's a look some of the stories we released this hour. militants have released a message about japanese happen kenzie goto and calls for release by sun set thursday. and they will take you to a drop

point for hostages. kenji goto. and people in tieaipei are trying to preserve the traditional charm of the neighborhood. people claiming to be with the islamic state have released an audio message and the man's voice identifies himself as kenji goto. he says if a prisoner is not released by sunset thursday they will kill the jordanian military pilot they're holding. the man say this is the message he's been told to send. he say ss if sa jeddah al rishawi is not released by a specific time time, moaz ca sasskasasbeh will be killed immediately. it's the third time an audio

clip of a man believed be goto was posted online. image images have been posted previously previously. none of the clips shows the islamic state logo that was used previously. officials are doing the best they can to authenticate the tape. >> translator: we are still scrutinizing the audio. based on our work so far it is highly like lit is goto. >> he said they are working to do their utmost for cooperation from other countries. the jordanians are working with authorities to bring a prisoner to the turkish border. they chose locations near two key crossing points the turkish

town s towns. standing by for new developments on the situation, our correspondent has the latest. >> reporter: i'm at the checkpoint of the turkish border with syria. beyond this point, it is said to be under the control of islamic state. japanese journalist kenji goto is believed to have been capture captured 90 kilometers south of where i'm standing. latest voice message purportedly released by islamic state demands for the death row inmate rishawi to be brought to the turkish border. it did not say where on the 400 kilometer long border but this is the closest point. japanese and local media have their crews and reporters standing by watching for

anyplace any developments. last year when they attack ed the city of mosul, the 49 hostage hostages taken were eventually released near this checkpoint. japanese officials appear to be in contact with turkish and jordanian officials in order to secure the release of kenji goto. on the turkish syrian border. we spoke with freelance journalist who is now in arbil, iraq. she has been covering the islamic state from syria. >> local tv news report on the video, the capture of the japanese man has outraged many people. everyone i saw told me that they were praying for the release of kenji goto. the news ofdrew much attention in

iraq given that many people died or injured in the suicide bombing she was involved in. people assumed the jordanian government would not release her. on the other hand many here see rishawi as a pitiful woman who has been forced by her husband to become a suicide bomb erer and she failed last. the latest video say the captor was rishawi to be released at turkish border. people say islamic state still holds area around the city and site of the border west turkey. and arksraaqqa is the main city. if that true i think they are planning a prisoner swap near their stronghold. i'm in the town next to the sticity of mosul, under the control of

the islamic state group. now, kurdish force and iraqi army are trying to regain control of the area. people say the group is losing ground. more than 100,000 people here have fled from the area controlled by islamic state group. and they are closely watching tv news for the development of fighting. for "nhk world"," iraq. >> goto's mother made another appeal for his release. >> translator: as his mother i want him to come home safely and i wanted him to know lots of people are worrying about him. >> she says all she can do is trust they're doing all they can. on wednesday she submitted a

petition to the prime minister's office pleading with government leaders to act swiftly. now, let's see how this story developed. >> reporter: the first video appeared on january 20th. it showed a masked man and two hostages later identified as ken kenji goto and hannathe other hostage and demand they'ded they pay $200 million to free them. >> japan announced it would give $200 million to iraq syria and other countries to help refugees. >> translator: using people as human shields is an act of ker ror. i am furious about this. >> translator: the japanese

government set up a task force in the jordanian capital and asked local regions for help and asked local religious leaders to open a channel with the militants. >> translator: we will carefully study any information and convey it to japan. we're working tenaciously to get the two hamms released as soon as possible. >> reporter: on january 24th another video was posted online showing goto appearing to hold a decapitated body and said they revised their demands. they wanted a militant on death row to be released. sajida al rishawi was involved

in a bomb attack series that killed more than 50 people. and said goto would be freed if she were released. >> the demand created controversy in jordan. many people wanted jordanian pilot released first. he had taken part in air-raids against islamic state militants and captured when his plane crashed. a third video appeared january 27th. it showed goto holding a photo of the pilot. a speaker claiming to be the cap captor said he had only 24 hours to live if they did not release rishawi. a message was then broadcast on jordan state television.

