a christmas miracle. i know families in our neighbourhood that have lost everything. mourners in south africa pay their final respects to archbishop desmond tutu ahead of his funeral on saturday. hello and welcome. countries around the world have been ringing in the new year and this hour we're taking you to the us east coast. this is live in new york where they are celebrating in times square with the famous ball drop. events have again been scaled—back due to the pandemic. this year, the outgoing mayor bill de blasio said the party could go on — but only with around 15,000 people in the square, instead of the usual 60,000, and everybody had to be vaccinated and wear a mask. for decades, tens of thousands of revellers, many of them tourists, have filled the blocks around times square on new year's eve, standing for hours in the cold waiting to see the glittering crystal ball glide down a pole mounted on top of a skyscraper. still a lot of people there, most of them wearing masks, and they appear to be in good spirits. that is live in times square where the ball has just dropped to see in 2022. # new york, new york... so that is in new york in times square. here in the uk, people have seen in the new year around the country. in london, the usual public firework display was moved to various secret locations to avoid crowds turning out. instead, people were encouraged to watch the event on tv. it followed earlier celebrations in asia and europe. louise pilbeam reports. big ben bongs light after another dark year of the pandemic. the uk's new year's eve — a breathtaking fireworks and light show performed to london's quieter streets with millions following advice to stay home and watch on television. again and again, they stream forward, looking for an opening. this looks promising and... cheering celebrating successes in another tough year, like the england football team in the euros. the plans kept under wraps to avoid crowds turning up. many travelled from scotland and wales into england, where there are no restrictions, after those nations�* new year's celebrations were cancelled. sydney's skies lit up first, showing the world how it's done, with the biggest fireworks display on the planet. six tons of fireworks over sydney harbour in front of crowds. three, two, one! asia next to welcome the new year. hong kong's spectacular victoria harbour allowing crowds for the first time since 2018 — the pandemic and social unrest cancelling previous years. china's capital signalled towards 2022 by showing off to the world their 0lympic tower ahead of the winter games in february. bell tolls then came moscow's moment, its pristine red square deserted, closed off to the public amid 0micron concerns. athens�* ancient parthenon has stood through time's other pandemics. the city's restaurant and bars now allowed to open with no standing or music, and a 2am curfew. large, lively crowds in madrid's puerta del sol square — the spanish capital's version of times square — as new york prepares to party. cheering closely packed crowds in goa, western india, squeezed together on the beaches for fireworks and fun. the world ringing in the new year in different ways, but with a united hope for a better year. louisa pilbeam, bbc news. in our other top story, at least 12 people have died and many others have been injured in a stampede at a famous shrine in indian—administered kashmir. local media say that a large number of pilgrims had reached the hindu shrine of mata vaishno devi on the first day of the new year. the holy cave, near the town of katra is among india's most revered pilgrimage sites. let's get more details from the bbc�*s yogita limaye who is watching the latest developments from mumbai. what's the latest you are hearing about this tragedy? we have hearing about this tragedy? - have just had a statement released from the shrine board and they said that the incident occurred at 2:15 in the morning, when a stampede broke out near one of the gates of this shrine. the police are saying that there was some sort of an argument and that's the reason why the stampede broke out. there are eyewitnesses who say that the crowds were not really being managed properly. 0n really being managed properly. on any given day there would be tens of thousands of people trying to visit this shrine. because of the covid situation, since the pandemic started, the numbers have been restricted to about 25,000 people. it is reported that many more people trying to get there because it is new year's day and they were hoping to start a brand—new year with a glimpse at a much revered god and that is why there were so many people there. investigators —— mr gaetjens have been ordered as well as potential compensation. the double boards about 15 people are injured and are in hospital. reports suggest some of those are seriously injured. the prime minister has also twittered his condolences and a minister from twittered his condolences and a ministerfrom his cabinet is going to the location to take stock of the situation. details are still coming _ stock of the situation. details are still coming in _ stock of the situation. details are still