welcome to nhk world "newsline," i'm gene otani in tokyo. here is a look at some of the stories we're following this hour. a long-time fugitive and form former cult member is on trial before a deadly nerve gas attack in tokyo. u.s. defense department officials plan to conduct health surveys on sailors involved in relief efforts after the 2011 disaster in japan.

on nuclear watch, workers at the damaged fukushima daiichi nuclear plant prepare for a mammoth job, stopping the buildup and leakage of radioactive water. a man who once belonged to the cult that released cesarean gas on trains in tokyo nearly two decades ago has gone on trial. former fugitive is accused of crimes that include the abduction of a man who was trying to free his sister from the ohm shin difficult cult. he was on the run for nearly 17 years. he turned himself in to police two years ago. he's charged with abducting and confining a notary in 1995. prosecutors say he later gave the notary a lethal injection. hirata denied the charges on day one of the trial and said he only acted as a lookout and didn't intend the kidnap the man.

his defense team says he's only guilty of helping the culprits. hirata also apologized for cautioning trouble to the victim and society. the case has attracted plenty of public attention. prosecutors plan to question three others now on death row. a ruling is expected in march. afghanistan's presidential office says a u.s. air strike has killed eight civilians, seven of them children. president hamid karzai has condemned the attack. the presidential office said the attack on wednesday was targeting the taliban in parwan province north of the capital kabul. they say the incident occurred during a joint operation by afghan and coalition forces. they said two civilians were killed in a building from which insurgents were firing on afghan soldiers. u.s. troops account for the bulk of the international coalition. some are scheduled to stay on in afghanistan even after most

international forces pull out by the end of this year. karzai is demanding that the u.s. troops halt operations against afghan homes as a condition for allowing them to stay. some analysts say the latest incidents may toughen his stance. thursday marks the first anniversary of the hostage crisis at a natural gas plant in algeria that left dozens of foreign workers dead. security has since been upgraded at the facility. but this has not convinced foreign firms to send workers back. nhk world's keiko ab bay has more. >> reporter: one year ago an islamic militant group attacked a natural gas plant in the eastern algerian city of amenas. many foreign workers were taken hostage. 40 people were killed including ten japanese workers from the engineering firm jgc corporation. an algerian who works at jgc's

local office says there are no longer any japanese workers there. he was also temporarily taken hostage in that attack. >> reporter: islamic militant leader mokhtar belmokhtar has claimed responsibility for the attack. the u.s. federal bureau of investigation has filed charges against him as the alleged mastermind but his whereabouts remain unknown. an intelligence expert professor mathieu guidere says the threat remains. >> after the attack of amenas, mokhtar belmokhtar has appeared as the main leader, the chris mat tick leader in the region. >> reporter: he says algeria's

intelligence agency is having problems cooperating with its counterparts in libya and tunisia where the security situations are not stable. >> what happened in amenas can happen again in other areas, not in amenas itself but in other locations. >> reporter: last year an association of engineering firms surveyed leading japanese companies doing business abroad and what they do to ensure the safety of their workers. 78% said they want japanese embassies to appeal on their behalf to local military and police forces. >> translator: there are limits to what private firms can do in terms of negotiating with foreign governments. >> reporter: at the time of the crisis, the japanese government was slow in confirming the fate of the japanese nationals due to delays in intelligence gathering and problems with intelligence sharing.

lessons learned in the incident led to the japanese version of the u.s. national security council. the head of nhc secretariat will go to united states on friday. he also plans to visit britain and france which have close relations with countries in africa and the middle east. the incident in algeria has caused japan to strengthen its intelligence gathering capables. keiko abe, nhk world, tokyo. commanders in the united states and south korea are preparing to hold regular military drills. government officials in north korea are urging them to cancel. they eve issued a statement predicting disastrous consequences if the exercises go ahead. >> translator: the joint drills would totally deny our efforts for dialogue and improved

interkorean ties. holding them would be as good as declaring nuclear war against us. state-run television broadcast the statement. it was issued by the committee for the peaceful reunification of korea, a government body in charge of interkorean affairs. the exercises are expected to begin as early as late february. the statement says the drills would drive interkorean relations to catastrophe and cause disaster on an unimaginable scale. the threat comes amid questions about political stability in north korea. concerns have emerged since the execution last month of leader kim jong-un's kunkle. officials have warned of potential provocations by the north following the purge. a u.s. senator has expressed concern over china's growing inread read. marco rubio is a republican member of the senate foreign relations committee. he is counted among hopefuls for

