. welcome to nhk world "newsline." i'm gene otani in tokyo. here are some of the stories we are following this hour. police in france arrest one suspect but search for two more following a precision attack on a satirical weekly in paris that left 12 people dead. people gather at french embassy in tokyo to pray for victims at the paris shooting.

china leaders are sitting down with counter parts from latin america and caribbean. north korean leader kim jong-un is marking his birthday with state-run media trying to show him in a new light. they killed 12 people before escaping. police are searching for two french nationals based on identification in the car they used for the attack. they're brothers aged 32 and 34. french media report says the younger brother was convicted in 2008 for helping funnel fighters

to iraq. prime minister said on thursday that a investigators have been monitoring the two brothers. he said it is important or imp possible rather to completely eliminate risks. authorities have detained several people as part of their investigation. nhk world craig dale has more on the terrorist attack and reaction. >> reporter: residents in paris turned out in the thousands. shocked, saddened, but resilient. je suis charlie, their sign said, i am charlie. another said i prefer to die standing than live on my knees. people around the world stood with them. they rallied in london. chanted in madrid. lit candles in geneva and bowed their heads in buenos aires. a global reaction to a bold attack against the media.

these images show the conclusion of the assault. the gunman wounded a police officer making their escape. then as he lay defenseless on the sidewalk they shot him again. moments earlier they stormed the offices of the publication "charlie hebdo" and opened fire. they killed journalists and the guards hired to protect them. others were wounded or survived by taking cover. it was a slaughter inside said this police union official. french authorities say the suspects abandoned their escape car. one of them had spent time in jail on terrorism charges. the authorities say one suspect shouted "god is great" and "you are avenging the prophet for them." just before the attack, editors had produced a caricature of a militant saying, still no attacks in france, we have until the end of january to convey our wishes. the editor-in-chief created the cartoon.

he had been under protection but was among those killed. for years he and others at the left-leaning publications have ridiculed politicians of all stripes and religion of all forms. they courted controversy by printing images lampooning the prophet mohamed. jihadists warned of retaliation and in 2011, attackers fire bombed "charlie hebdo"'s offices. president francois hollande went on tv to speak to the nation. we will continue to defend this message of freedom in their name, he said. reaction from other leaders was swift. >> these terrorists fear freedom of speech and freedom of the press. >> we must never allow the values we hold dear of democracy, of freedom of speech, to be damaged by these terrorists. >> it was a horrendous, unjustifiable and cold-blooded crime.

>> christian, jewish and muslim representatives gathered in paris to denounce the attack. their words echoed by french citizens. islam is about peace says this woman. it's not about killing people. journalists around the world spoke of the need to defend freedom of expression. >> we must protect it at all costs. we must ensure that journalists and editors decide what's published not gunman or violent forces or repressive governments. the french have long worried that their campaigns against islamic militants would create a back lash at home and they've been concerned about radicalized citizens returning from the conflict in iraq and syria. many not only consider what happened at "charlie hebdo" an attack on the freedom of the press and the country but an assault on one of their core values, liberty. craig dale, nhk world. nhk spoke to the late a few

years ago about his work and the controversy it generated. the editor in chief defended charlie hebdo decision to produce those cartoons of mohammed. >> mohamed, jesus and buddha should accept just as philosophy does. i reject any threat carried out by violence. >> he told nhk people that feel offended shouldn't read charlie hebdo and said conceding to threats by not publishing imflam tower things rejects freedom. >> the attacks have shocked people in france and around the world. they're angry about this attack on freedom of press.

nhk world reports. >> reporter: japanese people from all walks of life were stunned by the killings in paris. one of them is prime minister shinzo abe. he had strong words about the attack. >> cowardly attacks are totally unacceptable no matter what the reasons are. i strongly condemn those responsible and offer my heart felt condolences to all victims. >> the head of the national police agency pledges firm action against international terrorism. he says police will prevent terrorists from entering japan. he said they're working with intelligence agent says from chance and other countries. >> officials have tightened security here too. in japanese police officers are

patrolling schools, businesses and other facilities with ties to france. >> about 200 people gathered at the embassy to pray for the victims. ambassador says terrorists threatened the staff of charlie hebdo many years. he says the journalists showed bravery refusing to compromise as they continued to work. some people held banners to show support for the victims. >> i feel very upset for france not only the murder that had been made but also the symbol of france of the liberty of press, for thoseies have to stick

together with population. otherwise this could happen again. >> today i feel a rush of emotion and at the same time i have renewed determination to pursue free come. french people's love of freedom is tremendous compared to our feeling a barbarian act like this is nothing. the love of free come will prevail in the end. >> it was a time of mourning for many people at ceremony that say the tragedy in paris has taught them an important lesson. they say all the people in the world should realize how important it is to protect freedom of the press. nhk world, tokyo. there's been another shooting in paris. police are investigating whether there is any link to the

