welcome to newsday. reporting live from singapore, i'm steve lai. the headlines... a powerful earthquake strikes japan, destroying buildings and killing at least four people. thousands have fled their homes, spending 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 stunning images captured by the james webb space telescope have been released, two years after it was launched by nasa. live from our studio in singapore.

this is bbc news. it's newsday. it's 7am in singapore, and 8am injapan, where we begin this hour. thousands of people have spent the night in evacuation centres, following a powerful earthquake. four people were killed and dozens injured, with many more thought to be buried under the rubble of buildings. in the past hour, british prime minister rishi sunak said the uk stands ready to support to japan, and is monitoring developments. the epicentre of the 7.6 magnitude quake was noto province in the centre ofjapan, with the tremors felt as far away as the capital tokyo. tens of thousands of people were told to head to higher ground, in the country's first major tsunami warning since 2011. the warning was later downgraded, with waves of less than one metre reported. suranjana tewari is injapan, and sent this report.

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... literally just as we're talking, my phone's given 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.

a short time ago our reporter, suranjana tewari filed this update. what we know is that houses have been damaged, that some fires have started, and army personnel have been deployed to try and help with the response. there are already reports that infrastructure has been damaged, and officials have warned that there may be more shocks, aftershocks and tremors in the coming days. now, as you mentioned, almost 100,000 people spent the night in evacuation centres. tens of thousands of homes don't have power and even here where i am in the mountains, neighbouring nagano prefecture, we felt the tremors. also, it is nearfreezing temperatures here, so it's a real problem if there are power cuts.

japan's vast transport network has also been affected by those power cuts. because japan is such a hotbed of seismic activity, the government has a pretty great and sophisticated warning system of tsunami and earthquakes. we all got signals on our mobile phone ahead of the earthquake, and so people were able to go and get shelter. and, as you said, it's daybreak now, so we'll know more about what the real damage is to buildings, roads, and infrastructure, and how many people are trapped, as well. suranjana tewari, reporting live from japan. i'm joined now by greg beroza, a professor of geophysics at stanford university in california. japan is no stranger to earthquakes — what are the key things that you look out for when news of one breaks? yes, so we look to see the context

of the occurrence, or the tectonic contacts. so in this case the earthquake occurred off the west coast of japan, that's unlike the 2011 earthquake, which occurred on the plate boundary off the opposite coast of japan. the plate boundary off the opposite coast ofjapan. earthquakes in the plate boundary off the opposite coast of japan. earthquakes in this region are on dutch art unheard of, including large earthquakes. some in the past have generated large tsunamis, so we look immediately at things that are relevant to the earthquake response. and of course, we will be pouring over the data from earthquakes such as this for years. from earthquakes such as this for ears. �* . , from earthquakes such as this for ears. ~ ., , ., from earthquakes such as this for ears. ~ ., ., ., ., years. and as more information becomes available, _ years. and as more information becomes available, how - years. and as more information becomes available, how do - years. and as more information becomes available, how do you | years. and as more information - becomes available, how do you assess the severity of this latest one? are we likely to see aftershocks in the coming days and more tsunami warnings perhaps?— warnings perhaps? there'll be aftershocks. _ warnings perhaps? there'll be aftershocks, after _ warnings perhaps? there'll be aftershocks, after any - warnings perhaps? there'll be - aftershocks, after any earthquake, there will be thousands, if not tens of thousands of aftershocks, many of which can be felt — a few of which may be large enough to cause damage. a tsunami — it's possible, there's a

small probability there'll be another major earthquake off the coast, and if there were, then we would go through this again. there would go through this again. there would be a tsunami warning generated automatically. the would be a tsunami warning generated automatically-— automatically. the man has seen siunificant automatically. the man has seen significant earthquakes _ automatically. the man has seen significant earthquakes in - automatically. the man has seen significant earthquakes in the - automatically. the man has seen i significant earthquakes in the past, you mentioned a 2011 — what is it about the country's location and geology that makes it so susceptible to big earthquakes?— to big earthquakes? tectonic lee it is externally _ to big earthquakes? tectonic lee it is externally complex, _ to big earthquakes? tectonic lee it is externally complex, and - to big earthquakes? tectonic lee it is externally complex, and this - to big earthquakes? tectonic lee it| is externally complex, and this part of japan there is the pacific plates underneath japan, a little further south there is a different plate, the philippine sea plate. so you need this collision of multiple plates leads to earthquakes, leads to volcanism. japan is technically about as complicated as it gets —— tectonic glee. about as complicated as it gets -- tectonic glee-—

