it's 7:00 p.m. on a thursday here in japan. welcome to nhk newsline. two malaysian u snrks workers left north korea amid diplomatic tension over the suspected murder of kim jong nam. they were among 11 malaysians stuck in the country because of the travel ban. the malaysian prime minister says the un officials arrived in

beijing thursday. he says the other malaysians are safe. they are embassy staff and their family members. on tuesday north koreans banned them from leaving the country. they said it will stay in effect until the killing of their citizen is solved in a just manner. kim jong nam was attacked at the airport last month and died. malaysia is demanding they hand over four north korean suspects. they also want to question three nationals including an embassy staff member. but they haven't been cooperative calling the investigation politically motivated. while the spotlight is still on north korea for its suspected role in the killing of its leaders half brother the fall out continues. now the netherlands has been drawn in. a group posted a video online reported to be of kim jong nam's son has thanked the dutch

ambassador for his help. >> we know about the reports. we have seen the video and statements that were made. >> this man identifies himself and is believed to be the son of kim jong nam. the south korean government says it is true. they responded to an emergency request for extraction and protection. the dutch government along with that of china, the u.s. and unnamed country helped move the family to a safe location that hasn't been disclosed. hawaii is the first u.s. state to file a lawsuit to block president trump's ban on several countries. they also asked for a temporary restraining order. the attorney general said discrimination on the basis of

nationality or religion should never be accepted while the strait security must be ensured. flaws in the original order have not been fixed. authorities stress the new ban will still harm hawaii's business and tourism. trump signed the new executive order on monday. the court is set to hear opinions from both sides on march 15th, one day before the new order is to take effect. the revision comes after trump's earlier travel ban was put on hold by an appeals court. the new order bans the entry of people from the middle east and africa for 90 days. it also halts admission of refugees from any country for 120 days. >> in our series confronting challenges we have been bringing you stories about how people in

northeastern japan are doing six years after a massive disaster struck the region. this hour we'll focus on what's happening with the fukushima daiichi nuclear plants. they're 200 kilometers northeast of tokyo. it suffered one of the most nuclear accidents in history after being hit by a quake and tsunami. workers are still working to contain the high levels of radiation and contaminated water. nhk world explained earlier about what happened and about the efforts to demission the fukushima daiichi plant. >> can you get us up to speed about what's gone on since the plant since the disaster. >> this is a model of the plant. it's facing the ocean and it caused reaction to four reactor buildings in the facilities. three of them were damaged by

hydrogen explosions and reactor 1, 2, and 3 suffered melt downs. to cool the reactors water needed to be pumped in. they are still pumping water in today and when it goes inside it gets contaminated. that water is then processed and kept in storage tanks. there's around 1,000 of them but what to do with all of that contaminated water has not been decided. what's more there's also underground water coming down in this direction and getting inside. tokyo electric power company is trying to prevent that water from getting in. >> so this is where it comes in, isn't it? >> that's right. here's a look at the underground part of the plant. you can see this part. the water runs down from the mountains to the ocean. it seeps through cracks in the

buildings and becomes contaminated. the japanese government decided to build an underground one. they put long pipes into the ground and filled them with liquid coolant which freezes the soil between the pipes. the operation began last year and still isn't completed. the final part of the process needs approval and the nuclear wawatchdog is stillll studyingg they think will happen whenn th wall is complete. now tell us about the process a little bit. >> yes, when it happened and how much there is and here's the

program. and see the damage for themselves. and because of these instead. and major temperature, radiation and take pictures. it broke down and they gave up on it. after six years they still haven't found the exact location and they have yet to get a full picture of what is happening inside the plant so what is the decommissioning time line looking for. >> commissioning the daiichi plant will take decades and the process is not only long but also complicated. they're expected to decide this year on the broad outline for how to remove it. their aim is to start removing it from one of the reactors in 2021. the whole process, 30 to 40 years. as for cost, the government says

they could expect a price tag to quadruple from earlier estimates. the reason, difficulty of the task and needed to do it. a project of this scale has never been done before. >> our special series confronting challenges will run until the anniversary of the march 11th disaster saturday japan time. if you missed the broadcast, you can find them on our website. getting down to business, one of japan's biggest office supply firms is trying to get back on track after a devastating fire. geno brings us more on that along with other headlines. >> the chief executive says the company aims to be back at full strength by september. the firm suffered a big blow in

february when a fire engulfed one of its ware houses causing havoc to its supply chain. president andnd ceceo says the company will build temporary distributions bases in other parts of the country. the firm is hoping to keep all of it's staff. last month's fire raged for 12 days before emergency services were ablble to bring itt under control. the company is still limiting sales to individual customers. officials say the initial estimation of the damage to the warehouse is about $83 million but they say that figure could ultimately be higher. they hope to have a final calculation by early april. >> foreigners who signed up for jobs in japan under a new government program are preparing to start work. the housekeepers are take advantage of a scheme that has eased labor regulations.

