glad to have you with us on this edition of nhk "newsline." i'm raja pradhan with the news from tokyo. japanese prime minister kishida fumio has arrived in washington. i'll his first visit to the united states since taking office and his last stop on a week-long tour of five western powers. he's set to meet president joe biden at the white house friday morning. the leaders are expected to reaffirm unity on a range of issues including food, energy, and ukraine. it comes as japan is preparing to host the g7 summit in may. kishida is also expected to brief biden on a major shift in

japan's security policy announced last month. they include a boost in defens spending and jap's ability to launch counterstrikes against attackers. the two are expected to discuss closer cooperation in developing cutting-edge technology as well, such as semiconductors, quantum computing, and biotech. on thursday, the u.s. and japanese defense ministers held talks at the pentagon. they say the u.s. will strengthen its commitment to extended deterrence for japan, which could involve deterring potential attacks with nuclear weapons. >> with our shared goal of a new era of alliance modernization, i strongly support japan's updated national security policies, including decisions to improve defense spending and acquire counterstrike capabilities. >> translator: we aim to start intensive discussions on the roles, missions, and capabilities of our alliance.

this is as japan's defense strategy, including the effective operation of counterstrike capabilities, will be significantly strengthened. >> they also confirmed plans to partially reorganize the deployment of u.s. troops in japan's okinawa prefecture to respond to military threats against remote islands. the ministers signed a memorandum of understanding aimed at speeding up joint research. that could include technology to counter hypersonic weapons and neutralize attacks by drones. much of kishida's talks this week have focused on defense, but the significance of his trip may go beyond security. nhk world spoke with a professor that's an expert on japanese politics and foreign policy. >> reporter: kishida and biden's meeting comes after officials from the two countries already said the alignment on key issues was closer than ever.

so professor hikotani says for their relationship, this visit is more mbolic than it is strategic. >> people appreciated the fact th president trump and prime minister abe had a good relationship. i think it goes he has a very good relationship with president biden. >> reporter: but it also comes as kishida prepares for a big moment on the world stage in hiroshima. this week has been a chance to reaffirm priorities with the g7's other members. >> how the g7 countries will supporukraine and be on the same page with regards to tensions on russia and what they can do together. >>eporter:ikotani also says this is a turning point in the japan/u.s. relationship. even ten years ago, washington may not have wanted to see japan expand its defense capabilities.

but as beijing has grown more aggressive, especially toward strongest asian ally tbe even ronger. >> there is increasing challenge from china. also, too, that the u.s. may be willing but not necessarily able in terms of this coitment, extending the commitment they have in the region as much as they did in the past. so japan stepping up will be another good thing for the u.s. >> reporter: hikotani says it's not just about defending japan. she says kishida may also be looking to remind people of his image as diplomat from his time as japanese foreign minister. >> i think there was a lot of discussion about japanese defense in 2022. but i do think that there was a lot of criticism, that there wasn't enough emphasis on diplomacy. but i do think that 2023 is the year of diplomacy for him, and if he can talk about japanese defense and the need for the japanese public to support that in the context of diplomacy and other diplomatic efforts, that

would be a really good way to kick-start 2023. >> reporter: a year that could be crucial for kishida's reputation, both internationally and here in japan. kurabayashi tomoko, nhk world. the foreign ministers of japan and south korea have confirmed their countries will work together to resolve a wartime labor issue and improve bilateral ties. yoshimasa spoke by phone with south korea's park zin. the plan proposes a public foundation will offer payments to the plaintiffs in wartime labor lawsuits instead of the japanese firms that have been ordered to pay damages by south korea's supreme court. the japanese government maintains such claims were settled completely and finally in 1965 when japan and south

korea normalized ties. hayashi and park also stated their concerns over north korea's repeated ballistic missile launches. the ministers called the a grave threat to regional security and a serious challenge to the international community. they pledged to cooperate on the merit along with the united states. south korean police have concluded their investigation into the halloween crowd crush in seoul's itaewan district. 159 people were killed in what was one of the country's deadliest disasters. a special team from the national police agency published its final report on the incident on friday. it says crowd density was more than ten people per square meter in some parts of the alley where many people died. experts say a density of around seven people per square meter can lead to suffocation. the report found people were unable to move more than an hour before the crush. it says the accident was caused by people falling down and

