here in japan, it's 7:00 p.m. on a friday, i'm james tengan, welcome to nhk "newsline." u.s. president donald trump has taken a step to improve ties with china. in a phone conversation, he told president xi jinping he intends to acknowledge the one-china policy. the white house and chinese state media says trump spoke with xi thursday evening t. white house described call as extremely cordial. in the talks, the leaders

offered invitations for the others to visit. china's state-run tv says it's admirable that trump decided to adhere to the policy and the policy is the basis for the relationship between the two countries. trump had previously ruffled china's feathers by taking a call friday taiwan's president after his election win. he questioned whether the u.s. would recognize the one-china principle. the policy recognizes taiwan as a part of china. the japanese prime minister is in washington ahead of a summit with trump. earlier we spoke with our reporter tomoko kamata. shinzo abe says he wants to strengthen the u.s.-japan alliance and deepen ties that benefit both countries. i think he wants to re affirm the american commitment to the asia-pacific region.

trump's campaign remarks on security raised concern. >> i want to defend japan. i want to continue. but they have to continue to pay. they have to pay us the fair amount. maybe japan has to defend themselves. okay? >> it is unlikely that trump is reconsidering the japan/u.s. alliance altogether. >> that's right and this month's visit by new defense secretary james mattis was reassuring. >> the united states remains committed to the defense of japan under the treaty of mutual security. >> mattis also referred to an issue important for japan, concerning the senkaku islands in the east china sea. japan controls the islands, the government maintains they are an inherent part of china's territory. china and taiwan claim them. mattis says the u.s. will continue to recognize the

administration of the islands and that's a bilateral security treaty applies to their defense. despite that, abe apparently wants to confirm this with trump as well. >> now, tomoko, let's go to the economy. trump recently criticized some of japan's policies. >> right. those growing worry over his views on trade and monetary policy. here's a reminder of some of his comments. >> we sell a car in japan and they do things to us that make it impossible to sell cars in japan. we have to all talk about. that it's not fair. other countries take advantage of us with their money and money supply and devaluation. you look at what china is doing. you look at what japan has done over the years, they play the money market, the devaluation market and we sit there like a bunch of dummies.

>> officials have been trying to analyze the new administration's direction with all of this. they say it's still unclear to them. it seems abe will explain his policies and especially highlight the contributions japanese firms are making to the u.s. economy. >> translator: american economic growth will definitely benefit japan as well. and that growth will be a result of our major contribution. i will talk about the economy, not only from the point of view of trade deficits, but also from a broad perspective. >> and abe will come bearing a package. he's expected to present infrastructure projects to create more jobs in the u.s. like building high speed railways. in the meeting before the new president took office, abe told reporters trump is the leader he can trust. but we'll have to pay attention to how the two address each other.

it could set a key note for the relationship. a group of u.s. rice farmers is calling on the trump administration to consider bilateral trade talks to help them negotiate with japan. the group issued a statement ahead of the meeting in washington, d.c. they say they want bilateral trade talks with asian countries. they say the transpacific partnership free trade deal was not ambitious enough for rice farmers. they add the japanese government maintains strict control of rice imports. earlier this week, u.s. beef and pork producers sent a letter to trump calling for the start of negotiations for bilateral trade deals, to replace the tpp which was dumped by trump. a u.s. federal appeals court has dealt a proceed to president trump's immigration policy. it has refused to reinstate the travel ban on people from several predominantly muslim countries. the decision by the ninth circuit court of appeals on thursday was unanimous.

the judges said they wouldn't block a ruling from a lower court that had suspended the ban. they said the government failed to prove that keeping the order on hold would cause irrel rabble damage. trump had said the restrictions are necessary to protect the country from terrorism. the ruling means the travel ban will remain on hold and people from seven countries can still enter the united states an refugees from around the world were also subject to a temporary ban. are not blocked, either. following the decision, trump told reporters at the white house that the legal battle is not over. >> it's a political decision and we're going to see them in court and i look forward to doing that. >> do you believe the judges -- >> we have a situation where the security of our country is at stake and it's a very, very serious situation. so we look forward, as i just said, to seeing them in court. >> a lawyer from washington state, which filed the original lawsuit, called it a complete

