officially steps down. first live to iceland. a new volcanic eruption has begun near the fishing town of grindavik in the southwest of iceland. these are the live pictures which shows the eruption. you can clearly see the lather and how close it is to the buildings on the right hand of your screen. officials in iceland say it is hundreds of metres away from the town of grindavik which was the one that was evacuated last month after a similar eruption. the good news is the alarm went off at 3am in the morning. that everyone was evacuated safely. the local authorities have declared a state of emergency in the

area. with more on this let's speak to our reporter meghan owen who is follwing in the story. dramatic pictures coming in. against that dark night sky backdrop we saw a couple of hours ago, that was dramatic. ~ . �* a couple of hours ago, that was dramatic— a couple of hours ago, that was dramatic. ~ . �* , ., , dramatic. what we're seeing now is how close is — dramatic. what we're seeing now is how close is to _ dramatic. what we're seeing now is how close is to the _ dramatic. what we're seeing now is how close is to the north _ dramatic. what we're seeing now is how close is to the north and - dramatic. what we're seeing now is how close is to the north and the i how close is to the north and the most northern houses of the fishing town. it has been spewing since atm this morning, around 100 residents were evacuated overnight. not many are staying there because the whole town was evacuated during november and december. but there are already some start differences about this eruption. it is closer to the town, around 400 metres away according to the icelandic meteorological office. but also the lava is flowing towards grindavik. iceland in recent weeks

sought to build barriers of rock around the town to protect it, to prevent that lava from getting in. now they have concluded that the lava has managed to get through a gap in that defence. so it is incredibly worrying for local people who live there, it is worrying because they are uncertain about what the future holds for their homes and the livelihoods in the town. authorities have declared an emergency in the area. it is also pretty common in iceland for volcanic liberty to happen. it is a volcanic liberty to happen. it is a volcanic eruption hotspot but this is the fifth eruption we have seen in the peninsular in the past three years, so that the day has really increased over the course of the last three years, and twice we have seen now, in a month. so it was a pretty stressful christmas for many

but also a shocking start to the new year is that lava creeps closer and closer to the fishing village. you can see the lava moving closer to the people in the town of grindavik. we can see that the experts they are saying that the eruption is a quarter of the size that there was last month. but the fisher, that is where the lava is coming from, is about one kilometre in length according to a geologist who flew over the area in a helicopter. but they are also saying it is uncertain whether that has reached its full length at the moment so they are keeping a close eye on that. the civil defence also are urging sightseers to stay away and let them do theirjob. of course iceland has a lot of duress who come to see the landscape and one of the things they will want to see is the volcano. ——

tourists. a little earlier... i spoke to... hallgrimur indrioason is a journalist at iceland's public broadcaster, ruv. he told me more about this latest eruption. well, compared to the one in december, it's not as big as that. that one was unusually powerful, the most powerful that had taken place since then. but what is maybe more serious is the location. this is closer to to grindavik. and the fissure that formed, it went through the fortification that had been built, and they have been building these last few weeks, which was to prevent lava from running, from flowing towards grindavik. but then since part of the fissure is already inside the fortifications, and lava is flowing

towards grindavik, then that is a pretty serious situation. yes. so is the concern now that that lava could actually enter into grindavik, and go over houses basically there, damage them? yeah. the geologist, one of the geologists of the icelandic meteorological office said this morning that the flow was towards grindavik, and if it would continue in the same speed as it currently is, which which we don't know for sure, then it would reach the northmost northern part of grindavik, probably within the next 24 hours. and what are the authorities saying now about how concerned they are? well, the authorities are really concerned, but of course, everybody is really glad that the people were safely evacuated. but all these activities,

because only yesterday it was decided that grindavik would be evacuated from coming monday, that is tomorrow, because of there were fissures opening throughout the town. so i think pretty much what the authorities now need to do is just wait and see how things evolve. and maybe the most important thing is to secure proper housing for the inhabitants that had to evacuate their homes. their future is very uncertain now. this is the live scene as the sun has and rising in iceland. the molten lava bubbling up near the town, a few hundred metres away.