25 women from the philippines have arrived. they are allowed to work under an initiative that aims to eliminate labor sources in strategic special zones. they received 2 months of training in the japanese language and culture before leaving the philippines. >> i really want to start work. i am so excited. >> it allows foreigners to perform housekeeping work in tokyo and they can workk for up to three years. they cannot take live in jobs for their own production and employees are required to pay the same level of wages as they give japanese workers. people using housekeeping services are increasing as the number of dual income households rises in japan. businesses are struggling to find enough workers to meet the demand. checking the markets tokyo's benchmark nikkei average snapped

a four day losing streak and got higher. a stronger dollar helped lift investor sentiment. our business reporter has more from the tokyo stock exchange. >> exporters, rosose on the ba of the u.s. dollar streng but then on the flip side we see shares based on the fall we saw in u.s. crude prices so let's have a look at how the nikkei and broader topics ended thursday march 9th. the nikkei, a third of a percent beginning at 19,318. the broader topics rose 0.3%. now on the currency front the dollar stayed at the 114 yen level and adp private sector employment area in thee u.s. looking at the mayoror market movers major exporters did well on thursday. up 3.2% and in the chip maker

sector, renesas electron ics don 5%. with them shares of energy with companies such as inpex and japan petroleum exploration. they're in a narrow range this week. they're looking ahead to friday. >> we move on to other markets. lower oil prices drag down many benchmarks in the region. hang seng 1.2%. in sidney shares fell 0.3%. in china the shanghai composite declined finishing at 3216. the closing number there on fixed inflation data. they meet market expectations but the cpi slowed in february and in south korea, some

investors took a cautious stance ahead of friday's court ruling on the impeachment. the kospi slipping there. 2091 the closing number snapping three days of gains. bank of japan officials have provided a look at on going renovations to their head office in tokyo. workers are bolstering the 120-year-old structure to give it better protection against major earthquakes the workers are layaying reinforced con kred foundations. they plan to put down rubber shock absorbers between each layer. they built it on concrete foundations. it was rare at the time. he requested thin bricks for the upper part of the building to make it lighter and more resistant to shake. the building survived the 1923 earthquake that caused widespread damage throughout the area. the government designated the

structure as an important cultural property. they will cost $52 million and are expected to be complete around the middle of 2019. a zen style stone garden is being unveiled in manhattan's grand central station. it's similar to the famous stone garden of the temple. >> this is so beautiful. i hope that everyone comes to see this event enjoys this beautiful garden they created. >> offfficials a at the j japan national tourism organization are promoting the country's destinations and selling japanese food at the venue. >> translator: we hope the

number of tourists to japan will boom. >> a record 1.24 million tourists visited japan last year. the japanese government needs to track 40 million foreign tourists in 2020 when tokyo goes to the summer olympics. >> more japanese are warming up to wood burning stoves. we have a report on a man that made a business out of that attraction. he runs a firewood company in his hometown of fukushima. he wants to help with the recovery from the 2011 disaster. >> reporter: they were once involved in producing them for mushroom conservation.

he had to abandon his business after local lots could no longer be sold following the nuclear accident. so he decided to go back home to help his father. >> local trees couldn't be used after the accident a and had toe cut down to plant new trees. i thought the whole process couldn't be completed within my generation. >> i wanted to help revitalize the town. selling firewood was a way for me to contribute. >> he began producing firewood at his father's facility. he travels to other prefectures to select high quality wood. it's dried for more than a year to make it burn well. >> moisture of 20% or less is good. i think this one is ready. it's high quality. he buys logs and splits and

