at 20:00 (JST), January 08 AS

The former Nissan　Motor Chairman has told a Tokyo court that allegations of financial wrongdoing against him are baseless.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has arrived in China's capital for talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Japanese three-time Olympic gold medalist in women's wrestling Saori Yoshida says she is retiring from the sport.

https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/upld/medias/en/radio/news/20190108200000_english_1.mp3


Key words : former nissan baseless
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20190108_23/

Former Nissan Chairman Carlos Ghosn has told a Tokyo court that allegations of financial wrongdoing against him are baseless.

He was making his first court appearance since being arrested almost two months ago.

Key words : Kim has arrived for talks
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20190108_46/

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has arrived in Beijing for talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Kim's special train entered China on Monday evening. On Tuesday morning, the train was seen heading toward central Beijing. Later, a convoy carried Kim to the Diaoyutai State Guest House amid tight security.

In the afternoon, the convoy left the guest house and arrived at the Great Hall of the People, where Kim is believed to have met with Xi.

China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang told reporters that the leaders are expected to exchange views on bilateral relations as well as international and regional issues of mutual concern.
North Korea claims to be working toward denuclearization and is increasingly frustrated with continuing US sanctions.

Kim apparently hopes to secure China's backing for the planned second US-North Korea summit by discussing the matter with Xi.

Kim's New Year visit highlighted the longstanding friendship between the two countries. This year marks 70th years of diplomatic relations. Tuesday also happened to be Kim's birthday.

Key words : Moon replaced
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20190108_40/

South Korean President Moon Jae-in has announced a new line-up of close aides. It's being seen as an attempt to tackle falling approval ratings.

South Korea's presidential office said on Tuesday that Moon has decided to replace the Chief Presidential Secretary.

Noh Young-min, ambassador to China, will now fill the role. Noh is a former lawmaker who served as a senior official in both of Moon's presidential election campaigns.

The president has also replaced his top secretary for political affairs, and his senior secretary for public relations.

Moon's support rating once briefly topped 80-percent after he took office in May 2017. It's since plummeted to the 40-percent level.

The public has grown frustrated about his economic policies -- and a minimum wage hike drew opposition from smaller firms.

Improved relations with North Korea were considered the key to boosting the government's approval rating. But... there has been no major progress on the issue of denuclearizing the North.

Key words : government draw up guideline
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20190108_32/

Japan's government plans to draw up guidelines for municipalities on how to respond to detected mega-earthquakes before the current fiscal year is out.

Japan Meteorological Agency plans to issue emergency alerts when signs of a massive jolt are observed along the Nankai Trough off the country's Pacific coast.

Last month, a working group at the Central Disaster Management Council issued a disaster response report for a magnitude 8-class earthquake in the trough.

It states that even people in areas that did not sustain damage should evacuate before a follow-up quake hits.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga on Tuesday urged the council to create guidelines for how municipalities should evacuate residents and what businesses should do.

Those guidelines will be drafted by March 31st, the end of the current fiscal year.

Municipalities will then work on concrete evacuation plans and put them into effect during fiscal 2020.

Disaster Management Minister Junzo Yamamoto said he will work closely with local governments and notify the public before implementing the evacuation plans.

Key words : all nippon airway tested
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20190108_34/

An All Nippon Airways group pilot who tested positive for alcohol before attempting to fly a plane lied about when and how much he drank and asked his co-pilot to corroborate his claims.

The ANA Wings employee, a man in his 40s, was replaced by another pilot for a flight earlier this month after he failed an alcohol test. The incident delayed five flights.

All Nippon Airways says the pilot initially told company officials he drank two 350-milliliter cans of highball in his hotel room. But it was later found that he had consumed about 1.2 liters in total of beer, highball and another alcoholic drink in a restaurant.

The pilot denied violating the company ban on drinking less than 12 hours before a flight.

But in fact, he had ignored warnings from his co-pilot, who was with him in the restaurant, and kept drinking far past the time limit. He had also asked his co-pilot to say he had not broken the rule.

All Nippon Airways received a warning from the transport ministry last October after a different pilot was found to have drunk heavily before a flight.

Key words : learned
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20190108_33/

NHK has learned that the captain of a Japanese cruise ship that hit a pier in Guam last month was later found to have an alcohol level over the legal limit.

The accident involving the Nippon Maru, operated by Mitsui O.S.K. Passenger Line, took place on the night of December 30th. Both the vessel and the pier were damaged.

The operator says none of some 600 people on board, including 372 passengers, were injured.

Transport ministry officials say a breath test performed by local authorities four to five hours after the incident found that the captain's alcohol level exceeded the limit of 0.15 milligrams per liter.

The captain was quoted as saying he drank after the accident to calm down.

