hello and thank you for joining us on this edition of nhk "newsline." i'm raja pradhan with the news from tokyo. japan is set to welcome south korea's leader next week. it is part of efforts by both countries to revive top-level exchanges after a decade long long hiatus. yoon suk-yeol will come to meet with prime minister kishida fumio. >> translator: i would like to use this opportunity to improve ties with south korea. >> some japanese government feshl officials are proposing yoon

should be invited to hiroshima for the group of seven summit in may. next week's summit between japan and south korea came about aft seoul unveiled a plan on monday to settle a wartime labor issue that's plagued bilateral ties for years. the settlement plans entails having a foundation affiliated with the south korean government pay damages on behalf of japanese companies. it'll be supported by donations from south korean businesses. but the latest south korean opinion poll suggests more people will not back the government's plan. gallup korea's two-day poll found 59% of respondents oppose the wartime labor plan. they want apologies and compensation from japan. 35% support it, saying it's in the national interest. close to a third say seoul should quickly solve the bilateral dispute to improve ties with tokyo. the rest don't see the need for a speedy improvement unless japan's attitude changes. the polling also saw a slight

dip in approval for president yoon with diplomacy and south korea's relationship with japan playing a role. moving now to north korea, where leader kim jong-un is once again flexing his nation's military power. the ruling workers party newspaper published photos of kim and his daughter at what it called a fire assault drill. they seemed to show six missiles fired from mobile launchers. kim called it a move to deter a clash on the peninsula. it comes following reports from south korea's military of a short-range ballistic missile test thursday by pyongyang. the exercise comes ahead of regular point military drills by the united states and south korea set for monday. chinese president xi jinping has secured an unprecedented third term. his re-election allows him to remain at the top of the party, state and military.

the national peoples congress earlier scrapped rules that limited a presidency to two five-year terms. last year, xi was given the title of the ruling secretary of the chinese communist party. now, he can fill key posts with allies. th vic premier mednto the role of vice president. he was part of the decision making body xi's bureau standing committee. people in ukraine are enduring what's thought to be the most intensive russian missile attack this year. the strikes reportedly included hypersonic weapons. kyiv said at least ten people have been killed. >> translator: another attempt by t terrorist state to wage war against civilization has caused temporary power, heat and

water outages in some of our regions and cities. >> ukrainian officials say russia fired more than 80 missiles on thursday, inclung six hypersonic projectiles. british defense officials say the barrage was one of the largest since last december. they believe the interval between waves of russian strikes is growing as moscow needs to preserve its dwindling arsenal. u.s. defense experts say the russian president likely dug deep into his weapons stockpile to appease for supporters who have been calling for a greater show of force. some demanded retaliation for what they call a terrorist attack in russia's western region last week. now, washington is hitting five chinese companies and a chinese national with sanctions. it alleges they supported an iranian maker of drones used by russia to attack ukraine. the treasury department said thursday assets of the entities

in the united states have been frozen. it says two of the companies sold and shipped light aircraft engines and other parts for the drones. another centcsent components wo1 million. the department says it'll keep targeting the global network that's helping get the weapons into russian hands. german police say a shooting at a church has left eight people dead, including the suspected perpetrator. it happened at a jehovah's witness facility in hamburg at around 9:00 p.m. thursday. local news outlets say an event was being held in the building at the time. >> translator: i saw people seriously injured. dead people wrapped up in bags. it was very hard to see. i heard 12 shots. it was pretty intense. >> hamburg police say they believe there was only one shooter.

investigators are trying to determine the motive behind the attack. in other news, an indonesian court has handed prison sentences to two soccer officials over one of the deadliest stadium disasters in history. a club organizer and security chief sold tickets beyond capacity and hindered the evacuation process. fans stormed the pitch at the end of this match last october. when police fired tear gas to disperse them, ten spespectatord to the gates. 135 people were killed and 600 injured. local media say the courts found both officials guilty of negligence causing death and bodily harm. the home team's organizing committee chair got 18 months in prison. its security chief got 12. the government investigators say the main cause of the stampede and high death count was the tear gas and the fact that several gates remained locked. three police officials who

allowed or ordered its use are also being tried on charges of negligence. japan's upper house is giving an mia lawmaker one last chance to explain himself. the youtuber-turned-politician is on the cusp of being expelled from the legislature he never showed up to. he became mfamous online and wa elected to the diet last year but hasn't made a single appearance. the errant lawmaker agreed to make an in-person apology this week but, once again, did not show. now, a disciplinary committee will discuss his penalty next tuesday for the final time. the committee's chair says he finds the whole situation deeply regrettable. >> i strongly resent him for taking actions that undermine the authority of this chamber.

