Welcome to NHK News Line. I'm Morishita Erika in Tokyo.
Israel and Islamic group Hamas have agreed to a ceasefire after more than a year of fighting. But uncertainties remain as Al Jazeera reports Israeli forces have bombed the northern Gaza Strip, leaving 18 people dead or wounded.
The Qatari government mediated the talks and announced a deal on Wednesday. It says an initial six-week pause in fighting starts Sunday. Hamas is expected to free 33 hostages. In exchange, Israel will release hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.
Our feeling is beyond words. The announcement made the entire Gaza Strip happy. Our plight and the war will finally be over.
Hamas released a statement on social media. It thanked all those who have voiced solidarity with Gaza and contributed to halting the aggression.
The families of Israeli hostages have expressed cautious optimism about the return of their loved ones.
It's not going to be completed until we're going to get them -- it's not going to be done until it's done, until we're going to get all of them home.
U.S. President Joe Biden had intensified efforts to finalize the deal before he leaves office next week. He praised his administration's work.
We're handing off to the next team a real opportunity for a better future for the Middle East. I hope they will take it.
President-elect Donald Trump has also claimed credit. He wrote in a social media post his victory in the November election led to the deal. A senior official from the Biden administration told NHK Trump team helped in getting the parties to accept the agreement.
So it was important that the Trump administration was there with us, taking the deal and saying, Yes, we will stand by this deal as well. You can count on the United States.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke with Trump over the phone and thanked him. He also talked with Biden and expressed his gratitude.
For more on Trump's influence on the deal, we spoke with Tanaka Koichiro, a professor at Keio University and an expert on the Middle East. He points out the president-elect's envoy was able to push for talks with Israeli officials on a Jewish holiday.
The envoy insisted on this meeting to take place on a Saturday, and it itself shows how strong that envoy was credited from Mr. Trump himself to deal with this negotiation or deal with the Israelis on this matter.
Tanaka says he does not expect major changes until after the deal takes effect on January 19. That's also the day before Trump's inauguration.
The question still remains whether it's going to last for the coming weeks and months. I am still dubious about it because one thing, the Israeli prime minister could have been only interested in showing Mr. Trump. But by the day of the inauguration of Mr. Trump, things will be calm.
But he says the long-term picture remains unclear.
I do not believe that Mr. Trump is interested in bringing peace into the entire, say, conflict between the Palestinians and Israelis. I think it is only sort of a temporary issue that he was after. And that as long as he gets that by his inauguration on January 20, I think he would be satisfied. And as long as it would not resurge, the the conflict would not resurge or restart, I think he would be comfortable with that kind of a situation.
Joe Biden bid Americans goodbye in his final address from the Oval Office Wednesday. He'll touch on what he sees as a problem with the next administration.
I want to warn the country of some things, and that's a dangerous concentration of power in the hands of a very few ultra wealthy people. The dangerous consequences if their abuse of power is left unchecked.
Biden said that having a fair shot is what makes America the country it is today. He said he hopes the nation will uphold the values of equal opportunity.
Biden also took credit for the Israel Hamas ceasefire and hostage deal, saying it took eight months of nonstop, nonstop negotiation.
He also looked back at some of his administration's other big achievements.
Biden pointed to the country's post-pandemic recovery.
He also said he created 70 million new jobs, strengthened NATO and helped the U.S. pull ahead in its competition against China.
Donald Trump becomes U.S. president this coming Monday, and one of his first acts could be to delay a ban on the social media platform TikTok.
The Washington Post says Trump is considering an executive order to suspend the ban for 60 to 90 days.
TikTok is owned by the Chinese company ByteDance. A law banning the app in the United States will take effect someday unless ByteDance first sells TikTok's US operations.
TikTok has asked the Supreme Court to state the law on the grounds that it infringes on freedom of speech and is unconstitutional. Last month, Donald Trump also asked the Supreme Court for state to allow his administration to pursue a negotiated solution.
The Chinese government is believed to have influence over ByteDance.
A U.S. media outlet has reported that Chinese officials are considering whether TikTok's U.S. operations should be sold to the American entrepreneur Elon Musk.
Western Japan will soon mark 30 years since the Great Hanshin-Awaji earthquake struck Hyogo Prefecture and nearby areas. It left 6,434 people dead. This picture of a coach that narrowly avoided plunging off a broken expressway remains one of the most memorable images from the disaster. For one of its drivers, that brush with death opened a new chapter in his life.
Right here, this is where the expressway collapsed. It's amazing I survived.
Driver Yasui Yoshimasa will never forget the date. January 17, 1995, he was working a shifta coach when the earthquake struck.
As the coach approached Kobe, coming back from a ski resort, the expressway started convulsing intensely.
Gemba hashin ko soku........
The coach had stopped, but we were shaking. I thought the coach was shaking horizontally, but then it started shaking vertically. I could see the ground, I could see the sky. I thought, Oh my God, this is impossible. We're definitely going to fall.
After the coach came to rest, he and his co-driver helped passengers open the emergency exit. They used the expressway's fire escape to reach St. level.
In disbelief, he instinctively captured the situation on camera. The front wheels of the bus were hanging in mid-air.
I wanted to keep a record. I will never forget that day. No, I should never forget that day.
Since the disaster, Yasui has continued driving for the same company. He often asks himself what he can do as a survivor of the quake. He sometimes tells his passengers about his experiences. After a good public reaction, the coach company asked Yasui to reach out to more people.
At first it was a thump. Then we were hit by a violent horizontal tremor.
Even during the time of the coronavirus pandemic, Yasui told his story through online school trips. showing the photos he took.
It would be a different world if we had been there one second earlier or one second later.
He has also been helping others. He took part in disaster volunteer work after the Great East Japan earthquake of 2011. He cleared mud in areas hit by the tsunami. Yasui believes that mutual support will grow through the actions of people like himself who have lived through disasters.
And when the Noto Peninsula earthquake hit on New Year's Day last year, he and his colleagues rushed to the site in a company coach.
We sorted out stuff that was strewn around. The people were pleased with our work. I would like to continue volunteering as long as I can.
Having miraculously survived that traumatic day 30 years ago, Yasui continues to feel a sense of mission to help others.
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It's now time to check the world weather.
People in Southern California are struggling in the aftermath of massive wildfires. One reason is the weather. Our meteorologist Yumi Hirano is here with the details.
More than 8,000 firefighters from seven states and two following countries have been fighting the fires this week. The LA Fire Department uploaded a video showing damaged and destroyed buildings along the coast in Malibu.
On Wednesday, millions of people in the affected areas were still on edge as strong women started up again.
Good news is strong Santa Ana winds will ease on Thursday but is expected to intensify again from next Wednesday. So please check out the latest information.
Dry conditions are still likely in the southern states due to a high pressure system. On the other hand, frontal systems are bringing snow to the Great Wakes region.
Parts of Japan are also facing a winter storm. The system will move across Hokkaido and Tohoku into Friday. The combination of snow and winds will create blizzard conditions and poor visibility.
But clear weather is likely to continue on the Pacific side of the country, including Tokyo, with a high of 10. In the bigger picture across Asia, warm air is covering much of the northeast, so the high in Beijing will be 7, which is over 5 degrees hotter than usual. The same conditions are expected in Seoul, with a high of 5. That's it for me. Have a nice day.
♫
That's all for this edition of NHK Newsline. I'm Morishita Erika in Tokyo.
Thank you for watching on NHK World of Japan.
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