it's 7:00 p.m. on a thursday. i'm james tengan in tokyo. welcome to "newsline." here are our stop stories. not guilty. a japanese service acquitted the president in connection with a column he published online. theis economy has entered a grave new world higher interest rates.

and mustling up. taiwan is spending big bucks on military weapons for the u.s. trigger something strong opposition from beijing. a south korean court has given a rule on a trial that has been say diplomatic issue with japan. it's now acquitted a japanese journalist. the former seoul bureau chief in a column he referred to a south korean newspaper report that questioned park's whereabouts. he suggested she may be meeting her former male secretary. prosecutors have sought an 18-month prison sentence. they say he knew the rumor wasn't true. but he insisted he is innocent. he said the article was in the public interest and said he in no intention of dishonoring park. they ruled how the president

carries out her public duties is a matter of public cocern. for the political and social situation for japanese readers. coto's response is muted. he said he didn't feel any particular emotion because the ruling wasn't a surprise for him. adding he hopes there is no appeal. >> translator: i value the court's decision of acquittal. i expect it will have positive effect on our relations with it. >> the news agency has quoted a south korean court ministry official saying now as the case is over, he sees an opportunity for a better relationship. nhk world tells how it created waves in both the journalistic and diplomatic worlds. >> reporter: south korean prosecutors excited him last

year without putting anymore in detention. but they banned him from leaving the country for eight months despite demands that he be allowed to travel abroad. some came to his ghedefense in court. they say they were going to too far to punish the media. >> translator: it's unacceptable for governmental authority to demand a punishment for civilians including journalists. i can't ignore it. >> reporter: other groups condemn the government's expense to his work. they warned park administration is restricts freedom of speech having lost 22 defamation suits. human rights said the country's law, disproport knit and put a

chill on freedom of expression. and prosecuting the journalists for questioning the president's actions is inconreservable in a state democracy. the case was a major issue when the south korean president met with japanese prime minister shinzo abe. >> translator: i expect today's summit to be an opportunity to cure the painful history and to be an important step in developing the two country's relationships. >> reporter: it was the first summit between the two countries in 3 1/2 years, and it marked a turning point in relations. afterwards, south korea's government took the unusual steps of having the court to consider. appears that they did. they would have avoided the

scenario that it put a damper on their ties. kengo. north koreans are honoring the anniversary of kim jong ill-who died on december 17th. they offered flowers at their embassy in beijing. >> translator: we are like the children of kim jong-il, i stand here to commemorate our father. >> the current reporter of kim jong-il reportedly paid their respects at the house that houses his father's body. eneditorial in the korean worker party's newspaper called on all citizens to demonstrate their patriotism at a party next may. it will be the first such

meeting in 36 years. ban would be the first chief to visit the country in 22 years. >> translator: i'm ready to provide my role as secretary-general, whatever it may take for peace and reconciliation on the current condition. >> ban the south korean national has accepted his willingness since 2007. he hopes they will be able to agree on a date as soon as possible. u.s. diplomatic sources say china is involved in the arrangements beijing is steek help improve his ties with the community. policy makes at the u.s. central bank have signed off on a major shift in policy that's rippling through markets through the world. gene otani has the details and a

wrap-up of other business headlines, gene. >> thanks, james. officials at the federal reserve have raised the interest rate for the first time. consumers face higher payments on mortgages, car loans and other borrowings. it could prompt investors to move their money out of other countries and back to the u.s. policymakers made a range between 0.25% and 0.50%. they say the u.s. market has big strides. fed chair janet yellen stressed the central bank will continue to keep a close eye on the economy. >> with the economy performing well and expected to continue to do so, the committee judged that a modest increase in the federal funds rate target is now appropriate, recognizing that even after this increase,

monetary policy remains accommodative. >> japan's economic revitalization has said japan has and is welcoming the change because it suggests the u.s. economy is getting back to normal. >> and earlier we talked a chief researcher at the institute. we started by asking him why the fed has finally decided to raise rates. >> we have good reason to nder why it is now because, so far, the momentum of the u.s. economy has been modest at best. but still, janet yellen insisted that accommodative level of the recovery is sufficient to cure the sickness of the economy. >> i want to focus first maybe on china. how is it going to affect china? >> i don't think the rate system

will have a major impact on the chinese system. however, you could find other structural programs such agency finance programs, future growth of fiscal debt will be more important to the future growth of china. >> what about the economy? >> i don't think it will have major impact on japan's economy but still the exchange rates. >> with exchange rates, where do you think the rate is going to go, where do you think it's heading? >> in general, it can with the state in japan could have the downward of the japanese yen. depreciation of the japanese yen. >> could you talk about is how it's going to affect the boj in terms of their interest rates? >> yeah, i think the bank of

