good morning, everyone, and happy new year. i'm john berman and we are following breaking news out of japan this morning. a powerful earthquake measuring 7.5 has triggered evacuations and a tsunami warning.

you're looking at the moment the quake struck. video from along the coast there. you can see the shaking. it went on for some time. here's more video from the ishikawa prefecture in japan. the population there is about a million people. this is on the western coast of japan, about 185 miles from tokyo. again, from this footage, you can see just how long this shaking went on for. you can see the poles there on the left starting to sway. ultimately, this did lead to some building collapses and shortly, you'll see, dust rising from the collapsed building there on the left side of your screen. again, very powerful shaking, felt by millions of people. about a million people or so in the more severe area where this earthquake struck. japanese officials have not lowered their tsunami alert from a major tsunami warning, it is now a tsunami warning, period. they could expect waves of up to

10 feet there. and the aftershocks, they're warning, could last days. we're getting new video from inside a parking garage. you can see here, these cars just shaking there inside this solid structure. again, you get a sense of the power of this earthquake. we have team coverage this morning. derek van dam is tracking the tsunami threat. we'll start with hanco montgomery, who is live from tokyo. give us the latest from there. >> yeah, good morning, john. right now, as you mentioned the tsunami warning has been lowered. we're still expecting to see 10 feet of waves, though, so still very, very frightening and daunting for many people living in ishikawa prefecture. just to note some of the damage that we've been seeing, at least 33,000 homes have lost power. others have collapsed. we're seeing reports of people being trapped under their homes, as well. we're also knowing that about a

thousand self-defense force personnel have been dispatched and they're trying to confirm any of the survivors in ishikawa prefecture. we also know that 20 self-defense force planes and also other vessels are trying to confirm just the extent of this damage. so this powerful, powerful earthquake, you know, was also a shallow earthquake, which is very significant to note, because with shallow earthquakes, they can actually trigger very powerful and destructive tsunamis, even though the tsunami level has been dropped down to just a tsunami warning, we are still expecting to see large waves coming out of the western part of japan, john. >> hanico, i think in everyone's memories are what happened in 2011 in japan with the powerful earthquake there and the destruction, the fukushima nuclear power plant. any concerns this morning as the morning or the evening develops in japan, about things like that? power plants, nuclear power?

>> yeah, john, so, we're getting information from the japanese government that there are currently no known nuclear abnormalities at the nuclear power plants close to the epicenter near ishikawa prefecture. however, this moment, this terrible, terrible moment in japanese history, the 2011 earthquake and tsunami is very present in many people's minds. today is new year's day here in japan, when people are celebrating with their families, with their friends at home, and suddenly, their tvs are telling them to evacuate, to get to higher ground, and just a very frightening moment for many people in the country, specifically on western japan, that coast, where you actually don't historically see very many earthquakes of this size. so, again, just a lot of scared feelings and just a lot of tension right now to see what kind of damage this subsequent tsunami could bring to western japan, john. >> yeah, frayed nerves in the region, to be sure. hanico montgomery, keep us

posted throughout the rest of the morning. with us now is meteorologist derek van dam, who is following the tsunami threat. derek, what are you seeing? >> yeah, i mean, just seeing video of this stirs up emotions from 2011, when i covered the tsunami that reached the east coast of japan. but this is some of the latest video of the tsunami wave that reached the western shorelines of the hanshu region. we're looking at a tsunami wave traveling up the saky river in a town called jetsu. it has a population of about 200,000 people. and this wave height that we're seeing, this is some new video, so we're getting it as it comes, telling you and analyzing it in realtime, really fits the narrator of some of the observed tsunami wave heights that we have experienced and seen along those western bay and shorelines of western japan. the tsunami warning, as compared to what was a major tsunami warning from the japan meteorological agency, there's a

difference. the major tsunami warning was waves up to 5 meters or roughly 16 feet. now with a tsunami warning, that downgrade, that means waves up to 3 meters. that's roughly 10 feet. so that's still possible within this area highlighted in red. but tsunami advisories stretch the entire coastline, as far north as hokkaido. and just looking at the basic geometry of this area, here's the korean peninsula, here's russia. there is nothing preventing the sloshing effect to take place from such a magnitude, such a powerful earthquake near this ishikawa prefecture to propagate that wave, slosh back and forth, and that is why we have these tsunami warnings that are ongoing, several hours after that initial earthquake that struck. here's a look at some of those observed wave heights. you can see matching that narrative of about 4 feet in height, for some of those locations. and really what's happening here, is the fact that this was such a shallow earthquake. it was about roughly 10 kilometers or 6 miles