the 2016 presidential election. the senator spoke to nhk on wednesday before leaving on his tour to japan, south korea and the philippines. rubio spoke about china's increased maritime activities and establishment of an air defense identification zone over the east china sea. >> i think what's changed is a more aggressive tone on the part of chinese military and security assets to try to exert influence over the area. i think that's a troubling trend. >> he stressed the importance of the u.s. and its allies working together to seek a peaceful solution while beefing up their defense capabilities. rubio mentioned the japan controlled senkaku islands claimed by china and taiwan. the japanese government maintains they are an inherent part of history and international law and says there is no issue of sovereignty to be resolved over the islands. he opposed the u.s. government's stance not taking sides while

recognizing japan's administrative right to them. >> to me this is not an open question. this belongs to japan. it's a part of proef case on the part of the chinese government which we should not in any way recognize or look the other way. >> as for shinzo abe's visit to the shrine, he says he's aware of the complexity around the issue. those remembered include military and political leaders convicted of war crimes by an international military tribunal after world war ii. >> we respect and recognize very much the decisions people have made and the historical complexity of the issues. what we want to focus on is how can we all work together. >> rubio signaled his intention to use his asian tour to urge japan and its neighbors to mend ties. the u.s. defense department will conduct a health survey of the navy personnel who took part in relief etch forts during the march 2011 earthquake and

tsunami and japan. the house of representatives passed a budget bill on wednesday that mandates such a survey. the senate is expected to pass the bill this week. the bill calls for the pentagon to submit its findings to congress by mid april on those sailors who report health problems after taking part in the relief efforts. it also asks for details on measures u taken by the u.s. military to deal with radiation exposure. some crew members of the "u.s.s. ronald reagan" filed a lawsuit against the operator of the fukushima daiichi nuclear plant. they claim they were exposed to radiation from the meltdowns at the plant and now have an increased risk of developing cancer. they blame tokyo electric power company for failing to provide accurate information about the nuclear accident. officers with the japan maritime self-defense force are giving their accounts of an accident off the coast of western japan. their ship, the osumi collided

on wednesday with a wreck racial fishing boat. two people were killed. the officers say they blew a warning whistle several times before the collision. the officers were sailing their ship back to port for maintenance when the vessels ran into each other. the cause of the accident is unclear. coast guard officials say the captain of the fishing boat and three passengers were thrown overboard when the vessel capsized. all of them were pulled from the water, but the skipper and one of the fishermen later died. crews are required to blow a whistle more than five times if they're not sure about the intention ps of an approaching vessel. one of the fishermen said he heard a whistle when the ship was only about five meters away. defense ministry officials say the ship slowed down to avoid a collision. coast guard officials say damage to the rear portion of the ship

which may have been caused by the accident. they say they'll also look at the fishing boat to see if they can find out anything more. japan's defense minister has offered his condolences to the families of the men who died and itsunori onodera says officials will do what they can to help. >> translator: we pledge to fully cooperate with the coast guard investigation and to do our utmost to prevent a similar accident from happening again. >> onodera said the ministry will launch its own investigation after the coast guard's inquiry is completed. japan's central bank is out with the latest assessment of the economy. and ron madison is here following those details. >> that's right, data out today setting some good positive signals about the state of the japanese economy. machinery orders for one rising for a second month, gene. now a new report in the bank of

japan shows the improving economy is being felt throughout the country. the report uses the word recovery in its assessment of aum nine regions of japan. the boj released report after branch managers from across the nation held their quarterly meeting. the bankers gave an improved assessment of corporate activity in four of the nine regions and attribute the increase to recovering overseas demand, especially for autos. they say consumer spending in four regions rose thanks to last-minute purchases of new chars before the consumption tax hike. they also made an upward provision due to an increase in over time payments. the recovery in the global economy is having a positivism pangt on investment in china. foreign direct investment in 2013 rose for the first time in two years. officials at the commerce ministry say foreign firms invested more than $12 billion in china in december. up 3.3% from a year ago. it does bring the total for the year to nearly $120 billion, an

