this is bbc news — welcome if you're watching here in the uk or around the globe. our top stories... russia launches another wave of missiles at cities across ukraine — including the capital kyiv. the authorities had warned ukrainians that russia would launch more attacks. president zelensky said that russia wanted ukrainians to celebrate the new year in the dark. pope francis and world leaders pay tribute — as the vatican announces the death of former pope, benedict xvi, at the age of 95. world health officials call on beijing to share accurate covid data, as england becomes the latest country to control

arrivals from china. celebrations have begun to mark the start of 2023, with firework displays in auckland, new zealand and at sydney harbour. and queen guitarist brian may and members of england's women's football team are among those celebrated in the uk's new year's honours list. hello and welcome. the mayor of kyiv, vitaliy klitschko has told the bbc that one person has been killed and 11 people have been taken to hospital, including a journalist from japan, after russia launched more than a dozen missiles targeting cities across ukraine on new year's eve. mr klitschko said several districts had been hit

in the capital, including pechersk which is in the city centre. british intelligence had earlier warned of potential russian attacks, after the kremlin had launched country—wide strikes on thursday, killing at least three people and injuring six, including a child, according to the ukrainian officials. earlier, our correspondent huge bachega went to the site of one of the missile strikes in kyiv. this is one of the places hit here in kyiv as russia launched more missiles targeting cities across the country. officials say that debris from a missile that was intercepted by the country's air defence hit this area. they say at least one person was killed here. and emergency workers are still working here. the air raid alert sounded across the country at around one o'clock in the afternoon here. and the authorities had warned ukrainians that russia

could launch more attacks. president zelensky has said that russia wanted ukrainians to celebrate the new year in the dark. that was a a hugo bachega in kyiv at the site of one of those missile strikes. olga malchevska, my colleague from bbc ukrainianjoins us. olga, you've been speaking to a spokesperson of kyiv�*s mayor. what is the very latest? well, the latest, what i was told by his press, that there are already 20 people injured. just in the capital, kyiv. one person unfortunately was killed. we know that three districts of kyiv were targeted. one of them is quite a central district, pechersk. another is the residential district. one of the blasts happened

right between residential buildings, and also his oppressed person confirmed, vitaliy klitschko�*s press person confirmed, there were two schools targeted at the kindergarten, which is quite dramatic. kindergarten, which is quite dramatic— kindergarten, which is quite dramatic. , ., ., dramatic. these are targeting civilian buildings. _ dramatic. these are targeting civilian buildings. when - dramatic. these are targeting civilian buildings. when it- dramatic. these are targeting i civilian buildings. when it comes dramatic. these are targeting - civilian buildings. when it comes to pechersk, it is incredibly central. just talk us through the centrality of this particular district. that district is exactly _ of this particular district. that district is exactly as _ of this particular district. that district is exactly as you - district is exactly as you described. there are lots of cultural institutions, lots of buildings of the authorities located in kyiv. what is appearing from the ground about people got used to all of those shell eggs and they managed to change and continue going. many 0th ukrainian authorities went underground. what is interesting is

the press person confirmed, as vitaliy klitschko said, the tube in kyiv is operating, not in full. but they even managed to run the underground after the shelling. so 70% of residents in kyiv are getting electricity, and they also have water supplies.— electricity, and they also have water supplies. working tirelessly to kee all water supplies. working tirelessly to keep all of— water supplies. working tirelessly to keep all of that _ water supplies. working tirelessly to keep all of that running. - water supplies. working tirelessly to keep all of that running. in - to keep all of that running. in terms of the people themselves, it is a new year's eve, it is a really important day. people celebrate the new year. how are people managing to work around all of this?— work around all of this? obviously, as we heard _ work around all of this? obviously, as we heard today _ work around all of this? obviously, as we heard today from _ work around all of this? obviously, as we heard today from the - work around all of this? obviously, as we heard today from the british | as we heard today from the british intelligence this morning, that russia might lodge those attacks to break the ukrainian's spirit. what i'm hearing from the people on the grounds that it is impossible, because even in these kinds of conditions, people try to hold their celebrations. i'm hearing from my friends that there are still plenty

to sort out presents for kids, trying to celebrate with candles in the cellars, in the bomb shelters. or even in theirflats, locating themselves between the rooms which are more remote from the windows. so thatis are more remote from the windows. so that is some kind of new reality for the ukrainians who are getting used to that but they are not going to give up. and just fall into frustration and drama, because they say they will continue to keep their spirits high. figs say they will continue to keep their spirits high-— say they will continue to keep their spirits high-— spirits high. as always, thank you very much — spirits high. as always, thank you very much for— spirits high. as always, thank you very much for talking _ spirits high. as always, thank you very much for talking us - spirits high. as always, thank you very much for talking us through l very much for talking us through that and for bringing us up to date in terms of what the spokesperson for vitaliy klitschko has been telling you directly. thank you. we continue to monitor the situation in ukraine with his latest attacks as well. lots more on our website. now to the day's other big news...

