it's the top of the hour and this is nhk newsline. i'm ross mihara in tokyo. a north korean man detained over the killing of the half brother of the north's leader has left the country this after malaysian police leased him due to a lack of evidence. ri jong chol boarded a flight to beijing friday evening. he was the only north korean national taken into custody in connection with the murder of kim jong-nam. there was a media frenzy when ri arrived at the airport in beijing. he was accompanied by north korean officials. his final destination is believed to be pyongyang. malaysian police have obtained a warrant for an employee of north

korea's state-owned airlines but they know it may be difficult to detain the man. officials want to question the air koryo worker. they also want to speak with a second secretary at the north korean embassy in kuala lumpur. both men appear in security video taken at the airport on the day of the killing. but they are refusing to cooperate with the probe. malaysia's deputy prime minister implied that the airline staffer is at the embassy. he said that as long as a person is on the premises of an embassy, officials must follow diplomatic procedures. he is protected by diplomatic immunity and cannot be detained. relations between south korea and china have been further soured as chinese authorities ordered its travel agencies to stop selling tours to korea.

south korean reports that beijing's move is in retaliation to the finland deployment of an advanced u.s. missile defense system for china's eastern neighbor. the missile system is the terminal high altitude aerial defense, known as thaad. the south korean foreign ministry said if true china's measure would be regrettable as it would artificially curb normal human exchanges. chinese travelers accounted for nearly half of all foreign tourists visiting south korea last year. the acting president indicated his country will not change its deployment plans. >> translator: we expect china's opposition to the system to intensify as the deployment begins. we will monitor china's measures against us and put more effort into having more talks with china. we will also make provisions for any necessary measures. china's foreign ministry was quick to react.

>> translator: south korea shouldn't say uncertain things and wrap itself up in suspicion. instead it should listen to the people's voices and take proper measures if he doesn't want to cause more damage to exchanges in cooperation between the two countries. >> seoul says the missile defense system is needed to bolster the country's defenses against north korea's nuclear and missile threats. chinese officials say the system's advanced radar may be used to monitor their military's activities. north korea is threatening to conduct more missile launches. it's meant to show its displeasure with an annual u.s./south korea joint military drill. the threat came in a commentary on friday by the korean workers party newspaper. the paper said the drill has created a severe crisis on the korean peninsula. it cited the u.s. deployment of strategic assets such as a nuclear powered aircraft carrier. the commentary then referred to

an upgraded ballistic missile pyongyang test fired on february 12. it said the north will unveil new types of strategic weapons if washington and seoul continue staging the drill. during last year's exercise, north korea responded by launching eight ballistic missiles. it also tested an engine for an intercontinental ballistic missile. negotiators from 16 asia-pacific countries have failed to reach a consensus on the abolition of terrorists in talks on a free trade agreement. the latest round of the five day negotiations for arcep, the regional comprehensive economic partnership ended in the western japanese city of kobe. representatives talked about tariff reduction as well as services and investment liberalization. japanese foreign ministry officials said one point of

contention was the percentage of items for which tariffs should be abolished. but they are not giving up. the next round of talks is scheduled for may in the philippines. fears of protectionism have been rising after the u.s. withdrew from tpp, the transpacific partnership, which does not include china. attention is now focused on how japan and china might take the arcep to the next stage. japanese government officials say the number of foreign visitors who stayed in hotels last year set a new high. officials at the japan tourism agency say there were about 70 million hotel stays by foreigners for the year. that's up more than 5 million, or 8%, from 2015. tokyo topped the list with about 18 million stays. osaka prefecture followed with more than 10 million, hokkaido drew nearly seven million. the popularity of the so-called golden route linking

osaka, hokkaido has left less tourists. more than 620,000 fake products were confiscated by japan's customs officers last year. finance ministry officials say computer-related products top the list with about 195,000 fake items, mainly ink cartridges. that's a 19-fold rise over the previous year. officials also seized 74,000 mobile phones and accessories and 39,000 pharmaceutical products. the total retail value of these products is $100 million. they warn products are becoming more sophisticated that requires professionals to decide on patents and other violations. the officials say they will not let up in the battle against counterfeiters. they also say all confiscated

