hello and welcome to nhk "newsline." i'm raja pradhan with the news from tokyo. the people in charge of decommissioning the fukushima nuclear plant.

we have analysis on what the news could mean. >> the discovery is potentially a big deal if it turns out that ourselves have photographed molten fuel, it would mean it's an important step in the decommissioning process. they have spent years looking for this fuel and if they have found it, they can start to come up with a plan for the plant. here's what we already knew. there's probably a lot of molten fuel at ththe bottom of the reactor. becau we didn't know how much fuel, if any was further down in the reactor's containment vessel. the point of the vessel is to stop radioactive material from

leaking out. if it turns out to be molten fuel, it would be the first they have found since the 2011 disaster. fuel mixed with debris penetrated the reactor and fell into the containment vessel underneath. so it very much depends on how much fuel has leaked out. it could speed up the clean-up process depending on the amount. at the moment, we still don't know. the government and tepco plan to send in a robot equipped with a radiation measuring device next month to make an assessment. here's the schedule the government wants to follow. they intend to draft a plan by this summer on how to limit debris from all three reactors.

they want to finalize the details. by the first half of fiscal 2018. they want to begin actually removing the debris by 2021 . they say the whole process could take up to 40 years. the fallout over u.s. president donald trump's controversial immigration order has led to the dismissal of the government's top lawyer. trump fired acting attorney general sally yates after saying she refused to defend the action. yates sent out a notice within her department saying she is not convinced trump's executive order is lawful. she was an appointee of democratic president barack obama. trump's order temporarily bans

people from seven countries in the middle east and africa as well as all refugees from entering the united states. he defended the action on monday. >> actually, i had a very good day yesterday. in terms of homeland security and some day we had to make the move and we decided to make the move. >> some travelers were detained at airports across the country after they were denied entry into the country. he says computers were causing problems. he cited the secretary of homeland security saying all was going well. a spokesperson for obama says the former president supports the ongoing protest across the country. he says obama agrees with the notion -- he said obama disagrees with the notion of

discriminating against individuals because of their faith or religion. the executive order has been met with intense reaction around the globe. but japanese officials are remaining silent. >> translator: i would like to decline from directly commenting on american internal problems. >> the justice minister says no exceptions will be created for those who departed from japan and were denied entry into the united states. >> translator: if a foreign national requests to enter or stay in japan after being denied entry into the united states, we will decide whether to grant that based on our existing immigration laws and regulations. >> but dozens of people in tokyo wanted their voices we heard. a protest similar to the ones in the u.s. was held near the american embassy. many americans living in japan participated. >> i think that this ban is a violation of human rights. i also think it's illegal. i think it's immoral. i think it's bad for our country. japanese lawmakers are discussing the new u.s. administration ahead of a bilateral summit next month. the prime minister says he'll

tell trump japanese firms are contributing to the u.s. economy. trump has said cars imported from japan are hurting the u.s. auto industry. shinzo abe says he'll explain that japanese auto makers alone have created more than 1 million jobs in america. >> translator: i want to explain that the two countries both enjoy benefits in a win-win relationship and neither party is unilaterally taking opportunity. >> they say they will reaffirm the u.s. can maintain a security presence and defend japan. he stressed the importance of a provision in the bilateral security treaty. it stipulates the u.s. is obligated to defend japan. abe says he plans to reaffirm the basic principle in an emergency the u.s. military would come to the aid of japan. iran is likely to be high on

the global agenda for the trump administration. they confirmed the country carried out its first ballistic missile test since trump took office. the u.s. official says the law firm took place sunday from a military site in northern iran. it flew about 1,000 kilometers before exploding in what was described as a failed test. white house officials say they are looking into the exact nature of the launch. the senate foreign relations committee chairman condemned the test calling it a violation of the a u.n. security council resolution. observers say trumpmp is likeleo coordinate policies with u.s. allies in the middle east to put pressure on iran. u.s. defense secretary james mamattis and the south korean

counterpart have talked about ways to counter north korea's missile threats. they expressed serious concern over the north's repeated threats to do its first intercontinental missile launch. mattis will make a two-day visit to south korea on thursday as his first trip as defense secretary under president trump. officials at the bank of japan have decided to keep their massive easing program unchanged. they have revised upwar their outlook. they expected gdp to grow 1.4%.

the 202017 is now at 1.5%. the upward revision comes as the global economy continues to recov recover. meanwhile, the officials say the consumer price index would drop to minus 0.2% this fiscal year and the outlook for 2017 is 1.5% and 1.7% for the year after that. they maintain their forecasts on the time frame for hitting the banks 2% inflation target to around fiscal 2018. the boj has also given a one-year extension at programs aimed at stimulus lending. the boj will also provide zero interest loans that invest in growing sectors.

