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International Legend Pele Dies at 82; Ukraine: Missile Barrage One of Russia's Largest Attacks Yet; Israeli PM Sworn into Record Sixth Term; Italy Wants European Union to Test China Travelers; British Designer Vivienne Westwood Dead at Age 81; Crews Searching for More Victims after Deadly Fire; Top 10 Climate Stories of 2022. Aired 12-1a ET
Aired December 30, 2022 - 00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm Michael Holmes. Appreciate your company.
[00:00:30]
Coming up here on CNN NEWSROOM, one of Russia's largest strikes. Dozens of missiles launched into Ukraine, knocking out power days before the new year.
Benjamin Netanyahu is back, sparking protests against what's likely to be Israel's most right-wing government ever.
And honoring the king of football. The sports world pauses to remember soccer legend Pele.
ANNOUNCER: Live from CNN Center, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Michael Holmes.
HOLMES: Welcome, everyone.
Three days of national mourning now underway in Brazil after the death of global football legend Pele, one of the greatest to ever play the game and one of the most famous athletes of all time.
The Brazilian president says he, quote, "transformed football into art and joy and took the name of Brazil to the world."
The country's famous Christ the Redeemer statue lit up in Pele's honor.
Now fans have been gathering outside the Santos Stadium in Sao Paulo state. That's where Pele got his playing start. And it's where his wake will be held, starting on Monday.
His coffin will be placed at center pitch. And then on Tuesday, a funeral procession will carry it through the streets of Santos.
Pele had been hospitalized for a month before dying from multiple organ failure caused by the progression of his colon cancer. His daughter posted this photograph with the caption, quote, "Everything we are is thanks to you. We love you endlessly. Rest in peace."
CNN WORLD SPORT's Don Riddell takes a look back at Pele's rise to fame, as well as his extraordinary accomplishments off the pitch.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DON RIDDELL, CNN WORLD SPORT CORRESPONDENT/ANCHOR (voice-over): When the world knows you by just one name, you have truly succeeded. Pele is regarded by many as the greatest footballer of all time. His humble demeanor and generous spirit have guaranteed his legacy as a global icon.
PELE, INTERNATIONAL SOCCER STAR: This is a big responsibility, you know? I feel very comfortable, because something I cannot answer was why God gave me this, you know, this gift. This was a gift from God. And I tried to be my best and to respect people. I tried to prepare myself by to be always in good shape, you know. The most important, respect the people.
RIDDELL (voice-over): Raised in the slums of Sao Paulo in the 1940s, Edson Arantes de Nascimento discovered football at a young age. He made his debut for Santos at the age of just 16. And within a year, he was scoring goals for the Brazilian national team.
By this time, he was better known by his nickname, Pele. And in 1958, at 17, he became the youngest man to play in a World Cup final, scoring twice as Brazil beat Sweden. It was the first of three world titles he'd help win for his country.
He electrified audiences with his fancy footwork and ability to score seemingly impossible goals. So it was something of a disappointment that his 1000th goal was a penalty.
PELE: A friend of mine is a comic guy in Brazil. He said, Listen, God stopped the game, because everyone has to see your 1,000th goal. That's the reason it was the penalty kick.
RIDDELL (voice-over): After his goal, the game against Vasco da Gama was stopped for several months to celebrate his landmark achievement.
In 1967, Pele learned that he and his team had the power to stop other things, too, when their visit to Nigeria prompted warring factions to call a 48-hour cease-fire in the country's civil war.
PELE: We stopped war, because the people were so crazy for football. They love football. They stopped the war to see some display in Africa. This is a fantastic. You know, something you cannot explain.
RIDDELL (voice-over): By the time Pele retired as a footballer in 1977, playing his final years for the Cosmos in New York, he'd amassed a career total of 1,281 goals.
[00:05:02]
For Pele, that was half a lifetime ago. But his infectious love of the game ensured that he remained relevant. He served as a U.N. ambassador for ecology and the environment. He rubbed shoulders with the state leaders all over the world. And he received an honorary knighthood from Queen Elizabeth in 1997.
Who could forget his appearance in the cult movie "Escape to Victory"?
PELE: I have to get me ball here. I do this, this, this, this, this, this, this. Goal. Easy.
RIDDELL (voice-over): When he starred alongside Michael Cain and Sylvester Stallone, playing a prisoner of war who scored a spectacular morale-boosting goal in a game against the Germans.
PELE: I think first of all, it's a gift from God. Second of all, I think it was a lot of work. I had to work and train. And I have to say thanks to God. Because my father was a football player, was the center forward. And then my father was a very, you know, perfectionist. Then everything I used to do, I tried to do, he would say, listen, you know, you must do it better than that.
RIDDELL (voice-over): He's always been a global icon, but in his native Brazil, he will always be regarded as a national treasure. His passing is cause for national mourning. And as he so humorously put it himself, there will never be another Pele.