goods will be destroyed. checking the markets. tokyo stocks ended lower after a three-day rally. a pause in the dollar's advance pulled down the nikkei average. our business reporter giang nguyen has more. >> reporter: investors took profits after a couple of days of strong gains. remember on thursday, tokyo's benchmark nikkei touched a 14-month high. the nikkei 225 lost about half a percent finishing at 19,69. the broader topix shed 4%. however on the week, the nikkei advanced just under 1% for the second weekly gain in a row. turning to currencies now, the dollar retreated a bit in tokyo trading hours after hitting a two-week high overnight. several fed policymakers expressed the possibility of a rate hike soon. moving on to individual stocks, energy shares were among the

biggest losers, dragged down by an overnight fall in oil prices. both oil explorer inpex and refiner showa shell fell more than 2%. nintendo gained 3.7% as its latest game console went on sale i'm giang nguyen reporting from the tokyo stock exchange. march 11th this year marks six years since a massive earthquake and tsunami hit northeastern japan. we start a series about challenges that people in fukushima are confronting.overn lifting evacuation orders for some municipalities in march while the decontamination work for these places is finished, radiation fears persist. for former residents, they're being left with a difficult choice -- try to move back home or stay away.

nhk world has the story of one couple's decision. >> reporter: this may be a house, but it's no longer a home since the disaster six years ago. >> translator: when my grandson used to come here we would play together in a small kid's pool and then have a barbecue. >> reporter: he and his wife look at the emptiness of what was once filled with family and happiness. their town is namie, their house about ten miles from the fukushima daiichi nuclear plant. they grew up here, raised their family and became grandparents here. on march 11, 2011, the

earthquake crippled the nuclear power plant. they didn't know how bad things were at the time. they fled right away. >> translator: my family was separated when evacuating. >> reporter: because of radiation, namie was declared a restricted residential zone. the family could visit but were not allowed to live there. they spent the first four months in temporary housing, then had to move again to more permanent housing. about 70 kilometers away from their house. she took up arts and crafts with others from her hometown. >> translator: i'm more positive now but still can't sleep at

night, so i do craft work to kill time. >> reporter: since then, the shigas have been traveling to namie every month to check on their house. at the end of this month, authorities will finally lift the restrictions, but they say only about 4% of the city's residents are returning. the reason? radiation fears coupled with a lack of facilities and medical services. >> translator: we want to build a home in namie if it's possible. but our children say namie is an inconvenient place to live. we don't see the point of living in a house where our children and grandchildren can't visit. >> reporter: last month the shigas came to visit their family's graveyard near their home. they offered a prayer for her mother who died 20 years ago.

>> translator: what heavy snow. my mother must be angry because we've left her alone. >> reporter: they don't want to be far from namie, but at the same time they want to be in a place that's safe for their grandchildren. and so they give their mother the news. >> translator: we will build a house far from here but we will keep this grave. >> reporter: before they leave to start a new chapter in their life, the wife has one last message. >> translator: we will join you soon. just wait a little longer. >> reporter: nhk world, fukushima. the person at the center of

a fiasco related to the relocation of tokyo's iconic tsukiji market has broken his silence. shinto ishihara acknowledged his responsibility in approving the plan but he said he's not the only one to be blamed. >> translator: i had to endorse the decision. it was based on discussions of experts and officials. the responsibility of the approval lies not only on me but on the administration as a whole. >> tsukiji was built over 80 years ago and is beginning to show its age so the tokyo government decided to build a replacement two kilometers away. but there were safety concerns. the site is the former home of a gas processing plant. still ishihara struck a deal with the company saying the government would carry out the cleanup.

but last august, months before the new market was scheduled to open, current governor yuriko koike announced that the relocation would be postponed and she later said excessive levels of chemicals had been found in the groundwater. on friday, ishihara defended his decision. >> translator: i asked my staff about the soil contamination, they replied they can manage it with the technology so i approved it. >> he said because he doesn't have technical knowledge of the issue, he simply trusted experts. he said assembly members endorsed the plan and he pointed a finger at the current governor. >> translator: lots of money is needed for the cost of having two sites as well as the compensation for the tenants. the responsibility of the current turmoil is on governor koike. >> koike said his explanation is not convincing.

