welcome to newsday. reporting live from singapore, i'm steve lai. the headlines... hundreds of people escape an airliner that burst into flames after a collision with a coastguard plane at an airport in tokyo. officials injapan say at least 55 people have died and many are feared trap beneath rubble after monday's powerful earthquake. we beneath rubble after monday's powerful earthquake.- powerful earthquake. we are still trying — powerful earthquake. we are still trying to _ powerful earthquake. we are still trying to piece _ powerful earthquake. we are still trying to piece togetherl still trying to piece together the extent of the damage and how many people have been killed and injured. in how many people have been killed and injured. killed and in'ured. in lebanon, a drone killed and injured. in lebanon, a drone strike _ killed and injured. in lebanon, a drone strike kills _ killed and injured. in lebanon, a drone strike kills the - killed and injured. in lebanon, a drone strike kills the deputy| a drone strike kills the deputy political leader of hamas, threatening an escalation in the war with israel. and whether warnings are in place for large parts of england and most of wales as storm hank brings heavy winds and heavy rain. live from our studio in singapore. this is bbc news.

it's newsday. welcome to bbc news. it's 8am in singapore, and 9am injapan — where we start the programme today. all of the 379 passengers and crew on board a japan airlines plane had a miraculous escape when it became engulfed in flames. thejet was coming in to land, when there was a collision with a coastguard plane. five people on board the smaller aircraft died. it was heading to deliver supplies to people affected by the 7.6 magnitude earthquake, in the province of noto. our correspondent, suranjana tewari, is at haneda airport, with more on the reaction on the ground. haneda airport, behind me, is slowly resuming service — about 100 flights were cancelled as a result of that collision on the runway. now, mostly domestic flights, international flights have been

taking off and landing, as well, but really extraordinary images coming in. and people here arejust digesting what happened when those two planes collided, leading to that massive fireball on the runway — and this, just 2a hours after a 7.6 magnitude earthquake shook many prefectures across the country, especially in the northwest, and with tremors being felt as far afield as tokyo. the moment of impact. ajapan airlines plane skids down the tarmac at tokyo's haneda airport, after a collision with a smaller plane operated by japan's coastguard. inside the air bus, chaos, as passengers see heat and smoke billowing

from an engine. and in the terrifying moments that followed, the plane finally comes to a stop. "get me out," she screams, as passengers panic. within moments, and as the cabin fills with fumes, inflatable slides are released, allowing hundreds of passengers and crew to scramble to safety, miraculously unharmed. translation: i was wondering what happened, then i felt - the aeroplane tilted to the side of the runway, and ifelta big bump. the flight attendants told us to stay calm. i can only say it was a miracle. we could have died if we didn't evacuate at that point. a huge fire quickly takes hold and overwhelms the passenger aircraft, and then, this.

those on board the second plane were not as fortunate. five of the six people aboard died, though the pilot escaped. that aircraft was travelling to near the epicentre of a 7.6 magnitude earthquake. the crew were carrying food and preparing to help with the rescue effort. authorities here at haneda airport deployed 100 fire trucks to try to control the blaze, and it took more than six hours. experts say it is because of japan's strong safety record and the training of its staff that the crew were able to respond so effectively in time. translation: we will work with the transport ministry | to determine the cause of the accident. the scene needs to be preserved for that, but we will try to get airport operations going as quickly as possible. investigators will be desperately looking for answers as to how two planes

were on the runway at the same time. an extraordinary moment, but coming so soon after a powerful earthquake, japan finds itself facing two tragedies in as many days. suranjana tewari, bbc news, tokyo. i've been speaking with professor ed galea, who is the director of the fire safety engineering group at the university of greenwich. i asked him what he made of how the cabin crew responded to the incident to evauate the passengers. well, the cabin crew did an absolutely astounding job in successfully evacuating all passengers and crew from the aircraft. they had a really difficult, challenging situation. this was not an easy evacuation because you only had three exits that were serviceable. so even in the certification of the aircraft, they would've had four exits available, and they would've beenin available, and they would've

