Japan earthquake: Thousands in shelters overnight after tsunami warnings

Thousands of people in Japan are spending the night in evacuation centres after a powerful earthquake.

Four people are confirmed to have been killed, the Kyodo news agency reports, and dozens of others
have been injured.

An unknown number of people are trapped beneath the rubble of collapsed buildings in several towns.

The 7.6-magnitude quake struck at around 16:10 local time (07:10 GMT) on Monday. Tsunami warnings
were issued and later downgraded.

About 60 tremors have been recorded following the initial quake.

A snowboarder on holiday in Japan's Hakuba Alps said his entire hotel room shook. Speaking to Reuters,
Baldwin Chia said he was concerned about avalanches but hadn't received reports of any taking place.

He said it was common to hear about earthquakes in Japan, but "you wouldn't expect to actually
experience one".

Andy Clark, a Briton in Japan, described to the BBC a "scary afternoon and evening", as he was in the
affected coastal city of Toyama when the quake hit.

He said he "grabbed the sea wall to stay upright" before heading to a school roof for safety. Mr Clark
said it was proving "hard to get some sleep" due to the aftershocks.

Jeffrey Hall, a lecturer at Kanda University, said he felt tremors for about two minutes despite being in
Yokohama, on the other side of Japan's main island. He told the BBC the quake was "very, very serious".
Local residents rest at an elementary school acting as an evacuation shelter after an earthquake hit
central Japan

The full extent of the damage is unlikely to be clear until Tuesday morning, but major damage to
infrastructure is evident.

Officials in Suzu City in Ishikawa prefecture said several houses and power poles collapsed, according to
national broadcaster NHK.

Major highways were closed near the quake's epicentre and more than 36,000 households were left
without power, according to utilities provider Hokuriku Electric Power.

The BBC's former Japan correspondent Rupert Wingfield-Hayes - who was reporting from Taiwan - said
several hundred metres of the main expressway between the cities of Toyama and Kanazawa had been
ripped apart by a landslide.

Video from Uchinada, also in Ishikawa prefecture, showed the surface of a road rippled and cracked.
Damage to the Onohiyoshi Shrine in Kanazawa was also pictured.

Initially, a major tsunami warning was issued for the coastal Noto area in Ishikawa - near the quake's
epicentre - with authorities saying waves could reach heights of 5m (16ft).

Local reports said this was Japan's first such warning since 2011, when a powerful earthquake tore
through the north-east and unleashed waves up to 40m high.

The waves that actually hit the Sea of Japan coastline in Ishikawa on Monday were not much more than
a metre high.

The major warning was later downgraded to simply a warning, and then an advisory. Nearby Niigata and
Toyama prefectures were also on alert.

Japan's allies have sent messages of support to Tokyo in the wake of the disaster.
US President Joe Biden said his country was prepared to offer assistance. "As close allies, the United
States and Japan share a deep bond of friendship that unites our people. Our thoughts are with the
Japanese people during this difficult time," he said.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the United Kingdom, too, was "ready to support Japan" following the
disaster, and that his thoughts were with "all those affected by the earthquakes in Japan which have
caused such terrible damage."

Japan is one of the most seismically active nations on Earth, owing to its location on the so-called Pacific
Ring of Fire, where many tectonic plates meet. The constant threat of earthquakes has led Japan to
develop one of the world's most sophisticated tsunami warning systems.

There are several nuclear power plants in the affected areas, however Japan's nuclear authority said
there was "no risk of radioactivity leaking" from the facilities.

South Korea's meteorological agency and Russia also issued tsunami warnings after the earthquake.

The 9.0-magnitude earthquake which hit Japan in 2011 resulted in a tsunami - which tore through the
country's north-eastern coastal communities, killing almost 18,000 people and displacing tens of
thousands.

Those tsunami waves triggered a nuclear meltdown at the Fukushima power plant, causing the most
serious nuclear accident since Chernobyl.

Robert Pether: Australian jailed in Iraq reaches 1,000-day milestone

An Australian man whose family argue he is being "held hostage" in Iraq has now spent 1,000 days in
prison.

Robert Pether was jailed in 2021 on fraud charges, but the UN has described it as an arbitrary detention.

After three Christmases behind bars, his family says Mr Pether has hit "rock bottom" and that his health
is rapidly deteriorating.

His lawyer is calling on the Australian government to urgently secure the father of three's release.

Desree Pether worries that her husband - who has lost a third of his body weight since being arrested -
may die in prison and never see his children Flynn 20, Oscar 18, and Nala 11, again.

"There's no light at the end of the tunnel and so many moments have been stolen from us," she told the
BBC.

"Nala wrote to Santa this year asking if he could stop by Iraq and pick up her dad up on the way through
- I said that Santa can't get involved in political matters."

A mechanical engineer, Mr Pether had gone to Iraq to rebuild its Central Bank headquarters in Baghdad.