others piling on top of them. the report cites accounts from survivors who said their feet were not touching the ground as they were pushed around the crush site. investigators have arrested six people, including the then chief of the police station overseeing the district. they are suspected of failing to take appropriate measures before and after the accident. japan's foreign minister and the u.n. chief have agreed to work together to strengthen the global body and make it more capable of building the rule of law. hayashi held talks with secretary-general antonio guterres thursday in new york. he's visiting the city to attend an open debate at the u.n. security council. japan is currently serving as a nonpermanent member of the security council. hayashi said japan hopes to work with other countries to help the council fulfill its responsibilities. the officials also agreed to work together to promote nuclear disarmament and

nonproliferation. in other news, sri lanka's top court has ruled inaction by a former president and other top officials led to deadly bomb attacks in 2019 that killed 269 people. it ordered them to pay compensation to the victims and their families. the blasts on easter sunday targeted multiple sites, including luxury hotels and churches in the country's largest city of columbo. bereaved family members and other petitioners had claimed the government failed to share and act on warnings of terrorist threats from foreign intelligence. the country's supreme court ordered former president maithripala sirisena to pay over $270,000. top police and intelligence officials were also told to pay compensation. the complete picture of the attacks has yet to be clarified. in 2021, sri lankan authorities filed charges, including conspiring to murder, against 25 islamist group members in connection with the bombings.

the u.s. justice department has named a special counsel to investigate president joe biden's handling of classified documents. a new batch has been found in the garage of his home in delaware. >> classified materials next to your cvette? what were you thinking? >> let me -- i'll get a chance to speak on all of this, god willing, soon. as i said earlier this week -- by the way, my corvette's in a locked garage, okay? it's not like they're sitting out on the street. >> the first batch of classified documents was discovered in november at biden's private office in washington. the records are from the time he was vice president. attorney general merrick garland has picked robert hur as a special counsel to lead the investigation. >> this appointment underscores for the public the department's commitment to both independence and accountability in

particularly sensitive matters. and to making decisions indisputably guided only by the facts and the law. >> the white house says biden is cooperating with investigators. >> he said, we are confident that their thorough review will show that these documents were inadvertently misplaced and the president and his lawyers acted promptly upon discovery of this mistake. >> biden is facing criticism from the opposition republicans in the house of representatives. speaker kevin mccarthy says the president knew about the discovery of the documents before november's midterm elections, but the matter only became public this month. japan's government has released an update on treated water from the crippled fukushima daiichi nuclear plant.

officials say it will likely start being released into the ocean this spring or summer. the project has raised controversy in japan and many parts of the world. cabinet ministers confirmed the schedule at a meeting on friday. the power plant in northeastern japan suffered a triple meltdown after the earthquake and tsunami almost 12 years ago. water used to cool molten fuel mixed with rain and groundwater and accumulated at the plant. it's treated to remove most of the radioactive materials and is being stored in tanks at the facility. the filtered water still contains tritium. managing the water has been an issue. in april 2021, the government decided the utility would release the treated water into the ocean. that's after diluting it too reduce the concentration of tritium well below the percentage permitted by national regulations. fishermen are worried about the impact on their industry. the government is promising to keep them informed. >> translator: japan's

government will listen to the concerns of fishermen and local residents and give them a detailed explanation about the release of the treated water. >> countries including south korea and china have also voiced opposition to the release. staying here in japan, prosecutors have indicted the suspect in the shooting death of former prime minister abe shinzo. he was rest of theed in july of last year after he shot abe while he was making an election campaign speech in the western me effect tour of nara. yamagami said he shot abe because he believed the former prime minister had close ties with a religious group widely known as the unification church. he claimed his mother donated large sums of money to the group, which left his family in financial ruin. prosecutors concluded yamagami is mentally fit to be tried. they based that on his ability

building of homemade guns and alleged preparation for the attack. the case is to be heard in a lay judge trial. japan's chief cabinet secretary is calling for action to prevent the spread of bird flu. the virus is threatening to impact the country's supply of poultry and eggs. the bird flu has been spreading in japan since october. the outbreak has led to the cull of about 11 million chickens and other birds. that's a record high for a single season. did hirokazu called for the government to take thorough measures at a meeting with ministers. he urged poultry farmers and others across the country to observe hygiene protocols and implement emergency sterilization. matsuno also said the spread of bird flu and the surging cost of feed is causing the price of eggs in japan to rise. ♪ ♪