japan might be in trouble, because in one hand, with the pace of depreciation, but at the same time, they'd like to maintain the economic recovery or strength of economic recovery. >> i wanted to touch upon how borrowing in dollars and then converting it to lower currency will have an effect? >> yeah, i think abroad, they've been busy in discussing this issue of possibilities this year. probably would be based on the previous round of experiences during the course of the asian financial crisis. >> what do you think will happen with this round? >> i think with the asian economies it's been very cautious and not ballooning the amount of the dollar, so, in

other words, they have been very cautious about inflating the za scale of the debt. and in addition, in asia, it has at the same time the assets so the impact could be neutralized. >> what country in asia do you most worry about? >> even before the policy, i think the markets have pressures on specific states the economy. >> such as? >> such as india and indo asia? in terms of fiscal problems. >> investors have tokyo have welcomed the fed's rate hike. for details on how it happened, we go to our reporter mayu

yoshida. >> it one analyst i talked to said the markets sees the rate hike as a signal of confidence in the u.s. economy which is the world's largest economy. let's take a look at the closing levels on thursday december 17th. nikkei up 1.6%. or 19, 353. topix closed up 1.5%. we've seen some gain it's in afternoon after the indices rose more than 2%. and they hoisted the rate. for example, sony rose over 2%. toyota and canon closed higher, that's because they're earning more money abroad, especially during the christmas shopping season.

and sumitomo mining rose and nickel prices. all in all, relatively high trading volumes. one onlyist said confidence in the u.s. economy and relief after the fed's big announcement contributed to the gain. i'm mayu yoshida. >> thanks. we saw other reactions in asian markets as well. in china, the shanghai composite rose 1.8%. hong kong's hang seng added 0.8%. monetary authorities followed the fed's lead and also raised their key rate by 0.25%. indonesia rose 1.6%. sydney 1.5%.

the copkopsi added just .4%. officials in china say direct investment from japan to november was down more than 25% from the previous year. at the current rate, investment for 2015 as a whole is likely to be down from 2014, making a third consecutive year on year decline. analysts say higher wages and the weakening yen are driving up costs and cutting into profits. they say japanese firms remain cautious about the prospect of doing business in china as the economy slows. and here's a look at some of the other business stories we're following. analy analys analyst fitch have downgraded brazil from a triple "b" to

double. the real fell more than 30% against the dollar this year. japanese government officials expect the economy to grow at around 1.7% in real terms over the next fiscal year. they say better working conditions will put consumer spending on track to recovery. and following crude's oil prices will boost corporate earnings. and the japanese made mrj jet will have to wait a little longer. officials for the mitsubishi aircraft. that's it for business news. and news of the markets.

the united states has announced the sale of a weapons package worth $1.83 billion to taiwan. it has triggered strong opposition from china which considers it interference in its domestic affairs. >> today's notification is consistent with the taiwan relations act. and u.s. support for taiwan's ability to maintain sufficient self-defense capability. >> reporter: white house spokesperson josh earnest told reporters on wednesday that the obama administration has officially notified congress of the arms sales. the proposed package includes

two naval frigates and amphibious assault vehicles. at the same time, analysts stress that the u.s. supports efforts by the president to improve ties with china. a spokesperson for taiwan's presidential office said in a statent on wednesday that president ma is very pleased and thankful for the u.s. decision to provide aweapon that taiwan sees as necessary for its defense. china is strongly opposed to the u.s. action. an assistant foreign minister of the u.s. embassy in beijing said the sales seriously violate international law. for decline naes -- china's sovereignty. china has decided to take what it deems necessary measures, including imposing sanctions against the companies involved in the arms sales.

in january 2010, after washington decided to sell arms to taiwan, beijing suspended military exchanges with the united states for a year. it called the u.s. decision interference in its domestic affairs. a researcher at the center for strategic and international studies, bonnie grazer says that the u.s. considers its preferable to announce the sale before taiwan's presidential election next month to avoid appearing sympathetic to the opposition candidate. all eyes are on beijing to gauge the strength of its reaction. noriko nakamura, nhk world. there's new information regarding the investigation into japan's march 2011 nuclear accident. investigators believe extreme heat in the fukushima daiichi power plant may have melted some key parts. the news have the tokyo electric power company taking action. officials at tepco believe the