But a contract dispute between the bank and his employer - CME Consulting - landed Mr Pether and his
Egyptian colleague Khalid Radwan in prison, after the bank accused the men of stealing money from the
project.

After behind held without charge for almost six months, and then subjected to a speedy trial, the two
were each given a five-year jail sentence and slapped with a joint fine of $12m (A$17.5m, £9.4m).

However, a 2022 report from the UN determined that the case contravened international law and that
Mr Pether and Mr Khalid had been subjected to "abusive and coercive" interrogations.

Iraq's government has previously denied allegations of ill treatment, but the matter is now under
investigation by the UN's Special Rapporteur on torture.

And earlier this year, the International Chamber of Commerce's (ICC) Court of Arbitration ruled that
Iraq's central bank was at fault in the dispute with CME and ordered it to pay $13m to the company.
UK human rights lawyer Peter Griffin, who is representing Mr Pether, says the ICC finding "completely
undercuts Iraq's argument that Robert's imprisonment is justified" by the "supposed wrongdoings" of
the company he worked for.

"That is now totally disproven and cannot provide the basis for his incarceration," he told the BBC.

Mr Griffin believes that Iraq is holding Mr Pether "in the hope that it can parlay his release into some
sort of financial gain" and says that the Australian government needs to "up its game".

"We have all seen the great lengths that some countries will go to secure the release of their nationals in
similar situations... if Robert was from the US or UK, he would have been home long ago."

A spokesperson for Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade says officials have "consistently
advocated for Mr Pether's rights and welfare at all levels", but that the government cannot "intervene in
another country's legal processes".

Israel Supreme Court strikes down judicial reforms

Israel's Supreme Court has struck down a controversial judicial reform that triggered nationwide
protests last year against the Netanyahu government.

The change would have limited the power of the Supreme Court in overturning laws it deemed
unconstitutional.

Critics say it would have severely undermined the country's democracy by weakening the judicial
system.

There is strong opposition to the current Netanyahu government, seen as the most right-wing in Israeli
history.
The Supreme Court's decision to overturn the law passed by the government in 2023 follows months of
internal turmoil.

In July, the government passed into law what is now known as the "reasonableness" bill.

This removed the power of the Supreme Court and lower courts in Israel to cancel government decisions
it deemed to be "extremely unreasonable".

The law caused widespread anger and division, prompting hundreds of thousands of protesters to take
the streets calling for the reforms to be scrapped - and for the resignation of Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu. Organisers said the weekly protests were the biggest street demonstrations in Israel's
history.

At the time, hundreds of military reservists - including air force pilots - threatened to refuse to report for
service, which led to warnings that this could impair Israel's military capabilities.

A statement from the Supreme Court said that 8 out of 15 judges ruled against the law, adding it would
have caused "severe and unprecedented damage to the basic characteristics of the State of Israel as a
democratic state".

Israel's justice minister and architect of the law Yariv Levin criticised the judges for "taking into their
hands all the powers" and called their decision to strike it down undemocratic.

But opposition leader Yair Lapid welcomed the verdict, saying on X (formerly Twitter) that the country's
top court had "faithfully fulfilled its role in protecting the citizens of Israel".

One of the organisers involved in last year's large-scale protests against the law also welcomed the
court's ruling.

Shikma Bressler said in a video statement that the Supreme Court had for the moment removed "the
sword of dictatorship from around our necks".
The "reasonableness" law was part of a wider series of judicial reforms introduced by the Netanyahu
government.

These would have weakened the power of the Supreme Court to review or throw out laws, enabling a
simple majority of one in the Knesset (parliament) to overrule such decisions.

The government has also attempted to gain greater power over appointing judges, and to scrap the
requirement for ministers to obey the advice of their legal advisers.

Mr Netanyahu has argued that the changes are required to redress the balance between the judges and
the politicians.

The Supreme Court's ruling threatens to further undermine confidence in his government. Mr
Netanyahu's Likud party said the decision opposed "the will of the people for unity, especially during
wartime".

Israel's leadership has been under pressure domestically for its perceived failure for preventing Hamas's
attack on 7 October, and for so far proving unable to rescue all the Israeli hostages who were taken into
Gaza

Jeremy Renner: Marvel star 'has a lot to fight for' a year after snow plough accident

Marvel films actor Jeremy Renner said knowing he has "a lot to fight for" helped him survive the
aftermath of a snow plough accident a year ago.

Renner, 52, was in critical condition after breaking more than 30 bones after being accidentally run over
by his own snow plough, on New Year's Day 2022.

He told CNN: "I'm just so blessed I had so many things to live for, I have a giant family, a 10-year-old
daughter."
The only option he gave himself was to "get better".

"I would have disappointed and really messed up a lot of people's lives if I would have passed," said the
actor, who plays Hawkeye in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

"I'm also pretty stubborn, there's a lot for me to fight for and recovery was just a one-way road in my
mind and my recovery."