coming in in - stock of the situation. details are still coming in in terms i stock of the situation. details are still coming in in terms of the exact number of people have died and been injured. give us some context, if you can, yogita, about the nature of this problem insight in how popular it is. it this problem insight in how penular it is-_ popular it is. it is very revered. _ popular it is. it is very revered, it _ popular it is. it is very revered, it is - popular it is. it is very revered, it is also - popular it is. it is very| revered, it is also very popular because of its location. it is located amidst mountains, so it is cool, it is something a whole family will go together, often as they will go together, often as they will go together, often as they will go to the shrine and offer prayers there and then they will have a little bit of a family vacation. given that we have christmas and new year vacation, school, you will find whole families going there, it's cool, it's in the mountains, the himalayan mountains, the himalayan mountains in indian administered kashmir, so you will really find a lot of people going there for tourism and also to offer prayers at the side. therefore it is an extremely popular destination and a lot of people would be thinking they would want to start a brand—new year by getting a glimpse of the god. you say it's very popular. have you seen a tragedy like this, a certain kind of pilgrimage site like this before, is a very rare or does it happen occasionally? fist rare or does it happen occasionally?- occasionally? at this particular— occasionally? at this particular template i occasionally? at this | particular template is occasionally? at this - particular template is quite a rare occurrence. we haven't really heard of a stampede of this nature at this shrine. despite the fact it is quite popular and attract so many people, the pilgrimage is usually quite well—organised. also one of the reasons why it has been taken so seriously you have people from top levels of government looking into it. as far as stampede is generally at religious events or temples or shrines are concerned in india, yes, we have seen many such occurrences in the past. i have to see in the past two years, though, this has gone down. the biggest one i remember covering is 2016 in the southern state of kerala, when more than 100 people died in a stampede. since then we haven't really had anything that was that large—scale in nature. had anything that was that large-scale in nature. yogita lima e, large-scale in nature. yogita limaye. we _ large-scale in nature. yogita limaye, we will _ large-scale in nature. yogita limaye, we will obviously . large-scale in nature. yogita i limaye, we will obviously bring the viewers was up—to—date on the viewers was up—to—date on the latest statistics on the nature of that story as we get it. for now, thank you. yogita limaye live for us in mumbai. the governor of the us state of colorado has pledged to help residents who've lost everything to rebuild their lives, after sudden wildfires destroyed 1,000 homes. tens of thousands of people were evacuated as the fires tore through suburban areas of boulder county on thursday. gary 0'donoghue has this report. winds of more than 100 mph drove the flames across more than 1600 acres of suburban colorado, which would normally have snow on the ground at this time of year. the fires spread quickly through homes and businesses, leading to the evacuation of tens of thousands of people. the emergency services did their best but the sheer speed of the fire took everyone by surprise. coming down this road, the ditches and things and the trees, they're all up in flames. like, there's embers everywhere. packed myself, my cat and just keep our fingers crossed. local officials declared a state of emergency, unlocking federal funds to help fight the blaze, and the governor spoke to president biden. this was a disaster in fast motion, all over the course of half a day, nearly all the damage. many families having minutes — minutes to get whatever they could — their pets, their kids — into the car and leave. the last 2a hours have been devastating. remarkably, no—one died in the fires, and as dawn broke on friday, winds had significantly dropped and a forecast of snow should reduce the chances of any flare—ups, leaving the thousands of families to count the cost of the handful of hours that have devastated their lives. gary 0'donoghue, bbc news. thousands of residents outside denver had to evacuate their homes. earlier i spoke to one of them, jen gardner, who had to leave her house in louisville and doesn't know if it is still standing. we just moved home a few months ago from england and we were just getting our life back together and we had a child from across the street playing at our house and i saw what looked to be a storm roll in and i called the kids over, thinking i would teach them some science, and we stepped outside and i realised it was smoke. i grabbed — i run inside and i asked them to put on shoes and jackets, they grabbed their stuff, we ran back outside in our socks to our other neighbours across the street