pope francis has made his first public comments since the death of his predecessor, benedict the sixteenth, at the age of 95. paying homage, the pope said, "it is with emotion that we remember his person, so noble, so kind." pope emeritus benedict died this morning in the vatican, after his health suddenly deteriorated over christmas. he was pope between 2005 and 2013, and the first pope in 600 years to step down instead of ruling for life. our religion editor, aleem maqbool, looks back at his life. cerebral by character, benedict was a prolific author and more at home with scholarship than pastoral work. he led the world's catholics for eight years and then abruptly resigned, the first pope to do so in 600 years. joseph ratzinger was born in southern germany. he was just six when the nazis swept into power. his parents were hostile to the regime, and though their son entered junior seminary in 1939, he was forced to join the hitler

youth just two years later. he and his brother, george, were ordained on the same day in 1951. george became a parish priest, joseph chose a quite different kind of ministry. first, a doctorate, appointments at prestigious universities and then the vatican. a cardinal by his early 50s, an ailing popejohn paul ii made him head of the sacred congregation for the doctrine of faith, formally the roman inquisition. there, he upheld traditional catholic teaching on abortion, contraception and homosexuality. he even spoke against rock music and the harry potter books. as benedict xvi, he sought to re—evangelise the west. his attempt to roll back the advance of secularism in america.

but in it lay an acknowledgement of the church's declining influence in its traditional heartlands. but he also sparked controversy in 2006 when during a lecture he gave in germany, he quoted criticism of islam by a 14th century christian leader and appeared to link the religion with jihad and holy war. there were violent protests in several muslim countries. the pope apologised and made a point of setting up the first catholic—muslim forum. but back in rome, the church was beginning to confront the scandal of sexual abuse by priests around the world. he was forced to deny that he'd played any role in covering up abuse. but the cases continued to mount. he later acknowledged he'd made mistakes in handling the matter. in february 2013, he shocked the world, announcing he would resign at the end of the month, citing age and failing health.

the election of his successor, pope francis, represented a break with much of what benedict had stood for. pope benedict upheld the creeds of the church and taught them with conviction. he died as he lived, thinking and writing about how to defend and advance those creeds in an increasingly secular world. let's go straight to our europe correspondent bethany bell who's in vatican city. and how are the people they're marking this solemn occasion? people have been coming _ marking this solemn occasion? people have been coming here _ marking this solemn occasion? people have been coming here all— marking this solemn occasion? people have been coming here all day - marking this solemn occasion? people have been coming here all day to - marking this solemn occasion? people have been coming here all day to pay. have been coming here all day to pay their respects to pope benedict. we spoke to one woman from bologna, and she said she was visiting rome for a few days and as soon as she heard the news she came to the square to pray for benedict. another woman told us that she had... this was an

unprecedented situation. they had heard the news standing here in st peter's square and had said they felt quite bewildered. they said it was a surreal moment. meanwhile, tributes have been flocking in for pope benedict, former pope benedict. british prime minister rishi sunak said that he had been a great theologian and that his thoughts were with catholics in britain and around the world. we have also heard from the german leader, germany of course it's where pope benedict was born, saying that the world had lost a formidable figure, a combative personality and a great theologian. thank you very much. a solemn vatican city that is filling with people paying their respects. i mentioned that pope francis made his first public comments since the

