hello, and welcome to nhk "newsline." it's tuesday, february 3rd. i'm katherine kobayashi in tokyo. bombers have attacked an election rally in nigeria. one person was killed and 18 others wounded. they believe members of the boko haram military group are responsible. the bomb went off in the town of gombe. the president left the rally minutes before. is he running for re-election in the vote scheduled for february 14th. they have compared boko haram to the militants in iraq and syria. they're staging attacks on

schools mostly in nigeria. they attacked the capital. an egyptian court has sentenced 183 muslim brotherhood supporters to death. the men were found guilty of playing a role in a deadly attack on a police station in 2013. but human rights groups say the ruling is too heavy handed and are calling for it to be overturned. state-run media said monday the verdict was handed down. members of the islamist group were convicted of killing 15 victims, including police officers. they opposed the current government established after former president mohamed morsi was exiled a defacto coup. muslim brotherhood leaders have been sentenced to death or life in prison.

deeply concerned about the decision. >> it simply seems possible that a fair review of evidence could be achieved through mass trials. we continue to call on the government of egypt to ensure due process on individual cases for all egyptians and discontinue the practice of mass trials. >> with amnesty international says the death sentences are another example of the buy as of the egyptian criminal justice system. leaders in japan are reviewing the government's response to the killings of two japanese nationals in syria. officials are strengthening their efforts to prevent acts of terror in the wake of the hostage crisis. they say they'll work with experts to craft new measures to tackle terrorism. the government has launched an anti-terror task force at the prime minister's office. chief cabinet secretary yoshihide suga is in charge. suga has met with the foreign

and state minister to discuss the issue, saying japan must re-evaluate their anti-terrorism policies. they're looking for ways to block terrorists from entering japan and prevent monies to terrorist groups. they're also working to ensure the safety of japanese traveling overseas. freelance journalist kenji goto was warned three times to stay out of syria. after he went there, militants with the islamic state said they captured and then killed him. islamic state is threatening to target more japanese. the incident has raised concerns. members of this nongovernmental organization have been giving food and other supplies to syrian refugees in turkey but now it's difficult for them to visit the border area. the foreign ministry has issued an advisory not to go there. >> translator: we won't give up providing aid.

some people may die without our help. >> a japanese school in pakistan is stepping up security based on advice from the embassy and local police. workers cut down tree branches near the fences that intruders could use to get into the compound. staff members are considering installing more surveillance cameras and improving equipment of the security guards. in december, militants with pakistani taliban stormed a military-run school in the northwest. they killed more than 150 people, most of them students. the tragic outcome of the hostage crisis came as japan's take a more proactive role overseas. the government of prime minister abe has planned to actively contribute to peace and stability in the middle east. tanaka is an expert on politics and says japan must remain committed to human aid. >> if you look at the entire

situation and the developments, i would say that yes, there was a message attached to the entire development and we should analyze that in a very calm way and not jump to conclusions that would eventually lead to another terror incident. there may be sounds and voices that criticize the course of action that the japanese government and maybe also i guess, the jordanian government as well. but i believe that the government both governments were in very close cooperation, also cooperated in the exchange of their information and views and tactics. and i believe that every avenue that could have been possible was already explored during the past few months ever since the government came to know that the

two japanese were taken hostage by the so-called islamic state. >> tanaka says leaders in tokyo must remain focused providing humanitarian aid in the middle east. >> i'm not going to speak on behalf of the japanese government but one thing i can say is that the aid and assistance that our prime minister pledged during his visit to the middle east in the most recent weeks would remain as it is. and that will be sort of the main pillar of our foreign policy, vis-a-vis the middle east and also the isis situation. if you look back at the history, say like in the history of pakistan and afghanistan, there were a lot of people that were displaced and became refugees and eventually the lack of assistance led to the rise of extremism in those areas. and today we still see the rise

of the taliban and other extremist groups that project a threat to -- not only to pakistan or afghanistan but far beyond to even the far east toward the east asia state -- east asian states. iraq and syria, now under the threat of isis i agree remain indifferent in supplying the basic humanitarian needs of the almost 10 million ieps and refugees from these two states. those people may end up either becoming an extremist, a terrorist or that they may, say, lead a very miserable life after all. so, in order to prevent that sort of disaster happening, we need to act and one way that

we -- the japanese government or we also meaning the japanese could do here is not by the military means. it's that we could provide them with their basic requirements. pro-russian separatists are closing in on a strategic transport hub in eastern ukraine. civilians are getting caught up in the fighting. 11 have been killed in the last two days. they say another 15 civilians died over the weekend in donetsk. separatists and the ukrainian government met last week making sure both sides stick to a cease fire agreement reached last year. they couldn't bridge their differences and the talks