damaged parts impeded emergency responders from cooling down the number 2 reactor. the failure caused the reactor to melt down and release large a radioactive substances. investigators say the temperature inside the reactor exceeded 200 degrees celsius at the time of the accident, a temperature hot enough to melt some key parts. tepco officials say there are other reactors equipped with the same parts. the utility plans to install heat-resistant replacements. workers will get a helping hand in decontaminating its crippled reactors. engineers have designed a new robot to assist with cleanup before the plant is decommissioned. the robot was developed by companies including mitsubishi heavy industries and tokyo electric power company. it can reach upper floors and deep inside the building. workers have already been using

robots to strip away contaminated surfaces, but they machines could not reach the upper floors. the new robot comprises four compact devices connected by hoses and cables that can extend up to 55 meters. the front part does the work. the two separate machines supply materials. the last part is used for communication. tokyo electric officials hope to deploy the robot at the plant from april next year. as more foreign travelers come to tokyo, an unique tour guide is starting to offer sightseeing information. ed guide may look human, but it's android resembling a young woman. she went into operation on thursday at a shopping mall in tokyo bay.

when a visitors sees spots on a touch screen, the robot can be in english, chinese or japanese. the officials say this is the world's first android guide to work around the clock at an information desk. >> android person, i think it's very nice and very unique. we don't have it yet. i think it's very useful to get information. >> the android was developed by japanese electronic's firm toshiba. the company says the robot can offer a consistent high level of service. >> translator: we hope the android will welcome foreign visitors to japan and will demonstrate our high level of technology. >> the official says the firm plans to upgrade the robot in two years with artificial

technology so it can reply to spoken questions. and it's time now for world weather. parts of australia are dealing with extreme weather with scorching hot weather and flooding rains. now for the details. >> the rains affected australia, especially the city area on wednesday causing numerous problems, finally, the sky was engulfed with dark and thick clouds. take a look at these pictures. visibility dropped significantly. and the clouds caused downbursts analso very heavy rainfall. we have some video coming out of the sydney area. flash floods were reported in roadways throughout the metro area on wednesday. authorities have responded to over 500 calls for help. people in a shopping mall were evacuated after a roof was torn off, leaving water to cascade inside. wild weather forced

international and domestic flights to be diverted to other areas. and on top of that, a tornado was reporteded in the sydney ar. as you can see, trapped tourists were damaged and cars, and people have been taken to the hospital. now, typically, about 20 tornadoes occur in australia, and typically, the eastern coast of the country is the most tornado prone area of the country. the heat wave is still blanketing much of southern australia, pretoria. temperatures are going to be up to 37 please. 42 degrees expected on thursday. and 30s in adelaide. take care of your health. now, let's go to the philippines, a tropical system which was a severe tropical storm has been downgrade tide tropical depression from the rainfall in a northeasterly wind. some areas in luzon had 550

kilometers over the past three days or so with flooding happening. and more rain is expected over the portions of luzon, and another tropical depression may make landfall south of the philippines in the next couple of days. and more rain is expected for many parts of the philippines for the weekend. and cold air has blanketed many parts of china and cold air is causing snow over the western flank of 1yjapan. 25 centimeters have fallen. and gusts of 114 kilometers have been reported. and even into saturday in the northern areas. snow could continue into your saturday.

tokyo, the temperatures are going to be very chilly in the morning hours. on saturday, 2 degrees in sapporo. and in america, it's been very warm across the northeastern united states. and massachusetts is dealing with lack of snowfall. and temperatures may remain on the warmer side for the next 24 hours because of a low pressure system dragging ample warmth from the south. but temperatures will drop significantly. and across the opposite side of the united states, kwhielty, 7 degrees in seattle and minus 5 in denver. snowflakes expected on thursday. here's your extended forecast.

the famous golden mask of king tut is back on display at the egyptian museum in cairo. it was being repaired after its beard was accidently knocked off over a year ago. the mask was shown to the media on wednesday. a worker damaged the beard while cleaning the case in august of last year. and hastily glued it back on. people were outraged when they found out about it in january. but the mishap led to a historic discovery. experts from the german egyptian team that worked on the restoration say, they found that the beard has a dual structure. officials hope that the mask will attract tourists to egypt. >> the mask now in the showcase, in its showcase, and it means many people will come to see the mask. >> the mask was discovered in the young pharaoh's tomb in 1922 and is one of egypt's best-known treasures.

live at the top of the hour is "newsro "newsroom tokyo." so stay with us on nhk world.

"> welcome to the "france 24 newsroom. i am molly hall. the headlines -- the eu holds its last summit of the year. the ongoing margaret crisis -- the ongoing migrant crisis and impossible exit from the union tops the talks. vladimir putin holds his annual press conference. he says the move into syria will continue until a political conference starts.