seasons them into firewood with a fua sis answer the. this winter he launched a new venture. he started selling firewood made exclclusively from trees in fukushima. before it went on sale, the radiation level was checked to confirm national standards. his new product drew instant attention and now more people are seeking out firewood made from trees in fukushima. people are making inquiries about the firewood and it's winning customers. >> he heads to a local mountain to look atwood. >> people cutting down trees here used to make wood for mushroom cultivation before the disaster. >> to be honest i'd rather cut trees for growing mushrooms. and i have the equipment and

experience. so i am grateful to have this problem. >> many people make their living from receiving nature's blessings from the mountain. i want to help these people. i hope to sell more firewood and help sustain the value of the forests. >> sales have doubled from three years ago. he plans to expand the sale of firewood and build a storage facility in the town. his mission continues. >> and you can catch a report again online together with a full transcript. just look for nhk world and business wrap. that's a look at business news. i'll leave you with the markets.

enthusiasm is slowly taking hold where people are preparing to host one of the world's biggest sporting spectacles. the winter olympics but there's still a number of hurdles to overcome to get ready for the paralympics. one is making it more accessible to people with disabilities. >> thousands of people turned up

at the center for the countdown to the paralympics. they watched as she gave a demonstration. and itt i is in thee country. >> i have never been to a winner olympics so i don't think i will go to the paralympics. >> they had a nationwide survey over 40 years ago and they didn't even know about the paralympics. they unched the organizers to do more. some people are trying to generate enthusiasm on their

own. he's been at sportrting events since the olympics and now walking to promote gains across the country. >> i hope this will allow us to show off the good will. >> one of the cities have one year to make it more accessible for people with disabilities. and now uses a wheelchair. >> it's better than before but i still can't go where ever i want by myself. >> the officials are work hard to make the city value free.

the owner of this one already addeded a wheelchair ramp. also so people no long ver to sit on the floor. most of the costs were paid for by the city. >> i hopope you that w we have s for peoeople with disabilities more customers will visit our placace. > i think the idea is good b my restaurant doesn't have the room for a renovation like that. >> a city official says he hopes the innovations will raise people's awareness about the challenges people face and are going to become one of the great of the games. >> we hope people with

disabilities will be able to eat out where ever they like. >> the question is how many opinions can change in time for the games nhk world south korea. >> well, the forecast has daytime highs in the low teens, celsius or mid 50s fahrenheit. let's see what is happening in world weather. >> w we're goioing to be seeini change in the weather pattern. colder for the central united states as you go into thursday but the winds were the bigig sty as we went through the last couple of days. we had a frontal passage through the area and it deepened as it

continued to move through the east. the winds were s so strongg it forced the collapse right there and more than 200 elementary scschools h had to be evacuated. aside from that we had fallen trees and signs toppled over. we are looking at conditions to be slightly calmer for portions of the great lakes as we go forward in time but any time you look at a weather map and you're talking about high and low pressure that's very strong winds so the eastern portions of canada are dealing with the

possibility of stronger winds as we go throughout the day on thursd thursday, the jet stream usually keeps the colder air toward the north but we're going to see thisis dip throughout the day o thursdayay where temperatures a going to push down into the great lakes and mid-atlantic states as well. snow possibilities also developing and pushing toward the east and make sure that you keep an eye out for that. you'll be dealing with rain and snowfall as you go forward in time. as moisture moves in by friday we'll see the snow chance in new york and notice a big cool down as we go into the first part of the weekend. meanwhile look at what's happening in europe a cutoff low pressusure systetem down here n

the balkins and western portion of turkey. this is a nasty system that continues to impact the region so be on the look out for more unstable effort as we go forward in time now wrapping things up with a look at japan. relatively nice day in tokyo. we saw sunny skies. we are seeing more snow. we went throughout t the day on thursday we are lookingt this pattern continuing at least for the next day or so so be on the look out for that. i want to wrap up with a look at what we're expecting as we continue to look into saturday where a lot of ceremonies will be taking place. temperatures around the 8 or 9

degree mark. hope you have a good day where ever you are. here's your extended outlook.

>> we'll have more updates along with special reports at the top of the hour. for all of us here, thanks for

vp

♪ this is france 24. welcome to 60 minutes live around the world. i'm genie godula. these are the headlines. a battle brewing in brussels. poland's former prime minister is set to be reelected as european council president but he is facing opposition from his own country's government. the leader of the islamic state lroup reportedly fled mosu weeks ago.