this novelist says the proposed legislation influences freedom of expression, freedom of assembly and association. a lawyers' association has also opposed to the bill. they said it could be applied to business groups, labor unions and other types of organizations. >> translator: as requirements are vague, law enforcement organizations could try to apply the legislation to anything. we might not be able to stop them. >> reporter: some opposition lawmakers share the concern. >> translator: we cannot rule out the possibility that the legislation will be abused and used over people in their day-to-day lives. we will oppose the bill so it will be scrapped. >> reporter: chief cabinet secretary yoshihide suga says

the government will thoroughly explain the bill at the diet. it is expected to become the focal point of the latter half of the current diet session. ayaka hatta, nhk world. switching gears for business headlines. wall street saw a set back. we go to our business desk for more of that story. >> they have been counting on president trump growth strategy. now may are worried he will struggle on his pledges, for example on his tax cut and deregulation. u.s. stocks took a sharp turn lower as investors unloaded bank shares. the dow jones falling 1.1%. take a look at this. nasdaq down 1.8%. both showing the sharpest decline since september last year. we're going to see the reaction on tokyo markets. for that ramin joins us live from the tokyo stock exchange. >> pretty sharp downturn. very good morning to you. the catalyst does seem to be a sudden shift down from high valuations that we saw and a lot

of bank shares on wall street. some analysts suggesting they were overbrought and that's after because of hopes of high rates. then the less aggressive stance by the fed last week on the pace of rate hikes this year may have put a bit of a cloud over that. also going forward, trump's reduce chances of pushing through some of his legislation maybe have investors rethinking their strategy somewhat. let's have a look at how the nikkei and broader topix is kicking off. nikkei down 1.7%. in the process we have seen another fall on the dollar. that will be a major drag on tokyo stocks as well. the financial sector weighed on u.s. indexes as we saw and more restrained rate hike scheduled by the federal reserve. looks to be weighing on the

markets and that's compared to what the market players were expecting. >> okay. the response in banking shares was clear. the response on the dollar has been clear. the response in bonds as well. get us updated on all these things. >> quite a shift in the dollar as well. 111.61 to 62. let's remind viewers that it was trading on 115 yen level just a week ago. it's hit three week lows on tuesday. it's trading lower a well. the price rose. investors rushing out of stocks. yields are near three week lows for the ten year u.s. treasury note that you see on the screen there. the dollar fell against the euro. his key opponent le pen has

argued for france to leave the single currency as well as a europe european union. seoul's kospi is down. sydney's down 1.29%. china markets open in an hour and a half. we'll see the reactions. for now, nikkei down over 300 points. back to you. >> all right. thanks a lot. now some fresh data out of japan. officials at finance minister have just ri leased trade data. they say the february trade balance swung back into the black. imports were up 1.2% in yen terms. the figure was in positive territory for the second

consecutive month. the value of all exports was so higher, up 11% from a year earlier. that's the third straight month of positive growth. meat processors have been selling products that haven't met the country's health standards. they have been sold at home and abroad. authorities searched 21 companies last friday. managers are suspected of bribing officials to avoid inspections and selling sub standard meat and processed items. the investigators say they detained more than 30 people. authorities have closed the fak -- factories in question and the they' their goods have been removed.

brazil is a major exporter of meat. for example, about 80% of the chicken that japan imported last year came from brazil. mandarin oranges are a popular japanese treat. his attention to quality and detail have won accolades from top hotels. >> reporter: this juice is much thicker than your average orange juice. it carries an eye popping price tag of nearly $10,010$10. 70,000 of them are sold annually mainly to luxury hotels. the producer rm udoes not use chemical fertilizers.

he does his best to draw out the fruit's natural sweetness. if he sold it for processing, he would make less than 10 cents per kilogram. >> translator: they're sweet but too small. the taste is very good. >> reporter: the solution was to make his own brand of use. he built a plant at his orchard and installed a special juicer from the united states that can extract the juice and pulp. the machine cost about $13,000 a year to lease. he manually removes the seeds but keeps the pulp.

he tested hundreds of methods. >> too much heat sterilization kills the flavor. it all comes down to how much of the fresh aroma you can keep. >> reporter: his juice is now shipped to 7 hotels. bookings at this luxury hotel start at $800 per night. since it opened three years ago his juice has been a fixture in the guest room and restaurant. >> translator: great balance of sweetness and acidity. the texture is wonderful. our guests enjoy it very much. >> reporter: there's another reason his product won praise. he adjusts the flavor for each client. for hotels frequented by europeans and american, he

enhances the acidity. for those that cater to mainly southeast asian visitovisitor, sweetness is the key. >> translator: we asked him to test many, many blends. he's meticulous about the details. we enjoy working with him very much. >> reporter: he sells about $700,000 worth of juice each year. >> translator: a product's true value lies in how much time and effort you put into it. there's mump more i can do in terms of squeezing and heating the fruit. i only ship out products that i'm satisfied with. >> reporter: word about the juice is spreading. it's now sold at japanese department store in malaysia and he hopes it will soon become available in other countries too. >> that's the latest in business for this hour. i'll leave you with a check on

markets. a senior white house official says the trump policy is pursuing a world free of nuclear weapons. >> we're reviewing policy all across the board. that necessarily includes reviewing whether or not, among many other things a world without nuclear weapons is an objective. >> christopher ford noticed the

