Boxing Day, 2004.

When the earthquake struck at 06:30 (01:00 GMT), I was on a ferry, headed towards Havelock – an island in the Indian archipelago of Andaman and Nicobar.

Known for its silver sand and clear blue waters, the Radhanagar beach there had recently been crowned “Asia’s Best Beach” by Time magazine.

My best friend from college and her family had lived in Port Blair, the capital of the archipelago, for a decade and a half, but this was my first visit to the islands, where I had arrived on Christmas Eve.

We had planned to spend three days in Havelock and in the morning we packed snacks and sandwiches, gathered excited children and headed out to catch the ferry from Phoenix Bay jetty in Port Blair.

Not wanting to miss out on anything, I was standing on the front deck, looking around, when disaster struck.

Just as we pulled out from the harbour, the boat lurched and suddenly the jetty next to where we had boarded crumpled and fell into the sea. It was followed by the watchtower and an electricity pole.

It was an extraordinary sight. Dozens of people standing alongside me watched open-mouthed.

Thankfully, the jetty was deserted at the time so there were no casualties. A boat was due to leave from there in half an hour but the travellers were yet to arrive.

A member of the boat’s crew told me it was an earthquake. At the time I didn’t know, but the 9.1 magnitude quake was the third most powerful ever recorded in the world – and remains the biggest and most destructive in Asia.

Occurring off the coast of northwest Sumatra under the Indian Ocean, it unleashed a devastating tsunami that killed an estimated 228,000 people across more than a dozen countries and caused massive damage in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, Maldives and Thailand.

The Andaman and Nicobar islands, located just about 100km north of the epicentre, suffered extensive damage when a wall of water, as high as 15 metres (49 ft) in places, hit land just about 15 minutes later.

The official death toll was put at 1,310 – but with more than 5,600 people missing and presumed dead, it’s believed that more than 7,000 islanders perished.

While on the boat, however, we were oblivious to the scale of destruction around us. Our mobile phones didn’t work on the water and we only got snippets of information from the crew. We heard about damage in Sri Lanka, Thailand and Maldives – and the southern Indian coastal town of Nagapattinam.

But there was no information about Andaman and Nicobar – a collection of hundreds of islands scattered around in the Bay of Bengal, located about 1,500km (915 miles) east of India’s mainland.

Only 38 of them were inhabited. They were home to 400,000 people, including six hunter-gatherer groups who had lived isolated from the outside world for thousands of years.

The only way to get to the islands was by ferries but, as we later learnt, an estimated 94% of the jetties in the region were damaged.

That was also the reason why, on 26 December 2004, we never made it to Havelock. The jetty there was damaged and under water, we were told.

So the boat turned around and started on its return journey. For a while, there was speculation that we might not get clearance to dock at Port Blair for safety reasons and might have to spend the night at anchor.

This made the passengers – most of them tourists looking forward to sun and sand – anxious.

After several hours of bobbing along in rough seas, we returned to Port Blair. Because Phoenix Bay had been closed following the morning’s damage, we were taken to Chatham, another harbour in Port Blair. The jetty where we were dropped had huge, gaping holes in places.

The signs of devastation were all around us as we headed home – buildings had turned into rubble, small upturned boats sat in the middle of the streets and roads had great gashes in them. Thousands of people had been turned homeless when the tidal wave flooded their homes in low-lying areas.

I met a traumatised nine-year-old girl whose house was filled with water and she told me she had nearly drowned. A woman told me she had lost her entire life’s possessions in the blink of an eye.

Over the next three weeks, I reported extensively on the disaster and its effects on the population.

It was the first time a tsunami had wreaked such havoc in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and the scale of the tragedy was overwhelming.

Salt water contaminated many sources of fresh water and destroyed large tracts of arable land. Getting vital supplies into the islands was tough with jetties unserviceable.

The authorities mounted a huge relief and rescue effort. The army, navy and air force were deployed, but it took days before they could get to all the islands.

Every day, navy and coast guard ships brought boatloads of people made homeless by the tsunami from other islands to Port Blair where schools and government buildings were turned into temporary shelters.

They brought stories of devastation in their homelands. Many told me they had escaped with nothing but the clothes on their backs.

One woman from Car Nicobar told me that when the earthquake struck, the ground started to spew foamy water at the same time as the waves came in from the sea.

She and hundreds of others from her village had waited for rescuers without food or water for 48 hours. She said it was a “miracle” that she and her 20-day-old baby had survived.

Port Blair was almost daily jolted by aftershocks, some of them strong enough to start rumours of fresh tsunamis, making scared people run to get to higher ground.

A few days later, the Indian military flew journalists to Car Nicobar, a flat fertile island known for its enchanting beaches and also home to a large Indian air force colony.

The killer tsunami had completely flattened the base. The water rose by 12 metres here and as most people slept, the ground was pulled away from under their feet. A hundred people died here. More than half were air force officers and their families.

We visited Malacca and Kaakan villages on the island which also bore the brunt of nature’s fury, forcing residents to take shelter in tents along the road. Among them were families torn apart by the tidal wave.

A grief-stricken young couple told me they had managed to save their five-month-old baby, but their other children, aged seven and 12, were washed away.

Surrounded by coconut palms on all sides, every house had turned into rubble. Among the personal belongings strewn about were clothes, textbooks, a child’s shoe and a music keyboard.

The only thing that stood – surprisingly intact – was a bust of the father of the Indian nation, Mahatma Gandhi, at a traffic roundabout.

A senior army officer told us his team had recovered seven bodies that day and we watched their mass cremation from a distance.

At the air force base, we watched as rescuers pulled a woman’s body from the debris.

An official said that for every body found in Car Nicobar, several had been swept away by the waves without leaving a trace.

After all these years, I still sometimes think about the day I hopped on the ferry to go to Havelock.

I wonder what would have happened if the tremors had come a few minutes earlier.

And what would have happened if the wall of water had hit the shore while I waited on the jetty to board our ferry?

On Boxing Day, 2004, I had a close call. Thousands who perished were not so lucky.

MT Vasudevan Nair, a legendary writer from the southern Indian state of Kerala, has died at the age of 91.

Nair died in a hospital in Kerala’s Kozhikode district, where he was admitted a few days ago with breathing difficulties.

Apart from being a celebrated writer, MT, as Nair was popularly known, was also an acclaimed film director and screenwriter.

Tributes have begun pouring in for the writer, who was considered the doyen of Malayalam-language literature.

Born in 1933 in Kerala’s Palakkad district, Nair was a voracious reader – though reading was not encouraged in his family – and began writing from a young age, with his work being published in magazines.

“Unlike other boys of my age I was not very interested in playing. There was only one game I could play alone – writing,” he once told Outlook magazine.

Nair studied chemistry in college and went on to teach maths to school students. Later, he joined the prestigious Mathrubhumi weekly magazine and soon made a name for himself as a writer and editor, with several novels and collections of short stories, newspaper columns, memoirs and travelogues to his credit.

As an editor, Nair is credited with discovering and publishing many young writers who later became famous.

Nair’s novel Naalukettu (Four blocks), about the decline of a joint family, won one of Kerala’s highest literary honours in 1959. Decades later, he adapted the book into a television film for the government-run Doordarshan channel, winning a state award.

His novel Randamoozham (The Second Turn), a retelling of the Hindu epic Mahabharata from the point of view of the character Bhima, is considered a classic of Indian literature.

He has won several awards throughout his career, including India’s highest literary honour, the Jnanpith.

Besides his literary work, Nair had a prolific career as a screenwriter and director in Malayalam cinema, winning several national and state awards.

Among his best-known screenplays is Oru Vadakkan Veeragatha (A northern ballad of valour), set in 16th-Century Kerala, in which he retold a popular folktale and upended notions of villainy and honour. The film, with its powerful dialogues and performances, is considered a classic in Malayalam cinema.

A recent anthology series, Manorathangal, which adapted his short stories, featured stalwarts from the southern Indian film industry such as Kamal Haasan, Mammootty, Mohanlal and Fahadh Faasil.

Malayalam superstar Mohanlal, who acted in the series, called Nair “Kerala’s pride”.

“You can change the dialogues of any other films, but not MT’s, since those dialogues are essential to understand the essence of what is being conveyed,” he said.

In interviews, Nair would often speak about the books he was reading from around the world.

In a tribute to the writer on his 90th birthday last year, MV Shreyams Kumar, the managing director of Mathrubhumi, wrote that Nair was always reading and rereading books.

“I’ve often thought about what future generations, myself included, should learn from MT. I believe it is concentration. Whenever I see him, he is surrounded by books, fully immersed, almost as if in meditation. The latest releases are always on his table, alongside classics by writers like Marquez,” he wrote.

Syria’s new rebel-led authorities say supporters of ousted President Bashar al-Assad have killed 14 interior ministry troops in an “ambush” in the west of the country.

They say 10 other troops were wounded in the fighting on Tuesday near the Mediterranean port of Tartous, a stronghold of Assad’s minority Alawite Muslim sect.

The clashes with pro-Assad loyalists are the first direct challenge to the authority of Syria’s de facto leader Ahmad al-Sharaa.

Assad’s presidency fell to rebel forces led by al-Sharaa’s Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) faction just over two weeks ago.

Security forces launched an operation in Tartous province on Thursday, according to state news agency Sana, in a bid to “restore security, stability and civil peace”.

Sana reported that the forces had “neutralised… a number of remnants of Assad’s militias” in the Tartous countryside, and that it was pursuing others.

Reports say the security forces had earlier been ambushed as they tried to arrest a former officer in connection to his role at the notorious Saydnaya prison, close to the capital, Damascus.

The UK-based monitoring group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said three “armed men”, which it did not identify, were also killed in the clashes.

The SOHR added that the security forces later brought in reinforcements.

In a separate development, the Syrian authorities imposed an overnight curfew in the central city of Homs, state media reported.

Reports say this followed unrest over a video purportedly showing an attack on an Alawite shrine.

The interior ministry said the footage was old, dating back to a rebel offensive on Aleppo in late November, and the violence was carried out by unknown groups.

The SOHR said one demonstrator was killed and five wounded in Homs.

The former rebels now in charge of Syria are grappling with the challenge of providing safety and stability across the country.

Syrians are looking to them to protect the rights of people from a variety of backgrounds as well as providing justice for those who lost relatives under the Assad dictatorship.

Demonstrations have also been reported in Alawite-dominated areas including the cities of Tartous and Latakia, and Assad’s hometown of Qardaha.

Alawites are an offshoot of Shia Islam to which many of the former regime’s political and military elite belonged, including Assad’s family.

The Alawite community is fearful of revenge, with members blamed for the torture and killing in Syria under Assad.

Former officers are refusing to hand over weapons and locals in some towns suggest they want to fight back, which appears to have been the case in Tartous.

There have been calls from Alawite religious leaders for a general amnesty for Alawites – but this is unlikely because of the many alleged war crimes conducted by its members.

Although al-Sharaa has bolstered security in Alawite towns and cities in an attempt to maintain order, if his forces do launch a campaign to arrest Assad loyalists, they risk further destabilising an already fragile country.

Tens of thousands of people were tortured to death in prisons in Syria, and thousands of families are still waiting for answers and for justice.

Syrians are calling for those responsible to be held to account – the very thing that members of the Alawite are worried about.

The HTS-led lightning offensive that started from Syria’s north-east and spread across the country ended more than 50 years of rule by the Assads.

Assad and his family were forced to flee to Russia.

HTS has since promised to protect the rights and freedoms of many religious and ethnic minorities in Syria.

The group is designated as a terrorist organisation by the UN, the US, the EU, the UK and others.

On Tuesday, protests broke out in the country over the burning of a Christmas tree, prompting fresh calls for the new authorities to protect minorities.

South Korea’s opposition lawmakers have filed a motion to impeach the country’s prime minister and acting leader Han Duck-soo, less than two weeks after parliament voted to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol.

This comes after Han refused to appoint constitutional court judges nominated by the main opposition Democratic Party (DP).

“Han has revealed himself to be an acting insurrectionist, not an acting president”, DP’s floor leader Park Chan-dae said on Thursday.

The opposition has also accused Han of aiding Yoon’s martial law attempt on 3 Dec. Han earlier apologised for failing to block it.

Han also vetoed several opposition-led bills, including one that proposed a special investigation into Yoon’s short-lived martial law declaration.

The impeachment motion is expected to be put to a vote in the next 24 to 72 hours.

For it to succeed, 151 out of 300 MPs must vote for it.

The DP currently holds 170 of the 300 seats in parliament. The opposition bloc together holds 192 seats.

Opposition parties had been hoping Han would not stand in their way while acting as the country’s caretaker president, and that he would allow bills to pass.

