: welcome to "newsline." . it's 9:00 a.m. british police have identified the suspect of wednesday's deadly attack near london's parliament. 52-year-old british born khalid masood. he was shot and killed by police after ramming his car into pedestrians on a bridge and stabbing a police officer. the assault killed four people including the officer. and wounded about 40 others. the islamic state is claiming responsibility for the attack. authorities said thursday masood was born in southeastern england. police say he has previous convictions including assault and possession of a knife.

britain's prime minister says intelligence officials once investigated masood over concerns about possible links to extremism. police detained eight people after raiding a number of sites across london and throughout england. they range in age from their 20s to their 50s. towards nightfall hundreds gathered by trafalgar square to remember the victims. >> we come together as londoners tonight. to remember those who lost their lives and all those affected by the horrific attack yesterday. >> the british flag flew at half-mast as londoners prayed and placed candles on the bridge. questioning in continuing friday in a school land ruling rocking japan's party.

he presented what he says was evidence of a link to abe of facts from a government aide to abe's wife. it was in response to a voice message he left her asking for help securing the state owned land. the land was purchased for a fraction of the price. an inquiry was made with finance ministry but the government could not meet the request. it also said the prime minister's wife was informed of the matter. the aid did tell her but she had nothing to do with the reply. she also denied making a donation or receiving money for giving speeches. the chief cabinet secretary says he takes no issue with facts.

>> translator: the official made an inquiry with the finance ministry. and as a result, clearly replied that the government cannot meet mr. kagoike's request. it's a flat rejection without any room for favorable consideration. >> opposition party said the content of the fax indicates the possibility there was some kind of mediation in the land deal. >> translator: mr. kagoike made his own case today. we should hear from both sides concerned. we will demand the prime minister's wife testify at the diet on the same condition. condition. authorities in north eastern japan have begun about destroying 220,000 chickens at a poultry farm after bird flu was found in 100 dead birds.

officials say testing on some of them revealed the h5 virus. officials asked for cooperation from the defense forces. that's the self-defense forces and started culling on early friday morning. they say the plan is to finish within three days. officials banned five other poultry farms nearby from moving chickens and eggs. >> translator: we will work with the central government and the self-defense forces to do everything we can to declare the situation is over. >> the governor says it's the first time an outbreak of bird flu has been confirmed at a poultry farm in his prefecture. u.s. trade authorities are set to impose punitive trariffs on another product. >> the u.s. runs its biggest trade deficit against china. the administration of donald trump isn't too happy with this

arrangement. already slapped punitive duties on several chinese imports like stainless steel sheets. they are set to target a refrigerant. a substance imported from china is being sold in the u.s. for less than fair value. it's used in washington and beijing are trying to pin down a date for the first summit since trump took office. a singapore based investment fund is now likely the top shareholder in japanese electronic manufacturer toshiba.

a report shows capital management has acquired an 8.14% stake in toshiba. the stock purchase is solely for investment purposes. they manage money from entipties like overseas pension funds. it mainly invests in japanese companies. the firm is known for its active engagement in corporate management reform. it uses lawsuits and other methods. all eyes are on how the fund will respond to toshiba's restructuring. it has confirmed the report but will not comment on it. let's check on markets. major indexes ended a touch lower. that's after republicans delayed a vote on health care legislation to repeal obamacare. we'll see how tokyo markets are reacting to this. ramin joining us live from the tokyo stock exchange. tell us what you're seeing over

there. >> the nikkei opened slightly in the negative. it's in the positive. investors really continuing there as you touched on there as congress postponed a vote on legislation basically to begin dismantling obamacare as trump had promised in his election pledges. looking at the nikkei and the topix. the nikkei edging into the positive. we'll see how that progresses. they have not seen pretty choppy trading. uncertainties in the political scene. both weighing on the market sentiment. allegations over interference by a private school in western japan are shaking the abe administration the house of

representatives delaying a vote. that's caused some to question whether trump's other policy changes will pass. it seems the trump rally has hit the brakes. benchmark crude futures are lower. metals, especially copper prices that are coming in for a bit of choppy trading. even though operations at the large copper mine in chile will resume operations after 43 days on strike. >> what can you tell us about currencies? looks like the dollar has been weaker. tell us what's going on there. >> looking at the dollar yen pair and it's not again, stubbornly below that 111 level.

the greenbacks falling to four-week low. economic data not supportive either. layoffs were higher than previously expected. investors paired back their bets of more rate hikes this year. quick look at asian indexes that are up and running right now. seoul's kospi and sydney closed in the positive. back to you. >> thanks a lot for that. we'll touch base with you in a few hours time. here is a question for you. when you want to buy a piece of cake, where do you go? in a cake shop. if you want ramen, where do you go? sometimes you still go into a cake shop. things aren't always what they appear to be.

