this is bbc news — welcome if you're watching here in the uk or around the globe. i'm kasia madera. 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. he led the catholic church for nearly eight years until 2013, when he became the first pope

in 600 years to resign. world health officials call on beijing to share accurate covid data, as england becomes the latest country to control arrivals from china. 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. and celebrations have begun to mark the start of 2023, with firework displays in auckland, new zealand and at sydney harbour. hello, welcome. russia has launched another barrage of missiles at cities across ukraine in the second big attack in three days. a number of explosions were heard in the centre of the capital, kyiv.

residents there have been told by the authorities to remain in shelters. from kyiv, hugo batchega sent this report. on new year's eve, another wave of russian missiles. the air raid alerts sounded at lunchtime on a day families usually celebrate together. this woman was at home when her district in kyiv was hit. translation: me and my husband were literally - thrown into the corridor. we heard glass shattering and then there was an explosion — one after another. we came to the street and saw ambulances and casualties. you can see the point of impact where debris from a missile that was intercepted fell from the sky. one person was killed there — a mother of two who was in the kitchen, making dinner to celebrate the new year. president zelensky accused russia of deliberately targeting civilians. translation: several waves of l missile strikes on new year's eve. missiles against the people.

the people who did this are inhuman and they've lost. we know that terrorists can't change. 0n the last day of the year, russia brought even more destruction to a country that has already seen so much of it. hugo bachega, bbc news, kyiv. and there is a full article by hugo bachega on our website as well. the former pope, benedict xvi, has died at the age of 95 this morning in the vatican. that's 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. pope francis has made his first public comments since the death of his predecessor. here's what he said. translation: in this moment, - our 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 such gratitude — gratitude to god for having gifted him to the church and the world, gratitude to him for all the good he has accomplished. pope francis paying tribute to benedict xvi. 0ur religious affairs correspondent aleem maqbool — looks back now on benedict's life — and legacy. 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, georg, were ordained on the same day in 1951. georg 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 pope benedict xvi, he sought to re—evangelise the west. it was an attempt to roll back the advance of secularism in europe and north 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. reflecting on the life and legacy of pope emeritus benedict xvi. let's discuss his legacy further. francis campbelljoins us live from dublin today on what is a sad day for the catholic faith. you were ambassador to the holy see from 2005—2011, just a few years before pope emeritus benedict stepped down, resigned. in terms of your experience, what

impact that had for catholicism around the world? so impact that had for catholicism around the world? 50 i impact that had for catholicism around the world?— impact that had for catholicism around the world? so i think it did come as a — around the world? so i think it did come as a complete _ around the world? so i think it did come as a complete surprise - around the world? so i think it did come as a complete surprise and. come as a complete surprise and indeed a shock. and i think in some respects it is a reflection perhaps of pope benedict himself, looking out the role which is a very demanding role, but also looking at the final years of his predecessor, of popejohn the second, and basically taking a very courageous and brave step in saying that these skills are the energy that is now needed for this job is skills are the energy that is now needed for thisjob is not skills are the energy that is now needed for this job is not one perhaps that i possess at this stage in my life having been in the papacy since 2005. but it did come as a massive surprise and shock to everyone. fix, massive surprise and shock to everyone-— massive surprise and shock to eve one. , , everyone. a massive shock because an uabl everyone. a massive shock because arguably the — everyone. a massive shock because arguably the role _ everyone. a massive shock because arguably the role of _ everyone. a massive shock because arguably the role of the _ everyone. a massive shock because arguably the role of the pope, - everyone. a massive shock because arguably the role of the pope, he i everyone. a massive shock because arguably the role of the pope, he is| arguably the role of the pope, he is the representation, a direct line back from jesus. i just wonder in terms of being able to step away from that, yes it is demystifying the role of the papacy, but ijust

wonder in terms of catholics and their beliefs, it was a huge shake to the fundamentals of what the vatican is about and what the holy see is for? ., , , ., vatican is about and what the holy seeisfor? u see is for? the pope is a successor of st peter, — see is for? the pope is a successor of st peter, and _ see is for? the pope is a successor of st peter, and there _ see is for? the pope is a successor of st peter, and there is _ see is for? the pope is a successor of st peter, and there is a - see is for? the pope is a successor of st peter, and there is a direct i of st peter, and there is a direct lineage for 2000 years. but i think there is also a human story here in there is also a human story here in the sense of a human being looking at the demands of the role, what is now a global role with 17.5% of the world's population identifying as catholic, a huge demanding role in terms of both the church and the governance of some of the challenges, and what is needed in terms of the energy of someone that brings everything they can do the role. and it wasn't unprecedented. yes, it hadn't happened in centuries past. itjust came as a contemporary surprise and shock. but the way he handled the adjustment in terms of not interfering in the mandate of

