World

VATICAN CITY — Thousands of Catholics paid their respects on Monday to former Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican, at the start of three days of lying-in-state at St Peter's Basilica before his funeral.

They began queueing before dawn to view the German theologian's body, which was transferred early Monday from the monastery in the Vatican grounds where he died Saturday aged 95.

"I arrived at 6:00 am, it seemed normal to come and pay homage to him after all he did for the church," said an Italian nun, sister Anna-Maria, near the front of the queue that snaked around the edge of the vast St Peter's Square.

Benedict led the Catholic Church for eight years before becoming the first Pope in six centuries to step down in 2013, citing his declining and physical health.

His successor Pope Francis will lead the funeral on Thursday in St Peter's Square before his remains are placed in the tombs beneath the basilica.

Benedict's body was laid out Monday on a catafalque draped in gold fabric in front of the altar of the church, flanked by two Swiss Guards.

Many of those filing past took pictures on their smartphones of the body, which was dressed in red papal mourning robes with a gold-edged mitre on his head, while some prayed or made the sign of the cross.

"The atmosphere is very intimate," Francesca Gabrielli, a pilgrim from Tuscany in central Italy, told AFP inside the basilica.

She said Benedict was "a great Pope, profound, unique".

Benedict died at the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery, which had been his home for the past decade, his last words in the early hours of Saturday said by the Vatican to have been "Lord, I love you!"

His body will lie in state for three days, with members of the public allowed in during the day, before a funeral on Thursday that will break new ground.

Benedict's shock resignation created the extraordinary situation of having two "men in white" — him and Francis — at the Vatican.

Papal deaths usually trigger the calling of a conclave of cardinals to elect a successor, but this time Francis remains in post, and will lead proceedings.

The Vatican has yet to release details of the guest list, beyond saying that it will include delegations from Italy and Benedict's native Germany.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who at the weekend joined world leaders from Joe Biden to Vladimir Putin in paying tribute to Benedict, was among the first to visit his body on Monday morning.

She was greeted by Archbishop Georg Gaenswein, Benedict’s long-time aide.

‘Faithful servant’ 

The last papal funeral, of John Paul II in 2005, drew a million faithful and heads of state from around the world, although Benedict was a more divisive figure.

A brilliant theologian, he alienated many Catholics with his staunch defence of traditional values and as pope struggled to impose his authority on the church as it battled a string of crises, including over clerical sex abuse.

His successor cuts a very different figure, an Argentine Jesuit who is most at home among his flock and has sought to forge a more compassionate church.

Pope Francis paid tribute to Benedict in three New Year’s events at the Vatican over the weekend, “thanking God for the gift of this faithful servant of the Gospel and of the Church”.

Francis, 86, has raised the prospect that he might follow Benedict’s example and step down if he became unable to carry out his duties.

In July, suffering knee problems that have forced him to rely on a wheelchair, he admitted he needed to slow down or think about stepping aside.

Last month, Francis revealed he had signed a resignation letter when he took office should poor health prevent him from carrying out his duties.

SEOUL — North Korea fired three short-range ballistic missiles on Saturday, Seoul's military said, adding a final salvo to Pyongyang's record-breaking blitz of launches this year.

Military tensions on the Korean Peninsula have risen sharply in 2022 as the North has conducted sanctions-busting weapons tests nearly every month, including firing its most advanced intercontinental ballistic missile ever.

Saturday's launch comes a day after South Korea successfully tested a solid-fuel space launch vehicle, and follows the incursion of five North Korean drones into the South's airspace earlier in the week.

South Korea's military said it had detected "three short-range ballistic missiles launched by North Korea into the East Sea from the area of Chunghwa County, North Hwanghae Province, at around 08:00 (23:00 GMT)", referring to the body of water also known as the Sea of Japan.

The missiles flew about 350 kilometres  before splashing down, it added.

"Our military maintains a full readiness posture while closely cooperating with the US and strengthening surveillance and vigilance," the Joint Chiefs of Staff said.

Monday's North Korean drone incursion was the first such incident in five years and prompted an apology from Seoul's defence minister after the military failed to shoot down a single drone despite scrambling jets for a five-hour operation.

South Korean president Yoon Suk-yeol called the incident "intolerable" and added that the South should ensure that Pyongyang realised that "provocations are always met with harsh consequences".

Seoul's military staged drills on Thursday that the country's top brass said would improve its defences against any future drone provocations.