But instead he has held firm, deepening the political strife.

On Tuesday, Han concluded a cabinet meeting without reviewing the two opposition-sponsored bills that called for special counsel investigations into the martial law declaration and corruption allegations involving first lady Kim Keon Hee.

He said he did not put them on the agenda so as to give the ruling and opposition parties more time to reach a compromise.

But DP’s floor leader Park Chan-dae slammed him for “buying time and prolonging the insurrection”.

“We’ve clearly warned that it’s totally up to Prime Minister Han Duck-soo whether he would go down in history as a disgraceful figure, as a puppet of rebellion plot leader Yoon Suk Yeol, or a public servant that has faithfully carried out the orders by the public,” Park said in a televised party meeting.

And on Thursday, Han said he would not appoint the three judges the opposition-dominated National Assembly had nominated to the constitutional court – which is deliberating whether Yoon should be impeached – unless the rival parties reach a consensus.

To this, Park said “it has become clear that Han Duck-soo is neither qualified nor willing to defend the constitution”, adding that the opposition would “immediately” table the impeachment bill.

Han’s ruling People Power Party said the opposition’s threats have interfered with Han’s “legitimate exercise of authority”, while a senior official at the prime minister’s office criticised the threats as “extremely regrettable”.

Han stepped in as caretaker president after Yoon was ousted from office earlier this month. If lawmakers vote for Han to be impeached, finance minister Choi Sang-mok will be next in line.

This latest development in the country’s political turmoil comes as Seoul Constitutional Court is deliberating on whether Yoon should be permanently barred from office.

The court is expected to hold its first public hearing later this week.

It is unclear if Yoon himself will take the stand during the hearings, but protesters have vowed to keep up their calls for Yoon’s removal during court proceedings.

Yoon is also under investigation for alleged insurrection over his failed attempt to put the country under martial law.

He has refused to accept several summons delivered to him, and investigators have warned that they may issue an arrest warrant if he continues to be unresponsive.

Several senior officials – including former defence minister Kim Yong-hyun, former interior minister Lee Sang-min and army chief Park An-su – are also being investigated.

The Russian government has cautioned against promoting “hypotheses” about the cause of the crash of a Russia-bound passenger plane that killed 38 people in Kazakhstan on Wednesday.

Some aviation experts suggested that the Azerbaijan Airlines plane had been hit by air defence systems over the Russian republic of Chechnya and pro-government media in Azerbaijan quote officials as saying a Russian missile was responsible.

Before it went down near the Kazakh city of Aktau, the plane was diverted across the Caspian Sea, from its destination in Chechnya to western Kazakhstan.

Twenty nine of the 67 people on board survived. Azerbaijan held a national day of mourning on Thursday for the victims of the crash.

“This is a great tragedy that has become a tremendous sorrow for the Azerbaijani people,” President Ilham Aliyev said on Thursday.

In Moscow, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “It would be wrong to put forward any hypotheses before the investigation’s conclusions. We, of course, will not do this, and no-one should do this. We need to wait until the investigation is completed.”

The Embraer 190 aircraft took off from the Azerbaijani capital Baku on Wednesday morning. It was due to fly to Grozny in Chechnya but it was diverted because of fog, the airline said.

A surviving passenger told Russian TV he believed the pilot had tried twice to land in dense fog over Grozny before “the third time, something exploded… some of the aircraft skin had blown out”.

The plane was redirected to Aktau airport, some 450km (280 miles) to the east. Footage shows the aircraft heading towards the ground at high speed 3km (1.9 miles) short of the runway, before bursting into flames as it lands.

Kazakh authorities have recovered the flight data recorder and an investigation is under way. Shortly after the crash, reports from Russian state-controlled TV said the most likely cause was a strike from a flock of birds.

But that kind of collision typically results in the plane gliding towards the nearest airfield, aviation analyst Richard Aboulafia told Reuters news agency. “You can lose control of the plane, but you don’t fly wildly off course as a consequence,” he said.

Justin Crump of risk advisory company Sibylline said the pattern of damage inside and outside the plane indicated that Russian air defence active in Grozny may have caused the crash.

“It looks very much like the detonation of an air defence missile to the rear and to the left of the aircraft, if you look at the pattern of shrapnel that we see,” he told BBC Radio 4.

Late on Thursday Azerbaijan’s pro-government AnewZ channel said an preliminary investigation had concluded that the plane had been hit by shrapnel from a surface-to-air missile from Russia’s Pantsir-S defence system.

When asked about the reports, the chief prosecutor’s office told the BBC that every version was being investigated.

Chechnya has already been hit by Ukrainian drone strikes this month and authorities in neighbouring Ingushetia said the Russian region had been targeted for the first time since the war in Ukraine began.

A shopping centre was hit when a drone was shot down in nearby North Ossetia, killing one woman, reports said.

Those on board were mostly Azerbaijani nationals, but there were also some passengers from Russia, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan.

Video footage showed survivors crawling out of the wreckage, some with visible injuries.

The injured were taken to hospital. On Thursday, Azerbaijan’s Azertac news agency said seven were in a good enough condition to fly back to Baku.

Azerbaijan Airlines told reporters that the plane had been fully serviced in October and had no technical malfunctions.

Embraer, a Brazilian manufacturer and a smaller rival to Boeing and Airbus, has a strong safety record.

Ko Wen-je, once a rising star in Taiwanese politics and a presidential contender, was indicted Thursday on corruption charges.

The 65-year-old is accused of accepting half a million dollars in bribes involving a real estate dealing during his term as mayor of Taipei, as well as misreporting campaign finances during his run for president in January.

Prosecutors are seeking up to 28.5 years in prison.

Ko’s indictment deals a crucial blow to the political movement he represents, which has struck a chord with voters looking for an alternative to the ruling Democratic People’s Party and main opposition Kuomintang.

Ko, who denied the corruption allegations, was arrested in September and held in detention.

Prosecutors said Thursday that he was among 11 people who were being prosecuted. Several other members of his Taiwan People Party have also been charged for misappropriating political donations.

A dark horse in January’s presidential election, Ko won more than 25% of the vote – not far behind ruling party candidate Lai Ching-te’s 40%.

Observers said at the time that even though Ko came in last among the three presidential hopefuls, his sizable showing pointed to voters’ demand for a more pluralistic political landscape beyond the two main parties.

Ko rose to prominence by branding himself as a third choice beyond the two main parties. He criticised the DPP for fanning tensions with Beijing, which sees the self-governed island as its territory, but also blamed the KMT for being too deferential.

After supporting protesters during the anti-Beijing Sunflower Movement in 2014, Ko was elected Taipei mayor as an independent candidate.

He won a second term in 2018, but his politics appeared to shift and he expanded Taipei’s relationship with mainland China.

Long known as a wildcard in Taiwanese politics, Ko has courted controversy with his brash rhetoric and quirky campaign ideas. He has been described as a “gaffe machine” and starred in a rap video in his 2018 re-election bid.

After his defeat at the presidential polls, he vowed not to give up on his political career and was expected to seek the presidency again in 2028. But it remains to be seen if his party can recover from the wave of prosecutions.

Ko’s arrest has triggered protests from his allies and supporters, who accused the DPP of using the charges to suppress its opponents.

At least three people have died in a bus crash in Norway, police say.

The accident happened at around 13:30 local time (12:30GMT) in the Hadsel district on the country’s north-western coast.

The bus came off the road and ended up partially in the Åsvatnet lake, the authorities said in a press release.

It is thought to have been carrying 58 people at the time of the crash – many of whom, police say, are foreign nationals.

As well as the fatalities, police said four people had been seriously injured.

Three people have been taken to Stokmarknes Hospital by rescue helicopter, while other passengers have been taken to a nearby school.

Everyone has now been removed from the vehicle, according to local media.

The Norwegian Red Cross said on social media that it was sending teams to help with a “serious bus accident” on the E10 road.

Fire, ambulance and police teams have also been working at the scene.

There have been reports of heavy snowdrifts and strong winds in the area.

Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre said the crash was “a very serious situation” and that his thoughts were with everyone affected.

On a cold day in November, hundreds of people flocked to an arena in Coventry, which has previously hosted gigs by Oasis, Rihanna, and Harry Styles, for an event of a very different kind.

The 500 people who turned out – some from as far afield as Mongolia and Canada – were taking part in an activity less known for drawing in crowds: the Rubik’s UK Championship in “speedcubing,” or racing to solve puzzle cubes at terrific speed.

Rows of tables were laid out in the arena and 15 events took place over three days. Some involved solving the puzzle one-handed, others while blindfolded. Teenager James Alonso won the tournament’s biggest event – solving the classic 3×3 cube at speed with an average of 6.3 seconds.

Speedcubing has been popular since the 1980s and the world record for a single solve in that event is currently held by Max Park from the US, with a time of just 3.13 seconds. It is a far cry from the initial speed of Ernő Rubik, an architecture professor, who invented the Rubik’s Cube in 1974 and took around a month to solve it.

Flash forward to today and an estimated 412,000 people have taken part in speedcubing competitions worldwide. The popularity has increased too, with reported global sales of Rubik’s Cube products recorded as $86.6m (£67m) in 2023, up 13.5% on 2022. (The brand was acquired by a Canadian multinational toy company Spin Master in 2021.)

That’s not counting the sales of other types of puzzle cubes by different brands. Some are wooden, others electronic with built-in bluetooth, then there are those with all manner of colourful designs.

But now, scientists have lauded speedcubing, in particular, as not only a popular hobby but one that could have wellbeing benefits too.

“Speedcubing offers a unique combination of cognitive challenge, [alongside] social connection, and personal achievement that contributes to happiness”, says Polina Beloborodova, research associate at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Centre for Healthy Minds.

And this is said to run far deeper than a simple momentary rush.

“Speedcubing satisfies the basic psychological need for competence, the feeling of effectiveness and mastery,” explains Dr Beloborodova. It involves a number of factors including, problem-solving, memory, spatial reasoning and motor coordination.

But solving the cube may also elicit happiness because it taps into other emotions, according to Dr Julia Christensen, a senior research fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics in Germany. “Awe, beauty, being moved, all these are aesthetic emotions, and experiencing them gives us an extreme sense of happiness,” she says.

“For example, when a pattern is the right pattern, when a move is particularly amazing on the cube, these aesthetic emotions can give transformative experiences.”

Some speedcubers have described the state of mind that the activity can bring as a sense of “flow”.

“This state is achieved when the activity’s difficulty matches your skill level, distractions are minimal, the goals are clear, and feedback is immediate — all of which are characteristics of speedcubing,” says Dr Beloborodova.

Flow can feel “almost meditative”, according to Ian Scheffler, author of Cracking the Cube, who has experienced this first-hand. “You enter this state where you are kind of thinking and not thinking at the same time – you are reacting to what the cube is giving you, but in almost an instinctual way.

“It’s a kind of mindfulness that’s deeply rewarding… a peaceful, calm state where you’re completely in tune with every twist of the puzzle.”

There is good reason to seek a flow state regularly, according to Dr Christensen. “Science shows that people who regularly experience flow have a better mental health, possibly better physical health, and are more in tune.

“When we repeat movements they become logged or encoded from explicit, effort-full memory systems, and pass into implicit, less effort-full, and procedural memory systems,” she continues.

Nicholas Archer, a 17-year-old speedcuber from West Yorkshire, who won the one-handed competition in this year’s UK Championship with an average time of 8.69 seconds, says that he has experienced this. “When I’m solving the cube, I’m certainly not having to think too much about what I’m doing. It’s all automatic.”

“Speedcubing or solving a cube on your own may increase your happiness,” says Dr Adil Khan, a reader in neuroscience at King’s College London (KCL) – but when combined with the social aspect, any benefits may be greater.

“Since speedcubing is a social phenomenon, perhaps the social aspect combines with the puzzle solving to deliver a deeply satisfying experience.”

Jan Hammer started speedcubing at the age of 44, after being introduced to it by his 13-year-old daughter. He has since solved the cube around 10,000 times but does not think he would have maintained this level of enthusiasm had he been speedcubing alone.

“The fact that I can do this with my daughter and that we cheer for each other is wonderful. Additionally, being part of the cube community has become a huge motivation.”

Competitions tend to have more children and teenagers – it is not uncommon for competitors to be as young as six. The activity is also significantly more popular with males. The World Cube Association reports that 221,117 men have competed at their events, compared with 24,311 women.

Regardless of demographic, “for those who view speedcubing as a significant part of their life – such as participants in tournaments – it can offer eudemonic happiness, fostering a sense of purpose and meaning through dedication, accomplishment, and community of like-minded people,” argues Dr Beloborodova.

