Russian gas supplies to Europe via Ukraine are to end on Wednesday, when a five-year deal between Ukraine's gas transit operator Naftogaz and Russia's Gazprom expires.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said his country would not allow Russia to "earn additional billions on our blood" and had given the EU a year to prepare.

The EU has significantly reduced imports of gas from Russia since it launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, but a number of eastern member states still depend largely on the supplies, making Russia about €5bn ($5.2bn; £4.2bn) a year.

The European Commission said the continent's gas system was "resilient and flexible" and that it had sufficient capacity to cope with the end of transit via Ukraine.

Russian gas made up less than 10% of the EU's gas imports in 2023, according to figures from the bloc, compared to 40% in 2021.

But several EU members, including Slovakia and Austria, continue to import significant amounts of gas from Russia.

Austria's energy regulator said it did not forecast any supply disruption as it had diversified sources and built up reserves.

But Ukraine's decision has already caused serious tensions with Slovakia, which is now the main entry point of Russian gas into the EU and earned transit fees from piping the gas on to Austria, Hungary and Italy.

On Friday, Slovakia's Prime Minister Robert Fico - who had just made a surprise visit to Moscow for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin - threatened to stop the supply of electricity to Ukraine.

This prompted Mr Zelensky to accuse him of helping Mr Putin "fund the war and weaken Ukraine".

"Fico is dragging Slovakia into Russia's attempts to cause more suffering for Ukrainians," the Ukrainian president said.

Poland has offered to support Kyiv in case Slovakia cuts off its electricity exports - supplies that are crucial to Ukraine, whose power plants come under regular attack from Russia.

Moldova - which is not part of the EU - could be seriously affected by the end of the transit agreement. The gas fuelled a power plant on which Moldova relies for most of its electricity needs. It also supplied the Russia-backed breakaway region of Transnistria, a small sliver of land sandwiched between Moldova and Ukraine.

Moldova's energy minister, Constantin Borosan, said the government had taken steps to ensure stable power supplies to the country but called on citizens to save energy. A 60-day state of emergency in the energy sector has been in place in Moldova since mid-December.

President Maia Sandu accused the Kremlin of "blackmail" possibly aimed at destabilising her country ahead of a general election in 2025. The Moldovan government also said it had offered aid to Transnistria.

Russia has transported gas to Europe through Ukraine since 1991.

As the EU has reduced its dependence on Russian gas, it has found alternative sources in liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Qatar and the US as well as piped gas from Norway.

Once the Ukrainian transit route is cut off, the Black Sea's TurkStream - which reaches Turkey, Hungary and Serbia - will be the only Russian gas supply to European countries.

In December, the European Commission laid out plans it said would enable EU member states to entirely replace gas transiting through Ukraine.

Under the EU's contingency plans, affected countries will be supplied with Greek, Turkish and Romanian gas from the Trans-Balkan route, while Norwegian gas will be piped through Poland. More supplies will also reach central Europe through Germany.

Police in New York City have named the woman who was set on fire and burned to death on a subway train in Brooklyn.

Authorities on Tuesday identified Debrina Kawam, 61, of New Jersey as the victim of the seemingly random 22 December attack that burned her body beyond recognition.

Sebastian Zapeta, 33, is accused of starting the blaze with a lighter while Ms Kawam was asleep. He allegedly fanned the flames with a shirt and then watched the fire grow from a bench outside the subway car.

Last week, a grand jury indicted Mr Zapeta, who claims to have no memory of the incident, on four counts of murder and one count of arson.

It took authorities more than a week to fully identify the body.

Eric Gonzalez, the Brooklyn district attorney, said at a press conference early in the investigation that authorities had worked to collect DNA evidence and fingerprints from Ms Kawam's remains.

"It's a priority for me, for my office, for the police department to identify this woman, so we can notify her family," Mr Gonzalez said.

False and unverified information about her, including a fake AI-generated picture, circulated online as authorities worked.

There was also an outpouring of support, including a vigil held for the then-unidentified victim last week.

Police say that Ms Kawam was motionless, apparently asleep, on a stationary subway train at the Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue Station in Brooklyn early on 22 December when Mr Zapeta allegedly approached her with a lighter.

The pair never interacted, and police believe they did not know each other.

Video appears to show the suspect waving a shirt at her in an apparent effort to fan the flames, rather than douse them. He then exits the subway car and watches the blaze from a bench on the platform.

Jessica Tisch, New York police commissioner, said that the smell of smoke drew police officers and Metropolitian Transit Authority personnel to the fire where they extinguished the flames.

"Unbeknownst to the officers who responded, the suspect had stayed on the scene and was seated on a bench on the platform just outside the train car," Ms Tisch said.

Authorities declared Ms Kawam dead at the scene.

Ms Tisch described the incident as "one of the most depraved crimes one person could possibly commit against another human being".

In a preliminary hearing on Tuesday, prosecutor Ari Rottenberg said Mr Zapeta told investigators that he had been drinking and did not remember the incident, but did identify himself in photos and surveillance video showing the fire being lit.

Mr Zapeta, who is originally from Guatemala, was deported from the US in 2018 and later re-entered the country illegally, immigration authorities said.

He is due back in court on 7 January, prosecutors said.

Puerto Rico was plunged into darkness early Tuesday morning by a nearly island-wide blackout.

The cause of the blackout is under investigation, but preliminary findings pointed to a fault in an underground line, according to Luma Energy, the island's main power distributor. Fully restoring service could take between 24-48 hours, the company said on X.

Only 13% of the island's 1.4 million customers had power as of about 10:00 local time (14:00 GMT), according to the New York Times.

An hour later, power had been restored to some areas, as well as San Juan's municipal hospital, Luma said.

The New Year's Eve blackout prompted renewed calls from elected officials and residents to address the unincorporated US territory's ongoing power issues, which have persisted since Hurricane Maria in 2017.

The island cannot continue to put up with an energy system that fails its citizens so often, Jenniffer González-Colon, Puerto Rico's current US congressional representative and the incoming governor of Puerto Rico, wrote on X.

Blackouts continue to affect Puerto Rico's economy and quality of life, she said.

On Facebook, the current governor, Pedro Pierluisi, demanded answers and solutions from the two main power companies, Luma and Genera.

Hundreds of thousands of residents at a time have been affected by power outages this year. A June outage left about 350,000 customers without power as temperatures climbed, and more than 700,000 customers lost electricity after Hurricane Ernesto in August.

As they awoke to another day without power, Puerto Ricans expressed frustration to US media.

"They're part of my everyday life," Enid Núñez, 49, said of the outages to the Associated Press.

Puerto Rico's power grid was strained even before Hurricane Maria devastated the island. US government funding helped shore up the grid, facilitate recovery projects from other natural disasters, and make other important infrastructure improvements.

But the implementation has been incomplete due to a variety of factors, such as issues starting construction and the Federal Emergency Management Agency's requirements to authorise use of some of the funds, according to a February 2024 report from the US Government Accountability Office.

"Inexcusably the power grid has still not recovered from damage in Hurricane Maria," Mark Levine, New York City's Manhattan borough president, wrote on X.

New York City is home to the largest Puerto Rican community in the mainland US.

"This is 3.5M American citizens," he wrote. "We owe them so much better."

Arguably the modern era's biggest A-list couple, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt were married for two years - but it has taken eight years since announcing their divorce to finally reach a deal. Why did it take four times as long as the marriage itself to settle?

One part of the answer is that the divorce is one strand in a set of bitter legal disputes, some of which still need to be resolved in what Jolie's lawyer has called "a long ongoing process".

We take a look back at how it all started and the legal wranglings the pair have been caught up in since they split in 2016.

Romance blossoms

The couple got together after meeting on the set of the film Mr & Mrs Smith, which was released in 2005.

"Because of the film, we ended up being brought together to do all these crazy things, and I think we found this strange friendship and partnership that kind of just suddenly happened," Jolie told Vogue in 2007.

She had already won a best supporting actress Oscar for 1999 movie Girl, Interrupted, but was better known for playing Lara Croft in the Tomb Raider films.

Pitt had starred in hit films including Twelve Monkeys, Fight Club and Ocean's 11.

Both had been married before - Pitt to Friends star Jennifer Aniston, and Jolie to actors Jonny Lee Miller (1996 to 2000) and Billy Bob Thornton (2000 to 2003).

Expanding family

Jolie and Pitt share six children together.

Jolie adopted Maddox from Cambodia in 2002 a few months after he was born. Pitt later adopted him after he and Jolie had begun their relationship.