PELE: To be the new Pele will be very difficult. Because my mother and my father, they closed the machine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: And he did indeed break the mold. Well, with me now is CNN WORLD SPORT's Patrick Snell.
So Patrick, it's great to have you here. And a sad day, but as we were saying before in cricket, you say it was a good innings. I mean, he lived a long and obviously extraordinary life.
Speak to his legacy and what lasting impact he leaves behind.
PATRICK SNELL, CNN WORLD SPORT CORRESPONDENT/ANCHOR: Michael, he's so powerful. And you're quite right: we should be celebrating a life very well-lived. A wonderful icon of the sport. Adored, revered, highly respected by so many millions of people the world over.
And in many ways, really, the sport's first global icon. Sport's truly lobal superstar. The first ever. There's no question about that.
And you know why I know that, Michael? Because you can say just one word: Pele. A stand-alone word. The world over. And everybody knows who you are referring to.
His life story is incredible. Out of the depths of poverty, to go on to win the World Cup at just 17 years of age, at Sweden, 1958.
He grew up in the poverty, as I said. Such a humble beginning. Not even any boots to play in. No boots to play in. Goalposts were boots, as well. And he promised his dad -- I love this little anecdote. He promised
his dad he would one day win him a World Cup, and he did not disappoint.
As I said earlier, transcended the sport. Over 1,200 career goals. A record-tying 77 for Brazil, along with Neymar. And the only player ever to have won the World Cup on three occasions. Just figure that: three times a World Cup winner.
It was -- Michael, when I think of Pele, it's the joy and the elation of playing the beautiful game. He really did coin that phrase on so many levels, especially that 1970 World Cup-winning team. Those amazing dribbling skills, the overhead kicks, the headers.
Boy, was he brilliant at heading. He wasn't even six feet tall, as well. But his life so powerful off the field of play, as well. His -- you know, I met him one time. I had the privilege, Michael, of meeting him just one time. He was humble. He was generous with his time.
This is a man who truly cared, as well. He cared about the people. He was forever championing the poor of his country back in his home.
And he stayed in the public eye, as well, through those endorsement deals. He had that platform, as I said.
And he would serve as a goodwill ambassador, as well. For UNICEF, for many years, using his platform, promoting peace. He cared especially about children, vulnerable children, as well.
And when you think at the time, you go back to that era. You have those big-name European clubs like Real Madrid, Manchester United. When they came calling for him, he stayed loyal to the cause in his homeland, to Santos. He played there his entire career, until that pioneering move to the United States. At the end of his career, he joined the New York Cosmos. And what an impact he made with the league there, going on to attract other big names, like Franz Beckenbauer, as well, comes to mind.
But I want to put a bow on this. When you think of the recent World Cup we have just had in Qatar there. An amazing World Cup on a football perspective. Entirely fitting, kind of poetic, Michael, that he would get to see that. He was takin to social media during that tournament, as well. And he also gets to spend one final Christmas with his family before the sad news of his passing was confirmed.
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HOLMES: Yes. What about the players, the reaction around the world?
SNELL: Because that is, again, just his legacy, absolutely in a nutshell. You look at the current generation of superstars. You look at this from Neymar, his compatriot, Neymar taking to social media: "Pele turned football into art, into entertainment. He gave a voice to the poor, to blacks, and mostly gave visibility to Brazil."
And Kylian Mbappe, a French World Cup winner from 2018, with this post: "The king of football has left us, but his legacy will never be forgotten. RIP king" -- rest in peace, king.
And Manchester City's superstar, as well, Erling Haaland, with this post. Everything you see any player doing, Pele did it first. Rest in peace.
And I do want to end this with a little quote that really did resonate for me. It was what Pele said, and it stands out for so many people, Michael, if, you will indulge -- indulge me.
Pele: "I was born to play football, just like Beethoven was born to write music and Michelangelo was born to paint." And I think that speaks volumes.
HOLMES: An extraordinary career, an extraordinary life, well-lived.
It's great to have you here to talk about it, Pat. Thanks for that. Patrick Snell there.
Damage assessments are underway in Ukraine after what Kyiv describes as one of Russia's largest missile barrages since the war began more than ten months ago.
Ukraine's state emergency service says the nationwide attacks killed at least three people, wounded seven. In this latest onslaught, Russia again appeared to be targeting Ukraine's electrical grid, knocking out power in several regions.
Ukraine's energy minister says Kyiv, Lviv in the West, and Odessa were particularly hard-hit.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy condemning Moscow in his nightly address.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): With every rocket attack, Russia is getting into that dead end. Russia has less rockets, but the status of the biggest terrorist in the world will have a deep impact for a long time, for Russia and its citizens. Every missile will -- only will show that the tribunal will be right at the end of this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Ukraine's defense ministry says the timing of the large-scale missile attack was intentional, with Moscow's aim to force Ukrainians to celebrate the new year in the dark and the cold.