>> reporter: noodles and miso soup are sold next to cakes. he began making the look a likes five years ago to impress his customers. the noodles are made of chestnut cream. the soup is tea flavored jelly. >> translator: i wanted to surprise people. well, i wanted to have fun while making people laugh. >> i haven't triped any yet but i'm curious about the miso soup. i think i'll by ouy one.

>> reporter: this mom could hardly wait to see her reaction. >>. >> translator: cool. looks like miso soup. yummy. is this almonds jelly? >> that's right. the soup is made from almond jelly and caramel >> translator: it's good. next time i'll buy for the whole family. >> reporter: to make it he used ingredients found in traditional japanese sweets. he replaced steam rice with puffed rice. they taste just like an old time japanese snack. >> here is the final product. >> translator: it's good but the rice cakes are a little hard to

eat. >> reporter: he worked late into the night tweaking the recipe. >> translator: see. what does it look like? it looks so real. just like pork cutlets. >> translator: people smile when they're surprised. their smiles keep me going. i want to create more look a likes to make my customers happy. >> reporter: he has already come up with six, including sweet takes on dumplings and draft beer. >> tokyo markets are trading higher this morning. i'll leave you with a check on markets.

♪ relatives of those abducted years ago. the relatives held a news conference in tokyo on thursday. before the 20th anniversary of their group's establishment. >> translator: i believe my daughter is crying out in her mind asking me to return her home. >> her daughter was abducted in 1977. her mother pleaded for help and urged people to imagine how a girl of 13 has managed until her current age of 52.

a group leader said parents and siblings of abductees formed the group to facilitate the return of their loved ones. but he added, 20 years later, the abductees have yet to return. group members want the government to put top priority on the abduction issue. japan's government officially recognizes at least 17 nationals were abducted and taken to north korea in the 1970s and 80s. five of the abductees returned in 2002. the others remain unaccounted for. south korean authorities have suspended the raise of the sunken sewol ferry. they say they must first remove a newly-found obstacle. the ministry of oceans and fisheries held a news conference one day after the salvage began. officials hope to remove a portside vehicle rammed before proceeding any further.

workers have been using cables to hoist the ship up starboard side first. ministry officials previously said the effort would continue until about half of the hull was out of the water. the vessel sank off the country's southern coast in 2014. the disaster left 295 people dead, and nine missing. many of the victims were high school students. a man in singapore is looking for answers to a dark part of his kcountry's history. many civilians were killed. we have the store of the man who is working to understand what happened and pass that onto others. >> reporter: he donated more than 200 of the items at this history museum. he has mixed feelings about it. the pieces include valuable artifacts related to the forces in world war ii.

singapore is undertook against them. urnt under the japanese ruling people were targeted as resisting occupation including his grandfather. lind himself was born after the war. he studied at the japanese university in the '80s and worked at a parts manufacturer. he says he learned much about engineering from japan. but he's always been ambivalent toward the country because of its past. >> translator: japan to me is the country where i studied, and it's an advanced nation in many respects. it's still hard for me to understand why such a great teacher behaved so badly in the past.

>> reporter: to find answers, lin has collected more than 3,000 pieces related to the former japanese military. >> translator: in letters delivered by so-called military mail, everyone is so nice. you see them worrying about their children and their wives. just like anyone else. i keep thinking about how we can avoid future tragedies, about the best way to avert wars. >> reporter: in his search, lin found something that presents a significant challenge to established history. this document shows a secret agreement between senior japanese military officers and the japanese national who fled across the island of singapore. the man promised he would

provide help to japan's forces if he needed it. that suggests japan was interested in singapore long before conventional wisdom says it began considering advancing into the region. lin tried to get japanese historians to analyze the materials to better understand how and why the war started. >> translator: this material opens up a new phase in studying the japanese military strategy at the time. >> reporter: it's discoveries like this that lin is hoping will help him understand the past. he said it's essential to look at history calmly and analyze it

from many angles to avoid repeating mistakes. >> translator: why did so many unfortunate events take place. people can live peaceful lives if there are no wars. war must be avoided at all costs. >> reporter: nhk world, singapore. the japanese paranordic skiing team is preparing for the winter olympics. one key person is helping to smooth their way to their podium. >> translator: sure looks like you can glide through the snow with ease but talk to any experienced cross country skier, and they'll tell you it's all about the wax. wax is a big part of his world. he's actually japan's wax

specialist. >> translator: if you think of a contest as 100% wax is said to affect 30 to 50% of it. you won't win a medal unless the wax works perfectly with the skiers glide. >> reporter: whether it's free style skiing or the more traditional classic ski iic sty amount and kind of wax that will help the performance varies. >> translator: on the shiny black parts at the top and tail of the ski, we use gliding wax to smooth the surface. we use grip wax on this white part in the middle to prevent the skier from sliding backward. >> a perfectionist of his craft, sato isn't afraid to get his hands dirty. >> translator: i spread it by hand so i can feel the result.

