it's a wednesday night here in japan, i'm james tengan in tokyo. welcome to "newsline." here are some of the stories we're following this hour. renewed criticism, south korea's president park geun-hye highlights her condemnation of the north's latest nuclear test in her speech to the nation. terror in turkey. officials blame islamic state

militants for tuesday's deadly suicide bombing in istanbul saying the attacker may have entered the country as a refugee. zblenchs and on the rise, t. and on the rise, tokyo stocks finally close in the positive for the first time this year, the nikkei average had fallen for six sessions in a row amid worries over china and crude oil prices. saek aek. park geun-hye condemned authorities in pyongyang in a live television address. park called last week's test an intolerable provocation. and said it threatens peace and security around the world. she said tougher sanctions are needed to influence pyongyang to change its stance. she added that china has an important role to play. >> translator: i think someone who joins during severe and tough times is the best partner. i think china as a permanent member of the u.n. security council will play a necessary role.

>> officials in north korea announced last wednesday that the country had carried out its fourth successful nuclear test. park took questions from reporters after her speech. she spoke about an agreement reached last month by south korea and japan on the issue of those referred to as comfort women. the two countries said the issue has been resolved finally and irreversibly. >> translator: i want you to acknowledge that we have made every effort to strike an agreement. we did so with our utmost sincerity to reach the best possible solution at the moment. >> park stressed the agreement is appropriate. she said that she felt compelled to obtain an apology from japan and restore the former comfort women's honor while some of them are still alive. earlier we spoke with a reporter in seoul to get his insight on

park's address. >> well, president park knows she needs president xi jinping to use his influence to reign in kim jong-un. she's considering beijing is pyongyang's only major ally and veto wielding member of the u.n. security council. she's also cautious of rising criticism for not having a coordinated response to such a critical event. she could not reach president xi over the phone following the nuclear test. that's despite the fact that both countries opened a defense minister's hot line late last year. president park has always taken a pro-china stance. she attended beijing's military parade last september commemorating the end of world war ii and she's faced criticism inside and outside her country for that. park said her government will do its best to

win backing from the women and their supporters who oppose this deal. she implied the possibility of meeting them and explaining the details of the agreement. park was asked about cooperating with japan in areas such as defense and economy following the agreement. she said bilateral cooperation is needed and that she wants to further strengthen ties with japan. and she indicated eagerness to do so on other matters regarding holding another summit with japan's prime minister. she said she will have many opportunities to meet with mr. abe. >> that report was from seoul. u.s. lawmakers are increasing the pressure on north korea which conducted its fourth nuclear test last week. members of the house of representatives passed a bill to expand sanctions. the bill was passed with overwhelming support from both republicans and democrats. it proposes blocking access to the u.s. financial system and seizing the assets of people linked to the proliferation of

nuclear weapons in violation of u.n. security council resolutions. the bill also expresses support for intelligence sharing between the u.s., japan and south korea. to address the north's proliferation related activities. chairman of the house foreign affairs committee ed royce says north korea's efforts to develop a nuclear arsenal are a direct threat to the u.s. royce says the bill will help cut off kim youjong-un's access needs. in his final state of the union address, u.s. president barack obama struck an optimistic tone for the future of america. he called on lawmakers to start working together to improve the country. >> the future we want, all of us want, opportunity and security for our families, a rising standard of living, a

sustainable, peaceful planet for our kids, all that is within our reach. >> obama touched on other issues ranging from affordable education to climate change and the economy. obama repeatedly brought up his administration's accomplishments and the need to build on them. when speaking on the threat of terrorism, he reminded people that osama bin laden was killed during his presidency. >> our foreign policy has to be focused on the threat from isil and al qaeda but it can't stop there. for even without isil, even without al qaeda, instability will continue for decades in many parts of the world. >> obama ended his speech with the same message he had when he became president seven years ago, a message of hope for the future of america. a poll shows harrisbu s hiln

is likely to face tough competition. the results of the latest poll jointsly conducted by "the new york times" and cbs news were released on tuesday. it found 48% of the party's primary voters across the country support clinton while 41% back bernie sanders. her lead has shrink to seven points from 20 points one month ago. in other polls, sanders has taken the lead over clinton in iowa and new hampshire where voting will be held next month. in the midwestern state of iowa, 49% of those polled say they support sanders while 44% back clinton. in the eastern state of new hampshire, 53% express support for sanders while 49% name clinton. senior u.s. and philippine official have sat down in washington to discuss cooperation on security issues. among the topics of the defense and foreign secretaries discussed was freedom of navigation in the south china

