he told nhk the mintry has not confirmed suzuki's remarks. he says there has never been any agreement with china to shelf issues regarding the senkakus. and there is no change in position that the islands are part of japan's territory both in terms of history and international law. japan and taiwan claim the japan-controlled islands. >>> officials at the bank of japan say the country's monetary base reached a record high for the fifth month in a row. the volume of cash in circulation combined with deposits at financial institutions at the central bank is rising due to their continued easy money policy. the official monetary base totaled more than 275 trillion yen, $2.3 trillion as of the end of december. that's up 5% from the figure from the previous month. it's also a 36% increase from the end of 2013 and tops the boj's target of 275 trillion yen. the central bank decided to provide additional liquidity in october to help the country rise out of deflation. officials are aiming at a goal of 2% inflation mainly during fiscal 2015. they plan to

suzuki has been playing major league baseball sis 2001. he has accumulated 1,278 hits since his nine years in japan and had 2,722 while playing in the u.s. just 156 shy of the 3,000 hit milestone. so far, only 28 players have been able to achieve that mark. suzuki will wear number 51 the same one he wore in japan and also with the seattle mariners. that's "newsline" for this hour. i'm gene otani in tokyo. apanese journalist. to be held captive. he said he and his fellow captive will be killed by tonight if a bomber is not released. israel warns hezbollah it will pay the full price after missiles killed two israeli soldiers on the border with lebanon, in the worst violence between the two sides in nine years, raising fears of a new all-out war. 70's puts together its biggest --

nhk world's mikiko suzuki takes a look at the front lines of identification technology. >> reporter: the most common means of identification are photo i.d. cards, and passwords. but the use of biometric data is making identification easier and more secure. some smartphones recognize the owner's fingerprint. last month japanese electronics maker hitachi unveiled this security gate. just a touch of the hand is enough to verify your identity. and you can walk through without even stopping. the system quickly recognizes people based on vein patterns in their fingers. it's a highly accurate means of identification, but past systems needed too much time to process data. this one can verify 70 people in just one minute. a 3-d scanner pinpoints the location of the hand. at the same time infrared lights scans veins in the hand. the system works regardless of the position and shape of the hand. >> translator: the system recognizes people based on their fingers so it's extremely accurate. we believe it could be used at the gates at train stations. >> reporter: japan is a leader in the field of

mikiko suzuki, nhk world. >>> and time now for a check of the weather.than 1.5 million syrian refugees in lebanon and jordan are dealing with the severe weather conditions. mai shoji joins us with the details. >> a deadly winter storm is sweeping across the middle eastern countries. people are dealing with not only harsh winds, the harsh temperatures as well as lashing rain and heavy snowfall. we have some pictures coming up from these districts. residents in jerusalem woke up thursday morning to a blanket of snow over the city. 5 centimeters fell giving a bright glitter over the walled city. on wednesday most schools were closed in anticipation of the storm. further north in jordan, thousands of refugees took shelter from the frigid weather. snowfall and high winds destroyed some of the makeshift tents people are staying in due to conflicts in the region. people crowded around the heaters and fires in the camps as temperatures dropped to freezing point. the average for this time of the year is around 13 degrees. and in southeastern lebanon villagers hav

mikko suzuki, nhk world. >>> a bank of japan survey shows >>> seven japanese municipalities are competingo host a summit of major industrialized countries. it would take place in the country in 2016. the governor of nagano visited the foreign ministry on thursday. the governor spoke of the benefits of having the summit in the resort town to the foreign minister. the six other cities are sendai nagoya and hiroshima. the government will look at facilities like convention centers and hotels, as well as transportation and security. it will also consider the city's ability to garner attention abroad. >>> two young tenors one from japan and south korea, performed in a joint concert marking the 50th anniversary marking the normalization of ties between the countries. ♪ >> the japan music agency concordia produced the concert. it took place in tokyo. the tenor from japan has received international awards. the singer from south korea performed many charity concerts for the tsunami that hit northeastern japan. >> translator: it was wonderful. and i felt my heart was cleansed. it will help me to hav

state police say all five victims were traveling in a suzuki forenza when the collision happened at route 215. two adults and two children died at the scene. a pregnant woman was taken to the hospital where she and her unborn baby later died. the family is from green bush, virginia, about 35 miles south of the island. the 28-year-old tractor-trailer driver is from delaware. he is being treated tonight at the university of maryland trauma center. cause of the crash is still under investigation tonight. >>> a dc woman faces drunk driving charges tonight after a three-car crash involving a green belt, maryland police cruiser. 25-year-old dynasty colter was charged with driving while intoxicated. police say she rear ended an officer's cruiser during an early morning traffic stop on green belt road near hanover parkway. that pushed the cruiser into yet another vehicle. the police officer was treated for minor injuries. no one else was hurt. >>> a vigil is being held tonight for a 22-year-old hyattsville, maryland man who died in savannah, georgia in a jail cell. according to the sheriff's offi

i just submitted the 12 letters of opposition to the project including from the suzuki family, whose garden is right behind it and the louie family who is next to me. i'm on the executive committee and the laurel height as the association did not say it had anything to do who was there first, because they would have told me. i didn't get to mention that he wants to expand on the second floor and wants to deem the second floor non-conforming and bring a deck out to encroach into the year regard. that is an intensification of the non-conforming floor and he is trying to have his cake and eat it too. so the deck should be taken out, because that is an enlargement of the non-conforming on the second floor. now he has got 505 square feet he wants to add about 370 for 00. 900 and that is bigger than your norman normal apartment. he is going to cut down a couple hundred of feet and still have 600, which is just as big as anything. and clearly, in your memorandum, staff indicated that this was the non-conforming apartment. here is the [prao*-epl/] application. they didn't check the deck and

the baby girl died with her mother when the suzuki they were riding in collided with a tractor-trailer on the eastern shore of maryland. believe that can happen to good people. it's heartbreaking. >> reporter: her sister 24-year-old regina was one of the victims. so was regina's 7-year-old daughter jordan. friend and neighbors saw the family packing up to leave for the baby shower in baltimore friday night. >> you see them go in and out the house, packing up the little girl running around chasing her, putting her in the car, the baby and it was just like -- rattles my mind. >> reporter: regina's boyfriend, travis was killed too and the couple's 3-month-old son jonathan. stratton's family gave us these pictures to share. they say he and regina had been together three or four years. he loved producing music and graphic design. travis' mother betty stratton said he was hardworking and a loving son. >> i never knew that was going to be my last time i seen them. >> reporter: the crash happened 1:15 saturday morning at the intersection of route 30 and rout 215. the vehicle and the tractor-tr

congressman hank johnson is trying to pass a a bill that suzuki get federal funds and you don't make move we can allow the funds to you and that's a different deal. that is where it's incumbent upon those protesting to take boots on the ground shifted to public policy and just when i talk about this all the time, in order to make that move as well. that is not our job. that is your job. our job is to cover you trying to do that. >> whirlwind you make a good point. may i interject? what the questioner is asking what can the newspapers do and i think you'll agree it's not say so we reported. we have columnists and editorials but at the end of the day the community is a very important role and we the press will report on that. >> you are in maryland and trying to get that into state law who will bring it to the committee? >> thank you for the question and i want to get as many, hazel and i agreed we try to get as many questions as possible. another sustained -- hard questions but they must be sustained. >> i'm a senior howard university and my questions about the role of individuals who