morning on world news now. new tributes to a former president. >> president biden is among those honoring jimmy carter's life and legacy after his death at the age of 100, plus, new details about the state funeral for the nation's 39th president as he's being remembered from plains to pennsylvania avenue. >> also this morning, the grief after a boeing jet crashed in

south korea, killing nearly everyone on board. how u.s. investigators are helping. plus, what we know about the other fiery crash over the weekend. >> and the home of another high profile athlete burglarized while he was away. >> and later the carters marriage. they share keys to success. learned from their 77 years together. it's monday, december 30th. >> from abc news. this is world news now. >> good monday morning, everyone. andrew dymburt and alison kosik, to start you off this week. last monday of 2020, for a couple of days, we're going to be turning the page that we are. okay. so jimmy carter lived to 100, spending 77 of those years with his wife, with his wife, rosalynn. >> i want to hear i want to hear the things that made that marriage tick. yeah. >> we're going to at least share some light for you from jimmy carter himself. we're going to begin this morning with the tributes for the former president, celebrating his life and mourning his loss.

>> carter passed away yesterday at the age of 100. the oldest former u.s. president ever. after just one term in office, he spent the rest of his life working tirelessly to champion peace, democracy and human rights. overnight, the empire state building lighting up the new york skyline in red, white and blue. and the former president's memory. >> and carter is being fondly remembered in the tiny town of plains, georgia, where he was born and where he died. this morning, president biden is remembering his dear friend of 50 years, former president jimmy carter. >> we may never see his like again. we'd all do well to try to be a little more like jimmy carter. >> carter died in his hometown of plains, georgia, yesterday, nearly three months after his 100th birthday. the first commander in chief to reach that milestone, president biden was one of the first politicians to endorse carter's long shot presidential campaign back in 1976. >> millions of people all around the world, all over the world, feel they lost a friend as well, even though they never met him.

and that's because jimmy carter lived a life measured not by words, but by his deeds. >> former president obama saying carter taught all of us what it means to live a life of grace, dignity, justice, and service. and president elect trump saying the challenges jimmy faced as president came at a pivotal time for our country, and he did everything in his power to improve the lives of all americans. for that, we all owe him a debt of gratitude. earlier this year, carter's grandson revealed his grandfather was holding on to cast his vote for kamala harris, the vice president, writing in a statement his life and legacy continue to inspire me and will inspire generations to come. raised on a peanut farm in a home with no electricity or running water, carter left georgia to attend the u.s. naval academy. after returning to run the family business, he began a political career that would catapult him to the governor's mansion and then the white house. >> i, jimmy carter, do solemnly swear. >> carter's one term in office was defined by foreign policy. he brokered a historic peace deal between israel and egypt,

but a crisis in the middle east played a role in his political undoing. in 1979, 52 americans were taken hostage in the u.s. embassy in iran. carter ordered a rescue mission which failed, leaving eight americans dead. >> my thoughts and my prayers for our hostages in iran are as though they were my own sons and daughters. >> in 1980, carter would lose to ronald reagan in a landslide just minutes after leaving office, the hostages were released. >> i think that was the happiest day that i've ever had. >> after leaving the white house, carter launched what is often regarded as one of the most impactful post-presidential careers in history, establishing the carter center, sponsoring programs to promote human rights around the world. carter could often be found building homes with habitat for humanity, even into his 90s. in recognition of his humanitarian efforts, carter was awarded the nobel peace prize, but he considered his marriage to rosalynn his greatest accomplishment. >> staying with me all this long has been the most wonderful

thing in my life. >> he's pretty wonderful in my life, too. >> the couple celebrated their 77th wedding anniversary last year, before rosalynn passed away at the age of 96. reflecting on his own death, carter said his christian faith is what brought him comfort. >> been absolutely confident. my christian faith includes complete confidence in life after death, so i'm going to live again. >> president biden has ordered a state funeral in washington, d.c. for carter to be held on january 9th. his body will then be taken back to georgia, where he'll be laid to rest beside a willow tree alongside rosalynn, government buildings have been ordered to fly u.s. flags at half staff for the next 30 days, which includes president-elect trump's inauguration. >> for details on jimmy carter's post-presidency work and what it meant to him, we turn to abc's jonathan karl. >> he spent just four years as president of the united states. a very tough four years, marked by crises abroad, stagflation

