Refusal to leave palace for successor backed by autocratic Georgian Dream party on day of departure stirs protesters
In Georgia’s turbulent political standoff, President Salome Zourabichvili has emerged as a defiant figure.
Zourabichvili’s role in Georgia is ceremonial, but far from fading into irrelevance in the twilight of her presidency, she has become a rallying figure for those opposed to the erosion of democracy and the abandonment of Georgia’s European aspirations. On Sunday, she is supposed to step down and hand the Orbeliani Palace to her successor, Mikheil Kavelashvili, a former football player backed by the ruling party, Georgian Dream, but she has said she will refuse.
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The road out of Caloto winds through a lush valley dotted with fields of grazing cows, then into hills past a patchwork of pineapple farms, small pockets of virgin rainforest and the startlingly vivid green of coca plantations.
This valley in the foothills of the northern Andes looks deceptively calm on an early winter afternoon, but it sits in one of the most dangerous regions in Colombia, particularly for children.
The new US president will almost certainly bring unpredictability but several themes will dominate the year ahead. Observer writers offer their guide on what lies ahead in politics, film, fashion, sport and more
The only thing that can be predicted with absolute certainty about Donald Trump’s second term as US president is that it will be unpredictable. Trump does not really know what he wants to do on a range of issues. He talks a good game, which is how he got re-elected. But he often seems to decide policy on the basis of what the last person he spoke to told him. Is he serious about mobilising the military to carry out mass deportations of “illegal” migrants? Will he use the justice department to hunt down political enemies and media critics? Will he impose sweeping tariffs on foreign imports and trigger a global trade war? Or will he act with greater circumspection, using these threats as bargaining tools? Who knows? He doesn’t yet.
When I stopped watching, listening, reading and doomscrolling constantly, I no longer felt I was banging my head against a brick wall
For as long as I can remember, I have been addicted to broadcast news. At least, I used to be. I would wake up to the babble of Radio 4’s Today programme and for the rest of the day subject myself to a bombardment of destabilising sound effects from the Middle East, Trumpland, PMQs and the odd shouty phone-in.
It was a habit that was formed long before I became a journalist. My father, a doctor, was a devoted consumer of current affairs. “What’s happening?” he would ask at breakfast. If you started to tell him about your plans for the day, he would listen politely and then say: “I meant, what’s happening in the world?”
Moscow has confirmed its air defences were repelling Ukrainian drones at the time of plane’s flight but has not admitted it shot it down. What we know on day 1,040
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, has called on Russia to provide a clearer explanation of the Azerbaijan Airlines plane crash as he expressed condolences to his Azeri counterpart. “The key priority now is a thorough investigation to provide answers to all questions about what really happened. Russia must provide clear explanations and stop spreading disinformation,” Zelenskyy said on X after the call with Ilham Aliyev. On Friday, the White House spokesperson John Kirby said the US had seen “early indications” that Russia might have been responsible for the crash that killed 38 people. The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, on Saturday apologised to Azerbaijan’s leader for what the Kremlin called a “tragic incident that occurred in Russian airspace”. Although the Kremlin statement did not say Russia had shot down the plane, it said Russian air defence systems were active at the time, repelling Ukrainian drone attacks.
A Ukrainian strike on a depot for long-range Shahed drones in Russia’s Oryol region has “significantly reduced” Moscow’s ability to launch mass drone attacks, Kyiv has said. Ukraine military’s general staff said in a statement on Telegram on Saturday its air force carried out the attack on Thursday. “As a result of the strike, a depot for storage, maintenance and repair of Shahed kamikaze drones, made of several protected concrete structures, was destroyed. This military operation has significantly reduced the enemy’s potential in terms of conducting air raids of strike drones on Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure,” it said. Ukraine’s air force said earlier on Saturday it had downed 15 out of 16 drones launched by Russia overnight, with the other one disappearing from radars.
Russia’s Gazprom announced on Saturday it will halt gas supplies to Ukraine’s neighbour Moldova from 1 January over a debt dispute. The cessation of gas will stop supplies to the Kuciurgan power plant in the separatist pro-Russian Transnistria region, a sliver of land between Moldova and Ukraine. The plant powers a significant portion of Moldova proper. The country’s prime minister, Dorin Recean, accused Russia of using “energy as a political weapon”. He said his government does not recognise the debt cited by Gazprom, which has been “invalidated by an international audit”. Earlier this month, Moldova’s parliament voted in favour of imposing a state of emergency in the energy sector over fears that Russia could leave the country without sufficient energy this winter. Several eastern European countries are bracing for an end to Russian gas supplies, as Kyiv will block the flow of Russian gas via its territory in several days.
Russia’s foreign ministry said on Saturday it had responded to a new package of EU sanctions by significantly expanding a list of EU and EU member state officials banned from entering Russia. The EU on Monday imposed a 15th package of sanctions against Russia, including tougher measures against Chinese entities and more vessels from Moscow’s so-called shadow fleet. Russia’s foreign ministry said in a statement it had responded by adding more unnamed “representatives of security agencies, state and commercial organisations of EU countries, and citizens of EU member states responsible for providing military aid to Kyiv” to its stop list.