they are now keeping a close eye on whether it enters the town, they are urging people to stay away and not to go sightseeing. if you want to carry on watching that live feed, you can do so on the bbc news website. we have a special, continuous live feed of the volcano erupting in iceland. to the middle east now. families of israeli hostages held in gaza have taken part in a rally through the night to demand their release, as the war between israel and hamas enters its 100th day. they were joined on saturday evening by tens of thousands of protesters, some of whom blamed the government of benjamin netanyahu for failing to prevent the hamas there are growing demands in israel for the release of the more than 130 hostages held in gaza since october

the 7th when 1,200 people were killed by hamas gunmen. hamas is designated a terrorist organisation by many western governments. israel has since vowed to crush hamas in a devastating military campaign in which the hamas—run gaza health ministry say more than 23,000 people have been killed. the bbc�*s reda el mawy is injerusalem and explains how this protest adds pressure on israel's prime minister to secure the safe release of hostages. this one is particularly significant because it marks 100 days since the start of the conflict. and like you mentioned, it's a 24 hours rally and we've seen lots of speakers taking part in this rally last night. many of them were former hostages who have been released and a number of them still have relatives inside gaza. and they are asking for the immediate release of the hostages.

and they're asking for benjamin netanyahu, to make efforts in order to release them. many had doubts about the priorities of benjamin netanyahu, whereas it's the liberation of and the freeing of the hostages or his military goals. yesterday, he spoke in a press conference and he vowed to go for until the end. like he said, he promised the israelis a complete victory against hamas, against the houthis and against the hezbollah. but people here in israel are torn between their allegiance and their confidence and loyalty to the israeli army and its ability to free the hostages. because, as we know, it's been 100 days now. and the only release of prisoners that happened so far was through negotiations and not through the military campaign. you talk to people there. i'm interested in what the public mood is going forward and whether they can see

a negotiated end to the conflict so that all those hostages can be released? israeli society in general has a great confidence in its army. and at the beginning of the conflict, they were more confident than now, 100 days on, that they could achieve this goal. now, more and more voices within israel and within the rally yesterday were calling for a cease fire and the start of negotiations. and benjamin netanyahu is under growing pressure because he didn't deliver so far the two main objectives of his war, of the war in gaza, which is destroying the military infrastructure of hamas and freeing the hostages. and none of these goals have been achieved because until now, hamas is still capable of firing rockets within israel. and the qassam brigades, the military arm of of hamas, is posting daily videos of their attacks against israeli tanks.

so now there is more growing demand for a negotiated agreement for the release of the hostages. meanwhile, the british foreign secretary, lord cameron, told the bbc that houthis are responsible for the escalation — and that their attacks on commercial vessels left the uk and its allies with little choice but to act. speaking to laura kuenssberg, he said military action was intended to send a clear and unambiuoous message. unambiguous message. there are two things that it does. the first is that it does degrade some of the houthi capacity to launch these missiles and drones, and we'll obviously look at the assessment of that in the coming hours and days, but it also sends this very clear message, that america and others, an alliance of countries backing this action, an alliance of countries, including britain, taking part in this action, but also including countries like the netherlands and canada and australia, are prepared to take action backing their words, and i think that's very important.