killings of charlie hebdo. trench media say a man fired an automatic rifle at police. one female officer was killed and a say sill ville yan was wounded. the gunman fled the wound and still at large. the interior minister visited the site of the attack after mid tight security in the french capital. chinese government leaders could be can trying to gain influence in what some call america's backyard. they're hosting their first meeting with counter parts from the community of latin american and ka rib ban states. ministers are sitting down together for two days discussing ways to cooperate on trade,

infrastructure. latin america and caribbean are blast with resources and one of the areas with greatest potential for economic growth. >> we want to build up a concrete frame work of cooperation with latin american and caribbean nations. we want to develop china's relations with the region to a higher level. >> xi # visited the region two years running after taking office in 2013. u.s. lead pers are getting ready to talk to counter parts in the nation of cuba. they're hoping to normalize diplomatic relations. chinese government is denying involvement with construction of a shipping canal through nick rag ga. u.s. lipdiplomats are concerned about the lack of communication. the project cost $50 billion.

the firm will control the canal up to a century. routers reports the u.s. is pushing for the project and environmental impact. chinese government denied suggestions as they are involved and says they're obeying the law. >> the chinese government requires companies to comply with legislation. countries where they operate including any law for texting the environment. we also expect them to a a bide by local market principles. >> company representatives have also denied having ties to the chinese government. analysts are suggesting a connection given the enormity of the construction costs. abe nomices may be losing steam according to one. >> we're seeing a trend with

consumers. many are more and more worried about the economy. a survey shows the sentiment on the economy has worsened third quarter in a row. fishes conducted this survey november to early december. more than 2200 responded. many said the economy worsened compared to a year ago. the ratio outnumbered those that said it improved by 32.9 points 12.5 points higher than the previous survey. many that responded said household circumstances worsened saying rising prices and same incomes. that's the worst result in three years. let's get a check of the markets now. major stock in europe are trading higher one day after the region inflation data turned negative first time in five years. majors looking like this now. all are firmly in positive territory. london leads up higher nearly

2%. many traders speculate the european central bank may take bold action. all eyes now on the ecb policy meeting january 22nd. meanwhile the dollar climbed back against major currencies after private data on private sector jobs in the u.s. earlier in asia most markets ended the day in positive range as it has price of crude bounced slightly. tokyo nikkei posted biggest gain in three weeks. shanghai was down 2.4%. investors booked profits from recent gains. consumers in japan are price conscious when it comes to buying new cars. the mini car, the tonto was the best selling in the country last year. that's the first time for a mini to top the list in six years lg.

officials from car industry groups say it ranked first with sales 34,000 units. the aqua hybrid came in second followed by honda fit. seven of top ten were mini vehicles. consumers are increasingly looking for lower cost following the consumption hike in april. they also site safety equipment such as braking systems on many victims. volkswagen golf was the top car for the 27th year in a row. foreign cars made nearly 9% of total cars sold in japan highest ratio on record. the first annual sales decline in nearly nine years. the samsung business has faced competition from foreign rivals. they released preliminary figures for 2014 earnings and

say sales stood down 10% from 2013. operating profit was down 32% to 22.7 billion. that's the first annual fall in three years. samsung business is locked in a fierce battle with apple and chinese makers. chinese firms are expanding with low price smart phone models. sam sung electronics is expanding to new fields including med equipment. that is going to wrap it up for biz tonight. let's get a check of the markets.

north koreans are observing the birthday of their leader, kim jong-un. state-run media are trying to show him in a new light. korean central television has been airing new documentary films of kim. one scene shows him in the cockpit of a plane with his hands on the controls. it's apparently an attempt to present kim in a fresh way in contrast to his father who rarely travelled by airplane. the north korean calendar shows the current leader's birthday is a workday with no major celebrations expected. that is in stark contrast with the birthdays of his grandfather and father. both dates are designated as national holidays and are marked with major events across the country. yet the public appears to be very aware it is kim jong-un's birthday. people working in trade say

north koreans will commemorate the day in their workplaces. kim is believed to have turned 32 years old. north korean leaders remain defiant over accusations of hacking. they again denied any involvement in last month's cyberattack on sony pictures entertainment. the national defense commission released a statement. it urges the u.s. government to retract sanctions imposed in response to the attack and it says north korea's military is moving forward with what it calls a strong and unprecedented hard-line response. u.s. president barack obama signed an executive order last week authorizing financial sanctions. they target organizations backed by north korea's government, corporations and related individuals. the attack prompted the studio to postpone the release of the "the interview." the comedy is about journalists recruited to assassinate kim jong-un. the head of the fbi says he