Psychologists differentiate between two aspects of happiness: “hedonic wellbeing,” related to emotional experiences, and “eudemonic wellbeing,” which concerns meaning and purpose in life.

“Both are essential for overall happiness and speedcubing can contribute to both types of wellbeing,” she says. All of this “contributes to better mental health”.

The effects of speedcubing on the brain and cognitive function are, however, less clear.

While solving a cube, the brain is trying out different moves, asking “what might happen if I move the cube in this way?” explains Dr Toby Wise, senior research fellow in neuroimaging at King’s College London.

“Your brain stores a memory trace for different configurations of the cube, and it can run through different configurations to predict which will have the best outcome.”

However it doesn’t necessarily create long-term benefits, like improvements to memory function. This is because, as Dr Khan explains, the brain is not like a muscle that needs to be flexed to make it grow.

For many years it has been suggested by some that solving puzzles, whether Sudoku or crosswords, can have a hand in slowing cognitive decline or dementia. However this is not necessarily the case.

A study undertaken by Aberdeen Royal Infirmary and the University of Aberdeen, and published in the BMJ in 2018, found that people who regularly do intellectual activities throughout life have higher mental abilities, providing a “higher cognitive point” from which to decline, but that they do not decline any slower.

“Solving puzzles does not improve your brain power in much other than the puzzle itself,” argues Dr Khan. “And almost certainly does not prevent age-related decline in brain power.”

One further benefit of speedcubing, according to regular players, is its sense of escapism from frenzied modern life.

“Having a clear goal, something that you can actually realise, is something that we don’t necessarily have in everyday life, and that appeases our brain,” says Dr Christensen.

This perhaps explains why the cube is so popular in an age with myriad computer games and technological activities to choose from. As Mr Hammer puts it: “When I pick up the cube, I become more alert and focused.”

He uses it in the workplace too. “It can help me enter the next meeting with a more structured perspective,” he says.

Mr Scheffler agrees: “The process of taking the cube from this chaotic, disordered state, which is always different because there’s so many permutations of the puzzle, to the same ordered state is fundamentally something that humans want to be doing.

“There’s a fundamental human need to make order out of disorder, because the universe is a very chaotic place, and most things are not ordered.”

Finnish police are investigating whether a Russian ship was involved in the sabotage of an electricity cable running between Finland and Estonia.

The authorities said on Thursday that they believe the anchor of the Eagle S, a tanker registered with the Cook Islands, may have damaged the Estlink 2 cable, which became disconnected on Wednesday.

The vessel is thought to be part of Russia’s “shadow fleet”, which is made up of ships that carry embargoed Russian oil products.

It is the latest in a series of incidents in recent years, in which underwater cables in the Baltic region have been either damaged or severed completely.

Fingrid, the operator of Finland’s national grid, said Estlink 2 remained out of service but that the damage “did not endanger the operation of the electricity system” in the country.

Repairs are expected to take “several months”.

“From our side we are investigating grave sabotage,” said Robin Lardot, director of Finland’s National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).

President Alexander Stubb posted on X that he had been given an “overview” of the cable breach from authorities.

He underlined the need to “avert the risks” posed by vessels that are part of the shadow fleet.

Finnish police have said the case is being investigated as “aggravated criminal mischief”.

The damaged cable had a transmission capacity of 650 megawatts and is 170km long (105 miles), 145km of which is submerged. The fault was located on Thursday in the submarine section.

Estonia’s Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna said on Thursday that damage to critical submarine infrastructure has become “so frequent” that it casts doubt on the idea this damage could be considered “accidental” or “merely poor seamanship”.

“We must understand that damage to submarine infrastructure has become more systematic and thus must be regarded as attacks against our vital structures,” Tsahkna said in a press release.

The foreign ministry added that Eagle S has been escorted to a Finnish port.

“In addition to circumventing sanctions, the shadow fleet is a security threat in the Baltic Sea and we cannot just sit and watch,” Tsahkna continued.

LISTEN: How vulnerable are the undersea cables connecting us?

A telecommunications cable running between Finland and Germany was severed in November, and an internet link between Lithuania and Sweden’s Gotland Island stopped working at around the same time.

German prosecutors are still investigating the explosion of Nord Stream gas pipelines between Russia and Germany in 2022.

And in October 2023 a natural gas pipeline between Finland and Estonia was severely damaged.

Finnish officials later said the incident had been caused by a Chinese container ship dragging its anchor.

The birth of Jesus Christ – a seminal biblical event – has been the subject of many paintings by Western artists, who have often applied the ideas of beauty and creativity prevalent there while depicting the event on canvas.

These works are among the most widely available representations of Christian art, shaping how the world views this biblical event and subliminally divesting those outside the West from influencing it.

But over the centuries, artists in India have sought to express their vision of this event by painting Jesus’s birth and other Christian themes in their own style.

Some have done so consciously, others unconsciously, but the end result is a body of work that breathes new life and meaning into the event of Christ’s birth, and Christianity itself.

Here are some paintings from Indian art history that present Jesus’s birth from a uniquely local perspective.

Mughal emperor Muhammad Jalaluddin Akbar is credited with introducing northern India to Christianity by inviting Jesuit missionaries to visit his court.

The missionaries brought with them holy scriptures and European artworks on Christian themes which influenced court painters. Akbar and his successors also commissioned many murals with Christian themes and some court painters began infusing these paintings with elements of Islamic art.

Neha Vermani, a historian of South Asia, talks about a painting made by Mughal court artists which featured emperor Jahangir in the nativity scene, which traditionally feature Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus.

“Mughal rulers saw themselves as being ‘just’ rulers, capable of maintaining harmony and balance in their kingdoms; they were ‘universal rulers’. Allowing different religions to co-exist was integral to how they saw themselves and wanted themselves to be remembered,” Ms Vermani says.

The 18th Century painting below features typical stylistic elements of Mughal art, including highly stylised figures, vibrant colours, naturalism and ornamentation.

Born in 1887 in what is now India’s West Bengal state, Jamini Roy is celebrated for creating a unique visual language by bringing together elements of Bengali folk art and Kalighat paintings – a distinctive art form that originated in the vicinity of a renowned temple in Kolkata city.

Ashish Anand, CEO and managing director of art firm DAG says that art critic WG Archer once observed that Christ represented a Santhal figure (the Santhals are an Indian tribal group) for Jamini Roy.

“The simplicity of Christ’s life and his sacrifice appealed to Roy, making his paintings on Christian themes at least as important as those on Hindu mythology, all of them rendered in the folk style of modernism that he made distinctively his own,” he says.

Born in 1902 in the western state of Goa, Angelo de Fonseca is credited with creating unique Christian iconography that married Eastern and Western influences with his Goan sensibilities.

In his paintings, Mary isn’t depicted as a fair maiden in a blue gown, but looks very much like an Indian woman with brown skin, dressed in a sari and wearing a mangalsutra (a piece of traditional Indian jewellery worn by married Hindu women).

Biblical scenes unfold in local settings and feature motifs and elements that speak to an Indian audience.

Through his art, he tried to counter the narrative of the West being the cradle of beauty and artistic creativity.

“Fonseca wanted to situate Christianity – which has largely been viewed as a western religious tradition – within the Indian subcontinent. It was from this angst that his watercolours painted Christianity anew,” Rinald D’Souza, director of the Xavier Centre of Historical Research, Goa, told the BBC.

A Palestinian TV channel says five of its journalists have been killed in an Israeli strike in the central Gaza Strip.

They were in a Quds Today van parked outside al-Awda hospital, where the wife of one of the journalists was about to give birth, in the central Nuseirat refugee camp.

The channel posted a video of what it said was the burning vehicle with “press” signage on the back doors.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it had targeted “Islamic Jihad operatives posing as journalists” and that steps were taken to avoid harming civilians.

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said it was “devastated by the reports”.

“Journalists are civilians and must always be protected,” it said.

The BBC has not been able to verify claims made by either side, with international media being prevented by Israel from entering and freely working on the ground in Gaza.

Quds Today is affiliated with the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), an armed group that took part in the 7 October 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel. The unprecedented attack triggered the war in Gaza. The TV channel is believed to receive funding from the group.

The Israeli military named the five killed as Ibrahim Jamal Ibrahim Al-Sheikh Ali; Faisal Abdallah Muhammad Abu Qamsan; Mohammed Ayad Khamis al-Ladaa; Ayman Nihad Abd Alrahman Jadi; and Fadi Ihab Muhammad Ramadan Hassouna.

It said “intelligence from multiple sources confirmed” that all were PIJ operatives, and that a list found during an operation in Gaza “explicitly identified four” of them as such.

In a statement, Quds Today said the men “were killed as they carried out their media and humanitarian duty”.

As of 20 December, at least 133 Palestinian journalists have been killed during the course of the war, making it the deadliest conflict for journalists, according to the CPJ.

The press freedom organisation has called for accountability for Palestinian journalists who have been directly targeted by the Israeli military.

In a separate development, five people were reported killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza City on Wednesday.

The Palestinian Wafa news agency, and the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry, also said a further 20 people were injured in the city’s al-Zeitoun neighbourhood.

The Israeli military has not commented on the reported bombing.

Meanwhile the father of a two-week-old Palestinian girl has told the BBC how his baby daughter froze to death in a tent in Gaza – the third child in a week to die in similar conditions.

Mahmoud Ismail Al-Faseeh said he woke up in the severe cold to find his daughter, Sila, suffering convulsions. She was rushed to hospital but died from hypothermia, the head of paediatrics at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis told the Associated Press news agency.

The family was sheltering in al-Mawasi area on Gaza’s coast, a strip of land designated by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) as a humanitarian zone but which has been hit by air strikes.

Ahmed al-Farra, the head of paediatrics, said two other babies – one three days old and the other a month old – had been brought in over the past 48 hours after dying from hypothermia.

Hopes of progress towards a ceasefire in recent days have begun to recede, with Hamas and Israel blaming each other.

Hamas accused the Israeli government of imposing “new conditions” that it said were delaying the agreement.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the group was reneging on understandings that had already been reached about a possible ceasefire.

The latest statements mark a notable change of tone on both sides following optimistic signals.

The Israeli military launched air strikes and a ground offensive in the Gaza Strip in response to last year’s Hamas attack. About 1,200 people were killed in the attack and another 251 taken back to Gaza as hostages.

More than 45,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s offensive, Gaza’s health ministry says. Almost two million people – 90% of the population – have been displaced, according to the UN.

Rude gestures are rare on postage stamps, but Ukraine’s best known stamp has one. It shows a soldier raising the middle finger to a Russian warship in reference to a stand-off at Snake Island on day one of the full-scale invasion nearly three years ago.

The Russians demanded surrender but the Ukrainians refused, using unprintable language.

The warship in question, the cruiser Moskva, was sunk by the Ukrainians two days after the stamp was issued, and it sold out within a week of going on sale.

Such is the significance of the stamp that whatever was left was given to government delegations representing Ukraine on the world stage.

Ihor Smilyansky, the head of Ukraine’s postal company Ukrposhta, acknowledges it was a risqué step to take.

“It was my decision. I said – I don’t care whatever everyone else thinks. I just believe it’s the right thing to do,” he told the BBC. “I know it’s breaking all the philatelic [study of stamps] rules and all the rules. But we’re about breaking the rules.”

Ukrposhta often tests its designs on the public, and the results of such online polls tend to be very political too.

That was how Ukraine’s best-selling stamp came into being, showing a Ukrainian tractor towing a captured Russian tank and featuring the popular wartime greeting: “Good evening, we’re from Ukraine.”

Ukrposhta has sold about eight million such stamps.

Stamps featuring Ukraine’s famous mine-sniffing dog Patron earned Ukrposhta about $500,000 (£400,000): 80% of the money was spent on mine-clearing equipment, and the rest on animal shelters.

Another stamp of a mural left by renowned graffiti artist Banksy on a building devastated by shelling outside Kyiv, helped fund 10 bomb shelters. This stamp features another popular but unprintable Ukrainian slogan – this time directed against Vladimir Putin.

Ihor Smilyansky says a dose of humour is added to Ukrposhta’s stamps to maintain Ukrainian morale during the war with Russia.

“Humour has become a fighting force for Ukrainians in this war,” he tells the BBC. “Even in the most difficult circumstances you have to take it with a sense of humour. And that’s what our stamps are sometimes about.”

Oscar Young from UK-based stamp dealers and auctioneers Stanley Gibbons says Ukraine’s approach to stamps by focusing them on the war is highly unusual.

“Generally stamps are artistic and polite, but to go out your way and be quite rude, placing profanity and being very gesturous on stamps – that is quite unique to these particular issues,” he tells the BBC.