tectonic glee. given these are reuular tectonic glee. given these are regular occurrences _ tectonic glee. given these are regular occurrences in - tectonic glee. given these are regular occurrences in japan, | tectonic glee. given these are - regular occurrences in japan, how regular occurrences injapan, how good are the warning systems so that people can get to safety? the s stems people can get to safety? the systems in — people can get to safety? the systems in japan _ people can get to safety? tue: systems injapan are people can get to safety? tte: systems injapan are as people can get to safety? tt2 systems injapan are as good as they are anywhere. japan is a very earthquake aware country because all of japan's earthquakes threaten, and they are a very tsunami aware country because they have a large history of damaging tsunamis. so we are unable to predict earthquakes, but when they occur we can get the notification out very quickly sometimes before the shaking arrives, that's called earthquake alerting. injapan has been doing that sort of thing for decades. the same thing goes for tsunamis, we can use seismic waves to tell than earthquake occurred under the ocean, and such as this one, have vertical motion that it will have generated a tsunami, so the warning goes out before the very rapid tsunami waves hit coast. �* , . ~ , .,

hit coast. and 'ust quickly, what countries like — hit coast. and just quickly, what countries like japan _ hit coast. and just quickly, what countries like japan can - hit coast. and just quickly, what countries like japan can do - hit coast. and just quickly, what countries like japan can do to i countries like japan can do to protect its people and infrastructure?- protect its people and infrastructure? , . infrastructure? the first defence a . ainst infrastructure? the first defence against earthquakes _ infrastructure? the first defence against earthquakes is _ infrastructure? the first defence against earthquakes is building i infrastructure? the first defence - against earthquakes is building good buildings, so having a building code that accounts for the strength and variability, and shaking, and implementing and enforcing that building code as well are all critical. that's really the most important thing that can be done to mitigate the risk from earthquakes. professor, we will leave it there for now, thank you so much for your time. in israel, the supreme court struck downjudicial 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. 0ur correspondent shaimaa khalil has the latest from jerusalem. this is a big blow to benjamin netanyahu and the hardline governing coalition in this showdown between the judiciary and the right—wing government. this is the supreme court taking their power back when it comes to checks balances. before the october seven deadly attack by hamas on israel, before the war in gaza, israel had experienced unprecedented division and turmoil internally because of these proposed judiciary reforms by the government, many calling it a threat to democracy and also there were many, many disagreements about the separation of powers. and at the heart of this was this bill that the government that pushed through, this

reasonableness bill, essentially stopping the supreme court from its ability to stop the government from making any decisions that were deemed unreasonable. now the supreme court has overturned that, saying "we will keep you in check." this could not have come at a worse time for the benjamin netanyahu government, already under extreme pressure and angerfrom government, already under extreme pressure and anger from the hostage families who are saying that the government is failing to bring the hostages back — and now, this government is staring down a constitutional breakdown and crisis in the middle of this conflict. israel's supreme court decision comes against the backdrop of the country's war in gaza. as the war grinds on, concerns are mounting that the conflict could draw in other regional players. the british defence secretary, grant shapps, says britain is considering direct military action against houthi rebels in yemen — if they continue to attack commercial shipping in the red sea. the uk has already deployed a war ship to protect against the iran—backed militants,

who've declared their support for hamas, and have launched more than 100 drone and missile strikes against ships travelling to israel. amid these rising tensions in the red sea, a flotilla of iranian warships are reported to have sailed through the area. iranian media said the county's war ships have been operating in open waters to secure shipping routes, combat piracy, and carry out other tasks since 2009. in the uk, migration is likely to feature as a key issue in the general election — expected later this year. the number of migrants crossing the english channel in small boats from france fell by more than one third in 2023, compared with the year before. but more than 29,000 people did make thejourney. our home editor mark easton has more details. well, 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 ? 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 ? 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, that's the blue bars, that's shrinking, but the backlog of new claims — the so—called flow cases — well, they are, as you can see, still numbering around 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. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. let's look at some other stories making news here in the uk. police in london have named the 16—year—old boy who was stabbed to death on new year's eve as harry pitman. he died just before midnight at the top of primrose hill. a boy, who's also 16, has been arrested on suspicion of murder. police are appealing for witnesses or anyone with information to come forward.