our middle east correspondent hugo bachega, has more on the situtaion in the red sea. they have only managed to destroy a third of the houthis. they have not damaged or affect their ability to carry out those attacks and i think the expectation is that these attacks are likely to continue and i think a sign of that is that the us navy has warned american flagged vessels to stay away coastal areas of yemen. i think experts say that

these strikes that have been carried out by the americans are unlikely to stop those attacks that have been carried out by the houthis. the houthis say these attacks will continue unless there is a ceasefire and gaza, so the situation is likely to remain tense in the red sea. yesterday president biden said that a private message was delivered to iran which is a country that supports the houthis. it did not give details about what was said, what was said to the iranians, but again the houthis have threatened to retaliate following the strikes. find retaliate following the strikes. and all the time _ retaliate following the strikes. and all the time the _ retaliate following the strikes. and all the time the vessels are having to avoid that area and goes a long way round to get through? exactly. this is one — way round to get through? exactly. this is one of _ way round to get through? exactly. this is one of their _ way round to get through? exactly. this is one of their main _ way round to get through? exactly. this is one of their main concern i way round to get through? exactly. this is one of their main concern is| this is one of their main concern is here that this major disruption has essentially closed the red sea to commercial shipping and companies

have now had to take a much longer route around africa. this is adding, you know, not only time that extra costs to those trips. it is something that the americans and others who have been involved in these attacks have been saying, that they are trying to protect, you know, freedom of navigation and obviously trying to contain the possible economic impact that these attacks that have been carried out by the houthis could have if those attacks continue. four people have died after a boat carrying migrants got into trouble after attempting to launch from a beach south of calais, according to reports in france. the incident happened in the early hours of sunday morning. french paper la voix du nord said 72 people, including 10 children,

were rescued and taken to calais while one person was taken to hospital in boulogne. here is the latest from our correspondent simonjones. this happened at about one o'clock in the morning, around 70 migrants were trying to get on board a boat which was destined to try to get across the channel heading towards the uk. the boat was in pretty shallow water close to the beach at a place called wimereux, between calais and boulogne. but so many people were trying to get on board that the boat started sinking and scores of people were thrown into the water. now, because this happened close to the beach, pretty quickly the emergency services were on the scene. police officers in the fire service were able to start pulling people from the water but you can imagine the scene in pitch black. it was very cold, the sea temperature this time of year is only around 8 degrees and four people ended up losing their lives in the chaos and panic. other people who were brought to shore have been cared for in a rest centre which was set up by the emergency services. but this is the latest

tragedy in the channel. we know that a lot of people are attempting this crossing. last year, almost 30,000 people made thejourney from northern france across the world's busiest shipping lane, into uk waters and reached the uk. but even this morning, after this incident where four people lost their lives, other boats were attempting to make the crossing and we know that some boats have been brought to dover this morning. so even though it is bitterly cold, between northern france and the uk, this morning, those crossings have continued. the british government says it is determined to try to stop these boats, not least because it is such a dangerousjourney with people losing their lives. the biggest tragedy was almost just over a couple of years ago when 27 people died in a single incident but another reminder of the risk people are taking and the fact they are risking their lives

crossing the world's busiest shipping lane in this way and no doubt the authorities on both sides of the channel will say it reinforces their determination to try to make this route unviable. simonjones reporting. now it's time for a look at today's sport with jane dougall. let's start at the australian open, reigning women's singles champion aryna sabalenka begins the defence of her trophy against germany's ella seidel after men's number one seed novak djokovic finishes his match with croatian dino prizmic. djokovic won the first set 6—2, but 18 year old prizmic has been playing superbly. the teenager took world number one djokovic to a tie break in the second set, and won it. however, djokovic has just won the third set. italian fourth seed jannik sinner is into the second round, after he beat dutchman botic van de zandschulp in straight sets. the 22—year—old, who reached his first major semi—final at wimbledon last year, is one of the favourites to challenge reigning champion

djokovic's dominance in melbourne. there is still a lot of work to do to get to this point. so, yeah, let's see. nobody can tell the future. as i said, we aim to play big matches in big stadiums. so let's see. it is going to be an interesting... an interesting tournament. it's getting tight at the top of the english premier league, manchester city's 3—2 over newcastle puts them to within two points of the top of the table. two more games to come in the top flight on sunday. in the early game, aston villa can go above city into second place in the league, level on points with leaders liverpool, if they beat everton. then, tottenham travel to manchester united. ange postecoglou's side have the chance to go above rivals arsenal into the top four, but the spurs boss knows it won't be easy.