>> reporter: on the 29th, new audio message was released online. he person speaking was claimed to be goto. he said if she was not released on thursday in the iraqisy of mosul, the militants would execute the pilot. >> we have been asking the jordanian government to cooperate in this extremely severe situation. we will continue to do everything we can so that mr. goto will be released soon. >> reporter: officials in japan and jordan are racing against the clock. they are working together closely to save the lives of the hostages. russia's government has announced a new plan for the country's economy, battered by western sanctions in the plunge

and value of the ruble. the plan calls for a 10% spending cut in the $220 billion budget for 2015 and postpones a new regional development program but military spending and aid for russia's allies will remain the same amid a deepening rift with the west. the government will go ahead with development plans in crimea the development plan they annexed unilaterally last year. some doubt it will be effective say saying smaller banks and businesses benand high interest rates and defewer monies flowing in from overseas. sky mark is japan's third largest air carrier. it has filed for bankruptcy protection. its top officer said the company will try to bounce back by

restructure restructuring efforts and cutting flights. the president held a news conference at skymark's headquarters in tokyo. >> translator: we apologize to our customers, business partners and investors. so far, no other airliners and companies have offered to support our restructureing efforts. we hope to find corporate backers as soon as possible. >> he suggested the company will cut dozens of flights each week between now and late march. they currently operate 250 flights a day. he referred to ongoing negotiations with other airplanes to operate sharing flights and wants help for positive changes. the ceo of mcdonald's is leaving his post. don thompson will step down march 1st.

the company has been suffering from a decline in sales and series of safety scandals. thompson took over as ceo in 2012 and will be replaced by steve easter brook, currently executive vice president and chief sales operative. they saw its sales go down by double dates and twice found a supplier with meat past the expiration date. global sales dropped 7.3% from the year before leading to a 21.4% decline in net profit. policymakers at the u.s. federal reserve sent jitters through the market with their latest announcement saying they're on course to raise rates later this year despite shaky global growth and putting pressure on major benchmarks across europe. paris is down just a touch at

this time and concerned about what's happening in greece and saw athens benchmark dive 9% wednesday. shopping hi shed 1.3%? tokyo's nikkei was down 1.06% and mum way. bucked the trend and went up. the collar is trading in a narrow range against the win, mostly in the upper 149 level. meanwhile the euro is inching up against the greenback at 1.1303. executives at toshiba are planning to scale back the least profitable arm of their electronics business. they say they plan to stop selling tvs overseas. the executives say they'll quit north america as early as march. they plan to license sales and use of their brand name to a

taiwanese taiwanese firm and plan to exit other marketers against japan. they're coming up against first competition a competition from fierce rivals. toshiba recently scaled back their operations and said they will develop and continue selling tvs in japan and expect demand for 4k ultra high-definition. unhappy about the slump include prices nippon steel says the route is hurting demand for oil for gas lines and pipes and book the $580 million loss for december. they are forecasting a deep change in pipes for brazil and downgraded the forecast for march to roughly $1.5 billion. developers use the seamless steel pipes to dig for shale oil

in the u.s. and crude oil in southeast asia and elsewhere. executives say they suspect the impact of lower crude oil prices to continue in the next fiscal year. that's it for biz tonight. lets get a check of the markets.

people in taipei love the charm of the city's old neighborhoods. they know they can't sit still if they want to preserve their unique atmosphere. north korea world's reporter tells us what they're doing to revive traditional districts. >> reporter: medicines, dry food food, and many other favorites. some of the stores are on the street in central taipei haven't seemed to have changed in a century. this neighborhood used to be one of the key places for trade.

many of the buildings here were built by wealthy merchants. these days it's popular with tourists as well as local. this area is now undergoing a transformation. this building is almost a century old. it used to be a shop selling traditional chinese medicine. now, it's a boutique selling teapots and other ceramics. although it has been refurbish refurbished, the original structure features have been retained. >> translator: this shop it has a special ambience. and i felt i wanted to look inside. >> translator: i love this kind of old architecture combined with this contemporary feel.

