live from tokyo, this is "newsline." i'm james tengan. here are some of the stories we're following this hour. gearing up. japanese officials are busy preparing for a possible launch of what north korea calls a satellite. detained in china. chinese police have confirmed that three of five book sellers

are being investigated. sparking concerns of freedom of the press in hong kong. and boosting aid, donors have pledge $11 billion in war torn syria. officials in japan are getting ready for a possible launch of what north korea claims is a satellite-carrying rocket. the officials conducted a warning system drill that immediately notifies people across the country. special terminals for the j-alert system received test signals in okinawa, located near the projected flight path. a message was also read out. about one minute later, the same message was broadcast through loudspeakers in schools and parks. north korea says they will launch a rocket between monday and february 25th. much of the international community thinks the country is

actually planning to test a ballistic missile instead. japan is also readying self-defense forces. the defense minister says they will be ready by sunday. >> translator: we're preparing to deploy sdf units around islands in okinawa in the same way as the last time four years ago. >> defense officials from japan also held a teleconference with their american and south korean counterparts. they agreed to work closely together to share and analyze information. south korea is also preparing, officials confirmed, security measures and are stepping up diplomatic efforts. south korea's defense minister talked with the commander of a radar equipped destroyer off the country's west coast. they will quickly determine the trajectory of any rocket that's launched. on the diplomatic side, the

foreign minister met kbors from the u.s., japan, e.u. and australia. they will quickly seek further sanctions on the north if a launch takes place. they could also consider possible unilateral sanctions. a u.s. official is urging china to exert influence over north korea. it has a unique role in dealing with kim jong-un. >> we would like to see them exert that leadership and bring to bear that influence on the north and to alter the behavior of they very unpredictable young man. >> last month, kim approved the country's fourth nuclear test. u.s. officials are trying to drum up support for the plan at the u.n. security council, but chinese officials have been cautious about harsh penalties. kirby also suggested further

measures if north korea goes ahead with its launch in the coming days. south korea may have reached a settlement with japan on the comfort women issue, but it still seeking the support of the women themselves. the country countries they are meeting with the women to persuade them to accept the deal. ministry officials met with 20 of the women and their families. 16 of them responded positively about the deal. they added some of the women thanked the government for making efforts to resolve the issue while they're alive. some support groups for the women, though, have been criticizing the government, saying the agreement fails to recognize japan as legal responsibility. ths please say that three of the five hong kong book sellers are being investigated for illegal activities. this is the first time they have spoken about the men reported missing in november.

the men had links to a hong kong bookstore that sells material critical of the chinese communist party. hong kong authorities announced on thursday that chinese police in the southern provens of guand -- guangdond bordering hong kong informed them that the book stores manageer and it would of its workers were detained. last month, it was revealed that they were in china. the disappearanced have stoked fears in hong kong that mainland china is trying to interfere with the one country two systems formula.

health officials in brazil say a blood transfusion has infected a man with the zika virus. mosquitos are still the main source of infection, but a new challenge poses a challenge to authorities. the rare case near sao paulo happened in april, but was only confirmed this week. health officials say a gunshot victim was infected after receiving a blood transfusion. tests have confirmed some of the blood was donated by a zika patient. the world health organization is recommending restrictions on blood donations from people who traveled to affected areas. the virus has been linked to babies being born with abnormally small heads and incomplete brain development. a u.n. panel is set to rule that the founder of the whistle blowing website wikileaks is being subjected to arbitrary detention in britain. julian assange has been hold up

in the ecuadoran embassy for over three years. he was detained in 2010 after officials issued an arrest warrant over allegations of sexual assault. in 2012, he was granted asylum by ecuador while on bail. he appealed to the u.n. appeal and said he was being unlawfully detained by the british and swedish governments. they ruled in his favor on friday. british police intend to arrest him the minute he steps out of asylum. and they do not plan to change their policies on how to handle assange. he plans to seek the return of his passport and the attempts to arrest him. i'm gene otani with a look at the business stories we're following today. executives at japanese

electronics maker sharp are in talks with their counterparts from hon hai. they are hoping to build their business with the taiwanese company. they considered two competing bailout plans and decided on thursday they would start negotiations with hon hai. the other offer was from innovation network corporation of japan. the meeting took place friday at headquarters in osaka. he has sign the negotiating rights and wants to conclude the contract with sharp on february 29th. >> translator: i founded hon hai 41 years ago. i would like to support sharp by using my experience and hope to remake it into a new company. >> sharp officials earlier considered two competing bail-out plans before deciding to give preference to hon hai, the other was from the government backed company of

japan. the taiwanese firm is now offering to invest nearly $6 billion. sharp discussed how to rebuild its liquid crystal panels and keep jobs. earnings were helped by strong sales in the united states and china for toyota. group sales for the nine-month total $180 billion, up 6.5%. operating profit was up 9%. the weaker yen boosted earnings. the forecasted earnings has been kept unchanged but the executives revised upward the forecast for 2015 net profit to