In 2005, the pair adopted daughter Zahara from Ethiopia when she was a few months old.

The couple's first biological child, Shiloh, was born in Namibia in 2006. Earlier this year, it was reported that Shiloh had submitted a petition to a court to drop Pitt from her name.

Their son Pax was adopted at the age of three from Vietnam in 2007, and twins Knox and Vivienne were born in 2008.

Beginning of the end

The couple made their final red carpet appearance together in November 2015 for a film they both starred in, By the Sea. It was about an unhappily married couple, and was written and directed by Jolie.

The couple rarely discussed their relationship but when promoting the film, Jolie told The Telegraph: "Brad and I have our issues.

"We have fights and problems like any other couple. We have days when we drive each other absolutely mad and want space, but the problems in the movie aren't our specific problems."

The news that Jolie was filing for divorce, citing "irreconcilable differences", came as a shock to many in September 2016.

Plane allegations and custody battle

It emerged that she filed for divorce a day after an incident on board a private plane.

Pitt was initially alleged to have hit son Maddox, then 15, on the flight from France to Los Angeles. The FBI and social workers examined the claims, but neither took any action. Pitt denied wrongdoing.

Then in 2022, legal papers from a separate dispute revealed that Jolie accused Pitt of drunkenly attacking her and two children during the flight.

At the time, a source close to the actor told the BBC that her claims were false.

Speaking to Vogue in 2020, Jolie said she left Pitt for the "wellbeing" of her family.

"It was the right decision," she said. "I continue to focus on their healing."

In an interview with GQ in 2017, Pitt spoke about his decision to quit drinking and smoking marijuana, saying the split had been a "huge generator for change".

Regarding the divorce, Pitt said he and Jolie had decided to abandon a path of "vitriolic hatred" and work together to sort out their issues, adding that they were committed to resolving matters amicably and privately.

Vineyard drama

Their attempts to reach agreements over the divorce and custody of their children appeared to be acrimonious and protracted.

In 2019, a judge declared that the couple were officially single, but that the divorce still needed to be finalised.

They reached a custody deal in 2018, but that appeared to fall apart. In 2021, Pitt was granted joint custody after a court battle, but the private judge who oversaw the case was later removed because he did not disclose his business relationships with Pitt's lawyers.

That raised the prospect of a fresh custody case, but nothing has been made public.

And while the divorce saga may now be drawing to a close, there is another legal battle still ongoing to do with a French vineyard.

Pitt and Jolie bought Chateau Miraval together in 2008 and got married in its small chapel in 2014.

But Jolie sold her share to a spirits manufacturer owned by a Russian oligarch, according to Pitt's lawsuit. He is suing his ex-wife for selling her stake in the estate, saying they agreed not to sell their shares without the permission of the other. Jolie has not publicly commented.

Why has divorce settlement taken so long?

The legal wrangles and family considerations added extra complications to the divorce, and celebrity lawyer Chris Melcher told BBC News the settlement had taken an unusually long time.

"This is much longer than any divorce we typically see, but they initially had fights over custody and then it revolved around this winery they own together, and that's been the focus of their fight over the last few years," he said.

Many celebrities want to divorce quickly and move on, he explained.

"A lot of these high-profile cases... we want to keep this quiet, it's damaging to [a celebrity's] brand and their work, so a lot of times in a case of this magnitude we can settle it within six months, a year at the very most.

"Eight years is really a sign of something more going on. It's an inability to let go and a desire to really harm the other."

Few details of the divorce proceedings have been revealed. Private judges are often hired in the US to mediate disputes between divorcing celebrities for privacy reasons.

Kate Daly, co-founder of online divorce company Amicable, told the BBC that such a case was very different from an average divorce.

"It's an industry... [they can afford] lots of expensive lawyers," she said. "Most people couldn't afford for it to take eight years. It's an industry and it's a bad example - we have to distance [normal] people from that kind of narrative."

Their children are now all aged between 16 and 23, and showbiz journalist Jeanne Wolf emphasised the emotional fallout.

"It's been a very emotional and complicated divorce settlement. It's taken a big toll on the children and the couple involved," she said.

"They have tried very hard not to let too many details known about what went on in that marriage."

Jolie's lawyer highlighted the passage of time in his statement on Monday. "This is just one part of a long ongoing process that started eight years ago," he said.

"Frankly, Angelina is exhausted, but she is relieved this one part is over."

Guantanamo Bay inmate Ridah Bin Saleh al-Yazidi has been repatriated to Tunisia, the US Department of Defense says.

He was found eligible for transfer from the detention facility after a "rigorous interagency review process", a press statement said.

The Pentagon did not say if Mr Yazidi had accepted any guilt.

Since 2002, the Guantanamo Bay detention facility has been used to hold what the US describes as captured unlawful combatants during America's "war on terror".

The camp is part of a US naval base complex in south-eastern Cuba.

The Pentagon statement said 26 detainees remained at Guantanamo Bay, of whom 14 were eligible for transfer.

A pre-flight inspection of a Jeju Air passenger plane hours before it crashed in South Korea, killing 179 people, found "no issues", the airline has said.

"Nothing abnormal was noted with the landing gear," the airline's CEO Kim Yi-bae told a news conference in Seoul, as investigations continue into why the wheels were not down when it performed an emergency landing.

The plane was travelling from Bangkok when it crash-landed at Muan International Airport on Sunday, bursting into flames and killing everyone onboard, save for two crew members, after skidding into a wall.

Investigators are still working to identify victims and establish what caused South Korea's deadliest ever air crash.

• What we know so far about the crash
• Could a bird strike have caused it?
• Why was there a wall near runway?
• Anger as families wait for victims' remains
• Video captures moments before crash
• Watch: At the scene of the investigation

Many question remain unanswered and investigators are looking at the role a bird strike of weather conditions may have played.

They are also focusing on why the Boeing 737-800 did not have its landing gear down when it hit the runway shortly after 09:00 local time (00:00 GMT) on Sunday.

Hundreds of grieving relatives have been camping out at the airport in Muan, furious that they have not yet seen the bodies of their loved ones.

So far just a few of the victims' remains have been released to their families. On Tuesday, four were transported to funeral homes but most other families are still waiting for their loved ones to be identified.

Addressing questions over the company's safety procedures on Tuesday, Jeju Air's CEO Kim Yi-bae said the plane would not have been cleared for takeoff if the maintenance team had not signed off on its safety.

He said its pilots were trained to regulation standards, and the company had two full flight simulators.

"We have 12.9 maintenance workers per aeroplane, which has increased from 12 in 2019," he said.

"We have a strict maintenance checklist, it is not possible to miss things. If something was missed it would be a grave problem.

"As for whether the landing gear functioned properly, that is directly related to the accident investigation, and we are not in a position to know at this time."

Mr Kim said the airline would reduce its air traffic this winter by 10-15%, in order to be able to carry out more maintenance work on the planes, but said this was not an admission that the company was running too many planes.

He added that they would increase their monitoring of weather before and after flights.

Mr Kim also acknowledged that over the past five years, Jeju Air had paid the most fines and faced the most administrative action of any Korean airline – but said the company was consistently improving its safety record.

He said he was committed to strengthening the company's safety and maintenance procedures, adding: "We aim to repair your trust in us by strengthening our safety measures."

Mr Kim said the airline was preparing emergency compensation for the victims' families and were covering the cost of the funerals.

The money would be released soon, he said, before the insurance process is completed. He added that company employees are on site to provide psychological counselling to the families.

The 179 passengers on flight 7C2216 were aged between three and 78 years old, although most were in their 40s, 50s and 60s, according to Yonhap news agency. Two Thai nationals are among the dead and the rest are believed to be South Korean, authorities have said.

Many relatives are frustrated with how long the process of identifying victims' bodies has taken, but officials say it is challenging because those on board were so severely burned in the fire after the crash.

One man the BBC spoke to at the airport said his nephew and his nephew's two sons had been on a celebratory trip to Thailand to mark the end of the college entrance exams. All three died on the flight.

"I can't believe the entire family has just disappeared," Maeng Gi-su, 78, told the BBC. "My heart aches so much."

The runway at Muan International Airport is to stay closed for another week while forensic teams collect more of the remains and debris.

Investigators began inspecting the plane's two black boxes - the cockpit voice recorder and the flight data recorder - on Tuesday.

The second device is missing a critical connector, they say, which will make it more difficult to extract the data. This could prolong the search for answers as to why this plane was forced to land without its landing gear.

Officials also said they are examining regulations around a concrete barrier which the plane smashed into when it skidded beyond the end of the runway.