Yet, residents in Kyiv remain defiant, telling CNN's Ben Wedeman they will not let the attacks dampen their spirits.
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BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Dawn breaks and the strikes begin. Phone video captures a Russian cruise missile heading towards Kyiv. Russia fired nearly 70 missiles-plus drones at targets across Ukraine.
Air defenses managed to take down most of them. But this Kyiv suburb did not escape unharmed.
WEDEMAN: The mayor of Kyiv says that all 16 missiles fired in the direction of the capitol were successfully intercepted. But as a result of those interceptions, debris fell to the ground in this location, massive destruction. A 14-year-old girl was injured, as well as her mother and a man nearby.
WEDEMAN (voice-over): Tatiana (ph) was at work. That girl, her granddaughter, Anhalina (ph), called her, desperate for help.
"She was really scared, in hysterics," Tatiana (ph) says. "She cried, 'Grandma, the house was hit. It's on fire.' She told me, 'My mother is unconscious under the rubble.'"
Not for the first time, the crews work to clear the rubble of homes and lives shattered by war.
Serhiy (ph) lives just down the street.
"How is it possible that we do this to each other?" he asks. "I understand that this rocket didn't target this place, but how is it possible to shell peaceful people?"
In another part of Kyiv, 79-year-old Leonid (ph) is still in his bathrobe. He was jarred awake when missile debris smashed into the ground next to his house, setting his son, Alexander's (ph), car on fire, shattering windows and walls, ripping trees out by the roots. Yet, he remains stoic.
"I was born in World War II, so I'm very calm about explosions," Leonid (ph) says. "Today, I was only worried about my son."
His son is fine.
Ukrainian officials insist Russia's target, yet again, was the country's energy infrastructure. Kyiv Mayor Vitaly Klitschko is blunt.
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VITALY KLITSCHKO, MAYOR OF KYIV: The Russians want to bring depression, especially right now, Christmas time, New Year. The Russians want to bring us to -- to black time, to without lighting, to without heating. For now,
WEDEMAN (voice-over): For now, Ukrainians just clear away the wreckage and carry on.
Ben Wedeman, CNN, Kyiv.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Now, Ukraine says missile wreckage that landed in Belarus may have been a deliberate provocation from Russia. On Thursday, the Belarusian defense ministry said fragments of a
Ukrainian missile were found in its territory, in a village near its border with Ukraine.
In response, Kyiv accused Moscow of launching missiles in a trajectory that would draw interception in the airspace over Belarus. Ukraine's defense ministry says Russia has made, quote, "desperate and persistent efforts" to drag Belarus to its aggressive war against Ukraine.
Now, groups of both Israelis and Palestinians are protesting the new hardline government that officially took power in Israel on Thursday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(CHANTING)
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HOLMES: Gay rights protesters in Tel Aviv breaking through police lines to show their anger after Benjamin Netanyahu was sworn into a record sixth term as prime minister.
Many demonstrators say they fear greater discrimination under the new government, which includes far-right figures who are strongly opposed to gay equality.
Palestinians marching in the West Bank have their own fears. Specifically, the likely expansion of Israeli settlements into their territory. Not to mention, the possibility of harsh new restrictions and crackdowns by Israeli authorities, now led by those hard-liners.
The Palestinian Authority prime minister denouncing Netanyahu's new government as the most threatening yet. Have a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MOHAMMAD SHTAYYEH, PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY PRIME MINISTER (through translator): We passed through many extremist governments, but this government is the most extremist. This government is the most threatening. This government is the most insolate. And I know for a fact that the international community will not deal with many members of this government.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Mr. Netanyahu's return to power is a stunning turnaround from 18 months ago, when he was hounded out of the premiership, embroiled in corruption charges.
Elliott Gotkine was at the Knesset on Thursday as Netanyahu and his hardline ministers were sworn in.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): All hail Bibi the sixth (ph). ELLIOTT GOTKINE, JOURNALIST (voice-over): Benjamin Netanyahu's coronation as prime minister confirmed by a vote of confidence. It was never in doubt.
Earlier in the day, as heckling lawmakers were ejected from the Knesset Plenum, he outlined his government's priorities.
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): First, to thwart Iran's efforts to develop a nuclear bombs arsenal, which will threaten us and the entire world.
We will guarantee Israel's military advantage in the region by unceasing empowerment. The first mission that the members here are yelling, but cancelling, as if it isn't important, is to make sure that Iran won't annihilate us with nuclear bombs. And you dismiss it as if it isn't important, as if it's small.
The third mission: to continue expanding the circle of peace with Arab states in order to end the Israeli-Arab conflict.
