live from london, this is bbc news. a powerful earthquake strikes japan, destroying buildings and killing at least four people. thousands have fled their homes and spent the night in shelters. israel's supreme court strikes down a controversialjudicial reform that triggered nationwide protests last year. migrant boat crossings in the english channel drop by more than a third — but the figures are still some of the highest on record. and what it means for disney, as the copyright expired on the earliest versions of mickey and minnie mouse. we start injapan, where a powerful earthquake has hit the centre of the country, bringing down buildings and power lines. four people are now confirmed

to have died, but the extent of the damage isn't yet clear. the epicentre of the 7.6 magnitude quake was noto province, with the tremors felt as far away as the capital tokyo. tens of thousands of people were told to head to higher ground and many spent the night in emergency shelters. but a major tsunami warning has been downgraded to an advisory. presidentjoe biden says the us is ready to provide any necessary assistance to japan — as a close ally of the country. suranjana tewari has the latest now, from japan. rumbling, screaming this footage from inside someone�*s home captures the moment the powerful earthquake struck. some staff at this news network took cover while others wanted to cover the story. the 7.6 magnitude earthquake struck just after 4pm in the afternoon local time.

it was caught on camera in this supermarket. there was chaos and confusion. tsunami warnings were issued then downgraded on the ishikawa coastline. and people were told to head to higher ground. translation: i would like to ask | all residents to continue to pay. close attention to the occurrence of this strong earthquake. if you are in a region where a tsunami is expected, please evacuate as soon as possible. more than 140 kilometres from the epicentre, this video was taken by english teacher barnie davis. itjust kept going. it was really long. the fridge door was opening and shutting, pictures were going all over the place, everything fell off the shelves. it was pretty dramatic. barnie and his family went to the local evacuation centre, until he was told it was safe to return home. but then...

literallyjust as we're talking my phone's giving us an alert, there's been another little earthquake up north again. the whole evening there have been aftershocks. despite the damage to roads and buildings, this earthquake is not as severe as 2011, when a magnitude nine quake triggered a tsunami leading to a nuclear meltdown at the fukushima power plant. this time all nuclear facilities are currently unaffected. but following the earthquake a huge fire broke out in one of the affected areas, and thousands are now spending the night outside in below zero temperatures, fearful of going back into their homes as aftershocks continue to hit. dan faulkner is professor of geology and earth sciences at the university of liverpool. he told mejapan is very used to earthquakes on this scale. in this part of the world, we kind of expect events of this kind of size. and in fact, 60 years ago,

just about 200 kilometres to the north—east of where this event happened, there was a similar—sized earthquake back then, too. so it's certainly not unknown to have earthquakes of this size in that particular area. yeah, japan used to dealing with earthquakes. they have a very sophisticated warning system, don't they, particularly for the tsunamis. absolutely, i mean, ithinkjapan is probably one of the best prepared countries on the planet for events like this. and certainly the tsunami warning went out straight away after the earthquake and people will have been prepared for that. and thankfully, it didn't turn out to be as hazardous as maybe we first feared after the earthquake happened. so just explain to us the tectonic plates and why japan is so liable to earthquakes. sure, so it's an amazing part of the world that japan is on. it's part of the pacific ring of fire where there's lots of huge fault zones.

so subduction zones where tectonic plates are being thrust back down into the earth's mantle all the way around the pacific. and whilst this earthquake didn't happen on one of those subduction zone faults, it's all part of that same system where the tectonic plates are pushing against each other. and this earthquake was a thrust fault earthquake where basically, the earth's crust will have been pushed up by about 3.5 metres in this event. and it's all related to those stresses and those tectonic forces that are affecting the region. dan faulkner. israel's supreme court has struck down judicial reforms that were a centrepiece of benjamin netanyahu's agenda in government. the reforms sparked months of protests, as the legislation limited the court's powers to cancel government decisions. its opponents said it prevented proper oversight of the government. the court was split in its decision — eightjudges voted in favour of striking down the law, while seven voted to uphold it.

