at 18:00 (JST), February 03

20250203180000_english_1.mp3

Welcome back to NHK Newsline. Here's the latest we have for you at this hour.

North American leaders are set for talks as their countries enter what's being described as a trade war. Canada and Mexico say they will respond as the U.S. prepares to slap a 25% tariff on their goods, as well as a new 10% levy on imports from China. U.S. President Donald Trump says he will speak with his Canadian and Mexican counterparts Monday morning. That's just hours before the measures are due to kick in.

I don't expect anything very dramatic. If we put tariffs on, they owe us a lot of money. And I'm sure they're going to pay.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced a 25% tariff on U.S. goods in response, and he calls on people to buy products made in Canada.
Retaliation is also in the works by provinces. The most populous is Ontario, which is home to Ottawa and Toronto. It says its only alcohol wholesaler will remove American products from its catalog starting Tuesday.
Trump doesn't appear to be fazed, claiming that the U.S. has unlimited energy, more lumber than it can ever use, and that it doesn't need anything Canada has.

Monday marks 80 years since urban combat in the Philippine capital of Manila broke out between the now-defunct Imperial Japanese Army, rather military, and U.S. troops during World War II. A ceremony was held in the city to commemorate the victims of the month-long fighting.
Monday's event took place at a site where Japanese military personnel are said to have killed Christian priests and other civilians. Diplomats from Japan, the United States and other countries laid wreaths to pay respects to the victims.

I laid flowers to comfort the souls of those who died. I prayed that nothing like this will ever happen again.

The fierce urban battles erupted on February 3, 1945 in the final months of World War II. The Japanese military was occupying Manila at the time. About 100,000 civilians are believed to have died.

We all know the outcome of the war, what happened and the devastation.
Hopefully by commemorating it, we can learn from the past and By all means, we should avoid war as much as possible.

Events will be held across the Capitol this month to pass on the history and memories of the fighting.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has visited Panama for face-to-face talks with President Jose Raul Molino.
He made it clear that Washington is prepared to take necessary measures to protect its rights over the Panama Canal.
Rubio arrived in Panama City on his first overseas trip as Secretary of State. The State Department said Rubio conveyed President Donald Trump's view that Chinese influence over the canal is a threat. The US government apparently wants to prevent China from expanding its presence over the key shipping route.
The Panama Canal was built by the United States and is currently managed and operated by the Panamanian government.
Trump claims that fees for using the canal are too high. He says his country could demand the return of the canal if it is not treated fairly.
After the meeting, President Molino told reporters there's no doubt that the canal is operated by Panama and will continue to be so. Molino also said he informed Rubio that Panama will not be renewing its 2017 agreement with China's Belt and Road Initiative, and Panama will look into whether it can end it earlier.
The pact aims to establish a massive economic zone.

Rubio is also making headlines on the other side of the Pacific. North Korea has condemned him for referring to the country as a rogue state. Pyongyang calls his remark a grave political provocation.
State-run media published a foreign ministry statement Monday. It says Rubio's remarks confirm Washington's hostile policy toward North Korea remains unchanged, and it says it will counteract any provocations from the U.S. This is the first time Pyongyang has directly criticized a member of Trump's administration. In a recent interview, Rubio described both North Korea as well as Iran as rogue states.
The Trump administration is also drawing Flack from an organization affiliated with the North's foreign ministry.
Pyongyang's Institute for Disarmament and Peace criticized the U.S. decision to reinforce missile defenses. It says North Korea must continue developing its own self-defense capabilities in response to the increasingly severe global security environment. It says those capabilities are centered on nuclear deterrence.

Saturday marked four years since a military coup rocked Myanmar. Over 6,000 people are estimated to have been killed in the fighting, with no end in sight. The fighting is especially intense in border regions. A military airstrike killed about 40 people in Rakhine last month, as pro-democracy forces and armed ethnic minority groups continue to oppose the military junta. To fight back, democratic forces are turning to tech. Using 3D printers, they work around the clock to produce their own weapons, including drones.

Technology has made it possible to carry out increasingly powerful attacks.
They're causing significant losses to the military.

It wasn't always like this. After the coup in 2021, they tried to fight back through peaceful protest.
Many opposed the ousting of leader Aung San Suu Kyi and President Wei Min.
But brutal military crackdowns quickly followed. Gradually, many turned to armed resistance. The junta says it plans to hold a new election this year. It claims that the 2020 election, a landslide victory for the National League for Democracy, was plagued by fraud.
Today, the fighting appears to be at a stalemate as the military struggles to regain control, especially in the border regions. For more on this, earlier, I spoke with NHK World's Kitai Genki. He's been following the situation in Myanmar for us.
Genki, why, after four years, is Myanmar still in a stalemate?