GOTKINE (voice-over): But these aren't the plans vexing the 2,000 or so protesters who've gathered outside. They worry about the erosion of Israel's democracy, state-sanctioned discrimination, and ultra- orthodox-backed gender segregation in public places.
Then there's plans to build more settlements in the occupied West Bank, one of several proposals former Israeli ambassadors and diplomats wrote could do serious damage to Israel's foreign relations.
Outgoing Prime Minister Yair Lapid expressed his disquiet in a tweet, writing, "We pass on to you a state in excellent condition. Try not to ruin it; we'll be right back."
GOTKINE: Netanyahu has sought to allay concerns about his new government, saying that there will be no discrimination against any community in Israel.
He also says there will be no change to the status quo at holy sites.
Ultimately, though, this government will be judged not by its words but by its actions.
Elliott Gotkine, CNN, at the Knesset in Jerusalem.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Still to come on the program, China eases its COVID travel restrictions, and other countries respond. Who's requiring a negative test and who says it's unjustified?
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Also, paying tribute to a style icon. Coming up, how the late Vivienne Westwood's work on the runway blended with her activism off of it. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: South Korea is joining the U.S. and a short list of other countries now requiring a negative COVID test for visitors arriving from China.
Beijing is easing restrictions, leading to a flurry of travelers leaving the country. But COVID cases in China are surging. Almost half of the passengers arriving in Milan in Italy from China tested positive on Monday.
The Italian prime minister wants the European Union to follow Rome's lead and test all passengers from China. But E.U. health officials say that's not justified.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GIORGIA MELONI, ITALIAN PRIME MINISTER (through translator): This measure risks not being completely effective if it's not taken at the European level. Because we know that we can do it for flights arriving directly from China. But not, for example, from those arriving via stopover.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: All right. Let's go now live to Hong Kong and CNN's Kristie Lu Stout.
Good to see you there. So more countries imposing or considering imposing restrictions on travelers from China. What curves are they facing?
KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT/ANCHOR: It's interesting, Michael. As COVID-19 surges across China, there is a growing global debate about the testing and screening of travelers from China.
European Union, public health officials are saying that such screening and testing is unjustified. But a growing list of countries disagree, including the United States, Italy, Japan and now South Korea.
In the last few hours, South Korea announced that it will impose COVID-19 testing on all arrivals from China. It also added that it will temporarily restrict issuing short-term visas and halt increasing flights from China.
Now, many countries are concerned about the lack of transparency from China. And they're also concerned about the possibility of a new variant emerging.
Now, China insists that it has its COVID outbreak under control. But a number of countries are not taking their chances. Let's bring up the graphic for you and see the list of countries that are now imposing curbs on Chinese travelers. They include the United States, India, Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, and Italy.
Not on the list, though, is Malaysia, even though we just learned in the last hour or so that Malaysia is increasing surveillance at its airport. It just announced that it will increase surveillance of all new passengers or arrivals for fever.
But many public health experts are questioning the efficacy and whether it's justified to screen and to test Chinese arrivals for COVID-19.
I want you to look at this statement from Yanzhong Huang. He is a public health expert from the Council of Foreign Relations. He tells CNN, "I don't see any convincing reason to justify this move. So far, we don't have have any evidence supporting whether there are indeed such variants emerging in mainland China," unquote.
[00:25:01]
And we also had this from Karen Grepin from the School of Public Health at the University of Hong Kong, and she says, "In reality, we do not have the scientific evidence to support the effectiveness of these measures in practice," unquote.
Grepin also adds that the restrictions did very little when Omicron emerged last fall.
Back to you, Michael.
HOLMES: All right. Kristie, thanks. Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong there.
And Professor Ben Cowling joins me now. He's the chair of epidemiology at the University of Hong Kong School of Public Health.
It's good to see you again, Professor. So in general terms, how equipped is China to cope with what's going on? And I guess, especially given the authorities are not being fully transparent, right? They say only a handful of guests, officially and so on, which simply isn't true. How does that complicate things?
BEN COWLING, CHAIR OF EPIDEMIOLOGY, UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG: Well, I certainly wouldn't describe the epidemic in China as being under control. That's almost the opposite of what's happening. Because the virus is being allowed to spread without any mitigation measures in place.
And most likely as a result, the majority of the population of China will be infected with this Omicron strain that's circulating, or the strains that are circulating this winter. So it's certainly not under control.
Very rapid spread of infections. And unfortunately, the minority that are severe still makes a large number when they all happen at the same time, and so the hospitals are under pressure. There's certainly a lot of COVID mortality already. But we can't say how much until maybe later when we have accessed death statistics available. Because the numbers coming out of China are just not meaningful.
HOLMES: I guess the lunar new year is approaching, and you know, with the travel that goes along with that. What's the risk with that, along with the existing massive spread that another potentially more deadly strain emerges? Because mutations love rapid spread, don't they?