victory. >> we are a nation of laws f. and as i have said, as we have said, from day one, that those laws apply to everybody in our country and that includes the president of the united states. >> reactions from people in the u.s. reflected the deeply polarized country. >> i think it's great. i'm glad it happened. i think there are a lot of people who felt shame about t tt thing going, being passed at all. >> i think the decision was the wrong decision. the president has the right so manage immigration from overseas. it's his decision to make on who can come into the u.s. >> one of trump's top aides has drawn flack for plugging the fashion line of the president's daughter. members of congress from both parties have called for an ethics review. the presesident's counselor, kellyanne conway, appeared o on

the f fox news channelel and ur viewers to buy ivanka's products. >> it's a wonderful line. i own some of it. i fully, i'm going to give it a free commercial here -- go buy it today, everybody, you can find it online. >> conway made the remarks after a spat between the president and the department store that stopped carrying his daughter's brand. civic groups are calling on the government to review the matter. u.s. media say conway may have violated federal ethics rules that prohibit members from the executive branch to promote a product, service or enter prize. white house press secretary sean spicer said conway had been counseled over the matter. suggesting even the administration saw her comments as questionable. japanese researchers say they may be onle verge of a breakthrough that could change the lives of millions of people

living with paralysis. the team hopes to regenerate damaged spinal cords using human stem-cells. scientists at a university have asked the institution's ethical committee to approve their study which involves tests on humans. they plan to introduce ips cells to create nerve tissue to transplant into seven adults with spinal cord injuries. the researchers hope the technique can restore movement in paralyzed limbs. ogata has high expectations of the work. the 24-year-old suffered a severe spinal injury in a traffic accident two years ago and is paralyzed from the chest down. >> translator: i want the treatment as soon as it's approved. i just want to be able to stand up and walk. like i used to. >> the researchers say each year sees about 5,000 people in japan

suffer serious spinal injuries in traffic accidents or through other causes. >> translator: i have been studying how to regenerate spinal cords for nearly 20 years. this project aims to combine that with the latest ips technology. i want it to succeed. >> professor okato says his team will seek government approval for the project in hopes of carrying out its first operation next year. bitter winter conditions are gripping much of japan. heavy snowfall is blanketing many southern areas and wreaking havoc for commuters who weren't prepared. weather officials say developing low pressure systems brought heavy snow and strong winds bringing whiteout conditions on the sea of japan north coast. drivers were stranded in parts of hiroshima prprefecture.. >> i was stuck in the snow for

about two hours and finally got here. but i'm giving up and turning back. >> coast guard officials say they're searching for a fishing boat they lost contact with. the central japan railway company says bullet trains are running slower and there are lots of delays. now for more details on this, let's go to our meteorologist sayaki mori. >> weather is pretty wild in many places of japan. winds are pretty strong and snow is falling quite heavily and temperatures are extremely raw and we're seeing a lot of snowfall across the western side and the south of kyushu region had quite heavy snowfall as well. over the past 24 hours, over 70 centimeters of snow has fallen in parts of hiroshima prefecture. and a lot of snow is falling across the west. the snowfall depth has reached ov over 1.7 meters in parts of the west, quite significant event is happening across many places of

the country. we have a classic wintry weather pattern, a high pressure system over the continent and a low pressure system over the ocean, whenever we have this set-up we saw quite strong northwesterly winds blow over the country and that caused quite heavy sea-effect snow across many places. and the coldest air of the seesen is gripping much of the country. not just the sea of f japan sid but over the p pacific side is seeing some heavy snowfall. over the past 24 hours we had nearly 70 centimeters of snowfall and through the next 24 hours, we'll see up to one meter of snowfall in parts of kyushu region, quite significant and up to 60 smts for the hokoriku region. additional snow will definitely raise the potential for avalanches. more snow is expected at least through monday in many places but tokyo will stay dry into next week. that's it for now. turning to business and finance, trump's comments on economic policy, are getting

investors excited. gene otani joins us from the business desk with details. >> u.s. president donald trump said he will soon announce concrete plans for tax reform and that's sparked a rally in the markets. three major indices on wall street posted record highs and the upward momentum carried over to tokyo. our business reporter phoebe am rosa has more from the tokyo stock exchange. >> more investors are betting on u.s. economic growth. we saw stocks in tokyo surge. let's see the closing levels for this friday, february 10th. the nikkei 225 surged 2.5%, closing at 19,378. that's the largest daily gain since early january. the broader topix rose 2.2%. it was a volatile week as political uncertainties in the u.s. and europe weighed on sentiment. but friday's rally caused the week to end on a positive note.

