hello there, welcome to newsline, it's wednesday february 18th i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo, the cease-fire in ukraine is at risk of collapsing. they're fighting for control of a town. the separatists stepped up their siege of the key railroad junction after the cease-fire went into effect on sunday. they capture edd most of the town. alexander harchenko has suffered a minor injury.

putin has encouraged the government to withdraw its troops. 1307bs leaders should not prevent soldiers from putting down their weapons. the deputy head of ukraine's administration accused the separatists of breaching the deal. valerie said hopes for peace are being destroyed. he also said he will soon announce measures based on the u.s. and german leaders. we spoke with an expert on international relations. he shared his thoughts on the cease-fire and what may happen if the fighting continues. >> translator: if the cease-fire doesn't hold one possible scenario is a proxy war. the united states may decide to arm the ukrainian forces that may cause a sharp reaction from russia or we might see a continuance of the current situation.

so-called frozen conflict. this means fighting will go on despite the cease-fire agreement. the separatists will maintain de facto independence in eastern ukraine. for that to happen they'll need the full support of russia and russia itself is facing economic problems due to sanctions imposed by western countries and the plunge in oil prices. the russian government needs to protect its own people so it can't afford to support the separatists, this means russia would not prefer the current situation to continue. so i believe the focus of the crisis lies in weather the conflict can be resolved through dialogue. >> ukraine will face tough challenges. even if the cease-fire takes hold. one is weather officials will really change the constitution to give special status for eastern parts of the country. ukraine also has severe economic

difficulties. foreign currency reserves have hit rock bottom. the administration of the president does not have a strong power base we do not know whether it will be able to rebuild the economy. the international monetary fund has pledged an additional $1 billion in aide. even so it's clear ukraine will continue to have difficulties. i believe the most important point is that germany and france join the cease-fire talks. they've become in a sense ukraine's guardians. it's like they declared that from now on ukraine will be supported not by russia but by them. future moves by germany and france will be very important. ukraine has become a european issue, rather than just a russian issue. i believe that's a major turning point. >> in other news the man suspected of carrying out two deadly shootings in copenhagen

last weekend reportedly swore loyalty to the leader of the islamic state group. authorities say they knew he posed a threat but they say they didn't believe he was plotting the attacks. officials at the danish security and intelligence service acknowledged last september they had received a warning from prison authorities. it said that the 22-year-old man was at risk of being radicalized while in jail. he was in detention at the time for stabbing a person. and he was released two weeks before the incident. local media quoted friends of the man as saying he posted a message on facebook six minutes before the first attack. it contained a pledge of allegiance to islamic state leader in full obedience at all times. two people were killed in the shootings. one man died in a free speech event who had drawn the prophet mohammed. another killed at a synagogue.

police took the suspect's life during a ooto. u.s. politicians, police and religiou leade have gatre in wasngton to discuss ways to stop violent extremism. joe biden opened the summit with a call to engage people who might be susceptible. the white house is hosting the three-day conference. biden highlighted efforts in boston, los angeles and minneapolis. all three cities have launched programs to prevent extremism. >> we all understand that in dealing with violent extremism that we need answers to go beyond a military answer. >> president barack obama is scheduled to addss the conference on wednesday. >> international nuclear regulators are advising that radioactive wastewater from fukushima daiichi be treated with a long term view.

experts ended their week long check on japan's efforts to decommission the plant. they visited the site and interviewed officials with the japanese government and plant operator tokyo electric power company. team leader juan carlos spoke about the threat of accumulating wastewater. and the large amount of radioactive waste generated during the decommissioning process. tepco needs more tanks to store the contaminated water, but also mentioned the shortage of storage space. the officials should consider options. he urged them to come up with a plan to control the nuclear waste. the iea plans to publish the final report by the end of march. government officials say they'll use it as a road map for the decommissioning project. officials are looking at options for how to store nuclear waste long term. they've been trying to secure house sites for the past 13

years, they've now revised their basic policy with a panel of experts. the officials plan to bury radioactive waste from commercial plants at least 300 meters under ground. no municipality has stepped forward to host the site over safety concerns. the new policy has unveiled an attempt to brace the impasse. government officials will choose candidate sites based on quality of ground and ease of transportation. the laws will be able to recover the waste if policies change or technical problems arise. scientists are stressing the importance of responding to public concern ss. >> we need to present the public with a plan on the waste disposal. first, in order to restart japan's idle reactor ss.

