hello and welcome to bbc news. cities around the world have been welcoming in 2023 with the latest new year celebrations taking place across the united states, canada, the caribbean and latin america. this is rio dejaneiro in brazil crowds gathered on its copacabana beach watching the spectacular fireworks display there. this year is in contrast to the previous two, when celebrations were scaled back because of the pandemic. the bbc s louisa pilbeam looks back on how the world has been seeing in the new year. crowd: 5, 4, 3, 2,1. big ben bongs. times have changed and with covid restrictions lifted in most parts of the world, fireworks lit up skies with crowds able to watch below. in london, 100,000 people on the banks of the thames and a moment of royal reflection. i declare before you all, that my whole life, whether it be long or short, shall be devoted to your service. people came from around the globe, happy to watch the tradition in person again. amazing, i have goos
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. extraordinar
celebrations have taken place around the world to herald the start of 2023. we start in brazil, where crowds of people are gathering in the capital, brasilia, ahead of the inauguration of luiz inacio lula da silva as president. the veteran left wing politician, known widely as lula, also led the country between 2003 and 2010, and defeated jair bolsonaro in 0ctober s poll. there is tight security for sunday s ceremony, amid fears that bolsonaro supporters may try to disrupt it. in the last few minutes, it s been reported a man has been arrested trying to enter the inauguration with explosives and a knife. we are monitoring that for you. 0ur south america correspondent katy watson is outside the inauguration venue in brasilia. around 300,000 people are expected to turn up to this inauguration. there s a concert that is being put on, it has already started. that concert will stop for the official ceremony to begin and will continue later in the night. but certainly, you know, hu
on large scale protests. and nearly a year into russia s war with ukraine, we hear the story of a troupe of displaced ukrainian dancers unable to return home after fleeing the country. brazil s new president, the veteran left wing politician, luiz inacio lula da silva has vowed to make his country a great environmental power . he was speaking at his inauguration ceremony in the capital, brasilia. large crowds gathered on the streets to watch lula s cavalcade travel to the event which followed a narrow election victory in october over the far right leader, jair bolsonaro. mr bolsonaro who refused to accept defeat, boycotted the inauguration and is in florida. this is the scene live in the capital brasilia. this is someone speaking at the moment this is someone speaking at the moment and there is the new president of brazil lula as he is more president of brazil lula as he is more commonly referred to, who won that very more commonly referred to, who won that very very tig
right now, he is receiving dignitaries from various people coming to the end of the day of ceremony. we ve seen him out and about travelling on a very impressive motorcade, and the actual inauguration process itself, and that sash you can see there, the green and yellow sash has a lot of significance which we will come to in a moment. this is something that has been controversially seen. this is the moment he formally received it from a faneuil of people up on stage there a panel. traditionally, the sash is given by the outgoing president, but this time, things were different. jair bolsonaro was not present at the ceremony he s currently in florida in the us. he refused to take part. a big significant breakfrom he refused to take part. a big significant break from tradition on that. we have been hearing from lula about what his priorities are. translation: 0ur translation: our goal is to achieve zero deforestation and a zero greenhouse gas emissions in the energy masks.