welcome to newsday. reporting live from singapore, i'm steve lai. the headlines: a powerful earthquake strikes japan, destroying buildings and killing at least six 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. a shift in tactics in gaza and israel says the conflict will continue throughout 2025. migrant boat crossings in the english channel drop by more than a third but the figures are still some of the highest on record.

live from our studio in singapore, this is bbc news — it's newsday. hello and welcome to the programme. we began injapan. thousands of people have spent the night in evacuation centres, following a powerful earthquake. six people were killed and dozens injured, with many more thought to be buried under the rubble of buildings. the prime minister says help is on its way. the epicentre of the 7.6 magnitude quake was noto province in the centre of japan, 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: | 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.

greg beroza, a professor of geophysics at stanford university in california, has told me earlier about the key things to look out for during earthquakes. we look to see the context of the occurrence, or the tectonic context. 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. earthquakes in this region aren't 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. but of course, we'll be pouring over the data from earthquakes such as this for 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? yeah, there will certainly be aftershocks.

so 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, so there's a small probability that there'll be another major earthquake off the coast, and if there were, then we'd go through this again. there would be a tsunami warning generated automatically. japan has seen significant earthquakes in the past — you mentioned 2011 — what is it about the country's location and geology that makes it so susceptible to big quakes? well, tectonically, it's extremely complex — so in this part ofjapan, there is the pacific plates ducking underneath japan, and a little further south there's a different plate, the philippine sea plate. so this collision of multiple plates

leads to earthquakes, leads to volcanism. japan is tectonically about as complicated as it gets. given how these are a regular occurrence injapan, you're certainly no stranger to them, how good are the alert systems for ea rtquakes how good are the alert systems for eartquakes like this so people can be evacuated to higher ground, and to safety? so, the 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're a very tsunami—aware country, because they have a large history of damaging tsunamis. so we're 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 — and japan has been doing that sort of thing for decades. and he same thing goes for tsunamis, we can use seismic waves to tell that an earthquake has occurred under the ocean,

and such as this one, it would have vertical motion that it might generate a tsunami, so the warning goes out before the very rapid tsunami waves hit the coast. and just quickly, what can countries like japan do to protect its people, buildings, and infrastructure? well, 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 to... that's really the most important thing that can be done to mitigate the risk from earthquakes. for more on the japan earthquake had to the bbc news website.

in israel, the supreme court 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. 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 seventh 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 there were many, many disagreements about the separation of powers. and at the heart of this was this bill that the government 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 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.

these reforms were controversial according to mr miller. , ., . , miller. first of all, they were almost pushed _ miller. first of all, they were almost pushed through - miller. first of all, they were almost pushed through the l almost pushed through the legislator without any real talk with either the court or the opposition to reach some kind of consensus on reed tinkering the balance between thejudiciary, the tinkering the balance between the judiciary, the executive and the legislature. that is one of the reasons that we saw four weeks and weeks and weeks tens of thousands of israelis take into the streets because essentially they saw this as not only a route to weaken the courts but they also saw it as a power grab by israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu who, although this was only the first phase of a larger

programme to overhaul the judiciary, they believed that it was a conflict of interest here and in the end benjamin 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 the full majority, that is that the legislature which is very aligned with the executive in this parliamentary system, would be able to strike down supreme court decisions so in a ruling of 8—7, the supreme court said removing the reasonableness clause, which was a piece of this decision, was a piece of this decision, wasjust a really... struck was a piece of this decision, was just a really... struck and caused damage to israel's character as a democracy, that it harmed the separation of power and the rule of law and could open the door to corruption and a lot of other

problems also with individual rights etc. so the court, in a really unprecedented step, struck down a basic law. it should be said that benjamin netanyahu and his government knew what they were doing when they framed this lot as a basic log, knowing it would be harder for the supreme court to make such a huge step and strike it down. they cannot appeal against what the supreme court said that that they can appeal. but if they chose to, they could ignore the ruling which would bring a constitutional crisis to israel. 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. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. bbc news bringing you different stories from across the uk. whether you are the first or last back to the pub, you will be greeted with cheers. marathon runner, jack, said other clubs often competitive and intimidating. i other clubs often competitive and intimidating.— and intimidating. i could not find what — and intimidating. i could not find what i _ and intimidating. i could not find what i wanted _ and intimidating. i could not find what i wanted so - and intimidating. i could not find what i wanted so i - and intimidating. i could not i find what i wanted so i thought i would try to make it myself and have no egos, nobody is left behind, we are all in it

together and it is all about the person not the pace. every tuesday and — the person not the pace. every tuesday and thursday, - the person not the pace. every tuesday and thursday, this - the person not the pace. every l tuesday and thursday, this huge group of runners meet up for a loop around bristol city centre, followed, of course, by a pint and a chat. the rules are based on tackling loneliness and improving mental health. if loneliness and improving mental health. , ., loneliness and improving mental health. ., ., health. if you are not standing in something _ health. if you are not standing in something like _ health. if you are not standing in something like this, - health. if you are not standing in something like this, you - health. if you are not standing| in something like this, you are more open to talking to people and it is all about that. for more stories _ and it is all about that. for more stories across - and it is all about that. for more stories across the uk head to the bbc website. you alive with bbc news. 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 — 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.

