a look at some of the stories we're following this hour. the head of jordan's air force says the campaign against islamic state is working and he vows to destroy the militant group. an nhk poll suggests majority support for the government's response to a recent hostage crisis. and a city in northern japan

has transformed into a winter play ground. we'll take you live to the 66th annual sapporo snow festival. jordanian military commanders say their fighter jets have inflicted heavy losses on islamic states. they increased their air strikes on the ground in recent days after the militants announced they killed one of the country's pilots. but concerns remain that one of the bombings may have cost an american hostage her life. nhk world's craig dale has more. >> reporter: with bombing after bombing, jordan's air force chief says his country is pummeling islamic state. >> where they sleep and eat. training centers, depots weapons, ammunitions, fuel. >> reporter: major general mansour al jobour says fighter jets carried out 56 air strikes from thursday to saturday. jordan ramped up its bombings on islamic state in syria after the group announced it killed

jordanian pilot moaz kasasbeh by burning him to death. now the militants say an american hostage died in one of those bombings. they say they were holding aid worker kayla jean mueller in this building. officials in jordan called the claim propaganda and those in the u.s. say they have no evidence the 26-year-old is dead. the militants kidnapped her in august 2013 in syria. family and friends in her hometown are struggling to stay hopeful. >> the strain of not knowing where their daughter is at and whether or not she's alive or not, is something that is starting to wear on them. >> reporter: it's yet another reason why government leaders say the fight against islamic state must go on. >> it is affecting the region. it is affecting the whole world at the moment. >> reporter: but many agree dealing with that threat requires more than just air strikes and support for iraqi and kurdish forces. >> the key question is who

finances the conflict and who benefits from it. >> reporter: government officials have found it harder to cut off islamic state connections with its supporters. the group relies on weapons and funding from abroad along with revenue from black market oil sales. and it's attracted more than 15,000 fighters from 80-plus countries. still, the militants further alienated themselves by showcasing the jordanian pilot's seemingly barbaric murder. protesters have taken to the streets. the queen of jordan has joined them. the king consoled the pilot's family, and he's vowed revenge. analysts say islamic state, known in air dick as daesh, failed in its attempt to divide jordan and fracture the international coalition. >> even those who were useing an argue the that daesh is somehow right, now they change their opinion. they came with the government. >> reporter: and so no surprise that jordanian military

commanders are showing more resolve to go after the militants. >> we are achieving the objectives of this war, not only the daesh capabilities we are going to destroy daesh. >> reporter: this is not the end, he says. this is the beginning. craig dale, nhk world. japanese foreign ministry officials have confiscated the passport of a freelance photographer to stop him from going to syria. they say they did that to protect his life and property. they say it's the first time the ministry has taken such an action. the cameraman was planning to enter syria through turkey. foreign ministry officials in tokyo have issued an evacuation advisory for japanese citizens in syria. islamic state militants say they will continue to target foreigners to use as hostages. officials say they ordered the freelance photographer to surrender his passport after he refused to cancel his travel plans. the photographer says he was planning to enter syria since he

couldn't go last year. he says the ministry's action makes him feel he is no longer free to travel where he wants. japan's top government spokesperson is defending the decision. >> translator: the government gives the utmost respect to the freedoms of press and movement guaranteed by the constitution. but, i think it's also a crucial responsibility for the government to ensure the safety of its nationals who are traveling or living abroad. >> suga said anyone travelling to syria would very likely face a serious threat. he said it's a real possibility they could be seized by islamic state militants or other extremist groups. prime minister shinzo abe has faced some criticism for how he handled a hostage crisis involving two japanese citizens. but a new nhk poll suggests a little more than half of voters

approve of how he did his job in the face of islamic state, and its ticking clock. nhk conducted a telephone survey over the weekend. more than 970 people took part in the poll. 54% said they support abe's cabinet. that's up four percentage points from our january poll. 29% said they don't back the cabinet. we asked respondents to weigh in on how abe and his ministers dealt with the hostage crisis. 51% said they approve. 42% say they do not. islamic state militants claim they killed haruna yauk wow and kenji goto after abe announced he continued to send humanitarian aid to the middle east. 65% of respondents said they approve. 29% said they disapprove. voters and politicians in japan continued to talk about what happened before during and after this hostage crisis. nhk world's tomoko kamata has been listening to some of the conversations. tomoko, our poll suggests 51% of

