hello. you're watching nhk "newsline." i'm keiko kitagawa in tokyo. the scandal that led to the impeachment of south korea's president is widening. the daughter in a key figure is under arrest in denmark. they have requested she be extradited. the woman under arrest is the daughter of president park's close friend. nhk has decided not to identify her. she's accused of meddling in state affairs and gaining access to official documents with

park's help. she was arrested on charges of staying in the country illegally. they suspect the university gave her favorable treatment regarding admission and grade. other allegations sent on the purchase of a host spy who compete in equestrian events. she and her mother set up a firm in germany that received $2.7 million from samsung electronics. it's believed those funds were used to buy the horse. police intend to confirm the official request and then comply. turkish police have detained eight people. the islamic state group claimed responsibility for an attack that left 39 dead. authorities say they're closer

to identifying the gunman. the deputy prime minister said authorities have obtained fingerprints and a description of the shooter. he said the attack was a message to the government about its operations against the militant group in syria. this is believed for outside a nightclub. hundreds of people were inside celebrating when the shooting began. about 70 were wounded in the early morning rampage. reports say that about half of the victims were from other countries, including canada, lebanon, and saudi arabia. >> translator: the attacker kept on shooting. many people were lying on the floor. >> abc news aired this footage of the suspect. >> the gunman dressed in white wearing a hood.

authorities believe the attacker changed his clothes. he stayed inside for seven terrifying minutes. >> the islamic state group released a statement about the attack online. it said one of its fighters care carried out the attack from orders from the group's leader and calls for revenge against turkey for those fighting the group. islamic state has claimed attacks also in baghdad. a car bomb left at least 35 people dead and 61 others injured. the blast happened in a predominantly shia district of northeastern baghdad. iraqi media say most of the victims were day laborers gathered at a square to find work. iraqi government forces continued fighting to recapture mosul, the largest strong hold

of the islamic state group. the militants have been retaliating by carrying out attacks on shia soldiers and civilians. the group claimed responsibility for an attack saturday in central baghdad. the suicide attack left at least 28 people dead. people are out buying lucky bags. 7,000 people were waiting outside before it opened the doors. they prepared 50,000 lucky bags. this department store sells lucky bags with special items for babies. these include clothing worn for their first trip to a shrine. it's also a gold statue of a rooster and other birds of about

$170,000. a makeshift shopping district has been used for more than five years. >> translator: i'm happy to hear that the temporary shops are moving. >> the shops would be demolished. permanent facilities are scheduled to be completed in april. japanese car makers are likely to ramp up development amid worldwide moves to tighten regulations on exhaust fumes. the u.s. state of california requires automakers to sell ecofriendly vehicles.

they are powered by gasoline and electricity. tesla is known for its relatively expensive vehicles. it's expected to offer cars at half the price. japanese automaker toyota motor has an engine hybrid technology. it plans to begin mass producing electric vehicles around 2020. nissan motor already aggressively promotes its electric cars and is trying to increase their range. authorities in china and europe are also aiming to toughen regulations on exhaust emissions. japanese business people are setting their sights high this year. the small spacecraft are getting attention as low cost offers new

opportunities. interstellar technologies is offering mini rockets. this will be the first test run to a rocket developed solely by a private japanese firm. they hope to launch 15 micro satellites that will show the earth. it's place to be for business people with vision. companies around the world launching micro satellites as a promising business opportunity. he thinks japanese firms can play a crucial role in this growing sector. language barriers are a big problem for tourists visiting

japan. as the government hopes to bring in more international visitors toward the 2020 olympics it's supporting development of technology to help them get around and communicate. our next story takes a look. >> reporter: a tourist asks a japanese guides some questions in chinese about the mountains. he takes out a smartphone. >> you can't camp on the way. you can stay there overnight. it gave a perfect translation without any hassle. i was really surprised. >> reporter: this app was developed in japan by a national

technology institute. it supports 31 languages including english, chinese and russian. it uses a very active speech recognition system. audio data of the users voice is sent to this computer at the research institute. it analyzes the audio and converts it to text by referring to more than 8,000 hours of recordings collected from 80,000 people. it sends back an audio and text translation in less than a second. the biggest problem for any speech recognition technology is unwanted noise. researchers record ambient sounds. researchers record many

background sounds. once the kpucomputer has been f the audio data, it can recognition the noise and eliminate them. >> which ride do you want to go on first? >> reporter: after the background noise has been removed you can hear the words clearly. the government is funding the development of a further improved version of the system to be ready for overseas visitors by 2020. >> we'd like the technology to get close to simultaneous translation even if several people are speaking at once. >> reporter: the technology has been used in a new service for a railway company. researchers are putting their energy and know how into helping visitors overcome the language barrier at the tokyo olympics.