underground, under the sea floor. and that displaced the water, forcing a wave at the surface of the ocean, and some of the buoys within this area, just off the west coast of japan, measured a 1 meter observed tsunami height, far away from the coastline. that's significant, because that means that just basic bithimitry, that shows us that that wave has nowhere to go but up. that's why they initially projected this five-meter potential tsunami wave threat, waves up to 15 sffeet. now they're starting to get more information, where communication is lacking, because of the lack of power and communication lines and they have downgraded that to a tsunami warning, so waves potentially upwards of 10 feet. nonetheless, john, this was a powerful earthquake. we expect the aftershocks to continue. in fact, 50 million people felt some sort of shaking from this particular event. and there have already been over

15 aftershocks reported in and around this part of japan. >> as you said, millions and millions of people did feel the effects of this earthquake, which measured 7.5. it happened on the western coast of japan, which is not one of the areas that i think we're really used to seeing earthquakes in japan. this threat that you're talking about, how long will it go on for, derek? when will people there breathe a sigh of relief? >> well, in terms of the shaking, so let's talk about aftershocks. this is just going off of previous earthquakes with similar magnitudes, we have aftershocks that can last for hours, days, even weeks after the initial magnitude earthquake, the 7.5 earthquake. and the way that's broken down, because this is a level of magnitude, depending on how far you go back in terms of power and strength of the actual earthquake. so on average, with a quake of 7.5 originally, we have at least one earthquake, an aftershock of

6.5 or greater. and typically with this scenario, we also experience a 10 or so aftershock, so magnitude of 5.5 or higher. so putting this all together, you've got to think about the type of construction that houses the homes, the apartment complexes in this area, it is a mixture of concrete and some of the more sturdier earthquake susceptible areas, but also some buildings and structures could made out of wood. they have been destabilized. initial aftershocks could potentially take down those buildings, easier than it would be with the original earthquake. and then we've got to think about just the natural curvature of the ishikawa prefecture, with the magnitude 7.5 earthquake occurring just offshore, that is going to wrap around waves, and that's going to splash in between these bays and coastline that face west across this area. >> yeah, these aftershocks, they can be unnerving for people who are, i think, already vulnerable there. but also extremely dangerous,

given what just happened with this very powerful earthquake. derek van dam who's watching this very closely for us, keep us posted. we'll check back in with you in a bit. we are getting some new video just in, where you can see the power of this earthquake, just from inside a home where you can see, you know, that baby swing there just going back and forth and back and forth. not to mention what's on the tv screen there, you can see out the window. it's a 7.5 magnitude earthquake hitting japan on new year's day. we're going to speak to the "new york times" tokyo bureau chief ahead. stay with us. this is cnn's special live coverage.

we are following breaking news out of japan this morning, where a powerful 7.5 magnitude earthquake triggered tsunami warning and evacuations in parts of the country. you can see where it hit, in the western coast of japan. it happened several hours ago. we are seeing new video come in. you can see fire there that ignited some time after the quake. this is the first time we're seeing this. let's get more on this from dr. mohammad edazara, senior lecture at the university of bath and secretary general of the joint tsunami commission of the international union of gegeodes and physics. thank you so much for being with us. what is your unique concern with this earthquake. >> thank you, john, for having me. the main problem here is that we are having a big earthquake, 7.5. some agencies there reported that it was 7.6.

and at a very shallow depth of only 10 kilometers. that means that this is a favor, but a situation for making a large tsunami as you see the waves here. and the major problem here, the major concern is that we have nine nuclear power plants, at this segment of the coast of japan, because japan because of the lots of earthquakes that we have, they move many of them, belongs to the west side of the country, of this area, the coast of sea of japan, and the safety of these nine nuclear plants are very important. >> just so people know, we are not getting reports currently of any abnormalities at any of these nuclear power plants. and obviously, as the professor here is saying, that is a major concern given what happened in 2011 on the fukushima plant on the other side of japan. we're watching this very closely, no abnormalities at the near plant.