jordana miller is a reporterfor us network, abc news injerusalem. she explained why these reforms were so controversial. well, the reason they were so controversial is because, first of all, they were almost pushed through the legislature without any real talk with either the court or the opposition to reach some kind of consensus on re—tinkering the balance between the judiciary, the executive and the legislature. and that is one of the reasons that we saw for weeks and weeks and weeks, tens of thousands of israelis taking to the streets because essentially, they saw this as not only a move to significantly weaken the courts from the supreme court on down, but they also saw it as a kind of power grab by israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu, who,

although this was only the first piece of a larger programme to overhaul the judiciary, they believed that there was a conflict of interest here, that in the end, netanyahu might benefit and find a way out of his legal troubles. remember, part of this plan was also to pass an override bill with a slim majority. that is that the legislature, which is very aligned with the executive in this parliamentary system, would be able to essentially strike down the supreme court's decisions. so in a ruling of 8—7, the supreme court said that removing the reasonableness clause, which was at the base of this decision, just really struck and caused damage to israel's character as a democracy, that it harmed the separation of powers and the rule of law,

and it could open the door to corruption and a lot of other problems also with individual rights, etc. and so the court, in a really unprecedented step, struck down a basic law. it should be said that netanyahu and his government knew what they were doing when they framed this law as a basic law, knowing it would be harder for the supreme court to make such a huge step and strike it down. they can't appeal against what the supreme court said, but if they chose to, they could ignore the ruling, which would bring a kind of constitutional crisis to israel. bring you a line of breaking news coming into us on our top story, the earthquake injapan, we are hearing from the british prime minister, rishi sunak, who says the uk is

ready to stand and supportjapan after the earthquake, and that the uk is monitoring developments. earlier president biden said the us was ready to offer any assistance needed to japan, so the british prime minister, rishi sunak, also saying the uk is ready to help japan after their massive earthquake they had earlier. israel says the war in gaza — which has reduced much of the territory to rubble — could go on throughout 202a. but it has signalled a shift in tactics, withdrawing some forces to focus on more targeted operations against hamas. there has been no let—up in the intense bombardment, though, which has now killed almost 22 thousand people in gaza. shaimaa khalil reports. artillery round fires the sound of gunfire and air strikes ushering in the new year for the people of gaza as they continue to flee further south, seeking

the ever—shrinking spots of safety. for many families it is an arduous and an all too familiarjourney. translation: there is no safe place left in gaza. - we used to live in gaza city, then we had to move to central gaza and from there, khan younis. right now we are outside khan younis but there is still no safe place. in central gaza the intense bombardment shows no sign of easing. in this building in deir al balah people use their bare hands and whatever equipment they can find to pull out casualties from the rubble. this was meant to be one of the safer areas for people who needed to evacuate other parts of the centre. the un has yet again warned of the worsening humanitarian situation in gaza. it says teams on the ground are facing restrictions in different areas. israel says it is not limiting aid. but with continuing fighting across the gaza strip, delivering aid to those who need it most has become a dangerous

and complex process. "israel's war in gaza has come at a very heavy price." these were the words of the prime minister a few days ago, as the number of soldiers killed in battle now nears 200. israel's military says it is now withdrawing some combat troops and switching to more targeted operations, but the aim remains the same — to dismantle hamas and bring back the hostages. and this war looks set to last well into the new year. shaimaa khalil, bbc news, jerusalem. the uk government says it won't hesitate to take further direct action against yemen's houthis, who are attacking foreign ships in the red sea to show their support for hamas. i asked our security correspondent frank gardner what kind of action the uk could take. well euphemistically, grant shapps, the defence secretary, is calling it direct action the risk of direct action if the houthis don't stop their attacks. i think there's a number of options.

at the minimum, it means continuing to shoot down the drones that the houthis are firing, but this is not a very cost—effective exercise for the west — so you've got the us, britain, france, other nations, all that have got navies in that region as part of a coalition, a us—led coalition, called operation prosperity guardian. but it costs roughly 100 times more to fire off, say, a sea viper missile from a royal navy destroyer to shoot down a drone than it costs the houthis to launch a little $20,000 drone. so that isn't going to work in the long—term. they are hoping to dissuade the houthis from doing any more of these. and, with the implicit threat that if they carry on, there is the risk that the us and britain and others will actually use air strikes and tomahawk missile, cruise missile strikes to take out the houthi launch sites. they don't want to do that because it's quite risky. i mean, you risk metastasising