concern was expressed that u.s. president are trump's protectionist measures could slow global economic growth. he said tax cuts and similar measures could be expected to boost growtwth but he said protectionism couldld have the opposite effect. >> translalator: we haven't receiveded detailsls about trum popolicies the measusures he takes and howe implements them wilill have a large impact not only on the u.s. economy, but on the global economy and the international finanancial market as well. wewe would like to kp a a close eye on them as they develolop. >> kuroda refrained from commenting on trump's temporary ban on immigration. checking the markets, tokyo stocks tumble posting the biggest loss since trump's

election victory in november. we have more from the tokyo stock exchange. >> reporter: many investors seeing trump's protectionist stance overshadowing his monetary policies. let's take a look at the closing levels here in tokyo this tuesday, january 31st. the nikkei 225 fell 1.7%, closing at 19,041. it was the second straight decline for the index. the broader topix was down 1.4%. the nikkei closed down 0.4% on the month. that followed gains of nearly 5% in each of the past three months. in currency markets, the dollar was under pressure after trump fired his acting attorney general for defying his immigration order. exporters were a big drag at electronics manufacturers fug

fugitsu. investors are now waiting for the outcome of the policy meeting of the u.s. federal reserve on wednesday. i'm reporting from the tokyo stock change. other markets in the asia pacific region also ended in the negative. in sydney, they are down .7% closing at after 20 -- 5620. singapore joined the global sell-off after taking a holiday break. they declined .6%, 3046. seoul's kospi indead slipp slipped .77%.

u.s. government officials have started carrying out one of president trump's orders. they've officially notified new zealand of washington's intention to withdraw from the transpacific partnership. u.s. trade representatives issued a letter to the trade deals depository country, it says the u.s. does not intend to become a party to the tpp and asks that the other signatories be notified. the letter also encourages future discussssions on measure designed to promote more efficient markets in higher levels of economic growth. president trump has said he will pursue bilateral trade agreements in the place of the tpp. such deals will top the agenda when he meets japan's prime minister, shinzo abe, next month. president trump also says he wants to address currency issues in these future trade deals. he points out measures to prevent countries from deliberately weakening their money to boost exports. japan's finance minister taro aso says currencies should not be part of trade negotiation. >> translator: g7, as well as

g20 nations, have already agreed that currency issues should be discussed by monetary authorities. >> aso also said he hopes to establish ties with the new treasury secretary. three major japanese shipping companies are forecasting dismal results for fiscal 2016 as freight rates around the globe remain low. nippon and kawasaki are expected to log their largest losses ever. nippon projects a loss of $2.15 billion for the year. the three firms will integrate theirr container shipping operations to strengthen their financial situation. they plan to set up a new firm in july. here's a look at some of the

other business stories we're following. japanese government officials say household spending in december fell 0.3% from a year earlier. it's the 10th consecutive month of decline. consumers spent less on groceries due to the rising cost of vegetables and seafood and they say families took fewer domestic package tours. officials say the jobless rate in december was 3.1%. unchange from the previous month. the ratio of jobs to plicts rose. 143 jobs for every 100 people looking for work. that's the highest ratio in 25 years. industrial production was up 0.5%. that's the second straight month of increase. auto makers churned out more products. they say o output is showing sis

of picking up. housing starts in japan rose for the second straight year. land ministry officials say construction began on 96,000 -- 960,000 units from last year. the supply of new housing exceeds demand. growing number of land owners are building units to lower the amount of tax they have to pay. that's a look at business news. i'm going to leave you with the markets.

thousands of people in myanmar gathered in yangon monday to mourn the death of a legal advisor to the ruling party, shot in the head at the airport the day before. mourners including family members, lawyers, and national league for democracy activists, attended the funeral. ko ni was a muslim who provided advice to the country's de facto leader aung san suu kyi for many years, including during her push for democracy. >> translator: he did many good things for myanmar. this is very bad for our country and for us too. i'm very sad and grieving over his death. i wouldn't even feel so sorry if my father died. that's why i came here, to pay respect to him. >> the shooting comes at a time of heightened tension between the buddhist majority and an ethnic muslim minority. police have detained a

53-year-old man, but his motive is not yet clear. the government issued a press release saying the initial interrogation indicates he was trying to destabilize the state. white house officials say israel's prime minister will visit washington next month. trump has been promising to strengthen ties with israel, including following through on a controversial pledge to relocate the american embassy in israel. nhk world reports from jerusalem. >> congratulations mr. trump. >> repeporter: thisideo i is posted to facebook. it's from the mayor of jerusalem. he's hopining donaltrump will follow through on a controversial promise to move the u.s. embassy from tel aviv

to jerusalem. both sides to discuss the two-state solution. the israeli government insists that jerusalem is the capital of the country. the international community does not approve since the palestinians also claim east jerusalem as their future capital. the u.s. and other countries currently have their embassies in tel aviv. in 1995 congress passed a law requiring the government to move the embassy but each president

since then has signed a waiver to postpone it. it has been reported that this building which was formerly a hotel is a leading candidate for the relocation of the u.s. embassy. during the campaign, trump took a decidedly pro israel stance. >> we will move the american embassy to the eternal capital of the juish -- jewish pepeople jerusalem. this was put up by the owner of a construction company. >> i think trump is a man of his word. by moving the embassy, he's sending a message. >> translator: moving the embassy to any plalace will l b step ahead of anything that may happen in the future and will damage the peace process. also, we hope to stop this.