And on Friday, South Korea successfully tested a new space launch vehicle as part of its drive to strengthen space-based reconnaissance and surveillance capabilities, the defence ministry said.

Pyongyang earlier this month said it conducted an "important final-stage" test for the development of a reconnaissance satellite, claiming it had developed advanced technologies to take images from space.

“The purpose of North Korea’s missile launch today is to respond to Seoul’s solid-fuelled space launch vehicle. Pyongyang seems to be thinking of this as a competition,” Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, told AFP.

Party meeting 

North Korea is currently holding a major party meeting in Pyongyang at which Kim and other senior party officials are outlining their policy goals for 2023 in key areas including diplomacy, security and the economy.

Earlier this year, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said he wanted his country to have the world’s most powerful nuclear force and declared the North an “irreversible” nuclear state.

On Wednesday, Kim set out “new key goals” for the country’s military, state media reported, without giving any specifics.

North Korea’s end-of-year plenary meetings are typically used by the regime to unveil the country’s domestic and foreign policy priorities for the year ahead.

Full details of the current session are expected to be announced after it concludes.

While Kim focused on the economy at the 2021 plenary, analysts are widely expecting a shift in tone this year to highlight the military front in light of the recent blitz of missile launches.

In past years, Kim had delivered a speech every January 1, but he recently dropped the tradition in favour of making announcements at the year-end plenary meeting.

The Saturday launch could be seen as “a gift from Kim Jong-un to the people, marking the end of the year with record-breaking missile launches, while congratulating the Workers’ Party of Korea’s plenary meeting”, North Korean studies scholar Ahn Chan-il told AFP.

“Kim is trying to send a message that the people should feel safe, as their country is clearly a military power, although it may be suffering economically.”

The United States and South Korea have warned for months that Pyongyang is preparing to conduct its seventh nuclear test.

North Korea is under multiple UN Security Council sanctions over its nuclear and missile activity since 2006.

MOSCOW — President Vladimir Putin said in his New Year’s address on Saturday that “moral, historical rightness” is on Russia’s side as his country faces international condemnation for its offensive in Ukraine.

As Russian regions in the Far East rung in the New Year, the Russian leader delivered his traditional midnight address standing among soldiers who fought in Ukraine, according to Russian news agencies.

Putin said in remarks carried by news agencies that this year was marked by “truly pivotal, fateful events” which became “the frontier that lays the foundation for our common future, for our true independence”.

“Today we are fighting for this, protecting our people in our own historical territories, in the new constituent entities of the Russian Federation,” he added, referring to Ukrainian regions that Russia claimed to have annexed.

“Moral, historical rightness is on our side,” he said.

The Russian leader also said that “a real sanctions war was declared on us” after the world’s top democracies slapped Moscow with a barrage of sanctions in response to military action in Ukraine.

“Those who started it expected the total destruction of our industry, finances, transport. That didn’t happen,” he added.

According to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, Putin delivered his New Year’s speech from the headquarters of Russia’s southern military district, where he was on a visit earlier on Saturday and presented awards to servicemen.

Among the recipients of the awards was Russia’s commander in Ukraine, General Sergei Surovikin, Russian news agencies said.

Footage shown on Russian state TV showed Putin raising a glass of champagne with soldiers — both men and women — dressed in military uniform.

“Russia was driven to the point of either surrendering everything or fighting. A long as we have people like you... of course nothing can be given up,” Putin told them.

SEOUL — Six people have been killed after a bus and truck crash caused a huge fire at an expressway tunnel on the outskirts of Seoul, the local fire department told AFP.

Images of the scene in local media showed huge flames and plumes of smoke rising from the tunnel, as hundreds of firefighters battled to bring the blaze 

under control.

The fire started when a bus collided with a truck at around 1:50 pm (04:50 GMT) in the expressway tunnel in Gwacheon, an official at the Gwacheon fire department told AFP.

The raised tunnel, which is designed to protect surrounding buildings from the noise of the road, was quickly engulfed in flames, images in local media showed.

Firefighters have brought the blaze under control, the official said.

"We are doing a search inside the tunnel in case of additional casualties," the official added.

Around 20 people are being treated for smoke inhalation, he added.

Interior Minister Lee Sang-min called for “maximum resources deployed” to save lives, the Yonhap News Agency reported.

“I urge the authorities to put out the best efforts to save the lives of those who have not escaped,” he said.

