hello, welcome to nhk "newsline." it is thursday, december 22nd, 10:00 a.m. i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. first a milestone in the decades-long alliance between japan and the united states on okinawa. the u.s. on thursday returned to japan about 4,000 hectares or more than half of the northern training area. it is largest ever parcel of land to be returned since okinawa's reversion since u.s. administration in 197 2. it is the largest u.s. military training site in the southern prefecture. the governments of japan and the united states agreed on the return in 1996.

it came after the construction of six new helipads were finished. the new helipads are racing safety concerns among nearby residents as the u.s. military is planning to use them for flight training for osprey tilt rotor transport aircraft. an osprey ditched in shallow water off the coach of the prefecture, nago city, on december 13th. the government says the return will reduce the prefecture's burden of hosting u.s. military bases. it will hold a ceremony in nago on thursday to commemorate the return, but okinawa governor takeshi onaga said he will not attend the event out of opposition of the u.s. military use of ospreys, he will instead attend a rally to protest the osprey accident to be held also in nago stay later in the day. even after the hand-over of the training site, okinawa will still be hosting about 70% of all u.s. military facilities in

japan. police in germany have launched a europe-wide manhunt, they're looking for a tunisian man they now say is the main suspect in monday's deadly attack in berlin. 12 people were killed and nearly 50 injured when a truck plowed into a christmas market. the police say they're looking for 24-year-old anis amri. they found his i.d. card inside the truck. offering a reward of more than $100,000 for information leading to his arrest. authorities say amri entered germany in july last year seeking asylum but his application was reportedly rejected. local media say amri stayed in berlin and elsewhere in the country. they say he'd been identified by security agencies as being in contact with islamic em strextr. he reportedly had been under surveillance. hundreds of people gathered near the office of german chancellor angela merkelmerkel. they mourned the victims and spoke out against her open-door

approach toward new comers. >> translator: i'm against merkel's refugee policy. the truck crash was due to her criminal act. >> a senior member ofanti-immig alternative for germany, also criticized merkel. >> translator: crime is on the rise because of lax control on the influx of migrants and refugees. germany will collapse if this situation continues. >> a series of crimes committed by asylum seekers in july sparked criticism against merkel and boosted public support for the afg party. british police are tightening security during the holiday season in response to the terrorist attack in berlin. roads leading to buckingham

palace are closed for two hours during the changing of the guarder is moantguard er is mo ceremony. 15 million people visit there each year. >> it is a crowded area. i definitely thought -- i thought about the berlin thing and thought, you know, well, probably okay, but i thought, you know, is it okay to come here? >> i feel very confident with all the security guards walking around, like i said, it makes me feel secure. i'm just going to enjoy my vacation. >> britain's terrorism threat level remains at the second highest of five levels. security has also been stepped up at christmas markets in the cities of manchester and birmingham with more police officers on patrol. a japanese automaker is in talks with a silicon valley giant about changing the way we travel. ai uchida tells us more from our business desk. ai, it seems ties between car companies and i.t. firms are getting more common these days. >> exactly, catherine, we talked

before about nissan and microsoft, they're teaming up to connect autos to the internet, now honda and google are eyeing a partnership to get self-driving technology on the road. the automaker wants to equip its vehicles with software developed by the i.t. giant. honda plans to test the system on u.s. highways. the company has also been developing its own driverless technology, but now executives are looking to google to help gain an edge on rivals. now let's check on markets. tokyo share price s opened lowe on this last trading day of the week, that is after the dow jones failed to break above the 20,000 mark. trading volume is relatively low and investors are locking in profits before the holiday on friday which marks the emperor's birthday. right now the neikkei trading lower by almost .3%.

the dollar is trading in a narrow range at the mid 117 yen level. 117.6, to be exact. the greenback has taken a pause after strong gains and it's lacking direction as there are few trading cues. the euro has bounced back against the dollar. now trading at 1.04. earlier this week the common currency fell to a 14-year low on geopolitical uncertainties in europe. oil prices are lower and that's after the u.s. energy information administration reported a greater than expected buildup in crude stockpiles. the wti futures declined after four days of gains. let's take a quick glance at other markets open across the asia-pacific at this hour. we're seeing others in the positive. seoul up by a tenth of a percent. australia up by .4%. china markets will open in just under half an hour. saudi arabian officials are preparing for an ipo of the world's largest state-run oil company saudi aramco.