Syria's new leaders are reported to have given some foreign Islamist fighters senior official posts in the country's armed forces.

The army is being re-organised by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) – the Islamist group that is now effectively in charge of the country – following the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad earlier this month.

While there has been no confirmation of the move by the new leadership, it is likely to raise concerns inside and outside Syria over the role radicalised foreign militants could play in the country's future.

Several Syrian sources have deduced that out of almost 50 new military roles that have been announced, at least six have gone to foreigners.

Based on the names that have been published, they are said to include Chinese Uyghurs, a Jordanian and a Turkish national. All are said to have been given high-ranking positions as colonels or brigadier-generals.

The role of foreign fighters in various armed groups during the civil war is one that stirs strong feelings in Syria.

Thousands of fighters from many different countries joined the uprising against Assad as it became an all-out armed conflict when mass protests were met with violence by the security forces.

Some formed their own groups and others provided the core of the Islamic State group, which took control of large regions in the east of Syria.

Opponents of HTS had long accused it of being largely made up of foreign jihadists - a charge Assad supporters used to try to delegitimise the group as it mounted its final, decisive offensive against the regime.

But in the years that he ran the rebel enclave in Idlib, Ahmed al-Sharaa – the leader of HTS and now Syria – had been getting rid of some of those foreign fighters in a bid to bolster his group's credentials as a nationalist rather than overtly jihadist force.

Al-Sharaa's message since taking power has again and again stressed the vision of a unified Syrian state, in which all communities must be respected and have a stake.

• Syria's minorities seek security as country charts new future
• What now for Syria's £4.5bn illegal drug empire
• Syria's rebel leaders say they've broken with their jihadist past - can they be trusted?
• Watch: BBC speaks to Syrian rebel leader Ahmed al-Sharaa
• Jeremy Bowen: Syria's new ruler is politically astute - but can he keep his promises?
• From Syrian jihadist leader to rebel politician: How Abu Mohammed al-Jolani reinvented himself

For those who are concerned that his actions might not match his words, this apparent move to formalise the positions of some prominent foreign fighters may give them further pause for thought.

The appointments appear to have been made in order to reward those fighters – whether from Syria or elsewhere – who played a significant role in the final triumph over the regime.

For the same reason, some of the remaining foreign fighters – along with their families – now seem likely to be given Syrian citizenship.

The issue is just one of many that could complicate any successful transition to a new political and social framework in Syria.

The new authorities are putting a lot of weight on a National Dialogue Conference that is being prepared to bring together representatives from all sections of society – although no date has been set.

The hope is that the conference will set in motion the process to rebuild the institutions of the broken and divided country.

There will be multiple days of ceremonies and services in Washington, DC to mourn the passing of US president Jimmy Carter, who died at age 100.

Former President Carter will be honoured at a state funeral on 9 January before he is buried in his hometown of Plains, Georgia, alongside his wife, Rosalynn, who died last year at 96.

Carter passed away on Sunday two years after entering into hospice care.

Here's what to know about the upcoming service.

Where is the funeral?

Carter - who served as president from 1977 to 1981 - will be commemorated at a state funeral in Washington, DC on 9 January.

The former president's family accepted an invitation on Monday for Carter to lie in state at the US Capitol Rotunda, with a service to be held at Washington National Cathedral.

Carter's remains will be at the Capitol beginning on the afternoon of 7 January, and they will be kept there until the morning of 9 January. The building will be open to the public during "designated times" for those who wish to pay their respects.

The US federal government will be closed on 9 January for a national day of mourning "as a mark of respect for James Earl Carter, Jr", President Joe Biden said in an executive order.

Will there be other ceremonies?

The state funeral will not be the only service for the 39th president.

On 4 January, a motorcade will drive through Carter's small hometown of Plains, Georgia, and stop by his childhood home before proceeding to Atlanta for a public service at the Carter Presidential Center.

Carter's remains will be at the presidential library on 5 January and 6 January.

After both the Georgia and Washington, DC services, the former president will be laid to rest for a final time in Plains during a private ceremony.

Who will attend the state funeral?

Biden will be delivering the eulogy at Carter's Washington, DC funeral, after the 39th president asked him to in March 2023, according to Biden.

Former presidents and first ladies typically attend funerals of former presidents, so First Lady Jill Biden and others like former Democratic President Barack Obama could be in attendance. Hillary and Bill Clinton are also expected to attend.

President-elect Donald Trump's plans are unclear. He did not attend Rosalyn Carter's funeral last year, but his wife Melania did - along with all the former first ladies.

He did, however, attend the Washington service for George HW Bush, the last former president to die, in 2018.

Hollywood stars Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt have reached a divorce settlement after eight years, her lawyer has told media.

There was no immediate comment from Mr Pitt's attorney when they were approached for comment, the Associated Press reports.

The couple got married in 2014 and they have six children.

In 2021 a judge awarded joint custody of the children to both parents.

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Guantanamo Bay inmate Ridah Bin Saleh al-Yazidi has been repatriated to Tunisia, the US Department of Defense says.

He was found eligible for transfer from the detention facility after a "rigorous interagency review process", a press statement said.

The Pentagon did not say if Mr Yazidi had accepted any guilt.

Since 2002, the Guantanamo Bay detention facility has been used to hold what the US describes as captured unlawful combatants during America's "war on terror".

The camp is part of a US naval base complex in south-eastern Cuba.

The Pentagon statement said 26 detainees remained at Guantanamo Bay, of whom 14 were eligible for transfer.

A Seoul court has issued an arrest warrant against South Korea's suspended president Yoon Suk Yeol over his attempt to impose martial law on 3 December.

The warrant comes after Yoon, who is facing several investigations on insurrection and treason charges, ignored three summonses to appear for questioning over the past two weeks.

On Sunday night, investigators sought an arrest warrant for Yoon on charges of insurrection and abuse of power - a move that his lawyer described as "illegal".

South Korea has been in political crisis since the short-lived martial law declaration, with Yoon and a successor both impeached by parliament.

Yoon is South Korea's first sitting president to face an arrest.

Investigators have until 6 January to execute the warrant and can request for an extension.

It is unclear, however, if investigators will be able to execute the warrant as they may be thwarted by his security team and protesters.

The presidential security service had earlier blocked investigators from entering the presidential office grounds and Yoon's private residence to conduct court-approved searches.

In the past, South Korean authorities have given up arrest attempts against prominent politicians after their aides and supporters have physically blocked the police.

On Monday, Yoon's legal team said that investigators had no authority to arrest him, as declaring martial law was within the president's constitutional authority.

Yoon had earlier defended his decision to declare martial law and vowed to "fight to the end" - though he also said that he would not avoid his legal and political responsibilities.

His lawyer, Yun Gap-geun, said that Yoon's failure to comply with the earlier three summonses was due to "legitimate concerns".

Yoon's whereabouts are not publicly known, but he has been banned from leaving the country.

While he has been suspended from presidential duties since 14 December after lawmakers voted to impeach him, he can only be removed from office if his impeachment is sustained by the country's constitutional court.

There are currently only six judges on the constitutional court's nine-member bench. This means a single rejection would save Yoon from being removed.

Opposition lawmakers had hoped the nomination of three additional judges would improve the odds of Yoon getting impeached, but their proposal was vetoed by prime minister Han Duck-soo last week.

The opposition has since then voted to impeach Han, who had stepped in as acting leader after Yoon was suspended.

Now, they are threatening to do the same to finance minister Choi Sang-mok, who currently serves as both acting president and acting prime minister.

Additional reporting by Kelly Ng

Two men were found dead in a remote forest while searching for Sasquatch, according to authorities in Washington State.

The two men from Portland, Oregon were found dead after a three-day search was launched on Christmas Day after a family member reported that the pair had not returned from a trip to the Gifford Pinchot National Forest.

The "grueling" search involved over 60 volunteers searching with aircrafts and dogs in "heavily wooded" terrain and brutally-cold weather conditions, the Skamania County Sheriff's Office said in a news release.

"Both deaths appear to be due to exposure, based on weather conditions and ill-preparedness," the statement said.

• The true origin of Sasquatch

The sheriff's office found a car belonging to the victims near the town of Willard, the statement said, and the search re-focused to that area. Drones were also used, and a Coast Guard helicopter team was called in to help with the search.

Officials have not provided the names of the two victims, aged 37 and 59.

Weather conditions in the Cascade mountains had been frigid in the days before and during the search, which included snow, freezing rain and temperatures falling below freezing.

Rescuers also had to battle high water levels in rivers and fallen trees.