the hamas israel war into something much bigger, potentially pitting iran and the us forces into a direct confrontation, because iran supports the houthis. here in the uk, the number of migrants crossing the english channel fell by over a third in 2023, compared with the record number of crossings the year before. more than 29,000 people made thejourney, and migration is likely to be one of the key issues in the general election due this year. mark easton has been analysing the numbers. with that general election looming, the government wants to start the new year with evidence that the prime minister's two big promises on immigration are being delivered. promise number one 7 stop the boats. well, no, they haven't stopped. but the home office claims its plan is working. the number known to have crossed the channel in 2023 was down around a third from 2022. still almost 30,000 individuals arrived on the kent coast, the second highest figure ever, but officials point to three key deals which they claim

are helping turn the tide. a deal with france improving security on the coast around calais, a deal with turkey to disrupt smuggler supply chains, and a deal with albania to return failed asylum seekers. of course, the deal the government regards as the game—changer is with rwanda, but that plan was ruled unlawful. almost everyone who arrived in small boats last year has claimed asylum, which brings us to the prime minister's second big promise on immigration 7 to clear the asylum backlog. we will have to wait until tomorrow for the official numbers but we expect the prime minister to claim it'sjob done. number ten says the promise only relates to what it calls "the legacy backlog" — people stuck in the system for more than 18 months. this is what the picture looked like three months ago. the legacy backlog shrinking, the blue bars, that's shrinking. but the backlog of new claims — so—called flow cases — still numbering 100,000 people. there will be claims of "creative

accounting" with thousands of legacy cases simply withdrawn and thousands more excluded as "complex" cases. yes, an election is looming and the arguments over promises kept or broken will only intensify. pope francis has condemned the recent arrests of roman catholic priests and bishops in nicaragua. at least 1a members of the clergy have been detained in the country in the past two weeks, with no clear motive. in his new year's message, the pope called for dialogue to try to get them released. translation: i follow with concern what is happening in nicaragua, - where bishops and priests have been deprived of their freedom. i express my closeness in prayer to them and their families, and to the entire church in the country. i also invite all of you here to pray insistently and all of god's people, and hope that we always seek the path of dialogue

to overcome difficulties. let us pray for nicaragua today. 0ur americas regional editor leonardo rocha is in the newsroom. we heard a little of what the pope said there — what more did he have to say? he said mainly that he made a call for dialogue, and he asked for prayers for those who have been arrested. we know 1a, possibly as many 17—20 different figures are coming out of nicaragua. it's so interesting that the pope is talking about dialogue now because earlier this year, or should i say earlier last year, he made a very strong criticisms against the government there, against president 0rtega, comparing it to a nazi regime, saying that the leader has been in power for 17 years, saying that the leader has been in powerfor 17 years, he saying that the leader has been in power for 17 years, he was probably unstable. so at the moment, the

vatican and nicaragua don't have diplomatic relations, and i think with the pope is saying is that they need to do something and dialogue is the only way out. it’s need to do something and dialogue is the only way out-— the only way out. it's not the only time we've _ the only way out. it's not the only time we've seen _ the only way out. it's not the only time we've seen a _ the only way out. it's not the only time we've seen a crackdown - the only way out. it's not the only time we've seen a crackdown like| time we've seen a crackdown like this in nicaragua, so why is it happening again now?- this in nicaragua, so why is it happening again now? well, it's believed that _ happening again now? well, it's believed that these _ happening again now? well, it's believed that these priests - happening again now? well, it's believed that these priests or i believed that these priests or bishops arrested, the nation detains a bishop, alvarez, who became like a martyr, a symbol of resistance to the government. he was sentenced to 26 years injail in february the government. he was sentenced to 26 years in jail in february after refusing to go into exile. there was a group of more than 200 people, including priests and other people going into exile into the united states, and he refused to go. so what i think happened and they are trying to get from nicaragua is that in their post—christmas prayers, they mentioned the name of that

