we have a look at some of the stories we are following this hour. not backing down voter fraud in the election but is he giving evidence to support them?

james mattis plans to visit japan and south korea. not guilty, a scholar acquitted on charges. and home-grown champion, he has become the 22nd breaking jap japan's nearly two decade drought. the white house says it is based on evidence even though there isn't any to support the claim. president trump completed his assertion that millions of undocumented imgrantd voted illeg illegally. he said it allowed hillary clinton to win the popular vote.

>> the president does believe that. he stated that before. i think he voted voter fraud during the campaign and continues to maintain that belief based on studies people have present today him. >> spicer failed to specify what evidence trump had seen to support his claims. a u.s. official says mattis is considering vigt siting japa and south korea. the official told nhk the purpose would be to fortify between the u.s. and japan. mattis emphasized the u.s. alliances with other nations since he took office last friday. he told officials he will work to reenforce ties with allies. he also spoken by phone with counter parts in bring pain ata

canada. trump said during his election campaign that japan should pay more to keep u.s. troops in the country. u.s. president donald trump is calling for auto makers to invest and create jobs in his country. japan has unveiled the u.s. investment plans. we have details on that and other business headlines. executives at toyotas say it will to upgrade and create 400 more jobs. it is part of their plan to invest $10 billion in the country over the next five years. toyota officials say it is part of the strategy to build vehicles where they are sold. more than 400,000 vehicles rolled off the plant lines last year, the biggest number in 20 year history. donald trump criticized toyota's lan to build in mexico before

his inauguration. the car maker executives stressed they are contributing through investment and employment. indiana is where u.s. vice president mike pence used to be governor. japanese auto makers are concerned about pressure from the u.s. on monday trump criticized japan for engaging the trade practices he claims run fair to american auto makers. trump has been meeting with the trumps of the big three american automakers. he told them to do their part to create jobs in the u.s. >> it is the long-term jobs we are looking for. we are bringing manufacturing back to the united states, reducing taxes substantially and reducing unnecessary regulations. >> trump also pressed car makers. >> we have been vocal as an

industry and as a company and repeatedly said that the mother of all trade barriers is currency manipulation. >> trump told the media last week he thinks the dollar had been too strong. now the attention is focused on what currency policies he will take. trump ordered review of a number of barack obama's signature policies. they include the affordable care act and to withdraw from transpacific partnership. he trump signed executive actions on tuesday to allow the construction of the keystone excel and dakota access pipelines. hundred of people gathered houds the white house to protest trump's action. one said she is very worried and

peemd pooem should tot allow the president to destroy the environment. analysts say many investors focused on trump's moves on infrastructure and jobs rather than his protectionist policies. we report from the tokyo stock exchange. >> his talk on pipeline projects. the average above 19,000. two sessions of losses. topix gained 1%. switching to currency market the upper 113 level during tokyo trading. let't's talk about some stock

highlights. toyota was up 1.9% after announcing jobs in indiana. jfe holdings up 3 37b9% and nippon was up. toshiba, the struggling electronics makaker is expectedo take a $6 billion loss from the u.s. nuclear subsidiaries. today was seen across the asia pacific reason. lead by i.t. firms. singapore brought it down a fraction. closing at 5671, higher commodity prices and a strong performance review also propped

up the sector. shanghai composite finished at 3149. it extended the wins. trading volume ahead of the lunar holiday. >> here is a look at some of the other business stories we are following. officials in japapan's finae industry say it returned to the black for the first time in six years. last year's strtrade surplus wa more than $35 million. japan's trade surplus stood at about 60 billion, down from the fiscal year. set to exceed forecasts.s. it will rise to around 8.3 trillion or about $73 billion in financial year 2020. that's over $17 billion more

than they predicted last july. south koreans economic growth remain on a low trend in 2016. the entry is preliminary. decline in capital investment. japan welcomed more than 24 million travelers last year and while the country may be famous many tourists are flocking to another part of country for different experience. we take you to the southern part of japan. >> reporter: 1,000 people from abroad visited this orchard between september and november. that's percimon picking season. >> it is very nice year.