been in operable condition. in this particular incident, the only had three exits available, and they weren't in an optimal distribution or in an optimal circumstances.— circumstances. saw how remarkable _ circumstances. saw how remarkable that - circumstances. saw how remarkable that was - circumstances. saw how remarkable that was it l circumstances. saw how i remarkable that was it that circumstances. saw how - remarkable that was it that all the passengers were evacuated? is that rare in such an instance?— is that rare in such an instance? ., ., , instance? look, you'd normally ho -e instance? look, you'd normally hoe ou instance? look, you'd normally hepe you get — instance? look, you'd normally hope you get everybody - instance? look, you'd normally hope you get everybody off - instance? look, you'd normally hope you get everybody off an l hope you get everybody off an aircraft in an emergency situation, and the planes are designed to evacuate everyone in ideal conditions with a night —— within 90 seconds. but as i say, this accident was far from ideal. the aircraft was nosedown, which means inside the aircraft, it was difficult for passengers to move, especially if they had to go back up to use the rear exit. the front exits, the slide, because it was nosedown, the slide would not deploy correctly — they were on a very shallow angle, which means the flow of passengers down the slides was very slow, and

conversely at the back of the aircraft, because it was tail up, the slide was very, very steep, which means it was very dangerous for passengers going down that slide. and in one of the videos, you can see the crewmember at that number for exit, that rear exit urging passengers forward, that they've got a torch in their hand, waving it around, they've got a torch in their hand, waving itaround, urging passengers to come back to the exit and go down that slide. that crewmember did an absolutely astounding job, he should get a medal. absolutely astounding “ob, he should get a medal.h absolutely astounding “ob, he should get a medal. what then are the key _ should get a medal. what then are the key lessons _ should get a medal. what then are the key lessons to - should get a medal. what then are the key lessons to be - are the key lessons to be learned from that incident, and involving two aircraft?- involving two aircraft? from the evacuation _ involving two aircraft? from the evacuation point - involving two aircraft? from the evacuation point of - involving two aircraft? from| the evacuation point of view, one of the things that made this accident evacuation successful was that the passengers were well behaved, and that they didn't take their luggage with them. i can't see a single passenger in any of the video i've seen on the ground that have got their luggage with them. if this had happened in the west, say in europe or the united states, a vast number of passengers

would've tried to take their cabin luggage with them and that's what everyone did. 55 people are now known to have died after an earthquake in japan. the 7.6 magnitude quake hit the region of noto on new year's day — with the tremours felt hundreds of miles away in the capital tokyo. the country's prime minister warns its now a race against time to rescue those trapped beneath the rubble. our correspondentjean mckenzie is in the region and has spent the day trying to reach the town of wajima close to the epicentre. sirens this is a race for survival. rescue workers stream throuthapan�*s isolated noto peninsula, the roads blocking their way. they're trying to reach these worst—affected areas in the north where people are trapped under their collapsed homes.

many families were out at temples celebrating new year's day when japan was hit by its strongest earthquake in 12 years. nomura—san thought his shrine was going to collapse. "the whole gate was swaying. "the alleyway was swaying too. "the children had to squat on the floor so as not "to fall over," he told me. alerts chime as we travel towards the epicentre, we're alerted to another earthquake. these aftershocks keep coming. further in, old wooden homes have been brought to the ground, not made to withstand the ferocity of japan's enduring quakes. toshio iwahama lives here alone after losing his wife.

at 82, he doesn't know how he'll manage the repairs. translation: we always have earthquakes around here, - but i just didn't think we'd get a big one like this. i didn't take it seriously. i thought we were safe here. this is only the tip of the destruction. we are trying to get closer to the epicentre, to a city where we know that at least a dozen people have died and many more are trapped in their homes that have collapsed. but we are struggling because, if you look at this road here, it is completely ruptured. and this is what we keep coming up against, these and this these roads that are totally blocked off, and even these emergency services here, these rescue teams, have been struggling to reach people in these worst—affected areas. so we are still trying to piece together the extent of the damage, and how many people have been killed and injured. some firefighters have managed to get into the wrecked city of wajima, and are searching for survivors. but the death toll

is expected to rise. the people here have lived through many an earthquake, but never felt tremors of this magnitude, which have shaken both their surroundings and their sense of safety. jean mckenzie, bbc news. i'm joined now by professor nobuhito mori, who is the deputy director of the disaster prevention research institute at kyoto university. we're still within the 72—hour window that disaster relief experts say is vital to finding survivors. what are the main challanges rescue teams face as we see the death toll numbers steadily increase? yes, i think the main challenge is how to lead to the area near the epicentre. because that area is very remote and the road is very narrow along here —— how to reach the area near the epicentre. so it's a