Finnish police on Saturday moved a ship connected to Russia held over suspicions it sabotaged an undersea power cable between Finland and Estonia to help with their investigations. Since Thursday, Finnish authorities have been investigating the Eagle S tanker, which was carrying Russian oil, as part of an investigation into the “aggravated sabotage” of the Estlink 2 submarine cable in the Baltic Sea. That cable’s disconnection on Christmas Day was the latest in a spate of incidents western officials believe are acts of sabotage linked to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Finnish police said the Cook Islands-flagged tanker was moved under escort on Saturday from the coast to an inner anchorage 40km east of Helsinki because “the new location offers a better option for carrying out investigative measures”.
Rebel Wilson has married wife, Ramona Agruma, for the second time in Sydney and this time it was legal.
Wilson, the Australian actor and director, revealed the “legal wedding” was officiated by her sister on Sunday via Instagram, in a post accompanied by photos of the couple standing in front of the Sydney Opera House with the Harbour Bridge in the background.
South Korea facing its worst domestic civil aviation disaster after Boeing 737-800 with 175 passengers and six crews skidded off runway and hit wall at Muan airport
Dozens are feared dead after a plane skidded off the runway while attempting a landing without landing gear at Muan international airport in South Korea on Sunday morning
The exact casualty figures have not yet been tallied, though authorities are provisionally reporting that 28 people are believed to have died, according to news agency Newsis. Fire officials have warned that given the severe damage to the aircraft, the number of casualties could rise.
Jeju Air flight 2216 from Bangkok to Muan was carrying 181 people – 175 passengers and six crew – when it came down, skidded along the runway and hit fencing and a wall around the perimeter before catching fire.
Rescues are underway, with two people brought out of the wreckage so far. Emergency services are continuing their search operation.
The Boeing 737-800 may have suffered a bird strike that caused the landing gear to fail, according news agency Yonhap. The flight had reportedly attempted one landing before being forced to “go-around” when the landing gear failed to lower normally.
South Korea’s acting president, Choi Sang-mok, has ordered “all available equipment and personnel to be mobilised” for the rescue operations at Muan international airport in the country’s south-west and is heading to the crash site, about 300km from the capital, Seoul.
The pilot of Jeju Air flight 2216 from Bangkok appeared to be attempting a belly landing after the plane’s landing gear failed to deploy properly, Yonhap is reporting.
Firetruck drove around rail crossing arms after waiting for earlier train to pass, according to person briefed on details
Three firefighters and a dozen passengers were injured in Florida on Saturday after a firetruck drove around rail crossing arms and into the path of a high-speed passenger train after having waited for a previous train to pass, according to a person briefed on what happened.
The crash happened at 10.45am in crowded downtown Delray Beach, multiple news outlets reported. In the aftermath, the Brightline train was stopped on the tracks, its front destroyed, about a block away from the Delray Beach fire rescue truck. Its ladder was ripped off and landed in the grass several yards away, the Sun Sentinel reported.
Plans to install huge solar farms in the beautiful Norfolk countryside have outraged residents
Two years ago, Chris and Jenna Humphrey moved from their urban house to their rural dream. “We wanted our kids to have this,” says Chris, gesturing at the green fields surrounding their cottage, which sits in splendid isolation in the south Norfolk countryside. “It was pitch black when we moved in and the first morning the kids woke up they looked out of the window and there were three deer walking across the field. It was magical for them.”
They are settled now. Their older children, six and eight, go to the village school and Jenna, a special needs teacher, is nursing their youngest at home. “We fell in love with the house, because every window has such a lovely view. We thought the children would grow up here and never get bored. My little boy is constantly getting the binoculars out, birdwatching from the window.”
Sports, scandals, music, memes… Take our bumper quiz of all the highs and lows of the year that was (answers at the end)
1. In October, who unexpectedly walked through a Timothée Chalamet lookalike contest, causing police to get involved to disperse the growing crowds? a. Donald Trump b. A protester dressed as a giant sandworm c. Timothée Chalamet d. UN secretary general António Guterres
2. In April, a new Lennon-McCartney single,Primrose Hill, was released. But why did it cause little excitement among Beatles fans? a. It was a collaboration between Sean Ono Lennon and James McCartney, and not their more famous fathers b. It was an AI creation made to advertise a cryptocurrency c. It used made up of previously recorded material the band had disavowed d. Most Beatles superfans have simply moved on to other interests
Manchester music venue winning high praise from performers and concertgoers after being bitten by teething troubles
When Paul McCartney performed on stage at Manchester’s Co-op Live in mid-December, he paused between songs, and looked out on the crowd. Praising the new venue, the musician said he just wanted to “take it all in”.
