glad to have you with us on this edition of "newsline." it is tuesday, january 26th. i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. a u.n. envoy say the latest round of syrian peace talks will begin on friday, four days hichulbuthstl a mberf hurdles ing who will be in attendance. the talks were originally scheduled to start on monday but were delayed due to disagreements with the opposition over who should be on the invitation list. the anti-assad groups have yet to form a unified delegation for the talks. representatives from the syrian government would also take part in marathon talks that could lost months. on monday the u.n.'s envoys spoke about the priorities of

the talks. >> the possibility of a broad cease-fire and the possibility of stopping the threat of isil. and therefore, thanks to the broader cease-fire, increased humanitarian aid. >> he said the coming talks will also focus on governance, drafting a constitution, and holding elections. he said he's sending out invitations on tuesday but did not say who would be invited. media reports say suicide bombers attacked in cameroon. the atark took place near the border. the bombers reportedly set off explosives in several locations, including a busy market. no one has claimed responsibility. authorities suspect the islamic extremist group boko haram may

be involved. boko haram is based in northeastern nigeria. its leaders have pledged allegiance to the islamic state group. they've carried out multiple attacks and kidnappings in nigeria and other countries. taiwan's political landscape is undergoing a shakeup ahe was president elect's inauguration. taiwan's outgoing president has promoted vice premier chun to premier. chun will lead the cabinet that is expected to function in an interim capacity until tsai ing-wen takes power. the previous premier retired with the entire cabinet after their party lost elections on january 16th. tsai brings her progressive party back to power after eight years. the party won a majority in the legislature for the first time. it's due to start its new session on monday. tsai declined to lead the effort to form a new cabinet ahead of her inauguration saying she is

not yet legally able. aung san suu kyi has met with the myanmar's top military leader for the second time to discuss forming a new government, and she showed her willingness to cooperate with the military in running it. they met in the capital monday. the military says they exchanged frank opinions on a smooth transition of power and the running of parliament. they also discussed the forming of a new cabinet in the two-hour meeting. myanmar's military created the country's constitution which guarantees it a quarter of parliamentary seats and key cabinet posts. parliament will convene monday to elect a new president. the constitution bars aung san suu kyi from the role because her sons are british nationals. the new government led by her is to take power in march. her party won landslide victory in the general election in november. stock markets in asia are falling after relief rally on monday.

ai uchida joins us from the business desk. what is weighing on investors' minds? >> oil, again. wti crude futures did go below $30 a barrel at one stage, and stocks on wall street were heavily sold overnight. that came after the chairman of saudi arabia's state-run oil company said if oil and gas investments would not be cut. and share prices in tokyo opened sharply lower. the nikkei average fell below 17,000 one day after the index regained it. investors are selling a wide range of shares. the key index is now lower by just 2%, trading at 16,771. it's erasing all the gains it showed the previous day. oil developers, banks and insurance companies are especially lower. in other markets in the asia-pacific region, seoul's kospi also opened lower. it's now trading lower by about 1.3%. australia's markets are closed for a national holiday. let's see what's happening with

currencies. many traders are buying the yen as a safer asset as they want to avoid risks with the lower prices for oil and stocks. dollar/yen now at 118.07 to 10. now, many are watching what the u.s. federal reserve will say in its statement after the policy meeting on wednesday. investors are waiting for some hints about the pace of rate hikes amid the market turmoil. russia's economy has shrunk for the first time in six years. the contraction follows the slump in the price of oil, which is the country's main export product. the national statistics service released preliminary gdp growth figures on monday. they show that the company shrank 3.7% in 2015, that's from the previous year. this is the first annual decline since 2009, a year after the collapse of lehman brothers. the statistics service said exports from january to november declined 32.1% from the same period in 2014.

