back behind me is one of the star attractions at sapporo's snow festival. it's a gigantic snow culp tour. it's 20 meters wide and 11 meters tall, and get this, it took 500 truckloads of snow to make it. it's amazing. we're in the heart of sapporo. it's where most of the action is taking place. there are roughly 200 ice and snow sculptures for this year's event and the majority of them are located here. now the theme of the sculpture changes every year. and at this site, the organizers chose to recreate a scene from the japanese video game called "final fantasy 7." it's a big hit around the world, so that's drawing attention from quite a lot of tourists. now every year, 2 million people come to this event and over 100,000 of them are foreigners. the winter season is especially popular for those who come from asian countries that don't get snow, and they're not just here to see ice sculptures. actually at another venue a bus ride away from here, people can enjoy all the fun that snow has to offer. for those enjoying the powdery white stuff for the first time,

good news in sapporo, how about that, zero degrees for the high. snow festival, perfect temperature for that. over here, this front right here, absolutely intense one, gugusty winds in northern spain and western france. i actually have video i want to show you coming out of northern spain here. look at that, some pretty rough seas there for them. seas up to foreto five meters. we had winds reported on monday at abobout 120 kilometers. wow, that is absolutely intense and a very dangerous idea to be standing is there right next to the ococeanside. but that systetem is kind of getting a move on. it's got scattered showers the worst drifting towards the east. and another low is bringing pretty foul weather in the boston peninsula. even thunderstorms here on your tuesday. here's your extended. ♪ ♪ >> you can follow us whenever you go by download the nhk world app. are sure to watch news in tokyo at the top of the hour.qwueep 1:00 p.m. in the french capital. you are watching "france 24." nicolas sarkozy is expected to appeal a magistrate's decision th

sapporo minus 2 on tuesday. it's about 5 degrees colder than we saw on monday. in fact, tokyo was 11 degrees for the high on tuesday. today was quite mild today, 16 degrees for the high, cooling down 5 degrees obtuse, cooling down significantly as we go into thursday and snowfall as well. in the south t there's a tropic depression east of philippines. the system will not become a tropical storm, will not affect philippines directly. that's good news. however, more of a concern this cyclone. this is cyclone, severe form, first named storm in the world. now, the system is moving very slowly at the moment. it will likely speed up and likely get close to reunion island by tuesdayay night lococ titime. wewe're e expecting powerful wi heavy rainfall, o over 150 millimeters expected in the area. that could lead to significant flooding. this is not likely to affect madagascar. let's go to north america. a series of low pressure systems has been bringing wet weather across the west. we're talking heavy rainfall across coastal locatations and heavy mountain snow across th

sapporo will see snow on saturday, it's going to be chilly on sunday in sapporo, minus 2 for the high. but tokyo is going to be quite warm on sunday. and it'ss going to be sunny weatheher. and then down to 9 degrees on monday. and that's going to north america. several weather events are happening across many places of the united states. heavy snowfall across the north. blizzard warnings are in place in parts of minnesota and iowa. and across the south, it's going to be windy and warm, fire weather and thunderstorms across the east and freezing rain may fall in the south of eastern canada. temperatures are going to be on the warmer side, 28 in houston. up to 22 in st. louis. but down to 6 degrees as we go into saturday. and then beautiful weather, temperaturewise in the u.s. capital. 23 for the high. and across the southern hemisphere, solar eclipse will be visible in parts of the southern hemisphere on sunday. whether is going to be beautiful in the south of argentina on sunday so enjoy the solar eclipse. that's it from now, here's your extended forecast. >>> train travel is about to

. >> 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

sapporo, you're missing out on the storm and it will change into snow by saturday a and als into sundaynt to talk about our storm here in the eastern half of the u.s. not this one. this is the one that actually brought that severe weather in the deep south. that's pulling away. right on its heels is a secondary system. that will be cruising along the mid-atlantic states. i want to key in on the tight pressure gradient northwest on the cold pressure. snowfall and also the threat of high winds. that's why blizzard warnings have been issued. this is blizzard warning criteria. it's not just the heavy snow. winds of 34 mileses per h hour 6 kilometers per hour at the same time. you're talking a about white ou conditions out here. definitely with that blowing snow that makes for dangerous travel. already 2,000 flights have already been canceled across this area. do be aware if you're heading to the airport. the big thing i do want to note though for now, more snow on thursday but look at saturday into sunday. dramatic warmup in temperatures. actually, even in d.c. about a 15 degree jump headin

sapporo with snowy weather at least until sunday. tokyo will see sunny weather on friday and warm on sunday when tokyo marathon will be taking place and on monday it's going to be another chilly day once again. 8 foot high with the weather. that's it for now. here's your extended forecast around the globe. >> and that was this hour's news and weather live from our studios here in vp genie: this is france 24. time for 60 around the world. i'm genie godula. these are the headlines. peace talks on syria get back undertime for 60 around the world. way today in geneva. with continuing violence on the ground and political deadlock even the u.n. envoy behind the talks says hope for a breakthrough is slim. a slap in the face for lgbt activists. the trump administration revokes a landmark

part of the annual snow festival in the city of sapporo. 200 sculptures big and small on display at three sites. among the more recognizable figures are u.s. president donald trump, and japanese singer songwriter whose song ppap was a viral hit around the world. visitors can view a re-creation of the arc de triomphe in paris, which stands more than 17 meters tall. >> translator: i'm surprised at the level of detail in each one of them. >> organizers are expecting more than 2 million visitors to the event, which runs until mid-february. >>> that's all for this edition of nhk "newsline." thanks for joining us. damien: hello and a very warm welcome to "focus on europe." great you could join us today. i'm damien mcguinness and today, we're taking a look at some people who do good things, and some people who are doing some very bad things. near naples, poisonous waste has been tipped into the ground for decades. the government claims that this practice is not harmful, but some disagree. they believe the impact on local people is clear. this doctor says that there are signs children in the area