they are eyeing several global markets for the 2018 debut including the tokyo stock exchange. saudi industry and mineral resources minister met in riyadh with the ceo of the japan exchange group. the market cap is estimated at more than $1.7 trillion. there's also speculation the company will debut in new york or london. after the meeting, nhk was told that the tse will be given a sufficient chance. >> the number of international companies that are listed in tse, it's not as large as other stock exchanges so we have to do our due diligence to make sure there is no reason to prevent information companies from being listed. >> he says he believes the saudi arabian officials understood the tse's appeal. he said he will visit the

country again any time if necessary. italy's parliament has approved new bailout funds to prop up the country's major banks. the lenders have had trouble raising capital amid uncertainty stemming from this month's constitutional referendum. members of parliament approved a bailout of up to 20 billion euros, about $21 billion. they hope this will remove any doubts about the health of the country's financial system. some of the money may go to mon terks del pasciena. it's been trying to raise funds to cover a huge amount of bad loans. government officials are expected to decide on bailing out the bank by the end of this week. many asian countries weathered global challenges like brexit, turbulent markets and weak oil prices to enjoy steady growth in 2016. now we turn our attention to the year ahead.

what lies in store for japan and other asian economies in 2017. well, for insight, my colleague, gene otani, earlier spoke with a renowned fund manager, executive chairman of templeton emerging markets group. >> mark, i want to start by asking you about emerging markets in asia. which areas, which countries are you looking at right now? >> we're really looking at almost every country in asia right now because the picture in asia looks very good. for two very good reasons. one, the growth in china continues to be very, very high. 6% or 7%. the growth in india seems to be empb higher. 7% or 8%. we expect that kind of growth in the two largest countries in asia are going to be beneficial to all of the asian countries. vietnam is one of our hottest frontier markets. thailand where we've been for many, many years continues to do

well. malaysia is slowing down a little bit. again, the opportunities there will be good as commodity prices begin to come up again. >> let me go down that list and start off with china. we're seeing some slowdowns in the country, the past few years. how concerned are you about the data that's coming out right now? >> there's no question that the velocity of the economy is slowing down. in other words, you're seeing a deceleration. however, the current growth in dollar terms is greater than it was when it was 10% in 2010. so in looking at the totality of what's happening in china, you must realize that the amount of money going into investments, expansion, et cetera, is much greater than it's ever been before. >> in 2017 where do you see japan going? is, in your view, abenomics working?

>> abenomics, at least the first two arrows, will be helped with the trump administration. because with rising interest rates in the u.s. and rising inflation in the u.s., this will affect what's happening in japan. now, of course, the third arrow is very important for japan. it's absolutely necessary that abe and the administration in japan go about the reform efforts in a very aggressive manner to reconform the japanese industry and the way japan works. now, japan has a great advantage because one of the strengths is robotic and the robotic revolution is hitting the world and japan can take advantage of that trend. >> mark, up until now we've been pretty much talking about the positive view. where do you see the biggest risks in 2017?

>> the most outstanding risk is the etf, the exchange traded funds. exchange traded funds have been growing at a very rapid rate. they now represent almost 30% of all mutual funds globally. these etfs, of course, depend on the index. they follow the index. they all follow the same stocks. and liquidity is drying up because of that. if something reverses the prices of these stocks and the etfs are forced to sell and they have massive redemptions, this could create a general panic. not only in the u.s. market but globally. so this is something we have to watch very, very carefully. >> i'll have more headlines for you in business next hour. here's another check on markets.