$17. -- $19.4 billion. disappointing u.s. economic data has weakened the dollar ahead of the release of key u.s. jobs figures. our business reporter has the details. >> we're in the middle of the earnings season and investors with increasingly worried about the stronger yen may pressure earnings of exporters. this is what we got for friday. tokyo fell for its straight session, it ended below 17,000 first time in a week. and the topic dropped 1.4%. the nikkei lost all of the gain it made last friday. the bank of japan stunned the market with its negative rate policy. it's fallen 4% for the week, about 700 points. many investors stayed on the sidelines ahead of earning from

toyota, it closed down 1.9% before the earnings released. toshiba plunged 11% after the company revealed a bigger loss following the accounting scandal. sharp jumped another 10%, skyrocketing over 30% in just two days on reports of a possible tie-up with taiwan's hon hai. market players are worried about the impact on earnings. the dollar slipped to a two-week low following from 121 yen range to 116 yen range in the weak. the decline is being driven by disappointing u.s. data that raised worries about the u.s. economy. it take only for a boj-inspired rally to peter out. thank for that report. investors are buying japanese

government bond amid falling prices. a record low of 0.02%, growing uncertainty over the global economy is driving traders to the relative safety of the bonds. turning now to the stock markets in the asia pacific region. they are showing a mixed picture. many investors stayed on the sidelines before the lunar holiday starting next week. shanghai finished at 2763. trading was thin ahead of a week long holiday but the index ended the week in the positive as the central bank injected money into the market. the jakarta composite hit a six-month high as the country's gdp grew 5% in the fourth quarter beating market expectations. here's a look at other

business stories we're following today. the chairman of the japan chamber of commerce and industry has met the malaysian prime minister to discuss adopting bullet train technology. it talk about a railway project that will link malaysia cities with singapore. many temporary and part-time workers aren't happy with their status. preferring to be full-timers. the labor minute city has set a target to reduce these unwilling temps to below 10% of all regular workers in five years. the current rate is 18%. advances in camera technology are pushing the boundaries of what people can see and record.

adventurers and athletes were among the first to exploit 360 degree lenses. a growing number of business owners are seeing the light. nhk world reports. >> reporter: a motocross race. one rider has eyes in the back of his head. before every race, he mounts a camera to his bike. it's fitted with a fish eye lens. afterwards, shoji plays back the image on his tablet. using a special app, he can analyze a 360-degree field of view. the track in front, his posture and what's going on to the right, left, and behind. >> translator: i can't see someone following right behind my, but with this camera, i can check what happened later to see how i was passed. >> reporter: the all-seeing

camera developed in the u.s. is ideal for sports. but that's not the only possibility. the camera's japanese distributor is busy testing other applications. one is as a driving recorder. installed in a car, it can capture the driver's view, what the driver's doing and everything happening around the car at the same time and with a single camera. the distributor is in talks with other companies to develop driver recording systems to sell to the public. >> translator: currently, the camera is used mostly for capturing action sports things. but in the future, we expect it to be used more for business purposes. >> reporter: other cameras offer even wider perspectives. i'm here at a major tokyo tourist destination, the shibuya crossing. i will show you what it looks like on the screen.

this device offers all-round vision, not just front and back, but also above and below. it's the work of a japanese manufacturer. the maker fit a fish eye lenses on both sides of the camera. each lens films separately. an app merges the images, allowing you to see the scene in any direction you can turn your head. the 360-degree camera makes the process of filming property much cheaper and simpler. this gives more real estate agents the opportunity to offer virtual tours of their property. >> translator: where's the antenna connection? here it is. these are for electrical plugs. this one is for the tv, this is for the internet connection. >> wow, that's great.

i'm really impressed. i felt like i was really looking around inside the property. >> reporter: 30% of the companies listed on this website uses the omni-view camera. the visuals are pulling in more business and shortening the time needed to close a deal. >> translator: many customers first take the virtual tour on the web before asking to view the actual property. the 360-degree camera helps us stay with the times. >> reporter: 360-degree cameras started out as a bit of fun. but the technology is expanding fast, and so are the commercial applications. giang nguyen, nhk world. and this just in, sharp has denied giving preferred negotiating rights to hon hai

industry. sharp says it has agreed to continue talks about the terms of a contract. >> that's it for business news, i'll leave you with the markets. ♪ ♪ we have some breaking news for you now. the japan meteorological agency

says a volume can know has erupted. people who live in the surrounding area, there are no reports of damage or injuries at this point. we'll keep you updated on "newsline." turkey appears to be preparing to invade syria in support of opposition forces. it comes as tensions remain high. >> we have reasonable grounds to suspect that turkey is preparing for a military intervention into the territory of the sovereign state, the syrian arab republic. >> the spokesperson criticized the u.s. and nato for remaining silent for turkey's moves. turkey is a u.s. ally and a member of nato. turkey responded by accusing

moscow of diverting attention from its actions and turkey says it has the right to protect its security. syrian's president has recently retaken territory that was under opposition control and those troops are being supported by russian air strikes. turkey is among those supporting the opposition forces. relations between russia and turkey have deteriorated since turkish forces shot down a russian war plane in november. people whose lives have been torn apart by the ongoing war in syria have been promised $11 billion in humanitarian aid. 50 nations and organizations the -- 60 nations and organizations were represented at the meeting. the u.n. secretary-general appealed for a quick, concerted international response. >> the focus on the people of syria is also being lost on the petty procedure methods.

