this is bbc news — welcome if you're watching here in the uk or around the globe. i'm ben brown. our top stories. a warning over the uk's national health service, senior doctors say some emergency departments are in a "complete state of crisis". ukraine says it has killed hundreds of russian soldiers, in a missile strike over new year. this picture, from the ukrainian military, reportedly shows the scene of the attack. russia says 63 soldiers were killed in scotland, three people have died, after a fire broke out at a hotel in perth. thousands are paying their respects to the late pope benedict the sixteenth, whose body is lying in state at the vatican. the coffin of football legend pele arrives at the stadium of his former club, santos, for a public wake.

it never needed to be this way. and, prince harry says the royal family has shown "absolutely no willingness to reconcile" with him and meghan markle, in a new interview with itv. here in the uk, senior doctors are warning that some hospital accident and emergency departments are in a "complete state of crisis" because of the extreme pressures facing the national health service this winter. the royal college of emergency medicine says it's impossible to provide the best standard of care — and there's "no doubt" patients are being harmed. our health correspondent catherine burns reports. we are used to seeing pictures like this every winter now.

patients waiting in corridors and outside in ambulances as health experts talk about a crisis in care. this year the warning voices seem louder than ever. most of the nhs employees would say it has been one of the toughest winters they can remember. i feel uncomfortable, deeply uncomfortable about the level of care we are sometimes, because of the degree of pressure, that we are providing. probably some ptsd from some of the stuff i have seen and just worn out. the data shows that things are worse now than at any time since records started in 200a. one in ten patients who need admitting are waiting over 12 hours for a bed with reports of some waits lasting four days. it's dreadful for our patients. patients are waiting a long time for ambulances. once they get an ambulance, they might be waiting outside our emergency departments for a long time to get in our doors. once they make it through,

there are long waits to be seen and we are having to treat patients in all sorts of unsatisfactory places such as corridors or areas not meant to house patients. the royal college of emergency medicine believes that these delays between 300 and 500 people are dying in the uk every week. nhs england says it doesn't recognise those figures and that there are different reasons why the number of people dying could be higher than usual. but it is undeniable that the nhs is under extreme pressure. 18% more people have turned up to a&e departments in england in the last six weeks compared to the same time last year. 9,500 people are in hospital with covid, that's more than doubled recently. add onto that almost 4,000 with flu, another sharp increase, and it means that 13% of hospital beds are being used for covid and flu patients.

and all this comes with more strike action planned by nhs workers this month. catherine burns, bbc news. earlier i spoke to matthew taylor, the chief executive of nhs confederation which represents and speaks for the nhs in england, wales and northern ireland. he described how bad the current situation was. i think it's as bad as it has ever been, that is what leaders i speak to say to me, people who have been working on the health service for 20 and even 30 years say they have never been in a winter as bad as this. the reality is that the nhs is fragile and it is fragile because there is a gap between the demand that is made on our service and the capacity we have to meet that demand, and when you are fragile it doesn't take much for things to become very difficult and that's what has happened with the growth of flu, with the growth of covid. so it is a very difficult situation.

we have got to be honest with the public about the situation that we face. we have got to be clear in the messages we give the public about how they should best use the national health service, and also, as you said, we have got to do something about the threat of industrial action because we cannot injanuary, which is our busiest month come on top of all of this take four more days of industrial action. you talk they're about being honest. the royal college of emergency medicine, you heard in the report, they are saying somewhere between 300 and 500 people are dying each week as a result of delays and problems with emergency care. they are warning against any attempt to discredit that figure. do you recognise that figure? i think we can argue about particular figures and methodologies. what i don't think we can argue about is that there is high levels of patient risk and high levels of patient harm than we would like to see and we are not able to provide the level of care we want to provide and chris hopson from nhs england himself may have disputed the figures but it doesn't

dispute the fact that we are not able to provide the level of care we want to provide. that is the reality and we have to talk firstly about what we have to do to get a through the next few weeks and then we have to have a conversation about how it is we can avoid going into next winter and is fragile estate as we have entered this one. when you talk about patient harm, it is more than that, it is patient death, that's what is happening, people are dying who should not be dying. it's very difficult to imagine that that isn't the case, when you see how long it is taking four ambulances to reach people and see how long people are waiting in hospital. but i do think it is important to say that when the health service is given the resources it does a greatjob, whether it is the vaccination programme, whether it is the fact we have reduced the number of people waiting a long time for operations, expanding diagnostics. but the problem is we do all of that in a situation when the service is always running on hot and so when you go into winter you get flu and covid and don't have the capacity respond.