a south korean independent council launched a full-scale probe into alleged influence peddling including president park geun-hye and longtime confidant. park young-soo opened an office in seoul and begun work. park's team has raided several places including the office of the government-affiliated national pension service. the service is a major shareholder in a samsung group company. it approved the firm's merger

with another samsung affiliate last year. investigators suspect samsung sought cooperation on the merger from the presidential office and return made huge donations to funds controlled by the president's friend, choi soon-sil. if so, president park could be charged with illegally solicited benefits for a third party. the team also revealed it obtained a court warrant to detain soo's daughter for questioning. the daughter who's believed to be in germany is suspected of getting a spot in university through improper means. in south korea's ongoing political scandal there's a battle going on, the media's struggle for the eyes and ears of the country's citizens. so far, it's new media that's winning the fight thanks to detailed and aggressive coverage. nhk world has that story. >> reporter: since the scandal broke, new cable networks have been stealing the spotlight in

terms of coverage. the first station to pick up the story, tv chosun. he led a project that drilled down into the scandal. he said his team got a tip about two years ago from a man who was very close to president park geun-hye's longtime friend choi soon-sil. they started digging into the connections with two non-profit organizations. >> translator: we thought there was pressure coming from somewhere that forced the conglomerates to donate money. >> reporter: then they got proof that showed choi was very influential even with presidential aides. they found a video that showed one of park's aides was very loyal to choi. choi's since been indicted on charges of coercion and conspireing to abuse the president's power. >> translator: the media should

act as a watchdog for people in power, but generally speaking, it doesn't play its role as much as it did before. on the other hand, we as a newly established channel have a fighting spirit and enthusiasm. >> reporter: the cable channel, jtcb, was also heavily involved in covering the influence-peddling scandal. in october, they broke the story saying they obtained presidential documents from choi's tablet pc. a recent survey shows jtbc is the top outlet for deliveringing information on the scandal. >> translator: i enjoy watching jtcb. the channel gives us what major broadcasters can't air because they're concerned about what the authorities will think. >> reporter: for the country's major public and private broadcasters, it's a different story. they've been under fire for pulling their punches.

>> translator: major broadcasters look like they're trying to hide everything. people think that's unfair. we're frustrated. >> reporter: cpodcasts, online on-demand radio programs, have also become popular with people looking for more scandal info. the show, papais, is one of the most popular. this journalist and commentator began the program in 2014. he was already well known for his appearances on current affairs programs. but his podcast exploded in popularity since he started focusing on the political upheaval once the news broke in october. the producer said the podcast now gets more than 10 million visits a week. >> translator: after listening to this podcast, i realized its stories were more objective, comprehensive and easy to understand for the average

person when compared to major broadcasts. >> reporter: kim invites guests who may be closely related to the scandal. they spent at least one hour talking about the latest developments. each time he decides to do an open recording, the venue is packed. >> translator: those who are thirsty for more information on the scandal listen to the podcast. major media helped us develop it further. >> reporter: the last time south koreans had protests this big, they got democracy and media freedom. this time, the old guard is seen as untrustworthy while the new kids on the block could be earning public trust and attention for years to come. nhk world, seoul. an animated film depicting

wartime hiroshima is becoming a sleeper hit across japan. movie producers and studios doubted whether the film would sell so it faced budget problems, but now in this corner of the world, it's proving them wrong and next year it will be released in the united states and europe. nhk world tells us the story behind the screen. >> reporter: the film takes audiences to hiroshima before and during world war ii. viewers see it through the eyes of a girl struggling to come to terms with life after marriage. it's been almost a month since this theater in tokyo started to show the film. tickets have sold out and people are lining up to buy standing

room only tickets. >> translator: depictions of the war were so real. >> translator: every scene is about ordinary life. that's the most touching part. >> reporter: the director spent six years studying hiroshima before 1945. he went through thousands of photos and hundreds of books. >> translator: i wanted to do my utmost to draw the city as precisely as possible. that's my duty to the previous generation and also for generations to come. >> reporter: he worked hardest on the film's first scene, set during christmas of 1933. the girl walks through the neighborhood. it no longer exists. only 100 meters from where the atomic bomb exploded, it was

completely wiped away by it. >> translator: the place is now a peace memorial park. there are no buildings there at all. but i imagined the shopping street should have a christmas mood, just like today. >> reporter: books weren't enough for his research, so he looked for people who knew the town before the bombing. she lost both her parents, her two brothers, and her home to the bomb. her father ran a hair accessory shop in the area. >> translator: the street was packed with all sorts of shops. two photo studios, a shoe store and restaurants. everything was there. i remember it as a very busy town. >> reporter: she shared her