to kind of get together with her grandmother and decide what to do next. both of us were really calm. we heard it was at the bike trails six miles away — i cried because i love those trails — and we went back inside and ifinished lunch. and i looked outside again and the wind was blowing really hard and the cat was freaking out and that was kind when i started filming. we grabbed the cat. my husband was coming down the mountain from the ski hill and he happened to be right at 36 and foothills and see the entire scene and texted it to me and he said "i need you to start packing bags". i thought "there is no way it is going tojump a highway. "it is a 6—lane highway. "there's thousands of families." and by the time — 20 minutes, he got home, and i was slowly packing because i really didn't think this was happening, and then we were in the car and it was — and i was worried about my neighbour, because she was so calm and she left so slowly. and then there was fire, we could see flames, we could see embers and smoke, we could hear over the police radio that cars were on fire and we drove on the wrong side of the road to get out of louisville, to get through to lafayette, to get back up to the highway and out of town. there was never a warning system, there was never a phone call. by the time — the only phone call i received was from the energy company, telling us they turned off the natural gas — and that was at ten o'clock last night. we went to a hotel in — near denver with my family. i had to get far away. and now, we're back at my girlfriend's house while their family's in mexico, because we're still all on winter break. i don't know what we're doing next week. i don't know if our house is personally affected. i know our neighbours across the street are ok. what i want everyone to take away is that we had to make these decisions alone. i love my community. i think our school has been really on top of it, sheriff pelle has been really on top of it. i need a warning system, i need to know where to go, i need a phone call, i need a facebook page. all of these things i'm searching for in this panicked moment, thinking, "i'm college—educated. "we have systems in place." and there was nothing — there was nothing there. for20, 30, a0 minutes, people are driving crazy and i was worried that we were going to get into an accident getting out of town, and thousands of families just mobilised without any warning and we all got safely out of town. and that's — that's a christmas miracle. i know families in our neighbourhood that have lost everything. jen, it sounds like you have been through a lot — it sounds really traumatic and sounds like something out of a movie, what you're talking about. and i guess you are hoping that local authorities to mobilise better in the future for things like this when it happens in the future, because obviously colorado and wildfires in december aren't too uncommon and you would expect maybe there would be a process in place for when that happens? yes! we can do this! this — we can do this better! and we need to be bearing powerlines and we need to accept that climate change is real and we need to change and we need to stop flying all over the place and start recycling. i don't need to get on a soapbox, but we need to wake up because these fires are getting closer and closer to our communities and families have lost everything in the blink of an eye and nobody needs to go through that. so, if anything can come from this, let it be the change, and let it be support. i know everyone is asking us right now what we need and, you know, clothes and food — it has just snowed like a foot. nobody is thinking clearly enough to make amazon wish lists or to think what comes next, other than food, housing for the next week. and now, thousands of families are going to be fighting for a rental in a very tight rental market against covid. so, please, keep praying and follow the links and we will organise the money later, honestly. jen gardner. in the united states, prince andrew's legal team has failed in its legal bid to stop proceedings in a civil sex abuse case. virginia giuffre, who now lives in australia, has accused prince andrew of sexually assaulting her when she was a teenager at the homes of jeffrey epstein and ghislaine maxwell. prince andrew's lawyers argued that virginia giuffre is not a us resident and that her civil legal action should be halted. prince andrew has consistently denied her allegations. in south africa, thousands of people have waited in line to pay their final respects to the late archbishop desmond tutu, whose body was lying in state for a second day, ahead of the state funeral later on saturday. the archbishop, who played a leading role in the battle against racial segregation and the apartheid regime, died on sunday at the age of 90. 