one of the things leaders are saying to me is it is notjust the challenges day to day and which are really intense and there is patient harm, no question about that, but also the work they want to be doing on recovering services, getting the waiting list down, that has all got to be put on hold because everything now is focused on the most urgent work. the ukrainian army says hundreds of russian soldiers were killed in a strike on new year's eve using himars rockets supplied by the united states. russia's ministry of defence has acknowledged that 63 of its soldiers were killed. these are the first pictures we've received of the aftermath of the attack, which destroyed a former vocational school in the donetsk region. russian officials say the soldiers had been temporarily deployed there. this is what a russian ministry of defence spokesman had to say a short while ago:

translation: the kyiv regime | targeted a temporary deployment point used by one of the units of the russian armed forces unit in makiivka in the donetsk republic with six himars rockets. russian air defences shot down two of the rockets. as a result of the impact of four rockets with high explosive warheads, 63 russian servicemen were killed. catholics have begun paying their respects to the former pope, benedict the sixteenth. his body is lying—in—state after his death at the weekend. mourners will be able to file past the casket before the funeral on thursday. our religion editor aleem maqbool reports. at dawn, the late pope was moved from the monastery in the vatican, where he died, for this short, solemn, private procession to st peter's basilica. # santa maria...#

there, he was taken through the nave to be placed in front of the altar. outside, while the ceremony was taking place, thousands had formed a queue that snaked around st peter's square. these were among the first allowed in through the doors to pay their respects in person. it's expected around 30,000 people a day will file past the pope emeritus on each of the three days he lies in state. this is one of those once—in—a—lifetime moments where you kind of feel quite, more and more emotional as you get closer to viewing the pope's body and realise the impact that he's had, i guess, on everybody. so there was a kind of a sombre mood as the walk progressed, i guess. what was that moment like for you when you were paying your respects? that moment, i feel so honoured, because pope benedict, he was a servant of god.

we honour him and we follow his example. in scotland, three people have died after a fire broke out at a hotel in perth emergency services, including 21 ambulance crews and nine fire trucks, were called to the new county hotel at about five am local time. police cordoned off the road and urged members of the public to avoid the area. our correspondent, morag kinniburgh is at the scene and gave us this update earlier. 66 firefighters, 21 ambulances, including an operation specialist team were here. they tookjust over 90 minutes to get the blaze under control, to stop the fire, and to then conduct a thorough search of the hotel. three people and a dog were found to have died, 11 people were treated for minor injuries at the scene, and no one needed to go to the hospital. the hotel guests and some residents

from neighbouring parties were moved out of their buildings, and the city council here in perth has helped them find alternative accommodation as needed. is there any idea yet what caused this fire? police and firefighters are not responding to questions like that. they are simply saying this was a very challenging and complex fire. they have begun an investigation which they say may take some time. so, they either don't know, or won't see at this stage what caused the fire. simply that they think many local people for their support, simply that they thanked many local people for their support, and are urging patience as many roads have been closed around the city centre of perth. and that has disrupted people trying to get about their daily business, their day—to—day life. it could be sometime yet before the roads reopen during this very sensitive investigation. brazilians have begun to say farewell to the football legend pele as a 2k hour wake gets underway in the stadium of his former club, santos. his coffin was placed in the middle of the pitch or fans and dignitaries

to pay their respects ahead of a private family burial on tuesday. the funeral procession drove through santos before dawn, with large crowds lining the roadsides and setting off fireworks. president lula of brazil is expected to attend the wake, his first engagement since he regained the presidency on sunday. pele died last thursday aged 82. earlier i spoke to camilla mota from bbc brazil. she described how all generations were paying their respects. many brazilians, the younger generations didn't see pele play. he retired in 1977, so a lot of brazilians didn't see him on the pitch. but the worldwide reaction we saw in the past few days, people from all over the world paid their respects and were speaking about their admiration for pele, has made many brazilians realise how big he was.