now, we'll have to wait until tomorrow for the official numbers but we expect the prime minister to claim it'sjob done. number 10 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. now, there will be claims of "creative accounting", with thousands of those 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. 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 odessa after russia launched

90 attack drones last night — most of which were destroyed by the country's air defence systems. we spoke to locals in odessa, 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 a0 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. mac 2024 is set to be an historic year for elections, with more than two billion voters expected to head to the polls in 50 countries, including the united states, the uk and russia. but the start of the year will have a focus on asia,

where the coming weeks and months will see elections in taiwan, bangladesh, indonesia, and pakistan, with south korea and india likely to take place in the spring. injanuary in january we injanuary we are in january we are likely to have elections in taiwan. it will determine the cause of relations between taiwan and china and then in february we have election coming up in indonesia which is the most populous country in south east asia, and then in the spring we have one coming up in india, the world's largest democracy. takeit the world's largest democracy. take it back to the election in taiwan that is fast approaching. 13 january is the date set for that. how do you see it going? i date set for that. how do you see it going?— see it going? i think the incumbent, _ see it going? i think the incumbent, the - see it going? i think the incumbent, the ruling . see it going? i think the - incumbent, the ruling party, the dpp, the candidate mr lai, will prevail at the presidential election. this outcome will not be what china

has hoped for was not it would hope that the candidate for the kmt, the opposition party, which has friendly relations with china, will win, but we don't think that will happen, and this will probably lead to and this will probably lead to a more volatile period between china and taiwan relations at least in the near term. if china and taiwan relations at least in the near term.- least in the near term. if you could elaborate _ least in the near term. if you could elaborate on _ least in the near term. if you could elaborate on that - could elaborate on that perhaps. most elections are fought on domestic issues but taiwan's election carries broader implications for the region, doesn't it? it broader implications for the region, doesn't it?- region, doesn't it? it does. because — region, doesn't it? it does. because asia _ region, doesn't it? it does. because asia has _ region, doesn't it? it does. because asia has been - region, doesn't it? it does. - because asia has been growing among the best growth rate in the world in terms of gdp growth and that has been made possible because of stability and there is no war like in europe and other parts of the world so any hint of instability will be, will not be voting well for the region's

outlook. but having said that, we do not think that we will have an eruption of full—scale military confrontation between the two countries but an outcome that hints at a more assertive taiwan will probably be met by some reaction from china. just to remind them that china. just to remind them that china has a red line and they want that to be respected and i think because of that, we can expect some uncomfortable feelings in terms of investors and things coming up in the first quarter of the year. what would you _ first quarter of the year. what would you say _ first quarter of the year. what would you say is _ first quarter of the year. what would you say is the - first quarter of the year. what would you say is the one - first quarter of the year. what| would you say is the one thing to understand about the us— china rivalry comes to democratisation of other countries here in asia? the us- china rivalry _ countries here in asia? the us- china rivalry is _ countries here in asia? the us- china rivalry is intensifying - china rivalry is intensifying and a lot of countries in asia

actually pursue friendly relations with both and both are key economic partners and the us and china are key military supporters for some of the countries so what asian countries would like to see other maintenance of peace, regional peace, and if that is disrupted then that is very negative for asia but having said that, when one country has elections that may not please one outcome, the other countries may try to step in and offer more friendship or help, so in that sense, in a country that, if there is an election outcome in the us or the west eyes are not free or fair and they want to impose sanctions, they may not want to

be too harsh because that will probably push the country into the orbit of china.— the orbit of china. those with the orbit of china. those with the thoughts _ the orbit of china. those with the thoughts of _ the orbit of china. those with the thoughts of syetern - the thoughts of syetern hansakul, senior analyst at the economist intelligence unit when i spoke to her earlier this morning on new day. —— newsday. 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. a southeast asia correspondent 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 ten 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 judgement 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 described mr yunus as a "bloodsucker of the poor" and accused the grameen bank, founded by mr yunus, of charging exorbitant

interest rate. 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 yourjudgement." but many of his supporters, as well as staff members, say they were still in a state of shock following this judgement. before we go, let's revisit our top story. thousands of people in japan have top story. thousands of people injapan have spent the night injapan have spent the night in evacuation centres following a powerful earthquake. six people were killed and dozens injured. taking some live pictures of fumio kishida. he is giving a live conference and says help is on the way but many face difficulties due to damage roads. this is a story will be be —— we will be monitoring today. you can go to our website for those updates and you will find them@bbc.com/news stop goodbye for now. —— you will find them

at bbc.com/news. 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 one or two 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.

voice-over: this is bbc news. we will have the headlines for you at the top of the hour, which is straight after this programme. i'm ready to go. laughter i'm tink llewellyn, i'm a bbcjournalist and i'm donor—conceived. you might never have thought about donor—conceived people, but believe me, there are loads of us out there. i'm donor—conceived. donor—conceived. now some of us have the right to find out our egg and sperm donors' identity for the very first time. he's usually referred to as the colombian guy or the sperm guy. there's been many names. sometimes i feel like i was born in a lab... i was really worried about coming today. ..so this, at times, will be a difficult story to tell.

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