Jeremy Renner

The accident happened after a new year storm hit the US, dumping heavy snowfall across several states.

Renner used his snow plough to rescue his nephew who was driving a car, but had got stuck in the snow
near his house.

He successfully towed the car free, but when he got out, the plough began to move while unattended,
Washoe County Sheriff Darin Balaam said at the time.

Renner was trying to get back into the driver's seat to stop it moving, when the "extremely large" piece
of equipment ran him over, Mr Balaam added.

Jeremy Renner and Hailee Steinfeld

The actor was airlifted to hospital in Reno, Nevada, and spent some time in an intensive care unit.

He told CNN about the trauma for his "poor nephew" who saw him being run over, saying: "I gave him
you know, images that he can never unsee".

But he added: "I know that my healing would be healing for him", as well as others close to him affected
by the accident, such as his daughter.

He said he had "never thought about my own physical ailments or my own pain or my own anguish - so
the one-way road to recovery was like a mental attitude.

"And that attitude was always to get better. And there's no option other than that."

On his Instagram stories, Renner shared an image of him hugging his nephew after speaking to CNN, and
wrote: "Post-interview love from my sweet nephew who helped save my life."

Israel says war in Gaza expected to continue throughout 2024

The Israeli military has said it expects the conflict in Gaza to continue throughout 2024.

In a new year's message, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesman said troop deployments were being
adjusted to prepare for "prolonged fighting".

Daniel Hagari said some troops - especially reservists - would be withdrawn to allow them to regroup.

"These adaptations are intended to ensure the planning and preparation for continuing the war in
2024," he said.

"The IDF must plan ahead out of an understanding that there will be additional missions and the fighting
will continue the rest of the year."

He said that some reservists would leave Gaza "as soon as this week" to allow them to "re-energise
ahead of the coming operations".

Some 21,978 people - mostly women and children - have been killed in Gaza since 7 October, according
to the Hamas-run health ministry. Its latest update said 56,697 people in Gaza had been wounded over
the same period.
The figures included 156 people killed and 246 injured in the last 24 hours, the ministry added.

The latest war was triggered by an unprecedented cross-border attack by Hamas gunmen on southern
Israel on 7 October, in which 1,200 people were killed - most of them civilians - and about 240 others
taken hostage.

Israel continued its bombardment of Gaza up until the end of what has been a dark year in the region.

The IDF said it killed a senior Hamas commander involved in the 7 October attack, Adil Mismah, in an
overnight strike on the town of Deir al-Balah.

The Gaza health ministry reported at least 48 deaths in overnight bombing in Gaza City. Witnesses told
the AFP news agency that another strike killed 20 people sheltering at Al-Aqsa University in the city's
west.

Another strike on Monday morning was said to have killed at least 10 people in the al-Maghazi refugee
camp.

The BBC has not been able to verify the latest battlefield reports.

A resident of northern Gaza displaced to the south of the enclave highlighted the contrast between New
Year celebrations around the world and the situation in Gaza.

"Tonight the sky in world countries will be lit by firecrackers, and joyful laughs will fill the air," Zainab
Khalil, 57, told Reuters on Sunday.

"In Gaza our skies are now filled with Israeli missiles and tank shells that land on innocent, homeless
civilians."
The UN says 85% of Gaza's 2.4 million people - almost two million - have now been displaced.

Thousands of doses of vaccines against childhood diseases, including polio and measles, have been
delivered to Gaza, to help tackle a growing health emergency, Reuters reports.

The news agency quoted the Palestinian health ministry as saying that supplies estimated to cover
vaccinations for up to 14 months had entered through the Rafah border crossing with Egypt.

Speaking from Rafah, Ayadil Saparbekov from the World Health Organization told the BBC that vaccines
were crucial because of the conditions in which Gazans were living.

"Thousands of people live together in overcrowded camps with very poor water conditions, poor
hygiene and very poor sanitation - these are all breeding grounds for various diseases," he said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday that "the war is at its height".

"We are fighting on all of the fronts," he said. "We have huge success but we also have painful cases.
Achieving victory will require time.

"As the (army) chief of staff has said, the war will continue for many more months."

Israel's far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich called for Palestinians to leave Gaza and make way
for Israelis who could "make the desert bloom".

The official line from the Israeli government is that Gazans will eventually be able to return to their
homes, though it has yet to outline how or when this will be possible.

Air raid sirens sounded in Tel Aviv and southern Israel as it saw in the new year, with Israeli missile
defence systems intercepting rockets fired from Gaza, AFP reported.
One man who was in Tel Aviv celebrating the new year with friends said: "I was terrified, like it was the
first time I saw missiles. It's terrifying."

Hamas's military wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, said in a video posted on social media that it
carried out both attacks.