He says the frank image used on the warship stamp is what made the stamp so famous and caused such a stir when it was issued.

The distinctive character of Ukrainian stamps has earned them popularity with collectors worldwide.

Laura Bullivant from Gloucester, in the UK, believes that other stamps look bland by comparison.

“I think they’re like the Ukrainian thought process, they’re just strong, and they’re just not bowing down to whatever’s coming into their country,” she says.

“At a time of huge worry and awfulness, they are bringing something to the game that no other country could.”

How well do you remember the stories and people in the news this year?

Test your memory of 2024 in our four-part Christmas quiz – 52 questions for 52 weeks of the year.

Part one covers January to March. Part two is on Friday 27 December.

Fancy some more? Have a go at something from the archives.

The little town of Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank has good reason to consider itself the capital of Christmas but this year it does not feel like it.

There are very few visitors at what is typically a peak time. There are not the usual cheerful street decorations nor the giant Christmas tree in front of the Nativity Church, built over the spot where it is believed that Jesus was born.

Public celebrations of Christmas have been cancelled for a second year because of the war in Gaza. Palestinian Christians are only attending religious ceremonies and family gatherings.

“This should be a time of joy and celebration,” comments Reverend Dr Munther Isaac, a local Lutheran pastor. “But Bethlehem is a sad town in solidarity with our siblings in Gaza.”

At his church, the Nativity scene shows baby Jesus lying in a pile of rubble. In the run-up to Christmas, a prayer service focused on the catastrophic situation in Gaza.

“It’s hard to believe that another Christmas has come upon us and the genocide has not stopped,” Isaac said in his strongly worded sermon. “Decision makers are content to let this continue. To them, Palestinians are dispensable.”

Israel strongly denies accusations of genocide in Gaza and judges at the UN’s top court have yet to rule in a case alleging genocide, brought by South Africa.

Many Bethlehemite Christians I meet feel despair and question what they see as the failure of other Christian communities around the world to speak out.

Close ties between members of the tiny Palestinian Christian community mean many locals have families and friends in Gaza.

“My mum told me that what we see on television doesn’t capture one per cent of what’s happening,” says theologian, Dr Yousef Khouri, who is originally from Gaza City.

His parents and sister are among a few hundred Christians who have spent much of the past 14 months sheltering in two Gazan churches.

“They are subjected like the entire Gaza strip to starvation. Of course, almost non-sleep because of bombardment, because of all the drones hovering above their heads and the lack of medical attention and services,” he says.

“We’ve lost friends and relatives.”

In Gaza, more than 45,000 people have been killed in the war that was unleashed in response to the Hamas attacks on southern Israel. Figures come from the Hamas-run health ministry but are considered reliable by the UN and others. The assault on 7 October 2023 killed some 1,200 people – Israelis and some foreigners – and led to about 250 being taken hostage.

Tensions have risen in the West Bank in parallel to the war. Israel has imposed new restrictions on Palestinians’ movements and cancelled tens of thousands of permits for workers who used to cross into Jerusalem or Jewish settlements each day.

The economy is in dire straits especially in Bethlehem, which relies heavily on tourism which has almost entirely stopped. Guides stand idly by the Nativity Church, feeding the pigeons.

“If there [are] tourists, all the people will work: hotels, transportation, accommodation, all of them,” says one guide, Abdullah. “But [if] there [are] no tourists, there is no life in Bethlehem city.”

“I am broke! No business! For more than one year we stay home,” exclaims Adnan Subah, a souvenir seller on Star Street.

“My son is a tour guide in the church, we stay home, all my kids stay. No jobs, no business, no tourists.”

Many local Christian and Muslim families have emigrated in the past year. With the constant threat of violence and expansion of settlements on lands where Palestinians have long sought an independent state of their own, there is increased fear and uncertainty over the future.

But a community group in Bethlehem is trying to make a difference: packing up food parcels for those in need. There is no governmental assistance here, and volunteers have been collecting donations – including from those in the diaspora.

“As you know Christmas is the spirit of giving and love and joy. And we hope with this parcel we can give some hope and joy to the families in our area,” says Wael Shaer, the head of the Palestine Lions Club.

I follow Wael making his first delivery to a woman living in an apartment nearby. Her husband is sick and out of work. She gratefully opens the box of supplies that she is given and takes an envelope of cash.

She and Wael exchange a customary holiday greeting wishing each other a peaceful year ahead.

“Mission accomplished!” Wael tells me as we head off.

“Spreading a little cheer at Christmas.”

A university student rowing from Europe to South America has finished the first half of her stamina-sapping adventure – despite facing major challenges.

Zara Lachlan, 21, from Cambridge, is spending Christmas at sea as she aims to become the youngest person to row solo across the Atlantic.

The Loughborough University physics student recently encountered a shark and had to use a flare when her tiny boat was almost hit by a tanker.

Ms Lachlan, who hopes to become a technical officer in the Army next year, is making good time and has been rowing more than 16 hours a day as she heads towards her destination – the coast of French Guiana.

Ms Lachlan has already covered more than 2,050 miles (3300km) of her record-breaking 4000-mile (6400-km) solo and unsupported row across the Atlantic.

So far, the journey has been hampered by injuries, a broken oar, vicious weather that caused her boat to roll, damage to some of her communications equipment, encounters with orcas and sharks – and a near collision.

She said: “I had a small cut that just bled a lot.

“I’m fine, but when I was washing it off in the sea a couple of minutes later a shark appeared, which was pretty cool.

“It hung around for quite a while – about an hour. It was not a great white shark as it was brown, so you could call it a ‘great brown shark’!”

Within the same 24 hours, she had another scary encounter while it was still dark.

She said: “I had a very large ship not turning on its radio and heading straight towards me.

“I could see on the AIS [automatic identification system] where they were going to go and it was directly towards me, so I got on the radio and I used a white flare, but they still didn’t reply.

“They missed me by 0.1 of a mile (160m), which is nothing.

“It’s ridiculous. I’m really angry at them because I can’t do anything about that. So I’m very grateful that I’m OK.”

In the vineyards of Bordeaux, the unspeakable has become the drinkable. Wine without alcohol has arrived.

The heresy of yesterday is now – thanks to science and economic crisis – the opportunity of today.

Wine estates which would have torched their grapes rather than submit to such ignominy, are now openly contemplating the booze-free bottle.

And developers are moving ahead fast, creating wines that are deliberately designed to get the best from the de-alcoholisation process.

“When we started a few years ago, what we were making was frankly rubbish,” says Bordeaux oenologist Frédéric Brochet, who has helped create the Moderato range of no-alcohol wines.

“But we have made great progress. And today we are getting nearer and nearer to our goal. I think it is going to be a revolution in the wine world.”

Bordeaux has just seen the launch of its first ever – wine shop – dedicated solely to no-alcohol wines, reflecting a shift in perceptions which has taken many in the industry by surprise.

“We only opened four weeks ago, and already we are getting wine-growers from the area coming in and asking about the non-alcohol market,” says Alexandre Kettaneh, who owns Les Belles Grappes with his wife Anne.

“They don’t know anything about how to do it, but they can see it is coming and want to be part of it.”

Several things have happened to make the moment opportune.

First of all, the French wine world is in deep difficulty. Domestic consumption continues to fall and the Chinese market is not what it was. US President-elect Donald Trump is threatening new levies. Prized ancient vineyards across France are being grubbed up.

Second, consumption habits are shifting, especially among the young. Supermarkets now give more space to beer than they do to wine. Most 20-somethings have never had the habit of wine – and they are also far more health-conscious than their elders.

The non-alcohol lifestyle is spreading. Currently 10% of the French beer market is alcohol-free. In Spain it is 25%.

And third – the technology has improved by leaps and bounds.

In the past – and still today for cheaper brands – the method has simply been to boil away the alcohol and then add compensatory flavours. The result – especially for reds – is at best mediocre. Such drinks cannot even call themselves wine, but “beverages based on de-alcoholised wine”.

Now though, there are new methods of low-temperature vacuum distillation, and of “capturing” aromas for putting back into the de-alcoholised wine. The result is wines that can legally call themselves wines, and are beginning to hold their own among discerning consumers.

“With reds, you need to be prepared for an experience which will not be the same as a traditional wine with alcohol. We cannot pretend we can replicate, yet, the full mouth-feel,” says Fabien Marchand-Cassagne of Moderato.

“But what you will get is a genuine wine moment. Bouquet, tannins, fruits, balance – it is all there to be enjoyed.”

At the Clos De Bouard estate near Saint-Emilion, fully a third of sales are now of the chateau’s two – soon to be three – non-alcoholic brands. Owner Coralie de Bouard first glimpsed the possibilities when she was asked in 2019 to develop a non-alcoholic wine for the Qatari owners of PSG football club.

“My family wouldn’t talk to me for a year, such was my ‘treason’. And even today I get hate mail from wine-growers saying I am ruining the market,” she says.

“But now my father congratulates me and says I am the locomotive in the wine train. And if we are surviving today in these difficult times, it is because we have shifted towards the no-alcohol market.”

“For the purists it’s been very difficult to accept,” says Bernard Rabouy, a wine-grower for the Bordeaux Families cooperative.

“But we have to evolve. The fact is that the customers aren’t where they used to be. So we have to go and get them or they will go somewhere else.”

Promoters of alcohol-free wine make much of the notion that it allows non-drinkers – who used to feel excluded – to join in the wine-banter. And it is true that the rituals of opening, sniffing, describing and comparing are now open to all.

“What we want to do is try to bring back the France of our youth – when everyone sat around the dinner table and drank wine, and it was a real moment of sharing,” says Anne Kattaneh.

“And these days the only way we are going to be able to do that is if non-alcoholic wines are part of the culture.”

“The idea that the wine world was always as it is now, is rubbish,” says oenologist Brochet.

“Things evolve. Once upon a time the barrel was an innovation. The cork was an innovation; grape varietals were an innovation. And now this is a new one – which could help save the industry and the wonderful landscape and culture that goes with it.

“As [poet] Paul Valery said – what is tradition, but an innovation that succeeded?”

Money, success, power, beauty – it often seems as if celebrities have everything they could possibly want.

So it’s just as well they also get tangled up in their fair share of mishaps, blunders and own goals every year.

Here’s a light-hearted look at some of 2024’s biggest flops and fails.

It was supposed to be a triumphant return, but critics and fans complained Katy Perry’s latest album 143 sounded dated and showed little artistic growth.

The music video for Woman’s World, which saw Perry join a group of dancers wearing tiny outfits on a construction site, was criticised for being regressive, although Perry later said it was supposed to be satirical.

Matters were only made worse when the singer attracted the attention of the Spanish government for shooting the video for follow-up single Lifetimes in ecologically-sensitive sand dunes in the Balearic Islands.

But many fans defended the album, which wasn’t as bad as some reviews made out, and Perry’s accompanying tour has been a huge success.

Making a sequel to 2019’s Joker, which grossed more than $1bn (£790m), was something Hollywood found simply irresistible.

Unfortunately, the resulting film, Joker: Folie à Deux, was something audiences found entirely resistible.

Making the film a musical was a bold swing, but the tonal handbrake turn alienated the fans and critics who adored the Oscar-winning original.

Folie à Deux managed to scrape over the $200m (£158m) mark, but that was barely enough to cover its production budget, let alone marketing costs.

It wasn’t the only movie flop of the year – audiences were also unenthusiastic about Madame Web, The Fall Guy, Kraven the Hunter, Megalopolis, Borderlands, Argylle, Unstoppable and Furiosa: A Mad Max Story.

Ticketmaster attracted a storm of controversy after making use of so-called “dynamic pricing” for UK dates on the Oasis reunion tour, which raised the cost of a ticket by £200 due to the predictable demand.

Charging fans £350 per ticket was a dubious PR move for a band famous for their working class roots, and the Gallagher brothers wisely distanced themselves from the strategy.

But Ticketmaster argued prices are set by artists and promoters. Dynamic pricing was later ditched for the band’s US tour dates.

Meanwhile, 50,000 fans who’d paid inflated prices on secondary platforms in order to secure tickets faced having them cancelled. A total omnishambles for everyone involved.

When BBC weather presenter Kawser Quamer was asked in February about her plans for the weekend, she cheerfully explained she was attending her niece’s surprise birthday party.

Host Annabel Tiffin said that all sounded very lovely, but presumably the party was no longer a surprise, having just been announced on live TV. “Oh goodness me,” replied an alarmed Quamer, “I’ve spoiled the surprise!”

The glorious mishap made its way across the Atlantic, going viral and featuring on Jimmy Kimmel Live.

But Quamer handled it beautifully, and even managed to convince her niece she was talking about a different relative, keeping the surprise element intact.