Hundreds of sightings of Sasquatch, which is also commonly known as Bigfoot, have been reported in the Pacific Northwest of the United States and western Canada. Alongside the Loch Ness Monster, the creature is one of the world's most famous cryptids.

There have been so many alleged sightings that some communities have taken measures to protect the hairy mythic creature.

In Skamania County, harming a Sasquatch carries of fine of $1,000 and one year in prison. The law, initially passed in 1969, was intended to protect both Sasquatch and elk hunters with particularly large beards, according to the Skamania Chamber of Commerce.

A fund created by the US government to help compensate victims of the late fraudster Bernard Madoff has begun making its final round of payments, according to a statement by the Department of Justice (DoJ).

The payouts being made by the Madoff Victim Fund (MVF) are worth $131.4m (£104.6m) and are set to bring the total amount it has handed out to 40,930 claimants to $4.3bn.

Madoff, a Wall Street financier disgraced after he admitted to one of the biggest frauds in US financial history, died in prison in 2021.

He had been serving a 150-year sentence after pleading guilty in 2009 to running a so-called Ponzi scheme, which paid investors with money from new clients rather than actual profits.

"MVF's distributions offset one of the most monstrous financial crimes ever committed," said Richard C Breeden, who runs the MVF.

Mr Breeden is a former chairman of the US financial regulator, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

"We have brought tens of thousands of victims to the greatest recovery we could achieve," he added.

Madoff's victims were a mixture of wealthy individuals, less well-off people and companies - both large and small - as well as schools, charities and pension funds.

The MFV estimates it will have recovered nearly 94% of the victims' proven losses when it completes its mission in 2025.

Another $14.7bn has been returned through bankruptcy proceedings to Madoff customers.

Madoff's investment firm collapsed during the 2008 financial crisis.

Set up in 1960, Bernard L Madoff Investment Securities became one of Wall Street's largest market-makers - matching buyers and sellers of stocks - and Madoff served as chairman of the Nasdaq stock trading platform.

Over the years, the firm was investigated eight times by SEC because it made exceptional returns.

But it was the global recession which prompted the firm's demise as Madoff investors, hit by the downturn, tried to withdraw about $7bn and he could not find the money to cover it.

The list of those scammed included actor Kevin Bacon, Hall of Fame baseball player Sandy Koufax and film director Steven Spielberg's charitable foundation, Wunderkinder.

UK banks were also among those who lost money, with HSBC Holdings saying it had exposure of around $1bn. Other corporate victims were Royal Bank of Scotland and Man Group and Japan's Nomura Holdings.

Sila was less than three weeks old when her mother Nariman realised she wasn't moving.

"I woke up in the morning and told my husband that the baby hadn't stirred for a while. He uncovered her face and found her blue, biting her tongue, with blood coming out of her mouth," says Nariman al-Najmeh.

In their tent situated on the beach in southern Gaza, Nariman is sitting with her husband, Mahmoud Fasih, and their two young children - Rayan, who is four years old, and Nihad, who is two and a half.

The family say they have been displaced more than 10 times during the 14-month war.

"My husband is a fisherman, we're from the north and left without anything but we did it for our children," says Nariman in an interview with a freelance cameraman working with the BBC. Israel prevents international media from entering and freely working on the ground in Gaza.

"When I was pregnant, I used to think about how I was going to get clothes for the baby. I was really worried because my husband doesn't have work."

During her 20 days of life, Sila's home was the small and overcrowded campsite in the al-Mawasi "humanitarian area", where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians displaced from elsewhere in the territory have been ordered to move by the Israeli military.

The area suffers from poor infrastructure and sanitation, as well as flooding caused by both rain and waves from the Mediterranean Sea.

"The cold is bitter and harsh. All night, because of the cold, we huddle together, curling up next to each other," says Sila's father, Mahmoud.

"Our life is hell. It's hell because of the effects of the war, my family was martyred, and our situation is unbearable."

Despite telling civilians to head to the area, the Israeli military has struck al-Mawasi repeatedly during its campaign against Hamas and other armed groups in Gaza.

Sila's death was not by bombardment - but still caused by the punishing conditions that the war is imposing upon civilians.

She is one of six newborns who have died from hypothermia within a two-week period in Gaza - where night-time temperatures have fallen to 7C (45F) - according to the local health authorities, who have also reported that many thousands of tents have been damaged by the weather.

Nariman says Sila was born at a British field hospital established in the Khan Younis area.

"After I gave birth... I started thinking about how I could secure her milk, nappies. Everything I got, I got with great difficulty."

"I never thought I would give birth living in a tent, in such cold and freezing conditions, with water dripping on us. Water would leak into the tent, pouring down on us. At times, we had to run to escape the water - for the baby's sake," says Nariman.

Still, Sila was born without complications.

"Her health was good, thank God, Suddenly, she started to be affected by the cold," says Nariman. "I noticed she was sneezing and seemed to get sick from the cold, but I never expected she would die because of it."

Sila was admitted last Wednesday to Nasser hospital in Khan Younis, where Dr Ahmad al-Farra, the director of its paediatric department, said she had suffered from "severe hypothermia, leading to the cessation of vital signs, cardiac arrest, and eventually death".

"[On the previous day] as well, two cases were brought in: one was a three-day-old baby and the other was less than a month old. Both cases involved severe hypothermia, resulting in death," says Dr Farra.

Babies have an underdeveloped mechanism for maintaining their own body temperature and may develop hypothermia easily in a cold environment. Premature babies are especially vulnerable, and Dr Farra says Gaza's medics have observed an increase in the number of premature births during the war.

Mothers are also suffering from malnutrition, leaving to them unable to breastfeed their babies sufficiently. There is also a scarcity of infant formula because of humanitarian aid deliveries being restricted, according to Dr Farra.

Then on Sunday, another, tragic case.

Outside al-Aqsa hospital in central Gaza, a second local cameraman working with the BBC met Yehia al-Batran, who couldn't contain his anguish as he carried his dead baby son, Jumaa. Like Sila, he was also only 20 days old and was blue with cold.

"Touch him with your hand, he's frozen," said Yehia. "All eight of us, we don't have four blankets between us. What can I do? I see my children dying in front of me."

"These preventable deaths lay bare the desperate and deteriorating conditions facing families and children across Gaza," Unicef regional director Edouard Beigbeder said in a statement on Thursday.

"With temperatures expected to drop further in the coming days, it is tragically foreseeable that more children's lives will be lost to the inhumane conditions they are enduring."

Under the sound of Israeli drones flying ahead, Sila's father Mahmoud carried her lifeless body from Nasser hospital to a makeshift graveyard in Khan Younis. There, he dug a small grave in the sand.

After laying Sila to rest, Mahmoud comforted Nariman.

"Her siblings are sick, exhausted. We're all sick. Our chests hurt, and we have colds from the cold and rain," says Nariman. "If we don't die from the war, we're dying from the cold."

There will be multiple days of ceremonies and services in Washington, DC to mourn the passing of US president Jimmy Carter, who died at age 100.

Former President Carter will be honoured at a state funeral on 9 January before he is buried in his hometown of Plains, Georgia, alongside his wife, Rosalynn, who died last year at 96.

Carter passed away on Sunday two years after entering into hospice care.

Here's what to know about the upcoming service.

Where is the funeral?

Carter - who served as president from 1977 to 1981 - will be commemorated at a state funeral in Washington, DC on 9 January.

The former president's family accepted an invitation on Monday for Carter to lie in state at the US Capitol Rotunda, with a service to be held at Washington National Cathedral.

Carter's remains will be at the Capitol beginning on the afternoon of 7 January, and they will be kept there until the morning of 9 January. The building will be open to the public during "designated times" for those who wish to pay their respects.

The US federal government will be closed on 9 January for a national day of mourning "as a mark of respect for James Earl Carter, Jr", President Joe Biden said in an executive order.

Will there be other ceremonies?

The state funeral will not be the only service for the 39th president.

On 4 January, a motorcade will drive through Carter's small hometown of Plains, Georgia, and stop by his childhood home before proceeding to Atlanta for a public service at the Carter Presidential Center.

Carter's remains will be at the presidential library on 5 January and 6 January.

After both the Georgia and Washington, DC services, the former president will be laid to rest for a final time in Plains during a private ceremony.

Who will attend the state funeral?

Biden will be delivering the eulogy at Carter's Washington, DC funeral, after the 39th president asked him to in March 2023, according to Biden.