extremely frigid conditions have been covering many parts of russia. our meteorologist jonathan oh has more in our world weather. >> hello. we've been watching the chilly, frigid weather impacting russia. we talked and noticed some reports coming in earlier this weeks where reports in siberia see temperatures falling to minus 62 degrees celsius. it was definitely cold up toward the north and that cold air impacted other areas of russia as well, inclungreas far down towards the south. here's a look at some video coming out of ufa, where in a russian city there, icicles were seen hanging from a wooden residential house were firefighters tackled a blaze in subzero temperatures. at least four people have been killed in the fire.

the nighttime temperature dropped to below minus 30 degrees celsius, and it was only slightly warmer than that during the daytime. the water from the firefighters' hoses left the house with many icicles. cold weather continues to be a big part of the story going through the next 24 hours. shades of blue indicating the chilly air continues to linger in the area. you may notice toward the east the darker blue shades, that cold air is marching toward the eastern areas of asia as we go forward throughout the next few days. in japan, we saw such warm weather we're concerned about avalanches. that's about to change after a day or so of warmer weather. cold air coming in from the north, that's going to help drop those temperatures going forward in time. this map looks familiar? yeah, this perspective showing us the darker blue shades moving down into the korean peninsula and northern areas of japan, which means much colder temperatures are ahead by the beginning of next week. one more warm day in tokyo for saturday with a high of 17 with cloudy skies. but hook at what's happening

over into mongolia, ulaanbaatar looking at minus 21 degrees for the high on saturday. the western areas of the united states, another system moving in bringing some more heavy rain and strong winds with the stormy setup along the western areas of the country. that extends all the way up north into portions of canada and british columbia as we go forward throughout the next few days. hope you have a good day wherever you are.

and that concludes this edition of nhk "newsline." i'm raja pradhan in tokyo. coming up next is "newsline biz" with ramin mellegard, so don't go away.

♪ this is "newsline biz." i'm ramin mellegard. now, the yield on the benchmark 10-year japanese government bond briefly rose to a level not seen in over 7 1/2 years. it hit 0.54% on friday. that reached a cap recently set under the central bank's monetary policy. market sources say many investors sold jgbs on speculation the bank of japan may again taper its relatively loose policy.

the yield ended the day at its upper limit of .5%. the boj decided in its december meeting to allow the yield on the 10-year bond to move in a range of plus or minus .5%. the earlier band was plus or minus 0.25%. the boj's bond purchases friday mark the a single-day record of just over 5 trillion yen, or $39 billion. a wide range of government instruments were bought to tamp down on the upward pressure on yield. the bank says it will conduct additional purchases on monday. it's unusual for the boj to announce such a special operation beforehand. japan's biggest electricity producer has unveiled a new gas-fired unit at a thermal power station in chiba prefecture near tokyo. jera plans to put the unit into operation early to help avoid a power crunch this winter. the power generation unit has an

output of 650,000 kilowatts. that's enough to supply 1.9 million households. jera has adopted leading-edge turbines at its lng-powered station to increase efficiency and cut emissions. japanese utilities are expected to secure a reserve power supply capacity rate of 3% this winter. that's the minimum needed for a stable supply nationwide. but for the first time in seven years, the government is urging households and businesses to conserve electricity. there are fears that excessively cold weather could trigger a spike in demand. china's total trade rose to a record high in 2022. a major driver was a surge in its value of exports. customs authorities say the figure combining exports and imports increased 4.4% from the previous year to $6.3 trillion. trade with russia saw a big jump. it was up nearly 30% to an

all-time high of $190 billion. the neighbors have been expanding their trade in energy and other areas, while western nations tighten economic sanctions over russia's invasion of ukraine. total exports were up 7%. shipments to the united states and europe were brisk in the first half of 2022. goods headed to southeast asia have also been expanding. imports grew but by just over 1%. the government's strict zero covid policy and a property market slump dampened domestic demand. furthermore, exports have been declining every month for the past three months year on year. u.s. and europe-bound shipments are falling, raising concerns for the chinese economy. the world's top energy body says clean technologies could triple in value by the end of the decade, creating millions of jobs in the process. but it says this will only happen if countries fully