his successor, in retiring gracefully, in contributing through prayer and spirituality and support and encouragement. but i think a very human decision and i think people understood and people accepted it, apart from the surprise at the point in time when it happened in 2013. because the vatican has a lot of diplomats like myself, journalists, nobody saw this coming. myself, “ournalists, nobody saw this cominu. , , ., myself, “ournalists, nobody saw this comin._ �* , ., ., myself, “ournalists, nobody saw this comini_ �* , ., ., �* myself, “ournalists, nobody saw this comin. , ., ., ~ ., myself, “ournalists, nobody saw this comini. , ., ., ~ ., ., coming. absolutely no one. a lot of watchers and _ coming. absolutely no one. a lot of watchers and the _ coming. absolutely no one. a lot of watchers and the way _ coming. absolutely no one. a lot of watchers and the way things - coming. absolutely no one. a lot of watchers and the way things are - watchers and the way things are done. change is very slow in terms of the church itself, the catholic church. it takes a long time for things to modernise, to change, and we are talking about a pope who demystified the role of the papacy. but you have to look at the crisis that rocked the church in terms of the sexual abuse scandal that rocked the sexual abuse scandal that rocked the catholic church. was he moving fast enough to address it? it took a

long time for the head of the church to look at it. but was it enough, i guess, in terms of the hurt and damage that was done through so many generations? i damage that was done through so many ienerations? ., �* ,, damage that was done through so many ienerations? ., �* ~ ., , generations? i don't think anything is ever enough _ generations? i don't think anything is ever enough to _ generations? i don't think anything is ever enough to deal _ generations? i don't think anything is ever enough to deal with - generations? i don't think anything is ever enough to deal with that. is ever enough to deal with that issue, whether it is the catholic church are any other organisation. and i think he himself acknowledged that certain things they got wrong. he tried to grasp this when he was in his previous role before he became pope. and i think hindsight is always a great gift for everyone. but i think, did they move quickly enough? no, they didn't. was it something that really weighed upon his mind? the answer is yes. did he make steps and take very bold steps and put an architecture in place which actually leaves the catholic church in quite a good position going forward in terms of handling

theissue going forward in terms of handling the issue of abuse? the answer in my view was yes, he was courageous and brave. he was actually quite radical. he did want to move much faster and further during the reign of his predecessor, and i think it was during that pre—the macro period when he watched popejohn paul ii being very frail and infirm, and it was at that time, then as a joseph ratzinger, he wanted to set out a faster pace on this issue. so in many respects this is someone who recognise the scale of the problem and certainly put his efforts into addressing it. and in trying to basically get the catholic church into a position of best practice. but in terms of dealing with the past and dealing with what happened, like many organisations, including many churches and religious groups, a deep sense of regret that this had happened in the first place and it happened in the first place and it happened at all. find happened in the first place and it happened at all.—

happened in the first place and it ha- iened at all. �* ., happened at all. and i wonder, when ou talk happened at all. and i wonder, when you talk about _ happened at all. and i wonder, when you talk about him _ happened at all. and i wonder, when you talk about him looking _ happened at all. and i wonder, when you talk about him looking at - happened at all. and i wonder, when you talk about him looking at the - you talk about him looking at the fragility by the end of popejohn paul ii's time in this position, he didn't want to be i guess in that position, if that is is what you mean. he was quite active in getting pope francis to take over. ijust wonder if you could just talk us through the relationship between these two popes? you say it has happened before, but we are talking about 600 years before. we can't remember it, let's be honest. ijust wondered, that relationship between these two men this incredible position. these two men this incredible iosition. ~:: :: these two men this incredible iosition. ~:::: , ., , , . position. 600 years could be recent times when — position. 600 years could be recent times when we _ position. 600 years could be recent times when we talk _ position. 600 years could be recent times when we talk about _ position. 600 years could be recent times when we talk about the - times when we talk about the vatican, but it is a remarkable relationship. and i think what he did in terms of the vatican's position and in terms of the catholic church was, i think he exposed people's perspectives and minds to the demands of a job. when you think of people entering into a

role when they are in their mid—70s or late 70s, a job when most people have retired, and it is a 24—7, demanding role. ithink have retired, and it is a 24—7, demanding role. i think he has been very supportive on a human level to pope francis. i think he remained completely separate from the conclave to elect his successor. he has not in the days since he retired, i have never heard of a situation where in any way he has interfered or compromised the mandate of his successor. and i think it is a credit to him and indeed to pope francis that the two of them manage that relationship very, very well. and i think, you know, in a sense, his legacy, you have used the word demystifying, and i think he has in this sense, in a very humble, human act of resigning or retiring from the papacy, i think