death of his predecessor, benedict xvi. we can hear those words now. translation: in xvi. we can hear those words now. translation:— xvi. we can hear those words now. translation: in this moment, our thou~hts translation: in this moment, our thoughts 90 — translation: in this moment, our thoughts 90 to _ translation: in this moment, our thoughts go to our— translation: in this moment, our thoughts go to our dearest - translation: in this moment, our thoughts go to our dearest pope - thoughts go to our dearest pope emeritus benedict xvi, who left us this morning. it is with emotion that we remember this person, so noble, so kind. and we feel in our heart is such gratitude, gratitude to god for having gifted him to the church and to the world, gratitude to him for all the good he has accomplished.— to him for all the good he has accomlished. .,, ., . , accomplished. pope francis, paying tribute to his _ accomplished. pope francis, paying tribute to his predecessor _ accomplished. pope francis, paying tribute to his predecessor following| tribute to his predecessor following the death of benedict xvi. i'm joined now by christopher lamb from the tablet, a catholic international weekly publication. we have just heard news thatjoe biden as well, the us president, has praised benedict xvi devotion to the church. what are your reflections in terms of what he was like as a person for the catholic faith, but

also that he chose to resign, to stand down from this position which is a position beholding by god in terms of the catholic faith? yes. is a position beholding by god in terms of the catholic faith? yes, i think that the — terms of the catholic faith? yes, i think that the resignation - terms of the catholic faith? yes, i think that the resignation of - terms of the catholic faith? yes, i think that the resignation of pope | think that the resignation of pope benedict from the papacy will really be his lasting legacy. through that resignation, he reformed the papacy, he demystified the papacy in many ways by saying that it did need to be an office that was held for life, and he opened the way for other popes to resign. i think if you look atjoseph ratzinger�*s life, pope benedict, he started off as a young theologian. he then became more of a conservative figure, a prefect of the congregation of the doctorate of the congregation of the doctorate of the faith. he was very concerned about drawing up clear lines of how

far church debates could go or what to proposals to reform church doctrine could go. and he also took important steps to tackle the clerical sexual abuse crisis. so it is a mixed legacy in many respects, because on the one hand he was renowned as an enforcer but on the other hand, through his decision to resign, his legacy is one of reform. because, of course, without the resignation of benedict, we never would have had pope francis. you talk about a _ would have had pope francis. you talk about a mixed legacy and you touched upon this idea of the first in 600 years to resign and the demystification is what you said. but when it comes to the sexual abuse scandal, the crisis that has rocked the catholic church, you are saying he was progressive and a

reformist. did he genuinely do enough to deal with that head—on? i think he took the initial steps and i think he made important changes, and as i said earlier, he took the abuse crisis seriously. there were some people in the vatican in the early days they didn't really take it as a serious crisis, so he realised, he recognised that this had to be handled and he ordered that all cases be sent to his office in rome so that they could be processed and prosecuted. did he do enough? well, ithink processed and prosecuted. did he do enough? well, i think thejury is still out on that. i think there are obviously still many survivors who think that he didn't and that he could have gone further. but i think in a sense he represents the church's failure to deal with this crisis. and so, in that sense, yes, he could have done more. but i think it is important to recognise that he did take those first steps to tackle

what has been a terrible scourge and crisis for the catholic church. christopher lambert from the tablet. thank you very much for sharing your thoughts and words about pope benedict, emeritus pope benedict. the world health organisation says chinese officials must share more real—time information on covid in the country as infections surge. cases have soared and several countries are now screening travellers from china, after many of the country's strict restrictions have been lifted over the last few weeks. officials at the who want to see more data on hospitalisations and deaths. the uk is one of the countries that is to introduce new covid checks for people arriving on flights from china. from next thurday, travellers will have to provide a negative test before boarding their flight. some random testing will be carried out on arrivals. we can speak now to dr chris smith,

virologist at the university of cambridge and presenter of the naked scientists podcast. just took us through the testing of people travelling from china? how necessary is it? why are we seeing those cases in china go up so much? but this is based on is the fact that in china right now there are millions of cases of coronavirus infection, and where there are millions of cases of infection there is the potential to spawn new variants of the infection. we already have a million plus cases a week of omicron, which is what is in china as well, in this country. so this is not about preventing more cases from coming into the country, because even if we let everybody in from china who wanted to come here on a flight at any one moment, it would be a drop in the ocean compared to the amount of virus we already have. but why people are concerned is that if people arrive

and they are bringing in new variants of the virus and we don't know what they are, and this is because people are saying china are not being very transparent or transparent at all with some of the data, then we won't know before it is too late that we have got a new kid on the biological block that we have got to deal with. i'm not sure that stopping people coming if they haven't done a negative test is very helpful, but certainly having data that we could get from swapping people that arrive from these different geographies, that would be very valuable. that would give us some clues as to how it is evolving, whether a new variants are beginning to emerge and what their clinical impact might be. do to emerge and what their clinical impact might be.— to emerge and what their clinical impact might be. do we have any information _ impact might be. do we have any information yet _ impact might be. do we have any information yet as _ impact might be. do we have any information yet as to _ impact might be. do we have any information yet as to new - impact might be. do we have any i information yet as to new variants? are you aware of any new variants? i guess ultimately the efficacy of the virus being used in china isn't as good, arguably, as it has been in other countries, and that is a point of contention. low virus uptake.