given that this happened on the western coast of japan, and if people look at a map, they can see the water there, the bay is between japan and korea and russia there. we've been hearing some concerns that basically the water can kind of go back and forth and back and forth there. what would that do? >> yeah, definitely, this is actually a challenge that we have in this part of japan, because we are having a closed basin, and if we have a tsunami in a closed basin, the tsunami would be oscillating for 24 hours, for some times 48, two days, 48 hours, two days. and this is going to be making large waves and the position of the waves could be making lots of, lots of waves, very large waves. and this is very different from the east side of japan, because on the east side, we have open ocean.

and the tsunami waves are dissipating to the ocean very rapidly. but here the waves are kind of trapped. and these trapped waves have been responsible actually for many problems, many, many destructions in other parts of the world, and this is a major concern and i'm sure that my japanese colleagues are aware of that. and that's why they are asking everyone to stay away from the coast for a long period of time, at least half a day, and maybe it's better to stay away like one day. because the largest wave is going to be coming maybe in the next few hours. >> that's interesting. the largest wave coming maybe in the next few hours. stay away from the coast for half a day, maybe a full day. what's the impact of aftershocks on this prognosis. >> actually, aftershocks are really are known -- they are not really -- we are going to have everything from aftershocks, because if some of these aftershocks trigger some

landslides, they are going to trigger large tsunamis. and we have present of these kind of situations from indonesia in 2018, we had the large, massive landslide, which caused a tsunami that killed more than 4,000 people. that's why these are the reasons that we have to stay away from the coast, at least half a day and up to 1 day. and to watch the coast very -- because the largest aftershocks are going to happen, usually within one day after the main shock. >> the training and the preparedness that goes in to this for people who live along the coast and earthquake-prone areas, how important is that? >> i have lived in japan myself for over five years, and i have seen that the japan government is spending a lot and investing a lot on its tsunami education, because the challenge that we have is that the source of the earthquake, the source of the tsunami is very close to the coastal area. that's why many of the tsunami

warning systems are not effective, because the lead time is very short, like ten minutes, like 20 minutes. and that's the place that the tsunami education is very important. we have to, as soon as we feel some shakings, we have to really evacuate. we shouldn't look back or wait for something. just evacuate, as soon as you have -- and i think this is very -- this seems very simple, but we are actually facing some problems in terms of the coastal education and some people, in some parts of the world are staying, watching, and this is not really helpful. and suddenly we saw that in indonesia in 2018. of course, japan is much more prepared. they have lots of trees, lots of tsunami warnings on their cell phones and we hope that the situation is going to be very, very better than 2011. >> frprofessor, we do appreciat your time this morning. i know you'll be watching this for several more hours. thank you so much. >> thank you. all right.

the breaking news this morning, this powerful earthquake, magnitude 7.5 hit the western coast of japan. there is a tsunami warning in effect. evacuations called for. we are seeing the impact of some frac aftershocks. new video in we're just seeing now of store shelves there, everything just scattered on the floor from the power of this. new video coming in just now. we are getting some reports from the destruction. our live special coverage continues right after this.

there is breaking news out of japan this morning. a powerful 7.5 magnitude quake triggered a tsunami warning and evacuation for parts of the country. the western part of the country. the earthquake struck western japan several hours ago. we are getting our first look at new videos coming in where you can see the shaking and get a sense of the power of this earthquake. japanese officials there have just lowered the tsunami warning level. they still do warn, though, that waves of up to 10 feet could hit the coast. you're seeing a little bit of the impact right here of that. and this threat will continue for several hours. another half day to a day, we just heard from a tsunami expert. by no means are they out of the woods just yet. with us now is "the new york times" tokyo bureau chief, motoko rich. thank you so much for being with us this morning. just to give us a sense, did you

feel the shaking all the way in tokyo about 180 miles away? >> i did. it was really strong, actually. we were just hanging out in the living room, it was new year's day, and all of a sudden we could see the pictures were rattling in their frames on the walls and the whole room was swaying and a little alarm went off so i knew right away that it was very strong and turned the tv on to see where the epicenter was. >> what are people in japan hearing from the japanese government? >> like you said, they've downgraded the major tsunami warning which was in place for most of the afternoon and evening to just a warning and there are also advisories pretty much all the way up and down the west coast. but we are starting to get some reports of damage coming out of the epicenter and noto peninsula. it sounds like there are quite a few number of buildings that have collapsed and people trapped in the rubble. we don't know yet the number of fatalities, but unfortunately i think there will be a few. buckled roads, stopped trains, stopped planes.