his body arrived at 6am at the santos football stadium. santos is the brazilian football club in which pele played throughout his career. at 6.30, there were already 100 people in line to see him, but gates opened at 10pm. right now, it's a hot, sunny day and there are hundreds of people lined up outside the stadium, waiting to pay their respects to brazil's king of football. he had been ill for quite a while, so his death was not unexpected, but there has been a huge outpouring of national grief, hasn't there? right. as you are saying, pele died last thursday under some last thursday under december of the 29th at the age of 82, of colon cancer.

he had been ill for a while and for the past few days, brazilians were able to remember the key moments of his career, his most beautiful goals. he scored 1283 of them, so it was a time for brazilians to remember stories of the past. and pele was a key figure in the making of brazil's image abroad. at 17, he won brazil's first world cup in 1958. to give a bit of context, 1958 was also the year in which brazil's great composer launched the song that inaugurated the bossa nova movement, so it was a big year for brazil. in 1962, he won his second world cup and in 1970, the third world cup. that one has been talked about amongst brazilians because brazil was going through a ruthless military dictatorship at that time and the regime used that

to try to divert the international community's attention from what was going on in brazil. but politics aside, pele was one of the greatest ambassadors brazil could ask for and one of the greatest athletes of all time, definitely. let's take you to santos, in the state of sao paulo. these are live pictures from the santos football club stadium. a public wake there is under way. pele's coffin is under a canopy in the middle of the pitch, where fans and dignitaries will pay their respects before president lula of brazil is expected to attend the wake, his first engagement since he regained the presidency on sunday. the duke of sussex has said he would "like to get" his father

and brother "back" in preview footage for a forthcoming interview. in a series of clips cut together, harry says "it never needed to be this way" and insists he "wants a family, not an institution". the 90—minute programme will be broadcast on itv on sunday, just two days before the duke's autobiography, spare, is published. it never needed to be this way. the leaking and the planting. i want a family, not institution. they feel as though it is better to keep us, somehow, as the villain. they've shown absolutely no willingness to reconcile. with me now is our royal correspondent, daniela relph. tell us what we are likely to learn from this book.— from this book. this is the first hints of we _ from this book. this is the first hints of we have _ from this book. this is the first hints of we have had _ from this book. this is the first hints of we have had of- from this book. this is the first hints of we have had of what i from this book. this is the first hints of we have had of what isj hints of we have had of what is going to be in the book. two trailers were released today one

from itv and also from cbs 60 minutes in the us. two interviews with prince harry broadcast as part of a pub listed bits written the release of the book. the themes are very much the same seems we have heard in previous interviews. the opera wintry interview and the netflix series from he and his wife. criticism of the institution of the royal family. criticism of the institution of the royalfamily. the bitter break—up with his immediate family. criticism of the media being against him and his wife and of being mugged and manipulated by buckingham palace. the language is very direct and critical. the themes are very similar. there is that going to pope, as you said of him once and his brother and father back. i have to say, at this stage it is hard to see how this interview and criticism

of the royal family is going to help any kind of reconciliation. fiend of the royal family is going to help any kind of reconciliation. and this is one of a — any kind of reconciliation. and this is one of a number— any kind of reconciliation. and this is one of a number of— any kind of reconciliation. and this is one of a number of books - any kind of reconciliation. and this is one of a number of books that l any kind of reconciliation. and this l is one of a number of books that the couple have signed up. this is ghost written, isn't it? this autobiography was stopped yes by a very to writer in the us. he autobiography was stopped yes by a very to writer in the us.— very to writer in the us. he also chost very to writer in the us. he also ghost wrote _ very to writer in the us. he also ghost wrote the _ very to writer in the us. he also ghost wrote the andre - very to writer in the us. he also ghost wrote the andre agassi i ghost wrote the andre agassi biography which was well received and, again, very detailed in terms of finally followed. relationships and how he felt about things. the one thing i would say about that interest to view our own spare. harry has gone unchallenged in the interviews he has done with oprah winfrey and that place. this time he is interviewed by anderson cooper from cbs and some brightly from itv. these are experienced journalists and you would think they would want to be a bit more robust.— to be a bit more robust. although tom bradley _ to be a bit more robust. although tom bradley is— to be a bit more robust. although tom bradley is a _ to be a bit more robust. although tom bradley is a friend _ to be a bit more robust. although tom bradley is a friend of - to be a bit more robust. although tom bradley is a friend of his is l tom bradley is a friend of his is near? , , ,