authorities in myanmar investigating a video taken showing police beating villagers. the government has acknowledged they were involved. they are a muslim minority in predominantly buddhist myanmar. the footage appears to have recorded by the police and posted online saturday. it shows a group of at least 30 villagers being urged to gather together and being beaten repeatedly with a baton. they're shown being forced to sit on the ground with hands behind their heads. the myanmar government says the footage was taken in november. last october, myanmar security forces launched an offensive after militants attacked military and police outposts. they have faced international criticism as there have been allegations of abuse against the

rohingya. the myanmar government stressed that the security forces are following the rule of law. the government of sri lanka appears set to reach a deal that will allow a chinese firm to operate a port in the country for almost a century, but it's raising concerns that chinese navy vessels could make port call there is claiming a need to maintain security. the port in southern sri lanka is currently under construction through a $1.4 billion loan provided by china. nhk obtained a copy of a draft document signed with a chinese firm. they will secure the right to operate it for 99 years. the deal is likely to be signed before the end of the month.

some members of the government of sri lanka are concerned that china will allow its navy vessels to make port calls there. news agency says the government will order 30 processing firms and 143 designated stores to stop operating. police, custom authorities and other entities will work together to counter smuggling and illegal ivory sales. ornaments are popular with newly affluent people in china.

it caused for countries to shut down their domestic ivory markets. international sales of elephant tusks are already banned. for 600 years people in malaysia has flown kites to brighten their skies and talk to gods. we see how these soaring art works are made. >> reporter: traditional kites appear in the skies here. they don't just look pretty. people say they can talk to the kites to the wind spirits to attract good harvest. if you listen you can hear a wall soar in the breeze.

master craftsman is built kites almost every day since he was 15. >> translator: i'm dedicated to making wau and to protecting our traditions. >> he gets the frames from bamboo he gets himself. he dries the bamboo and whittles in to supports. the balance is critical. a small arrow could cause a kite to crash. his kites are special because of their design. he says traditional wau use only will plain materials but he cuts intricate patterns into his base paper. >> he then pastes on different colors to achieve the effect like stain glass. he develop his technique over five years. all his kites contain a moon shaped element.

they are called wau balloon. >> translator: people say these days it's better for a kite in the sky to have a design. >> one thing that worries him is his lack of a successor, fewer people play with kites these days. the craftsman field his traditions are fading. he teaches his craft in the hope the young will feel the allure of the wau. >> translator: it's more fun to create wau than to play computer games. >> local high school students will visit every week practice flying the wau. >> translator: as long as children continue to take an interest in the wau, our local

kite tradition will not dis-a-appear. >> he has made his own adjustments to the traditional craft of the wau. he hopes a younger generation will make progress in his own way. nhk "newsline," asia. with it's rich aroma, coffee from new guinea as among the best in the world but it's still nowhere near as popular as south american or african coffee. local of coffee makers aim to turn that station around. nhk "newsline" reports. >> the mountains of new guinea are ideal for growing coffee. >> the small farmers must come all the way to where the buyers are to sell heir beans. brokers seal coffee beans perfect surrounding farms. a local business association official sees big potential for coffee. >> but our coffee is very high

in demand because of its uniqueness. >> an guide takes you to the village where coffee is the main crop. with a population of 2,000,

almost every household grows coffee in the plots on the farm. he was born and raised here. he works for in the capital reaching ways to develop the coffee industry. >> when i was in school, the coffee helped me to pay my school fee when i was in university. coffee more or less my like buddy and the same with my family. >> but these days sofe is worried about his hometown main stay industry. the coffee don't produce enough beans. >> this plant was -- >> coffee farmers in other countries replace their coffee trees every 20 years or so. but most of the trees here have been harvested for as long as