and i'm sure your video footage is showing, lots of damages of roofs and tiles and stuff strewn all over the roads. >> at this point, we're seeing a lot of videos of shaking and some smaller waves there, but we have not yet had a sense from the ground of the level of destruction in some of the more heavily populated areas. in tokyo, and on the eastern side of japan, since 2011, you see all kinds of signs and remnants of the japanese government in their preparations for earthquakes and tsunamis, based on what happened there in 2011. is it the same on the west coast, motoko? >> definitely, i think so. it's an island country surrounded by water. so the fear and anxiety that was produced by that devastating earthquake and tsunami in 2011, don't forget, it killed $2020,0 people or more and still many missing. it really shook the psyche of the country.

there are preparations with walls being built and people really understanding the meaning of an evacuation order. we've got to go now. when the waves come, they can come very quickly. this time around, fingers crossed, it hasn't been nearly as bad as it was in 2011. but people take these warnings really seriously now. that was a very, very catastrophic event. >> and as you said, part of the issue there was what happened to the fukushima plant, which was absolutely part of the japan psyche now. at this point, we're not hearing of any abnormalities. is that correct, from the nuclear power plants in the western part of this country particularly in the highly affected area? >> pretty much, because the plants have been shut down since the fukushima earthquake, you know, there are not have many of the 50-some-odd plants and some of them have already been decommissioned, so they're probably less than that now. many of the plants never restarted after 2011 and those in the region were not operating before this earthquake. that being said, there is one with two reactors right in

ishikawa prefecture, which was the epicenter. they didn't report any radioactive abnormalities, thank goodness, but they did say that there were some power cut to a cooling pumps for the spent fuel rods, the nuclear fuel rods that need to be cooled for a very long period of time after they're taken out of the reactors. those cooling pumps stopped for something like 25 minutes, but they're back online, and they say there are no problems with that now. so for the moment, there doesn't seem to be any problem reported at any of the nuclear power plants in the affected regions. >> and while we have you here, i think in the united states people's familiarity with japan is largely tokyo, kyoto, the area around there. the western part of the country, where this is, is not somewhere where most americans have familiarity with. can you give us a sense of what's there, the geography, how populated it is? >> well, at this point, japan is de-populating to the extent that there are population centers, they are what you described. they're the big cities, tokyo,

osaka, kyoto, so it's not a particularly populated area, probably a lot of older people there, which is definitely a worry. we heard a report earlier this morning about one of the evacuation centers was itself a nursing home. and that's very concerning. i've covered other events, earthquakes and other disasters where that's one of the biggest troubles, is trying to evacuate people who might not have a lot of mobility, might have some problems with dementia, so they might not be responding to commands or orders to evacuate. that's one of the biggest problems for these kind of disasters at the moment. the governor of this prefecture did call in the self-defense forces for help, so that can often be an assistant to the overwhelmed police. the police are saying they're getting too many calls to respond to. that's part of the problem, that they -- the population is so low, that even the hospitals, they can't get enough doctors there to treat the people were coming in with injuries. >> such a good point i hadn't thought of yet, particularly with the age population in some parts of japan. matoko rich, thank you so much for being with us. we are glad you're okay.

it's been quite a new year so far in japan. be safe. >> thanks so much. meteorologist derek van dam is with us now. derek's been tracking the tsunami warning. what are you seeing at this point, derek, and what do you expect in the next few hours. >> john, the latest information from the japan meteorological agency. remember, they're the local on the ground agency that's going t to issue the tsunami warnings. they continue with the advisories and warnings across those west-facing shorelines of h hanshu northward towards hokkaido. there's the epicenter of the earthquake, just off of the ishikawa prefecture. this is the tsunami warning with wave heights potentially reaching up to 10 feet. and just looking at the simple geography of this area, remember, we've got the korean peninsula and russia just to our west. so, with such a powerful earthquake, maybe to a 7.5, it propagated a wave across this area and it won't take much for this sloshing effect to take place. that's why this tsunami warning