voters approve of how the prime minister handled things but we can't obviously ignore those who disapprove. 42%. what are some of abe's critics saying? >> well a number of them have been focusing on the trip abe took last month to the middle east. he announced in cairo that japan would give $200 million to help nations struggling with islamic state. this was money for humanitarian aid and infrastructure for the most part. but the militants apparently viewed it as japan getting involved in the fight against them. even though the japanese constitution forbids military intervention abroad. so islamic state demanded the same amount of money in ransom for the two hostages. some lawmakers are criticizing the timing of abe's announcement. they say government officials

believe some reason islamic state kidnapped both yukawa and goto. >> translator: knowing that the japanese were being held captive, did you not take into account that making such a speech could pose a danger to the hostages? >> translator: it is extremely important to make clear that japan supports arab countries fighting against extremism. there's no need to flatter them. that is our firm stance. >> what is the abe administration doing to review its handling of the crisis? >> chief cabinet secretary yoshihide suga says the government is looking into its risk management protocols. that, again, is an area where the opposition says abe and his team failed.

we spoke to risk management expert and former diplomat who served in japanese embassy in baghdad in 2004. he says the government took a basic approach and he found no serious mistakes. the bigger issue, he believes is the threat islamic state and other groups pose down the road. >> the terrorists could come to us anywhere. abroad, or in japan. so we should now think about the unthinkable. and we should dramatically change and revolutionalize the mind-set of this -- of security measures. >> he also says it would be important to strengthen government's capability for information gathering. or, intelligence. now think about what he just

said in light of the fact that islamic state have threatened to attack japanese people everywhere, if you look at our nhk poll now, 82% of the respondents say they feel japanese are a target for terrorism abroad. >> tomoko, thanks, as always. the sun has set, and the temperature has dropped in the northern japanese city of sapporo. but that's not keeping the crowds away. people have bundled up to check out the frozen works of art at the snow festival. and they're finding all just as eye catching after dark. nhk world's kimberly gale is among them. kimberly? >> well gene the temperature now well below zero. but, no one here really seems to mind. they've gathered for what is turning out to be a truly

magical evening for this frozen art gallery come to life. there are more than 200 snow and ice sculptures at the sapporo snow festival. but there's one that's attracting a lot of attention. it's a tribute to the classic sci-fi film star wars to coincide with this year's sequel. darth vader in white alongside his storm troopers, looming 15 meters tall. they're quite striking when lit up at night. they stand out in the dark more than they do in the day. people are lining up with their selfie sticks and cameras, photos of this sculpture are appearing all over social media. people are tweeting about it and adding photos to instagram. this is the one that's making international news headlines. well now from a bit of pop culture to something more traditional. you can see a part of a japanese

shinzo shrine this one, kaisuga in nara prefecture in western japan, built in the eighth century. but this giant sculpture here recreated in snow. very realistic. 11 meters tall, 17 meters wide. and 2,000 tons of snow. now the architects behind this probably not who you would expect, actually members of japan's self-defense forces. it took 100 personnel about a month to put it all together. >> kimberly it looks like a big crowd there. where have all the people come from? >> well gene a real mix of a crowd here. we're seeing lots of families. we're seeing people who look like they've just come from work. and of course a lot of tourists. now i've been speaking to the tourists. i want to introduce you to one here. hello. >> hi. >> where did you come from? >> i'm from the u.s. >> yes. what brought you to hokkaido? >> well i've actually never been to hokkaido before it's my first time and i was always

like looking for a good reason to go, and with the really famous snow festival it happens every year it's a good excuse to come. >> what is your impression of the snow festival so far? >> it's really cool. because i've never actually seen like snow sculptures before. so seeing all this is quite overwhelming but it's really cool for lack of a better term, i guess. >> enjoy yourself. thank you so much for talking to us. now if all of this isn't enough to make you really excited there is one more attraction that's happening as the sun sets. now it's called projection mapping. it's light and video beamed onto the sculpture to transform how it all looks. what you're seeing highlights how the seasons actually change around the shrine. and the final shot makes the shrine really come to life with realistic colors and all the intricate details.

