welcome to nhk "newsline." it is 9:00 a.m. in tokyo. our top story this hour, we have breaking news out of hawaii. u.s. federal judge has dealt another legal blow to the president. he issued an emergency halt to donald trump's revised travel ban at the 11th hour. district judge derek watson argued that the new order would harm hawaii's muslim population and tourism industry, and he said it violates the u.s. constitution, which prevents religious discrimination. the executive order would temporarily bar the entry of most refugees and travelers from six muslim majority countries. trump has said the policy is necessary for national security.

his first travel order signed in january was also halted by a federal judge. switching gears, ral reserve have decided to raise the key interest rates, ai uchida joins us with details from our business desk. the fed officials seem confident about the u.s. economy, the steady growth it's seeing? >> absolutely. >> what do you have for us? >> certainly seems that way, catherine. this is only the third time in a decade that they are hiking the benchmark rate, and it's the latest move will be the first since donald trump stepped into the white house in january. analysts have been trying to assess how the u.s. central bank is going to respond to the president's economic policy. fed chair janet yellen spoke at the end of a two-day policy meeting. she said the key rate target will be $0.75% to 1%.

>> we have performed well over the last several years. >> yellen noted that inflation has increased in recent quarters, approaching the fed's 2% longer-run objective. >> today's decision also reflects our view that waiting too long to scale back some accommodation could potentially require us to raise rates rapidly sometime down the road, which in turn could risk disrupting financial markets and pushing the economy into recession. >> fed officials also predicted they would raise rates a total of three times this year, that is in line with their december forecast. >> for more insight on the fed's latest decision ross mihara spoke with a former fed official who serves as a senior fellow at the peterson institute for international economics. >> joseph, janet yellen

emphasized the resilience of the u.s. economy, but the fed forecast also shows that the anticipated pace of future rate hikes is virtually unchanged. so how strong is the u.s. economy, and what do you think is behind the fed's decision? >> well, i think they feel confident that the economy is on track, and their confidence has grown. but that doesn't mean they see a stronger economy than they saw before. so there is no reason to hike any faster. the economy is not any stronger. it's just that they feel more comfortable that the economy is going to maintain its strength. >> in your view, what kind of impact is president trump's economic policies having or will have on the fed's monetary policy? >> well, it's hard to say

because we don't know what will happen, and the fed really cannot anticipate what might happen. they can't act before the trump administration and the congress make their move. so they're not changing their forecast on that. but i think there may well be a tax cut, and that would make the economy even stronger and make the fed raise rates faster. but that's not a certainty, and the fed will not indicate that until after it happens. >> how will the u.s. monetary policy affect japan and other asian countries? and do you think this will affect policy-making at the bank of japan? >> i think the continued solid growth of the u.s. economy, which allows the fed to raise rates, is probably good news from the bank of japan's point

of view because it actually helps to widen the difference between interest rates in the u.s. and japan, that weakens the yen and stimulates the japanese economy. so i think the bank of japan will be happy. this makes the job easier to get japan back to 2% inflation, which would be good for everyone. >> finally, what are your prospects for future u.s. rate hikes, and when would be the next increase? >> i think the next increase would be certainly not the next meeting, probably not even the june meeting, possibly the summer meeting in july or august, and certainly by september, if not earlier. so maybe the summertime. once we know more about the fiscal policy, what the congress and the administration do on taxes and spending, and once that is passed, not just

proposed but actually passed so it becomes law, then the fed might pick up the pace, but i don't think that's going to be possible before summer. so i really think nothing more will happen until june at the earliest and probably july. >> that was joseph gagnon senior fellow at the peterson institute for international economics. now the fed rate hike was widely anticipated, but nevertheless, share prices on wall street showed robust gains after the announcement. major indices marked their biggest rise in two weeks. stock investors relieved that the central bank mentioned a gradual increase in the key rate. let's see how tokyo markets are opening, and reacting to all this. we're going to go to ramin mellegard, who is at our nhk market studios this morning. ramin, good morning. tell us what you're seeing. >> good morning to you, ai. yes, the fed result there was pretty much as expected, as you just mentioned there, and we did see that with the dollar and