The Nippon Maru left Yokohama on December 26th, stopped at Guam and was heading for Saipan when the accident occurred. It forced the operator to cancel the cruise, and passengers to return home by plane.

Mitsui O.S.K. declined to comment, citing its ongoing investigation.

The 22,400-ton, 170-meter-long Nippon Maru is known as one of Japan's most luxurious passenger vessels.

Key words : a man arrested
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20190108_10/

A man arrested in Tokyo after plowing his car into crowds in the early hours of New Year's Day bought nearly 100 liters of kerosene before the attack.

Kazuhiro Kusakabe, 21, from Neyagawa in Osaka Prefecture, rammed his rental car into pedestrians on Takeshita Street in the Harajuku district. Nine people were injured, including a 19-year-old university student who is in a critical condition.

Tokyo Metropolitan Police arrested Kusakabe on suspicion of attempted murder. Officers also discovered a high-pressure water sprayer with an ignition tool attached to the nozzle inside the car.

The suspect told police that he planned to set fire to nearby Meiji Shrine after dispersing kerosene with the high-pressure sprayer. The historic shrine would have been packed with New Year visitors at the time.

However, he said he drove into Takeshita Street instead after failing to carry out his initial plan.

The police later found the suspect had rented the car in Osaka on December 30th and bought nearly 100 liters of kerosene.

Tokyo police suspect he planned an indiscriminate attack by spraying crowds with kerosene before setting fire to them using the modified device as a flame projector.

The suspect reportedly said that the attack was in retaliation for capital punishment.

Key words : activist
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20190108_11/

Activists have staged a rally in front of the White House in protest against the relocation of a US military base in Japan's Okinawa Prefecture.

Japanese-American Robert Kajiwara was among around 40 people who gathered on Monday, after creating a petition with more than 190,000 signatures in a month. The number exceeds the 100,000 threshold that requires the White House to respond.

Organizers of the petition, which calls for a halt to reclamation work, say they want President Donald Trump to immediately state his response.

The reclamation work in Henoko, Nago City, is part of plans to build an airfield to accommodate the US Marine Corps Futenma Air Station, which is currently located in a heavily populated part of Okinawa.

Kajiwara, who has maternal roots in Okinawa, said the landfill work should be halted at least until the prefecture holds a referendum to gauge residents' opinions. Voting is planned on February 24th.

Guitarist Brian May of the British rock band Queen is supporting the petition, along with some Japanese celebrities.

The system of petitioning the White House through its website was launched by Trump's predecessor, Barack Obama.

Key words : young Saudi barricaded
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20190108_04/

A young Saudi woman who had barricaded herself in a hotel room in Bangkok airport will be admitted into Thailand under the protection of the UN. The incident has drawn worldwide attention as she claims she will be killed if she is sent back to her family.

The 18 year-old Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun had refused to leave her room to avoid deportation to Saudi Arabia. Officials say she left the airport Monday night after meeting with the United Nations refugee agency.

Rahaf arrived in Bangkok over the weekend from Kuwait where she was visiting with her family. She was attempting to travel to Australia to seek asylum but was stopped by officials and had her passport taken. Thai authorities had said she lacked proper documents.

Authorities now say she will be granted temporary entry to the country while UN's High Commissioner for Refugees evaluates her asylum status.

Human rights groups have been urging the Thai government to allow Rahaf to resume her journey to Australia.

Key words : medalist retiring
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20190108_38/

Japanese three-time Olympic gold medalist in women's wrestling Saori Yoshida says she is retiring from the sport.

Yoshida, who has also won 13 straight World Championships, made the announcement on Twitter on Tuesday.

Yoshida has not competed since taking silver -- her fourth consecutive Olympic medal -- in Rio de Janeiro in 2016. She received the People's Honor Award in 2012.

Key words : nhk poll
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20190108_03/

An NHK poll shows that nearly 70 percent of people in Japan think marriage is not necessarily needed.

More than 2,700 men and women aged 16 and older across the country responded to the poll conducted in June and July of last year.

Sixty-eight percent of the respondents said they think marriage is "not necessarily needed," while 27 percent said they consider marriage "a norm."

The percentage of people who consider marriage as not necessarily required rose by five percentage points from the previous poll in 2013. The figure is the highest since NHK began asking the question in 1993.

By age bracket, those in their 30s had the highest proportion of people willing to forgo marriage, at 88 percent. The percentage was the lowest for those in their 70s, at 43 percent.

Asked whether they think a married couple should have a child, 60 percent of the respondents said they don't think so, while 33 percent thought otherwise.

Yokohama National University Professor Yumiko Ehara says the results do not simply mean that an increasing number of people have negative feelings about marriage.

She says she believes many Japanese people are still willing to marry if they find a good partner.

She added that she sees the survey's outcome as a result of the widespread notion that people can choose whatever lifestyle they like.