really, the question is not so much of what we are seeing, it is what we might see in the future. the omicron variant which is causing the majority of the infections around the world now, including china, that is affecting the 6.5 billion people in the wealthy do not live in china. and that 6.5 billion people have been vaccinated to a high proportion or exposed to the virus or both, and therefore have immunity. on the balance of probability, statistically, you are more likely to see omicron variants running into vaccinated or partially vaccinated people elsewhere in the world and beginning to elaborate new variants that could cause a form of the virus to circulate that could defeat the vaccines. in china, the problem is the reverse. they haven't got many people who are well vaccinated or fully vaccinated. while there is a with the possibility to get new variants, and that is why people need to keep their eyes open for

this, the statistics are that it is more likely to happen not in china than in china. therefore, i think the overall risk of there being a big problem is quite low, but nevertheless we need to keep watching just in case.- nevertheless we need to keep watching just in case. watching “ust in case. when we talk about watching just in case. when we talk about china. _ watching just in case. when we talk about china, we _ watching just in case. when we talk about china, we are _ watching just in case. when we talk about china, we are always - watching just in case. when we talk| about china, we are always thinking about china, we are always thinking about this a zero tolerance, zero covid policy. was that a mistake given that other countries, the uk included, were treating covid as they flew now. most people are vaccinated. we get a nasty cold, it is not pleasant but we are dealing with it. whereas the zero covid policy that china had across the country, can you categorically say it was detrimental? i country, can you categorically say it was detrimental?— country, can you categorically say it was detrimental? i think we can sa now it was detrimental? i think we can say now it — it was detrimental? i think we can say now it was _ it was detrimental? i think we can say now it was detrimental. - it was detrimental? i think we can say now it was detrimental. but . it was detrimental? i think we can i say now it was detrimental. but you can say is that right at the onset, was at the right or wrong thing to do? when there is a new infection emerging and no one knows what it is capable of, who it will be lethal for, the best strategy if you can is to keep it out and to minimise the

number of cases. the aim being, may be the storm will blow over. when the storm is over, we are into the sunshine again. that i think was the hope at the beginning of all this when they thought this would be a short left thing. unfortunately, by nailing their colours to the mast, at some point they were then setting themselves up to have to do this sort of thing to come out of a zero covid policy. other countries did this initially, but they backed this up this initially, but they backed this up by saying, in the meantime, we are going to use the breathing space to heavily vaccinate the population, knowing that we will get a search when we do open up but it won't have a huge impact because we will have protected people. they didn't do that in china. theyjust pursued relentlessly the zero covid policy. it was more of a shot in the foot than a shot in the arm, because many people did not get adequately vaccinated because they thought they had zero covid. as a result, most of

the more vulnerable people did not get adequately protected. aha, the more vulnerable people did not get adequately protected.— the more vulnerable people did not get adequately protected. a shot in the foot, get adequately protected. a shot in the foot. rrot _ get adequately protected. a shot in the foot. rrot a _ get adequately protected. a shot in the foot, not a shot _ get adequately protected. a shot in the foot, not a shot in _ get adequately protected. a shot in the foot, not a shot in the - get adequately protected. a shot in the foot, not a shot in the arm. - the foot, not a shot in the arm. doctor chris smith, really good to get your expertise. thank you. much more on all of our stories on our website, but for now let us get a website, but for now let us get a website for the sports news. here's olly foster. a busy afternoon in the premier league. five results so far. manchester city's could have cut arsenal's lead at the top. everton erling haaland scored city's opener midway through the first half. that was his 21st goal of the season.