They said M90 rockets were used in "response to the massacres of civilians" perpetrated by Israel.

Putin vows to 'intensify' attacks against Ukraine military targets

President Vladimir Putin has pledged to "intensify" attacks against Ukraine, following days of aerial
bombardment by both sides in the long-running war.

Speaking during a visit to a military hospital in Moscow, Mr Putin said the military would continue
targeting Ukrainian "military installations".

He called an air raid on the Russian city of Belgorod by Ukraine a "deliberate strike against civilians".

Twenty-five people were killed in Saturday's attack, local officials say.

Speaking to Russian servicemen on Monday, Mr Putin said the war was turning in Moscow's favour and
he wanted the war to end quickly, but only on Russia's terms.

He added that Ukraine's Western supporters were the biggest obstacle to ending the conflict, but said
their rhetoric was beginning to change as they started to realise they could not "destroy" Russia.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky countered these claims in an interview with The Economist,
saying Mr Putin's suggestion that Russia was winning the war was only a "feeling".
He highlighted Russia's casualty figures in Ukraine, and said the opposing forces had been unable to take
a single large city in 2023.

Mr Zelensky also expressed frustration with Kyiv's Western allies, saying they had lost a sense of
urgency.

The two leaders earlier delivered new year messages.

On Sunday, Mr Putin hailed Russian soldiers as "heroes" without explicitly referring to the war in
Ukraine.

In his own address to mark the start of 2024, Mr Zelensky promised a sharp increase in the number of
weapons produced by the country - pledging to build at least a million drones.

Russia and Ukraine have exchanged deadly attacks over the past few days.

Ukraine shelled the Russia-held Ukrainian cities of Donetsk on New Year's Eve, according Moscow-
installed officials, which killed at least four people and wounded 13.

And on Saturday, Ukrainian forces launched a series of strikes on targets in south-west Russia, including
the strike on Belgorod which Mr Putin termed a "terrorist attack".

Belgorod governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on Monday that the death toll had risen to 25 following the
death of a young child who was seriously injured in the attack.

"Today, a 4-year-old girl died in a regional children's hospital. She was in a highly serious condition with
combined injuries to the chest and internal organs," Mr Gladkov wrote on the Telegram messaging app.

The girl's death brought the number of child victims of the attack to five, the governor said. He added
that 109 people were wounded in the air raid, with 45 currently in hospital.
Last week, Russia launched a widespread attack across several cities all across Ukraine, killing at least 45
people. Those strikes were described by Kyiv as Russia's biggest missile bombardment of the war so far.

Israel-Gaza war: Displaced Gazans 'living in the open', UN says

Many displaced Gazans are living "in the open, in the parks," Juliette Touma of the UN relief agency for
Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, has told the BBC.

According to the UN's humanitarian office (OCHA), at least 100,000 people have fled to Rafah - which
borders Egypt in Gaza's south - in recent days.

UNRWA's Ms Touma said the UN was being authorised to bring in "limited assistance".

But Gaza's humanitarian needs, she said, "have massively grown".

She said UNRWA continued to face "restrictions to access areas in the Gaza Strip where we should
access".

Israel has said it is not limiting aid and the problem is with its distribution.

It launched its offensive in Gaza after Hamas's deadly 7 October attack, in which 1,200 people were
killed and a further 240 taken hostage.

More than 21,672 people have been killed in Gaza since that date, according to the Hamas-run health
ministry. It says a further 56,165 Palestinians have been injured.

Access to humanitarian aid in the 41km (25 miles) long and 10km wide enclave has been tightly
controlled since the start of the war.

At the start of its military campaign, Israeli forces focused on Gaza's north. But more recently, they have
been pounding Khan Younis in southern Gaza, which they see as a stronghold for Hamas.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a TV address on Saturday evening that Israel was
"fighting on all fronts".

He echoed remarks by the chief of general staff, saying the war would go on "for many months", until
Israel achieved "the release of all our hostages and the dismantlement of Hamas".

Speaking from Rafah, UNRWA's Gaza director Tom White told the BBC there were "well over a million
people" seeking safety in the city.

Mr White said that for "hundreds of thousands of people" seeking safety in Rafah, "there are no spots
left" in shelters - which included UNRWA schools and other municipal facilities.

He echoed comments made by Ms Touma, explaining that "hundreds and hundreds of thousands of
people are now sleeping in the open under flimsy pieces of plastic" as a result of the overcrowding.

In its latest report, UNRWA said up to 1.9m people have been displaced across the Gaza Strip since the
start of the war.

According to OCHA, the most recent wave of displacement into Rafah is due to intense fighting in Khan
Younis and other parts of the territory.

Residents in Khan Younis have reported intense gun battles between Israeli troops and Hamas fighters.

Elsewhere in Gaza on Saturday, fighting was also reported in the Nuseirat refugee camp, Maghazi and in
al-Bureij.