difficult approach to the area near the peninsula, that's a big challenge at this moment. buidling deisgns injapan are made with earthquakes in mind, but we have seen a number of buidlings and homes collapsing under the strain of the earthquake. what do you put that down to? in this case, the damage in the north peninsula is very significant, because the earthquake was very strong which probably exceeded our structural design level. additionally this area is very remote, so i believe many old, wooden houses were not satisfied with the regulations after 1981. one way to minimize casualties is early warnings and quick and effective advice do the public. have we seen good evidence that that was done here?

yes, we have two different early warning systems — one is the earthquake early warning system, and the other is this tsunami early warning system. in the earthquake early warning system is about predictions of waves before there comes a second wave. and the earthquake early warning system worked pretty well in this area from the epicentre. since 2011, earthquakes injapan conjure thoughts of the fukushima nuclear power plant disaster. any evidence of similar concerns this time round?. there is a singular nuclear power plant near to the epicentre this time, and there was a minor trouble around the nuclear power plant. however,

they were well supplied at the moment and there was no severe damage to the nuclear power plant in the area.— plant in the area. thank you for your— plant in the area. thank you for your time. _ plant in the area. thank you for your time. thank - plant in the area. thank you for your time. thank you. i hamas says its deputy political leader has been killed in a drone strike in lebanon. hamas — which has been designated a terror organisation by the uk government — says israel is to blame for the attack. our correspondent shaimaa khalil has this report from jerusalem. a hamas senior official killed in a hezbollah stronghold. this is the aftermath of the blast in the heart of the dahiyeh neighbourhood, beirut�*s southern suburb. hamas's deputy leader saleh al—arouri and several others died in the explosion. local media has said this was an israeli drone strike, but the idf has told the bbc

they will not comment on reports by foreign media. this blast comes at a very volatile moment in the region. it was condemned by the lebanese caretaker prime minister najib mikati, who said israel wanted to drag lebanon into a new phase of the conflict. israel has not said it was behind this attack, but government adviser mark regev made this point — that whoever did it, this was not an attack on the lebanese state, but rather a surgical strike on hamas leadership. saleh al—arouri was a senior hamas figure on both the political and the combat fronts. he helped establish the group's military wing, the izz ad—din al-qassam brigades. on october 7th, he was with ismail haniyeh, the head of hamas, watching footage of the deadly attacks in israel. al—arouri was one of the most closely connected hamas officials to both iran and the iran—backed hezbollah group in lebanon. he is seen here with iran's

supreme leader, ali khamenei. this is his west bank house in his home town north of ramallah, destroyed by israel's military after october 7th. and this is ramallah tonight. hamas supporters mourning a leading figure and vowing revenge. shaimaa khalil, bbc news, jerusalem. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. bbc news — bring you different stories from across the uk. sometimes a simple knock at the door and a friendly greeting mean more than we know. ronnie and paulfirst met mean more than we know. ronnie and paul first met through age uk's befriending scheme during lockdown — that meant phone calls at first, but face—to—face meetings soon followed. now they are firm friends — particularly since ronnie lost his wife earlier this year. ronnie lost his wife earlier this year-— ronnie lost his wife earlier this ear. ~ . this year. we are both in the same situation, _ this year. we are both in the same situation, you - this year. we are both in the same situation, you know, l this year. we are both in the i same situation, you know, and

he's very good to talk to, and we talk to about different stuff. we would still be friends. i stuff. we would still be friends-— stuff. we would still be friends. ., �* ~' �* friends. i don't think we've ever had — friends. i don't think we've ever had across _ friends. i don't think we've ever had across where - friends. i don't think we've ever had across where to. | friends. i don't think we've| ever had across where to. i genuinely— ever had across where to. i genuinely look forward to seeing _ genuinely look forward to seeing ronnie, and there's no i'm seeing ronnie, and there's no i'm to — seeing ronnie, and there's no i'm to volunteer, and someone's feeling _ i'm to volunteer, and someone's feeling a — i'm to volunteer, and someone's feeling a bit vulnerable. so that's— feeling a bit vulnerable. so that's gone now, and our relationship with ronnie is on an equal— relationship with ronnie is on an equal standing. for relationship with ronnie is on an equal standing.— an equal standing. for more stories from _ an equal standing. for more stories from across - an equal standing. for more stories from across the - an equal standing. for more stories from across the uk, | stories from across the uk, head to the bbc news website. you're live with bbc news. taiwan is to hold presidential and parliamentary elections on 13 january. rising tensions with beijing are a major election issue in the polls. china sees taiwan as a renegade province which, according to beijing, needs to reunite with the mainland. the islands current president, tsai ing—wen, is stepping down after eight years in power. w brent christensen, from provo, utah, is the former director of the american