u.s. has been in favor of a world without nucar weapons. under the obama administration the u.s. staid it would reduce the role of nuclear arms while at the same time modernizing them. trump said in an interview last month that the u.s. has fallen behind its nuclear capabilities. if countries are going to have nuclear weapons, the u.s. is going to be at the top of the pack. pakistan has re-opened its border with afghanistan. the pakistani government blames insurgents have been hiding across the border. both countries have accused each other of not doing enough to stop militants. it's on the ro-- in mid-februar bombing killed more than 70 and wounded more than 150 in

southern pakistan. that prompted the government to seal off the border. the reopening of border checkpoints was ordered on monday by the prime minister. for the past month, key trading routes for landlocked afghanistan had been shut off, stranding thousands of vehicle on both sides of the border. it gives status as human living entitieentities. anyone harming either river will be viewed under the wall as if they had harmed a person. >> translator: according to india's ancient tradition and culture, the river ganges has long been considered a living river. it is mentioned in the holy books. the ruling by the high court as an impartial decisionmaker is absolutely correct. >> millions made pilgrimages to

the ganges to bathe or scatter ashes of the dead but it's also one of the world's filthiest rivers polluted by industrial waste and raw sewage. they want to restore it to its former glory. u.s. president donald trump pro-israeli stance has led to rising concern over what will happen to -- minutes. we hear the story of a woman from there who is constructing a vision of better future. >> reporter: she has big dreams. the 23-year-old from gaza envisions building up her world region and to do it she's turning to garbage. b garbage, into what she's

transformed into green cake. >> it's lightweight, environm t environmentally friendly building block. it's made of ash. >> reporter: she's going to tokyo on her first trip abroad to attend a trip for female entrepreneurs from developing world. she figured out a different way to create concrete blocks. they are usually made of materials hard to come by in gaza. she decided to use cheap ash. it means her blocks weigh and cost half the usual but are just as strong. >> it will be like the new revolution for construction materials in gaza. >> reporter: decades of turmoil have left the area in need. the last large scale conflict destroyed more than 18,000 houses. the blockade has slowed the

construction. then there's a lack of jobs. the unemployment rate is over 40% and it's much harder for women. many are expected to stay in the home. her engineer father encouraged her and in university she hit upon her idea. with friends she started producing on a small scale. her plans are anything but. >> i will use the unemployment ratio in gaza. i will help rebuilding from ashes. >> reporter: japanese business people held a contest for young entrepreneurs in gaza. her idea won first place. the group later invited her to japan to help make her vision a reality. >> japan has manufacturering,

human resources. they can provide another style of the development assistance to developing countries. >> reporter: a visit to a concrete factory led to a revolution. they saw how materials are kept under automated control and tested to immoprove quality. she sees potential for ash to be used in many ways. >> maybe i'm the first one who just came to japan as an entrepreneur. i wish i will not be the last one. gaza has many entrepreneurs and many talented people. i came here as a seed, small seed, small tree. i will come again here as big

tree. >> reporter: with that in mine, she has another goal creating a school in gaza for young entrepreneurs building a future for her home one block at a time. nhk world, tokyo. >> amazing. i feel a feeling we'll be seeing a lot more of her in the news. let's swift gears for a check of the weather. we're seeing sunny blue skies this morning. robert speta has more. >> that's definitely the case. very spring like across much of central and western japan. we are seeing a bit of snow back towards the north. we had our area of low pressure push through on your tuesday. behind it, you still have the northwesterly winds wrapping around. if you are in okkaido still see 30 centimeters of snowfall heading into wednesday to thursday. back towards tokyo seeing clear skies. that means warming temperatures.

it's still fairly windy out there. that's going to weaken throughout the day as our pressure gradient kind of laxes with a high pressure coming in from the west. definitely going to be looking at improving conditions out there. if you take a look back towards the west, we have this frontal area starting to develop here. this is the beginning of the rainy season front for this region. you're getting into that time of year now where flooding could be increasing. in the next 24 hours we'll see some areas about 15 to 16 millimeters. hong kong going to be looking at passing showers here on your wednesday. a high of 21. if you're in tokyo, a pretty decent day out there today. 16 for the high with some sunny

conditions. let's go across europe. we have this frontal area through europe. as we go through the next several days, parts of switzerlan and be highe elevations could see snowfall. right now it's bringing cold air over towards ireland. we have winter weather advisories in place. as that moves towards the south, it's going to break off from the jet stream and become a cut off low and spin out here across the iberian peninsula through the rest of the workweek.

something to keep an eye on. take a look at the temperatures. if you're in paris, a high of 11. scattered showers from you. stockholm at 9. i want to take you to another part of sweden. a little bit further towards the north. some video you have here. it's about 200 kilometers north of the arctic circle and it's rather chilly there. this ice hotel is pretty amazing. it's the first structure of its kind. it was built back in 1989. now there's many other ice hotels. that was the first one and it's a pretty big tourist attraction to this remote town there north of the arctic circle. some pretty incredible stuff and looks like a good time to stay there. all right.

i'll leave you now with your extended outlook.

that wraps up this edition of nhk "newsline." of nhk "newsline." thanks for joining us.xnóx

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