this is bbc news — welcome if you're watching here in the uk or around the globe. i'm shaun ley. our top stories: pope francis pays tribute to his predecessor, benedict, as a "faithful servant of the gospel and the church". three, two, one... celebrations have taken place around the world to herald the start of 2023. as russian missiles strike kyiv, a former war crimes prosecutor calls for vladimir putin to be tried this year for crimes against humanity. and brazil's new left—wing president, luiz inacio lula da silva, is to be sworn into office in a few hours, 20 years after he first led the country.

and croatia begins the new year with a new currency, switching from the kuna to the euro. if you have just joined if you havejustjoined us, welcome to bbc news. pope francis has addressed the thousands of people who gathered at st peter's square in the vatican, a day after the death of benedict xvi. the pope described his predecessor as a faithful servant of the gospel and the church. our religion editor aleem maqbool is at the vatican. we heard from pope francis a couple of times today, first at a mass for peace that was held in st peter's basilica behind me. he talked about entrusting our beloved pope emeritus benedict xvi to the holy mother, to accompany him from this world to god. and then later, pope francis

appeared at a balcony here at the vatican for what is his regular sunday lunchtime homily, where he started this week by asking people to join together, as you rightly say, to pray for the man he called a faithful servant to the gospel and to the church. extraordinary scenes, though. we saw thousands of people pour into the square from every side. vatican police told us a short while ago that they thought around 40,000 people were here to witness that homily. of course a lot of people happen to be in rome for new year, from around the world, including a man i met from chicago who said in spite of the fact that he knew that pope benedict had been ill for some time, there was still a sense of shock. others did refer to the complicated legacy of pope benedict, but of course many more people will pour into rome and the vatican in the coming days, first for the laying in state and then, of course, for the funeral

on thursday morning that will be presided over by pope francis. 2023 has arrived all over the world by now, with the latest new year celebrations taking place across the united states, canada, the caribbean and latin america. this report does contain flashing images. for 2023, new year celebrations are back around the world. in new york, partygoers in times square relished the moment, thousands squashed together, only a handful wearing masks. in london, thousands filled the banks of the thames, relieved after covid and a difficult 2022. happy new year, and hopefully this year is better than last year. hopefully. after the year we've had, it is phenomenal. years, years we've had. the year we have had in general, with the cost of living, the inflation, the politics

of the country, it's just been upheaval. it is the one time we all come together. this is london... the fireworks welcomed in the new year and marked the losses of the old. i declare before you all, that my whole life, whether it be long or short, shall be devoted to your service. in edinburgh, the first hogmanay events in three years were sold out across the city, despite rain and freezing temperatures. and in paris crowds filled the champs elysees for the fireworks. local media estimated i million people came to cheer in 2023. there were also smiling crowds in the chinese city of wuhan, where the pandemic began nearly

three years ago and where covid is back. the chinese authorities say the situation is under control, but several countries, including the uk, are bringing back covid tests for travellers from china. sanchia berg, bbc news. ukraine's armed forces say they've shot down 45 iranian—made drones fired by russia since new year's eve. the latest bombardment follows a wave of attacks on ukrainian cities over the christmas season, including residential areas, which forced tens of thousands of people into shelters. there's been a defiant new year address from president zelensky, with a message of hope for ukraine soldiers. the bbc�*s 0lga malchevska reports. singing on the front line. these soldiers are celebrating new year's eve in the bunker during a brief moment of calm. this is bakhmut, eastern ukraine, the area that has seen the fiercest fighting.