>> the move to revive the area around the street has been spearhead ed spearheaded by this man. he is keen to keep alive the neighborhood's historic feel. it all started when he and another opened the shop selling pottery five years ago. in old days this area had the cosmopolitan feel, traditional plays were performed here. but there were also strong influences from abroad. the wealthy merchants introduced new music and art. he wants that feel to remain in the street. he has this tea house and buys the tea and confectionary from stores in the street.

to him, it's important to keep old local traditions along with contemporary ideas. >> translator: this mix of cultures is one of taiwan aes's distinctive features. >> translator: as the people have hoped, 30 new stores have opened including galleries and cafes. after drawing up a contract with owners of the old buildings, they renovate them and partition the floors into smaller spaces. that makes them more affordable to rent for younger people. >> translator: i heard this will become a place in taiwan where people can start up businesses. i also hope many younger people will come here and learn how to run business from those with more experience. >> reporter: historical and

contemporary style, others are working to breathe new life into this traditional neighborhood. noriyuki "nhk world," taipei. tokyo residents may be waking up to snow on friday. our meteorologist joins us for the details. sayaka. >> yes. the last week of january is typically the coldest time of year and we're expecting to see snowflakes in the metropolitan area and we have a low pressure in the central part of japan moving towards the east. as it does so it will drag colder air from the north and spread moisture from the south and provide widespread snowfall including tokyo. and tokyo may see snowfall early friday morning and change to rain during the daytime hours. if the temperature does not rise

we may see snow accumulate inging into the afternoon. approximately 5 millimeters of snow could occur in tokyo. it's not the accumulation but we may see some and some snow could cause traffic disturbances in tokyo and could affect our morning commute. >> is on the menu for western japan. you may get up to 20 centimeters. it is not a big issue friday but during the weekend, snow is likely to come back. across the north western portions of the university you saw nearly 90 meters of snow in just two days like in massachusetts. and people are still digging out. i want to take you to eastern massachusetts to show how conditions are still severe out there. people trying to pick up the

pieces after a powerful snowfall slammed into the area causing significant damage including flattened trees and garbage cans. it froze over vehicles because of the cold temperatures. two homes had to be condemned after a 24 meter seawall collapsed. it's totally frozen up there. good news snow has let up in the northeastern portions of the united states, however we're expecting to see snowfall once again as we go to friday. we have a couple of low pressure systems in and around the great lakes region up to the north probably 20 centimeters and freezing rain. these were moved in the northeast to your friday. it will be another snowy day across the western u.s. including boston and new york city. take a look at this. new york on thursday minus 1 degree and snow will come back on your friday. then, as we go to monday another day of snowfall.

similar conditions are expected in both boston as well as portland. temperatures are as follows thursday 3 degrees in chicago with snowflakes on the menu. quite warm in houston, and quite warm compared to what we saw wednesday in oklahoma city and quite warm in los angeles, 24 degrees with no precipitation once again. across australia the asian top football tournament is taking place. ire rack will face ure friday and newcastle. here's our forecast.

major leaguer suzuki hopes to set more baseball records while wearing a miami marlins uniform. the japanese star has finalized a one year deal with the club worth $2 million. >> translator: i am thrilled to join the team. i want to play well on the field and help miami win games.

i am very motivated by what team managers thought of me as a player. this is the most important thing for me. i am very driven and eager to perform my best each and every game for the fans. >> suzuki is the first japanese born player to play miami. the 41-year-old veteran is expected to be the team's fourth outfielder. he's mostly start from the bench in a pinch-hitting role. suzuki has been playing major league baseball sis 2001. he has accumulated 1,278 hits since his nine years in japan and had 2,722 while playing in the u.s. just 156 shy of the 3,000 hit milestone. so far, only 28 players have been able to achieve that mark. suzuki will wear number 51 the same one he wore in japan and also with the seattle mariners.

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

apanese journalist. to be held captive. he said he and his fellow captive will be killed by tonight if a bomber is not released. israel warns hezbollah it will pay the full price after missiles killed two israeli soldiers on the border with lebanon, in the worst violence between the two sides in nine years, raising fears of a new all-out war. 70's puts together its biggest --