and political setbacks at home. but he spent more than four decades as an ex-president. his carter center, doing work in some 80 countries around the world. work that brought jimmy carter personally to some of the poorest and remote places on the planet. having human contact with the people that his carter center was working to assist, he said that that human contact he had as an ex-president with those people was far more gratifying than anything he did as president, although it was his experience as president. he said that what he learned in that job and the fame that he gained from being president, that made him able to do all the work he did after the presidency in the humanitarian space. >> our thanks to jon karl there. ahead, in this half hour, we'll take a closer look at another of jimmy carter's successes his marriage. >> this morning, a u.s. team of investigators is heading to south korea as the work to find

the cause of a deadly airliner crash begins. all but two people on board the plane were killed. abc's nicole d'antonio reports. >> this morning, mourners are leaving flowers and candles at a memorial site in south korea, set up after the deadly plane crash that killed nearly everyone on board. video shows the jeju air flight arriving from thailand with no landing gear deployed. the aircraft skids at high speed before plowing into a wall and bursting into flames. 179 people on board were killed, according to the flight data. five children under the age of ten were on the flight. two crew members, a man in his 20s and a woman in her 30s, were pulled from the wreckage alive. both are being treated for injuries and their conditions are considered non-life threatening. it comes as the cause of the crash is under investigation. south korean officials say air traffic control warned the pilots of a possible bird strike. moments later, the pilots issued a mayday call. >> it was on its belly and on its engine, skidding down the

runway for thousands of feet, and it was still going at least 100 miles an hour. when it goes past the camera, which is at the end of the runway. why it was that fast, why it landed on its belly. all of these are questions that the black box will eventually answer. >> meanwhile, authorities are investigating two other close calls involving commercial flights from over the weekend. on saturday, a klm flight from norway to amsterdam was diverted shortly after takeoff when a loud noise was heard on board. the boeing 737 then slid off the runway during the emergency landing as passengers reported flames coming from the plane's left side. then later that day, an air canada flight had to be evacuated in nova scotia on the runway after experiencing a suspected problem with its landing gear. no one was injured in either of those incidents. nicole d'antonio, abc news, washington. >> nicole. thank you. this morning, the cleanup is underway after a rare december tornado outbreak from texas to georgia. at least four people died in the storms. more than 35 twisters

were reported across the southeast. nearly a dozen touched down near houston, damaging more than 300 structures and sending several people to the hospital. it will be mostly clear and warm in that storm zone today. >> here in new york, the confetti is ready to fly in times square to welcome 2025. a test to see how the confetti falls to the ground was held successfully. we're told it happened over the weekend. some 3,000 pounds of it will rain down on new year's revelers tomorrow night. and as we look live at new york, the millions who will descend on times square for the new year's eve celebration might want some rain gear, though, as showers are possible before the countdown clock hits midnight. oh, it's still fun. i've been out there in the rain. it's still so much fun. >> if you want a really good spot, you have to get there so early and just wait there for hours and hours. no access to bathrooms. >> that's true, by the way. >> yes, that i'm aware of. >> and everybody should do it once. >> one time. maybe when it

doesn't rain. i don't know. i'm going to avoid times square. i'm going to watch on tv right here on abc. >> good idea. yeah. >> all right, coming up, a couple of wallabies on the loose in south carolina. >> plus the brawl during an nba game. what we can expect to see in the coming days. >> and later, looking back on jimmy and rosalynn carter on their successful marriage of more than seven decades. close

reason to celebrate. >> dick clark's new year's rockin eve live on. abc. >> welcome back. expect some suspensions from the nba after sunday night's fight during the heat rockets game. houston's damon thompson tossed miami's tyler herro during the final minute of the heat's win. both benches cleared. two players from each team were ejected. it was a mess. along with rockets

head coach udoka and one of his assistants. the nba's reigning scoring champ has joined the list of sports stars to have their homes burglarized. someone broke into luka doncic's house friday. the dallas mavericks star was not home. police say the burglar got away with $30,000 worth of jewelry. at least eight players in three sports have been victimized in just the past few months. the nba says the fbi has connected some of the incidents to south american crime rings. >> the ntsb is at the scene of a south florida commuter rail crash that left 15 people injured. a bright line train slammed into a fire truck saturday in delray beach. video captured the moments leading up to the collision as the truck moved through a railroad crossing. the firefighters were heading to a call. investigators are looking into whether the crossing gates were working properly at the time of the crash. >> another crash? a long line of crashes there for the bright line in south florida. okay. two kangaroo cousins are back in custody after a holiday escape. a couple of wallabies got away

from a south carolina petting zoo on thursday. there they go, hopping away. security cameras showed them going past a home the next morning. the pair, named creed and sylvester, were corralled later that day. how cute. i like just watching them. >> i know. >> the power to freedom. >> coming up, the best gadgets of 2024. >> our quiz reveals what you liked best this year from his many, many picks. that's next. you're