in thailand it fetches high prices at department stores. >> so it's a feshl treat to eat them right off the tree. >> it's so nice. >> word of mouth advertising has a steady stream of tour groups. >> i was surprised at first. i didn't know why people wanted to visit this. they think they could pick the fruit themselves and enjoy the delicious taste. >> this is one of many places where tourists can expect something a little different. they are also tour factories or ride a boat down a river. about 95% of visitors which includes are from korea and

other parts of asia. a majority have been to japan at least twice. over 20% visited five times or more. analysts say they are under pressure to come up with new plan to entertain them. >> tourists coming for the second or third time are choosing more unusual destinations. managers at this brewery are trying to attract more south koreans. they taught their guides to speak korean and they set up an area where guests can sample barl barley. it is making it more enjoyable. afterwards visitors get to taste fresh brewed beer. they can drink up to three glasses for free. staff members also provide

information on other near by attractions including maps and timetables written in korean. these efforts have paid off. 17,000 tourists now visit the brewery each year. the company has doubleder into shipments to the country. programs show visitors are interested in more than temples and scenic vistas. some times the most memorable experiences can be found off the beaten path. chinese visitors to tokyo enjoyed samples of japanese rice ahead of the lunar new year. they answered a survey from rice grower's council. it was distributed at tourist centersment they say they will give away 100,000 packages of

precooked rice by mid-march. people are eating less of it due to low birthrate. he hopes they will spread the word on japanese rice. you can chach tatch this online. i'll leave you with the markets. ♪ a court created on charges referred to as wartime comfort

women. the book in question was published in 2013. she wrote the korean peninsula was to blame for the women tragedy. the professor argues that 200,000 young women were forcibly taken by japan's military. she says it doesn't represent the overall picture. she also said they formed a comra comrade-type relationship. they said he distoed and caused enormous pain to the women. they said poc did not write that they voluntarily chose that path. they say it is a metaphoric expression that represented her

opinion. it also stated advances by questioning existing believes and values. the governor of a south core rooe r core korean province. tokyo has protests. the governor of the prosince that claims jurisdiction shook hands with guards. the province accused of recently repooe pe repeating incorrect statements. it is aimed at encouraging the guards. they have launch add protest and japanese diplomats also protested the foreign ministry there. the families of people who died in a volcanic we rupg are taking legal action against authorities. they say the central and local governments failed to issue

appropriate warnings. they are seeking about $1.2.2 million in damages. dozens of people were hiking on the mount when it erupted i 2014. 58 people died, five others have never been found. the plaintiffs say based on the number of tremors before the eruption they should have raised thee alert level to 2. it would have restricted access to the peak. the agency failed to do so. they also say government officials knew two of three seseize mom tersrs were broken didn't fix them. >> a court case is the only way to verify what happened. we want a thorough investigation into the cause of the catastrophe. >> both the meteorological agency declined to comment. they say they are yet to see the details of the lawsuit. a museum has unvailed photos

of the aftermath of 1945 atomic bombing. they were gathered as an attempt to archive and preserve them. thee peace memororial museum displayed ten from a couple of thousand. staff collected them from the american library of congress and military sites. >> it is an abundance of material waiting to be uncove d uncovered. i think it's possible that new things will be found after these are shown to the public. >> there is also an aerial view. it is believed it is used to survey damage. signatures of some of the

plane's crew and ground zero is marked. they will make the images available on its database. an explosion at a fireworks shop left at least six people dead. the incident occurred in a market crowded with shoppppers ahead of the lunar new year which starts on saturday. authorities say the blast was triggered by a shopper lighting fire crackers outside the store on tuesday evening. the fire was extinguished after about two hours. they have lead to numerous fires and accidents blamed on poor safety measures. japan getting a big boost of pride over its national sport. it is the first home grown sumo

chchampion. we follow the wrestler's climb to the top. >> i'm here to announce that the boboard of directors unanimousl agagreed to promote him to the rank of grand champion. >> i humbly accept the promotion. i will devote myself to sumo to avoid tarnishing the name. >> 14 wins and one loss. his triumph over top dog. >> i focused on one thing at a time.

