It’s not the $1 billion jackpot, but a lucky Mega Millions player in California won more than $1.7 million, before taxes, during Tuesday’s Christmas Eve drawing.

No Mega Millions player won the $1 billion Christmas Eve jackpot, so the grand prize for Friday night's drawing will be an estimated $1.15 billion.

A lucky lottery player in a small Central California town came away with a nice Christmas surprise: a Mega Millions ticket worth nearly $1.8 million.

Millions of people across 10 U.S. states could see the sky lit up by the northern lights on Christmas day, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) forecast. The agency reported that a minor geomagnetic storm is expected on December 25 and 26 due to the arrival of a coronal mass ejection (CME),

The UK is set for a period of unseasonably mild weather on Christmas Day this year. It is expected to be cloudy too, with the threat of some isolated rain in the far north of Scotland. BBC weather presenter Louise Lear delivers the weather forecast for the festive period.