Former presidents and first ladies typically attend funerals of former presidents, so First Lady Jill Biden and others like former Democratic President Barack Obama could be in attendance. Hillary and Bill Clinton are also expected to attend.

President-elect Donald Trump's plans are unclear. He did not attend Rosalyn Carter's funeral last year, but his wife Melania did - along with all the former first ladies.

He did, however, attend the Washington service for George HW Bush, the last former president to die, in 2018.

A Chinese state-sponsored hacker has broken into the US Treasury Department's systems, accessing employee workstations and some unclassified documents, officials said on Monday.

The breach occurred in early December and was made public in a letter penned by the Treasury Department to lawmakers notifying them of the incident.

In the letter the Treasury Department said the China-based actor was able to override security via a key used by a third-party service provider that offers remote technical support to its employees.

The US agency characterised the breach as a "major incident", and said it had been working with the FBI and other agencies to investigate the impact.

The compromised third-party service - called BeyondTrust - has since been taken offline, officials said. They added that there is no evidence to suggest the hacker has continued to access Treasury Department information since.

Along with the FBI, the Department has been working with the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and third-party forensic investigators to determine the breach's overall impact.

Based on evidence it has gathered so far, officials said the hack appears to have been carried out by "a China-based Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) actor."

"In accordance with Treasury policy, intrusions attributable to an APT are considered a major cybersecurity incident," Treasury Department officials wrote in their letter to lawmakers.

The Department was made aware of the hack on 8 December by BeyondTrust, a spokesperson told the BBC. The agency immediately notified law enforcement.

The spokesperson added that the hacker was able to remotely access several Treasury user workstations and certain unclassified documents that were kept by those users.

The Department did not specify the nature of these files, or when and for how long the hack took place.

The spokesperson said the Treasury Department "takes very seriously all threats against our systems, and the data it holds," and that it will continue to work on protecting its data from outside threats.

China has been accused of spying in the past by US officials. It has regularly denied such accusations.

This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly. Please refresh the page for the fullest version.

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Two men were found dead in a remote forest while searching for Sasquatch, according to authorities in Washington State.

The two men from Portland, Oregon were found dead after a three-day search was launched on Christmas Day after a family member reported that the pair had not returned from a trip to the Gifford Pinchot National Forest.

The "grueling" search involved over 60 volunteers searching with aircrafts and dogs in "heavily wooded" terrain and brutally-cold weather conditions, the Skamania County Sheriff's Office said in a news release.

"Both deaths appear to be due to exposure, based on weather conditions and ill-preparedness," the statement said.

• The true origin of Sasquatch

The sheriff's office found a car belonging to the victims near the town of Willard, the statement said, and the search re-focused to that area. Drones were also used, and a Coast Guard helicopter team was called in to help with the search.

Officials have not provided the names of the two victims, aged 37 and 59.

Weather conditions in the Cascade mountains had been frigid in the days before and during the search, which included snow, freezing rain and temperatures falling below freezing.

Rescuers also had to battle high water levels in rivers and fallen trees.

Hundreds of sightings of Sasquatch, which is also commonly known as Bigfoot, have been reported in the Pacific Northwest of the United States and western Canada. Alongside the Loch Ness Monster, the creature is one of the world's most famous cryptids.

There have been so many alleged sightings that some communities have taken measures to protect the hairy mythic creature.

In Skamania County, harming a Sasquatch carries of fine of $1,000 and one year in prison. The law, initially passed in 1969, was intended to protect both Sasquatch and elk hunters with particularly large beards, according to the Skamania Chamber of Commerce.

Aviation experts have raised questions about an "unusual" concrete wall near the runway and its role in the South Korea plane crash that killed 179 people.

Footage shows the Jeju Air plane coming off the runway before colliding with the wall and bursting into flames at Muan International Airport.

Authorities investigating the cause of South Korea's worst-ever plane crash are considering the significance of the concrete wall's location about 250m (820ft) off the end of the runway.

Air safety expert David Learmount said that if the "obstruction" was not there, the plane "would have been come to rest with most - possibly all - those on board still alive".

The pilot reported that the plane had struck a bird and then aborted the original landing and requested permission to land from the opposite direction.

The plane came down some distance along the 2,800m runway and appeared to land without using its wheels or any other landing gear.

Mr Learmount said the landing was "as good as a flapless/gearless touchdown could be: wings level, nose not too high to avoid breaking the tail" and the plane had not sustained substantial damage as it slid along the runway.

"The reason so many people died was not the landing as such, but the fact that the aircraft collided with a very hard obstruction just beyond the runway end," he said.

Christian Beckert, a Lufthansa pilot based in Munich, called the concrete structure "unusual", telling Reuters news agency: "Normally, on an airport with a runway at the end, you don't have a wall."

The concrete structure holds a navigation system that assists aircraft landings - known as a localiser - according to South Korea's Yonhap News Agency.

At 4m high, it is covered with dirt and was raised to keep the localiser level with the runway to ensure it functions properly, Yonhap reported.

South Korea's transport ministry has said that other airports in the country and some overseas have the equipment installed with concrete structures. However officials will examine whether it should have been made with lighter materials that would break more easily upon impact.

Chris Kingswood, a pilot with 48 years' experience who has flown the same type of aircraft involved in the crash, told BBC News: "Obstacles within a certain range and distance of the runway are required to be frangible, which means that if an aircraft strikes them that they do break.

"It does seem unusual that it's such a rigid thing. The aircraft, from what I understand, was travelling very fast, landed a long way down the runway, so it will have gone a long way past the end of the runway... so where will you draw the line with that? That's certainly something that will be investigated.

"Aeroplanes are not strong structures - they are, by design, light to make them efficient in flight. They're not really designed to go high-speed on its belly so any kind of structure could cause the fuselage to break up and then be catastrophic.

• Could a bird strike have caused S Korea plane crash?
• 'It's unbearable': Families criticise lack of updates
• What we know about the South Korea plane crash so far

"The fuel is kept in the wings so once the wing ruptures, then the potential for fire is significant.

"So it's not a given that if the wall had not been there, it would have been a completely different outcome."

Mr Kingswood said he would be "surprised if the airfield hadn't met all the requirements in accordance with industry standards".

"I suspect if we went around the airfields at a lot of major international airports... we would find a lot of obstacles that could similarly be accused of presenting a hazard," he added.

Aviation analyst Sally Gethin questioned whether the pilot knew the barrier was there, particularly given the plane was approaching from the opposite direction from the usual landing approach.

She told BBC News: "We need to know, were (the pilots) aware there was this hard boundary at the end?

"If they were directed by the control tower to reverse the use of the runway the second time around, that should come out in the investigation of the black boxes.

"I think there are so many questions."

The World Health Organization has urged China to share data on the origins of the Covid pandemic, five years on from its start in the city of Wuhan.

"This is a moral and scientific imperative," the WHO said in a statement to mark what it called the "milestone" anniversary.

"Without transparency, sharing, and co-operation among countries, the world cannot adequately prevent and prepare for future epidemics and pandemics," it added.

Many scientists think the virus transferred naturally from animals to humans, but some suspicions persist that it escaped from a laboratory in Wuhan.

However, in September, a team of scientists said it was "beyond reasonable doubt" that the Covid pandemic started with infected animals sold at a market, rather than a laboratory leak.

They came to this conclusion after analysing hundreds of samples collected from Wuhan in January 2020.

• Covid origin studies say evidence points to Wuhan market
• Covid origin: Why the Wuhan lab-leak theory is so disputed

In its statement, the WHO went back to the early days of Covid and traced its evolution from a local phenomenon to a global scourge, leading to lockdowns around the world and the ultimately successful race to develop vaccines.

"Five years ago on 31 December 2019, WHO's Country Office in China picked up a media statement by the Wuhan Municipal Health Commission from their website on cases of 'viral pneumonia' in Wuhan, China," the organisation said.

"In the weeks, months and years that unfolded after that, Covid-19 came to shape our lives and our world," it went on.

The WHO said it "went to work immediately" as 2020 dawned. It recalled how its employees activated emergency systems on 1 January and informed the world three days later.

"By 9-12 January, WHO had published its first set of comprehensive guidance for countries, and on 13 January, we brought together partners to publish the blueprint of the first Sars-CoV-2 laboratory test," it added.

The WHO said it wanted to "honour the lives changed and lost, recognise those who are suffering from Covid-19 and long Covid, express gratitude to the health workers who sacrificed so much to care for us, and commit to learning from Covid-19 to build a healthier tomorrow".

In May 2023, the WHO declared that Covid-19 no longer represented a "global health emergency".