COWLING: Well, there's certainly a risk that there might be a new subvariant or even a new variant coming out of China this winter, but I would say there's also a risk that we might have a new subvariant or variant coming out of other parts of the world.
Because there's a lot of infections going on in Europe, in the United States, and around the world at the moment.
So we have to keep an eye on the virus. There's not a lot we can do about that risk at the moment, given that very few countries are making any effort to stop transmissions at the moment, other than with the use of vaccines.
So it's important to just keep an eye on what the virus is doing so that if there are changes, we know about them as soon as possible.
HOLMES: And we're just discussing how several countries are going to require a negative test for visitors from China. Is that a smart move? Also, do you think it will work as a containment strategy? A lot of experts have their doubts.
COWLING: No, I think we learned a year ago, when this was initially brought in with the Omicron variant that emerged in Southern Africa, particularly South Africa, there were travel bans. There were testing requirements, and Omicron still spread around the world very, very quickly.
We know that this kind of travel measure is too weak to work. The only kind of travel measures that would have an effect are what China had been doing until three weeks ago. That's putting all travelers into very strict quarantine on arrival and being very, very careful about outbreaks in the community.
Nowhere in the world is really doing that now. So I don't see a rationale for this testing, which won't make much difference to the international spread of whatever happens with the virus in China.
HOLMES: Given what's happening in China and elsewhere, for that matter, what would be your global prediction for the year ahead when it comes to COVID spread and potential mutation and severity and so on? We're about to start 2023. How do you view the year ahead?
COWLING: Well, if you look back at 2022, there's been steady changes in the virus. We had BA.1 and the BA.2 and then BA.5 and others more recently.
I suppose the most likely scenario is that that process continues. There will be COVID around through much of 2023. There won't be so many severe cases anymore, because the level of immunity is so much higher now than ever before.
But the virus will still be there. There will still be, unfortunately, some severe cases. It will be important to have booster jabs from time to time, particularly for older people.
But I think many of us will be relieved that the pandemic has, I would say, is essentially over now, because there's very few measures in place anywhere in the world that would count as pandemic responses.
HOLMES: We're pretty much out of time, but I did want to ask you. There's something that is not being done much these days, is genomic sequencing. Is that a bad thing, especially given China's rapid spread?
COWLING: Yes, it's a really bad thing. And I hope what's going to happen is that some countries will volunteer to be lighthouses for their region; collect samples from their part of the world; and sequence them and report it.
Because some countries have said they don't want to pay for it anymore. I hope that some countries will volunteer to provide that service to the world. So we can keep an eye on the virus as it continues to evolve.
HOLMES: Professor Ben Cowling in Hong Kong, always great to have your expertise. Appreciate the time.
[00:30:06]
Well, tributes pouring in for the only man to win three football World Cups as a player. I'll speak with a Brazilian journalist about what Pele meant to his country and the world. We'll be right back.
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HOLMES: You're watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Michael Holmes, and we appreciate you tuning in.
Now, the world mourning one of its most renowned athletes, the football legend Pele. Images of the Brazilian icon appearing on buildings along Sao Paulo's main street, Paulista Avenue.
Earlier, Brazil's outgoing president, Jair Bolsonaro, announced three days of mourning, effective immediately. And he tweeted that Pele, quote, "through football took the name of Brazil to the world. He transformed football into art and joy."
FIFA's president posting this tribute earlier.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GIANNI INFANTINO, FIFA PRESIDENT: For all those who love football, this is certainly the day that we never wanted to come. We lost Pele, the king, "O Rei." And we feel a void. We feel sad. But actually, we never lose him. We never lost him. He's forever with us. He's forever with everyone who loves football.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Joining me now from Sao Paulo is writer and journalist Jamil Chade.
It's great to have you on, especially being there in Brazil. Pele's death not a shock, really, but what is your own reaction and the reaction of your country after his passing?
JAMIL CHADE, JOURNALIST: Well, it was very emotional day. It was a very emotional day indeed.
First of all, because of the representation he meant to Brazilian culture. Not only Brazilian soccer. It is -- it is not true that he's only a sportsman. No. He's actually somebody that represents a country. He's the most important ambassador Brazil ever had abroad. He forged, in a way, the image of Brazil abroad.
So his death is, in many ways, the end of a cycle in Brazil, as well.
HOLMES: Yes, important words and well-deserved. Nicely put.
[00:35:01]
I mean, he was selected for the national team at age 17. Three World Cup wins, no one's done that. Twelve hundred goals at the top level. Do you think some of his achievements will -- will never be topped? That there will never be another Pele?
CHADE: Well, you know, Michael, football has changed, though. Soccer has changed a lot --
HOLMES: Yes.