Chaos is a term which could be applied to a lot of entries in this list, but one of the biggest casualties of the year was Kaos itself.

Just a month after the first series of Jeff Goldblum’s Greek mythology drama was released, Netflix announced it would not return for a second.

Streamers can tell quickly if something is a hit or not by measuring viewing figures and completion rates. Their data even gives them the prospective ratings of the following months based on the first.

But although fans campaigned for its return, ultimately Kaos was Kancelled.

Manchester’s hottest new live venue finally opened this year, but only after several attempts. There was a string of cancellations due to various technical problems, including a ventilation unit falling from the ceiling.

Shows by Peter Kay, Olivia Rodrigo, Take That and others were cancelled or moved, before the venue finally opened with a successful concert from rock band Elbow.

The problems did at least bring one delightful moment: A Radio 4 newsreader announcing the delay of a gig by US rapper A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie.

Flops don’t come much bigger than a debate performance which was so poor, it brought down an entire presidential campaign.

Joe Biden seemed distant and frail when he took part in a televised live debate in June, struggling to finish some of his sentences and keep pace with Donald Trump.

Biden tried to stay in the race, but the pressure on him became too high as figures including Democrat fundraiser George Clooney publicly called for him to stand down, leading to Kamala Harris replacing him as the candidate.

A barnstorming performance from Celine Dion sadly wasn’t enough to rescue this soggy croissant of an opening ceremony, which was badly hampered by rain.

Organisers took the event outside of the traditional stadium setting and had performers spread out across Paris instead, which was both a security nightmare and challenging for spectators.

The spread meant things felt somewhat disjointed and it was hard for the ceremony to build any momentum.

Meanwhile, some viewers were upset by a scene involving drag queens which many interpreted as a reference to the Last Supper, but artistic director Thomas Jolly said was a reference to pagan gods.

Hot on the heels of the disastrous Willy Wonka experience was an unofficial Bridgerton ball, where fans of the Netflix series were invited to dress up and “step into the enchanting world of the Regency era”.

Unfortunately, they were greeted with disappointing food and drab decor, with one violinist and a pole dancer for entertainment. Creators blamed “organisational challenges” and said they “sincerely apologised”.

We anticipate the event being eviscerated in Lady Whistledown’s next newsletter.

This year’s Eurovision Song Contest was, frankly, a disaster from start to finish.

A row about Israel’s participation prompted security concerns, put all the entrants in an awkward position and even led to the head of Eurovision being booed during the grand final.

Dutch singer Joost Klein was disqualified at the last minute due a backstage incident where a woman’s video camera was knocked to the ground.

Winner Nemo even accidentally broke the Eurovision trophy after placing it on stage, leaving the Swiss entrant with bandages after sustaining deep cuts to the thumb.

Host city Malmo said they would refuse to stage the event again if Sweden won, saying they wouldn’t have the “strength and stamina”.

And to top it all off, the UK languished in 18th place.

Laura Kuenssberg withdrew from an interview with Boris Johnson in October after mistakenly sending her briefing notes to the former prime minister himself, resulting in what she called a few “red faces”.

ITV took over and Johnson later told BBC Radio 5 Live’s Matt Chorley his originally scheduled interview had “blown up on the launch pad”.

Elsewhere, thousands of viewers complained to Ofcom in August when Home Secretary Yvette Cooper was interviewed on Good Morning Britain by her own husband, Ed Balls, about the violent unrest in parts of the UK.

ITV’s chief executive later noted it was a fluid news morning and the team had short notice that Cooper was coming on. She said the interview was impartial and fair but it wouldn’t happen again.

Another daytime presenter, Lorraine Kelly, became the subject of a viral X account which monitored her show attendance throughout the year (hovering just below 60%, if you’re interested).

Over on Strictly Come Dancing, which had already had a fairly appalling year before this series even started, fans were puzzled by some unusual on-screen encounters between singer Wynne Evans and his partner Katya Jones.

Viewers spotted Jones apparently refusing to high-five Evans, and later moving his hand away from her waist.

The show’s welfare team checked in on them after concerns were raised, but the pair apologised for what they said was actually just a “very silly inside joke” between them.

When Oppenheimer was named best film at February’s Baftas, the prize was collected by actor Cillian Murphy, director Christopher Nolan, producer Emma Thomas… and a random man standing silently in the background.

The intruder was actually YouTuber Lizwani, who managed to infiltrate the event and make it all the way to the stage during the night’s biggest moment.

But the fact he was standing quietly and respectfully meant few viewers even noticed anything was wrong. Bafta have since tightened security.

A month later, there was more awkwardness when Oppenheimer was named best picture at the Oscars, in an announcement fumbled by Al Pacino.

Pacino dispensed with the traditional “And the Oscar goes to…”

Instead, he stumbled through proceedings before announcing somewhat abruptly: “My eyes see Oppenheimer.”

There was a delayed reaction from the audience and orchestra, who weren’t entirely sure if Pacino was finished or if they had heard the winner correctly.

But Scarface redeemed himself later in the year by revealing his delightful Shrek phone cover, courtesy of his young daughter. All was forgiven.

When one fan affectionately edited a promotional poster for Wicked to resemble the musical’s original Broadway illustration, actress Cynthia Erivo said it erased her contribution to the film, because her eyes were hidden under her witch’s hat.

A barrage of memes followed as fans lightly poked fun at her reaction, with many social media users jokingly trying to avoid any further erasure by attaching pictures of Erivo to posts which had nothing to do with her.

The original fan clarified that the altered film promo was intended to be “an innocent fan edit to pay homage to the original Broadway poster”.

But Erivo handled the backlash like a pro, making light of the situation and telling ET: “For me it was just like a human moment of wanting to protect little Elphaba. I probably should have called my friends.”

When Rishi Sunak called a general election in May, the then-prime minister made the announcement outdoors despite it bucketing with rain.

Being in the open air also allowed an anti-Tory activist to disrupt the announcement by blasting music from a nearby speaker.

But Sunak gamely stuck it out, later commenting that he was “not a fair-weather politician” and confirming he’d be taking an umbrella on the campaign trail.

Live tours and concerts were disrupted this year for all kinds of reasons.

Jennifer Lopez cancelled her live shows after reports of poor ticket sales, although she said it was so she could spend time with family and friends.

Tenacious D’s tour fell apart after one member made some ill-advised comments about Donald Trump.

And Madonna’s fans became increasingly frustrated with her lateness.

Elsewhere, Adele repeatedly swore at an audience member in Las Vegas who she thought had shouted “Pride sucks”. It transpired the fan had actually shouted “work sucks” after the singer discussed her working week. Oops.

So fair play to Kate Nash for not only keeping her show on the road, but funding her tour by selling pictures of her bottom online, helpfully bringing publicity to the issues of high tour costs and poor streaming royalties in the process.

A court in Turkey has sentenced the owner and architect of a hotel which collapsed in an earthquake in 2023, killing 72 people, to jail.

The owner of the Isias Grand, Ahmet Bozkurt, and architect Erdem Yilmaz, were each given 18 years and five months, the official Anadolu news agency reported. Bozkurt’s son, Mehmet Fatih, was sentenced to 17 years and four months, it said.

The hotel, in the south-eastern city of Adiyaman, was hosting a school volleyball team from Turkish-controlled northern Cyprus and a group of tourist guides when the quake hit last February.

The three men were convicted of “causing the death or injury of more than one person through conscious negligence”, Anadolou said.

Turkish Cypriot Prime Minister Unal Ustel said the sentences were too lenient and that authorities would appeal, AFP new agency reported.

“Hotel owners did not get the punishment we had expected,” Ustel said. “But despite that, everyone from those responsible in the hotel’s construction to the architect was sentenced. That made us partially happy.”

More than 50,000 people died in Turkey and Syria in the quake on 6 February 2023.

Some 160,000 buildings collapsed or were badly damaged, leaving 1.5 million people homeless.

The Turkish government said a few weeks later that hundreds of people were under investigation and nearly 200 people had been arrested, including construction contractors and property owners.

A group of 39 people, including boys and girls, teachers and parents from Famagusta Turkish Education College, had travelled to Adiyaman for a volleyball tournament when the earthquake struck.

Four parents were the only survivors among them. They managed to dig themselves out of the rubble, while 35 others including all the children were killed.

The volleyball group had picked the seven-storey Isias Grand, along with as many as 40 tourist guides who were there for training.

It was one of Adiyaman’s best-known hotels but it collapsed in moments.

The Isias had been operating since 2001 but, according to scientific analysis, gravel and sand from the local river had been mixed with other construction materials to form the columns supporting the building.

The sheer scale of building collapses in the earthquake prompted widespread criticism of the Turkish government for encouraging a construction boom while failing to enforce building regulations, which had been tightened after earlier disasters.

Pope Francis has called for negotiations between Ukraine and Russia to end the war triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

In his traditional Christmas Day address, the Pope said “boldness [was] needed to open the door” to dialogue “in order to achieve a just and lasting peace” between the two sides.

His appeal followed a major Russian attack the same day on Ukraine’s energy facilities, which Ukraine said involved at least 184 missiles and drones.

Earlier this year, Ukraine strongly rejected a call by the pontiff for Kyiv to negotiate an end to the war and have “the courage to raise the white flag”.

His Urbi et Orbi (to the city and the world) message also touched on other conflicts.

Speaking to thousands of people gathered in St Peter’s Square, the 88-year-old Pope declared: “May the sound of arms be silenced in war-torn Ukraine,” and beyond.

“I invite every individual, and all people of all nations… to become pilgrims of hope, to silence the sounds of arms and overcome divisions,” he said.

Reiterating the Christmas Day message he delivered last year, Pope Francis also called for a ceasefire in Gaza and the freeing of hostages held by Hamas.

“I think of the Christian communities in Israel and Palestine, particularly in Gaza, where the humanitarian situation is extremely grave,” he said.

He asked that “the doors of dialogue and peace be flung open”.

The war in Gaza began after the territory’s Hamas rulers attacked Israel on 7 October 2023. Gunmen killed about 1,200 people and took another 251 back to Gaza as hostages. More than 45,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s offensive, Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry says.

Earlier this week, the Pope twice described Israel’s attacks as “cruelty”, earning a sharp rebuke from Israel which called the remarks “particularly disappointing”.

Pope Francis also said his thoughts were with the Christian communities in Lebanon and Syria, where rebels recently overthrew Syrian President Bashar al-Assad after 24 years in power. Syria’s Christian population has dwindled since the start of the war in 2011, and reports suggest it now stands at a fraction of its pre-war total of approximately 1.5 million.

Syria’s minorities have expressed fear about their future in the country since Islamist rebels took over – though the leading rebel group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, has said all faiths will be protected.

At least three people died when armed men in Haiti opened fire at journalists, police and medical staff during a briefing to announce the reopening of the country’s biggest public hospital.

Two journalists and a police officer were reportedly shot dead, while others were wounded in Tuesday’s attack in the general hospital in the capital Port-au-Prince.

The site had been recaptured by Haiti’s government in July, after being occupied and destroyed by gangs.

The Viv Ansanm gang alliance, which controls much of the city, has owned up to the attack.

Pictures posted online appear to show several people injured or dead inside the building.

Journalists were waiting for the arrival of Health Minister Lorthe Blema when the shooting began.

Journalists Markenzy Nathoux and Jimmy Jean were killed during the attack, Robest Dimanche, spokesman for the Online Media Collective, told AFP news agency.

Other journalists were wounded, he added.

An officer was also killed, police spokesman Lionel Lazarre told AFP.

“It felt like a terrible movie,” Dieugo André, a photojournalist who witnessed the violence, was quoted as saying by The Haitian Times.

“I have the blood of several injured journalists on my clothes.”

In an online video claiming the attack, the Viv Ansanm gang alliance said it had not authorised the reopening of the hospital, which they occupied and destroyed in March.

The head of Haiti’s presidential transitional council, Leslie Voltaire, said: “We express our sympathy to all the victims’ families, in particularly to the Haiti National Police and all the journalists’ associations.

“We guarantee them that this act will not remain without consequences.”

People in Haiti continue to suffer with unbearable levels of gang violence, despite the installation of a new transition government in April and the deployment of an international force led by Kenyan police officers six months ago.

Haiti has been engulfed in a wave of gang violence since the assassination in 2021 of the then-president, Jovenel Moïse.

An estimated 85% of Port-au-Prince is still under gang control.

The UN says that as many as 5,000 people have been killed in violence in Haiti this year alone, and the country is now on the verge of collapse.

A suspect accused of killing a woman by setting her on fire on a subway train has been charged with murder in a New York court.