old trafford is another place where, you know, the atmosphere and the way the crowd are behind the team will be a big challenge for us. it will be a big challenge for us. it will be good to see how we can react to that and how we can keep developing as a team because it is an important part of the process. in the asian cup, beaten 2019 finalists japan are looking to add to their record four titles in the competition. they start their tournament against vietnam in just over 10 minutes' time. meanwhile, there are three games to come in the africa cup of nations on sunday, including mohamed salah's egypt getting their campaign under way against mozambique. egypt are looking for a record—extending 8th title, and their first since 2015. boxing now and artur beterbiev�*s phenomenal run continues, as he beat callum smith in quebec. the russian stopped smith in the 7th round, flooring him twice, to defend his wbc, ibf and wbo light—heavyweight titles. beterbiev maintained his 100%

record, having stopped all 20 professional opponents within the distance. new zealand have taken a 2—0 lead in their t20 series against pakistan with a 21 run win in hamilton. finn allen led the charge for the black caps, smashing 74 runs offjust 41 balls, as new zealand set pakistan a target of 195. babar azam and fakhar zaman both hit quick half—centuries to keep pakistan in touch, but new zealand's bowlers took regular wickets to secure the victory. in the nfl, the houston texans stormed past the cleveland browns 45—14 to reach the next round of the playoffs. the kansas city chiefs are through too, beating the miami dolphins 26—7 in extremely cold conditions. the temperature at arrowhead stadium plummeted to minus 20 degree celsius. it was so cold that chiefs coach andy reid had icicles on his moustache.

before we go, it's the fourth round of the women's fa cup, with the first game between manchester united and newcastle getting underway in just over half an hour's time. you can stay across those scores on the bbc sport website. but that's all the sport for now. crowds are gathering in the danish capital, copenhagen, ahead of the abdication of queen margrethe, after 52 years on the throne. this is the scene live — the queen will ride by carriage to christiansborg palace to sign the abdication declaration. soon after, her eldest son, frederik, and his australian wife, mary, will be proclaimed king and queen from the balcony there. queen margrethe, europe's longest— serving monarch, had always said

she would never abdicate. and our royal correspondent, daniela relph is live now from copenhagen. water is the atmosphere like in copenhagen this morning? —— what is. thousands of people here in central copan he again ready for the events to play out here which is the danish parliament, where all the action will be the sack and in. i think the mood is really important because normally a change of sovereign would be a time of national mourning but when a state funeral would be planned, the mood would be different. but because queen margrethe has abdicated, this is very much celebrating the event. thousands of people out to say their goodbyes to her when she comes back and that lad —— last carriage ride to the balance behind me and a sense

of positivity and optimism about her son, the new king who will become king frederick the tenth of denmark. and his wife who will be the queen. there is not a big coronation ceremony, nothing like what we saw in the uk back in may for king charles and queen camilla. the danish constitution does not allow for that, danish constitution does not allow forthat, instead danish constitution does not allow for that, instead we will get a proclamation of the king on the balcony behind me. he will give a short speech to the thousands of people who have come out here in central copan pagan who have come out to see him. you central copan pagan who have come out to see him-— central copan pagan who have come out to see him. you have mentioned the new queen _ out to see him. you have mentioned the new queen mary, _ out to see him. you have mentioned the new queen mary, the _ out to see him. you have mentioned the new queen mary, the couple - out to see him. you have mentioned| the new queen mary, the couple met in a bar, did they not? the? the new queen mary, the couple met in a bar, did they not?— in a bar, did they not? they did. she was working _ in a bar, did they not? they did. she was working in _ in a bar, did they not? they did. she was working in marketing i in a bar, did they not? they did. she was working in marketing in j she was working in marketing in australia, in sydney. he was there as part of the olympics and they met in the slit bar in sydney. did not

