diff --git a/source/news/2024/index.rst b/source/news/2024/index.rst
index 046b6c6a..5b1db006 100644
--- a/source/news/2024/index.rst
+++ b/source/news/2024/index.rst
@@ -4,6 +4,15 @@ News of 2024
 
 News archive for the year 2024.
 
+.. nxt_news_entry::
+   :author: Unit Team
+   :description: Version 1.34.0 includes three new configuration options and a
+    CLI tool.
+   :email: unit-owner@nginx.org
+   :title: Unit 1.34.0 Released
+   :url: news/2024/unit-1.34.0-released
+   :date: 2024-12-19
+
 .. nxt_news_entry::
    :author: Unit Team
    :description: Version 1.33.0 includes three new configuration options and a CLI tool.
diff --git a/source/news/2024/unit-1.34.0-released.rst b/source/news/2024/unit-1.34.0-released.rst
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..ccb6576b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/source/news/2024/unit-1.34.0-released.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,158 @@
+:orphan:
+
+####################
+Unit 1.34.0 Released
+####################
+
+We are pleased to announce the release of NGINX Unit 1.34.0. This release
+includes a number of new features and changes:
+
+**************************
+JSON formatted access logs
+**************************
+
+This release introduces the ability to specify a JSON format for access logs.
+
+When defining an access log you can specify 'format' as an object defining
+JSON field name/value pairs, e.g.
+
+.. code-block:: json
+
+  {
+      "access_log": {
+          "path": "/tmp/access.log",
+          "format": {
+              "remote_addr": "$remote_addr",
+              "time_local": "$time_local",
+              "request_line": "$request_line",
+              "status": "$status",
+              "body_bytes_sent": "$body_bytes_sent",
+              "header_referer": "$header_referer",
+              "header_user_agent": "$header_user_agent"
+          }
+      }
+  }
+
+The JSON *values* support being strings, variables and JavaScript.
+
+********************
+OpenTelemetry (OTEL)
+********************
+
+This release includes initial support for OpenTelemtry (OTEL)
+<https://opentelemetry.io/>
+
+This support has been added via the OpenTelemetry Rust SDK and as such
+requires cargo/rust to build.
+
+An example configuration looks like
+
+.. code-block:: json
+
+  {
+     "listeners": {
+          "[::1]:8080": {
+              "pass": "routes"
+          }
+      },
+
+      "settings": {
+          "telemetry": {
+              "batch_size": 20,
+              "endpoint": "http://example.com/v1/traces",
+              "protocol": "http",
+              "sampling_ratio": 1
+          }
+      },
+
+       "routes": [
+          {
+              "match": {
+                  "headers": {
+                      "accept": "*text/html*"
+                  }
+              },
+              "action": {
+                  "share": "/usr/share/unit/welcome/welcome.html"
+              }
+          }, {
+              "action": {
+                  "share": "/usr/share/unit/welcome/welcome.md"
+              }
+          }
+      ]
+  }
+
+* **endpoint**
+
+  The endpoint for the OpenTelemetry (OTEL) Collector. This is required.
+
+  It takes a URL to either a gRPC or HTTP endpoint.
+
+* **protocol**
+
+  Determines the protocol used to communicate with the endpoint. This is
+  required.
+
+  Can be either "http" or "grpc".
+
+* **batch_size**
+
+  Number of spans to cache before triggering a transaction with the
+  configured endpoint. This is optional.
+
+  This allows the user to cache up to N spans before the OpenTelemetry
+  (OTEL) background thread sends spans over the network to the collector.
+
+  Must be a positive integer.
+
+* **sampling_ratio**
+
+  Percentage of requests to trace. This is optional.
+
+  This allows the user to only trace anywhere from 0% to 100% of requests
+  that hit Unit. In high throughput environments this percentage should be
+  lower. This allows the user to save space in storing span data, and to
+  collect request metrics like time to decode headers and whatnot without
+  storing massive amounts of duplicate superfluous data.
+
+  Must be a positive floating point number.
+
+  This support is disabled by default but can be enabled by passing --otel
+  to ./configure.
+
+***************************
+Changes to language modules
+***************************
+
+* The Perl language module no longer adds a 'new' constructor to parsed
+  scripts. It's not required and could interfere with scripts that were
+  trying to use 'new' themselves...
+
+**********************
+Changes for developers
+**********************
+
+* -funsigned-char
+
+  We now compile Unit with -funsigned-char, this ensures we are using the
+  same char type on all platforms (what you get by default varies by
+  platform).
+
+  This is also a first step in getting rid of (mostly at least) our usage of
+  u_char and using char instead, which better aligns with libc interfaces etc.
+
+**************
+Full Changelog
+**************
+
+.. code-block:: none
+
+  Changes with Unit 1.34.0                                     19 Dec 2024
+
+      *) Feature: initial OpenTelemetry (OTEL) support. (Disabled by default).
+
+      *) Feature: support for JSON formatted access logs.
+
+      *) Bugfix: tweak the Perl language module to avoid breaking scripts in
+                 some circumstances.