priest, bishop alvarez, and that seems to have irritated the nicaraguan government. they also might be trying to put further pressure on the church because relations have been really bad since widespread protests against the government in 2018 when the church came out very strongly denouncing human rights abuses and accusing them of siding with the rebels, with them of siding with the rebels, with the protesters. d0 them of siding with the rebels, with the protesters-_ the protesters. do you know what it is likel to the protesters. do you know what it is likely to have _ the protesters. do you know what it is likely to have happened - the protesters. do you know what it is likely to have happened to - the protesters. do you know what it is likely to have happened to the . is likely to have happened to the priests who have been arrested? the most priests who have been arrested? tue: most likely priests who have been arrested? tte: most likely outcome priests who have been arrested? "tt2 most likely outcome of priests who have been arrested? tt2 most likely outcome of this is they will eventually be expelled from nicaragua as part of some sort of deal, that's what happened with dozens of the priests, and they will probably be sent to the vatican or the us, where they will be stripped of their to citizenship, that's what happened to other religious leaders in nicaragua. the message will be

clearfrom the in nicaragua. the message will be clear from the government in nicaragua, the message they are giving is that they will not tolerate that, they might even push for a solution like you had in china and other countries where they will allow the church to operate, provided that they don't interfere in politics, which is something very unlikely to happen.— in politics, which is something very unlikely to happen. leonardo, thank ou ve unlikely to happen. leonardo, thank you very much _ unlikely to happen. leonardo, thank you very much for — unlikely to happen. leonardo, thank you very much forjoining _ unlikely to happen. leonardo, thank you very much forjoining us - unlikely to happen. leonardo, thank you very much forjoining us from i you very much forjoining us from the newsroom. russia's president vladimir putin has pledged to "intensify" attacks on ukraine, after an escalation of deadly attacks by both sides in recent days. the russian—installed authorities in donetsk say ukrainian shelling has killed four people there. meanwhile, ukraine says one person was killed in the port city of 0desa, after russia launched 90 attack drones last night —87 of which were destroyed by the country's air defence systems. -- 87 —— 87 of which were destroyed. president zelensky has promised to increase the domestic production of weapons, including the construction of at least a million drones. ukraine has now seen in a another new year under shelling. we spoke to locals in 0desa, kharkiv, and in occupied—crimea, about what they've witnessed.

0lga malchevska reports. what is usually a moment to celebrate turns into another deadly night for people in 0desa, coming under attack from russian drones. hannah tells us she had to run to the shelter right at midnight. because of the russian fireworks, they are coming. the first time we came at midnight, and now it is again. ukraine woke up to at least five killed in southern 0desa and eastern donetsk, occupied by russia. moscow blames kyiv, repeating it does not target civilians. kyiv says russia sent a record 90 drones all over the country. ukraine is still mourning the deaths of more than 40 civilians killed just two days ago. this is what is left from a 5—star hotel in the centre of kharkiv. katerina lives nearby.

translation: when i was cooking our festive meal, l i had to shelter in the bathroom because of the attack. the drones were right above our home. it was very scary. and this video we received from the occupied crimea. decorated with ukrainian symbols, this christmas tree would be labelled extremism by russia if found. locals hope this year will finally bring freedom and peace. 0lga malchevska, bbc news. a host of famous films, books, music and characters, including early versions of mickey and minnie mouse enter the public domain in the united states from today. this means disney will no longer enjoy exclusive copyright over the earliest versions of the characters in the us, seen here in the animation that launched the house of mouse — steamboat willie — back in 1928. i've been speaking tojenniferjenkins, a professor of law and the director

of duke university's centre for the study of the public domain. she told me why this is significant. this is a deeply symbolic moment, not only because disney, among others, had fought for this not to happen for years, but because disney itself has made so many wonderful reuses of public domain material. if you think about their movies — we have the lion king, from hamlet, frozen and sleeping beauty from hans christian andersen, snow white, pinocchio — all of these came from public domain works. and so this is their opportunity to give back to the public domain that they've drawn so heavily from in the past. so basically, the law now says that after 95 years, anyone is allowed to use this property. in the united states — it'll still be a few decades yet in the uk and some otherjurisdictions. but yes, in the united states, you may use anything from the first two films — both steamboat willie and anotherfilm, lesser—known, called plane crazy, the silent version — and all of the features of the characters of mickey and minnie mouse as they appear in those films. so what are we likely to see

