The Aseman Airlines passenger plane came down in the Zagros mountains in Iran
Hello, this is Anna breaking down Monday's top news stories.
Iranian tragedy - Earlier reports that wreckage of a plane that crashed in Iran on Sunday had been found were incorrect, according to local reports. The Aseman Airlines passenger plane came down in the Zagros mountains, and all 66 people on board are thought to have been killed, but the search continues. Heavy wind and snow forced search and rescue efforts to be called off late on Sunday but they resumed the search today. The flight was travelling from Tehran to the south-western city of Yasuj.
Activism in action - Frances McDormand used her Baftas speech to show support for various activist causes Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri has inspired. ‘I want to say that I appreciate a well-organised act of civil disobedience, and I am thrilled that activists all over the world have been inspired by the set decoration of the Three Billboards in Martin’s film,’ she said. ‘And [who] have taken to the streets, and let it be a part of the positive public discourse that’s happening.’ The film won five trophies including best film, best British film and best actress for McDormand.
A turn for the better? - US President Donald Trump is 'supportive' of efforts to improve background checks on gun ownership, the White House says. He has spoken to Republican Senator John Cornyn about a bipartisan bill he helped introduce, a statement read. The 2017 bill sought to improve federal compliance with checks that are processed before someone can buy a gun. It comes after authorities said the suspect in last week's school shooting in Florida had bought his gun legally.
More Oxfam controversy - Three members of the Oxfam Haiti team who were under investigation for sexual exploitation physically threatened a colleague and witness to demand their silence, the charity’s own inquiry shows. The confidential report released today contains damning new evidence of misconduct in Oxfam’s operations following Haiti’s devastating earthquake. In addition to aid workers paying sex workers and issuing physical threats, a staff member was dismissed for using the charity’s computing equipment to download ‘pornographic and illegal material’ to a laptop.
Curling doping - Russian curler Alexander Krushelnitsky has been formally charged with a doping offence by the Court of Arbitration for Sport after testing positive for the banned substance meldonium. He is now likely to be stripped of his mixed curling bronze medal, won with his wife Anastasia Bryzgalova last week.
Chinese bounty - Chinese authorities are demanding ‘severe punishment’ for an American man who allegedly stole a terracotta warrior’s thumb from a Philadelphia museum. Michael Rohana, 24, was attending a pre-Christmas party at the Franklin Institute when he entered the Terracotta Warriors of the First Emperor exhibition, alleges Chinese reports. Rohana allegedly entered the exhibition on 21 December, and took a selfie before appearing to snap off a chunk of its left hand and stash it away in his pocket.
Polish embassy defaced - Nazi swastikas have been graffitied on Poland's embassy in Israel, a day after the Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said Jews were among perpetrators of the Holocaust. Police in Tel Aviv launched an inquiry after profanities and the word ‘murderer’ were also discovered on the gates of the embassy. Morawiecki's comments have been strongly condemned by Israel and he has since said through a spokeswoman that he did not intend to blame Jewish victims for ‘a Nazi German perpetrated genocide’.