institute in taiwan, the organisation overseeing the unofficial us relationship with taiwan. earlier, iasked him how could beijing react if taiwanese elect william lai as he appears to be particularly disliked by china. obviously they will be very unhappy, but i don't think they can be surprised. beijing obviously does not like lai, claiming he's a dangerous separatist. but listen, i don't think any democratic progressive party candidate would be any more welcome, and the current dpp president, tsai ing—wen, has come under similar attacks for her refusal to accept the �*92 consensus and for her other sins. beijing just fundamentally has a very deep distrust of the dpp and its leaders, so i suspect that cross—strait relationship has been rather

tense over the past eight years of that tsai ing—wen presidency, so i think we can anticipate that that would continue with a william lai presidency. china's president xi, in his new year's address, reiterated that quote "reunification" with taiwan was inevitable. how heavily does the china factor weigh on this election, versus domestic bread—and—butter issues? i think it's very important for this election. we saw with the recent debates that there was a lot of focus on the cross—strait relationship, on what sort of relationship taiwan should have with the prc — whereas in previous election campaigns or debates, they were more focused on domestic issues. so i think people are very, very focused on how this outcome could affect the cross—strait relationship.

now, there are question marks over the us commitment to support taiwan — military funding was tied up in the ukraine package that is stalled in congress. what are the priorities for washington here, and how committed is president biden to supporting taiwan? well, i'm certainly aware of the statements the president and his top advisers have made, but i'm not really in a position to say how the united states would react to an attack on taiwan. but i think it is also very clear — i mean, we have actually a legal commitment to support taiwan's self—defense, as spelled out in the taiwan relations act — the united states regards any unilateral actions to change the status quo across the taiwan strait by other than peaceful means as a threat to the peace and security of the region. the us has a long—standing commitment to taiwan,

to support its self—defense, to provide what are called defence articles and services — those are planes, guns, tanks — to enable taiwan to maintain a sufficient self—defense capability. the south korean opposition leader, leejae—myung, is recovering in intensive care after emergency treatment in hospital in seoul. an attacker stabbed him in the neck in the city of busan. the injury is not thought to be life—threatening. mr lee was surrounded by camera crews and journalists when a man posing as a supporter lunged at him with a knife. the attacker was immediately overpowered and arrested. mr lee narrowly lost south korea's presidential election in 2022. former us president donald trump is appealing a decision by maine's top elections official to disqualify him from appearing on the republican presidential ballot there in this year's election. the secretary of state announced her ruling last week

saying the constitution prohibits anyone involved in an insurrection from holding office. republicans are appealing a similar ruling in colorado by the state's highest court — though he'll remain on the ballot there for now unless the us supreme court intervenes. let's take a look at some of the stories in the headlines in the uk. the home secretary says the government has "done what it promised" and dealt with a backlog of older asylum cases. james cleverly said "every single one" of the backlog applications had been processed — although there are around four and a half thousand "complex" cases still being looked at. -- 4500 —— a500 complex cases. labour has accused ministers of manipulating the figures. the former executive of the collapsed charity kids company has died at her home in london at the age of 61.

the iranian—belgian started the charity in 1996 in south london, to provide support to up to 36,000 deprived and vulnerable inner—city children and young people. a 23—year—old woman who ran over and killed herfiance after a row at a party has been found guilty of his murder. ryan watson, who was 2a, died after being dragged under a car. the judge at chester crown court told alice wood may never be released from prison. parts of england and wales have been battered by storm henk, with heavy rain and strong winds causing power outages, transport disruption and flooding. gusts of up to 81mph have been recorded at exeter airport — with one area of southern britain experiencing its most powerful winds in 30 years. some weather warnings remain in place, but the worst of the storm seems to have passed. here's ellie price. when weather alerts are issued warning of a risk to life, this is what they mean. we just happened to be driving along the a22, in east sussex, when we came across it — a tree on the edge of the ashdown forest, blown over and into the road, and onto two passing cars.