police have launched a murder inquiry after a 38—year—old man was shot dead in edinburgh last night. officers were called to the scene in the granton area just before midnight, after a gun was fired in what's believed to be a targeted incident. another man was seriously injured, and is in hospital in a serious but stable condition. almost three million people were seen for an urgent cancer check over the last 12 months, according to new analysis from nhs england. the number being tested has increased by more than a quarter, compared with the same period before the pandemic. the government says catching the disease early is crucial you're live with bbc news. 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 area of 0desa after russia launched 90 attack drones last night — 87 of which were destroyed by the country's air defence systems. president zelensky has promised to increase the domestic production of weapons, including the construction we spoke to the locals in 0desa, kharkiv, and 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. 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 dialoge 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 has more on the pope's comments and their timing. well, it's believed that these priests or bishops arrested,

they mention a detained bishop, alvarez, who became like a martyr, a symbol of resistance to the government. he was sentenced to 26 years injail 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 from what we're trying to get from nicaragua, is that those priests mentioned 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 were accused of siding with the rebels, with the protesters. to bangladesh next — a nobel peace prize winner has been

sentenced to six months in prison for violating labour laws. muhammad yunus was found guilty, along with three colleagues, of failing to create a workers' welfare fund. all four deny wrongdoing and have been granted bail, pending appeals. their supporters say the case is politically motivated. anbarasan ethirajan has more. muhammad yunus is a well—known, acclaimed economist. he won the nobel peace prize for creating this micro—financing scheme, lifting millions out of poverty in 2006. and this model has been followed in many parts of the world. now, the government has filed a number of cases and according to his lawyer, more than 180 cases in the last 10 or 12 years or so, charging him with several complaints, including how they violated labour laws and not creating a welfare fund for the workers. and today's judgment was in connection with that. but mr yunus and his supporters

strongly denied these charges. in fact, he has issued a statementjust a few minutes ago where he said, "as my lawyers have convincingly "argued in court, this verdict against me is contrary to all legal "precedent and logic." now, if you look at the background, there has been a tension between mr yunus and the current prime minister, sheikh hasina, bangladeshi prime minister, and once sheikh hasina described mr yunus as a "bloodsucker of the poor" and accused the grameen bank, founded by mr yunus of charging exorbitant interest rates. mr yunus and his supporters, the grameen bank, denied these charges, so there is a bad blood between these two and she always viewed him as some kind of a rival. and she also challenged the international community, whoever wrote letters in support of mr yunus, saying, "you can come to bangladesh and view the legal proceedings in court "and then you make yourjudgment." but many of his supporters, as well as staff members, say they were still in a state

of shock following this judgment. taiwan's president has said ties with china must be decided by the will of the people, and that peace must be based on "dignity". president tsai ing—wen made the comments after china's leader, xijinping, said that quote, "reunification" with the island is inevitable. china has been ramping up military pressure to assert its sovereignty claims over democratically governed taiwan which, on 13 january, holds presidential and parliamentary elections. it's been two years since the james webb space telescope was launched by nasa, and has already sent back some stunning images. it has also made some astonishing discoveries, which are transforming our understanding of the universe. 0ur science editor rebecca morelle reports. the beauty of the cosmos, captured by the james webb space telescope. from the tarantula nebula, where stars are born amidst the dust, to a dying star, the ring nebula, throwing

off its outer layers as it runs out of fuel. and the phantom galaxy, with 100 billion stars amongst its spiral arms. these images are stunning — but they're also transforming what we thought we knew about the cosmos. the telescope can look back to the very dawn of the universe, and it's revealing game—changing galaxies that are breaking all the rules. it can see the cosmos 13.5 billion years ago, just after the big bang. scientists thought the first galaxies would be primitive structures — but in fact they're forming far faster and earlier than astronomers ever thought possible. we certainly thought that we'd be seeing things that were, i might call them fuzzy blobs of stars, collections of stars. and what we're actually seeing is fully—formed galaxies. and when you look at them, they have sort of perfect spiral arms. you can see that these galaxies in the early universe already have those mature structures. so, in that sense, it's really