Sebastian Zapeta allegedly set the unidentified woman’s clothes on fire, and then fanned the flames by waving a shirt around her, which caused the flames to fully engulf her, according to the criminal complaint.

The 33-year-old faces charges of first and second degree murder, as well as arson for the attack on Monday. He will remain in custody until his next court appearance on Friday.

Wearing a white jumpsuit over a black hooded sweatshirt, Mr Zapeta did not speak when he was formally charged in court on Tuesday.

The suspect’s attorney did not speak to reporters after the arraignment.

Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch described Sunday’s incident as “one of the most depraved crimes one person could possibly commit against another human being”.

She said the woman was on a stationary F train in Brooklyn when she was approached by a man who used a lighter to ignite her clothing – which became “fully engulfed in a matter of seconds”.

Although officers extinguished the flames, the victim died at the scene.

Officials say they have police body camera footage and surveillance footage from inside the subway as well as witness statements.

Officers said the woman, who they have not named, was in a subway carriage at the Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue station at about 07:30 local time (12:30 GMT) when the man approached her.

The victim was “motionless” when she was set on fire, but detectives were still establishing whether or not she was asleep. “We’re not 100% sure,” said the NYPD’s Joseph Gulotta.

There was no interaction between the pair before the attack, Mr Gulotta said, adding that police did not believe they knew each other.

Describing how police were alerted to the incident, Ms Tisch said: “Officers were on patrol on an upper level of that station, smelled and saw smoke and went to investigate”.

“What they saw was a person standing inside the train car fully engulfed in flames.”

An immigration official said that Mr Zapeta entered the US illegally in 2018 and was detained and deported. The official said he subsequently unlawfully re-entered the US.

The man got off the train as police officers on patrol in the station rushed to the fire, but he did not flee immediately.

“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.

She explained that police were therefore able to obtain “very clear, detailed” pictures of him from the responding officers’ body worn cameras. The images were circulated by the New York Police Department (NYPD).

Later, three high school-aged New Yorkers called 911 to report they had recognised the suspect on another subway train, Ms Tisch told reporters.

The man was located after officers boarded the train and walked through the carriages.

He was arrested at Herald Square station – which is located near the Empire State Building in Manhattan. He was found with a lighter in his pocket, Ms Tisch said.

“I want to thank the young people who called 911 to help,” Ms Tisch added. “They saw something, they said something and they did something.”

A Nasa spacecraft is attempting to make history with the closest-ever approach to the Sun.

The Parker Solar Probe is plunging into our star’s outer atmosphere, enduring brutal temperatures and extreme radiation.

It is out of communication for several days during this burning hot fly-by and scientists will be waiting for a signal, expected at 05:00 GMT on 28 December, to see if it has survived.

The hope is the probe could help us to better understand how the Sun works.

Dr Nicola Fox, head of science at Nasa, told BBC News: “For centuries, people have studied the Sun, but you don’t experience the atmosphere of a place until you actually go visit it.

“And so we can’t really experience the atmosphere of our star unless we fly through it.”

Parker Solar Probe launched in 2018, heading to the centre of our solar system.

It has already swept past the Sun 21 times, getting ever nearer, but the Christmas Eve visit is record-breaking.

At its closest approach, the probe is 3.8 million miles (6.2 million km) from our star’s surface.

This might not sound that close, but Nasa’s Nicola Fox puts it into perspective: “We are 93 million miles away from the Sun, so if I put the Sun and the Earth one metre apart, Parker Solar Probe is four centimetres from the Sun – so that’s close.”

The probe will have to endure temperatures of 1,400C and radiation that could frazzle the onboard electronics.

It is protected by a 11.5cm (4.5 inches) thick carbon-composite shield but the spacecraft’s tactic is to get in and out fast.

In fact, it will be moving faster than any human-made object, hurtling at 430,000mph – the equivalent of flying from London to New York in less than 30 seconds.

Parker’s speed comes from the immense gravitational pull it feels as it falls towards the Sun.

So why go to all this effort to “touch” the Sun?

Scientists hope that as the spacecraft passes through our star’s outer atmosphere – its corona – it will solve a long standing mystery.

“The corona is really, really hot, and we have no idea why,” explains Dr Jenifer Millard, an astronomer at Fifth Star Labs in Wales.

“The surface of the Sun is about 6,000C or so, but the corona, this tenuous outer atmosphere that you can see during solar eclipses, reaches millions of degrees – and that is further away from the Sun. So how is that atmosphere getting hotter?”

The mission should also help scientists to better understand solar wind – the constant stream of charged particles bursting out from the corona.

When these particles interact with the Earth’s magnetic field the sky lights up with dazzling auroras.

But this so-called space weather can cause problems too, knocking out power grids, electronics and communication systems.

“Understanding the Sun, its activity, space weather, the solar wind, is so important to our everyday lives on Earth,” says Dr Millard.

Nasa scientists face an anxious wait over Christmas while the spacecraft is out of touch with Earth.

Nicola Fox says that as soon as a signal is beamed back home, the team will text her a green heart to let her know the probe is OK.

She admits she is nervous about the audacious attempt, but she has faith in the probe.

“I will worry about the spacecraft. But we really have designed it to withstand all of these brutal, brutal conditions. It’s a tough, tough little spacecraft.”

If it survives this challenge, the probe will continue its mission around the Sun into the future.

Liam Payne’s girlfriend has shared a message about experiencing sadness and grief during the Christmas holidays following the singer’s death earlier this year.

Payne died in October after falling from the balcony of his hotel room in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He was 31.

Kate Cassidy – who had been in a relationship with the One Direction star since 2022 – said: “As the holidays are here, I realise it is a time for happiness and joy, but it is also a time of sadness and grief for so many.”

In an Instagram stories post, she said she was sending love to those “carrying grief this holiday” and called on people to be gentle with those experiencing grief over Christmas.

“The holidays can feel different for everyone,” she says, and wishes everyone “a love-filled and healthy holiday season this year.”.

In October, Cassidy revealed on social media that Payne wrote a note to her shortly before his death predicting they would get married within a year.

In her tribute to him after he died, she called Payne “my best friend, the love of my life” and said that she had “lost the best part of myself”.

Payne’s sudden death led to an outpouring of grief from his family, friends and fans around the world.

The Wolverhampton-born singer shot to fame when he auditioned for the X Factor in 2010 at the age of 16 and became part of One Direction.

While the boy band went on to achieve phenomenal success across the globe, Payne himself acknowledged that it came at a cost and admitted that he used alcohol to cope with the band’s increasing fame.

His death prompted a debate about the duty of care in the music industry, particularly for young people.

In November, Argentinian authorities confirmed that three people were charged in connection with the singer’s death.

Toxicology tests revealed traces of alcohol, cocaine and a prescription antidepressant in his 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.

Payne’s funeral was held in Amersham, Buckinghamshire, last month and was attended by friends, family, and his One Direction bandmates.

A court in Turkey has sentenced the owner and architect of a hotel which collapsed in an earthquake in 2023, killing 72 people, to jail.

The owner of the Isias Grand, Ahmet Bozkurt, and architect Erdem Yilmaz, were each given 18 years and five months, the official Anadolu news agency reported. Bozkurt’s son, Mehmet Fatih, was sentenced to 17 years and four months, it said.

The hotel, in the south-eastern city of Adiyaman, was hosting a school volleyball team from Turkish-controlled northern Cyprus and a group of tourist guides when the quake hit last February.

The three men were convicted of “causing the death or injury of more than one person through conscious negligence”, Anadolou said.

Turkish Cypriot Prime Minister Unal Ustel said the sentences were too lenient and that authorities would appeal, AFP new agency reported.

“Hotel owners did not get the punishment we had expected,” Ustel said. “But despite that, everyone from those responsible in the hotel’s construction to the architect was sentenced. That made us partially happy.”

More than 50,000 people died in Turkey and Syria in the quake on 6 February 2023.

Some 160,000 buildings collapsed or were badly damaged, leaving 1.5 million people homeless.

The Turkish government said a few weeks later that hundreds of people were under investigation and nearly 200 people had been arrested, including construction contractors and property owners.

A group of 39 people, including boys and girls, teachers and parents from Famagusta Turkish Education College, had travelled to Adiyaman for a volleyball tournament when the earthquake struck.

Four parents were the only survivors among them. They managed to dig themselves out of the rubble, while 35 others including all the children were killed.

The volleyball group had picked the seven-storey Isias Grand, along with as many as 40 tourist guides who were there for training.

It was one of Adiyaman’s best-known hotels but it collapsed in moments.

The Isias had been operating since 2001 but, according to scientific analysis, gravel and sand from the local river had been mixed with other construction materials to form the columns supporting the building.

The sheer scale of building collapses in the earthquake prompted widespread criticism of the Turkish government for encouraging a construction boom while failing to enforce building regulations, which had been tightened after earlier disasters.

The Russian government has cautioned against promoting “hypotheses” about the cause of the crash of a Russia-bound passenger plane that killed 38 people in Kazakhstan on Wednesday.

Some aviation experts suggested that the Azerbaijan Airlines plane had been hit by air defence systems over the Russian republic of Chechnya and pro-government media in Azerbaijan quote officials as saying a Russian missile was responsible.

Before it went down near the Kazakh city of Aktau, the plane was diverted across the Caspian Sea, from its destination in Chechnya to western Kazakhstan.

Twenty nine of the 67 people on board survived. Azerbaijan held a national day of mourning on Thursday for the victims of the crash.

“This is a great tragedy that has become a tremendous sorrow for the Azerbaijani people,” President Ilham Aliyev said on Thursday.

In Moscow, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “It would be wrong to put forward any hypotheses before the investigation’s conclusions. We, of course, will not do this, and no-one should do this. We need to wait until the investigation is completed.”

The Embraer 190 aircraft took off from the Azerbaijani capital Baku on Wednesday morning. It was due to fly to Grozny in Chechnya but it was diverted because of fog, the airline said.

A surviving passenger told Russian TV he believed the pilot had tried twice to land in dense fog over Grozny before “the third time, something exploded… some of the aircraft skin had blown out”.

The plane was redirected to Aktau airport, some 450km (280 miles) to the east. Footage shows the aircraft heading towards the ground at high speed 3km (1.9 miles) short of the runway, before bursting into flames as it lands.

Kazakh authorities have recovered the flight data recorder and an investigation is under way. Shortly after the crash, reports from Russian state-controlled TV said the most likely cause was a strike from a flock of birds.

But that kind of collision typically results in the plane gliding towards the nearest airfield, aviation analyst Richard Aboulafia told Reuters news agency. “You can lose control of the plane, but you don’t fly wildly off course as a consequence,” he said.

Justin Crump of risk advisory company Sibylline said the pattern of damage inside and outside the plane indicated that Russian air defence active in Grozny may have caused the crash.

“It looks very much like the detonation of an air defence missile to the rear and to the left of the aircraft, if you look at the pattern of shrapnel that we see,” he told BBC Radio 4.

Late on Thursday Azerbaijan’s pro-government AnewZ channel said an preliminary investigation had concluded that the plane had been hit by shrapnel from a surface-to-air missile from Russia’s Pantsir-S defence system.

When asked about the reports, the chief prosecutor’s office told the BBC that every version was being investigated.

Chechnya has already been hit by Ukrainian drone strikes this month and authorities in neighbouring Ingushetia said the Russian region had been targeted for the first time since the war in Ukraine began.

A shopping centre was hit when a drone was shot down in nearby North Ossetia, killing one woman, reports said.

Those on board were mostly Azerbaijani nationals, but there were also some passengers from Russia, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan.

Video footage showed survivors crawling out of the wreckage, some with visible injuries.

The injured were taken to hospital. On Thursday, Azerbaijan’s Azertac news agency said seven were in a good enough condition to fly back to Baku.

Azerbaijan Airlines told reporters that the plane had been fully serviced in October and had no technical malfunctions.

Embraer, a Brazilian manufacturer and a smaller rival to Boeing and Airbus, has a strong safety record.

At least three people have died in a bus crash in Norway, police say.

The accident happened at around 13:30 local time (12:30GMT) in the Hadsel district on the country’s north-western coast.

The bus came off the road and ended up partially in the Åsvatnet lake, the authorities said in a press release.

It is thought to have been carrying 58 people at the time of the crash – many of whom, police say, are foreign nationals.

As well as the fatalities, police said four people had been seriously injured.

Three people have been taken to Stokmarknes Hospital by rescue helicopter, while other passengers have been taken to a nearby school.

Everyone has now been removed from the vehicle, according to local media.

The Norwegian Red Cross said on social media that it was sending teams to help with a “serious bus accident” on the E10 road.

Fire, ambulance and police teams have also been working at the scene.