joining them, the mayor of kyiv, vitali klitschko, ex—celebrity world boxing champion. he saw in the new year with the troops, his spokesperson told the bbc. bringing some supplies, a more festive mood and a message for the season. translation: the freedom battalion, bakhmut guys, who defend our - motherland and its territorial integrity, independence and peace of every ukrainian. i will do everything to make the next year, 2023, the year of peace. this christmas tree is in kramatorsk, another city on the eastern front line. a soldier shared the footage with the bbc. translation: we have no light, electricity from a generator, - but we have a new year with a christmas tree and presents. svetlana in kyiv was hoping for a peaceful night with herfamily — two kids, a dog and a cat. they didn't want to sleep in the cold, dark basement and instead were sheltering

in their flat. translation: | felt| the blasts yesterday. many? yes. we were sitting here on the 315t of december instead of preparing the festive dinner, my two sons and i and our dog. we heard the blast right after the new year came. russia launched one more attack in the night and early morning of the new year, just hours after shelling the capital and other regions during the day. it was like typical russian terrorism. that was the reason why he struck on new year's eve, because he had, like, 311 days to kill everything. but he can't and he feels that we are stronger than he thought before. and now he willjust want to terrorise us. it will not work, though, says mykola and others we spoke to on this new year's day, after another russian attack.

ukrainians believe 2023 will bring them victory. 0lga malchevska, bbc news. at least ten people have been killed in the afghan capital, kabul, in an explosion at the entrance of the military airport. the taliban government has been battling an insurgency by islamic state militants who have targeted a number of key installations in the city in recent weeks. 0ur south asia editor, anbarasan ethirajan, has the latest. the taliban authorities are saying there was a loud explosion outside the entrance of the military airfield in kabul, which is a very highly protected zone, because the taliban have moved many of their military equipment near the airfield. and also the equipment left by the us—led forces, when they left afghanistan in 2021, they were all there. the taliban authorities are not giving any numbers at the moment. what they are saying is several people have been killed and injured

but the local media have been giving various figures. but what it shows is that despite the taliban promising that they will bring security to people in kabul and the rest of the country, these kind of bomb blasts and explosions are happening. and no group has admitted responsibility for this blast yet but the islamic state group militants have admitted responsibility for several similar attacks in the past. for example, five chinese nationals were injured when a gunman stormed a hotel in kabul a few weeks ago. it also poses a security challenge for the taliban authorities. the colombian president, gustavo petro, has announced a ceasefire with five armed groups until the end ofjune. president petro, a former rebel himself, has previously pledged to end six decades of violence, between government forces and armed militias in which hundreds of thousands of colombians have lost their lives. new government figures have been released for the number of people who've arrived in the uk by crossing

the channel on small boats. just over 16,000 migrants made the crossing during the whole of 2022. the last crossings of the year happened on christmas day, when 90 people made the journey from france in two boats. there's still reported to be a backlog of 100,000 applications from people seeking asylum in the uk. a man has died and another has been injured following an avalanche on the north face of ben nevis. the lochaber mountain rescue team and a helicopter were dispatched to help the two climbers on friday afternoon. a 48—year—old man was pronounced dead at the scene and a ao—year—old man was taken to hospital for treatment. at least nine people have died in a crush at a new year's firework display in uganda. police said crowds got stuck in a narrow corridor in a shopping mall near the capital, kampala. some were trampled to death while others suffocated. some of the dead are children. it was the first time since the start of the covid—i9 pandemic that uganda had permitted large new year gatherings. a police spokesman for the kampala metropolitan police

described how the tragedy unfolded. the concert was going on well. security was there. people were behaving. there was not any problem. but when time for me, when the time came at midnight, when midnight reached, the mc announced that, yes, it's now coming to midnight, time forfireworks. they had organised fireworks at the parking, so they told people to go out and go and watch fireworks outside. they moved out. so after the fireworks display, they were told to go back. that is where the stampede started. brazil's new left—wing president, luiz inacio lula da silva, will be sworn into office in the coming hours, 20 years

after he first led the country. thousands of lula supporters have been flocking to the capital brasilia to watch the ceremony and attend a concert. he narrowly beat his far—right predecessor, jair bolsonaro. mr bolsonaro has now left the country for florida, abandoning his final official duty of handing over the presidential sash at the ceremony. that is something that has been done at every presidential handover since the end of military rule. i spoke to our correspondent katy watson a short while ago about lula's iminent return to power. 20 years on and certainly people here are celebrating. it is part glastonbury, part political ceremony that we will see that should start in about an hour, but at the moment there are hundreds of thousands of people who are queueing up, attending a concert that has been put on. that concert will be stopped for the official ceremony and then it will continue later for the party.