increase of more than 5%. investment by european countries grew 18%, while u.s. firms grew 7%. investment by japanese companies, though, did fall by more than 4%. the drop is attributed to souring bilateral relations as well as rising labor costs and the u.n.'s advance against the yen. european equities are falling from record closing levels hit on the previous day. right now we're seeing a bit of a mixed picture with london gaining by about .10%. frankfurt down about .10%. cac 40 losing nearly .2%. the footsie finished on an eight month high. asian markets ended mixed. sydney rose 1.2% despite a disappointing jobs report. tokyo's nikkei declined nearly .4% on profit taking. over in thailand, as you can see

here, stocks have really been on a downward trend. demonstrations in bangkok have been on going since november. economists say that's hurting the economy. the s.e.t. index with a bounce, rebounded from loose on the previous day up nearly 2%. sentent received support from rising expectations that the bank of thailand may cut its key rate at this month's policy meeting to spur the economy. moving on to currencies, dollar-yen is changing at 104.71. analysts say recent upbeat data out of the u.s. provided a chance to buy back the sdlar. market players are waiting for further trading queues. the u.s. weekly jobless claims report is among the focus later on in the day. the turkish lira dropped to a record low breaching the 2.2 level against the dollar. investors remain concerned about the economic impact of political incertainty stemming from a corruption scandal involving government ministers.

last year's new passenger car sales in the eu posted a circumstanceth straight year of declines, but a double digit increase was shown last month. the european automobile manufacturers association says new car sales in 2013 dropped 1.7% from the previous year to 11.8 million units. sluggish demand in major markets including germany, france and italy dragged down sales. these countries saw declines of between 4% and 7%. automaker volkswagen was the top market share falling .6%. sales at the number two, psa peugeot sit troen plunged 8.4%. sales of japanese automakers were also poor, nissan's drop was 2.6%, toyota .2%. sales in december did jump 13.3% from the same month last year. that was a fourth straight month of growth. japan's top steel maker will

have a new president in april. the top executive will have the task of boosting the firm's global standing amid its new standing. vice president co-say shin dough will take over from tim mona. as vice president shin dough has been working on raising efficiency at the japanese steel giant. the combine was created of the merger of the top and third largest producers in the company back in 2012. >> translator: we will maintain our lead in steel making through innovation in technology, cost cutting and global expansion. >> global competition in the steel industry has been heating up. chinese and south korean rivals have boosted their production capacities. that's going to wrap it up for biz tonight. let's close things out with the markets.

workers head into fukushima daiichi day after day to tackle a long list of problems. highly trained teams will spend the rest of the year removing the fuel rods from the reactor four building at the nuclear plant. but operator tokyo electric power company is still trying to deal with an issue that gets worse with every passing minute. nhk world's nor rake co-kada has

more on the buildup of contaminated water. >> lake barrett is a former u.s. nuclear regulator. he led the decommissioning of damaged reactor following the three mile island accident. barrett is currently working as an advisor to tokyo electric power company. he says tepco's top priority is to lay out a clear plan this year for solving the contaminated water problem at fukushima daiichi. >> a lot of work ahead of them. water is a continuing challenge. control of the containment of the water is a complex matter, complicated site with groundwater movements. >> reporter: groundwater becomes tainted hour after hour at the plant. it seeps into the damaged reactor buildings and mixes with melted fuel. workers pump up about 400 tons of it every day.

all they can do is store it in tanks, about 1,000 containers dot the site and tepco officials plan to build more. they're cooperating with the japanese government to take drastic measures to stop the buildup. they plan to surround reactor buildings and other facilities with pipes and then pumping refridge rants to build a kind of ice wall. they believe this will keep fresh groundwater out. underground tunnels are another problem. engineers also plan to stop highly contaminated water from seeping into the sea via those tunnels. in this case, they plan to block the flow of tainted water from reactor buildings by freezing the entrances of the tunnels. workers will again drive pipes into the ground and pump