sapporo you're far enough north where you're missing out on that warm air flowing in. thursday, definitely toward friday and into saturday. tokyo, showers thursday. could be seeing some precipitation. not as heavy as back toward the west. relatively warm temperatures. the thing is, it cools down rather dramatically heading into friday and saturday. 12 for the overnight lows. osaka as well, similar conditions in your forecast. i do want to take your attention here across the western u.s. all week we've been talking about this. for the past several weeks, it seems we have been mentioning the heavy precipitation in form of snow and also rain. snow is important. higher elevations you had an abundance of accumulations thus far this year. it's melting going into reservoirs. in one case, san jose, south of sacramento, one of the reservoirs, the dam holding up had to be opened, the spillway, the anderson dam. the result -- i'll show you the video from san jose -- was significant flooding. the creek that flows through the city was full and then they had about 100 millimeters of

in sapporo, snow for you on friday, saturday and sunday. tokyo getting up to 19. seoul, getting up to about 4 there on your friday. cooling off, i should say, with some scattered showers. and shanghai at 19 and cooling off as well once the front does push by. let's take a look down towards the south as well. i want to talk about new zealand where you do want rain. a little bit of a low pulling off here off the island bringing scattered showers. it's actually very welcome. i'll show you why. we have video outside of christchurch. you can see this very large wildfire that's been burning. the city near there was evacuated on wednesday. emergency warnings were put in place due to the wildfires. it's really coming near some homes out there. you can see this aircraft water bombing the area. trying to combat that blaze. they really want the weather to help out with this. with that low coming in from the north, as i mentioned, it will usher in precipitation, as it slowly creeps down here towards the south. you may see gusty winds out ahead of that as well. it's going to b

sapporo, you're dealing with snowfall as we go into saturday and cooling off into the teens here, 10 in tokyo. 11 in osaka. we'll see a surge of moisture and warmth. that's just about it. but snowfall into sparro over saturday and back into sunday. back toward the west, high pressure is helping to push the cold air down into the korean peninsula and also into china, so be on the look outfor 10 in tokyo. rain with a high of 21 into the weekend. now i want to point out what's happening in the western portions of the united states and also into canada. we have a big band of moisture coming into california with cold air from the north, warm air ahead of it. we're concerned about flooding. that would be concern through friday, saturday and sunday. extending into san francisco and further south into san diego as well. here's your extended outlook. >>> at the topvxaçÑÑ anchor: hello and welcome to "live from paris." it is 1:00 in the french capital. let's look at what is making headlines this hour. the sister of the spanish king is found notot guilty of being accessory to fraud. however

partly cloudy skies in sapporo. kind of unusual, a break from the snow.aturday and sunday, a chance for snowfall to take place. tokyo, warming back up by the time we go into the weekend, a high of 10 for saturday and sunday. >>> very different story in australia. the eastern seaboard, looking at very hot temperatures. some places may exceed 40 de degrees. lots of rainle into western australia. and we have a frontal boundary into perth. look at this. it's going to be quite hot, even into the capital, a high of 36. so, be on the lookout for that. >>> now, wrapping things up with a look at north america. we have a bit of a stormy typesetup happening for those in the deep south. tennessee, georgia, into the mountains of north carolina and maybe into the upstate of south carolina, a risk for some strong thunderstorms overnight into thursday. so, be on the lookout for that. that same low pressure system will move to the north and southeast and bring a chance for some winter storm conditions. for those of you in new york city up to boston, be on the lookout for

flow will continue as we go forward in time, including those of you located anywhere into kyoto and sapporo dealing with snow fall as well. we will have a surge of warm air coming into the picture, so tokyo temperatures 18 coming up on friday. quick look at what's happening over europe. very windy over into the scandinavian peninsula and also windy over toward the western areas of the continent. be on the lookout, because we're expecting the orange level warnings to go throughout the day on monday. hope you have a good day wherever you are. here's your extended outlook. >>> snow isn't always a nuisance, of course. it also offers a chance to have some fun. on sunday, about 1,200 people on the japan seacoast got together for a high-spirited snowball fight. the city has been hosting this event for 29 years. this year, 240 teams signed up. the rules are simple -- each five-member team has two minutes to pelt the opposing team with as many snowballs as possible. three hits knocks a male player out. for the women, it takes five. >> yeah! >> translator: it's awfully cold. >> translator: it's fun t

sapporo may get relief as we go into the last of the workweek, but we are looking at rain coming back into the picture as we go into sunday from niigata into osaka. the korean peninsula and high pressure over china ushers that in. the return flow down toward the south also bringing some cloud cover anand showers into places like chongqing, and we'll be looking out for that once again as we goo into friday. i do want to draw your attention down here, though. see this blob of moisture east of the philippines? this is a low pressure system that is interesting because it has the potential to become tropical, but for the moment, at least the models are indicating this system will eventually turn toward the north and east and not really making much of an impact. so, hopefully, that will be the case, but we'll be watching that through the rest of the week. 12 in tokyo, 6 in seoul and beijing, showers in shanghai and manila, also dealing with rain as we go through friday. as we go look at n north americ on the western side of the continent in the country, notice the low pressure system off th