Jimmy Carter dies: President Biden leads tributes to ‘a man for all time’
US President Joe Biden says the world has lost a “remarkable leader” and a “man for all time” after the death of Jimmy Carter.
Mr Carter, who was US president between 1977 and 1981, died at his home in Georgia while surrounded by his family on Sunday afternoon.
The Nobel Peace Prize winner was aged 100.
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File pic: AP
Making a televised address from his family holiday in the US Virgin Islands, Mr Biden said his predecessor represented “the most fundamental human values we can never let slip away”.
“Jimmy Carter stands as a model for it means to live a life of meaning and purpose,” he said.
“I see a man not only not our times, but for all time. We could all do well to be a little more like Jimmy Carter.”
Asked if there were any lessons president-elect Donald Trump could learn from Mr Carter, Mr Biden answered: “Decency, decency, decency”.
It was revealed in February last year that Mr Carter was receiving hospice care and would “spend his remaining time at home with his family”.
He had decided against “additional medical intervention” following a series of brief hospital stays.
Jimmy Carter as Georgia’s 76th governor.
Pic: Jimmy Carter Library
The Carter Center says there will be opportunities for the public to pay their respects in Atlanta, Georgia, and Washington DC before a private interment in his hometown Plains, while final arrangements for his state funeral are still being made.
Mr Biden says his team is “working to see to it that he is remembered appropriately.”
Among those who have paid tribute to Mr Carter are:
US president-elect Donald Trump
The incoming US president Donald Trump, who takes office on 20 January, said: “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.”
Former US president Barack Obama
Fellow Democrat Barack Obama honoured Mr Carter’s achievements in the White House, including “the Camp David Accords he brokered that reshaped the Middle East… nominating a pioneering women’s rights activist and lawyer named Ruth Bader Ginsburg to the federal bench… [and] becoming one of the first leaders in the world to recognise the problem of climate change”.
He also paid tribute to the “longest, and most impactful, post-presidency in American history”, during which he monitored more than 100 national elections, helped virtually eliminate Guinea worm disease, and built or repaired thousands of homes around the world with his wife Rosalynn as part of Habitat for Humanity.
The Obamas have bid farewell to Jimmy Carter (second from left). Pic: AP
Former US president George W Bush
Mr Bush said his predecessor “dignified the office”.
“And his efforts to leave behind a better world didn’t end with the presidency. His work with Habitat for Humanity and the Carter Center set an example of service that will inspire Americans for generations.”
Carter gathered with fellow former presidents including George W Bush in 2009. Pic: AP
Bill and Hillary Clinton
Former president Bill Clinton, who worked with Jimmy Carter after he left the White House, and secretary Hillary Clinton said he “lived to serve others – until the very end”.
“From his commitment to civil rights as a state senator and governor of Georgia; to his efforts as president to… secure peace between Egypt and Israel at Camp David; to his post-presidential efforts at the Carter Center supporting honest elections, advancing peace, combating disease, and promoting democracy… he worked tirelessly for a better, fairer world,” they said in a statement.
Former US vice president Al Gore
Mr Gore praised Jimmy Carter for living “a life full of purpose, commitment and kindness” and for being a “lifelong role model for the entire environmental movement”.
UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer
In his tribute, Sir Keir said Mr Carter “redefined the post-presidency with a remarkable commitment to social justice and human rights at home and abroad”.
The King
The UK’s monarch said he learned of President Carter’s death with “great sadness”, adding that he was “a committed public servant, and devoted his life to promoting peace and human rights”.
The King added: “His dedication and humility served as an inspiration to many, and I remember with great fondness his visit to the United Kingdom in 1977.
“My thoughts and prayers are with President Carter’s family and the American people at this time.”
Former UK prime minister Gordon Brown
Mr Brown said he was “so sad” to hear of the death of his “good friend”.
The former UK leader said Mr Carter would be “rightly remembered as a statesman of unimpeachable integrity, who was admired around the world for his lifelong charitable work, his unwavering support for human rights and for his wonderful generosity of spirit”.
Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter were given traditional Ghanaian attire as a gift from the chief of Tingoli village in northern Ghana, during a field trip to assess Carter Center disease prevention work in Africa. Pic: Carter Centre
French President Emmanuel Macron
“Throughout his life, Jimmy Carter defended the rights of the most vulnerable people and tirelessly led the fight for peace,” the French president wrote on X.
“France sends its heartfelt thoughts to his family and to the American people.”
Husam Zomlot, former Palestinian ambassador to the US
Mr Zomlot, now ambassador to the UK, said Mr Carter would be “remembered by the Palestinian people as the first US president to advocate for the freedom of Palestine and the first to warn about Israeli apartheid”.
He added: “He worked for decades to achieve a just and lasting peace in Palestine and the rest of the region.”
