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-- TOP STORIES --

+ Nobel-winning former US president Carter dies at 100

+ South Korea mourning 179 killed in worst plane crash

+ Azerbaijan demands Russia admit to shooting at plane

+ Syrian new leader says maybe four years to elections

+ Chess dress code eased after Carlsen fined for jeans

US-politics-Carter,WRAP

ATLANTA, United States

Jimmy Carter, the 100-year-old former US president and Nobel peace laureate who rose from humble beginnings in rural Georgia to lead the nation from 1977 to 1981, has died, his nonprofit foundation says.

750 words moved by Alex Wroblewski with Susan Stumme in Washington. File picture. File video

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SKorea-aviation-accident,WRAP

MUAN, South Korea

Flags fly at half-mast as South Korea mourns 179 people killed in the worst plane crash on its soil, as investigators probe why the Jeju Air plane crash-landed and burst into flames.

750 words 0630 GMT by Kang Jin-kyu with Hieun Shin in Seoul. Picture. Video. Graphic

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Azerbaijan-Russia-plane-crash-president,WRAP

BAKU

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev demands that Russia admit that it fired at an Azerbaijan Airlines passenger jet before it crashed, accusing Moscow of initially trying to cover up the cause of the fatal disaster.

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Syria-conflict,WRAP

DUBAI

Syria's new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa says that elections could take four years, according to Al Arabiya TV, and noted the importance of ties with Iran and Russia, while calling for the United States to lift sanctions.

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Chess-NOR-Carlsen

PARIS

The International Chess Federation (FIDE) relaxes its dress code for players after world number one Magnus Carlsen was fined for wearing jeans at an event in New York.

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-- JIMMY CARTER --

US-politics-diplomacy-Carter,OBIT

WASHINGTON

Jimmy Carter arguably wielded his greatest influence not during his 1977-1981 term in the White House, but in the decades following, when he served as a global mediator, rights activist and elder statesman.

900 words moved by Jerome Cartillier and Michael Mathes. File picture. File video

- Please see our special advisory for full coverage details on Jimmy Carter's death -

-- ASIA --

SKorea-politics-probe,WRAP

SEOUL

Investigators probing South Korea's Yoon Suk Yeol over his short-lived declaration of martial law say they sought an arrest warrant for the suspended president after he failed to report for questioning.

550 words moved by Hieun Shin. File picture

Japan-earthquake-Noto,FOCUS

WAJIMA, Japan

Before the earthquake changed everything, 83-year-old Sueko Naka from Japan's remote Noto Peninsula wished to live out her life at home, watched over by an altar to her ancestors.

750 words moved by Hiroshi Hiyama. Picture. Video

-- EUROPE --

EU Poland diplomacy politics,FOCUS

BRUSSELS

Poland takes over the European Union's rotating presidency from Hungary on January 1, in a change at the helm likely to be met with a sigh of relief in many EU quarters.

650 words 0700 GMT by Umberto Bacchi

Belgium-EU-tobacco-health,FOCUS

BRUSSELS

Wildly popular with young people for their dizzying array of flavours including apple, watermelon and cola, the time is up for disposable e-cigarettes in Belgium as it becomes the first EU country to ban them.

600 words 0700 GMT by Matthieu Demeestere and Jeremy Audouard. Picture. Video

Germany-politics-attack-Christmas,WRAP

BERLIN

German security and intelligence chiefs are due to face questioning about the car-ramming attack that killed five people and wounded more than 200 at a Christmas market 10 days ago.

500 words 1300 GMT by Frank Zeller. File Picture

Croatia-vote,WRAP

ZAGREB

Croatia's President Zoran Milanovic will face conservative rival Dragan Primorac in an election run-off in two weeks' time after the incumbent narrowly missed out an outright victory, according to official results.

650 words moved by Lajla Veselica. Picture. Video

Turkey-Kurds-conflict-politics-Ocalan,WRAP

ISTANBUL

Abdullah Ocalan, the jailed leader of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), is 'ready to make a call' to back a new initiative by the Turkish government to end decades of conflict, Turkey's pro-Kurd party says.

550 words moved by Fulya Ozerkan. File picture

-- MIDDLE EAST --

Israel-Palestinians-conflict-Gaza-hospital,lead

JERUSALEM

Israel's military says forces killed about 20 Palestinian militants in a raid on the last major hospital in northern Gaza which health and UN officials say has been forced out of service.

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Israel-Palestinians-conflict-India-construction,FOCUS

BEER YAAKOV, Israel

Wearing a helmet and work boots, Raju Nishad navigates the scaffolding, hammering blocks that will form part of a new neighbourhood in central Israel built by Indian labourers like him, to replace Palestinians barred during the Gaza war.

750 words moved by Ruth Eglash. Picture. Video

-- AMERICAS --

US-Panama-politics-trade,REPORTAGE

AGUA CLARA, Panama

For dozens of US tourists watching a cargo ship pass along the Panama Canal, Donald Trump's threat to possibly wrest back control of the waterway is nonsensical.

640 words moved by Juan Jose Rodriguez. Picture. Video

Brazil-deaths-cake-family

RIO DE JANEIRO

Brazilian police are investigating three deaths and several hospitalizations resulting from a family eating an arsenic-laced Christmas cake, local media report.

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-- AFRICA --

Nigeria-Calabar-carnival,REPORTAGE

CALABAR, Nigeria

Revellers dressed in glitzy, colourful costumes danced down the streets of Calabar, southern Nigeria, this weekend as giant speakers blasted out Afrobeats for one of West Africa's most prestigious carnivals.

400 words moved by Tonye Bakare with Yasmine Canga-Valles. Picture. Video

-- SPORTS --

Fbl-ENG-PR,WRAP

LONDON

Rampant Liverpool smashes West Ham 5-0 to stretch their lead at the top of the Premier League to eight points as Manchester City returned to winning ways at troubled Leicester.

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