CHADE: -- since the '50s or '60s. So it's very hard to compare.
Now, we have a very famous writer in Brazil, Carlos Drummond de Andrade, who used to say that scoring 1,000 goals, maybe someone can do it. But not in the way that Pele did it.
So let's see if someone will be able to reach his absolutely -- his -- his goals. Not only in terms of scoring on the pitch, but also what he meant for a country.
So yes, maybe someone will win three times the World Cup. Maybe someone will score 1,000 goals. But having the political, social, cultural, and obviously, identity representation that he had, that will be very hard.
HOLMES: Yes. Yes. The Brazilian government officially declared him a national treasure. And you've spoken about what he means to Brazil. But how much did he contribute to the growth of the sport's popularity globally? I'm thinking of places like the U.S. Because, of course, he played a few seasons for the New York Cosmos in the 1970s, and he filled huge stadiums.
CHADE: That is very true, Michael. And in fact, he was the instrument that globalized football. At the same time, FIFA was also expanding its operations with marketing, with globalization, with live TV coverage of football matches. So it was the moment when globalized football was happening. Pele was
also happening. So it is a fundamental piece of the transformation of football.
HOLMES: So Pele is obviously an incredible asset, or was for his club Santos. Nearly two decades. Pele said that, in a book about him, that he had played 109 games for Santos in one year alone, 1960.
Everyone knows the Ronaldos and the Messis of today, the Maradonas of recent past. But give us a sense of just how dominant, how ubiquitous Pele was in his heyday, for those who might not remember.
CHADE: Michael, in fact, there's no comparison. Just a short tale of what happened back then.
Pele was already Pele. And Inter Milan sent a delegation to Santos to try to convince the club to sell Pele to Inter Milan. They made a first offer. They refused. They made a second offer. They refused.
The third offer, they put a blank check on the table and said, Write whatever you want for Pele. And Santos still said no.
Many days later, in an interview, the president of Santos explained: Look, if we sell Pele, we are selling the soul of Santos. Santos will not exist if we sell Pele.
So this is how important Pele was for Santos, for the identity of that small club. The coast of Sao Paolo. But beyond all of that, he was a centerpiece for Brazil's image abroad and insertion (ph) in the world at that point.
HOLMES: And an amazing ambassador for his country and his sport.
A great tribute there. Jamil Chade, thank you so much. Appreciate it.
CHADE: My pleasure.
HOLMES: The fashion industry, meanwhile, mourning the loss of the avant-garde British designer Vivienne Westwood, who died at home in London on Thursday.
Westwood was a provocative trendsetter who changed how the world viewed the punk subculture.
CNN's Anna Stewart has more on her life and her legacy.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANNA STEWART, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The queen of punk fashion. Dame Vivienne Westwood's runways never failed to be provocative.
Her designs inspired countless trends: underwear as outerwear; unisex collections; and outrageous heels. Her clothing also a vehicle to promote human rights and sustainability.
VIVIENNE WESTWOOD, FASHION DESIGNER: You've got to buy less, choose well, make it last.
STEWART (voice-over): Westwood's decades-long career in fashion began almost by accident in the '70s, when she tapped into the subculture of Britain's youth. She never went to fashion school but rose to fame designing clothes worn by the Sex Pistols.
(MUSIC: SEX PISTOLS, "GOD SAVE THE QUEEN")
STEWART (voice-over): A group managed by her then-boyfriend Malcolm McLaren, gracing (ph) what became the look for an emerging punk scene.
WESTWOOD: It's true that I and my then-boyfriend are responsible for punk fashion, definitely. I don't particularly want to talk about punk; I want to talk about the punk attitude.
[00:40:13]
STEWART (voice-over): The couple re-branded their London boutique. They called it SEX and broke taboos by selling rubber and bondage clothing.
WESTWOOD: The thing is, I wasn't even trying to shock people. I was -- I don't know. I was angry. Yes. I mean, just like all young people. They always want to be rebels, the young generation. And so they should be.
STEWART (voice-over): Years later, the Westwood brand went global, also landing a starring role on the silver screen.
SARAH JESSICA PARKER, ACTRESS: And finally, Vivienne Westwood. A dress so special it could bring a wedding tear from even the most unbelieving of women.
STEWART (voice-over): Her designs ended up in museums around the world, but for Westwood, culture was a give and take.
WESTWOOD: I don't follow things, and I get all my ideas from the past. From culture, from paintings.
STEWART (voice-over): Ideas that also inspired her to design 12-inch platform heels made famous by that fall.
NAOMI CAMPBELL, MODEL: There's a trick to walking in those shoes.
WESTWOOD: Let me tell, you stop. The reason you fell is because you had these rubber tights.
CAMPBELL: Yes!
STEWART (voice-over): A rebel with many causes. Westwood seamlessly blended haute couture with activism.
