glad you could join us here on nhk "newsline." i'm james tengan in tokyo. here are the stories we're following this hour. no advice needed. european leaders are brushing off donald trump's latest comments of the eu and brexit. the long good-bye. prime minister theresa may is due to lay out plans for britain's exit from the eu in a

speech later today. and struggling together. japanese and british companies have been sharing their expertise on fukushima daiichi. we asked for their thoughts. european leaders have brushed off the latest comments made by u.s. president-elect donald trump on europe and nato. in an interview published on sunday in "the times of london" and a german daily "bild," trump says britain's decision to leave the eu would end up being a great thing. he said he believes other countries will follow. >> translator: europe needs no advice from outsider to be told what it has to do. >> hollande spoke on monday during a ceremony to honor the outgoing u.s. ambassador to france. german chancellor angela merkel also dismissed trump's remarks. >> translator: i think for us europeans we have our fate in our own hands. >> merkel said she will continue to work with european countries and see how she could cooperate with trump once he takes office.

world leaders have gathered at a swiss resort to discuss some of the most pressing issues for the global economy. gene otani joins us with more on that and other business headlines. political and business leaders are meeting in switzerland for the annual world economic forum. they are getting to grips with a wide range of matters, but they are expected to pay particularly close attention to the policies of u.s. president-elect donald trump. government heads and ministers from more than 70 countries are taking part. roughly 1,800 executives are there too. participants include chinese president xi jinping and britain's prime minister, theresa may. a representative from trump's transition team is also there.

she could use a speech on tuesday to announce that britain will withdraw from the eu and other markets. her country will not be half in and half out of the bloc. she wants to focus on taking back control over immigration and developing a new partnership with the eu but her spokesperson has described these claims as speculation. analysts say it could hurt financial institutions and exporters in britain. they say it will likely upset markets. the nikkei average closed lower for the second day. our business reporter has more from the tokyo stock exchange. >> traders were concerned that

there britain could withdrew from the eu market. let's look at the closing levels this tuesday, january 17th. the nikkei 225 lost almost 1.48%. that's the first time it's closed below the 19,000 level since december 9th. the broader topic fell at 1.4%. financial shares were sold. a bit of readjustment. financial groups like mitsubishi ufg and mizuho lost over 1.5%. the dollar fell below 114 yen in tokyo trading as investors sought shelter in the perceived safety of japanese currency. trump's inauguration on friday

is still going to be investors' minds. a mood of caution spilled over to other markets in the region. the shanghai composite inched up. financials and p property stocks were a drag on the index. taiwan taiex finished at 9354. tech shares were higher on encouraging earnings forecasts by some major countries. hong kong advanced more than a half percent and sydney was down 0.85%. trade officials from japan and the european union are gathering in brussels to resume talks on an economic partnership agreement. differences remain between the two sides but they hope to reach

a broad agreement as soon as possible. japan wants europe to cut tariffs on cars. u.s. president-elect donald trump has repeatedly said he will put his country out of the tpp. meanwhile, eu officials are also hoping to make progress because parties critical of free trade may gain ground in upcoming elections in the bloc. tourism officials in japan are already celebrating one record, the arrival of 24 million foreign visitors last year. likely they have notched up another. they hit an all-time high. the officials estimate visitors to japan spent an increased.

the decline was especially con speckous among chinese travelers. here's a look at some of the other business stories we're follllowing. ♪ media reports say general motors will invest $1 billion in u.s. factories. the move will generate more than 1,000 jobs. gm is expxpected to announce th plan shortly. president-elect donald trump had criticized the firm for making u.s. bound vehicles in mexico. honda motor saiaid a a womas injured when a takata airbag

ruptured. the woman sustained burns on h r thigh. she was awaware that her car wa subject to a recall for the airbag but had not taken it in for replacement. germany is a world leader in promoting renewable energy. new service has been launched to encourage more people to solar power. nhk world's ivo tuchel explains. >> reporter: this village in southern germany. thomas pflugerer, an engineeeer lives here with his family. >> translator: we have 35 solar panels. >> reporter: he's been generating and storing solar power for his home with panels and batteries he bought last year. the cost came to about $26,000, with the government covering nearly 10%. when it's sunny and the panels generate excess electricity,

it's stored in the batteries for a rainy day. the system ensures a stable supply of power. solar energy now meets about 80% of the family's electricity needs. pfluger says the cost of generating energy at home is less than half of what electricity companies charge. >> translator: we saved some $1,500 a year on electricity. it's not only economical, but it's also good for the environment. >> reporter: the village is home to a battery manufacturer that's enjoying brisk growth. its name, sonnen, means "sun." six years ago the company had just five employees. now there are 160. the company uses lithium ion batteries made by sony in an integrated solar power generation and storage system.