The state-of-the-art building, which opened earlier this year, is the biggest indoor arena in the UK, with a capacity of 23,500, and its backers include Harry Styles and the Abu Dhabi-based owners of Manchester City.
Circle K in Cottonwood, California, where ticket was sold celebrates $1m bonus as winner remains unknown
The new year will ring in brightly for a lucky Mega Millions winner in California: after three months of the top lottery prize rolling over, a ticket worth $1.22bn matched all six numbers in Friday night’s drawing, according to the lottery’s website.
The winning ticket was sold at the Circle K in Cottonwood, a rural town of about 6,000 people roughly 145 miles (233km) north of Sacramento just off Interstate 5 in Shasta county. The winning numbers, including the Mega, were 3, 7, 37, 49, 55 and 6.
John Starbuck, our most maritime-coded correspondent, writes in. “‘Morning, Geoff. Oh how I miss Richie saying ‘Morning everyone’. I’m currently drinking golden rum to help me sleep later (he says) and carrying on with re-reading Jasper Fforde’s The Woman Who Died a Lot, which I recommend, even though the dominant sport is not cricket, but croquet. More power to your typing fingers as I’m set to enjoy the OBO, so long as the rain holds off. What’s the weather forecast for the MCG?”
I once confused some very pleasant Icelanders who thought I was talking about croquet. Weather is set fair, cool on the walk in this morning, but on the way to the mid 20s and no rain for the rest of the Test.
Thirty years ago, Ken Spackman cut down an avocado tree planted by his father on the family’s Palmwoods property on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast. He planted a seed from the tree in a different spot on the farm, with no expectation it would flourish.
“That seed did it pretty tough – no water, no fertiliser,” recalls neighbour John Mongan. “But a tree grew from nothing, alone and out of the way, so it must have been lucky.”
Decision to move midfielder into deeper position has paid off to reignite hopes of Champions League qualification
Eddie Howe kept flicking switches and pressing buttons but the power refused to do anything more than blink sporadically into life before swiftly fading once more. Newcastle had slipped to 12th in the Premier League and, with José Mourinho said to be on friendly terms with the Saudi Arabian-owned club’s chair, Yasir al-Rumayyan, Howe’s hold on the manager’s job looked to have loosened slightly.
Then Sandro Tonali turned the lights back on and everything changed. A month after Howe decided to deploy the Italy midfielder in a deep-lying No6 role in a 1-1 draw at Crystal Palace, Newcastle have risen to fifth. With Champions League qualification suddenly back on the agenda, they travel to Old Trafford for Monday night’s match against Manchester United having scored 11 goals while keeping a trio of clean sheets in their past three league games.
Marco Brescianini scores in 88th minute to earn 1-1 draw
Martínez ends drought in Inter’s 3-0 win at Cagliari
Atalanta’s 11-match winning streak in Serie A ended with a 1-1 draw at Lazio, but Marco Brescianini’s 88th-minute equaliser kept them top of the table.
Fourth-placed Lazio dominated the first half in Rome and were rewarded in the 27th minute when Nicolò Rovella played a high through ball to Fisayo Dele-Bashiru, who cut inside the box and sent a bouncing volley into the net to break. But Gian Piero Gasperini’s relentless side kept pushing and earned a draw in a thrilling finish to the game.
Remarks follow social media posts from Tesla and SpaceX CEO, who vowed to go to ‘war’ to defend program
Donald Trump on Saturday sided with Elon Musk, a key supporter and billionaire tech CEO, in a public dispute over the use of the H-1B visa, saying he fully backs the program for foreign tech workers opposed by some of his supporters.
Trump’s remarks followed a series of social media posts from Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, who vowed late Friday to go to “war” to defend the visa program for foreign tech workers.
Patriots lose sixth straight for second time in 2024
Justin Herbert threw three touchdown passes and the Los Angeles Chargers clinched their second playoff appearance in three seasons with a 40-7 victory over the New England Patriots on Saturday.
The win also secured the fourth postseason appearance in Jim Harbaugh’s five seasons as an NFL coach, adding to the three he made during his stint with the San Francisco 49ers.
Outgoing representative, whose assessment of campaign now feels prescient, saddened to be vindicated
Dean Phillips, the Democratic representative from Minnesota who bucked his party to become the only elected official to challenge Joe Biden for the Democratic primary earlier this year, has said he is “saddened” by the accuracy of his prediction at the time that the outgoing president could not win re-election.
“If what I feel now is vindication, it’s awfully unsatisfying,” Phillips told Politico, adding: “The fact was, he was not in a position to win. The fact was his approval numbers were historically low. The fact was his physical decline was real.”
A youth pastor and school chaplain described as an inspirational leader has been identified as the man who died after being bitten by a shark while on holiday with his family in Queensland.
Emergency services were called to Humpy Island in the Keppel Bay Islands national park, about 18km off the central Queensland coast, on Saturday after reports a man had been attacked.
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