Its director general, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said at the time that at least seven million people had died in the pandemic.

But he added that the true figure was "likely" closer to 20 million deaths - nearly three times the official estimate.

Since then, the WHO has repeatedly warned against complacency about the possible emergence of future Covid-like illnesses.

Dr Ghebreyesus has said the next pandemic "can come at any moment" and has urged the world to be prepared.

Iranian authorities have confirmed for the first time that Italian journalist Cecilia Sala was arrested in the country on the grounds of "violation of the Islamic Republic's laws".

It comes as a US state department spokesperson told Italian daily newspaper La Repubblica that Ms Sala's case could be linked to the recent arrest of an Iranian citizen in Milan at the request of the United States.

Ms Sala, a 29-year-old journalist and the host of a popular news and foreign affairs podcast, was detained in Iran on 19 December, the day before she was supposed to fly home from a reporting trip.

She is now reportedly being held in solitary confinement in Teheran's Evin prison.

On 16 December, Iranian national Mohammad Abedini was arrested in Milan on charges of supplying electronic parts for drones to the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), resulting in the deaths of three American soldiers. The US is currently seeking Mr Abedini's extradition from Italy.

The US state department spokesperson quoted by La Repubblica said Ms Sala was being used as "political leverage".

Neither the Italian nor the Iranian governments have confirmed any link between Cecilia Sala and Mohammad Abedini.

However, on 21 December, Iran's Foreign Ministry summoned a senior Italian diplomat over Mr Abedini's arrest.

Italy denounced Ms Sala's arrest as "unacceptable" and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said that efforts to free her were "complicated".

"There is a certain amount of goodwill, especially in terms of the way Cecilia is being treated," he told Italian TV. However, he added that negotiations were "very delicate" and that he could not guess how long it would take to secure her release.

Ms Sala's employer, podcast company Chora Media, broke the news of her arrest on 27 December.

The company said it had initially kept quiet for a week on the request of Ms Sala's family and the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs "hoping this silence would lead to her swift release. Unfortunately, this has not yet happened."

Defence Minister Guido Crosetto said that the entire Italian government was "working tirelessly" to ensure Ms Sala's release.

"Negotiations with Iran won't be solved by involving Western public opinion... but through high-level political and diplomatic action," he wrote on X.

Ms Sala has been granted consular access and is in contact with her family by phone, the Iranian Culture Ministry said.

One of Ms Sala's colleagues at Chora Media said she had been allowed to receive a "care package" in jail with a panettone, chocolate, cigarettes and an eye mask to allow her to sleep despite the prison's bright lights, which are never turned off.

Cecilia Sala's popular daily podcast covers a different angle of a current affairs story in each episode.

The last one was published a day before her arrest and focused on Zeynab Mousavi, a female stand-up comedian who was detained by the Iranian authorities and placed in solitary confinement.

Russia and Ukraine have exchanged hundreds of prisoners of war, the Russian defence ministry says.

In a deal brokered by the United Arab Emirates, Russia said it had swapped 150 Ukrainian soldiers held captive for an equal number of Russian troops.

The released Russian troops were in Belarus, an ally of Russia, and were being given medical assistance and the chance to contact their families, the Russian defence ministry said. Ukraine has not yet commented.

Before the latest swap, there had been just 10 prisoner exchanges between the countries this year.

Petro Yatsenko from Ukraine's Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War previously told the BBC that negotiations with Moscow over prisoner swaps had become more difficult since Russian forces began making significant advances on the front line.

Ukraine does not publish numbers of prisoners of war being held by Russia, but the total is thought to be over 8,000.

Russia has made significant gains on the battlefield this year, which has raised fears that the numbers of Ukrainians being captured is on the rise.

This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly. Please refresh the page for the fullest version.

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A festive trip to Thailand was supposed to be a celebration for Maeng Gi-Su's nephew and his nephew's two sons, who were marking the end of their college entrance exams.

Instead, it ended in tragedy when all three died on the Jeju Air plane that crash-landed in South Korea on Sunday morning, killing 179 of the 181 people onboard.

"I can't believe the entire family has just disappeared," Maeng, 78, told the BBC.

"My heart aches so much."

The family were among those travelling on flight 7C2216 from Bangkok to Muan International Airport, which skidded off the runway after touching down and crashed into a wall shortly after 09:00 local time (00:00 GMT) on Sunday.

All of the passengers on the Boeing 737-800 died, making it the deadliest plane crash on South Korean soil.

Four crew members died, while two were rescued from the wreckage alive.

The 179 passengers were aged between three and 78 years old, although most were in their 40s, 50s and 60s, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported. Two Thai nationals are among the dead and the rest are believed to be South Korean, authorities have said.

Five of the people who died were children under the age of 10, while the youngest passenger, a little boy, was just three years old.

One man in his sixties said five of his family members spanning three generations had been on the plane, including his sister-in-law, his daughter, her husband and their young children, according to Yonhap news agency.

Many of the passengers had been celebrating the Christmas holidays in Thailand and were returning home.

The cousin of one victim, Jongluk Doungmanee, told BBC Thai she was "shocked" when she heard the news.

"I had goosebumps. I couldn't believe it," Pornphichaya Chalermsin said.

Jongluk had spent over two weeks in Thailand visiting her family and traveling in the northern city of Chiang Mai with her husband.

• Did bird strike contribute to South Korea plane crash? What we know so far

A 71-year-old father, Jeon Je-young, told the Reuters news agency that his daughter Mi-Sook, who was identified by her fingerprints, had been on her way home after travelling with friends to Bangkok for the festivities.

"My daughter, who is only in her mid-40s, ended up like this," he said, adding that he had last seen her on 21 December, when she brought some food and next year's calendar to his house - that would become their last moment together.

Mi-Sook leaves behind a husband and teenage daughter.

"This is unbelievable", said Jeon.

One woman said her sister, who had been having a tough time had gone to Thailand as life began to improve for her.

"She's had so many hardships and gone traveling because her situation was only just beginning to improve," she told Yonhap news agency.

The two flight attendants who survived the crash were found in the tail end of the plane, the most intact part of the wreckage.

One was a 33-year-old man, with the surname Lee, who was rushed to a hospital in Mokpo, about 25km (15.5 mi) south of the airport, but was later transferred to Ewha Womans University Seoul Hospital in the capital, Yonhap news agency reported.

"When I woke up, I had already been rescued," he told doctors at the hospital, according to its director Ju Woong, who spoke during a press briefing.

The survivor, who suffered multiple fractures, is receiving special care due to the risk of after-effects, including total paralysis, Ju said.

The other survivor, a 25-year-old female flight attendant with the surname Koo, is being treated at Asan Medical Center in eastern Seoul, Yonhap added.

She has sustained head and ankle injuries but is reportedly in a stable condition.

It's not yet known exactly what caused the disaster, but a number of eye witnesses say they could see that the plane was in trouble before the crash.

Restaurant owner Im Young-Hak said he initially thought it was an oil tanker accident.

"I went outside and saw thick, dark smoke. After that, I heard a loud explosion, not from the crash itself. Then there were more explosions – at least seven," he told Reuters.

"We feel bad when accidents happen on the other side of the world, but this happened right here. It's traumatic."

Yoo Jae-yong, 41, who was staying near to the airport, told local media he saw a spark on the right wing shortly before the crash.

Kim Yong-cheol, 70, said the plane failed to land initially and circled back to try again.

He added that he witnessed "black smoke billowing into the sky" after hearing a "loud explosion", Yonhap agency reported.

One firefighter who was dispatched to the scene told Reuters he had never seen something "on this scale".

BBC reporters on the ground have said the sounds of family members crying echoed through the terminal on Sunday evening, while others are angry at how long it is taking to identify the bodies.

Hundreds remain at Muan International Airport waiting for loved ones to be identified.

Some have given DNA saliva samples to officials to help identify the bodies of victims, and the government has offered funeral services and temporary housing to bereaved families.

A national period of mourning has also been declared for the next seven days.

But for all the loved ones of those who died, many questions still remain - not least the cause of the crash, and whether it could have been averted.

"The water near the airport is not deep," Jeon told Reuters.

"(There) are softer fields than this cement runway. Why couldn't the pilot land there instead?"

His daughter Mi-Sook was almost home, so saw no reason to call and leave a final message, he says.

"She was almost home - she thought she was coming home".

Additional Reporting by BBC Thai's Thanyaporn Buathong

Former President Jimmy Carter's state funeral will take place on 9 January at the Washington National Cathedral, part of a national day of mourning for the longest-lived US president.