now sapporo's snow festival continues until wednesday. tonight, there's so much for me to see and do so i'm going to sign off now, gene and throw it back to you so i can keep walking and keep warm. >> thanks kimberly, from the sapporo snow festival. one japanese automaker is feeling bullish about the future, and john madison is here with the latest on this story. >> that's right, gene. nissan motor has revised up its sales and profit forecast for the current fiscal year. company officials point to strong sales in the united states and the effects of the weak yen. nissan sales for the april to december period last year rose 11% from the same period the previous year. operating profit for the period was up almost 40%. the automaker now expects record sales of about $94 billion for the fiscal year through march. with operating profit of about $5 billion. nissan managers though revised down their forecast for global

car sales. they blamed the slowdown in china's market and expected sluggish sales in russia with a plunge in the ruble. they say they plan to cut costs and introduce more profitable models in the u.s. let's get a check of the markets now. major european stock markets are trading lower. investors are a bit pessimistic about greece's debt situation, as you see there the majors are all in negative territory. frankfurt is really pulling the region lower, down to about 1.4% lower. the greek prime minister said on sunday that he has no intention of asking the eu to extend its bailout program. turning to asia now, stocks ended mostly lower as china's imports and exports in january tumbled from a year ago. sydney snapped a 12-day winning streak. but tokyo was able to close higher today on the weaker yen. and speaking of currencies the dollar and the euro are now trading lower against the yen. traders are buying the japanese currency as a safer bet. they're worried about greece's debt problems and the conflict in ukraine.

well japanese workers are feeling a little bit better about the economy these days. sentiment in january improved for the second straight month. officials at the cabinet office surveyed about 2,000 workers to compile the monthly economy watchers index. the index in january rose 0.4 points from the previous month to 45.6. a measure below 50 does suggest more people are pessimistic about business conditions. respondents in transportation services did report better results due to cheaper gasoline. others were a bit concerned, though, about rising prices for food and raw materials, due to the weaker yen. officials have maintained their assessment that there are some weaknesses in the economic recovery. the leading index forecasting conditions a few months ahead rose to 50 for the first time since august last year. this appears to reflect expectations that wages will rise. japan's top farmer's union has agreed to a government reform plan that will give more

autonomy to local farm cooperatives. the plan is part of the government's economic growth strategy. the head of the central union of agricultural cooperatives says he accepted the plan after hearing from officials of the ruling liberal democratic party. >> translator: we will make an effort to reform in order to boost the incomes of farmers and help reinvigorate the regional economies. >> the plan will change the union's status by end of march 2019 from one based on the agricultural loss to a general incorporated body. the central union will continue to coordinate the activities of local farm cooperatives but its auditing function will become a separate company. local farm cooperatives will be able to choose their auditors. the government plans to submit the reform bill to the current session of the diet. japanese electronics company hitachi is offering a wearable i.t. device. it's got a new twist to it. it measures the wearer's

happiness, and satisfaction. take a look at this. it looks actually like a company i.d. badge, and embedded sensor and wireless technology monitors how the wearer walks and talks. hitachi engineers say a person's physical movements are related to their feelings. they say the level of happiness at a workplace can be measured on a scale of zero to 100 if everyone wears the device. >> translator: we hope this will be used in a variety of businesses that want to increase the happiness of their employees, and improve earnings. >> hitachi officials say the device will be on the market in april. they say they hope their happiness scale becomes a key management index. all right. that is going to do it for biz tonight. let's see how things are looking on the markets.

japan's defense ministry plans to introduce 52 u.s.-made amphibious assault vehicles in the exfive years to defend remote islands. the so-called aav7 was shown to media at a base in central japan. japan's ground self-defense force has been testing the performance of four of the vehicles since they arrived from the united states last february. the landing vehicles are eight

meters long and weigh about 20 tons. they can carry more than 20 people through shallow water and solid ground. the u.s. marines use the same type of vehicles during the gulf and iraq wars. the aav7s are to be deployed to a new amphibious brigade to be faced in sasebo city southwestern japan. more than 30 people died when a riot broke out between soccer fans and security forces in the egyptian capital of cairo. many others were injured. local media say the violence erupted at a stadium where a professional soccer game was being played. egyptian authorities say the riot started after police prevented fans without tickets from entering the venue. the officers used tear gas to disperse the crowd but a group of hard core fans set fire to a police vehicle. more than 70 people died in a similar incident three years ago. police have since taken measures to restrict the number of spectators and matches and to