>> government officials will gather public comments before the cabinet adopts the policy at the end of march. central bankers in the u.s. may be contemplating when to raise interest rates, but many monetary regulators overseas are moving in the opposite direction. >> a lot of countries are worried about falling inflation. they're hoping monetary easing is going to prop up their communities. the bank of japan is doing it banks in india, canada australia, denmark, sweden too. even the european central bank is about to next month. authorities in indonesia surprised markets by joining that growing list. they've announced they'll cut interest rates for the first time in three years. bank indonesia's board members decides on tuesday to lower the policy interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point to 7 1/2%.

the official cited sluggish inflation as reason for the rate cut. the consumer price index rose at a slower pace in january than at the previous month on the back of falling crude oil prices. indonesia's economy appears to be losing steam as well. the country's gdp grew 5% last year, that is the lowest rate of expansion since 2009 when the global financial crisis dampened economic activepyp. tokyo's share prices opened higher following strong overnight gains on wall street. investors became optimistic about a debt deal in greece. the nikkei now trading higher by 8/10 of a% from tuesday's close. almost all sectors are higher this morning, sentiment is being boosted by a media report saying greece is looking to ask for an extension to its loan agreement. >> the dollar rising against the yen as yields on u.s. bonds have gone up sharply. treasury yields have been

climbing as many traders speculate that the federal reserve will raise its key rate this year. the euro is higher against the dollar and the yen on hopes for a potential agreement on greek debt. many markets are closed for the lunar new year holidays in the asia pacific region including south korea, australia's benchmark index is not up on the screen at the moment, but i can tell you that it is trading in the positive this morning. japan's leading furniture retailer is mired in a quarrel with its family owner. he wants to remove his daughter from the post of president to revamp the firm's business. company officials announced that founder and former president presented shareholders with a proposal last month to dismiss his daughter as president. he's currently chairman of the

company. the proposal points out the need for drastic management reform. it was prepared for the upcoming general shareholders meeting set for march. they posted an operating loss last year the board of directors replaced the president with his daughter. the current management plans to present a proposal at the general shareholder's meet inging. that's the latest in business for this hour i'll leave you with a check on some other market figures.

nuts and boltses are not likely on your mind when riding across bridges and through tunnels. your life depends on them. attention to detail has made one company one of the leaders in the field. >> the factory is very much a nuts and bolts kind of place. since it's founding 80 years ago, the company has grown to employ 150 people. those workers have helped claim a 50% share of a global rust proof bolt market. the chairman knows the small objects his company makes have

great importance. takanaka has devoted his career to high quality manufacturing. >> bolts are indispensable to all kinds of things. without them japan would have no industry at all. i want our company to be number one in the field. >> bolts, however, need to be made receptive to nut ss. years ago, takinaka introduced a product that was just 3 sentimenters thick. did could with stand 50 tons of pressure. despite the quality, sales dropped by half during the 1980s. the yen had grown stronger making japanese goods more expensive. he set out to develop a product that would add value.

conventional bolts were made of steal, they would rust as soon as moisture seeped into their cracks. he came up with an idea of preventing rust by using a nonstick coating found on trying pans. it sounds good in theory every time a nut was screwed on the coating would come off. a fluid prime coat showed promise. heating allowed the nonstick substance to stay in place. after five years of trial and error, he had the coating he needed to hold off the rust. the green bolt is a model developed by his company. the blue bolt comes from another manufacturer. a month and a half in saltwater revealed the character of both. no rust on the green one. an underground railway tunnel is

one of many places the products protect. the environment is humid, but the bolts resist the formation of rust. a four kilometer bridge also makes use of the bolts. as does an expressway tunnel that runs beneath tokyo bay. rust proofing isn't the end of the line for the company. it's working to develop a coating that can with stand even more extreme conditions. the substance on the iron plate won't shake off, even after a forceful blow. it's made of carbon nanotube a very strong carbon crystal. he approaches business as a nonstop race. he aspires to run at top speed, so nobody can keep up. >> translator: the concern is not so much about people copying our products rather it's that we need to keep developing new

products. technology continues to move forward. i'm constantly trying to come up with ideas for products and ways to differentiate them from others. >> surviveal in this industry means holding fast. that's his intention regardless whatever stresses the market may bring. moving on to other news. south korean president named four cabinet members as part of a government reshuffle. he appointed a new prime minister. he's a veteran lawmaker from the ruling party. the move came after parliament endorsed her choice the previous day. his appointment is controversial, he has faced allegations of real estate speculation among other claims. he was recently revealed

pressuring the media not to make critical comments about him. he will be in charge of relations with north korea. pat did not announce a replacement for her chief of staff who resigned over several incidents, including leaking sensitive presidential documents. analysts say that despite the cabinet reshuffle, she has fallen short of presenting a fresh image for her government. afghan authorities say taliban insurgents disguised in police uniforms have attacked a police headquarters. 22 officers killed and 7 wounded. officials say it happened insouth of the capital. the gunmen opened fire at the station gate. some detonated explosionives wrapped in their clothes. one of the attackers entered a dining hall where many officers were having lunch and blew himself up.