tom bradley is a friend of his is near? _ , ., tom bradley is a friend of his is near? , , , ., ., tom bradley is a friend of his is near? _ , ., ., ., near? yes yes someone who has had contact with — near? yes yes someone who has had contact with the _ near? yes yes someone who has had contact with the royal _ near? yes yes someone who has had contact with the royal family, - near? yes yes someone who has had contact with the royal family, on - contact with the royal family, on the other hand he is a great activity dress and has great credibility and wants to uphold that. i think perhaps we will see harriet being questioned a bit more differently by tom bradley and anderson cooper.— differently by tom bradley and anderson cooper. differently by tom bradley and anderson cooer. ., ~ , ., , . anderson cooper. thank you very much daniela. sport and for a full round—up, from the bbc sport centre. we start in brazil where mourners are paying their respects to pele, who's lying in state at the football ground of his former club santos. the three time world cup winner died at the age of 82 last week. millions of mourners are expected to descend on the coastal city of santos across 2a hours... these were the first into the stadium... with some having slept outside overnight. as the public files past the coffin which is at the centre of the fooball pitch... guests are gathering for a public wake... they include fifa president gianni infantino... whilst pele's wife...

and 100—year—old mother have also paid their respects along with other family members. a funeral procession will take place through the city's streets ahead of tuesday's burial. martina navratilova says she'll fight with all she's got after being diagnosed with throat and breast cancer, the nine time wimbledon singles champion, who previously had breast cancer in 2010, will start treatment in new york later this month. navratilova, who's 66, says both cancers have been caught at an early stage. she's called it a double whammy which is serious, but fixable, and she's hoping for a favourable outcome. next to scotland where rangers were two minutes away from winning the old firm derby and closing the gap to celtic at the top of the premiership to six points. but a late equaliser at ibrox denied the home side a crucial win, rangers were 2—1 up with 88 minutes on the clock when kyogo furuhashi salvaged a point. it means celtic remain nine points clear of their rivals.

elsewere hearts have strengthened their hold on third place with a 3—0 win over hibs whilst aberdeen were held 0—0 by bottom of the table ross county. dundee united were 1—0 winners at stjohnstone. the nfl playoff picture is becoming clearer with the penultimate week of the league's regular season almost over. two teams clinched a place in the postseason... including the tampa bay buccaneers. tom brady orchestrated yet another fourth quarter comeback... throwing three touchdown passes... all to wide receiver mike evans as the bucs claimed the nfc south division title by beating the carolina panthers. the new york giants are in the playoffs for the first time since 2016... their quarterback danieljones rushed for two of his four touchdowns in their win over the indianapolis colts. while both the pittsburgh steelers and green bay packers are still alive... the packers beating division rivals minnesota for a fourth straight win that takes them one victory from the postseason. pakistan's bowlers hit back in batter—friendly conditions to claim a slight advantage over new zealand at the end of day one

of the second test in karachi. the tourists were 234 for one when devon conway was out for 122... his fourth test hundred. it began a pakistani resurgence... with four more wickets to fall after tea. agha salman with three in the final session. new zealand will resume on tuesday on 309 for six. the two—match series is level, after the first test was drawn. that's all the sport for now. more than 17,000 shops on the uk's high streets closed in 2022, the highest numberforfive years , that's according to the centre for retail research. the study showed that closures were up by almost 50% compared to the previous year as retailers continue to grapple with challenges related to the rising energy prices and the cost of living. i've been speaking with the director of the centre for retail research,