collapsed. the leader of what the pro-russians call the donetsk republic say they will mobilize more fighters. >> translator: we will mobilize enough people for the army given the situation on the fronts we need to send in weapons and soldiers. >> planning to call up volunteers and civilians. he said that will give the separatists as many as 100,000 combatants. violence in the region has escalated since the beginning of the year. more than 5,000 people have been killed since the fighting started in april of last year. south korean prosecutors are seeking a three-year jail term for the former airline executive in the so-called nut rage incident. the vice president at korean air, charged with endangering flight safety. the prosecutors laid out their arguments in a court in seoul. they said she used her position

to take control of an airplane. they say her antics compromised air safety. she forced a korean airplane to return to u.s.' jfk airport. reportedly refused in a rage when a flight attendant offered her nuts in a bag than on a plate. she ordered the chief attendant off the flight. in her trial, cho has apologized for using abusive language toward crew members but she insisted they violated protocol and the final decision to remove the chief attendants was made by the captain, not her. the chief attendant appeared at the trial as a witness. he said cho has never admitted guilt nor showed any remorse. analysts in japan are making their predictions for gdp and they're announcing numbers significantly better than before. join joining us now from the business. >> analysts sure think so

catherine. the cycle of consumption, making predictions from the october to december quarter if the data does, indeed show an expansion, it will be for the first time since last spring. analysts at ten research firms and financial institutions released estimates for the quarter. they say gdp grew between half a percent and 1.2% in real terms from the previous months annualized growth of between 1.9% and 4.8%. in the previous quarter, gdp shrank from 9.1%. higher winter bonuses were cited as a positive factor too. and analysts say they used bigger profits to reinvest in their businesses. the weaker yen boosted exports to the u.s. and the rest of the

asia. government officials will release official gdp figures later in the month. now let's take a look at markets. investors on wall street took comfort from a rebound in crude oil prices. u.s. share prices ended higher and people in tokyo followed that trend in initial trading. the nikkei did open half a percent higher but is trading in the negative down by a tenth of a percent. oil-related shares are being bought but trading momentum overall, is a bit weak. lower than expected data on u.s. manufacturing and consumer spending are weighing on market sentiment. we are seeing little movement in the currency pairs, dollar slightly lower against the yen, in the lower 117 range. the focus now is on the australian central bank. many investors expect policy makers there to announce a cut in the key interest rate after wrapping up their meeting later in the day.

the aussie dollar is range bond against the u.s. dollar hovering at .078. the benchmark index has gone up nine days in a row through monday and is still building on that winning streak. it is now higher by .2%. kospi is trading down by a third of a percent. bit of a mixed picture this morning. toshiba appear set to continue from their global retreat from manufacturing tvs. in last week they announced they'll phase out sales everywhere except japan. sources say the executives are in talks with mirror than one company to sell the factory. it's one of their biggest plants. they've been making tv sets there for japan and other asian markets for nearly 20 years.

the executives say they want to consolidate their tv business so they can focus on more profitable divisions like power generation equipment. japanese tv makers are facing tough competition from south korean. people from panasonic are considering withdrawing from production in china and in mexico. negotiators trying to hammer out a free trade deal for 12 asia-pacific countries are reporting some progress. they say they're a step closer to reaching an agreement on some intellectual property roles. chief negotiators at the trans-pacific partnership talks wrapped up a meeting in new york. the u.s. representative proposed that copyright protection lasts for 70 years in principle and said the clock should start ticking with the release date for films and music with the death of authors of written books much delegates from the other countries expressed their

understanding for the u.s. position. negotiators remain at odds on our matters. they disagree on the production period for drug patents and the number of preferential treatment for state-owned companies. more for you next hour in business. here is another look at markets.

some people see it as a symbol that myanmar went through. on house arrest off and on for 15 years often spoke to crowds through this iron gate until her release in november 2010. media reports say it was purchased by a supporter of the national league for democracy party. he said on monday the starting bid would be $200,000. >> telling the history of burma and its democratic struggle. during this period aan sun suu kyi delivered many speeches from the gate and stayed in touch with people. i knew it would be valuable one day so i hung on to it. >> the proceed frts auction will go to helping the nld to build new headquarters. the timing and other details of the auction are not yet known. suu kyi won parliamentary elections in 2012. the country is scheduled to hold

general elections, a cornerstone of its democraticization. russian vladimir putin's visit to japan. holding talks in moscow expected to discuss fukushima's. negotiations for a peace treaty to help resolve the territorial issue over the northern territories. russia controls the four islands. japan claims them. the japanese government maintains the islands are an inherent part of japan's territory and claims the islands were illegally occupied after world war ii. government officials in central japan are enlisting the help of land owners to help clean coastal sea water.

