The father of a teenager who survived a five-hour flight from California to Hawaii tucked in a jet’s wheel well has said his son missed Africa, where he used to live, and was struggling at school.

Russian officials are examining the wreckage of two crashed planes today in an effort to determine whether a terrorist attack caused the near-simultaneous disasters that killed all 89 people aboard.

The United States has ordered other governments to obey a new American requirement placing armed sky marshals on some flights to prevent hijackings, as the nation approached the New Year with terror threats high.