WESTWOOD: We can end poverty. We can have a paradise. We can have a green economy.
STEWART (voice-over): Anti-establishment views did not prevent her from receiving the queen's honors, although the establishment she fought against sometimes hit back, with others questioning how eco- friendly her fashion was.
WESTWOOD: Don't extradite Assange.
STEWART (voice-over): In her senior years, she led protests against the extradition of Julian Assange, as well as climate change and fracking.
WESTWOOD: It's one of our last fights before we hit complete disaster.
STEWART (voice-over): Among many in British society, the fashion industry and the green movement, Westwood was adored.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Anna Stewart reporting for us there.
Now CNN is closely monitoring the Vatican for any news about Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, since it was announced on Wednesday that his health was declining.
The most recent update on Thursday said this, quote: "He is absolutely lucid and vigilant, and today, while his condition remains serious, the situation at the moment is stable."
A special mass is scheduled for Friday. The 95-year-old former pope has been in poor health for many years, and though he led the Catholic Church for a relatively brief time, he left a powerful, if controversial, legacy that will be remembered for generations to come.
We'll keep you updated, of course, with any new developments.
Rescuers have a grim task in the aftermath of a deadly casino fire in Cambodia. They're searching through the burned-out building where dozens of people are still reported missing. We'll have a live report.
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[00:45:28]
HOLMES: Search-and-rescue operations have resumed after a fire that killed at least 19 people at a casino in Cambodia. Dozens of people are still missing in the aftermath of a blaze that gutted the Grand Diamond City Hotel and Casino on Wednesday. And officials say the death toll is expected to rise.
Manisha Tank joins me now from Singapore with more. The rescue goes on. What are they likely to find, those rescue teams?
MANISHA TANK, JOURNALIST: In short, Michael, I have to say, nothing good. There are still a significant number of people who are missing. And this means that this really is a mission to find them.
The fear is that many of these people may have lost their lives to smoke inhalation. Obviously, we always hold that positive -- that positivity that there are some who may have been able to protect themselves from the impact of this fire.
But we can see, from the pictures that these rescue workers have to go through these charred, mangled ruins of a hotel to find these people.
I think one of the most disturbing aspects of the story, Michael, is that some of them, it's suspected, would have been trapped in their bedrooms. We know that hundreds of people would have been in the hotel. As you'll see now, some people might have resorted, and indeed, did resort, to the unthinkable to get out.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TANK (voice-over): Desperate to survive, this man attempts to escape. Teetering on the edge. Harrowing scenes, in the Cambodian casino town, of Poipet as a huge fire rips through the Grand Diamond City Hotel.
A rescue worker says the blaze started in one of its restaurants, moving so fast that by the time they got there, most of the buildings were on fire.
The rescue worker says he saw at least two people jump to what they thought was safety. Others were left severely injured.
Around 700 Thais were rescued, taken to Thai hospitals. For some, though, it was too late.
Officials said many of the dead, trapped in locked rooms when the electricity went out, taken by a silent killer. Where the fire didn't go, the smoke did.
As dawn broke, onlookers struggled to see past thick, acrid smoke, still billowing across the sky. Over the coming days, rescue teams face the grim task of recovering the dead and answering the tough questions: How and why.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TANK (on camera): And I'm sure that a lot of the families that would have lost loved ones, Michael, will have exactly those questions.
We do know that the Cambodian government is, and has, put together a committee to investigate the cause of the fire.
All we know from the rescue teams in the initial moments of this, what has become a catastrophe at this hotel, is that it may have started in a restaurant on the lower levels, and then spread upwards. And as you see from the pictures, absolutely engulfing the hotel.
HOLMES: Absolutely incredible. Manisha, thanks. Manisha Tank there in Singapore for us.
Now, a tense standoff between Kosovo and Serbia appears to be easing. Serbia is removing barricades and ending a military state of alert after Kosovo reopened its main border crossing.
About 50,000 ethnic Serbs live in Northern Kosovo and refuse to recognize the government. They put up the barricades to protest the detention of a former Serbian policeman. He's been moved to house arrest.
The European Union's foreign policy chief tweeted this, quote: "Diplomacy prevailed in deescalating tensions in North Kosovo. Violence can never be a solution."
Droughts, heat waves, monsoons, hurricanes, just some of the natural disasters that affected people around the world this year. We'll take a look at the top ten climate stories, when we come back.
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HOLMES: Southwest Airlines in the U.S. says it will resume normal flight schedules on Friday, after eight days of utter chaos.
The airline has canceled nearly 16,000 flights since December 22, leaving hundreds of thousands of travelers in limbo, or just plain stranded. Southwest blamed bad weather and logistical issues, but airline employees blame antiquated technology.