it has sold more than 10,000 units in germany. the company has launched a service that allows customers to share electricity over a network. it purchases excess electricity generated in sunny areas and sells it to households needing power. customers' batteries are connected to a network, allowing for automatic adjustments of supply and demand. when there is not enough solar energy, the company taps into other renewables, such as wind power. >> translator: a revolutionary change is under way. people are sharing energy instead of buying it from large power plants. >> reporter: some 3,000 households, mostly in southern germany, are on the network. sonnen has introduced the service in other countries such as italy and austria and it's

planning to enter the u.s. market too. from one household to many, a system for storing and sharing solar power is opening up new possibilities in renewable energy. ivo tuchel, nhk world. you can catch our report again online together with a full transcript. that's a look at business news. i'm going to leave you with the markets. ♪

japanese and british companies have been cooperating on decommissioning fukushima daiichi. they started sharing their expertise after the nuclear accident. they sat down with nhk to share the thoughts on how the process is going. >> i've seen some significant delivery in the 2 1/2 years i've been working with tepco. >> reporter:r: he managed the waste and developed the field. his company operates a nuclear complex in northwest england. in 1957, a fire broke out in the reactor, resulting in leaks of radioactive materials. >> we should support tepco wheh

they had so many problems to deal with and there were some experiences within the uk that would be able to help. >> reporter: tepco and the company signed an agreement in 2014 to share knowledge on protecting against radiation, managing the plants and momonitoring the environment. they have spentnt the 2 1/2 yea exchanging information. >> areas where one organization is more thans -- advanced than the other and we can share those approaches to help each organization to accccelerate it decommissioning program. >> reporter: contaminated water has been delaying the commissioning efforts of fukushima diachi. >> we both have very difficult challenges. we have very difficult places that we need to get into, and those places we cannot go as a human being. we have to send machines into

those locations, and we're watching very carefully how this is developing and we will be hopefully in the future be able to utility some of the robotic developments that's taken place here to help us accelerate some of the work we're dodoin > reporter: some of the lkdsf the site of the disaster still contain spent nuclear fuel. it's difficucult to manage this type of contamination. >> it's very similar in this respect because the waste that we are both trying to deal with is not in standard locations, not in normal conditions. so we have to find effective ways to manage things that are in some cases unknown and so we have to take it step by step and to understand the next -- and to understand the stages that we need to go through. >> reporter: he also says tepco

should strengthen engagement with the local community in the procesess. >> trust is very important, especially in our industry, and building trust takes a very long time. it's very easy and very quick to lose that trust, so we work very carefully with our own communities, and work hard to try and build trust. >> reporter: tepco is dealing with an unprecedented challenge in the commission of fukushima daiichi. the road will be troubled. nhk world, tokyo. japan's environment ministry has lifted the radioactive designation on some waste contaminated by the nuclear accident. it's the first time that they have lifted it from waste kept by a private company. 200 leaves of topsoil and

leaves are stored in fukushima. the radioactivity level is confirmed to be under the government level. last september, there was nearly 200,000 tons of radioactive waste being stored across the country. that could change as some nuclear substances can lose half of their radioactivity after several years. the new head of japan's maritime self-defense force says he will closely monitor an area where the chinese have been active. he referred to the chinese carrier that last month entered the pacific ocean from the east china sea for the first time. the vessel then circled taiwan. >> translator: the maritime self-defense force has always

kept an eye on chinese naval vessels. i think the best course of action is to ensure regional waters are fully monitored. >> he pledged to follow on the work of his predecessors in dealing with china's growing maritime presence. >> translator: japan's friendship and good will is open to any country, so we'll try to make efforts to have better ties with neighboring countries. >> he said he hoped that the present situation doesn't worsen. japanese health officials are investigating how a fake drug for hepatitis c was given to a patient. they say it's the first time they confirmed that phony prescription drugs had been sold in the country. a patient was given a drug labeled harvoni at a pharmacy in western japan. the patient reported it looked

differerent than usual. an official found other bottles of fake pills at a pharmacy. it costs $500 per tablet. about 70,000 patients in japan have been prescribed the medication. health officials are urgrging tt you only buy the medicine fro licensed businesses and to stop selling it if they find suspicious products. in some parts of asia, baby eels are called white diamonds. as they become increasingly rare, their prices are soaring. smugglers are hauling in big profits. and japan is the biggest market. our next report looks at the people trying to straighten out the trade. >> reporter: customs agents in taiwan have to keep their eyes peeled for more than just the usual contraband. they're on the lookout for endangered fish too.

in late november they caught eight people carrying more than 100 bags of baby eels. worth about $500,000. taiwan prohibits the export of baby eels to conserve dwindling stocks. but experts say the majority of local catches are smuggled out, mainly to hong kong. exporters there can easily relabel them as hong kong produce and ship them to japan. eel farmers across the country have become increasingly dependent on imports. domestic catches fall far short of demand. prices have soared more than threefold in recent years. and that's hurting farmers like shigechi noguchi, who used to buy his eel fry from hong kong. >> translator: here i paid them $1.4 million. the price keeps soaring. it's tough. we can't keep up.