There have been reports of heavy snowdrifts and strong winds in the area.

Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre said the crash was “a very serious situation” and that his thoughts were with everyone affected.

How well do you remember the stories and people in the news this year?

Test your memory of 2024 in our four-part Christmas quiz – 52 questions for 52 weeks of the year.

Part one covers January to March. Part two is on Friday 27 December.

Fancy some more? Have a go at something from the archives.

Boxing Day, 2004.

When the earthquake struck at 06:30 (01:00 GMT), I was on a ferry, headed towards Havelock – an island in the Indian archipelago of Andaman and Nicobar.

Known for its silver sand and clear blue waters, the Radhanagar beach there had recently been crowned “Asia’s Best Beach” by Time magazine.

My best friend from college and her family had lived in Port Blair, the capital of the archipelago, for a decade and a half, but this was my first visit to the islands, where I had arrived on Christmas Eve.

We had planned to spend three days in Havelock and in the morning we packed snacks and sandwiches, gathered excited children and headed out to catch the ferry from Phoenix Bay jetty in Port Blair.

Not wanting to miss out on anything, I was standing on the front deck, looking around, when disaster struck.

Just as we pulled out from the harbour, the boat lurched and suddenly the jetty next to where we had boarded crumpled and fell into the sea. It was followed by the watchtower and an electricity pole.

It was an extraordinary sight. Dozens of people standing alongside me watched open-mouthed.

Thankfully, the jetty was deserted at the time so there were no casualties. A boat was due to leave from there in half an hour but the travellers were yet to arrive.

A member of the boat’s crew told me it was an earthquake. At the time I didn’t know, but the 9.1 magnitude quake was the third most powerful ever recorded in the world – and remains the biggest and most destructive in Asia.

Occurring off the coast of northwest Sumatra under the Indian Ocean, it unleashed a devastating tsunami that killed an estimated 228,000 people across more than a dozen countries and caused massive damage in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, Maldives and Thailand.

The Andaman and Nicobar islands, located just about 100km north of the epicentre, suffered extensive damage when a wall of water, as high as 15 metres (49 ft) in places, hit land just about 15 minutes later.

The official death toll was put at 1,310 – but with more than 5,600 people missing and presumed dead, it’s believed that more than 7,000 islanders perished.

While on the boat, however, we were oblivious to the scale of destruction around us. Our mobile phones didn’t work on the water and we only got snippets of information from the crew. We heard about damage in Sri Lanka, Thailand and Maldives – and the southern Indian coastal town of Nagapattinam.

But there was no information about Andaman and Nicobar – a collection of hundreds of islands scattered around in the Bay of Bengal, located about 1,500km (915 miles) east of India’s mainland.

Only 38 of them were inhabited. They were home to 400,000 people, including six hunter-gatherer groups who had lived isolated from the outside world for thousands of years.

The only way to get to the islands was by ferries but, as we later learnt, an estimated 94% of the jetties in the region were damaged.

That was also the reason why, on 26 December 2004, we never made it to Havelock. The jetty there was damaged and under water, we were told.

So the boat turned around and started on its return journey. For a while, there was speculation that we might not get clearance to dock at Port Blair for safety reasons and might have to spend the night at anchor.

This made the passengers – most of them tourists looking forward to sun and sand – anxious.

After several hours of bobbing along in rough seas, we returned to Port Blair. Because Phoenix Bay had been closed following the morning’s damage, we were taken to Chatham, another harbour in Port Blair. The jetty where we were dropped had huge, gaping holes in places.

The signs of devastation were all around us as we headed home – buildings had turned into rubble, small upturned boats sat in the middle of the streets and roads had great gashes in them. Thousands of people had been turned homeless when the tidal wave flooded their homes in low-lying areas.

I met a traumatised nine-year-old girl whose house was filled with water and she told me she had nearly drowned. A woman told me she had lost her entire life’s possessions in the blink of an eye.

Over the next three weeks, I reported extensively on the disaster and its effects on the population.

It was the first time a tsunami had wreaked such havoc in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and the scale of the tragedy was overwhelming.

Salt water contaminated many sources of fresh water and destroyed large tracts of arable land. Getting vital supplies into the islands was tough with jetties unserviceable.

The authorities mounted a huge relief and rescue effort. The army, navy and air force were deployed, but it took days before they could get to all the islands.

Every day, navy and coast guard ships brought boatloads of people made homeless by the tsunami from other islands to Port Blair where schools and government buildings were turned into temporary shelters.

They brought stories of devastation in their homelands. Many told me they had escaped with nothing but the clothes on their backs.

One woman from Car Nicobar told me that when the earthquake struck, the ground started to spew foamy water at the same time as the waves came in from the sea.

She and hundreds of others from her village had waited for rescuers without food or water for 48 hours. She said it was a “miracle” that she and her 20-day-old baby had survived.

Port Blair was almost daily jolted by aftershocks, some of them strong enough to start rumours of fresh tsunamis, making scared people run to get to higher ground.

A few days later, the Indian military flew journalists to Car Nicobar, a flat fertile island known for its enchanting beaches and also home to a large Indian air force colony.

The killer tsunami had completely flattened the base. The water rose by 12 metres here and as most people slept, the ground was pulled away from under their feet. A hundred people died here. More than half were air force officers and their families.

We visited Malacca and Kaakan villages on the island which also bore the brunt of nature’s fury, forcing residents to take shelter in tents along the road. Among them were families torn apart by the tidal wave.

A grief-stricken young couple told me they had managed to save their five-month-old baby, but their other children, aged seven and 12, were washed away.

Surrounded by coconut palms on all sides, every house had turned into rubble. Among the personal belongings strewn about were clothes, textbooks, a child’s shoe and a music keyboard.

The only thing that stood – surprisingly intact – was a bust of the father of the Indian nation, Mahatma Gandhi, at a traffic roundabout.

A senior army officer told us his team had recovered seven bodies that day and we watched their mass cremation from a distance.

At the air force base, we watched as rescuers pulled a woman’s body from the debris.

An official said that for every body found in Car Nicobar, several had been swept away by the waves without leaving a trace.

After all these years, I still sometimes think about the day I hopped on the ferry to go to Havelock.

I wonder what would have happened if the tremors had come a few minutes earlier.

And what would have happened if the wall of water had hit the shore while I waited on the jetty to board our ferry?

On Boxing Day, 2004, I had a close call. Thousands who perished were not so lucky.

Two women have died and a teenage boy and a man have been seriously injured in a suspected stabbing at a block of flats.

They were found by police following an incident in Santa Cruz Avenue, Bletchley, in Milton Keynes at about 18:36 GMT on Christmas Day.

The women, aged 38 and 24, died at the scene while the man, in his late 20s, and the boy were taken to hospital, where they are said to be in a stable condition.

A 49-year-old man from Milton Keynes was arrested on suspicion of murder and attempted murder, and remained in police custody.

A dog was also injured in the incident and was taken to a vet but did not survive.

Thames Valley Police confirmed a murder investigation was under way and the parties were “known to each other”.

Det Ch Insp Stuart Brangwin, of the major crime unit, said: “Firstly I would like to extend my deepest condolences to the families of the women who have tragically died in this shocking incident.

“Members of the public will see a large police presence in the area while our investigation takes place. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to approach our officers and they will do their best to help.”

Floral tributes have been left close to the police cordon in the area.

A family was seen leaving two bouquets of flowers, along with a grey teddy bear wearing a Santa Claus outfit, at the railings surrounding a children’s play area in Santa Cruz Avenue.

A woman, who said she did not know the deceased, said: “This is a lovely area. You don’t expect to see this kind of thing here.”

On a cold day in November, hundreds of people flocked to an arena in Coventry, which has previously hosted gigs by Oasis, Rihanna, and Harry Styles, for an event of a very different kind.

The 500 people who turned out – some from as far afield as Mongolia and Canada – were taking part in an activity less known for drawing in crowds: the Rubik’s UK Championship in “speedcubing,” or racing to solve puzzle cubes at terrific speed.

Rows of tables were laid out in the arena and 15 events took place over three days. Some involved solving the puzzle one-handed, others while blindfolded. Teenager James Alonso won the tournament’s biggest event – solving the classic 3×3 cube at speed with an average of 6.3 seconds.

Speedcubing has been popular since the 1980s and the world record for a single solve in that event is currently held by Max Park from the US, with a time of just 3.13 seconds. It is a far cry from the initial speed of Ernő Rubik, an architecture professor, who invented the Rubik’s Cube in 1974 and took around a month to solve it.

Flash forward to today and an estimated 412,000 people have taken part in speedcubing competitions worldwide. The popularity has increased too, with reported global sales of Rubik’s Cube products recorded as $86.6m (£67m) in 2023, up 13.5% on 2022. (The brand was acquired by a Canadian multinational toy company Spin Master in 2021.)

That’s not counting the sales of other types of puzzle cubes by different brands. Some are wooden, others electronic with built-in bluetooth, then there are those with all manner of colourful designs.

But now, scientists have lauded speedcubing, in particular, as not only a popular hobby but one that could have wellbeing benefits too.

“Speedcubing offers a unique combination of cognitive challenge, [alongside] social connection, and personal achievement that contributes to happiness”, says Polina Beloborodova, research associate at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Centre for Healthy Minds.

And this is said to run far deeper than a simple momentary rush.

“Speedcubing satisfies the basic psychological need for competence, the feeling of effectiveness and mastery,” explains Dr Beloborodova. It involves a number of factors including, problem-solving, memory, spatial reasoning and motor coordination.

But solving the cube may also elicit happiness because it taps into other emotions, according to Dr Julia Christensen, a senior research fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics in Germany. “Awe, beauty, being moved, all these are aesthetic emotions, and experiencing them gives us an extreme sense of happiness,” she says.

“For example, when a pattern is the right pattern, when a move is particularly amazing on the cube, these aesthetic emotions can give transformative experiences.”

Some speedcubers have described the state of mind that the activity can bring as a sense of “flow”.

“This state is achieved when the activity’s difficulty matches your skill level, distractions are minimal, the goals are clear, and feedback is immediate — all of which are characteristics of speedcubing,” says Dr Beloborodova.

Flow can feel “almost meditative”, according to Ian Scheffler, author of Cracking the Cube, who has experienced this first-hand. “You enter this state where you are kind of thinking and not thinking at the same time – you are reacting to what the cube is giving you, but in almost an instinctual way.

“It’s a kind of mindfulness that’s deeply rewarding… a peaceful, calm state where you’re completely in tune with every twist of the puzzle.”

There is good reason to seek a flow state regularly, according to Dr Christensen. “Science shows that people who regularly experience flow have a better mental health, possibly better physical health, and are more in tune.

“When we repeat movements they become logged or encoded from explicit, effort-full memory systems, and pass into implicit, less effort-full, and procedural memory systems,” she continues.

Nicholas Archer, a 17-year-old speedcuber from West Yorkshire, who won the one-handed competition in this year’s UK Championship with an average time of 8.69 seconds, says that he has experienced this. “When I’m solving the cube, I’m certainly not having to think too much about what I’m doing. It’s all automatic.”

“Speedcubing or solving a cube on your own may increase your happiness,” says Dr Adil Khan, a reader in neuroscience at King’s College London (KCL) – but when combined with the social aspect, any benefits may be greater.

“Since speedcubing is a social phenomenon, perhaps the social aspect combines with the puzzle solving to deliver a deeply satisfying experience.”

Jan Hammer started speedcubing at the age of 44, after being introduced to it by his 13-year-old daughter. He has since solved the cube around 10,000 times but does not think he would have maintained this level of enthusiasm had he been speedcubing alone.

“The fact that I can do this with my daughter and that we cheer for each other is wonderful. Additionally, being part of the cube community has become a huge motivation.”

Competitions tend to have more children and teenagers – it is not uncommon for competitors to be as young as six. The activity is also significantly more popular with males. The World Cube Association reports that 221,117 men have competed at their events, compared with 24,311 women.

Regardless of demographic, “for those who view speedcubing as a significant part of their life – such as participants in tournaments – it can offer eudemonic happiness, fostering a sense of purpose and meaning through dedication, accomplishment, and community of like-minded people,” argues Dr Beloborodova.

Psychologists differentiate between two aspects of happiness: “hedonic wellbeing,” related to emotional experiences, and “eudemonic wellbeing,” which concerns meaning and purpose in life.

“Both are essential for overall happiness and speedcubing can contribute to both types of wellbeing,” she says. All of this “contributes to better mental health”.

The effects of speedcubing on the brain and cognitive function are, however, less clear.

While solving a cube, the brain is trying out different moves, asking “what might happen if I move the cube in this way?” explains Dr Toby Wise, senior research fellow in neuroimaging at King’s College London.