The U.S. Department of Transportation has formally warned Southwest it will face consequences if it fails to compensate passengers left stranded and inconvenienced.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BILL WEIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): I'm Bill Weir with the top ten climate stories of 2022. A year that started with a bang.
BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: A tsunami advisory is now in effect for the entire U.S. West Coast and Alaska.
WEIR (voice-over): An undersea volcano near the island nation of Tonga erupted with such force the ash cloud blew 35 miles into the stratosphere. The boom was heard in Alaska.
And tsunami waves took two lives across the Pacific, in Peru.
And No. 9, some of the world's most important rivers fell to sobering levels, from Italy's Po, to Germany's Rhine, to the not-so-mighty Mississippi, where the Army Corps of Engineers is still dredging, as fast as they can, to keep billions' worth of goods and grain moving to market.
At No. 8, a surprise reversal in coal country gives the U.S. its most ambitious climate laws in history.
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: With unwavering conviction, commitment, and patience, progress does come.
WEIR (voice-over): The Biden promise to make America greener was all but throttled by West Virginia's Joe Manchin until four days of secret horse-trading with Chuck Schumer put the Inflation Reduction Act on the president's desk. While environmentalists resent some of the concessions given to big
oil, analysts say the rich incentives for people and companies to electrify could get country most of the way towards Biden's carbon- cutting goals.
At No. 7, Nicole became the first hurricane to hit the Atlantic coast in the second week of November.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The intensity of the rain and wind have certainly gone up.
WEIR (voice-over): And the unusually late arrival brought a 500-mile wind field, during outrageously-high king tides. The combination cost five lives, and almost two billion in damages.
At No. 6, the 27th attempt at world cooperation on climate action went into overtime, as poor nations pleaded with rich ones to finally start picking up the tab for loss and damages.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Clearly, this will not be enough.
WEIR (voice-over): In the end, almost 200 nations agreed to set up a fund to help the most vulnerable.
But a global pledge to phase out fossil fuels was stonewalled by oil- producing nations.
No. 5, an increasingly unpredictable water cycle brought the kind of floods seen once every thousand years. From Dallas, where they got a summer's worth of rain in a day. To Death Valley, which set a record with two inches of rain, in one of the driest spots on Earth.
Forty-three lives were lost in flash floods and mudslides across six Kentucky counties.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where are all these people going to go? Where are they going to live?
WEIR (voice-over): And the combo of heavy rain, and rapid snow melt, forced 10,000 to evacuate Yellowstone National Park, as walls of water rearranged entire landscapes in hours.
At No. 4, England, that green and pleasant land, turned brown in '22, as thermometers in the U.K. hit 104 degrees Fahrenheit, and put an unprecedented toll on firefighters.
[00:55:08]
Temperatures hit 106 in Spain, as the European heat wave took thousands of lives. And meanwhile, in China, records were smashed at hundreds of weather stations. The stifling heat lingered for 70 days.
No. 3, the Western mega drought brought Lake Mead to its lowest levels ever, exposing long-lost drowning victims, and possible mob hits, and triggering the first ever cuts for those last in line to use Colorado River water. WEIR: The lake used to go -- used to go a half a mile around the
corner. Now, it starts way back here. I cannot believe this.
WEIR (voice-over): While there is hope for a heavy snow pack this winter, it would take years of steady precipitation to refill Lake Mead. It will likely inch closer to Deadpool next summer.
From not enough water in the American West, to way too much in Pakistan, where at No. 2, a monsoon on steroids brought rains 500 percent above average in some places, as well as a dozen or more bursting glaciers.
CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: So you can see, there's just a steady stream of vehicles, pouring into this area. These are all people who are desperately trying to escape their villages, which are now completely submerged underwater.
WEIR (voice-over): At least 33 million people have been affected. People responsible for less than 1 percent of climate-altering pollution.
And, the No. 1 unnatural disaster of '22 --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ian's here, John. We just felt a marked increase in wind speeds.
WEIR (voice-over): Hurricane Ian. When it roared from a tropical storm, to a Category 3 in a day, Hurricane Ian became the new poster child for so-called rapid intensification, when warm-water-fueled storms get so strong, so fast, evacuation plans fall apart.
WEIR: This is just unbelievable. The amount of damage in this one neighborhood.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was very scared. And I would never want to go through it again.
WEIR (voice-over): Ian's wind, storm surge, and freshwater flooding toll is expected to cost over $50 billion. And so far, has taken over 100 lives.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Thanks for watching CNN NEWSROOM, spending part of our day with me. I'm Michael Holmes, and we leave you this hour with the U.S. Space agency, NASA, paying tribute to Pele, posting an image of a galaxy in the colors of the Brazilian flag. Green, yellow, and blue.
The post included the message, "We are marking the passing of the legendary Pele, known to many as the king of the beautiful game."
I'll be back with more news, right after this.
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