but, i mean, people here have come from all across brazil to celebrate lula returning to power. of course, you have to remember this is a deeply divided country, there are plenty of people who are very angry of course he is now back in power, but coming here, you would never guess. it is a sea of red, just the colours of his party. people have been queueing from very early on just to be able to get a glimpse of the inauguration and to enjoy the musicians and singers who have been invited to take part in today. have we heard at all from mr bolsonaro since he left for florida? no, so hejetted off to florida. he has not conceded defeat, so we were not expecting him to take this graciously, i guess. he is meant to be handing over the sash to lula. he will not be doing that. his vice did speak on national tv overnight and he said... people are cheering lula here now. but he was saying, he actually

criticised bolsonaro, saying that the silence of leaders leads to chaos and, you know, a direct dig at the soon—to—be ex—president, but he did say that yes, there will be a new government but democracy will remain. i think that is very important. there was a lot of concern here, with such a divided country, exactly what would happen with the handover. would bolsonaro's supporters concede, would they accept defeat? it has been a very difficult time here in brazil, but certainly it looks like his inauguration so far is going smoothly. as you said, a lot of bitterness and a lot of history here, not least the fact that president silva at one point was in prison having been convicted of corruption charges and obviously the court subsequently intervened on that. but i wonder, the other big news out of brazil, some would say is even bigger news, has been the death of pele. has that, to a certain extent do you think, helped to bring people together in a small way? you said the country was so very divided by this very, very corrosive politics

and a very competitive election? well, i think it has overtaken events because of course his funeral, his wake will start tomorrow. the funeral will be on tuesday. he was a footballer who very much united this country. whichever side of the political spectrum, people have been paying tribute to him. i think today is very much about politics, it is returning to if you like what happened in october when lula won and it is all about certainly his fans here today. i think tomorrow will be turning back towards pele and marking his passing and that of course will be on the coast a good few hours from here, but it will be an about turn if you like. this is very much about politics and a new beginning and then monday of course will be saying goodbye to pele. now, with a look at all the sport,

here's gavin ramjaun. hello again. spurs blew the chance to move back into the premier league's top four. they were beaten at home by aston villa. an error by goalkeeper hugo lloris in his first game back since the world cup allowed emiliano buendia to score. douglas luiz doubled the lead for unai emery�*s side. it's a valuable win for villa, who move further away from the bottom sides. but the loss puts the pressure back on antonio conte. his tottenham team, without a win since the league resumed after the world cup. chelsea are at nottingham forest — they kick off in the next 15 minutes. blues boss graham potter says his side have gone through a "real tough period," as they look to close the gap on the champions league places later. potter's chelsea lost three consecutive games before the world cup break, but came back with a win over bournemouth. 0urjob now is to try and get as many people back as we can. it's been a real tough period. as challenging as it's been, i'd say come in my time as a coach.

but, you know, we are chelsea and people don't want to hear those reasons/excuses. you've got to get on with it and you've got to try your best to get the answers. chelsea will obviously be tough. they are an incredible squad. had a good win last time up against bournemouth on their return but we have to really back ourselves and if we are going to do anything in games that ends up getting us positive results we have to do it ourselves and for me, as i said numerous times, it starts with belief and commitment to what we can bring positively to a game. preparations are under way in the brazilian city of santos ahead of the funeral of footballing legend pele on tuesday. the three—time world cup winner died in hospital in sao paulo on thursday. workers have been building the staging area at the vila belmiro stadium, home of the club where pele scored over 600 goals.