professorjoshua bamfield. i think there are more closures. it is part of a continuing trend that's been going on for ten years because of the growth of online retailing, which has meant there are really too many shops. in addition, some of the items that you mentioned in your programme like higher energy prices, the cost of heating and lighting for retailers have had a big impact because obviously the new modern large shops that one has do use a lot of energy. so these things are very, very important for retailers. but the other thing is that most of the companies that are not very well run have already gone bust. and what we now see is retailers trying to transform their estates. get rid of poorly trading

stores, get rid of duplications in town centres. and at the moment in 2022, and probably in 2023, this is going to be a trend where retailers are cutting back in order to improve their profits. you have identified the long—term trends and short—term trends, but what are your predictions for the coming year in 2023? will it be bad or will it get better? we see 2023 is very much looking like 2022, with about 15,000 — 18,000 shops closing in the uk, and perhaps 150,000 job losses. so this process of rationalisation will continue. i think retailing will be better at the end of 2023 than it is now.

just briefly, christmas is always a big time for retailers. they make so much of their profits in that christmas period. was this christmas, was it good for retailers or was it disappointing? as always, it's a game of two halves. some retailers will be absolutely enthusiastic about it. the postal strikes and the rail strikes have meant that people haven't been able to get to the major cities where they usually go in or spend money in department stores and non—food stores, as well as getting involved in hospitality, staying in hotels and restaurants, and so on. but although some people have done well, i think we will find that christmas shopping in total and the january sales have been down on 2021.

hello there. it was a cold and frosty start for northern parts of the country this morning but today arguably the best day of the week, the winds are lighter, there is more dry weather around, more sunshine, but it is a bit colder. this was the window in between the cloud that we are in today, that was the cloud that gave us the rain overnight tonight but if you look into the atlantic this is what's coming our way once again, more cloud on the way, later tonight and tomorrow, these weather fronts will bring rain our way but also introduce some higher temperatures. milder air on the way tomorrow despite the fact we'll have more cloud and some rain around. ahead of that rain, temperatures will be falling quite quickly during this evening. it's been quite cold through much of the day in scotland and there will be an early frost around tonight, and a few showers coming

in to the far south—east perhaps, and moving away from north—west scotland. ahead of the rain band that comes in from the atlantic and that will fall as snow over higher parts of scotland because here temperatures by the end of the night still close to orjust below freezing and there could be a touch of frost in north—eastern parts of england, otherwise temperatures will have risen elsewhere. we have this band of wet weather initially in the morning, again some more snow over higher ground in scotland moving through. maybe a brief brightening up and sunshine in northern scotland but there is thickening cloud bringing rain more widely again in from the atlantic later in the morning and through the afternoon. and the winds strengthening as well, a windier day than today, particularly windy across wales and south—west of england where we will likely find some heavier bursts of rain over the wind. double temperature figures for most places, bit colder in scotland in northern parts of the country. given how wet it has been across all areas of scotland and with more rain to come during the day and overnight, as much as two inches of rain, there may be some further travel disruption and local flooding across central and western parts of scotland.

that rain quite widely through the evening and overnight, clearing away on wednesday. following on from that it's going to be a case of sunshine and showers. there may not be too much sunshine around. most of it for eastern parts of england. the showers feeding in across these western areas, particularly in the north—west of england and across parts of scotland and northern ireland. the winds in northern areas not quite so strong but again it's quite a brisk wind across many parts of england and wales. here temperatures will be up to around 12—14 degrees, a few degrees lower than that in scotland.

this is bbc news. coming up, we'll have all the headlines and news at the top of the hour. next, year in health review 2022. was 2022 of the year we finally learned to live with covid? at the start of the year, driven by the highly infectious omicron variant, the virus still had us in its clutches.

even as the new year's eve fireworks faded into the night, an estimated one in every 15 people in the uk would have tested positive for covid. it is because of the threat from omicron that i announced on wednesday that we would move to plan b in england. you must wear a face covering in indoor public spaces, and from tomorrow, work from home if you can. faced with a huge number of infections, in early december of 2021, the government had already been forced to introduce what it called its plan b measures — facemasks, compulsory covid passes and working from home. just a few days into the new year, a grim milestone. the uk reached 150,000 covid—related deaths. to picture 150,000 people, it helps to start small. so this is one student, but in a classroom, there might