Jimmy Carter, South Korea air disaster and Russian gas
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Today, Jimmy Carter has died, aged 100. South Korea is left reeling after its deadliest air disaster. And Europe braces for the end of a transit deal which pumps Russian gas via Ukraine. It's Monday, December 30th. This is Reuters World News, bringing you everything you need to know from the front lines in 10 minutes every weekday. I'm Tara Oakes in Liverpool. And I'm Carmel Crimmins in Dublin.

When you hear LSEC data and analytics, what do you think of? Comprehensive data you can trust. Exclusive access to Reuters news. Industry-leading analytics and unique insights. Discover new possibilities with LSEC data and analytics. This is my vision of America. I hope you share it, and I hope you will help me fight for it. Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter has died at his home in Plains, Georgia, aged 100.

During his time in office, the earnest Georgia peanut farmer struggled with a bad economy and the Iran hostage crisis, but brokered peace between Israel and Egypt and later received the Nobel Peace Prize. President Joe Biden paying tribute to him. We may never see his like again. We'd all do well to try to be a little more like Jimmy Carter. Biden has directed that January 9th will be a national day of mourning throughout the United States.

His one-term presidency was marked by the highs of the Camp David Accords between Israel and Egypt, bringing some stability to the Middle East. So let us now lay aside war. Let us now reward all the children of Abraham who hunger for a comprehensive peace in the Middle East.

Carter ran for re-election in 1980, but was swept from office in a landslide as voters embraced Republican challenger Ronald Reagan, the former actor and California governor. World leaders and former U.S. presidents have paid tribute to a man they praised as compassionate, humble and committed to peace in the Middle East. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said in a post on X,

that Qatar's significant role in achieving the peace agreement between Egypt and Israel will remain etched in the annals of history.

But it wasn't just world leaders. 18-year-old Chase Howard came to lay flowers at the Carter Center in Atlanta after news of his death. He understood that outside of politics, outside of policy, there's a person on the other side. And if we can appeal to that person, we can get things done and we can create a better future. For more on Jimmy Carter and pictures from his long life, visit Reuters.com or the Reuters app. Monks in South Korea pay their respects to the victims of Sunday's plane crash.

The country in mourning after its worst ever air disaster. All but two of the 181 occupants of a Boeing 737 killed after it belly-landed onto the runway at Mu'an International Airport, skidding into a wall and exploding into a ball of fire. Two flight attendants survived.

Jumin Park is at Muang Airport in the south of the country. We know only there was a bird strike. We don't know how damaging the bird strike was to the engine or to the plane. From the video, we know the plane didn't have a landing gear and authorities are scrambling to find out what really caused the accident and why the pilot...

launch any kind of braking systems. They got hold of the initial communications between control tower and the pilot. They still want to analyze more on the voice recorders and more records left in the, you know, in the plane system. So that could take months to

And you're at the airport. What's happening there? Camping out.

Russia should apologize to Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev calling for Russia to apologize and admit responsibility over a plane crash on Christmas Day that killed 38 people. He says the plane was damaged by an accidental shooting from the ground in Russia. Russian President Vladimir Putin apologized on Saturday. But the Kremlin has not admitted responsibility, only saying that a criminal case has been opened.

Across the northwestern border from Azerbaijan, in Georgia, the new president has been sworn in. But the inauguration of Mikhail Kavalashvili has been greeted with anger from the opposition and on the streets of the capital, Tbilisi.

Karel Ashvili is a hardline critic of the West and his swearing-in comes amid a political crisis after the government froze European Union application talks. The head of the World Health Organization has called for an end to Israel's attacks on hospitals in Gaza.

The Israeli military says Hamas militants were the targets of a strike on Gaza City's al-Wafa hospital on Sunday, while more than 240 Palestinians were detained after a raid on the Kamal Adwan hospital on Friday. Stocks tend to do well in the last five trading days of December and into the first two days of January. It's a phenomenon known as the Santa Claus rally.

But Asian stocks fell and US and European equity futures are edging lower as investors take profits heading into the year end. Japan's Nikkei dropped on its last trading day of 2024. It won't reopen again until January 6th, but the Nikkei is up nearly 20% for the year. And it's been a great year too for US stocks. Just how long that upward momentum lasts is anybody's guess.

The market strength will be tested when US companies start reporting fourth quarter earnings and the transition of power in Washington and what that brings will be watched closely. I look at what that transition of power could mean for the transatlantic economy in my latest Econ World podcast. You can find it on the Reuters app or wherever you listen to your podcasts.

Authorities in Moldova's separatist Transnistria region have cut off gas supplies to several state institutions, bracing for severe power cuts as a deal allowing Russian gas to transit through Ukraine comes to an end at the close of the year. Ukraine has refused to extend the deal in wartime.

Rachel Armstrong, our Europe editor, is here to explain. So Rachel, Ukraine has let this gas transit via Ukraine during the whole war up to this point. Why don't they want to renew the deal? It's been a curious phenomenon of this brutal war that while these battle rages between Russia and Ukraine, Russian gas has flowed continuously through Ukrainian pipes and into Europe. It

Ukraine was willing to keep this arrangement going for a few reasons. First of all, it did not want to annoy European allies who were reliant on Russian gas and had contractual arrangements in place to receive it. Ukraine also received money.

for all of this gas coming through its pipes between 800 million and a billion euros every year. However, nearly three years into the war and with a contract now due to expire, many politicians and officials in Ukraine think Russia gets a lot more out of this deal than Ukraine does.

Gazprom, Russia's state energy giant, earns around 5 billion euros a year from it. And that's money that Ukraine says is going to fund Russia's war efforts. These European allies, how significant is ending the gas transit deal for European countries? And what sort of measures have some of them been taking to mitigate these effects?

The vast majority of European countries have weaned themselves off Russian gas, most notably Germany. However, there is still a pocket of Eastern European countries that have used a lot of gas piped from Russia since the war began. It's Slovakia, which is still particularly dependent on Russian gas.

Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico went to Moscow in recent days to see if he could come up with a workaround because they seem to be the most exposed. And Ukraine for itself has said it's been working on compensation arrangements for Slovakia. Slovakia says that came with conditions they weren't willing to accept. Experience the difference with Elsec Workspace, your personal ecosystem for unique insights, news and analytics.

with AI-augmented recommendations to gain the competitive edge and collaborate effortlessly with your community. LSEC Workspace, supercharge your impact. Our recommended read today is all about how there's been a rush of young people taking the civil service exams in China. More than 3 million have been lured by the prospect of lifetime job security and staff perks at a time of high youth unemployment. There's a link to the story in today's pod description.

For more on any of the stories from today, check out Reuters.com or the Reuters app. Don't forget to follow us on your favorite podcast player. We'll be back tomorrow with our daily headline show.