sea. >> there are many aspects to that security cooperation and that joint umbrella, if you like. one of those is freedom of navigation. and freedom of the commons. >> carter said the u.s. has indicated its intention to fly, sail and operate wherever international law allows, including the south china sea. china claims almost the entire sea and has constructed man-made islands on submerged reefs. that has fueled tension with neighbors that have competing territorial claims, including the philippines. u.s. officials have asked counterparts in beijing to stop taking unilateral action in the area. but china's maritime activities there continue. the philippine foreign affairs secretary said the two sides discussed the possibility of

joint controls near the island but no agreement was reached. authorities in istanbul say a suicide bomber who attacked a tourist hub was affiliated with the militant group islamic state. the attack is the latest in a wave of violence in a country where security has been deteriorating. >> reporter: a blast in the hurt of the tourism district, it's the center of the old city and home to the iconic blue mosque and museum. >> translator: suddenly a huge explosion took place and it was like an earthquake. >> translator: i knew instinctively i should turn away. the jacket is spattered with the burnt remains of people. >> reporter: officials say all of the dead are foreigners. the wounded come from countries, including germany, norway, peru and south korea. it didn't take long for the

turkish government to identify the bomber. >> translator: we know that the bomber who carried out the attack is a foreign national. a member of islamic state. >> reporter: deputy prime minister says the bomber was a syrian national who recently crossed the border, local media quotes one security official as saying the attacker registered his fingerprints at an immigration office. turkey has accepted more refugees than any other country. more than 2.5 million. the majority are seeking refuge from syria's civil war. and turkey has become part of that war, its jets joined the u.s.-led coalition air strikes against islamic state in syria. critics say both moves expose d turkey to higher security risks. this attack is among a wave of violence. the islamic state militant group

is responsible for twin suicide bombers in the capital in october that left over 100 people dead. and a bombing in july claimed more than 30 lives near the syrian border. but this attack strikes an important part of the turkish economy, the tourism industry. countries, including germany and denmark were quick to warn their citizens to avoid crowds near istanbul tourist attractions. citizens here are worried about the impact on the economy and wonder how their government can balance policy on refugees with measures to keep people safe. >> japanese stocks rebounded on wednesday after a gloomy 2016 kickoff. gene otani from our business team joins us for more on the markets and the rest of business news. gene? thanks, james. investors switched to buying mode, japanese stocks rose for the first time since the new year and after six consecutive

declining sessions. our business reporter mayu yoshida at the tokyo stock exchange has the details. mayu? >> what we saw today was bargain hunting. it may be a little bit too early to say sentiment has turned completely bullish but we saw gains in all 33 subsectors on the broader topix which is a completely different picture from yesterday. japanese stocks closed higher for the first time in year and for the first time in seven day, the nikkei and broader topix crawled back from 3 1/2 month lows. the rebound comes after market intervention and better than expected trade data. this pushed up the dollar and weakened the yen. japanese exporters such as automakers and tech companies gained. monthsza and olympus are up 4%. the energy sector saw the smallest increases amid volat e

volatile. a majority of secretary ares rose over 2.5% today. all in all, we saw japanese stocks rebound thanks to bargain hunting. many analysts say that crude oil prices were still the biggest story for the market. i'm mayu yoshida, reporting from the tokyo stock exchange. >> mayu, thanks. china's trade data for september beat analyst expect takings. the figures were down but less than anticipated. exports fell 1.4% while imports dropped 7.6% compared to last year. the shanghai composite retreated 2.4% closing below the key 3,000 mark for the first time in more than four months. momentum from earlier in the day. analysts say investors remained cautious about wild swings in the market. the trade data out of china booftd sentiment in the asia-pacific region. in australia, the s&p asx rose for the first time in nine

sessions climbing 1.27%. seoul's kospi advanced 1.3%, the sharpest one hu esest one-day g month. the hang seng rebounded more than 1% from yesterday's three-year low. china's trade data for december was better than expected. as a whole, the figures for 2015 were sluggish. the overall value of chinese trade marked the first decline in six years. that was on the back of lackluster exports and weak domestic investment. customs officials said on wednesday that china exported over $2.2 trillion of goods last year. that's down 2.8% from the previous year. shipments fell for products such as clothing and shoes to japan and europe. meanwhile, imports fell 14.1% from 2014 to nearly $1.7 trillion. slow domestic investment led coal and copper exports to decrease.

