This is the Catch Up on 3 Things for the Indian Express and I'm Flora Swain.

It’s the 5th of January and here are the top stories of this week.

Tsunami waves hit several parts of Japan’s coastal areas and urgent evacuation warnings were issued after a 7.6-magnitude earthquake shook the country’s north-central region on Monday. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, in a televised address, asked citizens to follow evacuation orders closely and warned that more powerful quakes and tsunami waves might follow the initial ones. At least 48 people were killed as relief and rescue operations continued. Thousands of rescuers struggled to reach the worst-hit area in the Noto peninsula in Ishikawa prefecture due to badly damaged and blocked roads.

The truck drivers’ associations called off their nationwide protest against the new penal provisions regarding hit-and-run cases in the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita on Tuesday. This came after the Ministry of Home Affairs held discussions with representatives of the All India Motor Transport Congress on the second day of the strike. The strike saw vehicles lined up outside petrol pumps as fuel supply was impacted in cities across the country.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday declined to grant interim relief to Trinamool Congress leader Mahua Moitra, who has challenged her expulsion from the Lok Sabha. The court, however, sought a reply from the Lok Sabha Secretary General on Moitra’s plea. The Bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta said it would hear the matter again in the week commencing 11th of March.

The chief of Israel’s Mossad intelligence service vowed on Wednesday that the agency would hunt down every Hamas member involved in the 7th of Oct attack on Israel, no matter where they are. His pledge came a day after the deputy head of the Palestinian militant group was killed in a suspected Israeli strike in Beirut. Israel has refused to comment on reports it carried out the killing, but the comments by David Barnea appeared to be the strongest indication yet it was behind the blast.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi went snorkeling to explore the undersea life during his recent visit to Lakshadweep, and posted pictures of his adventure calling it an "exhilarating experience" of the sojourn in the islands located in the Arabian Sea. Modi was in Lakshadweep on 2nd and 3rd of January to inaugurate the Kochi-Lakshadweep Islands Submarine Optical Fiber Connection and lay foundation stone for the renovation of primary healthcare facility and five model Anganwadi centers.

This was the Catch up on 3 Things by The Indian Express.