there'll be a banner in the stands that reads "long live the king — pele, 82 years old". great britain have made it to the knockout stages of tennis's united cup, after beating spain to top group d, and move into the quarter—finals. great britain took a 2—0 lead into new year's day, after wins for cameron norrie and katie swan a day earlier. it meant that britain needed just a win from the second day's play, which started with harriet dart against paula badosa. dart took the first set of that match, but then fell away, losing the match in three, which gave dan evans the chance to seal the series victory. and evans came back from a second set to forget — to beat albert ramos vinolas, in three sets. 6—3, 1—6, 6—3 he won, giving britain an unassailable lead. evans broke his opponent in his first service game of the deciding set and rallied again after the spaniard hit back to level the set at 2—2. dart and jonny 0'mara won their doubles match to make the final score. that's all the sport for now.

we will be back with more later. croatia has become the 20th country to join the eurozone and has now adopted the euro as its currency. the bbc�*s emily brown reports. a new year, a new currency. croatia says goodbye to its kuna currency as it adopts the euro. this is the moment the country's finance minister pulls out the first euro bill from a cash machine. and croatia will become the 20th member of the eurozone after nearly a decade since itjoined the eu. the nation of 4 million people joins the schengen zone, which allows people to move freely around its member nations, but croatians have mixed feelings about the change. translation: it was always great | for me to have kuna when i camel to croatia but the euro is easier — it's easier when you're in europe. translation: we can be emotionally attached to the kuna _ because of history but one has to live realistically.

it's always better to be with someone who is strong, who is something, than to be on the sidelines. translation: i love kuna and, as you can hear, we will have i as much as our pension allows. meanwhile, experts say adopting the euro will help protect croatia's economy at a time when inflation has been soaring globally since russia's invasion of ukraine. and it's hoped its entry into a borderless area will provide a boost to the tourism industry. it's an important milestone in the history of croatia, the euro and the eu as a whole. emily brown, bbc news. it's almost a year since russia's invasion of ukraine and millions of ukrainians are still unable to return home after fleeing the country. among them was a troupe of more than 70 ballet dancers. they are now living and training together at the former royal conservatoire in the dutch capital, the hague. 0ur correspondent kate vandy has been to visit them.

moving gracefully around the stage, you wouldn't know these performers had recently fled war. when russia began its invasion of ukraine last year many feared it would be the end of their careers. svetlana was one of them. i didn't have work and i was trying to find a job and then i found this place and came here and i start to feel myself really, really good, like before i didn't want to do ballet and was depressed and had no inspiration for life. svetlana fled ukraine shortly after war broke out, leaving her entire family behind. she thinks all ukrainians have a battlefield now and the stage is hers. i try to enjoy the stage and give dance and energy to people, but most important is to help our country to recover, to help ukrainian people who really need help. in this way i'm trying to help our country.

svetlana is one of more than 70 displaced dancers who make up the united ukrainian ballet, an ngo founded to protect and spread a culture that has been threatened by this conflict. it's a little room but i love it. fellow dancer valeria is grateful for the possibility to be living and training here in the hague. translation: the war | is a big tragedy, not only because people are dying, but also for me. the big tragedy is that a lot of talented artists will not have a chance to realise themselves on stage, to do what they were born for. valeria has just finished touring swan lake, a ballet by russian composer tchaikovsky. some of the group's dancers refused to perform it, while others like valeria take it to the stage with new meaning. translation: i express myself| through the dance, my feelings, my spirit of resistance to something i can't necessarily influence,

but i have to react to what is happening somehow, a protest dance. and it's clear to see that for all these ballerinas, their dance is no longerjust one of performance, it's now one of defiance. kate vandy, bbc news. the new year's day parade has returned to the streets of london for the first time since 2020. 0ur reporter nickjohnson was there. this parade was devised back in the 1980s by someone who wanted to create an event that would really blow away those christmas cobwebs. 0ur heads, our bodies, are all feeling a bit sore after christmas and new year, we are heading back to work and school in the next few days, so he wanted something to really blow those christmas cobwebs away and this is certainly doing that. we have had around 8,000 performers pass by us, all sorts of different things, including the first london routemaster here. but we have had groups performing