total trade stood at $3.95 trillion, down 8% from 2014. the latest figure is well below the official growth target of 6% per year. customs officials say they expect to see strong downward pressure on the country's exports and the first quarter of this year due to weak external demands. japanese households may be getting lower gas utility bills. this follows deregulation of electricity this april. regional gas companies have long enjoyed a monopoly but that's about to change. the government wants to increase competition to reduce rates. officials at the industry ministry decided on tuesday to liberalize the gas retail market from april 1st, 2017. they will accept applications in august from companies that want to newly enter the gas utility business. fierce competition is expected among candidates, particularly in tokyo and other larger cities.

japan will provide india with technical assistance to promote cleaner coal fired power generation in india. japanese industry minister and india's power minister signed a jount stateme joint statement in tokyo. japan will help build coal based power generators that emit less carbon dioxiddioxide. the country will also work on setting up power storage facilities to supply electricity from solar and other renewable energies. >> it's super critical technology which reduces the environment impact of coal-based power plants. it is extremely important for the world to use. >> india's the world's third largest energy consumer and it relies on coal for 70% of its power. india expects to spend some $1.6 trillion on power related investments over the next 20 years.

2016 is shaping up to be an important year f for trade in t asia-pacific region. aec is now awe reality and members of the transpacific partnership are aiming to sign a deal next month. one countries that stands to be most affected is vietnam. nhk world's uko fukushima explains why. >> reporter: vietnam shifted into the south lanemore than a decade ago, fueled by exports and foreign investment, annual growth averaged 6%, one of the best performing economies in the region. people can travel from hanoi to another town in just over an hour. construction of roads like this is vital if vietnam is going to take full advantage of the free trade agreement. no one has gained more from free trade agreements than the

textile and apparel industry. as the tpp goes into effect, companies will be able to export cheaply to the u.s., one of the biggest clothing markets in the world. china, the main supplier of garments to the u.s., is not a member of the tpp. that gives vietnam a critical advantage as a production base. its lower labor costs are also attracting foreign manufacturers. this japanese garmentmaker is gearing up for the tpp. the company's vietnam factory used to be a limited operation, making basic fabric. that all cnged in november. the plant is now a fully integrated garment center, starting with yarn production. that's because through exports to the u.s., the clothes have to be made from yarn in the country of origin.

>> translator: by spinning, dyeing and producing yarn here, we were able to shorten the delivery time and increase productivity. we're now ready for the tpp. >> reporter: vietnam's auto industry is another sector preparing for free trade. but the adjustment could be painful. right now, city roads are clogged with motorbikes. incomes are rising and so are aspirations. many in this country of 90 million people are ready for an upgrade in their mode of transport. >> translator: i want to drive a car. >> i can go far away with a car. >> reporter: japan's mitsubishi motors has been operating its factory in vietnam for 20 years. most cars on the road are assembled in the country. that's because imported cars are a hit with a 40% tariff. but foreign carmakers are now at a crossroads, under the aec,

asean members will abolish all tariffs by 2018, including those on cars. that means it may work out cheaper to import vehicles than assemble them in vietnam. the government has set the auto industry for one of its main pillars for economic growth. with time running out, officials have yet to announce any measures to support local carmakers. foreign automakers are warning they may have to shut down their assembly plant. >> translator: the current government's measures are not in line with the country's long-term policy for economic growth. the auto industry as a whole is hoping the government will soon come up with a strategy for automakers to stay in the country. >> reporter: the doors to free trade are opening in this emerging economy. not everyone will benefit. but government policy will play a role in ensuring there are more winners than losers.