retail sales dropped 10% year on year due to a rise in consumer prices and other factors. president vladimir putin said on monday that the government's first priority will be to do all it can to maintain people's standard of living. he made the remark at a meeting of supporters. putin gained public support by achieving economic growth thanks to high oil prices during the 2000s. observers are wondering how the economic downturn will affect his approval rating. ford motor company says it will withdraw from japan and indonesia by the end of the year. in an e-mailed message to its employees on monday, a spokesman said it will end all operations in the two countries in the latter half of the year, including sales and product development. the message said auto sales in japan are expected to decline in the coming years, according to the japan automobile imports association, nearly 5,000 ford

vehicles were sold in japan last year. ford accounted for only 0.1% of new car sales and only 1.5% of imported cars in the country. in indonesia, the firm sold about 6,000 vehicles, taking a 0.6% share of the total new car market. an nhk survey has found that japanese companies are becoming cautious about investing in equipment. the survey asked 100 major firms about their investment plans for the current fiscal year ending in march. 41 firms said they are boosting investment by 10% or more from a year before. 21 companies reported a less than 10% increase. 12 firms said there's no change, and 12 companies said they are scaling back. but for the next fiscal year, only 34 firms, that's 1 in 3, are planning an increase. concerns about china's economic

slowdown and unstable stock markets are thought to be giving managers at japanese firms cold feet. on monday, the chairman encouraged japanese firms to invest. >> translator: japan's actual economy hasn't been harmed. firms should work on boosting their equipment investment without being misled by short-term economic movements. they need to create growth opportunities. >> the survey found that japanese firms are also becoming careful about increasing wages. the government is urging companies to take positive action to keep the economy growing. outer space was once a frontier for research. but it increasingly provides opportunities for business, too. in the first of our interviews with young entrepreneurs gunning for success in 2016, we talked to a businessman who's making micro satellites by overturning conventional design wisdom to lower costs.

>> reporter: a small building in tokyo. this office is home to axelspace, a company that makes micro satellites. president and ceo nakamura is 36. the satellite was commissioned by a weather information company and is due to be launched this spring. >> translator: it will be used to observe sea ice in the arctic ocean. >> reporter: the impact of global warming is shrinking the arctic ice. that makes these waters a potential new sea route connecting asia and europe. the axelspace satellite will provide the latest information to ships on safe passage through the ice. price was the key factor in winning the order. nakamura's product costs less than $5 million. he says that's just 1% the price of a full-sized satellite.

>> translator: i'd like to create an environment where people can have easy access to data from space via micro satellites. that's my goal. >> reporter: nakamura became interested in this technology 15 years ago while at university. he designed and assembled a roughly 10-centimeter square satellite. in orbit it successfully communicated with earth. he founded the company eight years ago. the secret to keeping costs low is that the company employees design and manufacture satellites themselves. this is an optical device called a star tracker. the heart of any satellite. it measures its direction once in orbit. nakamura made the component for about $67,000, using a commercially made cpu and memory.

that shaved tens of thousands of dollars from the cost. >> translator: it was crucial to lower cost. without that, nothing could be achieved. our basic approach was to focus on the whole system and not try to make each part infallible. this allowed us to lower the reliability of some components which in turn enabled us to create a satellite that could realize its mission without aiming for unnecessarily high reliability. >> reporter: the company hopes to build on a test model. the horayoshi 1, which was launched two years ago and is still transmitting images intermittently. nakamura plans to launch 50 more micro satellites by 2022. the satellites will cover most areas with human activity and transmit images every day.

nakamura says the satellites' application can extend beyond shipping. >> translator: we will be able to judge crop growth from space. and to photo huge farmlands abroad. and decide when to harvest or how much fertilizer to apply. >> reporter: it may sound like a dream, but nakamura rejects that expression. >> translator: when people tell me it's good to have a dream, it just proves that space isn't used seriously yet. it shows that people think that space has nothing to do with them. >> reporter: nakamura is part of a business vanguard trying to commercialize space. time will tell if he succeeds. >> tomorrow we'll bring you part two of our special series on entrepreneurs and meet a young

man who's teaming up with other small enterprises to create award-winning products. that's the latest in business news for this hour. i'll leave you now with a check on markets. japan's imperial couple is traveling to the philippines this week. they'll mark 60 years since the normalization of diplomatic ties and pay their respects to war dead. for emperor akito and empress michiko will leave for a five-day tour. they last visited the