>> translator: i think it's easy to put the blame on someone besides yourself. i would have liked if he could have looked at himself more after creating a situation like this. >> ishihara is scheduled to testify at the tokyo assembly over his handling of the case later this month. in thailand, protesters took to the streets on friday to condemn the killing of a family in one of the three deep south provinces where muslim separatists have been fighting a long-running insurgency in the buddhist-dominated country. leading newspaper "bangkok post" said more than 1,000 local people from both the muslim and buddhist communities joined in the march. on thursday, suspected militants ambushed the car of an assistant village head fatally shooting him with along with his

8-year-old son, wife, and relatives. according to local media, on thursday alone, three violent incidents occurred in two provinces, claiming eight lives. they were just the latest in a series of attacks that has plagued the region since 2004, leaving at least 6,800 people dead. russia's deputy prime minister has indicated his country is ready to go it alone if talks with japan on joint economic activity on four russian-held islands don't advance. the presidential envoy to the far east told local media that russia won't wait long because it can develop the northern territories without japan's cooperation. russian president vladimir putin and japanese prime minister shinzo abe agreed last december to begin the negotiations. the countries are to begin talks on march 18 in tokyo. he also renewed suggestions that russia may designate the area -- including the northern territories -- as a special economic zone.

russia intends to call on china and south korea for investment. japan says it will never accept such a plan. earlier he indicated russia would postpone the special economic zone project in light of the summit meeting. russia controls the four islands, japan claims them. the japanese government maintains the islands are an inherent part of japan's territory. it says the islands were illegally occupied after world war ii. japan's air service defense force has scrambled jets to intercept 13 chinese military aircraft that flew near okinawa. defense ministry officials say it was the largest group of foreign planes to draw a response from japan since 2003. officials say the planes came from the east china sea and passed between islands in okinawa before heading toward the pacific ocean. all of them later flew back toward the east china sea. officials say the aircraft didn't violate japan's airspace and the asdf planes were

scrambled to ensure that. three chinese navy vessels sailed through the area on the same day. the ministry suspects the aircraft and vessels took part in a drill staged by china's navy and air force. the air self defense force has scrambled jets more than 1,000 times during the 10 months through january. that's higher than the cold war record of 944 in 1984. the number of scrambles against chinese planes has recently been surging. people in afghanistan are facing an increasing threat from taliban insurgents and the islamic state militant group. many people have been forced to flee their homes. the number of those internally displaced people increased by 500,000 last year alone. but the country's poor security is hampering activities to support them. nhk world's fumio sugaya has more. >> reporter: this is a camp for internally displaced people in the eastern city of jalalabad.

about 2,800 people live here. 48-year-old reza gul lives in the camp. he was forced to evacuate last autumn after his village came under attack by islamic state militants. he fled with his nine children to this camp. >> translator: islamic state militants robbed my property and killed my cousin. they gunned down innocent residents randomly. >> reporter: reza gul worked as a farmer back home. he now tries to find day labor work at the town 10 kilometers from the camp but he can only get a job at construction sites and other places about once a week. that means he can barely feed his family. life at the camp is taking a toll on his children. his eldest son has to make several trips a day to fetch water for his family.

