o. here's a look at some of the stories we're following this hour. declassified documents are showing how u.s. officials put words into the mouth of a japanese prime minister. authorities in southern china are fighting to contain a bird flu outbreak that's infected nine people. and the detention of a popular french comedian is

prompting criticism as officials crack down on racist comments in the wake of last week's terror attacks. people in japan are getting new insight into a relationship that's long shaped their safety. declassified documents reveal how the prime minister 50 years ago changed his words under american pressure. they show u.s. pressure got him to stress the islands of okinawa win vital to american security. they took control at the end of world war ii. he became the first prime minister to visit u.s. territory and spoke to the public in 1965. declassified diplomatic records have revealed how his message got shaped. u.s. officials approached him three days before prime minister sato gave his speech and asked to see his draft. it talked about way ss japan would help oakkinawa if they got the

islands back and the u.s. wasn't happy. the u.s. ambassador visited the prime minister and said the speech didn't give enough emphasis on the u.s. policies and said the should revise it or risk affecting american policies. he said it played an important role in the stability of east asia and the security of japan depended on the security of okinawa and vice-versa and he commended the u.s. administration. he said the people in okinawa had seen their economy and welfare get better under the americans. looking after historical records, this man says prime minister wanted to speak directly to the people of okinawa. the americans saw the islands as a strategic location in east asia and base to defend japan. officials with mcdonald's

japan are struggling to find ways to end a string of food scares. they've announced new safety measures but problems keep cropping up. >> reporter: pieces of plastic, vinyl, even a human tooth have been popping up in mcdonald's food across the country. >> in northern japan, a customer found a piece of vinyl in a chicken nugget. >> a child suffered a mouth injury, after biting into a piece of plastic in an ice cream sunday. in osaka last august a customer found what was determined to be a human tooth in french fries. in other outlets, customers found a bug in a piece of metal in their meals. piece of plastic. >> a customer found part of a human north in frenchize. >> and other customers found a bug in their feels. >> i am somewhat disappointed.

>> i am somewhat disappointed. i trusted mcdonald's. >> it's scary to hear about all kinds of thing popping up in there. it makes me afraid to eat their food. >> mcdonald's executives offered explanations for some of the incidents but can't account for them all and they offered an apology. >> i wish to offer a sincere apology to customers for all of the anxiety and trouble we have caused. >> reporter: they halted sales of all mcnuggets produced in a plant >> they halt sale of all mcdonald's produced in a plant in thailand but they later said in thailand after the violence was discovered but they later said the possibility that that object came from that plant or restaurant is slim. officials at the burger chain the possibility that that object came from that plant or restaurant is slim. >> officials at the burger chain said they plan sanitation checks said they plan sanitation checks at all 3,000 of their outlets. they said external workers will inspect utensils and equipment and they will check how able

mcdonald's workers are at detecting objects that are checking for objects that are not supposed to be in their food. this is not the first time >> this is not the first time mcdonald's has been caught up in a food safety scandal so it's crucial that they catch up on the incident. and of course their reputation. "nhk world," tokyo. health officials in southern china are stepping up their battle against bird flu. they're fighting an outbreak that's infected nine people this month. officials in guangdong province are attacking 8789 restricting poultry in eight cities and towns and dealers have to get them disinfected everyday. any who sells one without inspection can get fined and all sales of live birds have been sealed and they're trying to

stop unauthorized trade outside markets. guangdong authorities say they're allowing sales to minimize the impact on people's lives. ron joins us with the latest in the markets. ron. >> thank you gene. we start with switzerland where they have surprised traders and sent markets into a frenzy abandoning the cap on 1.2 franks per euro and dramatically lowered interest rates. traders sent it shooting up by nearly 30% against the euro that dipped below the 1.6 level trading at 1.1678 roughly. investors reacted to the news by dumping shares and wiping out gains against benchmarks. they soon started buying again and we're seeing the situation is pretty volatile. markets are fluctuating and without the exception of frankfurt in the negative right now.

frankfurt up about a tenth of a percent. we saw a rebound include oil prices. shanghai outperformed the pack ss. num by was 2.6% higher following a surprise rate cut and tokyo seeing a rebound of 1.9%. the dollar is losing a bit of ground against the yen. it fell below 117 during tokyo trading hours. official at the reserve bank of india have cut the key interest rate for the first time in a year and say inflation shows signs of slowing and global oil prices are plunging. the bank cut its main lending rate by.25 percentage points to 7.75%. officials kept the rate at 8% since last january. the india economy has been growing because price ss and spend ing are problems.