philippines 54 years ago when they were crowned prince and princess. >> the emperor and empress will attend a welcome ceremony and meet president aquino. they'll also meet local residents, including members of the japanese community. >> translator: i'm happy for their visit. so is my father. >> translator: i hope relations between the philippines and japan will be even better after their visit. >> the couple is scheduled to visit a war monument built by the japanese government southeast of the capital. over 500,000 japanese and 1 million filipinos are estimated to have died in the philippines in world war ii. they say they want to mourn the japanese who lost their lives overseas. they will also visit the tomb of the unknown soldier to pay tribute to the philippine war dead. eight employees of the

egyptian museum in cairo will face a disciplinary court for damage to king tut's mask. they're accused of gross negligence and breaching regulations. local media say prosecutors blame the museum's former head and seven other workers for scratching the mask. authorities accuse the workers of accidently knocking off the mask's beard in august 2014 while fixing the display. they say the employees then put it back on with an adhesive. the cover-up emerged in january last year after the clue became visible. they were accused of trying to hide it by scraping off the adhesive which left scratches. german specialists helped to repair it. a lost passport or a minor traffic accident can ruin a holiday. the people in our next story have the job of sorting these problems out. they're policemen in the

japanese ski resort of niseko in hokkaido. >> reporter: the big attraction of niseko is the quality of its snow. last winter the town hosted more than 100,000 visitors from abroad. >> absolutely amazing. look at this. champagne powder. >> reporter: maintaining order in the crowded resort is the job of this police box which operates for only three months a year. last ski season the station handled around 1,000 appeals for help. more than 70% from foreign visitors. many come to ask for directions or report lost property. >> only $100 australian. >> very good english. >> so this was very good. i think australian police are not very friendly.

>> reporter: the officers are on the front line of tourism and that's reflected in their training. >> oh, really, i didn't know that. do you speak english? >> reporter: sergeant kobayashi has been on the force for eight years, but this is his first posting to this front-line police box. >> translator: i didn't think i'd have to study after joining the police. >> reporter: the hokkaido police have put together a textbook. after some hard study, kobayashi is now able to respond to common inquiries. but some of his duties are more serious. reports of traffic accidents come in one after another, especially after dark. accidents involving tourists from abroad have doubled over the past year.

many visitors are unaccustomed to driving on snowy roads. this person didn't have the international license required to drive in japan. >> every country i go, i use one card. >> japanese rule, no, no. >> reporter: a major issue for the police now is people skiing down the street. this violates traffic laws but many visitors don't know that. the police are working with a local patrol group putting up warning signs. >> translator: if your lodge is down the hill, we understand you might want to ski down there. but it's very dangerous with all the cars driving by. >> translator: as people are coming to the police box to ask for help, i want to develop skills i need so i can respond to them.

>> reporter: the influx of visitors from other countries has led to a new set of challenges. for the police, winter has become their busiest season. in singapore, foreign domestic workers are common in many households, doing housework or caring for children. but with a rapidly aging population in singapore, there's now a growing demand for those who can also care for the elderly. here's the report. >> reporter: this is a private training center for overseas maids. the main focus used to be on basic housework and child care. but now it is nursing care. >> one, two, three -- >> reporter: trainees learn how to put people to bed. about half their training hours are devoted to practical skills. because about half the trainees

here are eventually placed into families with elderly members. the government began promoting training programs for caretakers by subsidizing instruction costs. it also cut employment tax to a quarter of the previous figure when maids are hired to care for the aged. >> more and more are from an agency in singapore, and is also combating the effort, diverting all the resources into training of elderly. >> reporter: other companies try to directly hire overseas nursing care experts. the staffing agency finds positions for licensed nurses and care staff from neighboring countries with singaporean clients. demand is high. monthly salaries average between $500 and $900, almost double what regular maids receive. but only about half the cost of

a nursing care facility. so far, the agency has placed more than 300 such caregivers. >> we can also help the patient with tube feeding. so there's a number of technical things that they can do that a maid would not be able to do. we will provide the same level of care as the elderly would get in a nursing home, but they don't have to move away. >> reporter: this woman, who is suffering from dementia, lives alone. jhona mai lorenzo from the philippines became her live-in caregiver last year. as well as basic daily care, lorenzo gives her exercises designed to slow the progress of her disease. the patient can't roll over, so lorenzo sleeps in the same room and changes her position every two hours. the patient's daughter says she hired lorenzo because looking after her grandchildren and doing housework make it impossible for her to take care of her mother.