“Your brain stores a memory trace for different configurations of the cube, and it can run through different configurations to predict which will have the best outcome.”

However it doesn’t necessarily create long-term benefits, like improvements to memory function. This is because, as Dr Khan explains, the brain is not like a muscle that needs to be flexed to make it grow.

For many years it has been suggested by some that solving puzzles, whether Sudoku or crosswords, can have a hand in slowing cognitive decline or dementia. However this is not necessarily the case.

A study undertaken by Aberdeen Royal Infirmary and the University of Aberdeen, and published in the BMJ in 2018, found that people who regularly do intellectual activities throughout life have higher mental abilities, providing a “higher cognitive point” from which to decline, but that they do not decline any slower.

“Solving puzzles does not improve your brain power in much other than the puzzle itself,” argues Dr Khan. “And almost certainly does not prevent age-related decline in brain power.”

One further benefit of speedcubing, according to regular players, is its sense of escapism from frenzied modern life.

“Having a clear goal, something that you can actually realise, is something that we don’t necessarily have in everyday life, and that appeases our brain,” says Dr Christensen.

This perhaps explains why the cube is so popular in an age with myriad computer games and technological activities to choose from. As Mr Hammer puts it: “When I pick up the cube, I become more alert and focused.”

He uses it in the workplace too. “It can help me enter the next meeting with a more structured perspective,” he says.

Mr Scheffler agrees: “The process of taking the cube from this chaotic, disordered state, which is always different because there’s so many permutations of the puzzle, to the same ordered state is fundamentally something that humans want to be doing.

“There’s a fundamental human need to make order out of disorder, because the universe is a very chaotic place, and most things are not ordered.”

Syria’s new rebel-led authorities say supporters of ousted President Bashar al-Assad have killed 14 interior ministry troops in an “ambush” in the west of the country.

They say 10 other troops were wounded in the fighting on Tuesday near the Mediterranean port of Tartous, a stronghold of Assad’s minority Alawite Muslim sect.

The clashes with pro-Assad loyalists are the first direct challenge to the authority of Syria’s de facto leader Ahmad al-Sharaa.

Assad’s presidency fell to rebel forces led by al-Sharaa’s Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) faction just over two weeks ago.

Security forces launched an operation in Tartous province on Thursday, according to state news agency Sana, in a bid to “restore security, stability and civil peace”.

Sana reported that the forces had “neutralised… a number of remnants of Assad’s militias” in the Tartous countryside, and that it was pursuing others.

Reports say the security forces had earlier been ambushed as they tried to arrest a former officer in connection to his role at the notorious Saydnaya prison, close to the capital, Damascus.

The UK-based monitoring group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said three “armed men”, which it did not identify, were also killed in the clashes.

The SOHR added that the security forces later brought in reinforcements.

In a separate development, the Syrian authorities imposed an overnight curfew in the central city of Homs, state media reported.

Reports say this followed unrest over a video purportedly showing an attack on an Alawite shrine.

The interior ministry said the footage was old, dating back to a rebel offensive on Aleppo in late November, and the violence was carried out by unknown groups.

The SOHR said one demonstrator was killed and five wounded in Homs.

The former rebels now in charge of Syria are grappling with the challenge of providing safety and stability across the country.

Syrians are looking to them to protect the rights of people from a variety of backgrounds as well as providing justice for those who lost relatives under the Assad dictatorship.

Demonstrations have also been reported in Alawite-dominated areas including the cities of Tartous and Latakia, and Assad’s hometown of Qardaha.

Alawites are an offshoot of Shia Islam to which many of the former regime’s political and military elite belonged, including Assad’s family.

The Alawite community is fearful of revenge, with members blamed for the torture and killing in Syria under Assad.

Former officers are refusing to hand over weapons and locals in some towns suggest they want to fight back, which appears to have been the case in Tartous.

There have been calls from Alawite religious leaders for a general amnesty for Alawites – but this is unlikely because of the many alleged war crimes conducted by its members.

Although al-Sharaa has bolstered security in Alawite towns and cities in an attempt to maintain order, if his forces do launch a campaign to arrest Assad loyalists, they risk further destabilising an already fragile country.

Tens of thousands of people were tortured to death in prisons in Syria, and thousands of families are still waiting for answers and for justice.

Syrians are calling for those responsible to be held to account – the very thing that members of the Alawite are worried about.

The HTS-led lightning offensive that started from Syria’s north-east and spread across the country ended more than 50 years of rule by the Assads.

Assad and his family were forced to flee to Russia.

HTS has since promised to protect the rights and freedoms of many religious and ethnic minorities in Syria.

The group is designated as a terrorist organisation by the UN, the US, the EU, the UK and others.

On Tuesday, protests broke out in the country over the burning of a Christmas tree, prompting fresh calls for the new authorities to protect minorities.

The Gavin and Stacey finale attracted an average of 12.3 million TV viewers – the largest Christmas Day audience in more than a decade, overnight data shows.

The new Wallace and Gromit film also attracted a large audience on BBC One, with more than 9 million viewers tuning in to watch the animated duo’s latest adventure.

Nearly 7 million people watched the King’s Christmas message on the BBC, ITV and Sky News.

All figures are based on “overnight” TV ratings – which do not include viewers who watch Christmas specials on catch-up services during the rest of the festive period.

The finale of Gavin and Stacey was the most watched show on Christmas Day since 2008.

An average of 14.3 million viewers tuned in to watch Wallace and Gromit in A Matter Of Loaf And Death that year.

This year’s new Gavin and Stacey episode followed on from an incredible cliffhanger which saw Nessa, played by Ruth Jones, get down on one knee in front of Smithy, played by James Corden, and ask him to marry her.

Millions of viewers had been left wondering if he said yes since the previous Christmas special in 2019.

The hit BBC sitcom attracted huge viewing numbers that year, with 11.6 million people watching the episode on Christmas Day.

Charlotte Moore, the BBC’s Chief Content Officer, said Jones and Corden created a “magical finale that fans will treasure forever.”

“Their exquisitely written comedy creation is a show all about family, love and joy and it proved to be the unmissable TV event of the year,” she added.

This year’s viewing figures were a success for the BBC – it was the first time that all 10 most watched Christmas Day shows were screened on BBC One.

Despite well-loved Coronation Street character Gail Platt bidding farewell after 50 years, the ITV soap failed to make the top 10, attracting 2.41 million viewers in the overnight ratings.

However, the programme had been released on ITVX for viewers who wanted to watch the episode earlier in the day, which is likely to have impacted numbers.

BBC soap EastEnders split its Christmas Day into two episodes, recording more than 8 million viewers and reaching fifth and eighth in the ratings list.

Perennial favourite Call the Midwife came in fourth place.

Doctor Who, Strictly Come Dancing’s festive edition, the animated film Tiddler and a special of the Weakest Link also featured in the top 10.

1. Gavin & Stacey 12.32m
2. Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl 9.38m
3. The King (BBC, ITV, BBC News and Sky News) 6.82m (not including other channels)
4. Call the Midwife 4.42m
5. EastEnders 4.39m
6. Doctor Who 4.11m
7. Strictly Come Dancing 4.05m
8. EastEnders 3.98m
9. Tiddler 3.23m
10. The Weakest Link 3.05m

Dozens of people have survived a crash involving a plane carrying 67 people in Kazakhstan, local officials say.

Kazakh authorities said 38 people were killed in the crash.

The plane was en route to Grozny in Russia but it was diverted due to fog, the airline told the BBC. The Kremlin said on Thursday that it would not “put forward hypotheses” about the cause of the crash until the investigation was finished.

Azerbaijan Airlines flight J2-8243 caught fire as it attempted to make an emergency landing near the Kazakh city of Aktau.

Footage shows the aircraft heading towards the ground at high speed with its landing gear down, before bursting into flames as it lands.

The airline said the plane “made an emergency landing” about 3km (1.9 miles) from Aktau.

It took off from the Azerbaijani capital Baku at 03:55 GMT on Wednesday, and crashed around 06:28, data from flight-tracking website Flightradar24 showed.

Unconfirmed reports from Russian media said the aircraft might have collided with a flock of birds before crashing.

Azerbaijan’s prosecutor general said “all possible scenarios” were being examined and President Ilham Aliyev said it was too early to say anything definitive.

Air defence experts have suggested that the pattern of damage inside and outside the plane indicates Russian air defence active in Grozny may have caused the crash.

“It looks very much like the detonation of an air defence missile to the rear and to the left of the aircraft, if you look at the pattern of shrapnel that we see,” Justin Crump of risk advisory company Sibylline told BBC Radio 4.

Azerbaijan Airlines said flights between Baku and the Russian cities of Grozny and Makhachkala would be cancelled pending an investigation into the incident.

The plane’s flight data recorder has been recovered, officials say.

Those on board were mostly Azerbaijani nationals, but there were also some passengers from Russia, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan.

A woman who was travelling to spend the holidays with her children in Chechnya, of which Grozny is the capital, died in the crash. One mother, travelling with medical tests for her sick child, is still missing.

A young woman shared her heartache with the BBC’s Azerbaijani service as she tried to find out what happened to her father, who was on the flight.

She explained that her father had been travelling with his son, who survived the crash. The son managed to contact his sister, but there was still no news of their father.

Unverified video footage showed survivors crawling out of the wreckage, some with visible injuries.

Both Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan have launched investigations into the incident. Embraer told the BBC it was “ready to assist all relevant authorities”.

The BBC has contacted Azerbaijan Airlines for comment.

Embraer, a Brazilian manufacturer, is a smaller rival to Boeing and Airbus, and has a strong safety record.

You can get in touch with BBC News via this link.

South Korea’s opposition lawmakers have filed a motion to impeach the country’s prime minister and acting leader Han Duck-soo, less than two weeks after parliament voted to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol.

This comes after Han refused to appoint constitutional court judges nominated by the main opposition Democratic Party (DP).

“Han has revealed himself to be an acting insurrectionist, not an acting president”, DP’s floor leader Park Chan-dae said on Thursday.

The opposition has also accused Han of aiding Yoon’s martial law attempt on 3 Dec. Han earlier apologised for failing to block it.

Han also vetoed several opposition-led bills, including one that proposed a special investigation into Yoon’s short-lived martial law declaration.

The impeachment motion is expected to be put to a vote in the next 24 to 72 hours.

For it to succeed, 151 out of 300 MPs must vote for it.

The DP currently holds 170 of the 300 seats in parliament. The opposition bloc together holds 192 seats.

Opposition parties had been hoping Han would not stand in their way while acting as the country’s caretaker president, and that he would allow bills to pass.

But instead he has held firm, deepening the political strife.

On Tuesday, Han concluded a cabinet meeting without reviewing the two opposition-sponsored bills that called for special counsel investigations into the martial law declaration and corruption allegations involving first lady Kim Keon Hee.

He said he did not put them on the agenda so as to give the ruling and opposition parties more time to reach a compromise.

But DP’s floor leader Park Chan-dae slammed him for “buying time and prolonging the insurrection”.

“We’ve clearly warned that it’s totally up to Prime Minister Han Duck-soo whether he would go down in history as a disgraceful figure, as a puppet of rebellion plot leader Yoon Suk Yeol, or a public servant that has faithfully carried out the orders by the public,” Park said in a televised party meeting.

And on Thursday, Han said he would not appoint the three judges the opposition-dominated National Assembly had nominated to the constitutional court – which is deliberating whether Yoon should be impeached – unless the rival parties reach a consensus.

To this, Park said “it has become clear that Han Duck-soo is neither qualified nor willing to defend the constitution”, adding that the opposition would “immediately” table the impeachment bill.

Han’s ruling People Power Party said the opposition’s threats have interfered with Han’s “legitimate exercise of authority”, while a senior official at the prime minister’s office criticised the threats as “extremely regrettable”.

Han stepped in as caretaker president after Yoon was ousted from office earlier this month. If lawmakers vote for Han to be impeached, finance minister Choi Sang-mok will be next in line.

This latest development in the country’s political turmoil comes as Seoul Constitutional Court is deliberating on whether Yoon should be permanently barred from office.

The court is expected to hold its first public hearing later this week.

It is unclear if Yoon himself will take the stand during the hearings, but protesters have vowed to keep up their calls for Yoon’s removal during court proceedings.

Yoon is also under investigation for alleged insurrection over his failed attempt to put the country under martial law.

He has refused to accept several summons delivered to him, and investigators have warned that they may issue an arrest warrant if he continues to be unresponsive.

Several senior officials – including former defence minister Kim Yong-hyun, former interior minister Lee Sang-min and army chief Park An-su – are also being investigated.