>> he entered professional sumo at the age of 15. he stood out at an early stage because o of worth ethic. he rose to the division when he was 18. seven years ago there was foreshadowing when he stopped the winning streak at 63. he has been considered one of the most promising wrestlers born and bread d in japan. he kept moving one after another. experts pointed out his mental weakness. he worked hard to overcome his shortcomings and it clearly started to show last year. in the november he defeated all three meaning too much

confidence. it turned him into one of the strongest wrestlers. his new year victory to the top ran ranks. ♪ >> supporters are proud of their local hero. >> congratulations. i want to thank him for making our dream come true. >> he has been working hard for so many years. i hope his keep on working hard. >> he broke a japanese dry spell of nearly two decades. since 1998 five sumo wrestlers

have become grand champions. one from the u.s. and four from mongolia. what enabled mongolia was physical strength and experience in mongolian sumo. speed is also a key element. so he is detetermined to make himselelf succeed fufurther. >> i belieieve we are i in a position constantly under scrutiny. this means people will watch me not only durining my training b also in every day situations. so i want to b become respectedy everyone.

>> it will take place in the next tournament in march, nhk world. >> you can see the highlights on our web site. it is time now with world weather. tokyo had a sunny but chilly day today. it is expected temperatures are expected to rise as we go into the weekend. how warm is it going to get? >> yeah. late january is supupposed to b the coldest time of year. as we go into the weekend we'll see spring-like warm weather. it will be a warm brereak in th ongoing wintery weather. 80%% of the countryry e experie temperatures in the morning hours. we also saw record low tempmperatures for january. sao had-11.6 degrees. now, as we have reported we are looking at a lot of snowfall on the ground.

different areas had 2 meters of snowfall. in this area many cars were raranded because o of heavy snowfall. snow is winding down acacross my areas. some snow is falling. it should taper off into tomorrow. we'll see sunny weather for the next several days and temperatures are going to be 10 degrees on thursday. one up to 14 degrees on friday. it will be more like march and it will go through sundayay. 15 degrees will be more likee april. let's go to the souththern hemisphere. there is a tropical l low driftg towardss the west. more rain expected across the northern air i can't sreas of u.

this high pressure system and we are looking at quite high temperatures. on thursday quite high temperatures. mercury could hit 39 degrees with plenty of sunshine on yours thursday. you'll see temperatures cooling down by about 10 degrees in one day, cooling down to 27 degrees with rainy weather for the high on your thursday. let's go to chile. one is wild fires and then across the north we are seeing heheavy rainfall. we have some video coming out of several places of the country. about 350 people in chile were left isolated. rains pul rains hit the region on monday. central parts of the country are dealing with some of the worst forest fires in about half a

century. three firefighters have died battling the b blazes. as you can see, the smoke from the fires are v visible from satellite imagery. we'll see sunny weather and temperatures continuing into next week. conditions will not improve any time soon. across the central portions of europe you're seeing rainfall across the south of italy. this area contending witith significicant flooding. snowfall across much of turkey. across the west it will be mostly dry and temperatures are going to be as follows. here is your extended forecast. ♪

and that wraps it up for us on nhk newsline. bye for now.07qwqwó

in refugee camps, reporters on "france 24." >> you are watching "france 24." time for 60 minutes live armed the world. these are the headlines. >> donald trump's wall with mexico is set to get one step closer to reality. he is issuing an executive decree today along with new restrictions on visas and refugees. protests break out at the white house, meanwhile over trump's move forward on the controversial keystone xl and dakota access oil pipeline. thema