rain across southern scotland and northern ireland. some sunshine further north, but a few wintry showers in the far north of the country.

and again, those temperatures contrast, cold in northern scotland, very mild in east anglia in the south east, 15 degrees here. we've got more rain though to come if you are going to be out celebrating the new year, with low pressure and a number of weather fronts. and the details keep changing as we head into new year's day, we've now got some wetter weather pushing further north across northern ireland and northwards into scotland. and again, it's going to be cold enough for some sleet and snow over the hills. for england and wales, there may be some sunshine at times, but rain is never too far away, and it could be on the heavy side. another mild day, though, across more southern parts of england and wales — temperatures 12 celsius. so fairly mild for many parts of the country over the new year. but there will be more wet weather around may turn a bit drier for the start of next week, but it may turn a little but there will be more wet weather around may turn a bit drier for the start of next week, but it may turn a little bit chillier as well.

this is bbc news. the headlines — the brazilian government has declared three days of national mourning following the death at the age of 82 of the footballer pele. he was widely considered to be the greatest player of all time and remains the only player to have won the world cup three times. the most hardline government in israel's history has been sworn in. the coalition is led by benjamin netanyahu, who has become prime minister for a record sixth time. partners include ultra—0rthodox

jewish and nationalist parties who are accused of opposing palestinian statehood and minority rights.