from the uk, from europe, from other london boroughs, but also from around the world. i spoke to actually someone from a band from el salvador who said that each young member of that band had to raise their own money to make the journey to come and perform here. now, as you say, this is the first restriction—free new year's day parade here in london since early 2020 and the organisers have high hopes for the number of people who have turned out to watch. they reckon around half a million people are lining the streets here. we are just down from piccadilly circus and two of those people are suzanne and colin. good morning to both of you. you have come from sussex, hello. tell us why it was important for you to make the journey here today. well, we love coming to london anyway and this is a really special occasion, because it has not happened for a while and we have never been to it before. after covid, we thought we'd better make the most of life, basically. colin, tell me one act that you have really enjoyed here so far.

the south americans have been brilliant, absolutely. and the north americans, come to that, yeah. there have indeed been lots of groups from the americas and this is a truly global event, around half a billion people are expected to tune in from around the world to watch. one of the original members of the pointer sisters, anita pointer, has died aged 7a. the singers were known for hits including jump and automatic, both of which won grammys — and i'm so excited. they won three grammy awards during their career. her publicist said she had cancer and was surrounded by family when she died. lots of memories from their music. you're watching world news.

hello. we welcomed in 2023 with a real range of conditions across the uk. parts of scotland had snow and temperatures in the highlands got very close to minus nine celsius. compare that with 11 degrees last night in the south of england and it is mild air that will win out for much of the time, i think, through this coming week. there will be some rain at times, but equally some drier and chillier interludes. so for the rest of today, we will see thickening cloud and some patchy rain across the channel islands and fringing into the south coast of england. elsewhere, some showers, some of which will be heavy and thundery and some rain still with some snow over high ground affecting northern parts of scotland. temperatures four degrees for

aberdeen and glasgow, 13 in london. and then tonight, we will see this area of wet weather pushing across southeast england into east anglia, some showers further north. most of them will phase. there will be some clear spells, ice likely to be an issue through northern ireland, northern england and up into scotland where it is going to be another really cold night, minus eight in the highlands and even further south, it will be chillier than it was last night. now into monday, some showers likely to move across south eastern parts of england. first thing, we will see some further showers pushing into western scotland. some of those wintry over high ground. but in between, a slice of sunshine, relatively light winds, decent weather to get out and about for a bank holiday stroll. although it will be a chillier day in the south, highs of nine degrees and further north, just two or three degrees in northern scotland. now, as we head through monday nights into tuesday, we'll see frontal systems pushing in from the atlantic, bringing some outbreaks of rain and some strengthening winds. it is going to be quite a windy day on tuesday. we may see some hill snow for a time in the north of the uk,

but i think it will tend to turn back to rain as the air turns milder. temperatures on tuesday will be a little bit higher for many places five or six degrees in northeast scotland, 12 or 13 across south wales and the south of england. now that weather system moves away, drier for a time as we move through wednesday and into the first part of thursday. but then this next weather system pushes in and that will bring more outbreaks of rain and again, perhaps some snow over high ground in the north. but it is looking mild for much of the time through the coming week, perhaps just a little colder as we get into friday.

this is bbc world news. the headlines. addressing crowds at st peter's square, pope francis has described his predecessor, benedict xvi, as "a faithful servant of the gospel and the church". pope benedict died yesterday at age of 95. celebrations have been taking place around the world to herald the start of 2023. the firework display in london also paid tribute to the late queen, elizabeth ii. as russian missiles strike kyiv, a former war crimes prosecutor calls for vladimir putin to be tried this yearfor crimes against humanity. sir geoffrey nice said the case against the russian leader "could not be clearer." and croatia begins the new year with a new currency, switching from the kuna to the euro, and entering the europe's schengen

zone, which allows internal travel without border checks. it's just ten years since croatia joined the eu.