>> malala yousafzai called for better access to education for syrian refugees. then she introduced a 17-year-old girl who recently settled in london. >> i hope after this conference more refugees will be able to have a normal life, especially their children. >> the u.s. pledged about $900 million. and japan committed $350 million. other countries, such as britain, france, and australia also promised to contribute. >> today has been and is a day of hope, a day about saving lives, a day about building futures. >> the aid will be delivered by 2020. it also will be directed to jordan, lebanon, turkey and other nations that have been accepting syrian refugees. a woman who tipped off police to the location of the mastermind of the paris attacks is speaking out. her testimony has shed light on

how abdel abaaoud slipped into france with extremists from syria. a french tv station aired an interview with the woman whose information led police to his hide-out. she killed him five days after the attack in november. she's a friend of his cousin, and she says she spoke with abaaoud after the attack. he said he was planning attacks against commercial facilities, a police station and a nursing school near paris. she also quoted him as saying that many of the other extremists loyal to the islamic state group were still in and around the paris area. the attacks in paris claimed 130 lives. the woman is calling on police to protect her for helping in their investigation. she said police told her they would help her change her identity, but that no new documentation has been issued.

"newsline" comes to you light where it's fair with a temperature reading 11 degrees celsius. jonathan oh joinds us with this weather round up starting with australia. >> high pressure is controlling the weather and that's going to keep it relatively dry as we go through the weekend. look at what's happening. we have a large area of high pressure that's dominating the weather. we have showers toward the north and east near queensland. town toward sydney we are seeing dry conditions. look at the highs on friday. sydney made it 26.1 degrees. can berra, 23, and melbourne 29.4 degrees. close to avenling for this time of year. showers located to the north and east as we go through the weekend as well. down toward the south, maybe a few spotty showers from time to time but looking at a relatively dry pattern as we go forward. looking at the forecast for saturday and sunday. again, temperatures close to average. melbourne, though, a little bit warm at 30 degrees. looking at temperatures remaining similar to that on

sunday. a few clouds will pass through from time to time, but all in all, a dry forecast ahead. as we look at the forecast for east asia, we are seeing a return of a more winter pressure pattern but not before we see highs moving up above average in the territory. we have a stationary front to the south. we may see increasing cloud cover as we move forward in time. back to the north and norgs portions of japan, we'll satisfy sea effect going on. over kyushu, we see the possibility more snowfall as we go saturday into sunday. saturday looking pretty good. 12 degrees for highs. down toward the south, relatively dry pattern. that stationary front is departing from the area so we'll see mainly a dry forecast going into saturday. europe, we're seeing a tale of

two very different weather conditions as we move forward in time. we're seeing very mild and warm conditions on one end. that's back toward the west as high pressure creates a little dome of protection. that's going to keep things dry but back toward the east, cold air will be surging in. we have a northerly flow coming in. that's going to drop some temperatures down. snow and flurries coming back in the picture. madrid coming up with a high of 11 on friday. paris you'll need umbrellas. we're looking at showers there. back toward the east, notice the highs drop into the single digits. athens down to 12 degrees under cloudy and rain conditions. maybe even some thunderstorms as we go into the weekend. now, wrapping things up with a look at north america, we have been watching out for this particular line. notice how bright these clouds are and as they push toward the east, we're going to hopefully see some clearing. it's been a very, very week for

the deep south. high pressure is moving in behind it. so hopefully we'll see some clearing and calming conditions as we go into the weekend. friday, looking relatively dry for most of the deep south. now, we may see some flurries as colder air surges from the north, snow may be in the picture for new york city and also washington, d.c. back toward the west, looking at some wet conditions into vancouver and seattle and it's another system moves into the pacific northwest and for those who are getting ready for the super bowl forecast and super bowl coming up on sunday, looking at temperatures in the 20s for the high on sunday as the game progresses we'll see temperatures drop 9 degrees celsius. hope you have a good day wherever you are. here's your extended outlook. ♪ ♪

we'll have more updates for you at the top of the hour on newsroom tokyo. in the meantime, stay with us here on nhk world. 8úxú

molly: welcome to the "france 24 " newsroom. i am molly hall. coming up, a controversial debate gets underway in french parliament. the government looks to strip french nationals of their citizenship in terrorist cases. fresh off a near split vote in iowa, hillary clinton and bernie mostrs battle over who is progressive. a u.n. human rights panel says julian