continues. remember, a tsunami is not one wave. it is a series of waves. so the threat continues well after the initial earthquake, well after your first body of water reaches the coastline. and here it is. some of the first visuals of the tsunami wave that really fits the narrative of some of the observed wave heights that we have seen so far across western shorelines of japan, reaching roughly 4 feet, depending on where you're located. so with this powerful of an earthquake, remember, we've got the shifting of tectonic plates. that displaces water at the surface, and as that water traverses towards the coastline where you and i live, or the population of japan, that water is forced upwards, and that's why we see a larger wave once it reaches the coastline. it's call bithimietry. you can google that and see what it's all about. but this is a powerful earthquake and we expect the aftershocks to continue for the next hours to days to come. >> we were speaking to a tsunami

expert, he called it a sloshing effect. he said the choppy effects of these waves, the water caught in that bay between landmasses and it's the reputation, perhaps, of albeit the smaller waves that could cause damage. >> yeah, look at this. here's the ishikawa prefecture. the earthquake centered just offshore here, but you can imagine with a wave that's being displaced in this particular region, you're getting this sloshing effect, just in a localized sense, but in a more broader regional sense, sloshing of the water, because the water is going to traverse across the ocean here, across the sea, all the way to the korean peninsula and all the way to russia and bounce backwards. just in terms of localized effects, there it is. you can see exactly why that would happen. just think about dropping a stone into the bathtub and watching the water ripple back and forth. similar idea. >> derek van dam watching this tsunami threat which will continue for several more hours. derek, keep us posted. . thank you very much. our special coverage of this powerful 7.5 magnitude earthquake in japan continues in

just moment. first, a look at the race for the white house, as the candidates enter the final stretch, the iowa caucus is like days away at this point. stay with us.

all right, the breaking news out of japan this morning, this powerful 7.5 magnitude earthquake hit several hours ago. we're getting our first look at some of the imagines that you can see right here, collapsed roads, fires burning there, tsunami warnings have been issued for parts of japan's west coast. at this point, japan's meteorological agency downgraded

the major tsunami warning. it had been a major tsunami warning. now it is a tsunami warning, which means that they are fearing waves of up to 10 feet in that region. officials in the coastal city of of iwo jima are still assessing. they have confirmed that roads have been damaged. at least 35 households have power outages. we were speaking in someone from tokyo a minute ago about 135 miles away, they felt the quake strongly as it hit. tens of millions of people felt it. the area of greatest concern, you can see on your map, an area with about a million residents or so. we are still getting reports of the damage there. in the meantime, the race for the white house, republican presidential candidates, they are hitting the ground in iowa, just two weeks ago until the first in the nation caucuses. donald trump remains the front-runner, despite all kinds of legal troubles.

his republican rivals, they are scrambling to start the new year and gain some ground. cnn's eva mcken is with us now. eva, what are they trying to do? it's always fun to cover campaigns right around new year's eve and new year's day, where the candidates, they know no one wants to see them. they want to celebrate new year, but they still don't have the guts to leave the campaign trail. they feel like they have to do something. so what are they doing? >> you are spot-on, john! no days off for these candidates. that illustrated well by the fact that governor desantis and his family joined a new year's eve gathering last night, where he suggested to supporters that he would aim to outwork his opponents in the closing days here. he's really employed this all-in on iowa strategy, leaning hard on the critical evangelical voters in the state, and racking up key endorsements like that of governor kim reynolds. he's also traveled to all of the states' 99 counties. but governor desantis and the rest of the field, they still

trail far behind front-runner, former president donald trump. take a listen to how desantis, how he's going to make this closing arguments to voters in the days ahead. >> all we have to do is work hard. we have the -- the way i view the choice in this primary, donald trump is running on his issues. nikki haley is running on her donors' issues. i'm the only one running on your issues. >> vivek ramaswamy and nikki haley busy on the campaign trail, as well. ramaswamy has spent a considerable amount of time in iowa. that's why so many folks there know him. haley will have a number of events in new hampshire on tuesday and wednesday, and former arkansas governor asa hutchinson, he's still in this, john. he's campaigning in iowa this week, too, as part of his return to normal tour. that's what he calls it. >> you were talking about former south carolina governor nicky