The fatal accident comes just months after 150 people, mostly young women, were killed in a Halloween crowd crush in the Itaewon nightlife district.

South Korea’s rapid transformation from a war-torn, impoverished backwater to Asia’s fourth-largest economy and a flourishing democracy is a source of great national pride.

But a series of preventable disasters — including Itaewon, and the Sewol ferry sinking which killed more than 300 people in 2014 — has shaken public confidence.

Many South Koreans have questioned whether safety standards were sidelined and regulations ignored in the rush for development, with the long toll of accidents leaving a legacy of bitterness and mistrust.

TRÊS CORAÇOES, Brazil — The deteriorating health of sports legend Pele has rekindled curiosity about the quiet town of Tres Coracoes in southeastern Brazil, where the football prodigy was born 82 years ago.

Fans seeking rare mementos of the Brazilian star are scouring the town of 75,000 inhabitants where Pele was born to a poor family and spent the first years of his life.

A month ago, Pele was admitted to Albert Einstein Hospital in Sao Paulo, where he had been undergoing treatment for colon cancer since late 2021.

Eight days ago, the hospital announced Pele's cancer was showing "progression" and he needed "more extensive care to treat kidney and heart failure".

Tres Coracoes, which means "three hearts" in Portuguese, is located some 250 kilometres from Brazil's three major metropolises: Belo Horizonte, Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.

The small town is surrounded by coffee plantations and is famous for just one thing: the birth, in 1940, of Edson Arantes do Nascimento, known as Pele.

Pele moved away from Tres Coracoes at a young age before joining his longtime club, Santos FC, as a teenager.

Santos, a port city near Sao Paulo, now hosts the Pele Museum, where most of his trophies and other memorabilia are displayed.

The football star's declining health has drawn fans to the museum and to Tres Coracoes, where they can visit Pele House — a replica of his first home.

"I had never been to this house, which is already ten years old," said Neilor Henrique, who lives nearby.

"But the news of his hospitalisation made me want to visit it," the 41-year-old told AFP.

Built based on the memories of Pele's mother, Celeste Arantes do Nascimento, now 100 years old, the house shows the family's modest origins, with a few pieces of wooden furniture, straw mattresses, an old radio and a framed portrait of his parents on one wall.

Immense statue 

A few metres away, the small museum Terra do Rei (Land of the King) exhibits Santos jerseys signed by Pele, a football he played with and his birth certificate.

But some fans say they wished Tres Coracoes had more mementos of the man dubbed "The King".

Rafael Antunes took a detour during a family trip to visit the town in search of Pele souvenirs.

"I found few traces of him in the town, almost none," said the 43-year-old entrepreneur, unimpressed by the huge statue of Pele that stands at the entrance to the town.

"I think it shows a certain lack of respect for the role he played for football and our country," he said of the only player to ever win the World Cup three times.

But Fernando Ortiz, a family friend, has a different reasoning for why there aren't more monuments to Pele.

"Many Brazilians can't stand to see their compatriots succeed. And when it's a black Brazilian, the dismissal is even stronger," said the 60-year-old, who spearheaded the construction of Pele House.

"Unfortunately, I think that if Pele had been a white man with light eyes, he would have been accepted by everyone."

KYIV — France's defence minister visited Ukraine on Wednesday to discuss ramping up French military support for the war effort against Russia, including ground-to-air defence from Russian missile attacks.

France has already provided weaponry like the Caesar howitzer artillery system and created a fund of 200 million euros (around $210 million) for Ukraine to buy equipment directly from French manufacturers.

French Defence Minister Sebastien Lecornu told reporters on Wednesday that France would help with maintenance of weapons already allocated and that the fund could be used to purchase more arms like Mistral missiles to guard against drone strikes.

"France has chosen several ways to help Ukraine," Lecornu said during his first visit to the country since President Vladimir Putin invaded in February.

"The maintenance of what has already been given to Ukraine is just as important as the new equipment."

His meetings on Wednesday with his Ukrainian counterpart, Oleksiy Reznikov, and President Volodymyr Zelensky covered "the needs of the Ukrainian army for the weeks to come", he said.

Russian strikes on Ukraine's infrastructure have in recent weeks resulted in blackouts affecting millions.

Reznikov said Ukraine's top priority was aerial defence and officials were also keen to acquire more artillery systems and munitions.

Earlier on Wednesday, Lecornu laid a wreath at a memorial in Kyiv for fighters killed in combat since 2014.