Walter Mondale, who served as Carter's vice-president, had intended to give the eulogy for his former boss, but he died in 2021. Mondale's son plans to read the eulogy at the funeral, according to the New York Times.

Other details are emerging on how the country will pay tribute to the world-renowned humanitarian, who died on Sunday, aged 100, at his home in Plains, Georgia.

There will also be public ceremonies in Atlanta, Georgia, before Carter is buried in Plains, according to the Carter Center.

Following US custom marking the death of important figures and leaders, President Joe Biden has ordered US flags on federal properties to be flown at half-staff for 30 days. The timespan will include the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump.

On Sunday, Biden also directed the State Department to begin preparation for Carter's state funeral in Washington. By tradition, that will include a public viewing at the US Capitol where people will file through the building's rotunda to pay respects, including lawmakers and everyday Americans.

Carter will then be buried on his family's property, next to his wife, Rosalynn, who died at 96 in November 2023.

Biden has asked that 9 January be used to pay homage to America's 39th president, James Earl Carter Jr.

"He embodied the very best of America: A humble servant of God and the people," he said in a statement.

Trump wrote on Truth Social that though he and Carter disagreed philosophically, Carter was "a truly good man" and had his "highest respect".

Other US leaders have also put out statements praising Carter's life and work, including former presidents Bill Clinton and George W Bush.

Former President Barack Obama said Carter "taught all of us what it means to live a life of grace, dignity, justice and service".

Carter, the former Georgia peanut farmer turned Naval officer turned US president, held office from 1977-1981.

During his time in the White House, he championed causes for global peace, the environment and human rights, and later earned a Nobel Peace Prize in 2002.

One of his most notable achievements in office was brokering a peace deal in the Middle East between Egypt in Israel.

However, Carter's accomplishments as president were eclipsed by a crumbling US economy and what he called "a crisis of confidence".

He served only one term in the White House and lost in a sweeping defeat to Ronald Reagan in 1980.

Much of Carter's legacy was built from his post-presidential life.

He continued to work towards global peace and met with international leaders; he established the Carter Center, a non-profit launched to help eradicate disease; and, well into his 90s, he worked with Habitat for Humanity to help build and repair homes.

"We are deeply saddened by President Carter's passing, and our prayers are with the Carter family," said Jonathan Reckford, CEO of Habitat for Humanity International.

Dominique Pelicot, the 72-year-old man who drugged and raped his wife Gisèle and recruited dozens of men to rape her over a decade, will not appeal against his 20-year jail sentence, his lawyer Béatrice Zavarro said.

However, 17 of the 49 men who were convicted of raping or sexually assaulting Ms Pelicot at Dominique's behest have said they will appeal.

More could follow before the window to lodge appeals closes at midnight on 30 December.

Ms Zavarro told French media that Dominique Pelicot - who admitted his guilt - had decided not to appeal as he did not want to inflict a "new ordeal" on Ms Pelicot, who attended court for the vast majority of the 15-week-long trial.

"He felt that this decision was in line with the position he had always taken in the trial, namely that Ms Pelicot was not and never had been his adversary," Ms Zavarro said, adding that Dominique Pelicot wanted to be "done" with this case.

He will need to be present in court as a witness during the appeals trial.

Although Ms Pelicot is under no obligation to attend the proceedings, her lawyer Stéphane Babonneau told French media that she would "face those who appealed. She's not scared of that, although she obviously would have rather it ended here."

Under French law, a new trial will have to be held over the next 12 months. However, unlike the first trial, it will be judged by three magistrates and a jury made up of nine members of the public.

While this will not necessarily result in harsher sentences, the trial's huge resonance and media coverage may mean the jury ends up being less lenient than the judges.

Although they will be closely vetted, "members of the jury are humans like you and I and may well have preconceptions," lawyer Hansu Yalaz told the BBC.

• Who are the men convicted in the Gisèle Pelicot rape trial?
• Dominique Pelicot: Who is the man who plotted his wife's mass rape?

Among the men who have appealed are Charly Arbo, now 30, who was sentenced to 13 years in jail for raping Ms Pelicot on six separate occasions when he was in his early 20s.

Construction worker Simoné Mekenese, 43, and nurse Redouane El Farihi, 55, who were sentenced to nine and eight years respectively, have also appealed.

Many of the men argued they were "manipulated" by Pelicot into raping his wife, and that they were not aware she had not given her consent.

"Since the start, my client has said he... never meant to rape Gisele Pelicot," said Mekenese's lawyer Yannick Prat, adding that the nine-year jail sentence was "disproportionate".

He admitted the prospect of facing a popular jury could result in a heftier sentence, but said he would be "absolutely happy" to work with jurors.

"I will ask them to put themselves in the shoes of every party in this trial," he said.

Lawyer Louis-Alain Lemaire said one of his clients, who was sentenced to eight years' imprisonment, was appealing the guilty verdict as "there was no criminal intention on his part".

But other defence lawyers feel that an appeal would be a risky gamble.

On the day the verdicts were handed down, lawyer Patrick Gontard told the BBC that while appeals are usually lodged in the hope of shaving off a few years from a jail sentence, all the men - including his client - had already been handed lighter sentences than had been asked by prosecutor.

Dominique Pelicot - who his daughter Caroline once called "one of the worst sexual predators of the last 20 years" - drugged, raped and incited others to rape his wife Gisèle for at least a decade.

He filmed many of the rapes, which allowed investigators to track down dozens of men. Fifty were eventually arrested, but about 20 individuals were never identified and are believed to be still at large.

The court found 47 of the men guilty of rape, two guilty of attempted rape, and two guilty of sexual assault.

Six men were allowed to walk free from court, in most cases because of the time they had already spent in pre-trial detention.

The proceedings - which lasted from September to December - garnered worldwide attention thanks to Gisèle Pelicot's decision to waive her anonymity and open the trial to the public and the media.

She said she did so in order to help other victims of rape: "I want them to say: if Madame Pelicot did it, I can too."

"Victims of rape are often ashamed, but it's not on us to have shame. It's on them," she said.

At least four people have been killed after dozens of tornadoes swept across the southern US, causing extensive property damage and leaving tens of thousands of people without power.

On Saturday and Sunday, nearly 40 tornadoes were reported in Texas, North Carolina, Louisiana, Georgia and Arkansas.

Two of the deaths took place in Mississippi, with one more each in Texas and North Carolina.

About 80 people are killed each year by tornadoes in the US, according to National Weather Service (NWS) statistics.

Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves said one of the two deaths in the state had taken place in Adams County - about 92 miles (148km) west of the city of Jackson.

The second death took place in Lowndes County on the state's border with Alabama. At least ten people were injured across the state.

As of 10:30 local time on Monday (15:30 GMT), nearly 32,000 people were still without power in Mississippi, down from about 100,000 after the storms struck over the weekend, according to website PowerOutage.us.

In Texas, a tornado watch on 28 December received a rare "particularly dangerous situation" designation from the Storm Prediction Center - a rare occurrence which takes place for only approximately 7% of tornadoes each year.

While there is no official criteria for issuing similar warnings, they are usually given when forecasters believe that multiple "strong" or "violent" tornadoes are imminent in a given area.

A 48-year-old woman was killed in Texas' Brazoria County, near the state's Gulf Coast, according to the local sheriff's office. Four people also received non-critical injuries.

In Texas' Montgomery County, north of Houston, approximately 300 buildings were damaged - including 30 completely destroyed - after tornadoes with winds of up to 145mph (233 km/h) swept through the area.

The fourth death took place in North Carolina, where the state's highway patrol said a 70-year-old man identified as Matthew Ronald Teeple was killed after being struck by a falling tree while driving.

According to NWS statistics, approximately 800 tornadoes are reported across the US in an average year, resulting in 80 deaths and 1,500 injuries.

This year, however, the US recorded 1,762 tornadoes between January and November - the most since 2011.

The parents of a teenage boy who killed nine children and a security guard in a mass shooting at a school in Serbia last year have been jailed.

In the May 2023 attack, the then 13-year-old killed nine children and a security guard at Vladislav Ribnikar elementary school in Belgrade.

The boy's father, Vladimir Kecmanoviæ, was sentenced to 14-and-a-half years imprisonment on Monday, while his mother, Miljana Kecmanoviæ, was given a three-year prison sentence.

Nemanja Marinkovic, an instructor at the Partizan shooting club who taught the boy how to use a gun, received a sentence of one year and three months.

The boy, who has been held in a psychiatric institution since the attack, cannot be put on trial because he is below the age of criminal responsibility.