a bay there was once rich in sea life but reclamation destroyed the habitat. now land owners are harvesting the ebb and flow of tides to try to get it back. ago bay in central japan, the area is known for its beautiful coastline, el bellished by coastal inlets. some residents make their living by pearl harvesting. but degradation of sea water quality is killing their livelihood. ever since the 19th century, the government has been encouraging farmers to transform the tidal flats into farm land. so 70% of the bay's tidal flats, about 184 have been converted over the.

not currently being used in farming operations. this man works at the research institute. he thought that the key to cleaning the sea water was returning the reclaimed areas back to the original tidal flats. so several years ago, he began a test on abandoned land. he opened one of the watergates on the dikes. >> i was pretty convinced that the key is to convert the unused land into rich tidal flats. >> nearly five years later, the area looks like the flat lands of old. since the test began, the creatures that live on the tidal flats have diversified. the number of species has increased six-fold.

the environment ministry joined the project. the experiment was expanded to two other spots in the region. on this day, the central government conducted an environmental survey. they found goby mullet and unibol fish. the habitat of small fish had doubled compared to last year. >> translator: tidal waves are coming to the flat enabling creatures to travel from the sea. can you plainly sea that the flats are recovering. >> but there is an obstacle that must be dealt with. before the local government can launch the full-fledged project, they must seek permission of the locals, who own the land that makes up the tidal flat.

the environment ministry held an information session to release the result of the survey to local people. ten residents attended. >> translator: i think it's a very important initiative. as a member of the community, i'm ready to help. >> translator: we must discuss the details of how we can make this project happen. >> the restored flat lands are often decided into small parcels of land and owned by multiple people. it takes a lot of time to locate the owners and request their cooperation. >> translator: we cannot make it without the understanding of those owners. it is going to be tough but we will keep at it looking for land to restore. >> all around japan, the amount of unused reclaim areas along the sea shore is estimated to be

60,000 hectares. the project in ago bay will demonstrate how the country can return such dry land to tidal flats. time now for a check of the weather. people in northern japan are used to wintry weather. but recently they've been dealing with harsh conditions. mai shoji has more. >> let's talk about winter weather and conditions that have been spiraling here you see those clouds east of hokkaida. it has been building up all that white stuff. pictures coming out of there to show you the situation, first of all. this is what's happening there. broke previous record for the 24-hour snowfall amounts in that region due to persistent snow

that has been sitting off the east coast pumping heavy snow. as you can see, personnel were deployed in the town to help residents dig out after the snow covered homes and businesses. so people are still trying to recover from this blizzard conditions, which is still an ongoing event. gusts are reaching 100 kilometers per hour. more than three meters in the sea of japan side. winter pressure pattern is very intensified and also it's bringing that pacific area dry. so it's a typical event. people are used to it in hokkaido. woo ear likely to see 30 sent meres additional snowfall. certainly both combined are likely to lower visibility. dangerous conditions will in fact, continue on. high pressure system dominates much of the rest of this continent as you can see. but not so clear in and around beijing.

hazy conditions due to the stagnation of air quality. 8 degrees for the high for your temperature. mercury went out about minus 2 degrees on tuesday morning. your daytime high will be in the positive range. tokyo at 9 degrees. here across america, chicago saw record-breaking snowfall amounts of 49 centimeters in a couple of days. that system is now holding in to the new england states. that's probably going to be bringing blizzard conditions across newfoundland. as you can see for the big cities such as boston new york d.c. snow will certainly cause -- wreak some havoc and cause people to have migraines, especially during the commuting hours on your wednesday and the latter half of the week. chicago finally seeing sunshine. that's despite that minus 9 degrees for your high on your thursday. talking about really chilly conditions actually. these areas will be seeing windchill factors down to about minus 30 degrees. dangerous conditions out there.

flipside of the continent, upper rockies will see about 50 centimeters of additional snowfall and mixed precipitation across northwestern california. temperature in los angeles at 22 degrees. last but not least here in europe, still another round of unstable conditions. we, in fact have a lot of thunderstorms that have been reported here. another low pressure system is affecting the peninsula as we speak. snowfall will be quite heavy across the lower areas, southern areas and southern france. but that's going to be pulling in to the mediterranean again. so another round of strong gusts, excessive precipitation and thunderstorms that could even spawn tornadoes. venice will likely see a cloudy figure here at 5 degrees.

we have one more story about

twin giant panda babies at a zoo in wakayama prefecture in western japan. they are growing fast. 200 grams each when they were born in december. they are now 15 times heavier. the zoo says they'll start crawling in about a month. their mother rauhin has more time to herself. she is eating bamboo and pampering her newborns. >> translator: i hope visitor also come see how the babies are growing and how the mother's parenting is changing. >> the zoo asked the public to choose names for the twins. the winning entries are to be announced friday. ands they all for this edition of newsline. i'm katherinecatherine kobayashi in

tokyo. thank you for joining us.óxñ

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