haly, for whom new hampshire is really important. what's her iowa strategy? >> yeah, so we have heard for weeks now about all of this cash coming in to her campaign, coming in to related super pacs. you might wonder where that money is going. i'm going to tell you, it is going on door knocking throughout the states. so waking folks up who may have maybe previously not heard about her campaign, introducing those iowans to her. and then also, john, just from listening to her, being out with her the last couple of weeks, she's really leaning hard into this electability argument. she constantly makes the case to voters that she would be the best person to go up against joe biden in a general election. john? >> all right, eva mcken, watching the candidates out there on the campaign trail. no rest for them. no rest for reporters either. thanks so much, eva. the breaking news out of japan this morning. this 7.5 magnitude earthquake

hit the western coast. there is tsua tsunami warning i effect. warnings of waves up to 10 feet high, aftershocks already being felt. plus, rockets intercepted over israel. we have a live report from tel aviv, ahead.

good morning, everyone, and happy new year. there is breaking news out of japan. a powerful earthquake triggered evacuations and a tsunami warning. you're looking at video of moments after the quake struck. you can see on the left-hand side of your screen there the dust rising as a building collapsed. japanese officials have lowered their alert from a major tsunami warning to a tsunami warning. that still means that they

expect or fear waves of up to 10 feet. there have been at least 19 aftershocks so far. that's according to the u.s. geological survey, and there are warnings that the aftershocks could last for several days. we're getting new video in now from a parking garage. you can see inside this strong cement structure there, the earthquake still managing to shake the cars for quite a long time. car alarms going off there. you can see in the distance there, people seeking cover. and we are getting a more look at some of the destruction there. roof collapses in whajima city n japanese, on the western coast of japan. officials are warning there could be landslides and more building collapses as aftershocks continue to hit the region. hanico montgomery is live for us in tokyo. i know you felt it there as well. what is the latest? >> yeah, good morning, john. so the latest here that we've

heard is that the tsunami warning has been lowered, so like you mentioned, we're expecting to see 10-feet waves on the western coast of japan. we also know that around 33,000 homes have lost power. we're also hearing reports that there are at least six cases of people being trapped underneath their homes. we also know that bullet trains have been suspended, roads have had cracks, and making it very difficult for emergency personnel to just get into ishikawa prefecture, which is very close to the epicenter. now, the japanese government has announced that they've dispatched a thousand self-defense force personnel and the fire department has also separately dispatched 1,700 people. so together, you have 2,700 people in the area trying to get people out of just their homes, any dangerous places. we also know that 20 aircraft from the self-defense force have also been dispatched, to try to assess the damage within the region, mike. >> all right, hanico for us in

tokyo, thank you so much. keep us posted as to what you hear, particularly from the japanese government, as they continue to issue updates on the situation on the ground there. in the meantime, in israel, the year begins with a new round of rocket attacks. at least 12 rockets intercepted. sirens heard across the southern and central part of the country, as the military wing of hamas claimed it hit tel aviv with rockets at midnight. the idf said that there is no happy new year until all 129 hostages are home. eliot gotkin in tel aviv with the latest. eliot, what is the latest this morning? >> as you say, we weren't expecting a happy new year's eve, given what's been happening in the country since hamas attacked israel, killing more than 1,200 people on october the 7th. and israel doesn't really celebrate new year's eve anyway, but i suppose this rocket barrage from hamas and the idf in the last few minutes have

told us that there were 31 rockets fired towards israel, in that midnight barrage, through central and southern israel. but this just underlines that israel is still a country at war. and as part of that war, it also announced that some 20,000 soldiers who have been fighting in the gaza strip are going to be allowed to go back to their families, to go back to their work, to their communities, as part of a means of allowing them to recover, refresh, and retrain. be this shouldn't be seen as an indication that the war is winding down. we heard from prime minister benjamin netanyahu the other day, talking about this war going to take several months. and he said that it will continue until israel's objectives of destroying hamas militarily and getting those 100-plus living hostages back inside israel. if there is a note of optimism, and let's not forget the situation in the gaza strip, of course, is dire, with more than 20,000 killed, according to the hamas-run health ministry, if there is any sign of optimism, it is that there seems to be an