though city dominated, they failed to score a agin and were punished by everton. demaroi gray with a curling effort from inside the box that went in off the bar. 1—1 the final score. city are four points behind arsenal who play the last game of 2022 shortly. manchester united have moved into the top four after winning 1—0 at wolves. marcus rashford was dropped from the starting 11 for disciplinary reasons but came off the bench at half—time to score the winner — that was his third goal in as many matches since coming back from the world cup. he revealed afterwards that he had started as a substitute because of a timekeeping issue — he missed a meeting after oversleeping. i woke iwoke up i woke up and fell back to sleep. like i_ i woke up and fell back to sleep. like i said. — i woke up and fell back to sleep. like i said, it can happen. it is important— like i said, it can happen. it is important to drawa like i said, it can happen. it is important to draw a line under it. i don't _ important to draw a line under it. i don't want — important to draw a line under it. i don't want to make a thing out of it. don't want to make a thing out of it and _ don't want to make a thing out of it. and definitely winning helps that process. we canjust move on to the next _ that process. we canjust move on to the next game now and full concentration on that.

here are some of the other results. palace beat bournemouth 2—0. southampton are still bottom of the table. they lost 2—1 at fulham. newcastle united will finish the year in third despite being held to a goaless draw by leeds. leaders arsenal kick off at brighton in the next few minutes and can move seven points clear at the top with a win. we've had a minutes applause before all of today's premier league matches, a tribute to the great pele, who died on thursday. brazilian players marked the moment in their own way, manchester united's antony had a personal message on his t—shirt as many of the leagues brazilan players marked the moment in their own way. newcastle united's bruno guimares wore a brazil number 10 shirt with pele's name on the back. fifa had requested that all games around the world this weekend would be preceded by a minute's silence but the premier league had already instructed their clubs to have a minute's applause. pele's funeral will take place on tuesday in santos, where he played for most of his career.

there are three derbies in spains la liga, barcelona missed out on the chance to move two points clear of real madrid after they were held to 1—1 draw by espanyol at the nou camp real sociedad moved up to third after beating osasuna 2—0, villarreal 2 valencia 1. great britain's cameron norrie has beaten rafa nadal for the first time. it came in the inaugral mixed team united cup — which is taking place in australia norrie had never even won a set in his four previous meetings against nadal. katie swan then made it 2—0 to gb and they need one win from three matches on sunday to reach the quarterfinals. and who hasn't ever slept? we all have. i'm sure lots of people will be oversleeping, no doubt come out tomorrow as well. it is a new year's

eve. we have got lots of fireworks coming up throughout the evening for you. from me and the new year's team, thank you for watching. goodbye. we are into the final hours of 2022. actually, there is a lot going on. rain for some of us, snow for others. this is a recipe that could cause some travel disruption. what is going on at the moment? on the satellite picture we can see this big field of cloud has been pushing its way and across the uk. bring in quite a lot of heavy rain. this weather system in the north of scotland has been delivering some snow. you can see the remnants on the chart for this evening. this band of rain works northwards, some very wet weather for the north of england and some snow over high ground in southern scotland. around midnight, for much of england and

wales, clear spells and 12 showers. quite windy around the coasts. for north of england is very wet indeed. across the south of scotland, some rain at low levels but even quite modest hills we can see some sleet and some snow. it is possible that through the central belt that could be some wintry weather to low levels at times. poor travelling conditions on the way back from any hogmanay celebrations, for example. in the north of scotland, it is going to get really cold tonight. —10 in the northern highlands. there could well be some icy stretches. very mild to start new year's day across the south. through the first day of 2023, this band of cloud, rain and some snow across scotland. i think most snow will be across central and western parts. further east, more likely to be rain. for england and wales, sunny spells, scattered heavy showers. temperatures up to 12 or 13 degrees in cardiff and london.

colder than that further north. into monday, the chance to draw breath. a drier day for most with a few showers pushing close to the channel islands, and some wintry showers into the north—west of scotland. the wind is lighter than they have been but on the chilly side. 3—10 as far as the temperatures go. that quieter interlude doesn't last long. into tuesday, we see further frontal systems pushing in off the atlantic with a chance for some outbreaks of heavy rain, strong winds. quite mall through the middle part of the coming week, may a little colder for a time later on.

this is bbc world news, the headlines: russia has launched another barrage of missiles at cities across ukraine. tens of thousands of people have retreated to shelters and many districts have lost power the former pope, benedict the sixteenth, has died at the age of 95. he led the catholic church for nearly eight years until he resigned in 2013. his body will lie in state in st peter's basilica from monday. the world health organisation has said that chinese officials must share more real—time information on covid in the country, as infections surge. england has become the latest country to control arrivals from china. celebrations have begun to mark the start of 2023 with firework displays in auckland, new zealand and at sydney harbour.

large public fireworks events have returned in many major cities