0ur south africa correspondent nomsa maseko reports from cape town. the clergy, anglican churchwardens and a marching band lining the streets as a guard of honour for archbishop desmond tutu. the outspoken priest who became one of the world's great moral voices lying in state for a second day in a plain, pinewood coffin, in accordance with his wishes. thousands of people have been flocking to st george's cathedral to pay their last respects. one man hitch—hiked for more than 1,000 kilometres just for this moment. it's a memory that i will live for for the rest of my life and ijust hope, as he said, in his words — he said, "south africa, you must be careful. "if you don't live according to that values, you might bite the dust." archbishop tutu campaigned against white minority rule and worked hard to unite a deeply divided nation. laughs. �*the arch,�* as he was known fondly, was also a family man. my parents�* relationship was strong and loving. they talked about loving each other. they talked about — you know, "oh, ithink you're so handsome, you're so beautiful, you're so gorgeous, you smell delicious" — no, he didn't say "delicious", he'd say, "0oh, you smell expensive!" the globally revered anti—apartheid icon�*s send—off will be held at the cathedral he called home for many years, to the sounds and hymns he chose ahead of his funeral. nomsa maseko, bbc news. and we'll bring you desmond's tutu funeral in a special programme here on bbc world news and the bbc news channel. coverage starts on saturday at 7:45 gmt, from st george's cathedral in cape town. official figures suggest that nearly 2.3 million people in the uk had covid in the week before christmas — the highest level of infections since the data was first compiled last year. it's translating into greater pressure on britain's national heath service. more than 25,000 healthcare workers are themselves off sick or isolating each day. our health correspondent katharine da costa reports. most nhs staff will be glad to see the back of 2021. nearly two years into this pandemic, many are exhausted. a spike in covid cases is driving a rise in staff sickness. in england, london is worst affected, with about 4% of staff in acute trusts absent for covid—related reasons in the week before christmas — up nearly 60% on the week before. many feel it is impacting on patient care. the staff that are at work will be caring for more patients, trying to do more to cover for their missing colleagues, working extra hours, starting early, finishing late. the pressure will be immense. in the latest infection survey from the 0ns, infections increased across the uk to their highest level on record in the week to christmas eve. in england, one in 25 had the virus. in scotland, wales, and northern ireland, it was one in a0. infections doubled in a week in london. one in 15 would test positive. but there were big rises, too, in the north—west, yorkshire and the humber and west midlands, and other regions weren't far behind. and it is now the dominant variant. statisticians say infections are twice the level they were this time last winter in england because they're being fuelled by the more infectious 0micron variant. so across all age groups, we are seeing increases, but particularly driven by those young age groups. we've seen increases among school—age children fairly recently, particularly those sort of from nursery through to primary, but we are now seeing infections among older age groups as well, so they're young adults from the mid—20s to the mid—30s, but spreading right the way up to increases now in the over 70s, although they do remain the lowest group to be infected. there is some more encouraging news on boosters. new uk data suggests a booster shot is 88% effective at preventing people ending up in hospital due to 0micron and, after a huge push, all uk nations say they've hit the target of offering all adults a third dose by the end of the year. i would just say to people, again, there's 1.5 million slots out there over the next few days. there's plenty of opportunity. there's mobile vaccination units, there's gps vaccinating, there's all sorts of ways to get vaccinated and just please come forward and help yourself, but also help reduce that burden on the nhs. and now this — a second antiviral pill has been approved by the uk regulator. in trials, pfizer's paxlovid drug offered nearly 90% protection from severe illness and death among vulnerable adults. there is a glimmer of hope for the new year. vaccines and new treatments should help protect the most at risk from serious illness. but there are huge uncertainties. if there is a sharp rise in hospital admissions, health leaders say ministers will have to act fast. katharine da costa, bbc news. the legendary american actor and comedian betty white has died at the age of 99. her career spanned nine decades — from the earliest days of television to the latest toy story film just two years ago. she will probably be best remembered for her portrayal of rose nylund in the sitcom the golden girls, as gail maclellan reports. rose, is this another one of those scandinavian viking concoctions? yes. it's called geneukenfleuken. betty white's performance as the ditzy rose earned her an emmy and the hearts of generations of fans. the golden girls, which ran from 1985 to 1992 — a top—rated series of its time — featured an age demographic rarely highlighted on television. betty white was the last surviving member. now she, too, is gone, just