In a statement on X, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Arabic-language spokesman warned that the main
north-south road in Gaza, the Salah al-Din, was a "battlefield" and "dangerous to reach".
Meanwhile, a third UN body - the World Health Organization (WHO) - has again warned of a spike in the
spread of infectious diseases across Gaza's displaced community.

WHO chief Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said there had been a rise in the number of diseases across
Gaza between mid-October and mid-December.

He said that across UN shelters there had been some 136,400 cases of diarrhoea, 55,400 cases of lice
and scabies, and 126 cases of meningitis.

Israel Gaza war: Israel warns Hezbollah and Lebanon over border fighting

Israel will act to remove Hezbollah from the border with Lebanon if the militia group's attacks continue,
an Israeli minister has warned.

Benny Gantz said the Israeli military would intervene if militants do not stop firing on northern Israel.

Time for a diplomatic solution was running out, he added.

Meanwhile, the head of the Israel Defense Forces said troops were in "very high readiness" for more
fighting in the north.

"Our first task is to restore security and the sense of security to the residents in the north, and this will
take time," Chief of the General Staff Lt Gen Herzi Halevi said, after conducting a "situational
assessment".

Cross-border exchanges of fire have been escalating since Hamas's 7 October attacks on Israel.

On Wednesday, Hezbollah launched its highest number of cross-border attacks in a day since 8 October,
security sources told Reuters.

It has led to concerns the conflict in Gaza could become wider across the region.
"The situation on Israel's northern border demands change," Mr Gantz told a news conference on
Wednesday night.

"The stopwatch for a diplomatic solution is running out. If the world and the Lebanese government don't
act in order to prevent the firing on Israel's northern residents, and to distance Hezbollah from the
border, the IDF will do it."

But the Lebanese ambassador in the UK, Rami Mortada, said his country was on the receiving end of
attacks and "the party that should hold back is Israel".

"We are not interested in escalation - all sides need to de-escalate," he told the BBC World Service's
Newshour programme.

Earlier this month, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on a visit to troops near the border
that Israel would "single-handedly turn Beirut and South Lebanon, not far from here, into Gaza and Khan
Yunis" if Hezbollah started an all-out war.

Hezbollah - a Shia Muslim organisation - is designated a terrorist organisation by Western states, Israel,
Gulf Arab countries and the Arab League.

Funded by Iran, it is one of the most heavily-armed, non-state military forces in the world.

In 2006, a full-blown war between Hezbollah and Israel was triggered when Hezbollah carried out a
deadly cross-border raid, with Israeli troops invading southern Lebanon

.At the border, there has been an increase in rocket fire and the use of weaponised drones by Hezbollah
this week, with Israeli war planes quick to respond.

On Thursday, Israeli forces said they intercepted a drone crossing into their territory from Lebanon.
And on Wednesday, state media in Lebanon reported that a Hezbollah fighter and two of his relatives
had been killed in an Israeli air strike.

The attack reportedly hit a house in Bint Jbeil, a town about 2km (1.2 miles) from the border with Israel.

A Hezbollah statement said one of the victims, Ibrahim Bazzi, was an Australian citizen visiting his family.

More than 100 people have been killed in Lebanon since October - most of them Hezbollah fighters but
civilians, including three journalists, are also among the dead.

On the Israeli side, at least four civilians and nine soldiers are known to have died on the Lebanon
border since hostilities began. Thousands of civilians living in dozens of communities in the area have
been evacuated by the army.

Meanwhile, Unifil - the UN peacekeeping force that has operated in southern Lebanon since 1978 -
called on Lebanese authorities to investigate after one of its troops was wounded in the country's south.

Unifil said a patrol was attacked "by a group of young men" in Taybeh, with a vehicle also damaged.

Hezbollah's leadership praised the unprecedented cross-border attack launched by Hamas gunmen on
southern Israel on 7 October, in which at least 1,200 people were killed - most of them civilians - and
about 240 others were taken hostage.

More than 21,100 people have been killed by Israeli forces in Gaza - mostly children and women - during
11 weeks of fighting, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

Thousands of Palestinian families in Gaza are trying to find shelter as Israel broadens its ground
offensive across the centre and south of the territory.

Gaza Strip in maps: How life has changed in two months

Almost two million people in Gaza - more than 85% of the population - are reported to have fled their
homes in the two months since Israel began its military operation in response to Hamas's deadly attacks
of 7 October.

The Strip has been under the control of Hamas since 2007 and Israel says it is trying to destroy the
military and governing capabilities of the Islamist group, which is committed to the destruction of Israel.

The situation for ordinary people in Gaza - a densely populated enclave 41km (25 miles) long and 10km
wide, bounded by the Mediterranean Sea on one side and fenced off from Israel and Egypt at its borders
- is "getting worse by the hour", according to United Nations aid agencies.

