The Prime Minister says 12 Australians onboard a Japan Airlines flight that burst into flames are now safe. Palestinian protesters take to the streets after senior Hamas leader killed. And in cricket, David Warner made to wait in his farewell Test match after Pakistan won the toss and elected to bat.
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TRANSCRIPT
- The Prime Minister says 12 Australians onboard a Japan Airlines flight that burst into flames are now safe.
- Palestinian protesters take to the streets after senior Hamas leader killed.
- David Warner made to wait in his farewell Test match after Pakistan won the toss and elected to bat.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says 12 Australians who were onboard a Japan Airlines flight that collided with a coast guard aircraft and burst into flames are safe and accounted for.
All 379 people on board the flight escaped the burning airliner after the collision at Tokyo's Haneda airport, although five of the six crew on the smaller plane died in the incident.
The smaller coast guard plane was heading to Niigata airport on the Japanese west coast to deliver aid following a devastating earthquake which struck the region on New Year's Day.
Prime Minister Albanese says the aircraft collision was tragic but all Australians involved escaped uninjured.
"Tragically, there was a plane crash at Haneda aircraft in Tokyo. We understand that there were 12 Australians on board that Japan Airlines flight, but all of those people are safe and accounted for. However, any Australians in need of emergency consular assistance should contact the Australian government's 24 hour consular emergency centre."
Palestinian protesters across the West Bank have taken to the streets after senior Hamas leader Saleh al-Arouri was killed in an Israeli drone strike on Lebanon's capital Beirut.
Mr Arouri, the deputy political head of Hamas and a co-founder of its militant wing, was killed along with five others in an attack on an office building according to Lebanon's national news agency.
Since Israel's bombardment of Gaza broke out following Hamas' October 7 attack, a wartime opinion poll showed support for Hamas in the West Bank drastically increased, with 44 per cent of people saying they supported the group at the beginning of December, a huge increase from 12 per cent in September.
Protesters in Ramallah, Jenin, Hebron and Saleh al-Arouri's home town of Aroura marched to honour him.
Mr Arouri’s sister Um Kutayba says she sees it as an honour for him to die for his cause.
"Thank God, this is an honour from God. His martyrdom is an honour, he used to wish martyrdom, and we are not surprised, since this is the method of Israel's occupation. The occupation does not skip any wrongdoing, is this a surprise? It is not, it is only natural for the occupation, but thank God. Every child in Palestine is a leader and there will be stronger leaders and they will follow in his footsteps."
Sudan's paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces says it is open to an immediate, unconditional ceasefire after signing a declaration calling for an end to hostilities and inviting the Sudanese army to do the same.
A nine-month war in Sudan, which now faces the world's largest displacement crisis, has devastated the country's infrastructure and prompted warnings of famine.
The war broke out over a disagreement on how the RSF would be integrated into the national army after a transition to civilian-led democracy.
By signing the declaration which is intended to serve as the basis for further negotiations, the Rapid Support Forces has made its clearest commitment to ending the war so far.
RSF chief, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo says he is ready to end the war and apologises to the people of Sudan.
“I only read this document yesterday. It wouldn’t be possible to read a document the day before and sign it today, but that’s because I don't have an agenda. I saw that the document included stopping the war, which is what I am after, so there’s that. If the army came with this same document I would sign it now immediately. From here we apologise to all our people in Sudan, in all its states- east, west, north, south and centre, for all the violations that took place.”
Ukraine's President Volodymr Zelenskyy says Russia's latest assault on the capital Kyiv was intended to cause maximum destruction.
Russia rained missiles down on Kyiv and other cities, severely damaging multi-storey buildings and infrastructure after Russian leader Vladimir Putin warned of an intensifying air bombardment.
President Zelenskyy says four were killed in the attacks and the mayor of Kyiv says at least 41 were wounded in the city.
He says the Russians used hundreds of missiles to terrorise civilians.
"Since the beginning of today, there have been almost 100 missiles of various types, and the trajectories have been specially calculated by the enemy to cause as much damage as possible. This is absolutely conscious terror. In just a few days - from December 29 till today - Russia has already used almost 300 missiles and more than 200 drones against Ukraine. No other country so far has repelled similar attacks by combined drones and missiles, including aeroballistic ones."
In cricket,
Legendary batsman David Warner will be made to wait to take centre stage in his farewell Test match for Australia, after Pakistan has won the toss and elected to bat first at the S-C-G.
Having announced his retirement plans in early June, Warner has survived nine straight selection meetings to hold his spot through to his dream Sydney farewell.