inching towards the possibility of talks that could lead to another truce, and another swap of hostages being held by hamas and others inside the gaza strip, in exchange for palestinian prisoners being held in israeli jails. but those talks haven't started. and it so seems that we are still some way off from that coming to fruition. so for now, i suppose as 2024 dawns, john, it is simply war as usual. >> eliot, give us more information about this drawdown. the withdrawal of some israeli troops from gaza. as you said, by no means is the conflict over, but seems to be changing. >> i think it's really just an opportunity that israel is taking to give some of these soldiers a break. let's not forget that there are estimates of something like 150,000 or more people that have been having to come away from their jobs, from their families to fight in this war. and this is having a serious impact on the israeli economy and obviously, on family life,

on businesses, some of which are struggling or perhaps even having to close, and so what this is enabling israel to do is to say, look, you know, there's some time to regroup, to refresh, to also retrain differing situations that they expect to unfold in the gaza strip, and try to get some parts of the economy back to a semblance of normality. as i say, this shouldn't really be seen as this so-called lower, this move to a lower intensity level of fighting that the united states and others have been pushing israel to do. if anything, netanyahu the other day saying that the fighting is at its peak and israel is quite adamant that it will not of in pressure in those war goals of destroying hamas and bringing all of those hostages home. >> elliott, happy new year to you. thank you. in the red sea the u.s. navy has confirmed two of its helicopters returned fire and sank three houthi rebel boats

there, killing everyone on board. the incident follows an attack by the iranian-backed houthis over the weekend. this was the first time there was a direct confrontation this have nature between the u.s. and the houthis. it's also the first time since the war broke out in gaza the u.s. has killed members of the group which has been targeting vessels in the region showing support for hamas. the white house says it is not seeking a wider conflict in the region. lots of news from across the world. still people are celebrating the new year. here are some of the sights and sounds from those festivities from new zealand all the way to new york. >> three, two, one! >> it's 2024 already in new zealand. fireworks there at the sky tower lighting up auckland. ♪ >> we are right almost underneath the sydney harbor bridge. it really fills your heart to be here, to see the sky exploding

in color. 2024 is off to a very, very good st start. >> so what i saw tonight here in seoul, over the top. i'm almost speechless. >> so it's not quite midnight here in tokyo yet, but on these red lanterns they have all these different new year's resolutions that they have written, things like good health, hope and happiness for the new year. >> thank you, cruise liner. happy new year to you. not only the biggest fireworks countdown show in hong kong, but the first such show to take place here in hong kong in five years. >> everybody is together and everybody has a smile on their face. what a great way to start the ye year. >> happy new year! >> i think i could feel the heat from the fireworks. they were like right on top of us. it was so unbelievably awesome

and cool. >> because this is absolutely spectacular. that is the night sky over the united arab emirates. >> this is dubai at two minutes past midnight. the khalifa. fireworks there at the festival, hoping to break four world records. there is no point me competing with that. >> this is the times square of tablisi. happy new year ! >> happy new year from athens,

everyone! >> it's pretty impressive fireworks as they're going on just behind me there above the arc de triomphe. tonight's fireworks display of course is about the olympics, the french have been preparing for. paris was about giving the world a little taste of the show that the french can put on. >> but we are here, big ben will bong in just a moment and that will set everything off here in london. [ bells ringing ] >> let's take a look back at 2023. >> first few minutes of 2024 at least in this part of the world it's going to be a good year.

>> it's about to be 2024 in ri. right now there are fireworks on the bay in copacabana. a stunning show of fireworks here in rio. 40 tons of fireworks off ten different barges on the water. a synchronized show with a live orchestra right behind me and people are just so happy to be here, honestly, there is nowhere else i would want to be than in r rio. >> happy new year. happy 2024 from new york city. right here in the middle of times square, the greatest place in the world, the greatest city in the world. there's no place like new york city on new year's eve.

♪ i want to be a part of it ♪ ♪ new york, new york ♪ >> quite a new year it has been already, the breaking news out of japan, a powerful 7.5 magnitude earthquake hit over the last several hours. there are tsunami waves expected or at least warnings of them up to 10 feet high. more of our special live coverage after this quick break. rio did he genre row. rio day jen row. de, janeiro. rio dej row. rio day jen row.

>> announcer: this is cnn breaking news. good morning, everyone and happy new year. i'm john berman along with rahel solomon this morning and we are here following breaking news. tsunami warnings are in effect for the western coast of japan. this after a powerful earthquake struck several hours ago