u.s. bond yields falling after the fed decision. let's have a look at how the nikkei and the broader topix are reacting to all of this for thursday, march 16th. both indexes there in the negative, down almost 0.6%. we'll see how that goes through the morning session. now, tokyo investors may be focusing of course more on the fact that the dollar fell after the fed announcement, and that may be weighing on exporters. i'll check all the sectors during the morning session. that's also after the fed mentions its intention of keeping its steady pace of race hikes to around 3 this year. many analysts expected maybe perhaps a bit more than just 3. ai? >> ramin, you mentioned the dollar fell after the decision. what was behind this? why did investors sell the dollar, and what's going on with currencies this morning? >> well, exactly. if you look at how the dollar reacted there, now it's at

113.30-31. it actually fell just over 1% against the yen. now many traders had expected a more aggressive stance by the fed in raising rates other than the three times they've already clarified, and that was also reflected in bond yields. if you look at the ten-year u.s. treasury note there fell from 2.6% level to the 2.5, right 2.4948%, to be exact. now switching to the euro, many also keeping a close eye on the elections in the netherlands. so far the polls suggest incumbent is ahead with the far right party freedom leader a little bit lower down in the polls. another focus is on energy related shares. overnight oil prices showed strong gains and that's after u.s. crude inventories fell last week, marking the first weekly decline after nine straight increases, and here in japan, struggling toshiba remains in the spotlight as shares fell over 12% on wednesday, as the

tokyo stock exchange has designated them as securities under supervision. that's after second postponement of its april to december earnings reports. let's also get a quick look at how asian markets are trading so far, seoul's kospi is up almost 1%, sydney is trading up 0.35%. china markets open in an hour and a half. ily' have more for you then. back to you, ai >> sounds good, rahmentin, thanks for keeping us up to date. we'll touch base with you in a few hours. president trump has once again urged toyota to make more cars in america. trump made the personal appeal during a meeting with executives of major automakers. he said his administration is going to do, in his words, wonderful work, with the car manufacturers, but they have to help him out by providing jobs. the chief executive officer of toyota north america, jim lentz, says the company plans to make massive investments in the u.s. >> we got to build those new

plants here though, jim, you know what i'm talking about, right? >> i understand. >> i know i gave you a hard time but you got to mr. them here, okay? >> reporter: trump asked representative of nissan how many of the vehicles the japanesemakers sold in the u.s. market are manufactured in the country. [ cheers and applause ] after the meeting, trump announced a review of tough fuel efficiency standards introduced by the obama administration. >> we're setting up a task force in every federal agency to identify and remove any regulation that undermines american auto production. today i am announcing that we are going to cancel that executive action. >> some analysts say environmentalists may slam the decision for neglecting global warming. i'll have more headlines for you in business next hour. here's a check on markets.

america's top diplomat has arrived in japan. the threat posed by north korean missile launches likely will be top of the agenda in his talks with japanese officials. u.s. secretary of state rex tillerson landed at tokyo's haneda airport wednesday night. he is making the first stop of his three-country tour of east asia. this is his maiden visit to japan since he assumed the post in february. tillerson will meet with japanese foreign minister fumio kishida on thursday.

they're likely to exchange views on u.s. policy toward an increasingly provocative north korea. it's currently under review by the administration of president donald trump. the two are also expected to reaffirm their commitment to strengthening the u.s./japan alliance and discuss china's maritime activities. tillerson is scheduled to pay a courtesy call on prime minister shinzo abe later in the day. the secretary of state heads to south korea and china after leaving japan on friday. >> a u.s. ircraft carrier arrived in south korea to take part in joint military exercises amid warnings of retaliation from north korea. the nuclear powered "carl vincent" sailed from san diego to a naval base in pusan with some 5,500 crew on board and also brought fa-18 fightings, early warning aircraft and helicopter.