implement their energy and climate pledges. the international energy agency says in a new report that the world is entering an age of clean energy manufacturing. it says industries for solar panels, wind, electric vehicles, and their batteries are already flourishing. it predicts that if countries make good on their promises, the market for these and other green technologies will balloon to around $650 billion by 2030. that will generate roughly 8 million jobs. but the report comes with a warning. it says resource mining, processing, and manufacturing are concentrated in too few hands. one example is lithium. essential for ev batteries. australia, chile, and china account for more than 90% of global production. the report notes china's control of the market for solar panels, ev batteries, and components of wind-powered generators. it warns that buyers who rely on a single country or trade route

will pay a heavy price if it gets disrupted, and calls for more diversity in supply chains. shipments of high-grade tangerines are at their peak in the southwestern japanese prefecture of kumamoto. the fruit from this area is known for its sweetness. a local agricultural cooperative is marketing local tangerines under the brand tokimiki, which means "excitement" in japanese. ey're covered before harvest to prevent pest damage and protect them from the cold until they fully ripen. the result is also a sweeter flavor. cooperative workers measure the sweetness and check quality before the fruit is shipped. >> translator: there was very little rain this autumn, helping to produce high-quality tangerines. >> shipments to markets in tokyo will continue until the end of this month. now, the cooperative says the

tokimiki will be sold for about 200 yen or $1.50 apiece at retailers. okay, now let's take a look at what's happening in the week ahead. we begin with the world economic forum's annual meeting in davos, switzerland, on monday. the theme this year is "cooperation in a fragmented world." the five-day talks will focus on issues including economic, energy, and food crises. political and business leaders fr nearly 0 countries will join. it will be the first time in three years for the january gathering to be held in person in davos due to the pandemic. the next day, china's national bureau of statistics will announce its gdp data for the october-to-december period, as well as for the full year of 2022. the country's gdp grew 3.9% year on year in the previous quarter. beijing's zero covid policy hurt

consumer spending. struggles at real estate companies led to construction delays that also weighed on growth. the chinese government has rolled out stimulus measures, and last month it relaxed covid restrictions. analysts still expect annual growth to be much lower than beijing's target of around 5.5%. next, on wednesday the u.s. department of commerce will announce retail sales for december. the figure declined by 0.6% in november from the previous month, less than what many had expected. sales of furniture, cars, and auto parts dropped over 2% as inflation and rising interest rates took a toll on spending. the federal reserve has been trying to bring inflation under control, but policymakers say it remains elevated and indicate they plan to continue hiking rates. next up are some key events for japan's economy starting with the bank of japan's policy decision on wednesday.

the boj tweaked its ultra-easy monetary policy in its december meeting. the central bank decide deciding to allow the yield for benchmark 10-year japanese government bonds to be in a range around plus or minus 0.5%. the earlier range was plus or minus 0.25. boj governor heriko insisted it wasn't a shift in policy but the market saw the news otherwise with with the yen appreciating against the dollar. the finance ministry also said 10-year bonds that are issued in january will have a coupon rate of 0.5%. it has been more than eight years since the rate was set at that level or higher. finally on friday, japan's consumer price index for december and the full year of 2022 comes out. the cpi, excluding fresh food, jumped by 3.7% in november from a year earlier. that marked a 40-year high.

analysts believe rising costs for raw materials, the weak yen, and soaring energy prices will push the december figure to 4% or higher. tokyo's december cpi, excluding fresh food, rose 4% from a year ago. the index is seen as a leading indicator of inflation nationwide. okay, let's get a check on the markets.

that's it for "newsline biz" from tokyo. i'm ramin mellegard. thank you very much for watching. o;o;ó7ó7■■■■■ q■q■>> the

your top stories. russian forces led by mercenaries say they have gained control of eastern ukrainian town. there denying the claim, intense fight as russia tries to gain ground. >> the terrorist state and its propagandists are trying to pretend some part of our city almost completely destroyed by the occupiers is some kind of achievement.