bankers decided to cut the interest rate ahead of their policy meeting next month. the governor indicated more rate cuts may be in store. officials in india are calling for lower interest rates as a way of stimulating the economy. officials at the bank are keeping a close eye on economic activity around the country. they say all nine regions are recovering or recovering moderately. saying in their quarterly assessment hokkaido is showing signs of slowing activity but kept the overall assessments unchanged. they downgraded assessment for factory output in hokkaido and raised it on semiconductors and other goods. they kept the personal spending unchanged in all of the regions and say the impact on last april's consumption tax hike is

easing up. japanese companies are paying less for goods they buy and sell for each other. the producer price index fell in december. it was the second straight monthly decline. officials say the index last month stood at 101.9, down 20% from 2013. it dropped in december but not by as much including the consumption tax hike. when that index is factored it it actually rose 104.8. officials attribute the fall to a drop include oil prices that has lowered the price of gasoline and other petroleum products. they released the figures for the entire 2014 calendar year saying it rose 3.1% from the previous year with the tack hike factored out it grew 1%. energy is driving up the cost of raw materials and they're

passing along those costs. starting working on a free trade deal in australia in 2007 and passed a trade partnership agreement in july and now came in effect. the free pack trade agreement will relieve 95% of tariff taxes in five years and they will immediately remove tariffs on japanese cars and in stages on chilled australian beef from 38.5% to 23.5%. most of the beef japan imports already comes from australia. japanese farmers are worried about even more agricultural imports. roughly a quarter of their international trade is places like russia where they have such deals with. they want to speed up negotiations with other such deals including the transpacific partnership. that's it for tonight.

i'll leave you with the markets. the french government is clamping down on racist and terrorist remarks after the terror attacks by islamic radicals and fueled the debate on freedom of expression. they detained a man on wednesday on allegations he was glorifying terrorism. the comedian had posted a message on facebook calling

himself charlie kulabaly a play on the name sharply hebdo-- charlie hebdo and the place where it attacked at the supermarket. some critics say the comedian's detention is a disproportionate response to his public remarks. the president of france says he's reconsidering military cuts. he says the country needs enough soldiers to maintain security. he spoke after members of al qaeda in yemen claimed responsibility for 1 of the attacks, calling the citizens who carried it out heroes. nhk craig dale reports. >> reporter: the memorial keeps growing outside the newspaper "charlie hebdo." >> i'm still a bit shocked at

everything. >> reporter: most people feel the same way and officers patrol the capital protecting jewish mosques and sensitive spots all to avoid a repeat of this. two brothers both french citizens and radical islamists killed 12 people at "charlie hebdo" and about the prophet muhammad" considered and insult. all three died in standoffs with police. investigators are working to establish links between the two attacks and to figure out how the men planned and financed their plots. rep representatives of the al qaeda peninsula based group said they are responsible for the attacks. they planned every step of the way. that hasn't been verified but the source of the video has.

>> we have verified the video is authentic and likely came from a krksak aka's aka's -- aqa's media wing. >> police arrested a man they say was planning to carry out an attack in washington. they say christopher cornell sympathized with the islamist military group and planned to use a semi-automatic rifle and pipe bombs to kill people at the u.s. capitol building. it's yet another reminder of the threat around the world of people who support islamist state either the fight in syria or fighting the attacks in their own countries. not the terrorist attack in our country is highly likely and could occur without warning. three serious terrorist plots have been disrupted in recent months alone. >> reporter: the threat of more terror attacks prompted the

french president to announce he's reconsidering military cuts that started last year. he spoke aboard an aircraft carrier that will join the coalition fight inging the islamist state in iraq. >> we need specific soldiers under these unusual circumstances. circumstances. >> the circumstances are indeed unusual. the survival of "charlie hebdo" has been selling out and now the copy is available in several languages. but many muslims have voiced anger over the cover which depicts the prophet muhammad. some in turkey protested outside the newspaper that showed the image. islamist authorities across have criticized the cover. in asia and indonesia they told state media freedom of expression should not be used to

insult something considered sacred. it's free speech versus religion. it's going to continue to play out about something that happened one week ago. six world powers will presume their talks on nuclear. these talks with john kerry lasted for seven hours. they're believed to have discussed the need to speed up the nuclear talks. negotiates hope to agree on a comprehensive deal on the new deadline of june. he spoke with kerry and said they're ready to speed up the process. he plans to meet with his counter parts in germany and france on thursday and negotiates remain at odds on the scale of tehran's nuclear program and one sticking point

is how much uranium the iranians should be allowed to enrich. sunday marks anniversary of the largest disaster drill the city has ever seen. it was based on a scenario of a jolt from a magnitude 9 earthquake. about 350,000 people participated at a subway station station, about 100 people hunkered down after an emergency announcement was made and then they walked to a temporary shelter. >> translator: it was good to have come and taken part in a drill. now, i won't have to panic if an actual earthquake strikes. >> translator: i heard a majority of young people were killed after the quake. i really think it is important to convey the experience to them. >> the magnitude 7.3 quake rocked the region january 17th, 1995. more than 6400 people died. they managed to rebuild their

port city after a massive effort that took many years. members of japan's largest political opposition are in the midst of a close race for party president. the three candidates in the drink party of japan's leadership election don't have much time left to convince party 130ur9 supporters. the polls close sunday. >> reporter: the race for the top spot of the drinkemocratic party of japan is neck to neck. former health minister is being backed by the liberal block and labor unions. >> translator: i consider correcting disparity a top priority and by embracing more diversity in society i could make the country more flexible and strong. >> reporter: former party secretary general is using his youth to his advantage.