he has in many respects humanised the role more and reminded people a little bit about the centrality of christ. this was something very consistent that i saw over five years. you know, that you were looking at someone who was formed and framed in the war period in germany, and he always was very reluctant to have any crowd shouting his name or any form of adulation. he wanted it all centred back on the religious message and on christ. and i think always in my mind there was benedict on the papacy but actually he was a 16—year—old, really, remembering what he had witnessed in the third reich. and i think there was no complacency with benedict. he was no complacency with benedict. he was very focused on the relationship between church and state, church and society, and my memory of him is probably the speech he gave in

westminster hall with all the former british prime minister is coming to meet him, members of the houses of parliament, the house of commons and lords. and a lot of people from civic life. he kept that speech on the spot where thomas more was condemned to death and he gave a speech about the proper relationship between church and state and the richness of society. so here is someone who has come to the end of their earthly life, but i think his intellectual and theological ideas will be something that i think we will be something that i think we will find perhaps in the future to be prophetic. will find perhaps in the future to be prophetic— be prophetic. francis campbell, thank ou be prophetic. francis campbell, thank you very _ be prophetic. francis campbell, thank you very much _ be prophetic. francis campbell, thank you very much for - be prophetic. francis campbell, j thank you very much for sharing be prophetic. francis campbell, - thank you very much for sharing your thoughts and just for reminding ourselves of that length of history of the catholic church, but also of pope benedict. british ambassador to the vatican. thank you for your time. and we did have some images

from vatican city, where people are gathering. but we just lost those images. just to explain why that screen went blank there. we are going to go back to what is happening in ukraine. i'm joined now by yevhen petrov who is a kyiv resident and secretary general of the public diplomacy platform. and a resident of kyiv. just talk us through what your experience has been today. because i do believe that the metro, they are trying to bring power back as we can see in your apartment now. but once again we have seen targeting of notjust kyiv, but in particular kyiv. i{finite kyiv, but in particular kyiv. quite predictable _ kyiv, but in particular kyiv. quite predictable because _ kyiv, but in particular kyiv. quite predictable because russians - kyiv, but in particular kyiv. (iii its: predictable because russians try kyiv, but in particular kyiv. qt ta: predictable because russians try to

break us as a nation and to bring our new year mood. we try to celebrate at least. the closest explosion was probably about 1.5 kilometres. almost in the central of kyiv and structures, residential buildings, historicaland kyiv and structures, residential buildings, historical and so on. through such conditions and what we had today, all people, they still try to think about how they are going to survive new year, what they are going to do, what they are going to cook and what they are going to eat. even in such a way, russians are not able to destroy us and not able to break us. i are not able to destroy us and not able to break us.— are not able to destroy us and not able to break us. i mentioned that ou are able to break us. i mentioned that you are secretary _ able to break us. i mentioned that you are secretary general - able to break us. i mentioned that you are secretary general of - able to break us. i mentioned that you are secretary general of the i you are secretary general of the public diplomacy platform. it is a non—government organisation that works to look at civil society engagement and ukraine's public diplomacy. ijust wonder in terms of

the work that you do, how are people responding to the relentless continuing attacks upon ukraine? the first da continuing attacks upon ukraine? tt2 first day of the continuing attacks upon ukraine? "tt2 first day of the full continuing attacks upon ukraine? tt2 first day of the full scale invasion, we were a little bit scared. but after that, invasion, we were a little bit scared. but afterthat, during invasion, we were a little bit scared. but after that, during each day, especially in kyiv, we have constant missile attacks and people are used to such conditions and they are used to such conditions and they are trying to be as prepared as they can. they are buying generators, they are looking for some food. and during such a type of situation when russia launches a big missile attack, they are making acts much angrier. especially today after this massive missile attack. for example,

in our case, they are just making us stronger and that is it. they will not break us even in such conditions. they will not be able to break us. on the battlefield, they were not able to break us during critical infrastructure attack. and they will not be able to destroy us during such attack on civilian. abs, during such attack on civilian. a resident of kyiv, also a secretary general of the public diplomacy platform. thank you for explaining what is happening on the ground in ukraine's capital. take care, stay safe. thank you very much for your time. much more on our website as to the latest missile attacks across ukraine.