childhood with the director and helped him draw details. she was among dozens of survivors who helped reconstruct their former home. in one scene, he drew in the survivors' deceased relatives, including her father. he says he did it to commemorate the dead and to thank the survivors. >> translator: the director depicted every detail with utmost sensitivity. it helped me ease my father's soul, and now i have a nice story to tell him. >> translator: the scene i tried to depict was filled with the survivors' many happy childhood memories. listening to their stories made my heart flutter. i managed to draw the town as a

place where children play forever. >> reporter: the film's success is proving that today's generation is still able and eager to connect to a part of hiroshima that was destroyed decades ago but not lost from memory. tomoko kamata, nhk world. >> some beautiful scenes there. all right. shifting gears. winter weather is hampering efforts to evacuate people from war-torn syria. bitter cold and snow are sweeping across the region. our meteorologist robert speta has more. >> yes, this is definitely an ongoing grave situation for a lot of people especially in the city of aleppo. evacuations continue to be stalled here and also the weather is hampering it as well. we have a storm system, in fact, over turkey, and that is pulling in moisture off the

mediterranean, coming onshore across much of syria here and that has pushed the temperatures down just because of the way the jet stream is meandering here and brought in an abundance of instability. so you have very cold winds and below zero temperatures. now, as we show you some quick images coming out of aleppo, this is through the overnight hours here heading into wednesday, so it is a little dark but you can see that snow coming down. people huddled around some of the fires here. waiting for some of those buses to arrive but even indoors, the infrastructure still kind of crumbled in a lot of these places so heating is definitely sparse as well. so a very rough situation for a lot of people out here and the temperatures do warm up, at least a little bit. i mean, friday and saturday, above the freezing point for the overnight lows, but it's just accompanied by a cold rain. just a low of 1 and 2 there by friday into saturday. and some windy and snowy conditions here on thursday. so a jet stream definitely plummeting temperatures down

making an already bad situation that much worse for a lot of people out there. now, if you look back toward the west, also do want to mention travel weather across the rest of europe, at least eastern europe out here toward western russia, pretty calm. even extending into warsaw and also parts of germany. but also we have this low back toward the north. that's bringing us fairly gusty winds. actually across northern areas of the uk. there into scotland, winds gusting as high has 11 100 kilometers per hour because of the tight pressure gradient associated with this pulling to the east. just south of our jet stream, we have a low-pressure area bringing scattered showers there heading through parts of france, even into paris. you might see some rain with this. but overall, it's going to be staying rain, not so much snow. in fact, the outlook for your christmas or your holiday weekend, london looking at a high of just 8. 10 there by friday. things even warm up into sunday. same into paris, in fact.

scattered showers there friday, saturday, also sunday, remains above the freezing point. if you want to go somewhere with snow, back toward the north into moscow, you're probably going to be seeing some of that with highs lingering around the freezing point. now, let's take a look over here toward northeastern asia. fairly potent storm system moving across korea and japan today. this one is really bringing all sorts of mixed weather with it. actually right now, scattered showers across the korean pence la, some areas rather heavy, fairly gusty winds in western areas of honshu, kyushu, wind reports, 80, 90 kilometers per hour. ushering in much higher temperatures. totori, record-breaking high today, 21 degrees celsius. tokyo as well pushing into the high teens et s even on friday. once this moves by, will head toward the east, that cold air is going to surge in behind it and a winter weather pattern will be setting up for much of

ja fa japan. the next four days, temperatures spike in tokyo. drop down to 11. sapporo, actually snowfall throughout the weekend. i'll leave you now with your extended outlook. that is all for this edition of nhk "newsline." i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. thanks for joining us.

♪ >> today on "in good shape," foods you can eat that actually reduce cholesterol. adjusting your bicycle for a healthy ride. and remedies for the itchy skin condition uticaria. and here is dr. carsten lekutat. dr. lekutat: hello and welcome to "in good shape." if your skin suddenly turns red and itchy, it might be a good idea to see a specialist like like professor marcus maurer here in berlin at the charite hospital. let's go in.