>> one very good point that she's very soft-spoken to my mother, to anybody, okay. she's very smiling, very ready to smile, which is very good. >> reporter: six months after lorenzo began working here, the woman began extending her arms to ask lorenzo for a massage before going to sleep. >> i try to treat her like my mother. so you can do the best that you can give care. >> reporter: as the aging population grows, foreign maids are playing an indispensable new role in singaporean society. nhk world, singapore. people who were stranded at airports along the u.s. east coast are finally getting to their destinations after a severe blizzard over the weekend forced airlines to cancel flights. meteorologist robert speta tells us more. >> yes, high pressure is finally setting in. the airports ready to open up in

washington, toward philadelphia and to new york. hopefully people are now getting on their flights, getting where they need to go. but really, this is going to go down as a record-breaking storm system. we do want to note that the low that did bring all that snowfall, that is out to sea. impacting bermuda now, pushing over towards europe. but in it's wake, not only the snowfall needs to melt off, but it has to drain out. video coming out of new jersey, this shows you one of the other effects of the storm that's not being shown so much. look at that, the severe coastal flooding. because when this local pushed by, it not only dropped snow, but it pushed these very intense winds onshore, kind of a storm surge effect impacting the coastlines here. more than 20,000 people lost power. and as you can see there, a second ago, people kayaking around. damage inside some of these buildings. and this storm system definitely had a lot of impacts on travelers, on residents. and still for some time to come.

you're going to get some more snow. freezing in the overnight hours. black ice coming out of this. this low right here going to bring in a few more centimeters. the worst will be back to the north, across the great lakes region, 15 to 17 centimeters is possible. combining freezing rain in there, so that could cause some power outages, something to keep in mind. meanwhile, back to the west, we have a low pushing onshore there. pacific northwest, rain showers out there for you. if we look down to california, los angeles with a high of 23. actually above average out there on your tuesday. let's look at europe now. talking about some windy weather. how about here in the british isles. one low moving away. another one coming in from the southwest. this one's going to bring fairly gusty winds, especially along the western sea boards of ireland out there. about 100 kilometers per hour. not to mention the rain with this, about 30 to 50 millimeters. this is all riding along the jet

stream. it's ridging way back off to the north. so we have mild, warm air coming in out of the mediterranean. big issue for those across the alps. this is going to be causing the snow pack, which you remember last week we had a heavy snowfall in a lot of these areas, starting to melt and increase that threat of avalanche out there for you. something to keep in mind if you are traveling across the mountains there. take a look at the temperature, though. paris with a high of 10 on here on your tuesday. athens getting back up to 11. things stay chilly over there toward western areas of russia. talk about chilly weather, how about this temperature. there in northeastern china, minus 42 recorded for your morning low. this is just the catalyst of all the record-breaking lows we have seen out here across much of northeastern asia in the last 48 hours. northern vietnam got near the freezing point, about 2 degrees. hong kong saw frost. first snow reported in recent

history there over towards okinawa as well. there is a change in the forecast. we have a new storm developing. big thing with this, though, it's going to come in from the southwest and bring in warmer weather. for example, naha, a record low on sunday. we could see a record high by friday. all right. i'll leave you now with your extended outlook. one more story for you. tourists to japan's highest waterfall have enjoyed an unexpected treat. they were able to see the falls in the western prefecture of

wakayama freeze ahead of schedule. the site is one 133 meters high. a shinto shrine was built nearby to honor the flowing water as a deity. they say the temperature around the waterfall dropped to minus 5 degrees celsius in the morning. a priest at the shrine discovered early monday that the basin had frozen over. >> translator: usually it freezes around the end of february. i think it's the first time it's gotten like this in january. >> translator: i was lucky to be able to see it, so i'm happy. >> the waterfall is part of the sacred sites and pilgrimage groups in the key mountain range designated a unesco world heritage site. that wraps up this edition of "newsline." i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. thanks for joining us.

xxxx x0

>>welcome to our first highlights show of 2016 coming to you from our studio right by the brandenburg gate in the centre of berlin. before we get the ball rolling let's take a quick look at some of the reports coming up on the programme today. we meet italian street artist alice pasquini, a german author, and her search for happiness wood plays an important role in modern architecture. walls on the street might be what many artists see as their canvas, but it was an art form