Israel warned civilians to evacuate the area of Gaza north of the Wadi Gaza riverbed, ahead of its
invasion.

The evacuation area included Gaza City - which was the most densely populated area of the Gaza Strip.
The Erez border crossing into Israel in the north is closed, so those living in the evacuation zone had no
choice but to head towards the southern districts.

Southern Gaza evacuation areas

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) are now focusing its operations on southern Gaza and have told
Palestinians that even Khan Younis - the largest urban area in the south - is not safe and they should
move south, or further west to a so-called "safe area" at al-Mawasi, a thin strip of mainly agricultural
land along the Mediterranean coast, close to the Egyptian border.

Fighting in Khan Younis has pushed tens of thousands of people to flee to the southern district of Rafah,
the UN said.

According to the UN, just over 75% of Gaza's population - some 1.7 million people - were already
registered refugees before Israel warned Palestinians to leave northern Gaza.

Palestinian refugees are defined by the UN as people whose "place of residence was Palestine during the
period 1 June 1946 to 15 May 1948, and who lost both home and means of livelihood as a result of the
1948 War". The children of Palestinian refugees are also able to apply for refugee status.

More than 500,000 of those refugees were already in eight crowded camps located across the Strip.
Following Israel's warnings, the number of displaced people has risen rapidly and 1.9 million have fled
their homes since 7 October, the UN says.

On average, before the conflict, there were more than 5,700 people per sq km in Gaza - very similar to
the average density in London - but that figure was more than 9,000 in Gaza City, the most heavily
populated area.

Gazans have fled south, the population density is now more than 12,000 people per square kilometre in
Rafah, the UN says.

The UN warns that overcrowding has become a major concern in its emergency shelters in central and
southern Gaza, with some housing at four times its capacity.

Many of these emergency shelters are schools and in some there are dozens of people living in a single
classroom. Other families are living in tents or makeshift shelters in compounds or on waste ground in
open spaces.

Israel has already launched hundreds of airstrikes across Gaza and says it has used more than 10,000
bombs and missiles, causing extensive damage to buildings and infrastructure.

Gazan officials say more than 50% of housing units in Gaza have been destroyed, left uninhabitable or
damaged since the start of the conflict.

The map below - using analysis of satellite data by Corey Scher of CUNY Graduate Center and Jamon Van
Den Hoek of Oregon State University - shows which urban areas have sustained concentrated damage
since the start of the conflict.

They say over 100,000 buildings across the whole Gaza Strip have suffered damage. North Gaza and
Gaza City have borne the brunt of this, with more than 60% of buildings in the two northern regions
believed to have been damaged, but their analysis now suggests up to 30% of buildings in Khan Younis
have also been damaged.

Even healthcare facilities have been left unable to function as a result of bomb damage or lack of fuel.
The UN says hospital capacity in the enclave has more than halved from 3,500 beds before 7 October to
about 1,500 now - and "hardly any" in the north.

More than 1,200 Israelis and foreign nationals were killed during the Hamas attacks on 7 October. More
than 20,000 Palestinians - including about 8,000 children - have been killed in Israeli airstrikes and
operations since then, according to Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry.

It is difficult for the BBC to verify exact numbers, but the UN's World Health Organization (WHO) has said
it has no reason to believe the figures are inaccurate.

The airstrikes were accompanied by a "complete siege" of Gaza by Israel, with electricity, food and fuel
supplies cut, followed by military action on the ground.

The IDF began its ground operations by moving into Gaza from the north-west along the coast and into
the north east near Beit Hanoun. A few days later Israeli forces cut across the middle of the territory to
the south of Gaza City.

Armoured bulldozers created routes for tanks and troops, as the Israeli forces tried to clear the area of
Hamas fighters based in northern Gaza.

Having cut Gaza in two, the Israelis pushed further into Gaza City, where they faced resistance from
Hamas. While there are still clashes in some areas, analysts from the Institute for the Study of War say
Israeli forces have started to secure parts of northern Gaza.

The image below, released by the IDF, shows tanks and armoured bulldozers on the beach near Gaza
City.

A photo of the same beach from last summer shows people making the most of a hot day in Gaza,
families splashing in the sea or sitting on fanning out along the beach.

Even before the current conflict, about 80% of the population of Gaza was in need of humanitarian aid,
and although Israel has been allowing some aid in from Egypt, aid agencies said it was nowhere near
enough.
The World Food Programme says half of Gaza's population is starving and 90% of the population
regularly go without food for a whole day.

A seven-day ceasefire at the end of November allowed agencies to deliver an average of 170 trucks and
110,000 litres of fuel a day but that has since fallen to about 100 trucks and 70,000 litres of fuel, the
UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says.

"It's too little, it's way too little," the WHO's Dr Rick Peeperkorn said.

