BBC
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".
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BBC
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.
NPR
A 39-year-old surfer has died in Hawaii after sustaining injuries in a "shark encounter," the Maui Police Department said over the weekend.
Police responded to the beach area of 93 Hana Highway in Paia at around 11:19 a.m. local time Saturday.
There they found lifeguards transporting the victim, later identified as Jason Carter of Haiku, to shore via jet ski.
First responders performed life-saving measures onshore before medical personnel transported Carter to the Maui Memorial Medical Center for further treatment.
Authorities said Carter later succumbed to his injuries and died.
NPR
Venice, Italy, will limit the size of tour groups and take other measures beginning this summer to soften the impact of tourism on the local community.
The Italian travel hub known for its picturesque canals and ornate architecture has struggled to manage the millions of tourists that flock to the city each year, many just for the day.
Venice tourism councilor Simone Venturini said the new measures were "part of a broader framework of interventions aimed at improving and better managing tourism in Venice, thus guaranteeing a greater balance between the needs of those who live in the city, either as residents or as workers, and those who come to visit the city."
Deutsche Welle
Iran's Alborz warship has entered the Red Sea, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported on Monday, with the reports coming just hours after the US said it had sunk three ships, killing 10 Houthi militants, and Britain warned it will not hesitate in taking "direct action" to prevent further attacks on shipping in the stretch.
The presence of the Iranian warship is likely to ratchet up already high tensions in the Middle East amid the Israel-Hamas conflict. Since the conflict started, multiple vessels in area have been attacked by forces allied to Tehran.
The Iran-backed Houthis from Yemen have been targeting ships since November to show their support for Hamas, the group designated as a terror network by the US, the EU and others.
In response, many major shipping companies have stopped sending their ship through the Suez Canal. The canal is a crucial trade route between the Red Sea and the Mediterranean, handling about 12% of world trade, but an increasing number of ships now takes the longer and more costly route around Africa's Cape of Good Hope.
Al Jazeera
The Israeli military has announced that it will withdraw thousands of its soldiers from the besieged Gaza Strip in the first significant pullback of troops since the war there began in October.
Israel has come under increasing pressure from its principal ally, the United States, to move to a more low-intensity war that has fewer civilian casualties.
But in the southern city of Khan Younis, fierce fighting has continued as Israel reaffirms its pledge to press on with the war until its goals have been achieved, including destroying the Palestinian group Hamas, which killed around 1,140 people in attacks on southern Israel on October 7, according to Israeli officials.
In a statement, the military said on Monday that five brigades, or several thousand troops, were being taken out of the enclave for training and rest.
The Guardian
Nurses are being put in increasing danger from shocking levels of violence and aggression by patients, a senior nursing leader has warned.
Prof Nicola Ranger, the Royal College of Nursing’s (RCN) director of nursing, said the crisis in the NHS had fuelled bad behaviour by patients frustrated by worsening delays for treatment since the Covid pandemic.
Ranger said the situation was contributing to an exodus of nurses from the
NHS, amid a vicious cycle of staff shortages and rising violence.
This meant that there were often not enough nurses on duty to keep colleagues safe, she added.
Calling on the government to make tackling the abuse of nurses a priority, Ranger said there was a sense of despair in the profession about their deteriorating working conditions.
USA Today
On Jan. 1, 2020, public health officials in the United States woke up to the news ofa strange new virus in China.
They didn't know what to make of it, but at Columbia University in Manhattan, Dr. Ian Lipkin was already nervous.
Lipkin, a virologist, had spent his career studying pathogens and hoping to prevent the arrival of new ones.
More:'Contagion' medical adviser Dr. Ian Lipkin has coronavirus: 'If it can hit me, it can hit anyone'
He had long pushed for closing the kind of live animal market that might have been the source of what became known as SARS-CoV-2. He would later argue that a low-security lab in Wuhan had no business studying dangerous pathogens ‒ "end of story" ‒ whether or not it was the cause of the pandemic.
Reuters
WASHINGTON, Jan 1 (Reuters) - Many electric vehicles lost eligibility for tax credits of up to $7,500 after new battery sourcing rules took effect on Monday, including the Nissan Leaf, Tesla Cybertruck All-Wheel Drive, some Tesla Model 3s and Chevrolet Blazer EV, the U.S. Treasury said.
The Treasury issued guidelines in December detailing new battery sourcing requirements aimed at weaning the U.S. electric vehicle supply chain away from China. They took effect on Monday.
The number of EV models qualifying for U.S. EV tax credits fell from 43 to 19. Those figures include different versions of the same vehicle type. Treasury said some manufacturers have yet to submit information on eligible vehicles, which could lead to changes in the list.
Tesla (TSLA.O) did not immediately comment Monday but said on its website "Cybertruck is likely to qualify for the federal tax credit later in 2024."
CNN
A California man and his 10-year-old son were arrested after the boy shot and killed another child using a stolen gun he’d found in his dad’s car, the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office said.
Deputies said they found the victim, also a 10-year-old boy, unresponsive and bleeding from his head and neck in the parking lot when they responded to a call of a shooting at about 4:30 p.m. on Saturday in the 4700 block of Greenholme Drive.
The child was taken to a local hospital, where he was later pronounced dead. He was among more than 1,600 children and teens killed by gun violence in 2023, according to data from the Gun Violence Archive.
“Simultaneously, witnesses at the scene told Deputies that the individual(s) responsible for the shooting ran into a nearby apartment,” deputies said. “Deputies called out all the individuals from that apartment and detained everyone without incident. Detained from the apartment were an adult and two juveniles.”
New York Times (subscription not needed)
Hundreds of migrants bound for New York City took a detour in New Jersey over the holiday weekend, in an apparent attempt to bypass a city order that seeks to limit the chaotic flow of arrivals.
Since Saturday, 13 buses from Texas and Louisiana carrying about 450 migrants have arrived in New Jersey, including a bus that arrived early Monday in Jersey City, according to Steve Fulop, the city’s mayor. Other stops included New Jersey Transit hubs in Secaucus, Fanwood, Edison and Trenton.
The surge in New Jersey arrivals appears to be an end-run around an emergency executive order last week by New York City’s mayor, Eric Adams, requiring charter bus companies to provide 32 hours’ advance notice of the arrival of migrants and restricting the times of day when they can be dropped off.
“They’re using New Jersey essentially as a bus stop to circumvent the limits on buses that can arrive in New York,” Mr. Fulop said, adding that he is not yet concerned about the migrants’ passage through the state.
The crew of the Overnight News Digest consists of founder Magnifico, regular editors side pocket, maggiejean, Chitown Kev, jeremybloom, Magnifico, annetteboardman, Rise above the swamp, Besame and jck. Alumni editors include (but not limited to) eeff, Interceptor 7, Man Oh Man, wader, Neon Vincent, palantir, Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse (RIP), ek hornbeck (RIP), rfall, ScottyUrb, Doctor RJ, BentLiberal, Oke (RIP) and jlms qkw.