>> sato was an athlete himself. after hanging up his skis, he decided to wax skis for others. he's been to four winter olympics as japan's wax coach. in 2014, he got a call from the paranordic team hoping he'd help them with his expertise. and his knowledge base is huge. sato spent years perfecting it, such as temperature, humidity and snow temperature. he uses the data to carefully tweak his wax applications for each athlete.

abe is expected to medal next winter. she was born without the use of her left hand. so she only uses a pole with her right hand. that makes her weight unevenly distributed, that means sato has to apply wax differently for each of her skis. >> translator: mr. sato understands both the habits of each athlete and the skiing equipment. so we leave it to him.

>> with a one-handed athlete, you need a grip wax with a stronger kick, so we use one that's much stronger than we would use for someone without a disability. >> sato is always gloading close behind his athletes, watching, checking, and making sure the wax is working. >> sato says south korea uses artificial snow, which makes the course more difficult. but the team's goals won't change. >> translator: we're aiming for gold medals. >> sato will continue to tinker with his wax applications until the paralympic torch is lit and his team gets their task to push for the podium. people in tokyo are seeing sunny blue skies. people are hoping it will stay this way throughout the weekend. robert speta has the latest in world weather. >> heading through the rest of friday and also into saturday. if you are across tokyo might be able to get out and check out some of those cherry blossoms. we had our low that skirted the coastline on thursday. now it's drifting off towards the east. we have clear conditions there. another one back towards the north. it is setting up that northwesterly pressure gradient. for parts of western okkaido, you're going to be still looking at more snow. the in the past 24 hours seeing

some areas and still could see that much amount. this high will move in from the west. kind of clear things off and weaken off that pressure gradient heading into saturday and sunday. by the time sunday and monday comes around, we have another low coming in from the southwest. that will bring more rain across the southwest of japan. that is bringing heavy showers in the south eastern areas of china. do want to know this is kind of foreshadowing the start of the rainy season out here. we're getting to that time of year. somebody keep in mind if you live across this area increasing chances of flooding especially around the river there. take a look at your temperatures. we have the scattered showers. taipei at 23. the tokyo getting up to 14 with sunny skies in the forecast. western europe.

look at this low right here. you have another low moving back towards the north. this one is cut off from the jet stream. that means it will be lingering here. this is bringing foul weather. i'll show you video that we have coming out of spain here on thursday. pretty heavy snowfall. five centimeters or more has been reported across this area. even in madrid temperatures dropped as low as minus 1.5 degrees celsius. this is the first time below freezing temperatures have been seen in that city since january 26th. about ten degrees below the average. snow is still forecasted out there. some of these areas looking at additional ten centimeters. back towards the east where you have the moisture being pulled up into the higher elevations, we can see as much as 140 ce centimeters. we had large hail reported in

parts of southern france as well. this storm system continuing to kick up some rough weather. do take a look at three-day outlook. madrid and more snow possible. it warms up a bit by saturday with thunderstorms in the forecast. barcelona very similar. i don't think it will be cold enough there for you to see anymore snowfall. all right. quickly here across the americas. do want to talk about the big topic over the next 48 hours. heading through the rest of your thursday we have this low right here. that's pulling towards the east. gusty winds with that and that's also going to be triggering up severe thunderstorms. the winds high west of the dry line. fire weather will be a big concern and a big roller coaster ride here and temperatures. oklahoma with a high of 24. denver, 12, with snow in your forecast on friday. here's your extended outlook.

that wraps up this edition of nhk "newsline." thanks for staying with us.

epor" we visit the segui cultural center of the oneida nation of new york we meet alf jacques, a world-renowned traditional lacrosse stick craftsman. and we interview noted historian, writer, and curator rick hill. we also learn something new about healthy living and hear from our elders on this edition of "native report." announcer: proction of "native report" is made possible by grants from the shakopee mdewakanton sioux community, the blandin foundation, and the duluth superior area community foundation. [music playing]