AP News Summary at 11:59 p.m. EST

By AP

Jimmy Carter is being mourned in his tiny hometown and around the world

PLAINS, Ga. (AP) — Tributes to former President Jimmy Carter are pouring in from his small hometown of Plains, Georgia, and around the world. In Plains, black ribbons are hung alongside U.S. flags, as residents mourn the 39th president who died Sunday at the age of 100. They are remembering Carter as “Mr. Jimmy,” the approachable neighbor who was friendly and approachable. But in Washington, at the United Nations and abroad, Carter’s status as a global figure is on display. President Joe Biden has set Jan. 9 as a day of mourning. Federal offices will be closed for Carter’s state funeral. And the U.N. Security Council praised Carter for his diplomatic and international peace efforts as president and after his one White House term.

Jimmy Carter made eradicating Guinea worm disease a top mission

JARWENG, South Sudan (AP) — Nobel Peace Prize winner Jimmy Carter spent decades waging war against an ancient parasite. Carter tried to rid the world of Guinea worm, which infects people who drink unclean water tainted with larva. The worms can grow 3 feet long inside the body before breaking out in painful blisters. Rarely fatal but often crippling, the disease infected 3.5 million of the world’s poorest people in Africa and Asia when Carter launched the eradication campaign in 1986. The Carter Center trained an army of volunteers who trained villagers how to filter water and report infections. The parasite now stands at the brink of extinction, with just 13 human infections reported last year.

How American presidents have planned their own funerals

WASHINGTON (AP) — Jimmy Carter’s funeral will feature an interstate choreography of grief, ceremony and logistics that is characteristic of state funerals. Ever since the nation’s founding, Americans have bid farewell to former presidents with an intricate series of events including longstanding traditions and personal touches. Presidents often help plan the memorials themselves, right down to the kind of casket, the seating arrangements or the route of the funeral procession. President Dwight Eisenhower wanted to be buried in a soldier’s casket. President Ronald Reagan wanted his casket carried up the west steps of the Capitol, facing his native California. Carter planned to be buried in his front yard in Plains, Georgia.

Middle East latest: Israel intercepts Houthi missile fired from Yemen

Israel’s military says it intercepted a missile fired toward the country by Yemen’s Houthi rebels. The attack set off sirens late Monday in central areas of Israel, including Tel Aviv. The Houthis have been firing drones and missiles at Israel as well as attacking shipping in the Red Sea corridor — attacks they say won’t stop until Israel agrees to a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. The Israel-Hamas war in Gaza has seen intensified Israeli operations targeting Palestinian hospitals in recent days in the largely isolated north, where a 3-month-old offensive by Israeli forces has cut off nearly all medical or other aid.

Biden announces nearly $2.5 billion more in military aid for Ukraine

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden says the United States will send nearly $2.5 billion more in weapons to Ukraine. Biden’s administration is working quickly to spend all the money it has available to help Kyiv fight off Russia before President-elect Donald Trump takes office in three weeks. The package announced Monday includes $1.25 billion in presidential drawdown authority, which allows the military to pull existing stock from its shelves and gets weapons to the battlefield faster. The deal also puts more long-term weapons packages on contract through a separate Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, which pays for longer-term weapons deliveries. Biden said all longer-term funds have now been spent and pledged to use the remaining drawdown money before leaving office.

South Korea to inspect Boeing aircraft as it struggles to find cause of plane crash that killed 179

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korean officials plan to conduct safety inspections of all Boeing 737-800 aircraft operated by the country’s airlines, as they struggle to determine what caused a weekend plane crash that killed 179 people. Acting President Choi Sang-mok also instructed authorities on Monday to conduct an emergency review of the country’s aircraft operation systems. The plane operated by South Korean budget airline Jeju Air skidded off a runway at Muan International Airport, slammed into a concrete fence and burst into a fireball. All but two of the 181 people aboard were killed.

An appeals court upholds a $5 million award in a sexual abuse verdict against President-elect Trump

NEW YORK (AP) — A federal appeals court has upheld a jury’s finding in a civil case that Donald Trump sexually abused a columnist in an upscale department store dressing room in the mid-1990s. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued a written opinion on Monday upholding the $5 million award that the Manhattan jury granted to E. Jean Carroll for sex abuse and defamation. The longtime magazine columnist had testified at a 2023 trial that Trump turned a friendly encounter in spring 1996 into a violent attack after they playfully entered the store’s dressing room. Trump skipped the defamation and sex abuse trial after repeatedly denying the attack ever happened.

South Korean adoptees and families rocked by fraud allegations

Peg Reif was among more than 120 who contacted The Associated Press this fall, after a series of stories and a documentary made with Frontline exposed how South Korea created a baby pipeline, designed to ship children abroad as quickly as possible to meet Western demand. The reporting shook adoption communities around the world with details about how agencies competed for babies — pressuring mothers, bribing hospitals, fabricating documents. Most who wrote were adoptees, but some were adoptive parents like Reif, horrified to learn they had supported this system. Reif fretted that her greatest fear might be true: had she adopted and raised a kidnapped child?

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt reach divorce settlement after 8 years

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt have reached a divorce settlement, bringing an apparent end to one of the longest and most contentious divorces in Hollywood history. Jolie’s attorney James Simon confirmed to The Associated Press on Monday that the couple had come to a deal. He says she is exhausted but relieved the ordeal is over. The two Oscar winners were among Hollywood’s most prominent couples for 12 years. She filed for divorce in 2016 after a private flight where she said he was abusive to her and their children. A judge declared the two divorced and single in 2019, but they still had to work out the splitting of assets and child custody.

Times Square ball takes final test for New Year’s Eve

NEW YORK (AP) — The crystal-covered ball that descends down a pole in Times Square to ring in the new year was taken for a test run, as New York City officials laid out their plans for the iconic New Year’s Eve event. Officials flipped a switch to light up the the dazzling geodesic sphere — weighing almost 6 tons and featuring 2,688 crystal triangles — which then successfully ran up and down a 139-foot pole atop the One Times Square skyscraper. Monday’s rehearsal was just one of many pre-ball drop promotional events.