>> reporter: trump has made his pro israel stance clear but experts say moving the u.s. embassy to jerusalem could endanger years of international consensus and efforts to achieve peace. the frigid weather in many parts of europe doesn't seem to be stopping some from taking an adventure out in the freezing cold. our meteorologist jonathan oh has more in our winter weather report. >> well, usually when we talk about winter weather, especially in europe, we're talking about snow, we're talking about chilly conditions. so most people are not really thinking about jumping into the water or walking on top of water in a sense. take a look at this video and you'll see what i'm talking

about. over into hungary, we have a lake that's frozen over, so it's not really water, it's now ice. this crossing of the frozen lake was organized for the first time sunday designed to provide a new and unique winter experience for visitors. more than 1,000 people gathered and made the five-kilometer trip on foot, skate or sledge. now we go down to italy and people are like, you know what? i don't care if it's winter, i'm going to get in the water anyway. 2-degree water temperature. more than 80 people, age ranging from 8 to 71, diving into this particular lake in italy. and they did it for fun. i'm into swimming, i don't know if the cold 2-degree water temperature is very enticing. maybe for some people it is. we are looking at some chilly conditions to continue for the central and eastern portions of the continent. the reason why is we're having some cold arctic air coming in from the north. that's going to really keep the

areas on thehe eastern side of e continent chilly. so looking or for the possibility of maybe some snow into places like vienna as we go forward in time with a low pressure system moving toward the east there. back toward the west we're lookoking at s slightly warmer conditions, maybe dealing with rain as we go throughout the day tuesday. paris at 11. 14 in less done with some showers. into rome we're looking at a chance of rain, a high of 13 degrees as we go throughout tuesday. as you look at the forecast for north america, a little bit different story. we're talking more about the wintry precipitation, the snowfall. what's happening is a low pressure system dropped out of places like winnipeg and moved down toward the great lakes. now, because of the system we've already had some problems in the ohio river valley and we're looking at more snowfall to take place as we go through the day on tuesday. so be on the lookout for this as it moves toward the east. even the new elandnd states s m bebe dealing with some snoall. a a lot of it is possible as we. and then the possibility of maybe seeing some of t that lake-effect snow may also come back into the picture. back toward the west, slightly warmer down toward places like denver. looking at some snow possibilities into the upper

skies. single digits going into tuesday. vancouver 6, seattle 8. los angeles sunny skies with a high of 23. now here in japan, things weren't quite as warm as monday. we saw highs dropping back to the low teens for places like tokyo. but we are looking at relatively dry conditions for those who the -- who are on the pacific ocean siside. buththe sea ofof japan side sti catching some of the sea-effect snow. that's still driving in. from time to time be on the lookout for ththat. relatively dry back toward the western portions of the country. and also the western areas over into places like china, looking at dry conditions. but some cold air filtering in from the north. so places like the korean peninsula looking at sub-freezing temperatures as we go throughout the day on wednesday. seoul a high of minus 1. 4 in beijing. showers developing into chongqing. that's going to bring clouds into shanghai as we go through

the middle of the work week. hope you have a good day wherever you are. here's your extended outlook. ♪ ♪

and before we wrap up,

japanese scientists say there may be ancient secrets buried in the sands of the moon. they found evidence that oxygen from earth is reaching the lunar's surface and could hold a record of our atmosphere from billions of years ago. the team headed by osaka university professor kentaro terada analyzed data sent back from japan's lunar orbiter. researchers found that when the sun, earth, and moon line up and the moon is shielded from solar winds, the number of oxygen ions swirling around it increases. they say those ions appear to have originated on earth with lar winds blowing them 380,000 kilometers. terada says this could be a source of ancient secrets about our planet. >> translator: it's just my prediction, but there's a possibility that the earth's ancient atmosphere that's long gone now may be preserved in the sand of the moon. >> terada says the discovery is exciting because it means life on earth is affecting the moon.

and that's all for now on this edition of nhk "newsline." i'm raja pradhan in tokyo.qwux

>> it is 1:00 p.m. here in the french capital. the headlines in the u.s. -- more protests. in the early days of the trump presidency, he fires acting attorney general who questioned the legality of his so-called muslim band. far right politicians charge of the killing of six people at a mosque in the canadian province of quebec. the right-wing contender for france plus presidency rejects accusations he misused public