>> the committee will decide how to punish him after hearing from one of his party's executives. they're considering the most severe penalty possible, stripping him of his status as a lawmaker. police in southwestern japan have searched a traditional japanese inn over suspected poor sanitation at its hot spring bath. fukuo fukuoka prefecture filed the complaint over an alleged violation of the public bathhouses law. it says the inn and its former president lied about how often the water in the inn's main bath was changed. it was discovered last year. the inn only fully replaced the water twice a year. the prefecture's regulations require hot springs to completely change their water at least once a week. the inn also failed to add chlorine to the water for disinfection. the bath water was found to

contain up to 3,700 times the permitted level of legionella bacteria. in december, the prefecture ordered the inn to follow sanitation rules and ensure the hot spring is safe to bathe in. ♪ many people in northeastern japan are still living under a shadow of grief 12 years after the march 2011 earthquake and tsunami. but as we'll see in our next report, one young woman has learned how to deal with the trauma by sharing her most painful memory. >> reporter: saijo kazane turned 20 this year. to mark the occasion, family photographs were taken with her parents and brothers. in her hands, she holds a photograph of her little sister who died in the 2011 disaster.

harune, 6 at the time, was on a kindergarten bus that was hit by a tsunami before being caught in a fire. harune waslways cheerful and ved to make people laugh. the sisters, only two years apart, were so close, they did everything together. for years after the disaster, kazane was unable to talk about the pain of losing her sister. >> translator: as a child, i couldn't understand what happened, and i didn't know how to express my emotions. getting older without her with me, i became even more sad, as i started to understand what it means to lose a sister. >> reporter: as time passed, her pain continued. but her desire to talk about her beloved sister slowly began to

grow. she began joining meetings where she talked about her experience. she has been piecing together memories of the disaster with the help of her mother. today, kazane shared with college students the events of that fateful day. for the first time, she told the story using a traditional storytelling technique using paper cards. >> translator: i created this for young people who may not know about the great east japan earthquake. >> translator: a gigantic earthquake hit. the bus was shaking so much, that the children can't even sit on their seats. the large, black wave of the tsunami floods toward the children at a tremendous speed. >> reporter: kazane gave a

heartfelt performance, hoping to inspire the audience to reflect on how to protect their own precious lives. >> translator: the fire is getting closer and closer to the bus. the screaming children cry for help, but their prayers aren't answered. and they turn into stars in the sky. [ applause ] >> translator: the story touched my heart because the storyteller and i are close in age. i knew such incidents occurred, but her story made it feel more real. >> translator: i have a younger sibling, too, and can't imagine how devastating it must have been for her.

>> translator: i don't want anyone else to experience what i have. i hope this will make people think about disaster preparation and how to protect themselves and their loved ones. >> reporter: as the 12th anniversary of the disaster comes and goes, kazane will continue to share her experie experiences in memory of her beloved sister. >> nhk world will have special coverage of the 12th anniversary of the earthquake and tsunami with stories of people still struggling to rebuild their lives. please join us at 2:40 p.m. japan time on saturday, march 11th. ♪

well, we continue to have springlike conditions in and around tokyo, and many people are heading home from work with fewer layers. our meteorologist jonathan oh explains if that trend will persist into the weekend in our world weather report. >> hello. we have been seeing temperatures quite warm over a good portion of japan with highs moving into the lower 20s. it looks like for the weekend we're going to still see some of the warmer weather, and then things are going to change as we head into the first part of the wo workweek next week. high pressure's now back in control after we had a cold front swing through. a bit breezy during the earlier hours on friday but as high pressure moves in, we are going to see things staying relatively warm as the southerly flow comes in. a cold front will be dropping in and that will change things up quite a bit. 20s expected for tokyo, osaka and fukuoka the next couple days, then we start to come back to reality, temperatures in the mid teens as we go into monday and tuesday for many locations.

sapporo might see some flurries as we go into monday. but it is springtime. we are expecting the cherry blossoms to start blooming as we go into next week. some locations, fukuoka, kochi and tokyo expecting the first blossoms by thursday next week. meanwhile, still looks like winter in portions of california as we saw some snow rolling through last week, and now we're seeing even more moisture coming into the picture now. here's a look at the video of that snow from last week as many residents were stuck inside their homes after heavy snow slammed southern california. the once in a genation storm piled 3 meters high, covering most windows and home entrances. residents had to wait for volunteers to clear up the snow before they could get out. more snow is expected, which can hamper cleanup efforts. we have a atmospheric river setup, and warmer air is pushing in. a lot of the higher elevations may see more in terms of rain

opposed to snow. the really high elevations will be the place we'll be seeing the snow. this is just a couple of bouts of rain expected as we go forward in time. be on the lookout for that. los angeles looking at thunderstorms with a high of 15 on friday. hope you have a good day wherever you are. ♪

♪ ♪ of nhk "newsline." i'm raja pradhan in tokyo. coming up next is "newsline biz" with ramin mellegard, so stay right there.