half a century. for a long life cycle reduces the productivity of the trees, it's not the quality of the beans. >> to increase farmers income and enable them to boost output, sofe recently opened a cafe. his aim is to raise awareness. coffee is an acquired taste for most new guinea. once they develop a liking for it, they'll see the value of the coffee business. >> this coffee shop is one of the best in the city and i love drinking coffee too. >> it's really heart warming to see people starting to get into drinking coffee and coffee is really new. it's a sign of good things to

come. >> sofe has planted the seeds of a coffee drinking culture here. he hopes they'll take route and that new guinea will grow to become one of the world's top coffee producers. they classified records from the body that she was have revealed an early interest in japanese writing. the first author from japan to win the price was kawabata in 1968 landed on short list much earlier. the swedish academies keeps records of the nominees and selection process under wraps for 50 years. nhk requested minutes of a 1966 minute when nominations were made for the literature prize. the documents shows that 72 writers were on the list among them were two japanese, the

poet. the record shows that one member of the selection committee regarded kawabata as the most worthy. he had an elegant writing style and depicted pictures of japan not found until western novels. in early 1960s two other japanese novels were short listed. each man was nominated three years in a row at a time when many of his works were being translated into english. now time for the world weather update with our meteorologist robert speta. people in tokyo were blessed with good weather. >> at least in tokyo it is going to be staying this way. we have these northwesterly winds coming in. it's actually exceptionally dry across much of the pacific coastline of japan.

but as this pulls away we still have this high pressure dominating back toward the west so you're not getting any precipitation in parts of northeastern china. that is the form of the very dangerous and hazardous haze. we do have this orange and red alerts issued at this time. about 20 highways were closed or somewhat slowed down as visibility dropped to less than 15 meters out there. that's going to be a big concern over the next couple days. some of the airports still seeing some haze there. we might get some improvements in the forecast. but overall, it's high pressure is just going to sit in place at least into tuesday and wednesday. look at the forecast for beijing and harbin. especially cool. just keeping those particles in the air, very close to the ground. jinan one of the areas we just

seen there, you're going to be looking at hazy conditions and that's because we have another low coming in from the southwest and that's going to bring some precipitation but eventually making it's way over there toward the east to stir up your atmosphere. if you're out here, we saw that precipitation along the sea of coastline. tokyo with a high of 13. sunny conditions today. seoul with a high of 6. shanghai at 14. now, we take a look across the americas it is absolutely messy out here today. if you are traveling maybe post new year heading home, definitely slow down the roads and check your flights ahead of time, no matter where you're going. we actually have a storm coming in out of the gulf coast, this is already increased or put up several tornadoes watches at this time. still at risk for severe thunderstorms and back towards the north but these gusty winds

along with the snowfall. could see about a foot of snow in parts of new england through quebec combined with winds. of course you have the freezing rain mixed in there as well. also seeing freezing rain along the west coast. >> if you're a skier or snow boarder, plenty of snow in the mountains across parts of nevada and into california. stay well below the freezing point. one thing with that, there will be some gusty winds, 100 to 160 kilometer gusts. cold air spilling in if you're in winnipeg, minus 18, chicago at 4 and then we take a look across europe. definitely some messy travel weather. we have a low diving in. this is going to be the big concern over the next few days. so for now, berlin you're going

to be seeing some rainfall. here's extended outlook.

the bird is a symbol of good luck especially at new year's. about 50 people gathered in the village in hokkaido before dawn on monday. s 17 degrees celsius. they photographed the cranes as the birds took flight. >> translator: you'll never see this kind of scenery where i come from. i'm enjoying the cold and i'm glad i came. >> translator: the backdrop is also beautiful and i shot some really nice pictures. that wraps up this edition of nhk "newsline" i'm keiko kitagawa. thank you for watching. ♪

>> hello and welcome to "focus on europe." our program today is not what we had originally planned to bring you in the midst of the holiday season. but we had to change it after germany was hit by a violent act of terror. ♪ a terrorist drove a truck through the middle of a crowded christmas market in berlin. people were killed and many injured. berliners gathered, appalled and confused by the carnage. one woman remarked -- i can not understand the people who make such a thing, quite honestly. >> with the sharp rise of terrorist attacks in europe, many people in germany feared