Chip Carter
Mr Carter’s son Chip said: “My father was a hero, not only to me but to everyone who believes in peace, human rights and unselfish love.
“My brothers, sister and I shared him with the rest of the world through these common beliefs.
“The world is our family because of the way he brought people together, and we thank you for honouring his memory by continuing to live these shared beliefs.”
This is the highest stakes diplomacy via social media.
The American president just posted on his Truth Social platform: “We know exactly where the so-called ‘Supreme Leader’ is hiding.
“He is an easy target, but is safe there – We are not going to take him out (kill!), at least not for now. But we don’t want missiles shot at civilians, or American soldiers.
“Our patience is wearing thin. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”
Israel-Iran live: Trump says US knows where Iran’s supreme leader is ‘hiding’
It was followed minutes later by “UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER!”
In real-time, we are witnessing Donald Trump’s extreme version of maximum pressure diplomacy.
He’d probably call it the ‘art of the deal’, but bunker busters are the tool, and it comes with such huge consequences, intended and unintended, known and unknown.
Read more:
The bunker buster bomb which could destroy Iran’s nuclear ambitions
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Nuclear sites targeted in Iran
There is intentional ambiguity in the president’s messaging. His assumption is that he can apply his ‘art of the deal’ strategy to a deeply ideological geopolitical challenge.
It’s all playing out publicly. Overnight, the New York Times, via two of its best-sourced reporters, had been told that Mr Trump is weighing whether to use B-2 aircraft to drop bunker-busting bombs on Iran’s underground nuclear facilities.
Meanwhile, Axios was reporting that a meeting is possible between Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff and Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi.
The reporting came just as Mr Trump warned “everyone in Tehran to evacuate”. The nuclear sites being threatened with bunker busters are not in Tehran, but Trump’s words are designed to stoke tension, to confuse and to apply intense pressure.
His actions are too. He left the G7 in Canada early and asked his teams to gather in the White House Situation Room.
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Trump: ‘I want an end, not a ceasefire’
This is a game of smoke, mirrors, brinkmanship and – maybe – bluff. In Tehran, what’s left of the leadership is watching and reading closely as they consider what’s next.
Maybe the Supreme Leader and his regime’s days are numbered. Things remain very unpredictable.
Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim every Wednesday
From history, though, regime change, even when it comes with a plan – and there is certainly not one here, spells civil war and from that comes a refugee crisis.
These are truly tense and chaotic times.
World
Ukraine war: 14 killed as Russian missile and drone attacks strike Kyiv – including American citizen
Russian missile and drone attacks have killed 14 people in Kyiv overnight, according to Ukrainian officials.
A 62-year-old US citizen who suffered shrapnel wounds is among the dead.
At least 99 others were wounded in strikes that hollowed out a residential building and destroyed dozens of apartments.
Pic: AP
Emergency workers were at the scene to rescue people from under the rubble.
Images show a firefighter was among those hurt, with injured residents evacuated from their homes.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described the attack as “one of the most terrifying attacks on Kyiv” – and said Russian forces had fired 440 drones and 32 missiles as civilians slept in their homes.
“[Putin] wants the war to go on,” he said. “It is troubling when the powerful of this world turn a blind eye to it.”
Pic: AP
Ukraine’s interior minister, Ihor Klymenko, said 27 locations across the capital have been hit – including educational institutions and critical infrastructure.
He claimed the attack, in the early hours of Tuesday morning, was one of the largest on the capital since Russia’s full-scale invasion began in February 2022.
Drones swarmed over the city, with an air raid alert remaining in force for seven hours.
One person was killed and 17 others injured as a result of separate Russian drone strikes in the port city of Odesa.
Pic: Reuters
It comes as the G7 summit in Canada continues, which Ukraine’s leader is expected to attend.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy was due to hold talks with Donald Trump – but the president has announced he is unexpectedly returning to Washington because of tensions in the Middle East.
Ukraine’s foreign minister says Moscow’s decision to attack Kyiv during the summit is a signal of disrespect to the US.
Moscow has launched a record number of drones and missiles in recent weeks, and says the attacks are in retaliation for a Ukrainian operation that targeted warplanes in airbases deep within Russian territory.
Kyiv’s mayor Vitali Klitschko says fires broke out in two of the city’s districts as a result of debris from drones shot down by the nation’s air defences.
Read more from Sky News:
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Pic: AP
On X, Ukraine’s foreign ministry wrote: “Russia’s campaign of terror against civilians continues. Its war against Ukraine escalates with increased brutality.
“The only way to stop Russia is tighter pressure – through sanctions, more defence support for Ukraine, and limiting Russia’s ability to keep sowing war.”
Olena Lapyshnak, who lived in one of the destroyed buildings, said: “It’s horrible, it’s scary, in one moment there is no life. I can only curse the Russians, that’s all I can say. They shouldn’t exist in this world.”
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