>> this is what home feels like. once you dig in. you'll find

coming out the other side. >> as we count down to the end of the year, we're digging in to some of the best of 2020 for our danny new checked in earlier with gis wiz dick debartolo for his favorite gadgets of the year. >> it's the end of the year, which means we are celebrating 2024. in this case, we are celebrating the best from our giz wiz dick debartolo dick. are these the items you showed us that had the most comments and feedback? >> that's exactly right. nothing scientific, just people emailing me and say, oh, i never knew that existed or i bought that and i love it. >> and so it's the best of what people at home liked and i liked and you liked you better have liked them. >> well, this first one i liked because i was like, oh, i need that for bringing my laptop all over new york. >> exactly. take a peek at this feature laden backpack. the right backpack has room for a laptop up to 17in, carried in its own padded compartment, but i love the insulated cooler

lunch compartment, which is totally separated from the rest of the backpack. it has three separate layers, and you can use this to keep your lunch either warm or fresh or cold, and it also features an internal cable so you can put your phone charger inside, but charge your phone outside with the backpack closed. >> yes, i definitely remember that. i also remember this next one because it features a certain character from our parent company, disney, who likes to talk like this. oh, the puppet does it a little bit better. >> well, judge for yourself. >> so you've got blinking eyes, moving ears. >> you've even got a sensor on his nose so he can sniff and you can pat him on his head, stroke him on his head. >> he's got sensors there as well. oh my god. yeah. put your hand inside. right. and your thumb underneath. there you go. and you've got buttons you can press down. get his ears moving. there you go. oh yeah. see how

easy it is to operate. oh my god. >> okay. and this next one dick, i of course remember because i helped model. >> absolutely. i never saw anybody plug so many things into one item. take a peek. >> i have plugged in everything from my desk into this. so i have my laptop. >> we should say it's one plug goes into the wall, and then you can plug 11 things into it. >> okay, i don't have 11 things on my desk. i did steal our intern's phone. hope she's cool with that. and then i also have the heating pad i use to make my back a little less achy. breaky. and it is. it is currently on the orange light is lit. proud of my work there, all in the name of science. and lastly, i remember this one because i thought, oh, i really need this for my kitchen. >> absolutely. people who make apple pies absolutely adore this gadget. so take a peek. so you have one apple you want to make apple slices? mary, how can we do that with dreamfarm? >> for apple it makes it super easy. not only is our apple

slicer compact for easy storage, it has a built in cutting board. simply place your apple in the center and then get to slicing and it completely covers your apple easily. just like that. >> wow. >> yes, i actually did think of you around thanksgiving time making the apple pie. like, oh, could have just had a thing that would have been good. >> absolutely. it works great. >> i will dig. always so much fun seeing you and i look forward to another year full of great giz wiz ideas from you. >> i'll be h call

(800) 511-6319 today. >> this morning we've been talking about the life and legacy of america's 39th president. jimmy carter has passed away at the age of 100, and while he achieved the presidency, he considered his 77 year marriage another one of his

notable successes. >> abc's steve osunsami sat down with the carters for their 75th wedding anniversary. >> president carter, you say often that marrying mrs. carter was the pinnacle of your life. more than any presidency? oh, yes. >> that was the most important thing in my life. it was. it was happy and joyful and obviously long lasting. the campa the successful campaign was a great greatest event in our life together, except for getting married, having rosalynn say, okay, finally, and staying with me all this long, this 75 years of marriage, what advice do you have for people who want to make it last? well, let me take the first step. first of all, choose

the right person to marry and then give each other plenty of space and let let the other person you know have a full life in the way they choose and help when you can share things a lot and do things together. >> we always looking for to do things for fun things we can do together, like fly fishing and bird watching and just going out to the pond. yeah, catch a fish. >> and every night we try to make sure we are completely reconciled from all the arguments during the day when we go to bed, we're still love each other very much, maybe even more than we did at first. there's no doubt in my mind that my love for her is stronger than. that,

because we've been through so many things together for 75 years of marriage, we were always grown deeper in our love for one another. i think that's a kind of extraordinary thing that happened to very many couples, but it certainly happened to us. >> our thanks there to steve, 77 years, amazing marriage. >> he's going to be buried next to rosalynn on their property in plains, georgia. >> and he is all right, as we remember, jimmy carter, we've got more news coming up. that's the

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