>> translator: there's no school here. life here is really hard and i never have time to study. >> translator: there's no prospect of security conditions improving in our area. i'm not sure if we'll ever be able to go back home again. >> reporter: amid the continuing conflict, the number of afghan people in need of humanitarian assistance is expected to exceed 9 million this year. that's about a third of the entire population. the united nations is urging the international community to step up support. >> the large scale of displacement has made this a very different appeal from those i've presented in previous years. i want to re-emphasize that afghanistan faces exceptional needs. >> reporter: support groups working for internally placed afghans are facing a harsh reality.

fary, armed militants attacked convoy longing icrc, the international committee for the red cross. they killed six of its staff members. local police suspect that islamic state militants were involved. the icrc have ordered its staff not to travel until it becomes ear who carried out the deadly attack and why. >> the needs are great, however we can only do so if we have the safety and the security which which is necessary. we cannot risk the lives of our staff when delivering aid. >> reporter: security conditions in afghanistan show no signs of improving and international support for the country is often disrupted. displaced afghans are trying hard to survive amid the growing anxiety about their uncertain future. fumio sugaya, nhk world, kabul.

technology is getting better at human games. following man versus machine matches of chess and the asian board game go, an international team developed artificial intelligence that can beat pros at the poker table. the computer scientists from canadian and czech institutions have published their findings in the u.s. journal "science." they developed software called deepstack. it took on 33 professional poker players in nearly 45,000 games and won most of them. poker poses a unique challenge to a.i. developers as it involves imperfect information because players don't know what cards their opponents have. deepstack acquired something its developers called intuition through various game play scenarios. a.i. technology has been making rapid progress. i.t. giant google developed the software app alphago which stunned the world last year when it beat one of the world's best go players.

the temptation to track through freshly fallen snow is great for many of us. but for one british artist, it's a passion. he sees the pristine landscape as a canvas. as our next story shows, he's teaching people in northern japan how to turn the white stuff into works of art. >> reporter: a beautiful geometric pattern adds a special touch to a winter landscape. it's called snow art. simon beck is a leading figure in this field. he has created more than 250 works using just a pair of snow shoes. beck relies on his sense of direction as he makes huge patterns in the snow one step at a time. >> the difficulty is keeping your mind on it and not making a

mistake that can't be undone. you can't paint over a mistake, you can't rub something out. it's quite difficult to get it right. >> reporter: people in the town of higashikawa in hokkaido asked beck to liven up their community in long winter months. he shows them how to create a large-scale work by created several triangles. now it's time to put theory into practice. the canvas, rice paddies covered in snow. two hours later beck and local people have created a piece of art measuring 400 square meters. >> translator: i think we did pretty well. i enjoyed drawing and adding shadows. >> translator: i think we can do

this in vacant lots around town. >> i think in the future i shall move more into a teaching role. i hope snow art will become a popular worldwide activity and maybe in three years we'll have a snow art competition on these paddy fields and have a really big event. that would be really good. >> reporter: beck's creation melts at the onset of spring and become only memories, but he's created a lasting legacy among the people of this small japanese town. let's take a look at the weather forecast for the weekend.

an airline marked girls day here in japan with a special flight service by an all female crew. japan airlines operate this is flight every year on march 3 to celebrate the day to honor girls

and pray for their well-being. the pilot, co-pilot, cabin attendants and mechanics were all women. before departure, staff handed out sweet rice crackers to the passengers. they posed for photos in front of a traditional doll display at the boarding gate. >> translator: i didn't know i would take this special flight. i'm so happy. >> the staff also enjoyed the special flight. >> translator: i hope i'll have more opportunities to work with female colleagues. >> women account for a small percentage of pilots at major japanese airlines. the transport ministry wants carriers to hire more women to address the shortage of pilots and mechanics. that's all this hour on nhk newsline. thank you for watching and have a good day.

>> this week, global 3000 heads to bolivia. in the capital, la paz, young people are finding out how to cook healthy and yummy food. in india, we'll show you how to raise baby elephants. but first, let's take a look at the cult surrounding the russian president vladimir putin, who has all the makings of a populist. but what is "populism?" the word "populus" is latin for "people". it can take many shapes sometimes originating from the political left, at other times, from the right. but the one thing all populists agree upon, is the elite all social classes are against them.