World

Thousands of football fans are saying a final farewell to Brazil football hero Pele at the home of his former club Santos. The coffin of the three-time World Cup winner was carried to the centre circle of the Brazilian’s club’s Vila Belmiro stadium where he will lie in state for 24 hours. The sporting icon,

Two helicopters have collided near a marine theme park in the Australian state of Queensland, killing four people and leaving three others critically injured. The mid-air collision, just outside Sea World on the Gold Coast, happened at around 2pm local time when the park would have been busy with families enjoying the summer school holidays.

Brazil officially has a new but familiar president as Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was sworn in for the third time. The leftist politician, known as Lula, had held Brazil’s highest office between 2003 and 2010 after three attempts to get the top job. Now aged 77, he entered office having defeated far-right candidate Jair

Pope Francis has prayed for his predecessor Benedict XVI at a special New Year’s Day Mass. At the service in St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican, the pontiff prayed aloud for Benedict and implored the Virgin Mary to “accompany him in his passage to the hands” of God. It comes after the Pope Emeritus, as

Volodymyr Zelenskyy has denounced strikes on Ukraine and accused Vladimir Putin of hiding, as explosions rocked locations across the country on the final day of the year. People throughout Ukraine were urged to take cover on New Year’s Eve amid what Ukrainian officials said was a barrage of Russian missiles. One person has been killed

Former pope Benedict XVI, who became the first pontiff to resign in some 600 years, has died aged 95. Pope Francis, who replaced him as head of the Catholic Church, had asked the faithful to pray for him at the end of his general audience on Wednesday morning. The Vatican said Benedict’s body will lie

People arriving in England from mainland China will have to provide a negative COVID test before flying, the government has said. A growing list of countries, including the US, have announced similar rules in recent days. The Department of Health and Social Care said the “precautionary and temporary” measure would take effect from 5 January.

Brazil has entered three days of mourning following the death of football superstar Pele. The 82-year-old – the only man to win the World Cup three times as a player – died on Thursday after a long battle with cancer. A 24-hour wake will be held on Monday in the centre of the field at

At least 16 people are dead and dozens injured in a fire at a casino and hotel in western Cambodia. The blaze at the Grand Diamond City Casino in the city of Poipet, started at about midnight on Wednesday, the General Commissariat of National Police said. Just after 4am UK time (11am local time), police

Brazilian football star Pele has died at the age of 82, his agent has confirmed. The former Santos FC star, widely regarded as one of the greatest footballers of all time, had been at the Albert Einstein Israelite Hospital in Sao Paulo since 29 November. A medical report just before Christmas showed that he needed

More than half of passengers on a flight from China to Italy have tested positive for COVID-19 – as China prepares to open up its borders despite a huge surge in infections. Two flights into Milan were among the first to see passengers subjected to new mandatory testing imposed on Chinese travellers. Guido Bertolaso, Lombardy

Two teenage boys have been charged with the murder of a British mother-of-two who was killed while defending her home in Australia on Boxing Day. The 17-year-olds have appeared in court charged with the murder of Emma Lovell, 41, and the attempted murder of her husband Lee Lovell, 43. The couple, originally from Ipswich, Suffolk,

A Rohingya mother and her five-year-old daughter have been found among 200 people rescued in Indonesia after being adrift on a boat for almost a month. Mohammed Rezuwan Khan, a Rohingya refugee living in a camp in Bangladesh, told Sky News his sister Hatemonnesa and his niece Umme Salima were rescued by Indonesian authorities on

A record-breaking Iranian footballer who criticised the authorities’ crackdown on anti-regime protesters has said his family were prevented from leaving the country. Ali Daei, who scored 109 international goals for Iran, the most for any country before Cristiano Ronaldo broke his record, said his wife and daughter were questioned by officials after a flight they

South Korea says it has scrambled fighter jets and attack helicopters, firing warning shots, after North Korean drones “violated” its airspace. The country’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, a group of chiefs from each major branch of the armed services, said several unmanned North Korean drones crossed the border and were detected in the South’s territory

Rescue workers are searching for two people feared buried by an enormous avalanche in western Austria, local media has reported. Initially up to 10 people were feared missing, based on video from a witness. But eight of those individuals have since been identified and are alive, according to the dpa news agency, citing a spokesman