bar hard-core fans from entering. egyptian authorities have responded to sunday's incident by suspending professional soccer matches indefinitely. nobel peace prize lawyer yet malala yousafzai has called for international action to free more than 200 nigerian school girls kidnapped by an islamist militant group. 300 days have passed since boko haram took the girls captive. malala said if they had been the children of powerful parents, much more would have been done to free them. she says the young women risked everything to get an education and should not be forgotten. malala herself was attacked by the pakistani taliban for attending school. boko haram refuses to release the girls. their whereabouts remain unknown. the nigerian government recently postponed its presidential election due to security concerns. the voting had been scheduled for this saturday. heavy rains have been pounding much of the western u.s. flooding and traffic disturbances have been reported. our meteorologist sayaka mori joins us for the latest.

sayaka? >> yes, gene moisture continues to flow in to the western u.s. from the tropics, causing heavy rainfall from northern california up towards british columbia. record-breaking heavy rainfall in both sacramento as well as seattle late last week and more heavy rain is once again pounding the same locations. northern california may get up to 100 millimeters of heavy rainfall in the next 24 hours, and that will combine with very strong gusts. that will continue in to your monday. but by tuesday, conditions will improve in northern california and rain will be decreasing over the pacific northwest, as well. different story over the opposite side of the u.s. we're talking about heavy snowfall. boston, record-breaking heavy snow last week and more is falling since the weekend. let's take a look at some video from boston. people living in the boston area are having a hard time catching a break from the winter weather.

more snow rolled through the city this weekend, adding to the 91 centimeters that were already on the ground. the snow led to nearly 201 cancellations and officials canceled school for monday and tuesday in boston. and snow is still continuing in the boston area and that will continue actually into at least next three days. snow in boston on tuesday and a chance of snow on both wednesday and thursday. notice temperatures extremely low for this average. 4 degrees is the average temperature for boston but below zero into thursday. and other areas like ottawa chicago, you'll see quite low temperatures for this time of year. the coldest air of the season is blanketing many parts of japan. causing quite heavy snowfall. 93 centimeters have fallen in niigata prefecture and gusts of 100 kilometers per hour in hokkaido. the combination is causing

blowing snow. take a look at the footage coming out of hokkaido. you cannot see almost anything. fierce winds and heavy snow are causing near zero visibility. traffic accidents and power outages have been reported. in hokkaido today, and unfortunately today similar conditions will likely linger into early next -- into tuesday. we're expecting additional 80 centimeters of snow for the hokuriku region 70 centimeters for the tohoku region up to 50 for hokkaido. quite a lot of snow is raising the risk for avalanches. conditions will stay the same in sapporo on tuesday. your high is going to be only minus 5 degrees. actually on both sunday and monday, it was quite warm. so some ice statues melted. but down to minus 5 degrees on your tuesday. however, tokyo and nagoya conditions will improve on wednesday. very warm conditions will come back. across the bigger picture looking quite dry for many parts of china and the korean

peninsula. i want to mention this one. a severe tropical storm has formed over the western pacific. good news it's going to stay over the waters although it's going to become a typhoon. the bulk of heavy rain should stay over the waters for the next several days. here's the extended forecast.

the japanese chess game of shogi is usually played on a tabletop board. but two shogi masters came together for a match on a much larger scale. these may look like toys but they're actually real cars arranged on a giant shogi board. the match was held inside a baseball stadium. the board is more than 50 meters long, by 30 meters wide. nearly 15,000 times the size of a normal board. the cars were decked out to look like the game's 20 pieces. signs on the roof showed which one of each represented. the shogi masters called out their moves then a driver rushed to the responding car and drove it to the correct square. they steered the cars through narrow gaps and around the board for nine hours until the match was over. japanese automaker helped to plan the event. organizers said it was the first time a shogi match of this size had been played.

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

my police fire tear gas. pushing for peace in eastern ukraine -- leaders from ukraine russia, germany, and france promised to meet in dollars after the phone call fails to yield the concrete agreement. in a sweet second victory for the ivory coast. the elephants won the cup of nations tournament beating ghana -8 in overtime. you're watching "france 24."