coming along, got halfway along to here, and as we passed, that tree fell completely across the pair of us. damaged the van severely, the other van — i managed to avoid most of it, just took my bumper off and my light out. shook me up really bad. iran over to see if i could help, but they were trapped in there. two people were taken to hospital, but weren't seriously injured. several major roads have been closed through fallen trees and floodwaters. this is what it looked like from the air in east yorkshire. due to severe weather... storm henk made the commute back even more miserable on the first day back after the holidays, causing problems across the uk on the railways. and even on the platform, this was okehampton station. high winds about 80 mph moved things that shouldn't. .. ..leading to numerous close encounters. the floodwaters also did their own damage. according to uk power networks, more than 2,000 properties

were affected by power cuts this evening. the national grid were on the case earlier in wales. well, it's mid—afternoon now, it's stopped raining, but it is certainly very windy — and there have been more flood warnings across the uk, from wales to east anglia, as far north as hull, and down south here in east sussex. serena isn't usually able to go rowing in her back garden. this is your garden — you don't have a water feature or anything? no, this is normally rolling pasture. i know this area historically floods, but i have seen in the last three years that i have been here, it getting worse and worse. storm henk should be easing, but the rain waters and the advice to take care may last a little longer. ellie price, bbc news, in east sussex. that's all for now — stay with bbc news.

hello there. the weather should be calming down a bit now. it'll take a while for the flood waters to recede, but the winds have dropped. earlier on tuesday, we had a gust of 81mph at exeter airport, then the strong winds moved into the southeast with a gust of 69mph at heathrow airport. well, that's storm henk, and it's now tracking its way into europe. it'll bring some snow in scandinavia — it's very cold here. this low pressure is not a storm, but it will bring some showers. the more persistent rain has cleared away, mind you, but we have seen a lot of flooding just recently. the heaviest rain actually fell over the hills of wales — that's fed into the river systems in the west midlands and, a short while ago, there were over 200 flood warnings on rivers in england. these are the temperatures we're looking at for the start of wednesday — not too cold out there, typically 5—6 celsius. we've still got some more persistent rain in the far northeast of scotland, could be a bit wintry up in shetland, some strong

winds for a while here. some strong winds, too, blowing through the english channel, in the southwest of england. not as windy as it was on tuesday. and elsewhere, it'll be a mixture of sunshine and showers, maybe some more frequent showers coming back into scotland, pegging the temperatures back a bit here. those numbers a little bit lower than we had on tuesday, but not by a great deal. now, this low pressure will still sit to the west of scotland as we head into thursday. this feature here is causing us a few headaches, the track seems to be changing a little — it's now moving a little furthersouth, more into northern parts of france. there is the threat of some rain coming through the channel islands and into the far southeast of england. otherwise, a fairly quiet day, more in the way of sunshine, fewer showers, still some cloudy, damp, and breezy weather into the far northeast of scotland. temperature—wise, we're looking at around 8—9 celsius typically, so it is beginning to get a little bit cooler, and that trend will continue as we head towards the weekend. we are going to find, instead of low pressure around, though, pressure will rise — now its low pressure that's brought all the wet weather

recently and all the flooding, but high pressure will build in in time for the weekend. that'll bring in some colder air, may get a northeasterly breeze for a while, but certainly a change in weather type is on the way eventually. some much—needed dry weather to come as we head towards the weekend and into next week. it does mean, however, it will be colder, generally dry with some sunshine, but we're likely to have some frost at night. goodbye.

the battle for top spot in the electric car sector heats up, as chinese car—maker byd outpaces tesla in sales for the first time. plus, will taking drugs in tiny doses make you more efficient at work? we take a look at some of the worries around this trend in the us. hello and welcome to asia business report. i'm steve lai. our top story this hour begins with byd. the chinese ev maker has officially overtaken the american giant tesla in total fourth—quarter sales. tesla's record deliveries of more than 480,000 vehicles in the last three months of the year wasn't enough to cement its position in the top spot. the company's deliveries

is the closest estimation to its sales figures.