Meanwhile, the WHO has warned that renewed fighting is making the distribution of aid in most of Gaza
"almost impossible" and will "only intensify the catastrophic hunger crisis" that already threatens to
overwhelm civilians.

2023 - a year of extreme weather

Throughout 2023, BBC Weather has reported on extreme weather all around the globe, from heatwaves
and droughts to hurricanes and floods. I've been taking a brief look at just some of the weather stories
that have made the biggest impact over the past year.

January to March

The year started with a spell of extreme cold in China, where a new record low temperature of -53
Celsius was recorded.

Meanwhile, in the southern hemisphere, two storms made the headlines. Former cyclone Gabrielle hit
New Zealand with intense rainfall and 11-metre waves, and Cyclone Freddy became the longest-lived
tropical cyclone on record as it brought floods to Madagascar, Mozambique and Malawi.

April to June

Heatwaves gripped southern Europe and southern Asia. Drought intensified in eastern Spain, whilst
wildfires raged in France. From India to Vietnam, there were school closures, melting roads and a
sudden rise in heat-related deaths. After the heat in India came the rain as Cyclone Biparjoy left a trail of
destruction across the state of Gujarat.

July to September

Summer in the northern hemisphere saw heatwaves develop from the south-west US to China. The area
burned in the record-breaking Canadian wildfire season was seven times greater than seasonal average.
Wildfires also swept across Hawaii, where the blazes destroyed most of the historic Maui town of
Lahaina.

In September the most deadly storm in a decade developed in the Mediterranean. Storm Daniel
produced six months' worth of rain in just 24 hours for eastern Greece. Then, as the storm hit the Libyan
coast, the rain resulted in two dams failing and catastrophic flooding which claimed the lives of more
than 4,000 people.

October to December

In Mexico, Hurricane Otis hit southern Mexico near Acapulco. It rapidly intensified and became the
strongest hurricane in the eastern Pacific to make landfall in the satellite era. Meanwhile, in Europe,
Storm Ciarán swept through the English Channel bringing flooding, travel disruption and power cuts to
northern France, and Jersey was hit by its strongest tornado on record.

Will next year be even more extreme?

With some scientists prediction that the full effects of this El Niño event won't be felt until next year,
there is the potential for 2024 to follow in 2023's footsteps in the list of very hot years, with more
severe weather events likely across the globe.

Climate anxiety: Why we won't be flying home for Christmas

Whether it's driving, hopping on the train or catching a bus, there's a chance you'll be packing a bag and
heading home for Christmas.

For most of us, there isn't much that would keep us away from family over the festive period.

But some people, like activists Aliza Ayaz and Sean Currie, have made the choice to put the environment
above everything else.

They won't be seeing their relatives this year after they decided to drastically limit or stop flying
altogether.

Aliza tells BBC Newsbeat thinking about flights brings "the anxiety of 'Oh my God, I can't do it because of
the carbon footprint'.
"But also, my parents could really use seeing me because I'm their eldest daughter."

Aliza was born in Dubai to Pakistani parents who now live in Saudi Arabia.

She studies at University College London, where she set up its Climate Action Society, and is now a UN
youth ambassador for sustainable development.

The 25-year-old says her anxiety never goes away "because the carbon footprint of one flight is so
enormous, especially a long-haul flight".

According to the International Civil Aviation Organization's emissions calculator, a return flight from
London to Riyadh generates about 620kg of CO2 per passenger.

It's a similar story for Sean Currie. The 26-year-old left his family home in the Scottish Highlands and
moved to Belgium for work in 2019.

He's since decided to stop flying, and admits the journey over land and sea takes so long that he no
longer visits very often.

"For three years I didn't see my half-sister or niece," he says.

Sean says his other sister lives in the Philippines - an 18-hour flight away - and he's "just come to terms
with the fact that I will never visit her".

"I don't think that I can justify to myself the impact that it has on the world," he says.

Sean works with Stay Grounded, a group which campaigns for the aviation industry to be made smaller.
He says his main activities are "non-disruptive", including lobbying and writing to politicians, but he has
also been involved in direct protests.

Sean recently joined a group of hundreds who blocked access to two airports in Europe.

While these types of tactics are sometimes criticised when used by groups such as Just Stop Oil, Sean
tells Newsbeat his more direct activities target private jets and not everyday travellers.

But he says he doesn't condemn protests that might affect the lives of ordinary people.

"The disruption that will be caused by drought, floods and food shortages will be a whole lot more
disruptive that somebody sitting in traffic," he says

.Sean counts himself as lucky that, even if the journeys are long, trains and buses are an option for him.

"Train travel can be a wonderful thing," he says. "But, to be honest, I don't enjoy buses."

Neither of those are realistic options for Aliza though.

She can't totally rule out getting on a plane so made the decision to limit herself to one flight a year,
taking an extended trip to make it as worthwhile as possible.