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. earlier, i spoke to dr chris smith, virologist at the university of cambridge and presenter of the naked scientists podcast. i began by asking him to explain to me the testing arriving from china. 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 0micron, which is what is in china as well, in this country, so this is not about preventing more cases coming into the country because even if we let everybody in from china he 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. really, it is not going to achieve very much in terms of disease burden. 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 it is because people are saying china are not being 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 who arrive from these different geographies, that would be very valuable because we could get genetic code of the virus that could give us some clues as to how it is evolving and whether new variants are beginning to emerge and what their clinical impact might be. the queen guitarist, brian may, and members of england's womens' football team — the lionnesses — are among those celebrated in the uk's new year's honours list. lizo mzimba reports.

brian may, on top of the palace and now feeling on top of the world — the guitarist and animal welfare campaigner knighted notjust for services to music but for his charity work, too. i do feel that this is notjust a kind of reward or a gong, this is a kind of licence and a kind of commission to carry on doing what i'm doing and it gives me a bit more power to my elbow, so i'm very happy about that. a fellow campaigner, virginia mckenna, becomes a dame for her work with wildlife — work that was ignited when she appeared in the film born free. 0h, sweetie! and artist grayson perry says he's surprised and humbled to be knighted. other well—known figures honoured include anne diamond, whose long—standing campaign to help prevent cot death is thought to have saved the lives of thousands of babies. she becomes an 0be, as do actors stephen graham and david harewood and illustrator david sutherland, who's drawn some of the beano's

best—known characters for 60 years. becoming mbes — countdown star and campaigner rachel riley, for her work on holocaust education, lissie harper, widow of pc andrew harper, for her campaign to bring in automatic life sentences for anyone killing an emergency worker while committing a crime, and comedian, actor and presenter frank skinner for services to the entertainment industry. while janet kay, known as the queen of lovers rock, says she's deeply honoured to be made an mbe. # to play... # your... # silly games! her single silly games was one of the defining songs of the 1970s. most people being honoured never expected to be in the public eye — people like louenna hood, a nanny who organised supplies and raised tens of thousands of pounds for people fleeing ukraine. she receives a british empire medal.

how does it feel to be honoured like this? i mean, it'sjust absolutely amazing. and i think, because we've had a bit of a gap and i'm able to look back and reminisce, it is incredible what you can do in such a short amount of time. i think if i'd planned it, it would never have happened, but we just — we just went with it and, yeah, it was amazing. just one of the many being recognised for making a difference to others. lizo mzimba, bbc news. and a big congratulations to everyone named in the new year's honours list. for some of us, we are already in 2023. let's look at the most recent celebrations. bangkok just over an hour ago with a huge fireworks display there. and across asia, this is the year of the rabbit. that is why, if you see celebrations across asia, you will see various different rabbit themed decorations. and we also had sydney

harbour much earlier on, and auckland, new zealand was the first one. but the images there are hong kong. if you have already celebrated, happy new year to you. we are into the final hours of 2022. here is how the weather is shaping up. rain for some of us, snow for others. so this is a recipe that could cause some travel disruption. what is going on at the moment? 0n the satellite picture, we can see the satellite picture, we can see the big shield of cloud has been pushing its way in across the uk, bringing quite a lot of heavy rain. this little weather system in the north of scotland has been delivering some snow. this band of rain, some very wet weather for the far north of england, northern ireland and some snow over high ground in southern scotland. around midnight for much of england and wales, a story of clear spells and

one or two showers. still quite windy around the coasts. some heavy rain for northern ireland. across the south of scotland, some rain at low levels but over even quite modest hills i think we could see some sleet and some snow. and it's possible that through the central belt there could even be some wintry weather to quite low levels at times. that could make travelling conditions on the way back from any hogmanay celebrations. i in the north of scotland, snow has been falling today and it is going to get really cold tonight. —10 in the northern highlands. some icy stretches. but 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 some of the scotland will be across central and western parts. further east, more likely to be rain. some rain quite close to northern ireland. for england and wales, scattered showers. temperatures up to 12 or 13 degrees in cardiff and london.

colder than that further north. into monday, a chance to draw breath. a drier day for most with some spells of sunshine, a few showers pushing close to the channel islands. wintry showers into the north—west of scotland. on the chilly side. 3—10 as far as the temperatures go. but that quieter interlude doesn't last long. in due tuesday, further frontal systems pushing in off the atlantic with the chance for some outbreaks of heavy rain, some strong winds as well. quite mild through the middle part of the coming week, maybe 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. the mayor of kyiv has said that one person has been killed and 11 people have been taken to hospital in the capital. the former pope, benedict xvi, has died at the age of 95. he led the catholic church for nearly eight years until he resigned in 2013. the who says chinese officials must share more real—time information on covid in the country, as infections surge. england is the latest country to control arrivals from china.