>> reporter: noguchi used to ship most of his produce for the traditional eel feast day in july. that's when consumption of fish peaks and so do the prices. but noguchi has decided to forgo that period and has changed his farming schedule. he's now buying baby eels when demand from other farmers drops. he says it will put a dent in his profits but he hopes it will contribute to proper management of dwindling eel stocks. >> translator: i can buy baby eels at half the price because market supplies are left over. so i don't have to worry too much about running the farm. >> reporter: restaurant owners are also worried about eel trading. some are changing their business styles to help straighten out the market. taraaki segino used to buy three times as much eel as usual for the midsummer feast, but he stopped doing it. and he doesn't't advertise the event either.

he says the quality often drops in the peak season. he's been buying less so he can serve customers only the best. his restaurant runs out of eels before the evening. but segino is willing to take on these painful reforms if they'll help pass on the culinary tradition to future generations. >> translator: we cook and sell an endangered species. i think we need to take a bigger responsibility. >> reporter: an international conference on wildlife conservation has taken a new step. member countries have agreed to study the global trade of eels. experts say they might bring about rigid restrictions in a few years. if overfishing and trafficking don't improve. you are watching nhk "newsline." fair skies prevail for us in tokyo where the current temperature is 44 degrees

fahrenheit. jonathan oh joins us with an update. >> well, looks like that the focal l point of this ununstabl weather isis shifting. but nevertheless, as we go throughout the day on tuesday in the united states, we're still going to be talking about freezing rain and maybe even some strong thunderstorms as well. we actually had at least one tornado reported. we have some damage video coming out of texas. this will give you an idea of what happened as we went throughout the day on monday. in clifton, where we had a tornado touch down, a a shed wa turned upside down and power lines wewere taken down in the process.s. windows and doors have also been damaged. two people were treated for minor injuries because of this particular system. now, the same storm system also caused this devastating g scenen kansas. look very closely to the left side of your screen. yoyou see right there, that is semi truck that's sliding across the road because of the icy conditionsns. this w was caught on a t troope dash cam. so the trooper had to swerve onto the curb to avoid that

truck. thankfully they were unharmed and there were no injuries. but you can imagine what a frightening scenario that would have been as that was coming across the roads. those cross-over type accidents are really particularly dangerous when it's on icy conditions because of the fact that there is no traction, so the car just keeps on going. thankfully at least no one was harmed in that particular situation. we are watching the same low pressure system that was responsible for this very unstable weather on monday to continue to move toward the north and east on tuesday, which means we had the possibility of strong thunderstorms down toward the deep south as warm air continues to move in. but toward the north we have just enough cold air on the surface level, on the ground level, and higher up in the atmosphere, to where we're going to see the possibility of some freezing rain. there's warm air coming in from the south. that's slicing through the

middle of the column of air that's in the air so that's going to lead to the dangers of possibly icy roadways. be on the lookout for this for those of you living into portions of wisconsin, michigan, even into the southeastern portions of ontario and also into quebec. looking at snow further up toward the north because of the cold air. and back toward the northwest we also have another system bringing the possibility of flooding with heavy rain. may see heavy snow i in the upp elevations. and we're also looking at freezing rain possibilities for those who are seeing a little bit of a mix of warm air in the middle portions of the atmosphere. rain for vancouver into seattle. very warm and maybe stormy down toward the deep south. and again, look out for that freezing rain possibility up toward the north and east. meanwhile we're starting to see a tapering off of the sea-effect snow. just a little bit but still we're seeing some snow moving into the area. couple of pictures coming out of gunma. we appreciate you providing these pictures to us. look at this. the layer of snow that piled onto this particular car is impressive. we arere looki at t maybe a a f scattered snow showers continuing as we go into wednesday. for areas up t toward the north you'll see more snow as you progress through the week.

we will see some moisture redevelop from the sea of japan. aomori looking at snow possibility. sendai by friday may see snow. we may even, especially for the higher elevations in tokyo, may be dealing with a mix of snow and showers on friday. wrapping things up with a look at europe, we have a big trough dipping down toward the south, a low pressure system over into places le e italy. also the balkan peninsula.a. because of that we had tornados reported there on mondayay. look for unstable weather to continue as we go through tuesday. hope you have a good day wherever you are. here's your extended outlook. ♪ ♪

as winter begins to bite, it's not only humans who want to protect themselves from the cold, visitors to a zoo in western japan are enjoying the rare sight of wild monkeys huddling together for warmth. the zoo has about 500 wild monkeys. each year, dozens of them cudude up to withstand the cold, forming bundles in japan knownw as monkey dumplings. mothers holold their babies tightlyy in their arms. >> translator: i enjoyed seeing such big monkey dumplings. >> they can be seen until mid march when the chill eases up.

that's all happening here. i'm james tengan.qwueeewep

>> goal -- a new positive constructive partnership between britain and the european union. we will be driven by some core principles. we will provide with as much certainty and clarity as we can at every stage. and we will take the opportunity to make britain stronger, fairer , and to build a more global britain, too. the first objective is crucial. we will provide certainty whenever we can. we are about to enter a negotiation. that means there will begin and take. there will have to be comi