trying to appeal to young democrats who expect him to freshen the party's traditional image. >> translator: the dpj stands on pass fis imbut-- pacisim but also mutt stand for the islands. >> reporter: and okada is running. >> translator: i would debate with prime minister abe with confidence. i would fight with confidence and want to restore the people's trust in the dpj. >> reporter: all three candidates know revival is important to contest the current coalition. the party was once successful in dominance claiming power in 2009. but the victory was short lived.

the party lost its leadership after the abe coalition won the majority in the 2012 general election. in last month's lower house election. the dpj managed to increase its number of seats but it still fell way short of a majority. analysts say the current power balance is one strong party and many weak ones. the dpj candidates vow to change it. they say they could adequately beat the opposition and form a united front in the diet. the election is based on 760 points. ordinary dpj members and supporters across japan will cast votes for more than 60% of the total. the remaining points are divided by the party's diet lawmakers. nhk pre-dicts who will lead

backed by members for the total and also have more support from diet members. if none of the three candidates wins a majority a runoff vote will take place. "nhk world," tokyo. nhk's board of governors has approved a new corporate plan that covers the three fiscal years from april that calls for expanding broadcasting for international audiences and enhancing information distribution through the internet. nhk governors regard the plan as the first phase of the corporate vision towards 2020 the year of the tokyo olympics and paralympic games and says they will continue to fulfill their mission as a broadcaster for information and aim to achieve the highest quality broadcasting services in the world by 2020 and calls on nhk to continue reformed to evolve into an

advanced public media communication as broadcasting and telecommunication are increasingly overlapping. in line it has major objectives. including contribution to disaster prevention and reduction of people's lives and livelihood and worldwide attraction to a worldwide audience and expansion of programs aired with emphasis on viewers in asia. and to promote services to promote hk ultra high-definition technology. >> translator: i'm determined to lead the efforts to take up new challenges and carry out reforms. all the staff members will work as one. >> people in the philippines are bracing for the arrival of a strong storm. our meteorologist, sayaka mori is joining us for an update.

there is a tropical storm pack g packing 65 kilometers an hour but the temperatures are warm enough to intensify the system and could become a tropical storm and then could hit sunday local time and warm up towards lasan into early next week. we are expecting windy conditions and significant rainfall over a wide area. stormy conditions are in the picture for the northern half of the philippines as we go to the weekend and early next week. now, looking dry for many parts of china. because of calm conditions the air quality has been the worst of the season in the beijing area. pink and orange indicate the air is quite that as of thursday. as the new system forms, that provides windy conditions for northern china. conditions will improve by saturday in south and eastern

parts of china, south korean and western japan will see conditions quite deteriorating. across the tokyo area we see rain and windy conditions due to a low pressure system across the country, also dragging very cold air near the north and the mountains and inland locations are seeing heavy and accumulating snowfall. that could finish as we go to friday. temperatures have been quite low in tokyo today but jumping up to 13 degrees with partly sunny skies on friday. 3 degrees install stall and 4 in beijing. quite low temperatures found in lower areas, the same story for pakistan because of the snow falling in the northern areas. i want to take you to the northern areas of the country. northern india received snowfall thursday. temperatures dipped near

freezing and people were rejoicing to enjoy the wintry precipitation. some took photos and many others danced and played in the snow. every year people in southern india visit the north to experience the snowfall. temperatures remain below average and we may see snowfall in the northern area and look at this temperatures 2 to 3 degrees below average in the northern parts of india. blustery conditions still affecting many parts of northern europe. you can see this in the british isle and in the northern area of british isle winds up to 150 kilometers in ireland. and it will likely move to the east and rain and snow moving to the continent thursday. towards the south in australia, quite calm conditions in the southeastern corner of the country and two games are set in the asian cup. japan will face iraq and

brisbane. the high is 32 degrees. a bit warm to play. to the south, mel mourn, your high is 25 degrees with partly sunny skies on your friday. all right. that's it for now. up next is your three-day forecast.

that's "newsline" for this

hour. i'm gene otani in tokyo.

e in paris, saying the time for renewal has come. underlining the fact that muslims suffer the most from fundamentalism and intolerance. pope francis lands in the philippines, the first visit to the largely catholic country in 20 years. some 6 million people are expected for a giant mass later in the week. new reports of boko haram violence in nigeria. men