looking at individual stock a major focus was exporters who are granted some relief by the weaker yen. toyota and panasonic jumped over 3%. currencies, expectations for trump's policies drove the dollar up to the 113-yen level duringokyo trading. a lot of optimism over trump's comments on tax. but president trump and prime minister abe are meeting to discuss economic issues. and investors remain cautious about any comments from president trump. especially on the value of the yen. we may see a sharp reaction in global financial markets next week. i'm phoebe amaroso, reporting from the tokyo stock exchange. many of the markets across the asia-pacific region joined the global rally. sydney added 1% to extend gains to a fourth day. share prices in singapore meanwhile climbing as we see almost .7%, 3100 for the closing number. the financials boosted the index

to the highest in one and a half years. over in china, the shanghai composite ended up .4% to close to a two-month high. sentiment improved market expectations were beaten. tokyo's yamanote line that loops around the capital, the first new station on the line in half a century. it will open in 2020, in time for the tokyo olympics and paralympics. officials at east japan railway company broke ground at the site on friday. the new facility will be built between shinagawa and ka machi station. the acclaimed architect also designed the main olympic stadium. the station will be glass-walled with an atrium at the center and shops on the upper floors. there are also plans to build seven high-rises with an open

area. the president of the railway company tomita says he wants the station to pep up t the local economy and become a hub for foreigners visiting during the olympics. >> translator: we want to create a station and a city that will introduce japan's culture and innovative technology to the world. >> the seven new buildings connected to the new station are expected to be completed in 2024. four years aftfter the station opens. the cost of the entire project will be about $4.3 billion. auto parts maker takata says it expects a record loss of over $500 million for the fiscal year, due to mounting costs of recalling its faulty air bags. the company revised its earnings forecast for the current business year through march of $175 million in after-tax profits, to a loss of about $560

million. that will be takata's worst-ever result in a third straight year in the red. takata execucutives say applyin to the u.s. justice department contributed to the result. the company accumulated aboutut $940 million in losses to cover costs related to the defective air babags. takata has been widely criticized for concealing the air bag problem and not taking appropriate steps. the company hopes to avoid bankruptcy by choosing a sponsor firm and talking with creditors. but talks with automakers, shouldering recall costs on behalf of takata are running into difficulties. pretax profits for most firms on the tokyo stock exchange fell from a year ago, but the weakening yen is spurring a recovery. company earnings reports for the april through december period last year are being released. analysts at smb nico securities say 80% of companies have released earnings. their pretax profit totalled

about $265 billion. down 5.4% from the same period a year earlier. better than in april through september when profits fell 13.5%. analysts say overall businesss s recovevering. largely due to the yen. it has weakened since the u.s. prpresidential election in novevember tha in turn has boosted exports of construction machinery to asian countries and smartphone parts to china. companies in japan have begun to pay more for their materials. the january index for prices on goods traded among businesses rose for the first time in nearly two years. officials at the bank of japan say the producer price index was up 0.5% from a year earlier. that's the first year-on-year rise since march 2015. the officials say one factor is the weakening yen. they also point to rising prices of natural resources such as crude oil and copper. prices of petroleum and coal products rose 22.3%, due to

expectations that president trump's plan to build more infrastructure will generate higher demand. the boj officials say producer prices will remain high for the time being. but they add foreign exchange rates are volatile. and they'll continue to carefully monitor price trends. fresh data out of japan shows agricultural exports hit a record high in 2016. but the increase was significantly smaller than for the previous year. officials say japan's exports of farm products rose to $6.6 billion. processed foods such as soy sauce and sake rode a boom in japanese cuisine overseas. exports of beef, vegetables and fruits also grew. but the year to year increase was only 0.7%. much lower than the more than 20% rise for 2015. the officials say smaller hauls of scallops, salmon and other

fish were the reason for the slowdown. government officials are aiming to boost annual food exports to about $8.8 billion by 2019. this week people are flocking to hokkaido in northern japan for the sparro snow festival. the prefecture has been welcoming over visitors, including some who are movie fans. >> guests arrive at the slopes at a ski resort about 90 minutes by car from sapporo. the crowd includes a number of people from thailand. but they haven't come to ski. instead, what has brought them here is the film. they're on a tour of locations featured in a movie that became a hit in thailand. >> translator: today's location tour has been great.