refrigerants into them. that would freeze the contaminated water within a few weeks. once the tunnels are blocked, crews will then clear them of tainted water. tepco officials also need to figure out how to dispose of the contaminated water that's building um in the storage tanks oovps. crews had to clean up a number of spills from the tanks last year. they've been trying to decontaminate the water with a system called alps. it can remove most radioactive substances. plant managers want to take all of the substances out of the water by march 2015. but a.l.p.s. is unreliable and frequently stops operating. experts warn that if engineers can't tackle the contaminated

water issue they will further delay the decommissioning proce process. that job is expected to take 30 to 40 years. nor rica okada, nhk world. four crippled reactors. a constant buildup of contaminated water. radioactive leaks threatening the environment. the people in charge of fukushima daiichi are struggling to control the plant. how will they stop the leaks and decommission the facilities? get the latest on the aftermaths of the nuclear accident with in depth reports and special features. "nuclear watch" only on "newsline." the flooding continues in the philippines. our meteorologist robert speta has been following the situation from wednesday.

robert. >> this flooding continuing to go on, like you said. what we're going to be seeing through the next 72 hours is yet more rain fall. so everything that's already been happening, unfortunately it's going to be getting worse possibly out here. right now we have the center of circulation just off the eastern seaboards here. this will drift over towards the west over these already saturated ground. in the last seven days the rainfall accumulation based on satellite imagery, you have seen upwards of 700 to 800 meters of rainfall. this has been causing problems, flooding, landslides, over 25 deaths reported at this time due to this low pressure system. a tropical depression not named. regardless if it's low pressure or tropical depression, the biggest problem with this is not going to be the winds which governs the intensity of it. it's the rainfall. in some areas here, 200 to 250 millimeters is expected in the

next 72 hours. also the winds will continue to gust out here, though, in plus to four to five meter high waves near the coastal area. definitely a rough situation, something to watch in the coming days. farther north high pressure is dominating eastern and northeastern china. clear conditions out here. still seeing fog around the i don't think si river basin. partly cloudy skies into tokyo. sea-effect snow along the coastline. it will remain dry going into the weekend for tokyo. partly cloudy skies. temperatures into the double digits, up to ten for your high by friday. seoul a little cool, only 4 for your high. shanghai, 11. high 20s to low 30s across the tropics. let's talk about what's going on in the southern hemisphere. a significant heat wave across much of southeastern australia. you will be expecting a cooldown through the next several days.

first i want to talk about -- see that swirl on the satellite imagery, that's the remnants of a tropical low that came onshore earlier this week. it's still bringing heavy rainfall around the border of western australia and the northern territory. some areas here seeing from 150 to 200 millimeters of rain. definitely the risk of flooding. things are dry toward the south, there's a cold front coming through that will push off towards the east. temperatures will be reflecting this thankfully. you have been seeing temperatures into the high 40s in some locations for the past week. 40, down to 28 by saturday. take a look at melbourne, nearly a 20-degree drop in a 24-hour period, all the way down to 23. definitely it is going to feel like night and day out here. summer back to normal temperatures at least for this time of year out here in southeastern australia. meanwhile a blizzard watch an warning is in effect for the northern plains into western great lakes. low pressure system continuing

to move through. this is packing fairly gusty winds out here. some areas up to 90 kilometers per hour, at least the wind gust, any way you see highlighted under these winter weather advisories, the high wind warnings or the blizzard warnings which is a combination of the winter weather and the high wind. that's where you'll see the snow falling, blowing out and about. windchills very unfavorable and hazardous weather over the next several days. that's a look at your world weather. here is your extended forecast.

photographs are heading to mountains north of tokyo to capture a winter wonder. freezing weather created a massive wall of ice. water trickles down a ravine high in the yatsugatake mountains. when the cold sets in, the water freezes in a big way. the ice wall is 100 meters wide and 20 meters high. >> translator: it's wonderful. the color and the shape of the ice are just indescribable. >> visitors can see the ice wall

until mid march. that's "newsline" for this hour. i'm gene otani in tokyo.

these are the headlines. historic trial gets underway for four hezbollah suspects accused of assassinating the former prime minister. at least three people are killed in a hezbollah stronghold in lebanon's border with syria. the vatican is undercut scrutiny by the u.n. on the children's rights. the catholic church has been slammed over allegations of child sex abuse by priests and an inadequate response from church officials. protest over high-cost redevelopment plans for city in northern spain spread to madrid.