the taliban has claimed responsibility for the violence. members of the group say it was in retaliation against the police for providing information to help u.s. air strikes. afghan military police are now in charge of maintaining the country's security. international combat troops -- the continuing taliban offensive is raising concerns about the ability of domestic security force s forces. a brazilian teacher is raising a racquet with children in a slum. he's teaching them badminton and giving them something to aim for ahead of brazil's 2016 olympics. gabriella ussa has the story. >> this slum as the brazilian's call it lies in the western part of rio de janeiro.

it's where this gym is located. in fact young brazilians are going through badminton training. 100 children from the area are taking part. >> translator: i used to hang out on the street with friends. but now all i want to do is play badminton. >> sebastian coaches the youngsters. whenever he's not teaching at a junior high school he's here running the badminton club. he spent his childhood in poverty at the orphanage. while some children in his circumstance might have committed crimes he devoted himself to sports.

>> translator: someone who cared about me while i was in the orphanage changed my life. so i wanted to help others the same way. >> 14 years ago, he spent his own money to build the gymnasium and open his badminton club. in brazil bad matin was not popular. almost no children were interested in the sport. but that changed when he introduced his regional method of training. >> here in brazil anyone can dance to the rhythm of samba. and that helps to improve their bat mitten skills. >> badminton requires fast

footwork. he thought samba would help improve the youngster's badminton game. and he was right. club members have brought prestige to the club. some have competed in international junior competitions. >> translator: if i made the practice too hard the kids would stop coming. >> 40-year-old jonathan has been playing badminton since he was 9. he's reached the level where he can take part in international competitions. jonathan and five family members live in a building made of concrete block walls and covered by a roof of galvanized sheet. his mother shows us medals her son was awarded.

she keeps a record of john tlon's achievements. >> translator: he's really a wonderful boy. he sets a great example for his younger brothers. >> i want to win a medal and become an olympic champion. >> jonathan is now a contender, a local company sports the training. sports can be a life changer. >> we look forward to seeing them at the olympics. it's time now for a check of the weather. people in the u.s. northeast are getting hit by one winter storm

after another. >> we have been talking about the winter storms after another -- a series of them that has marched across northeast. boston has 93 inches of snowfall. that's about 2.5 meters of snowfall. yesterday we had about 30 centimeters of additional snowfall within that. some people took add vantage of this winter storm. a severe winter storm paralyzed the storm tuesday. most cars stayed off the street and some residents were actually even getting around by using their skis. as you can see here. a few washington resident thes took advantage of the snowfall and organized a massive snowball fight. coordinated by the so-called d.c. snowball association. people dressed up in costumes including captain america as you see here and batman. a lot of fun out there with the

folks, but again, the same system that paralyzed the transportation across these areas. it's pulling this cold front, bringing a lot of heavy showers and also some thunderstorms as well as some hard freeze warnings in place across parts of florida and the deep south. that's pulling away another system. it's a band a series of winter storms, this will create about 10 to 15 centimeters as it pulls in. that's because of that cold arctic air mass that is dominating two thirds of the continent. and the temperatures are going to be really teeth biting. take a look at minus 17 for your lows in d.c. and in bismarck a gradual warmup, but still we're looking at minus 24. your windchill factors along with that will be greater than minus 30 degrees. please watch out for that not a

good idea to have any belongings outdoors. the temperature actually is drastically different from the east and to the extreme west we have some spring like or summer like temperatures across nevada and california. los angeles hitting 22 degrees on your wednesday. now, across here in japan we're also talking about the snow as a big topic here across central tokyo region we may see some mixed precipitation throughout the day today into the evening hours, another system is going to become a troublesome event, happening in inland areas, especially stretches into tohoku. that could affect the region with heavy snowfall. watch out for that. 5 degrees with cloudy skies, and down toward the south in the tropics, we're looking at 30s again. here in europe we're looking at a high pressure system dominant across this continent. very unstable central mediterranean, down into northern africa.

wet and windy conditions as well as norway with blowing snow for you out there. the areas such as turkey and greece, we're looking at snow to continue throughout your workweek. i leave you now for your extended forecast.

that's all for this edition of newsline i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo, thanks for joining us.

ó >> terror in west africa -- large swathes of northern nigeria are firmly in the hands of the islamist boko haram movement. the militants' brutal reign of violence is threatening to spill over into nigeria's neighbors. that's one of the topics on this week's edition of "global 3000." i'm kate laycock. welcome to the show. which is looking something like this. africa under siege -- who will stop boko haram's deadly advance?

a river runs through it. new hope for indigenous people in peru's embattled amazon region. china gets its skates on -- or its skis -- in the race for