changing scientific thinking. this isn't the only discovery that's shaking up the early cosmos. the telescope is also spotting a surprising abundance of giant black holes. black holes are scattered throughout the universe. this is the one at the centre of our own milky way. they form when a massive star dies and collapses in on itself. what we're now finding with jwst is surprisingly large black holes already existing quite early on in the universe's history, when there hasn't been time to go through this process of stars forming and living their lives. so what that suggests is that actually, these black holes are completely skipping the star—formation part of the process. we're also seeing the unexpected, closer—to—home, bizarre, planet—like objects nicknamed jumbos. this is the orion nebula, a star—forming region in the milky way. but look a little closer, and there's something incredibly strange —

huge planet—like objects floating free, not tethered to any star, these tiny pairs of light here. they're called jupiter mass binary objects — orjumbos — and they've left astronomers scratching their heads. nobody predicted or expected you would see objects the size ofjupiter orbiting around each other, freely floating. we thought we would see singles, isolated ones, but to find binaries like this is crazy. we don't expect to find the answer on day one, year one. this is a long journey for all of us now. so, what's next for the james webb space telescope? no doubt there will be more ethereal images. and it will start to look even further back in time as it continues its quest to detect the light from the very first stars to shine. rebecca morelle, bbc news. we look forward to seeing that. you have been watching newsday. stay with us on bbc news, we'll be

backin stay with us on bbc news, we'll be back in half an hour with more. hello there. we've got some very strong winds and some heavy rain on the way for tuesday, that brings with it the risk of some disruptive weather. little sign of that yesterday across northern england and scotland, with clear, blue, sunny skies for many. however, towards the southwest of england, the waves were picking up as the winds increased, all tied in with the next weather system. now it's this lump of cloud that's out to our west that we're watching, to develop into quite a nasty looking area of low pressure. now, through the remainder of the night, one band of rain clears eastwards, another one heading into scotland, a bit of snow up over the scottish hills for a time, as well. and then, we've got the next pulse of rain working into the southwest. now, bear in mind, we've already got lots of flood warnings in force, and that's before really the next dollop of heavy rain works in. so the rain, heavy enough to cause some localised flooding, but as well as that,

into tuesday, some very strong winds heading into southwest england, southern wales, and around the bristol channel. top gusts could reach 60—70mph — strong enough to bring down 1—2 trees, hence the risk of disruptive weather. very windy for the northern isles, and the winds will be increasing inland across england and wales as this area of rain becomes much more extensive through the course of the day. and then, we get a second swathe of really strong winds across parts of lincolnshire, east anglia, southeast england, especially through the dover straits. could get gusts again getting up into the 60s of miles an hour, maybe even towards 70. so there is the threat of some disruption — weather from the heavy rain and the risk of flooding, or the strong winds that could be strong enough to bring down a few trees. either way, that lot will be clearing out of the way as we head into wednesday, but just to be followed by another unsettled day — a day of sunshine and showers. the showers heavy with hail and thunder across england and wales, blustery conditions here. lighter winds for northern ireland means the showers could last a bit longer. some heavier, more persistent rain for northeast scotland perhaps causing 1—2 issues, and cold enough to see some

of the rain start to turn to sleet or snow over the hills in shetland. quite a lot going on, then, but the weather will eventually calm down. low pressure later this week will start to slide away from our shores — and instead, we get an area of high pressure building in as we head towards the end of the week and the weekend beyond. indeed, quite a long spell of dry, settled weather conditions is on the card — notjust through the weekend, but well into next week. with the sunshine comes much lower temperatures and a return of some sharp overnight frosts.

this is bbc news. we'll have the headlines for you at the top of the hour, which is straight after this programme. a moment in history — the coronation of king charles iii. god save the king! congregation: god save the king! cheering across three days in may,

the nation celebrated