>> the "uss carl vincent" are here to send a clear signal of the strength of our alliance and resolve to protect the republic of korea from aggression. >> north korea warned it's ready to count we are super hard line measures. last week it fired four ballistic missiles toward the sea of japan in response to the annual drills. japanese fishermen are reporting a rise of suspected illegal fishing in the sea of japan, happening inside the country's exclusive economic zone where only japanese ships are allowed to fish. local fisherman started spotting boats of unknown origin last october. they suspect they are fishing for japanese flying squid. we report on where the ships may be coming from. >> reporter: the captain of a

local ship from the town of noto by the sea of japan, since last fall he's seen suspicious ships in the japan sea zone, too many to count, in fact. this is a later image of the area recorded last december. japan sea zone lies below the red line. most of the little dots are ships of unknown origin. >> translator: they raised their nets three or four times. it's dangerous, so we stay away. this has happened many times. these are our waters, but our own japanese ships are hesitant to be out there. >> reporter: the image captured by the fishermen shows lots of squid on the deck of the old wooden ship, and korean script can be seen on the stand.

it says chongjin, the name of a city in north korea. chongjin is known for its fishing industry. the suspicious ships appear to have traveled 500 kilometers from chongjin. japanese expert points out that it's a small ship. >> translator: it's a ship for coastal waters, not for deep sea fishing. all the way out to the sea of japan, it probably doesn't have any cooling equipment. that's why they're drying the squid on the deck of the ships to bring back home. >> reporter: in this video taken by a japanese fisherman, a red chinese flag on a boat, this boat is much bigger than the north korean ones. chinese fishermen are not allowed to fish in the sea of japan.

it's believed the north koreans provided a foothold for the chinese to fish there. >> translator: chinese boats overfished the east china sea and are now coming all the way to the coast of hokkaido to poach quish and squid. i'm concerned about the future of japan's resource. >> reporter: south korea is also taking the problem seriously. the fish importer of japan than any other boats in south korea but poaching by chinese vessels cuts into the catch. fishermen say they have seen chinese ships operating in the sea of japan many times. >> translator: we could stop them if there were only one or two boats, but it's impossible when about 700 come.

>> reporter: last october south korea weapons by coast guard ships. [ gunfire ] in the following months the coast guard opened fire on chinese fishing boats that were operating illegally. many japanese fishermen are demanding that the japanese government take similar measures. in late january, local politicians have made an official request for tightened security, to the government. >> translator: if we don't take a stand, japan's exclusive economic zone will disappear. i hope the japanese government will take effective measures to protect our country's resources. >> reporter: government officials are promising to address fishermens' concerns by dispatching more patrol boats. skurako yosioka, nhk world, tokyo.

japan's supreme court has ruled for the first time that using gps data in police investigations without a warrant is illegal. the court ruled it is important to protect privacy and called for new legislation. police used gps tracking devices to follow a 45-year-old defendant in osaka accused of theft and other charges. they installed them on about 20 vehicles, including those of his friends and associates without their knowledge. police did not obtain a court warrant to do that. in question is whether use of such devices requires a warrant. in the ruling on wednesday, the court said using gps to track

suspects without a warrant violates the right to privacy guaranteed by the constitution. it called for new legislation if police want to use these devices in the future. in response, the national police agency instructed police headquarters around the country to stop using tracking devices in their investigations. with the tokyo olympics and paralympics just three years down the track, the subway in japan's capital is speeding up safety efforts. all trains on the network will be fitted with security cameras. tokyo metro operates nine lines in tokyo. it says it will install cameras above the doors in all its cars. it will post a sign telling passengers that the inside of the train is being monitored. the other operator, the tokyo metropolitan government, plans to install cameras on the ceilings of all cars on its four lines. it's expected to take about ten years. both operators say recorded images will be wiped after about a week. they say they'll limit employee

access to the videos to protect passengers' privacy. ♪ many communities in japan have signed up as olympic host towns. they're places where athletes around the world can train for the 2020 tokyo games. people in a town in western japan want to play host to a paralympic team from finland and keen to pick up tips on the nation's welfare system. nhk world has the story. >> reporter: more than 11,000 people live in the town of ohnan in shimani prefecture. they want their community to become japanese based for finland's national team in the tokyo paralympics. ohnan is gearing up to be a

training venue. the town puts a high priority on social welfare. it provides child care services free of charge for parents with two or more children. ♪ ohnan is looking to finland for inspiration. the nordic nation is well-known for its generous social security system. ohnan's population is falling. town officials want to introduce advanced measures to support child raising and people with disabilities. they sent a delegation to finland last august. public health nurse shoko sakamo was one of its members. she's been tasked with creating a new system to support child rearing in ohnan.