♪ this is "newsline biz." i'm ramin mellegard. now, japan's upper house is formally approved the new bank of japan governor. a former board member and economist, he is set to assume the role april 9th. a majority of the lawmakers voted for him on friday. the decision follows the lower house's endorsement the day before. the upper chamber also improved the government's two deputy governor nominees by a majority

vote. they are himino ryozo and current boj executive director uchida shinichi. both take office on the 20th. they all serve five-year terms. friday also saw policymakers unanimously agree to leave the central bank's monetary easing program unchanged. the announcement followed their two-day meeting. the boj will keep the short-term interest rate in negative territory. it'll also continue asset purchases to hold long-term rates at around 0%. the yield on the japanese bond will be around a range of plus or minus half a percentage point. last december, the policymakers widened the range to the current level to correct a side effect caused by ultra loose monetary policy. upper pressure has remained on long-term interest rates on the expectation the bank will further raise the cap.

after at announcement, investors bought back bonds, bringing the ten-year yield down to 0.385% at one stage. now, the meeting is the last one for governor kuroda haruhiko. reflecting on the last ten years, he called monetary easing a success and said the potential of japan's economy had been fully demonstrated. >> translator: the situation has changed from the previous 15 years. the economy has been revitalized, and it is no longer in deflation. employment has increased by more than 4 million people, and base pay is getting hiked again. >> occkuroda touched on his successor, says he is a leading economist and knows the work of the boj very well. he expressed high hopes for the next governor. let's take a look at how the markets reacted to the boj's announcement. our business report er yanaka marie has the details.

>> as this was his last meeting as governor, they didn't have any hints beforehanding the reins over. the bank of japan held steady. investors showed little reaction to the outcome. their focus was on the u.s. bank. let's check on levels for this friday, march 10th. the nikkei average ended the day down 1.7% at 28,143. sentiment in markets across asia continue to be weighed down by the prospect of higher rates in the u.s. tighter monetary policy means less liquidity in the market. asset drives tend to drive down. earlier in week, jerome powell signalled that more aggressive rate hikes may be in store if incoming data remains hot. upcoming statistics include employment numbers in the u.s. with the latest figures due out

later on friday. now, back to the bank of e i men era. when kuroda took office in 2013, he announced a bold program aiming to hit 2% inflation in two years. the stimulus measures boosted failed to bring up inflation to the target within the timeframe. after almost a decade, inflation in japan finally reached and surpassed the 2% goal last april. it has continued to climb. however, this has been largely caused by rising level prices and a weaker yen rather than firm economic footing. so kuroda has kept his ultra easy policy in place. the boj is currently the only central bank in the world that's setting short-term rates in negative territory while keeping long-term rates low by lyiie bup bonds. it's a policy that has been met by controversy. many say the bond purchases have

contorted the market. the bank of japan owns half of government bonds. one of those against kuroda's measures is the former boj governor, masaki. earlier this month, he wrote that the policies have had only a modest impact on inflation and economic growth. he titled his article, "time for change." whether change is really on the horizon will now be up to incoming boj governor ued ueda kazou. ueda signalled he is in no rush to upset the status quo, but he has also left the door open to tighter monetary policy should inflation continue to trend higher. so what will ueda use to judge that there's persistent price gains? experts point to data compiled by the bank of japan showing underlying inflation. the numbers indicate a steep uptrend. some analysts believe a boj policy change might be closer than many investors think.

kuroda's last monetary policy decision didn't move markets much, but upcoming meetings under ueda may point a different picture. yanaka marie, nhk world. traded among companies in japan rose in february. the increase was slower than the previous month due to slowing energy cost rises. the bank of japan says the producer price index rose 8.2% last month from a year earlier. that's 24 months in a row it's been heading upward. but the rise was slower than the 9.5% jump in january. crude oil prices were relatively lower. electricity and city gas rose but slow to stand more than 30% up on the year thanks to government subsidies. that's lesshan the 49% hike we saw in january. 87% of all items cover pd ed by

survey were more expensive. in a related development, the import price index rose more than 14% from a year earlier on a yen basis. the pace was sharply down from the peak in july last year when prices surged by nearly 50%. japan's leading aeroline operator, a and a hosa& -- ana will start offering cheaper flights. air japan will start operations next february between narita airplane near tokyo and an unannounced destination in southeast asia. the new carrier eventually plans to fly to ocean destinations, as well. the seats will be roomier, and they'll sell pre-ordered meals. passengers order on the day of their flight, and they can choose from a special menu, such

as freeze-dried meals to reduce food waste. >> translator: i think price is extremely important in gaining a competitive advantage over asian airlines. >> the airline hopes more attractive ticket prices will appeal to visitors from around southeast asia. and saturday marks the 12th anniversary of the devastating earthquake and tsunami that hit japan in 2011. people in saitama are hoping the prefecture's famous soccer stadium offers a message of its pitch has been replaced with turf grown in areas hit hard by the disaster. saitama stadium is the largest soccer-specific field in japan with a capacity of over 63,000 people. it has hosted major matches and tournaments, including the 2002 fifa world cup. the stadium's turf has been renewed for the first time since its opened in 2001. the work started in november last year using grass grown in

farmlands in yamamoto town, miyagi prefecture, which was devastated by tuna me. it was 300 million yen or roughly $2 million. turf from miyagi has also been used in one of the venn use uese tokyo olympics. >> translator: i hope it will help give encouragement to people who were impacted by the disaster. >> professional soccer league match on april 15th will be the first to use the new pitch. 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;ó7ó7ñtñf?o■ñ ■#■#■#e

georgian capital against a proposed new law. opponents say it will punish critics and restrict media. what is behind the legislation? this is inside story. hello and welcome to the program. a bill making its way through the georgian parliament is causing anger.

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