days before her 100th birthday. she began her entertainment career in radio and by the late 1930s had made her television debut, appearing in variety shows and in a sitcom, life with elizabeth, which she also produced. she reached a new level of success on the mary tyler moore show, where she played the role of sue ann nivens and won two emmys. as she said, she never stopped working. i've been working in this wonderful business for 63 years now and i am so lucky to be as busy as i am. but it — as long as it keeps coming — i am always worried about overexposure, so i'll say no when they stop asking me. so if you want me to retire, stop asking. but she gained a new audience with a popular role in the sandra bullock film the proposal. her co—star ryan reynolds, who called her "his ex—girlfriend," reacted to news of her death. oprah winfrey added her appreciation. you know, the only thing that hurts me — why did they wait to do this until i was 90? laughter. i mean, a few decades ago would've been swell. honey, snap out of it. 0k, she's just beautiful. said to be one of the nicest women in show business, she was honoured with seven emmys, one of them a lifetime achievement award in 2015, and was still making films into her late 90s. betty white died just 17 days short of her 100th birthday. the legendary american actor and comedian betty white, who has died at the age of 99. the north korean leader has spoken at a meeting of the ruling party. mr kim said increasing development and improving people's living standards was the main task. north korea has been struggling with food shortages, in part caused by a self—imposed coronavirus blockade. that's just about it from us. thank you for watching. stay tuned. hello. you're not imagining it, it is exceptionally mild at the moment, and we will continue to remain in very mild air for the first few days of the new year. notjust the uk, though, but many of our european neighbours have seen record temperatures for new year's eve — certainly, records fell in parts of poland, austria, germany and the netherlands. and for new year's day, once again, we could see records being rivalled or toppled — for the day, that is. this cold front will push across the uk through new year's day. quite a skinny little weather front, not much temperature contrast across it, and because it is such a narrow band of rain, actually, it won't stick around in many areas for very long, so perhaps an hour or so of rain working its way from west to east across england and wales. these showers for western scotland and northern ireland perhaps more persistent affairs but look at the temperatures again. quite a lot of sunshine through the day and widely highs in the mid teens. squally showers for the south—east of england through saturday evening, into the small hours of sunday. some heavier showers sweeping in from the west of wales and the midlands. a very mild night again. these are the temperatures more typical of daytime for this time of year, even perhaps slightly above. sunday saw wetter weather again on the cards for england and wales and some blustery winds. we could see some intense showers working their way through. i think the driest and brightest weather for sunday will be for scotland and northern ireland. and then on monday, we fall into a bit of a pincer movement in terms of our weather across the uk. we will see this weather front to the south trying to push some rain in, this area of low pressure to the north trying to turn things increasingly unsettled. between the two, some breezy conditions but i think the best of any sunny spells for perhaps the midlands, northern england but to the very south and the very north of the uk, there could be some heavier, more persistent rain. a little cooler as well on monday but temperatures still slightly above average for the time of year. however, for tuesday, it looks like we are going to flip round and pick up a northerly wind, and that will bring about a very dramatic change in the way things feel because we'll also have to add on the effect of the wind chill. but temperatures in edinburgh just four degrees on tuesday, down to eight in london, so some big contrasts in our weather to come in the days ahead. this is bbc news. the headlines: at least 12 people have died in a stampede at a shrine in indian—administered kashmir. a large number of pilgrims had reportedly reached the hindu shrine of mata vaishno devi on the first day of the new year. the holy cave, near the town of katra, is among india's most revered pilgrimage sites. in the us, heavy snowfall in colorado has helped firefighters douse a wildfire that destroyed around 600 homes. president biden�*s approved specialfunding for those affected in the state after entire neighbourhoods in two towns near denver were engulfed. residents have criticised authorities warning systems and evacuation efforts. the world welcomes a new year. there've been celebrations in new york's time square to mark the arrival of 2022 on the us east coast. it followed a fireworks display over rio's copacabana beach marking the beginning of the year in brazil and a light show in the skies above london.