While her parents have been supportive, she says "you can see that they're upset in their eyes, and they
would like to see more of me and I would like to see more of them".

She'll instead spend Christmas with her partner's family in Leeds, while Sean heads to his wife's family
home in Italy on the train.

'Things have changed'

Instead the pair will rely on technology to feel connected to their families.

"We'll get on a call together, we'll cook meals together or mum will watch us and then we'll talk about
everything from our days," Aliza says.

Sean and his family play online games together and he has a special routine with his sister in the
Philippines, which is seven hours ahead of Belgium.

"My sister adapts her schedule so that when she calls us she's still in some type of Christmas mood," he
says.

"She makes sure that she opens some presents when she's on the call, even if it means leaving them
unopened most of the day."

But there are some things he misses back home, particularly a big Hogmanay party.

"There's a real kind of tradition around it in my village that I love to be part of," he says.

Although they stand by their decisions not to fly this Christmas, sometimes Sean and Aliza grapple with
the sacrifice.

"I do wonder how meaningful it is for me to cut down my flying, especially when there's so many factors
that make you feel that it's unfair," Aliza says.

"There's people often doing short-haul trips, multiple holidays in a year, and I don't even get to see my
family."

But Anna Hughes - the director of Flight Free UK, a charity which encourages people to pledge to not fly
for a year - says it's important to know that individuals can make a difference.
"The majority of flights come from people flying from on holiday," she says.

Anna believes if enough people choose alternative travel like trains or destinations closer to home, the
industry will respond to that.

She uses veganism as an example, saying: "I've been vegan for about 10 years and when I started,
people would just look at me funny and offer me a salad.

"Now they give me a menu. Things have changed, and they change quickly.

"We all have to remember that our individual action does say something."

Mother in UK court after children's deaths in Colorado

A mother accused of murdering two of her children in the US has appeared in court for extradition
proceedings after being arrested in the UK.

Kimberlee Singler, 35, was detained on Saturday in central London.

Her daughter, aged nine, and son, seven, were found dead at a home in Colorado on 19 December,
along with her 11-year-old daughter who was injured, US police said.

They issued a warrant for her arrest a week later.

Singler has been charged with two counts of first degree murder, one count of attempted murder, three
counts of child abuse and one count of assault.

The UK's National Crime Agency (NCA) said she appeared at Westminster Magistrates Court on Monday
for an extradition hearing.

She was remanded in custody and will next appear in court on 29 January.
A spokesperson for the NCA said: "On Saturday 30 December 2023 in the Kensington area of London,
officers from the National Crime Agency's National Extradition Unit arrested a 35-year-old female
wanted in the United States of America for offences including two counts of murder and one count of
attempted murder."

In a press release last week, Colorado Springs Police Department said it first responded to a 911 call
reporting a burglary at a Colorado residence at 00:29 local time on 19 December.

Singler and her eldest daughter were found injured and received treatment at the scene before being
taken to hospital, it said.

The force later determined the initial report of burglary to be "unfounded".

In its latest release it confirmed she was arrested "without incident" in the UK, and said more
information would be shared in a press conference to be scheduled in the future.

Scotland's climate 'changing faster than expected'

Scotland's climate is changing faster than expected, scientists have warned.

A study by the James Hutton Institute in Aberdeen says February in some areas is already 2.5C warmer
while rainfall is at levels forecast for 2050.

They are concerned that the changes could affect food production and efforts to protect peatlands
which store carbon.

It comes as the world broke a series of weather records including the hottest year and the hottest
month in July.

Researchers have been comparing temperature and rainfall records from the period between 1960-1989
to the three decades from 1990 to 2019.
In some parts of Scotland, the average monthly maximum temperatures in February rose 2.5 degrees,
while the highest maximum temperatures have risen from 12.6C to 13.4C.

They say the February average monthly maximum temperature change is comparable with the lower
range of what climate modelling had been predicting for 2020-2050.

'Climate breakdown'

Scientists have warned that climate change is making extreme storms more common.

Storm Arwen in 2021 brought 100 mph north-easterly winds which flattened entire forests and left
many without electricity for days.

Then this year Storm Babet burst river defences in Brechin, Angus, causing flooding in more than 400
properties.

The study found that Scotland has already experienced more winter rainfall than predicted for mid-
century.

It said February and April have become up to 60 percent wetter in the last 30 years, particularly in the
west, compared with the previous three decades.

That exceeds the projected change for 2050 which was expected to see around 45-55 percent more rain.

'No surprise'

Lead researcher, Dr Mike Rivington, said is indicates that we are already in the midst of climate
breakdown.

He added: "This will have global impacts, affecting trade and undermining the stability of economies
while at the same time reducing our own capacity to adapt.
"There has never been a more important time to understand the scale of the threat and how fast we
need to act."

The research was carried out by the James Hutton Institute on behalf of the Scottish government.