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Former US president Jimmy Carter dies

Former US president Jimmy Carter has died aged 100.

The Carter Centre said its founder, who was the oldest living former US president, died in Plains, the town where he was born in Georgia.

Mr Carter, a Democrat, became the 39th US president when he defeated former president Gerald Ford in 1976.

The Georgia native served a single term as president and was defeated by Republican Ronald Reagan in 1980.

The final year of his administration was dominated by a hostage crisis in Iran, when 52 Americans were taken captive at the US embassy in November 1979.

On the day he left office, 20 January 1981, the hostages were released. Carter had continued negotiations behind the scenes, even after his election defeat.

In 2002 he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his work to avoid conflict around the world.

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When his wife, Rosalynn Carter, died aged 96, in November 2023, the former president went to the memorial service held in her honour in Atlanta, Georgia.

He wore a blue and white blanket which was embroidered with her face.

In February last year it was revealed he 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, the Carter Centre said in a statement at the time.

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