However, his parents were accused of a "serious act against general safety" for failing to secure the weapons and ammunition properly. They denied the charges.

Their trial has been held behind closed doors.

At the high court in Belgrade on Monday, Vladimir was found guilty of endangering public safety by teaching his son to shoot and failing to secure his gun. He was also convicted of neglecting a minor.

Miljana was found guilty of neglecting a minor but acquitted of illegally possessing weapons and ammunition.

The boy, who has been identified only as KK, was brought to the court in October by a special escort, leaving the psychiatric hospital for the first time since the attack at Vladislav Ribnikar primary school.

He was questioned as a witness by the judge, the prosecutor and defence and lawyers for the families of the dead and wounded. He also answered questions from the mother of a murdered child.

Parents of the murdered children attended the hearing in the hope of shedding light on the motive for the boy's mass shooting.

A lawyer representing the families described it as "one of the most harrowing trials I have witnessed in my career".

Eight of the nine children KK murdered were girls.

Serbia was plunged into further grief less than 48 hours later, when another eight people were shot dead by a 21-year-old man in a village outside the capital.

Following his testimony at his parents' trial, the family's lawyer told reporters that the boy had lived a normal life before the shooting and no court process would be able to establish what had led to his attack.

Trinidad and Tobago has declared a state of emergency as gang violence in the Caribbean nation continues to escalate.

President Christine Carla Kangaloo issued the declaration on the advice of Prime Minister Keith Rowley, who had been under growing pressure to take action over worsening crime figures.

The twin-island republic has one of the highest homicide rates in Latin America and the Caribbean, with a record murder tally of more than 620 this year so far in a population of 1.5 million people.

Organised crime is responsible for the majority of the murders, many of them linked to the international drug trade.

According to the US state department, the country's close proximity to Venezuela, porous borders and direct transportation routes to Europe and North America make it "a prime location for narcotics trans-shipment".

In the latest violent incident, five men were shot dead in a shop in the poverty-stricken Laventille area on Sunday. Police believe the killings were in reprisal for the murder of a prominent gang member the previous day.

Details of the state of emergency have yet to be disclosed, but are expected to be announced at a news conference later on Monday.

The move comes as Trinidad and Tobago gears up for a general election, which must be held by August 2025.

Rowley's governing People's National Movement party, in power since September 2015, faces a strong challenge from the opposition United National Congress, led by former Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar.

The head of the World Health Organization has called for an end to attacks on hospitals in Gaza.

"Hospitals in Gaza have once again become battlegrounds and the health system is under severe threat," Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.

His warning came after the last functioning hospital in besieged northern Gaza, Kamal Adwan, was raided and forcibly evacuated by the Israeli military on Friday and two hospitals in Gaza City were attacked on Sunday. The military said two of the sites were being used as Hamas command centres.

Dr Tedros also joined rights groups and relatives calling for the immediate release of Kamal Adwan's director, Dr Hussam Abu Safiya, who was detained by Israeli forces.

The Israeli military said on Saturday that his hospital was a Hamas "stronghold" and that troops had killed about 20 "terrorists" and detained 240 others during the raid. It added that Dr Abu Safiya was among those taken for questioning and that he was "suspected of being a Hamas terrorist operative".

The military did not provide evidence for the allegations, which Hamas dismissed as "lies".

US-based MedGlobal condemned the detention of Dr Abu Safiya, who was its lead physician in Gaza, as "not only unjust" but also "a violation of international humanitarian law, which upholds the protection of medical personnel in conflict zones".

Dr Abu Safiya's family expressed concern about his health, saying he was still recovering from severe injuries sustained in an attack last month and that he was likely to be suffering from the cold because he had been forced to strip off his clothes.

Hamas also dismissed the Israeli allegations as "lies".

Dr Tedros said Kamal Adwan was out of service following the raid and that its critically ill patients had been transferred to the "out of function" Indonesian hospital, which he warned was severely damaged and had no ability to provide care.

"Amid ongoing chaos in northern Gaza, WHO and partners today delivered basic medical and hygiene supplies, food and water to Indonesian hospital and transferred 10 critical patients to al-Shifa Hospital [in Gaza City]," he said.

"Four patients were detained during the transfer. We urge Israel to ensure their health care needs and rights are upheld."

Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry said one of those detained patients was in a critical condition, and that seven patients and 10 medical staff remained at the Indonesian hospital.

Israeli forces launched a major ground offensive in the northern towns of Jabalia, Beit Lahia and Beit Hanoun on 6 October, saying it was stopping Hamas from regrouping there. The UN says the areas are under near-total siege and that humanitarian assistance has been largely denied by Israeli forces for more than 11 weeks.

Dr Tedros also said al-Ahli hospital and al-Wafa Rehabilitation hospital in Gaza City "also faced attacks" and were both damaged.

On Sunday, seven people were killed and other seriously wounded in an Israeli strike on the upper floor of al-Wafa hospital, according to the Hamas-run Civil Defence agency.

The Israeli military said the strike targeted Hamas fighters who were using the building as a command and control centre. It added that the building was not serving as a hospital at the time.

But a witness told the BBC there were patients and medical staff inside the hospital.

A fourth-year medical student said she had been inside the hospital with her colleagues, getting ready to sit an exam, when it was bombed.

"There was heavy smoke and we nearly suffocated. Glass from destroyed windows fell over us. We took cover under the tables and then fled," she added.

"As we were coming down the stairs, we saw patients on wheelchairs, others being carried. Our professor suffered a head injury and was bleeding - some other colleagues had minor injuries."

The wounded were taken to the al-Ahli hospital, which was apparently hit by Israeli shelling earlier on Sunday.

Video footage posted online appeared to show damage to the top floor of one building at the site.

The Israeli military has not commented on the reports.

A displaced man living in the vicinity of the al-Ahli hospital told BBC Arabic that he was afraid that it would be the next to be raided by Israeli forces.

"If they besiege us here, where can we go then? How long will this suffering continue? We have been displaced about six or seven times," he said. "They have bombed all homes, schools and hospitals. There is no longer a safe place for us to take shelter in."

Israel launched a campaign to destroy Hamas in response to the group's unprecedented attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.

More than 45,540 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory's health ministry.

Five people have been charged in connection with the death of One Direction singer Liam Payne in Argentina, local media report.

The 31-year-old star died on 16 October after falling from the third-floor balcony of a hotel in Buenos Aires.

Hotel manager Gilda Martin and hotel employee Esteban Grassi as well as Roger Nores, who reportedly was a friend of Payne, have been charged with manslaughter, Argentina's National Criminal and Correctional Prosecutor's Office is quoted as saying.

Braian Paiz and Ezequiel Pereyra - who both reportedly worked at the hotel - have been charged with supplying drugs.

A judge has ordered that two of the five accused should be remanded in custody, according to the Argentinian news website Infobae.

The pair, whose names have not been reported, have been summoned to appear in court within 24 working hours, Infobae added.

The BBC has reached out to the prosecutor's office for comment.

Argentinian authorities have been investigating Payne's final days at the CasaSur hotel.

It was previously announced in November that three people had been charged over his death but their names were not released at the time.

Speaking to US celebrity news outlet TMZ after Payne's death, Roger Nores said he was a "very good friend" of the singer and they had spent time together on the day the star died.

He said Payne "seemed playful and happy" when he left him about an hour before the musician fell from the balcony.

After Payne's death, police found substances in his hotel room and objects and furniture that had been damaged.

Hotel staff had made two calls to emergency services saying they had a guest who had taken "too many drugs and alcohol", and was "trashing the entire room", it was previously reported.

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In November, the prosecutor's office said toxicology tests revealed traces of alcohol, cocaine and a prescription antidepressant in Payne's body.

A post-mortem examination determined his cause of death as "multiple trauma" and "internal and external haemorrhage", as a result of the fall from the hotel balcony.

According to the prosecutor's office, medical reports also suggested Payne may have fallen in a state of semi or total unconsciousness.

The prosecutor's office said this ruled out the possibility of a conscious or voluntary act by Payne, and they had concluded the singer did not know what he was doing nor have any comprehension of his actions.

Payne became one of the most recognisable names in pop after appearing on The X Factor and rising to fame with the boyband One Direction in the 2010s before the band went on an indefinite hiatus in January 2016.

The singer's funeral was held in Amersham, Buckinghamshire, last month.

His former bandmates Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson, Niall Horan and Zayn Malik were among the mourners, alongside Payne's girlfriend Kate Cassidy and his former partner Cheryl, with whom he shares a son.