yuko fukushima, nhk world. here's a look at some of the other business stories we're following. the japanese land ministry imposed penalties on three construction firms over data fabrication. one of them, construction materials was to have fake records on 360 projects, including a condominium building in yokohama that began leaning. they were instructed to stop operations for 15 days. all three were ordered to improve business practices. japanese corporate bankruptcies have fallen below 9,000 for the first time in a decade. private credit research firm data bank says 2015 saw a drop of more than 7% from the previous year. this marks a sixth straight year of decline. there were fewer failures in the fields of construction, telecoms and transportation.

that's it for business news. i'll leave you with the marks. two groups of skiers in japan have been brought to safety after they became stranded, both groups were tourists, one from finland and the other from australia. police say they rescued the finnish skiers by helicopter on wednesday morning. they ventured off the marked roots, that is against the ski resort's rules. none of them were injured but some said they weren't feeling

well and were sent to hospital. on the same day, a group of australian men and women went missing and had to be rescued by police. they were found a kilometer and a half off the trail. in recent years, the number of tourists coming to ski or snowboard in japan has grown, reaching 500,000 in 2014 alone. japan's tourism agency is working on plans to come up with nationwide safety measures at ski resorts. "newsline" comes to you live from tokyo where we have a temperature reading of 9 degrees celsius or 48 fahrenheit. we have joined with this hour's weather update starting with the cold snap in the u.s. it's dangerously cold up in the northern united states. this video shows how cold it is. a blast of winter cold has hit the u.s. midwest, freezing portions of lake superior near duluth, minnesota tuesday. however, seen from the warmer waters, it's visible among the icicles.

temperatures fell to minus 26 degrees celsius in the morning. those in fargo, north dakota, had to bundle up as frigid conditions controlled the area. lows fell to minus 29 degrees celsius. cold air from the arctic will continue to cover the northern portions of the united states. winds are very strong. the combination is causing very low wind chill values. you may feel like minus 30 degrees. cover your skin to avoid frostbite and watch out for hypothermia, too. winter storm is affecting atlantic canada and the new england states, causing heavy snow and strong winds, too. new brunswick may see an additional 25 centimeters of snow. visibility will be fight low. across the opposite side of the continent, a chain of low pressure systems has been causing wet weather over the past several weeks and more wet weather is expected for the next several days in places like vancouver, seattle, as well as

san francisco. now, across japan we experienced the coldest morning of the season today. the low dipped minus 0.9 degrees in tokyo, making the coldest day of the season so far. then we saw the first ice of the season. which is the latest on record. yes, we saw the first snowfall of the season yesterday. the cold air will continue to grip much of japan into tomorrow. then we're looking at more heavy snow for across northern japan. the region will see 50 centimeters of the snow for the next 24 hours. visibility quite low, too. across the opposite side of japan including tokyo, it will stay dry and we'll see dry weather continue into the weekend in the tokyo area. it will continue snow and subzero figures into the weekend. it's a very different story across the south. we have been watching a tropical system near the equator. this is a hurricane, the

earliest hurricane on record for the central pacific basin. surprisingly, it will remain as a hurricane and then it could get very close to the equator and then it could pass the international dateline over the weekend. if it does so, the system could be changed to typhoon. it's a very unique system. then further down towards the southern hemisphere, there is the cold front moving across southern australia and the system will likely affect new south wales on thursday. this is a very heavy rainmaker. probably up to 150 millimeters rain is likely along with the risk for thunderstorms, gusty winds and even some tornadoes. watch out for the weather. as for temperatures, quite warm on wednesday, for example, melbourne is at a high of 41 degrees. down to 19 degrees on thursday. watch out for your health. that's it for now. here's your extend forecast.mos

reportedly on the verge of a split. the five members of snap are said to be in negotiations over their future. a lawyer for the group's agent says some of the members want to do their own thing. he says the agent still has contracts in place with all five in the group. snap has been a fixture on the japanese pop scene for more than two decades. the members put out their first cd in 1991 and went on to perform in nhk's annual year-end festival 23 times. they've also appeared regularly on tv variety shows and in commercials.

all five members have worked separately as actors. and they have a huge fan base throughout asia. how will japan's fabawúwóóóóó

genie: you are watching "france 24." i'm genie godula, live from paris. these are today's top stories. barack obama delivered his seventh and final state of the union address. the president was in full "yes, we can" mode, urging americans to stay hopeful and not let fear set in. turkey is blaming the islamic state group leader suicide blast in the heart of istanbul.