Welcome to NHK Newsline. I'm Gene Otani in Tokyo.
The Israeli government has officially approved an agreement with Hamas on a ceasefire and a framework for return of hostages held by the group in the Gaza Strip.
The office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made the announcement early on Saturday. An Israeli media outlet reports that 24 ministers voted in favor of the deal, while eight opposed it. Israel and Hamas reached the agreement earlier this week after more than a year of fighting. Under the deal, both sides will initially lay down their weapons for six weeks starting on Sunday. Hamas will release 33 of the hostages during this time, while Israel.
Will free hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. Israeli forces will withdraw from densely populated areas of Gaza.
The approval had been expected on Thursday, but was delayed due to opposition by a minister from a far right party who threatened to leave the coalition government.
At the start of a summit held before the signing, Putin said the pact will provide additional impetus to all areas of the two countries' cooperation.
Pezeshkin said bilateral relations are improving every day and that the pact will further boost those ties. The treaty says the two nations will develop their military cooperation, such as holding joint exercises. It says if one of them is attacked, the other will not give any military assistance to the aggressor.
The US president-elect has announced a major change to his inauguration plans just days before he's set to take the oath of office. Donald Trump says he's going to move the ceremonies indoors due to the cold, with -6 degrees Celsius in the forecast.
The Capitol Rotunda is set to be the host venue, including for his inaugural address. The parade is set to be hosted in the nearby Capital One Arena. The facility will also live stream the ceremonies, and he'll later join the crowd there. Ronald Reagan was the last president forced to head inside for his swearing in because of bad weather. Next Monday's inauguration is expected to be the coldest one since then. Japan's foreign minister is among the dignitaries set to attend.
I hope to closely communicate with the next administration so that the future Japan-U.S. summit meeting will be fruitful.
Iwaya says he hopes to meet with key officials, including Marco Rubio, the nominee for Secretary of State. China's Vice President Han Zheng has also made the guest list. He'll be representing President Xi Jinping. Trump initially invited Xi. China's move appears aimed at establishing stable ties with the U.S. Concerns are mounting that trade friction could escalate with the Trump administration, which advocates protectionist policies.
Beijing says President Xi and U.S. President-elect Trump agreed during their talk to set up a strategic channel for handling bilateral issues.
The two leaders spoke by phone on Friday. Xi reportedly said U.S.-China economic ties are, by nature, a win-win situation and the two sides should not choose confrontation. Xi also urged Washington to handle Taiwan with prudence. Trump said the talks were very good for both countries and that he expects them to immediately start tackling many problems. The president-elect added that they also discussed trade, TikTok and the drug fentanyl.
Taiwan President Lai Cheng-te has held talks with former U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, apparently hoping to strengthen cooperation with Washington amid China's increasing assertiveness.
The two met at Taiwan's presidential office. Lai said Taiwan-U.S. relations reached unprecedented heights during Donald Trump's first administration, thanks to then-President Pence's support for Taipei. Both expressed concerns about China's aggression.
China's verbal attacks and threats of force on Taiwan are constant, and authoritarian regimes such as China, Russia, North Korea and Iran have been strengthening ties.
China's increasingly aggressive posture in the Taiwan Straits and across the end of positions. specific for the values that we share and the interests that we share is deeply concerning to the American people.
Pence stressed that he will continue his call for building strong relations between the U.S. and Taiwan.
Nearly half a million applicants have begun the two-day standardized entrance exams for Japanese universities.
The annual exam started on Saturday at 651 venues across the country. This year's edition is employing a different format for the first time. It is based on new education curriculum guidelines covering 21 subjects in seven areas. Students lined up and waited for the gate to open at 8:00 AM at the University of Tokyo campus.
I'm very nervous, but I will do my best.
I've been thinking about the university entrance exam since I was in middle school. I will give 100%.
Exams in geography and history as well as civics were held on Saturday morning.
Tests covering Japanese and foreign languages are scheduled for the afternoon.
Japanese pitching star Sasaki Roki has announced on social media he will sign with the Los Angeles Dodgers. The 23 year old had been aiming to move to a Major League Baseball club through the posting system.
In 2022, Sasaki became the youngest pitcher in Japan's professional Baseball League history to throw a perfect game.
In the next year, he tied the league record for the fastest pitch by a Japanese pitcher at 165 kilometers per hour. Sasaki had a career-high 10 wins last year. After he was posted by the Chiba Lotte Marines at the end of the season, 20 MLB teams showed interest in signing him.
Multiple U.S. media outlets say Sasaki will be getting a $6.5 million signing bonus. The Lotte Marines is expected to receive 25% of that amount as the release fee. Sasaki said in his social media post it was a very difficult decision, but pledged to do his best so that he could feel he made the right choice. He will be joining Japanese stars Otani Shohei and Yamamoto Yoshinobu on the Dodgers.
The club won the World Series last season and will aim to repeat as champions this year for the first time in its history.
A court in China is set to hand down a ruling next Thursday to a man charged in connection with a knife attack that left two Japanese nationals injured in a Chinese woman dead.
The attack occurred last June at a bus stop for a Japanese school in the city of Suzhou in eastern Jiangsu province.
It was carried out by an unemployed man in his 50s. A local bus attendant was killed and a Japanese woman and her child were injured. The Japanese call to general in Shanghai says a court in Suzhou will hold a second trial on January 23, after which it will issue a ruling. The trial opened last Thursday. The details of the hearing.
which is attended by Consulate General Okada Masaru, were not made public. Separately, in September, another man fatally stabbed a boy on his way to a Japanese school in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen. That trial is scheduled to open on January 24. Chinese authorities have not disclosed either the motives and other details of the two attacks. Anxiety about safety lingers in Japanese communities around China.
Those are the main stories for this hour.
♫ ☀ ☁ ☂
And that's the news this hour. I'm Gene Ohtani. From all of us here at NHK News Line to all around the world, thanks very much for joining us.
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