is confident north koreans were behind the hacking. james comey has provided new details about the investigation. >> we can see that the ip addresses being used to post and to send the e-mails were coming from ips exclusively used by the north koreans. >> he spoke at the conference on cyber security. he said the people who attacked sony pictures tried to disguise their location but fbi officials have been able to trace some of their e-mails. u.s. national intelligence drector james clapper called it a powerful new realm for the north koreans. he said they believe they can use to it exert maximum influence at minimum cost. chinese officials have received a message from counter parts in north korea. they say they have apologized for murders last month by a

north korea. the man allegedly crossed the boarder and entered north eastern china, broke into a home in the province and killed four residents. police suspect the man entered china illegally with the intent of stealing. police shot him and took him to custody. officials with the foreign ministry say he died while being detained. authorities in beijing launched a protest with pyongyang over the incident. the government has apologized to families of the victims. a japanese fleet is on its way to the antarctic ocean to conduct a survey of whales

there. the fleet will enter this month or early february. it will spend about a month there. two vessels set up a patrol ship and set sail thursday from western japan. the international court of justice ruled in march japan's so called research whaling had no scientific purpose. the court ordered a halt to the program in the antarctic ocean. japan complied. the crews of the vessels dismantling whaling gear before leaving for the ant art aic. they plan to count number of whales through collecting skin samples for dna. they'll use special tools to monitor whales. more wintery weather expected for japan as we head to the weekend. our meteorologist jonathan oh joining us with the details. >> hello gene. we are talking about the snowy conditions continuing to hit the

northern portions of japan because of a low pressure system that really doesn't know what to do with itself. it's slowly moving north and east and wobbling upon itself. the sea effect snow cold coming in from the north runs over the sea of japan bringing plenty of snowfall. want to bring you to where we can see visuals of how this is taking place on the ground. people are dealing with another day of heavy snow in northern japan. a large wind heavy snow waves are in effect. they're at adviseory levels and warnings this month. more than three meters of snow is on the ground in the prefecture. as you can probably guess, on top of the fact there's a lot of snowfall, flights are being cancelled and many homes are without power. here are storm reports coming out of japan. 301 centimeters snowfall on the

ground. gusts of 155 kilometers per hour gusts. a lot to talk about in the region as far as western japan. we will see more snowfall coming from this system. again, coming out of the sea effect situation. be prepared to see plenty of the white stuff falling from the sky once again as we go throughout friday. while we're still talking about that we have cold weather taking place in china. we have a high pressure system bringing in chilly conditions. i think it's going to start moderating as the system shifts east. meanwhile, down towards the south, i want to point out we have the tropics where there's plenty of rainfall taking place, thunderstorms possible in malaysia and wet weather in parts of the southern philippines. be prepared for that. in bangkok, seeing rain with high of 32 degrees. look at this. seoul going to see temperatures above freezing as we go to friday with partly cloudy skies.

beijing 7 degrees. we are talking about snowy conditions as we go to europe. we have a low pressure system coming on shore. this is going to produce windy conditions wintery conditions. we are also talking about a lot more snowfall and cold weather down toward the southeast portions of europe. we are going to see this system that brought snowfall to turkey and lebanon. that will continue thursday friday saturday. you'll see snowfall possible in beirut going into the weekend. notice in ankara highs negative 15 and negative 17 as we go to thursday, friday. we'll see snowfall on saturday. we will see wet weather from stockholm to paris throughout thursday. cold temperatures as we go to north america for the eastern side of the united states. this jet stream dips down and high pressure whips around the cold air from canada.

wind chills down around negative 10 for the southern portion of the united states. down to negative 30 in some areas closer to great lakes. we will see the cold weather continues. snow might be whipping through for the northeast of the united states so chicago will see a snowfall possibility and high of negative 10. negative 17 winnipeg as we go to thursday. wrapping up as we look at the forecast for australia. the asian cup is taking place starting on friday. we will see thunderstorms in melbourne with high of 19 degrees as australia and and kuwait face off in the first match. hope you have a great day wherever you are. here's your extended outlook.

children at a kindergarten in western japan are showing they've got the fighting spirit. they've prak the tissing karate in the freezing cold. the training session is to help children build strength and endurance. 37 children age four and five took part in thursday's session. they wore karate uniforms and were barefoot. the instructor showed skills for the children. some were unable to withstand the cold and started crying. the children had sweet red bean soup after the training to warm themselves up.

and that's "newsline" for this hour. i'm gene otani in tokyo.

is on the highest security alert a following yesterday's deadly shooting at charlie hebdo. 12 people were killed in that attack. two suspected gunman are still at large. this is over 24 hours after that shooting attack. meanwhile, at 8:00 am this money, there was further bloodshed as another shooting took place, this any south of paris. details are still coming in to what we know is that a man wearing a bullet-proof vest fired on police officers in what at first seemed to be a traffic