know who he was at first. —— at a bar. the relationship started, they married in 2004. they have four children and they are a very popular couple here in denmark stop they also pick up a very popular legacy from his mother, queen margrethe who has been very much public life in denmark, well loved by people here. consistently holding around 80% of the polling when people are asked what they think of the monarchy and there is warmth and good feeling towards them as they begin this new phase of their life.— phase of their life. thank you for “oininu us phase of their life. thank you for joining us from _ phase of their life. thank you for joining us from copan _ phase of their life. thank you for joining us from copan hagan. i phase of their life. thank you for | joining us from copan hagan. we phase of their life. thank you for - joining us from copan hagan. we will be back there later as the ceremony gets under way in denmark. i will leave you with some pictures from iceland, these are live of the volcano that is erupting there. it happened in the early hours of the morning. they reckon that fisher is

about a kilometre wrong. the good thing is all the residents were evacuated safely. you can watch a live feed of that. stay with us on bbc news. hello there. winter weather has well and truly arrived across the country and it's going to stay with us for most of this week. in fact, yes, it will get colder. we'll have some snow showers mostly in the far north, but widespread sharp overnight frosts. now we've got a series of weather fronts sinking south and that's opening the doorfor this cold air to flood down all the way from the arctic. it's already arrived in scotland. we've got gusts of wind 60 to 70 miles an hour in the northern isles. blizzard conditions here. some snow showers on exposed north coast, but some sunny spells into scotland and northern ireland. a weak weather front sinks its way

across england and wales. so i've drawn that on. so you can see there's going to be a fair amount of cloud, we'll be chasing cloud around and maybe the odd spot or two of light drizzly rain from it. but here, not quite as cold. five to seven degrees. in the further north, we're looking at three or four at the very best. but that front sinks south. the skies will clear through the night tonight. temperatures fall away. we'll see a few scattered showers running down through the irish sea and some snow showers starting to see snow accumulating in the far north of scotland. temperatures here could get as low as —7. so a cold start first thing to monday morning, but hopefully there will be some sunshine around as well. wind direction still coming from the north. so any exposed coasts at risk of seeing a wintry mix of rain, sleet and snow across england. but it will be snow in scotland and factor in gusts of winds widely 20 to 40 miles an hour. it really is going to feel raw out there, even if you've got the sunshine. your thermometers may just say a couple of degrees above freezing,

but it will probably feel more like —2 to —6 degrees in some areas. so a bitterly cold day on monday. as we go into tuesday, we could see perhaps more enhanced snow from this little weather front that's pushing in from the far northwest. so snow showers continue into the north, but a spell of perhaps more prolonged snow across central and southern scotland. a wintry mix of rain, sleet and snow into northern ireland and northwest england. anywhere south of that will be relatively dry, still cold, but that's where we'll see some sunshine. top temperatures of two to five degrees. how long will this cold weather last? well, wednesday, we could still see a few wintry showers around, but towards next weekend, it gets milder but wetter.

this is bbc news. the headlines... a new volcanic eruption has begun near grindavik in southwest iceland. the eruption is closer to the fishing town than a similar eruption last month. the local authorities have declared an emergency in the area around 40 kilometres from iceland's capital, reykjavik. 100 days after hamas attacked israel, triggering war in gaza, relatives of the hostages taken on that dayjoin a rally in tel aviv. stately fanfare. crowds are gathering in copenhagen

ahead of the abdication of denmark's queen margrethe, after 52 years on the throne. she'll leave the royal residence soon, for the short ride by carriage to christiansborg palace to sign the official papers. her eldest son frederik will then be proclaimed king from the balcony there. i will have a full bulletin of these at the top of the hour. now it's time for the travel show. europe by train — for generations of backpackers, interrailers, as well as for me, it is what travel is all about. and in germany, the railways are booming, partly because of this. it's called the deutschlandticket. it costs me 49 euros a month, and it allows me almost unlimited use of the country's regional public transport network.

it was a cost—of—living measure introduced in 2023,