Initially, the military was the dominant force. But that changed about two years ago, when ethnic minority groups started acting in unison.
Myanmar is home to over 130 ethnic minorities. These groups have long had furnishes with the military, but they never worked together. The coup changed that. Now, some are united in their common goal to fight the funta.
The military was also facing a lack of manpower. They started conscription early last year, but the morale of the conscripted soldiers is low. Many are deserting their posts.
One expert says it's obvious the military regime is losing ground.

The military only controls a little over 40% of the country.
It has completely lost control in other areas, and fierce battles are taking place in contested areas. It's not possible for the military junta to regain control of the area amid its defeat.

Well, as we mentioned earlier, the military wants to hold an election this year, but is this even possible at the point?

I cannot imagine how they would. They cannot set up polling stations in regions they do not control. And as things are, they cannot ensure the safety of election staff. That doesn't mean they won't try. Though one expert told me any election would obviously be flawed.

Even if they hold one, an election where half the territory can't vote isn't legitimate. It's unlikely the international community would recognize it.

So then, where does Myanmar go from here?

Well, China could play a key role. The two countries share a border, but more importantly, pipelines run through Myanmar, carrying crude oil from the Indian Ocean into China. So Beijing wants the region stable. In fact, last month, China mediated a ceasefire between the military and an armed minority group. It seems that Beijing is hoping to drive a wedge between the different resistance groups, paving the way for an election.
Meanwhile, the fighting has forced over 4.5 million citizens to flee their homes, the international communitymay have to step in to help provide humanitarian support.

Japanese major leaguer Yoshida Masataka has met the descendants of an American believed to have introduced baseball to Japan more than 150 years ago.

Hi, it's Mike. Nice to meet you.

The Boston Red Sox outfielder visited the birthplace of Horace Wilson near Portland in the eastern state of Maine on Sunday.
The visit was partly arranged by an international exchange organization and the Japanese Consulate General in Boston.
Wilson came to Japan in 1872 to teach English and the sport to his students.
He's been inducted into the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame. Yoshida met Wilson's descendants, who live in the house where Horace was born and was shown his photos and portraits.

I think it's great that sports can connect people all over the world and be passed down from generation to generation.

Yoshida later joined an event with retired American baseball player Ralph Bryant, who was a slugger in Japan's professional league. He talked about the differences between Japanese and American baseball. Yoshida drew loud applause from the many Red Sox fans in the audience.
The event has inspired a project to erect a monument in Maine to honor Wilson.

Now it's time for us to check the world weather with our meteorologist Jonathan Oh. Parts of Japan are looking at more snow this week. Some folks are trying to have a bit of fun when the white stuff isn't falling. With Jonathan, what can you show us?

Hello, we are talking about some big amounts of snow coming into the picture as we go into the evening hours and into the next couple of days. But I want to take us back into the weekend when the snow wasn't falling as much. Coming out of Yamagata Prefecture, take a look at this video. It's a bit of a fun scene as on Saturday a ski resort held a race in which 17 participants aged from 6 to 60 dressed as dinosaurs. The race divided into two groups and off they go.
They had a group up to elementary school age and they made a group junior high and older. And after those warm up exercises they sprinted at full speed along a snowy 100 meter course. Some slipped and tumble like right there. Ouch. But their running was met with cheers. So when you can get a break from the snow and have a little bit of fun, you can do that.
Now we're looking at more snow coming to the picture and this one means business as low pressure is moving into the area. We're talking about strong wind possibilities, high waves as high as 7 meters in some locations, and on top of that, over the next couple of days, some locations get up to 200 centimeters of snow. That's a lot of snow, so if possible, plan on staying indoors because this is going to be a bitSnowmaker extending from Hokkaido all the way back toward Kyushu into Fukuoka. Here's the forecast Sapporo at 4 Niigata again blowing snow possibilities with high of five four in Fukuoka as we go throughout the day on Tuesday. We broaden that the view a little bit calmer back toward the West with that high pressure across China bringing a northerly flow. So places in like Seoul we're looking at a high of minus five as we go through the day on Tuesday.
In North America, we have lots of moisture pushing it from the West and that can mean some snow into the Pacific Northwest as we go through the day on Monday. Another low pressure system up toward Ontario, bringing in a cold front across the Great Lakes, which means we'll be talking about some snow into places like Toronto as we go throughout the day on Monday.
Hope you have a good day wherever you are.

♫～

That is all we have for this edition of NHK News and we'll have more for you soon. Thanks for watching.