>> i really liked it. i c came here to s see the film location. >> "fan day" was released last september.r. lolove story set in hokkaido. the bell appears in a scene featuring the lead male character. he ring it is while wishing that the heroine will reciprocate his love. the group gathers under the bell for some memorable photos. the resort is making the most of the opportunity. it has organized a rally at locations used in the film. >> translator: it's a new way to enjoy a resort. instead of just coming for a visit, they're having fun revisiting the movie. i hope we'llll see more of thisn the future. >> once a place comes under the spotlight.

the effects can be long-lasting. ththat's beeeen the case for th pub in kushiro city. it appeared in a popular chinese movie. the film was released nine years ago. but chinese tourists still keep coming. >> translator: i had noo idea w would see a boom like this. we're still feeling the impact of that movie. >> local authorities are keen to attract more film makers. sapporo provide as subsidy up to about $88,8,000 for lococation shoots inside the city. about ten t titles are produced with the subsidy and screened abroroad every year. "fan day" was one of them. >> translator: being featured in a movie or drama gives us a chance to see our community in a

new light and to develop t thin ththat we may not have been awa of before. i feel there is great potential and will continue to explore it. >> japan welcomed a record number of overseas visitors last year and this year government officials expect even more. location tours of film shot in japan could be one more way to keep tours coming. all right. and you can catch our report again online together with a full transcript. just look for nhk world and business wrap. and that's a look at business news, i'm going to leave you with the markets.

sayaka mori joins us again. >> a vicious winter storm has dumped significant snowfall and winds are extremely strong. the combination i is causing ve low visibility. making for very hazardous driving conditions as well. i want to take to you boston, to shshow you the situation. thousands of people are left without power from the wininter storm thahat produced winds topping 100 kilometers per hour and snowfall totals nearly half a meter in some spots. the high winds and heavy s snow haveve produced whiteout conditions triggering widespread travel delays. thousands of flights were canceled at the major airports in boston and new york.. all schools in boston,

philadelphia and new york were shut on thursday. now in fact nearly 50 centimeters of snow has fallen in parts of connecticut. and also gusts of over 100 kilometers per hour. caused by this low pressure system located to the east of canada. the system is bringing quite strong winds as you can see, the pressure gradient is extremely tight. we still have winter storm conditions happening across eastern canada and parts of the new england states as well. more snow is likely. now across the west we're lookingtt anonother batch of snw moving into the great lakes region that should move into the new york city by saturday. and then across the opposite side of the continent, there are low fronts drifting over the area. heavy rain fell in seattle and more rain is expected. and to the south, we're concerned whh cenalal portionss of calilifornia, due to a cold front you'll see significant amounts of rainfall and snowfall across inland locations as well. your highs, 17 for the high in

l.a. with rain on friday and in the single digits in vancouver as well as seattle. very warm in denver, 25 for the high, with abundance of sunshine and out towards the east, frigid, minus 1 in new york city and minus 2 withh s snowfall inw york on the last day of the business week. monsoonal showers are quite heavy across the mid portions of vietnam and also the south of the malay peninsula and a high pressure system covering most of china bringing calm weather and snow i is falling heavily acrcr the western side of ththe natio. we're looking at more snowfall at least into your monday in western portions of japan. and also northern places of the country as well. tokyo high is going to be 9 degrees throughout 0 degrees on your saturday. here's the extended forecast.

. at the top of the hour is newsroom tokyo.awawawawkçkw

♪ stuart: --anchor: you are withing live, "france 24," the headlines. donald trump lashes out after a federal appeals court shuts down his attempts to revive a federal traveled in -- man -- ban. chineserump telling the leader he will honor the so-called one china policy was --igned nice taiwan