being made from these characters? are there any limits on what people can do with it? there are a few limitations. and so, mickey and minnie mouse appear in later, still—copyrighted works, and so you cannot use copyrightable features of the characters from later films. so that's the first limitation. the second limitation comes from a different body of law, called trademark law. you cannot use the characters as a logo in a way that misleads consumers into thinking that your product comes from disney. so you can't make merchandise prominently featuring the early mickey mouse, if disney makes and sells the same kind of merchandise. nor can you use steamboat willie as a logo at the beginning of yourfilm. what can you do? you can make new creative works so long as it's very clear to the public that it's your film and not coming from disney. so it's like pandora's box. i can't wait to see what people do. i have some ideas of my own, but i cannot predict. so, just thinking really out of the box, could we see mickey and minnie as serial killers,

or something as silly as that? oh, dear — but why do we always go to this? that's what happened when darling, the best bear in all the world, winnie the pooh, went into the public domain two years ago. what happened ? the most buzzworthy, grotesque use was the blood and honey film. but, you know, i really don't think... those might happen in the short term, but really think about the uses of public domain material that stand the test of time. those are the ones that retain cultural relevance. so if i'm talking to you in 20 years, i don't think we're going to be talking about the slasher film. if you think about shakespeare, that's always been in the public domain. what do you remember? west side story, rosencrantz and guildenstern are dead. these are the kinds of uses of public domain material that stand the test of time. and these are the kinds of works that i personally am the most excited about seeing with mickey and minnie mouse. jenniferjenkins from the duke university, and you can find out more about that story, along with all the rest of the day's news on

the bbc new website or app dust bbc news website. thanks for watching us here on bbc news. hello there. after wet and windy weather for weeks on end, now it looks like the weather pattern could be changing through this month. now, we started the new year with some sunshine across many parts of the country. already turning chilly in scotland where we've got those clearer skies, but towards the south—west of england, the clouds been rolling in, seen some rain coming in as well. you can see what's happening here on the earlier satellite picture. all this cloud is streaming up from the south—west, bringing yet more rain. and the winds are picking up, too, around that weather system. once that moves through, we've got another one following in behind. and those two combined could bring about two inches of rain, 50 millimetres of rain to england and wales and some flooding, too. we've got wet weather this evening across england and wales. moving clear of northern ireland heading into scotland — there may be some snow over the mountain tops here. clearer skies will follow for a while, but the rain returns into the south coast

and the south—west by the end of the night, keeping temperatures up here. and by the end of the night in scotland, after an early frost in the east, temperatures will be lifting here. the wetter weather continues northwards up towards the northern isles where it will be windy. it's also going to be windy in southern parts of england, some gales, particularly along the south coast. and we've got the spell of wet weather returning from the south—west from overnight across england and wales, maybe affecting northern ireland for a while. could turn a bit drier in the south of england in the afternoon, 13—14 celsius in those strong winds. bit of sunshine in between those areas of rain in scotland, but here temperatures will be lower. most of the wet weather, though, will be for england and wales. that will move away as we head into wednesday. we've still got some brisk winds in the north—east of scotland with a bit of rain. maybe the risk of some sleet and snow up towards shetland, won't be as windy across the south and generally on wednesday it's a day where we'll see some sunshine and some showers, particularly across wales and the south—west. temperatures though, looking quite healthy at 8—12 celsius.

now, things will turn colder by the end of the week. instead of low pressure that will bring wet and windy conditions, we're going to start to see high pressure building down from the north. that will leave us with a north—easterly breeze, introduce colder air and lead to some frost as well. but the weather pattern looks like changing after a few more days of this wet and windy weather with an increased chance of high pressure really through the rest of the month, even. that will mean things are going to be drier, which is good news, but it will also turn a bit colder.

this is bbc news. we'll have the headlines and all the main news stories for you at the top of the hour, straight after this programme. welcome to hardtalk. i'm stephen sackur. six years ago, a remarkable investigative journalist was assassinated on the mediterranean island of malta. her name was daphne caruana galizia. in life, she refused to be silenced about the scale of corruption in her homeland. in death, she has

become the inspiration for a continued struggle forjustice and accountability.