sakamoto learned about the centers in finland. their main appeal is that the public health nurse is always on hand to offer parents advice from pregnancy until children enter elementary school. sakamoto wants to use the system as a model for ohnan and help parents feel more at ease while raising their children. >> translator: i thought the facility is good, and the people working there are well trained. i want to offer services that will ease the concerns of the parents. >> translator: we need to discuss what exactly we can pass on to future generations, and how to deal with the declining population, for the sake of our own town's future. >> reporter: people in oh j nan hope that being host town will help finish paralympicist do well in the games and hope the lessons they learn from finland's social welfare system

will help give local kids a head start in life. nhk world, oh j nan, shimane. >> it's great, building bridges through sport. let's get a check of the weather. sunny, blue skies here in toke ro rojo. it's feeling chilly. robert speta tells us when it will warm up more in world weather. >> it's definitely the case. going to be feeling more spring-like over the next several days out here across much of japan. we have our area of high pressure starting to work its way in from the west. that's really decreasing that northwesterly pressure gradient we've been seeing out here. still bringing a few flurries across parts here towards hokkaido. if you're in tokyo, sunny skies here on your thursday morning and with that high coming in, it will continue to improve those conditions. one thing i do want to note. with the rising temperatures, we'll feel much more spring-like. the trees are going to be showing symptoms of that spring-like weather. if you are allergic to pollen or

suffer from hay fever, that may be impacting you over the next several day, some itchy eyes, maybe some runny noses across the pacific coastline of japan. back towards the west, fairly warm temperatures here on tuesday. beijing, 17. seoul up to 13. shanghai getting up to around 12. and tokyo, as we mentioned, 14. any time we're talking about spring-like weather across japan, a lot of people ask this question. when is the cherry blossom season starting? we're getting close to it in the southwest and also tokyo. about a week away before the first blossoms is expected to bloom. good news if you want to get out there and enjoy some of those sakora viewing parties maybe at some of the parks out there. i want to take your attention towards the eastern half of the u.s. we're still talking about our storm system that blew through over the last several days. it really exploded up here just off the northeastern coastline,

and with that, it brought widespread heavy snowfall. but there's still some impacts coming out of this. northwesterly winds are wrapping around the western periphery. we have continued lake enhanced snow across erie and ontario, fairly gusty winds, about 60 to 70 kilometers per hour. and the cold air that's spilling in with it. freeze warnings and hard freeze watches are in place as far south as northern areas of florida, around jacksonville, as well. so if you have any plants that are starting to grow and sensitive to cold air, you do want to cover them up, try to save them from that frost out there. speaking of plants that are sensitive to the cold weather, how about the cherry blossoms in washington. yes, that is ice around them. they had an unusually warm february. i know it doesn't look like that in these photos. but up until this blizzard that just moved through, it was pretty warm. so the blossoms bloomed actually

fairly early, and they moved up the festival to an earlier time for the rather famous festival in this area. unfortunately that cold air come in as well. the good news, it looks like most of the blossoms kind of survived this blast of winter weather and hopefully the cherry blossom festival of washington, d.c., goes ahead ad scheduled. let's take a look back toward the west. temperatures on the warm side. los angeles, high of 27. denver getting up to about 25 today. and across the western half of europe, pretty decent conditions there in central locations. going to be looking at highs of 19 in paris. berlin at 12, excuse me 13. we do have a front moving into eastern europe bringing scattered showers in warsaw, kiev and towards moscow. here's your extended outlook.

that does it for this edition of nhk "newsline." i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. thanks very much for staying with us.

♪ welcome to "in good shape." coming up, raynaud's syndrome, when your fingers turn white and numb. food and pharmaceuticals, avoiding the wrong combinations. and, gall bladder conditions, when it's time to go under the knife. ♪ and here's your host, dr. carsten lekutat. dr. lekutat: i remember the days when i was a medical student. when we opened up in anatomy course, everything was red in the human body, but something sticks out and it was green. amazing, something green in the body, it was the gallbladder.