Welcome back to NHK News Line. Here's the latest we have for you at this hour.
The coldest air mass of the season is flowing into wide areas of Japan, triggering heavy snowfall. The Meteorological Agency is calling on people to be on the alert for traffic disruptions caused by the snow, as well as violent winds and high waves.
Obihido City has seen the highest fresh accumulation during a 12-hour period ever recorded in Japan since modern statistics began -- 120 centimeters.
I thought there was little snow so far this year, and this might be making up for it. When it falls, I hear about it. But I never imagined it would be this much.
The weather is disrupting air travel in Hokkaido. That includes domestic flights going to and from airports in Kushiro, Obihiro, Nakashibetsu, and Wakkanai. All flights were canceled at Obihiro and Wakanai airports on Tuesday. Airlines are asking customers to check the latest flight information on their websites, as more cancellations are expected.
Thin layers of snow have already accumulated even in Kyushu in southwestern Japan, where snow is rare in low-lying areas. Winds are also growing in strength, mainly in areas along the Sea of Japan coast, causing blizzards. Though northwestern coast of the main island of Honshu could get up to 100 centimeters of snow in the 24 hours through Wednesday noon, Niigata to the north, and Gifu to the south could see 80 centimeters. The snowfall is expected to intensify and hit low-lying areas, mainly along the Sea of Japan coast. Weather officials were warning residents of possible traffic disruptions, road closures may cause delays and cancellations.
A man suspected of throwing a handmade explosive device close to then Prime Minister Kishida Fumio in 2023 is appearing at his first hearing. He denied his intention to kill the former prime minister or others.
25-year-old Kimura Ryuji was indicted on charges including attempted murder. The incident happened in April 2023 when Kishida was visiting Wakayama City, Western Japan, for a campaign event.
Just as he was due to speak to an audience of 200 people at the port, Kimura threw an explosive device. It injured a police officer and a spectator.
At the hearing at Wakayama District Court, Kimura spoke for the first time since his arrest. He admitted to producing gunpowder. The prosecution said it will prove that the defendant intended to inflict bodily harm and was aware that people could die from the device he had made. It maintained that the suspect had murderous intent.
Kimura's lawyer said the charge should be limited to injurious assault and that he had only made the device the day before for the purpose of getting attention. The verdict is expected on February 19.
Officials with Japan's Ground Self-Defense Force say an artillery shell may have landed outside training grounds in western Japan.
They say the incident took place Monday afternoon at a facility in Shiga Prefecture. They say a field unit fired the projectile west, but it went off target. The round has a range of more than 20 kilometers. Officials say it's possible it traveled further than planned and may have ended up in the woods outside the grounds. The shell was set to detonate when it hit the ground, but there's no information about whether it actually exploded. There have been no reports of injuries or damage. The GSDF has suspended firing drills at the facility. Hundreds of its personnel are now searching for the shell.
Water and debris are still hampering efforts to rescue a man who fell into a sinkhole north of Tokyo. He's been trapped for more than a week. The cave in happened suddenly at this intersection in Saitama Prefecture. The man is 74 years old. He was in a truck at the time.
His condition is unknown. The sinkhole has expanded and debris is piling up inside. Water, believed to be sewage, is also spewing out. Work began on Monday to dig a second slope.
It's to allow heavy machinery to clear away soil and debris. Authorities say new measures are necessary, as there's a risk that concrete pipes may collapse.
Prefectural officials asked people in a dozen nearby cities and towns to stop using water for part of Tuesday afternoon, except when absolutely necessary. They say that they may call on people to do the same again.
Japanese tech giant Softbank Group is betting big on artificial intelligence.
It's launched a new joint venture with US-based Open AI and comes on the heels of a major AI push from China.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman was in Tokyo for the announcement, alongside SoftBank Group Chairman and CEO Son Masayoshi.
This is an important time in the development of AI.
I think this is one of the best things OpenAI has ever launched.
The two companies will each have a 50% stake in the new venture. It will develop AI for corporate clients, with the goal of fully automating certain tasks.
AI will become an agent capable of doing flexible work 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. It will be able to work while we sleep.
The news comes on the heels of a new breakout AI from China. Deep Seek has been touted as a low-cost, high-performance model shaking up the AI market. It's the latest volley in what many see as a fierce rivalry between the US and China in the field.
President Donald Trump recently said $500 billion would be invested in AI over the next four years. Altman and Son were both there for the announcement.
While many see the industry as a two-way race between Washington and Beijing, one industry insider says we shouldn't look at it that way.
I would say it's closer to a race between open source and a closed source than China versus United States per SE. So in certain restaurants, recipes are secret.
And they would try to hide that as a proprietary thing and then serve the foods only. And other restaurants, you might open up your recipe to gain a lot of traction and also gain participation of a lot of aspiring cooks.
Despite its name, Open AI actually develops closed source models. Lee says it will be up against open source models like Deep Seek, though he says it's possible SoftBank may choose to develop open source AI in the future.
Either way, Lee said the news is exciting, both because of the scale and the people behind it.
I can't really speak for the Japanese tech world itself, but I could say that Masa has has always tended to be on the forefront of tech development. Those kind of investments are, I think, are bold investments that can rarely happen outside of the United States.
Lee said no one knows for sure what their model will look like. But regardless, he says, AI is going to rapidly change the way we work, and it may happen sooner than we think.
Within one year, we're going to see way bigger impact and, to be to be fair, penetration of AI services into your daily lives. There would be a moment where we would have to seriously rethink how the society and economy functions.
An explosion at a residential building in Moscow has reportedly killed the founder of a pro-Russian paramilitary group active in eastern Ukraine. Authorities are investigating it as a possible assassination. It happened Monday morning in the city's northwest. The blast hit the building's lobby. Local news outlets report Armen Sarkisyan and his bodyguard are dead and at least three are injured. Sarkisyan has been on Ukraine's wanted list for more than a decade. It's unclear whether the country had any involvement in the explosion. In December, a blast elsewhere in the city killed 2 Russian military officials, including a high-ranking general. Russian security authorities said they had detained a man who claimed to have been recruited by Ukrainian special services.
Several organizations in Asia have been honored in Bangkok for their creative solutions for improving elderly health and care. The Healthy Aging Prize for Asian Innovation marked its fourth edition this year. It saw 80 applications from a dozen countries and regions. The grand prize winners include a Japanese startup is trying to help an isolated island by providing home nursing with remote medical systems. From the Philippines, Go Bike Project. It involves young people traveling around their communities by bicycle to check on the health of others. Thailand's Chen Mai University also took home a top award. It provides vocational training to help senior citizens become tech savvy so they can earn an income in later life.
Young people are key factors, are key players in building healthier and more disaster resilient communities.
An organizer of the event says coping with aging is a common task throughout Asia, but strategies could vary in each society.
Our aim is to try to spread potential best practices or solutions to be spread so that Everybody could have a choice to apply whichever applicable to the localsociety.
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We've been telling you about the heavy snow hitting the northern parts of Japan.
Our meteorologist Jonathan Oh has the latest in world weather.
Speaking of snow, looking at what's happening across North America, western portions of the United States seeing this push of moisture is hitting some cold air, and so we're seeing a decent amount of snowfall being reported over into the Pacific Northwest, even into the cities where on the lower side of the elevation, but up to the mountains, of course, we're seeing that snow pattern taking place, the eastern areas of the United States and Canada seeing the moisture kind of waning. But we'll still see a chance for some snowy weather into Toronto with a high of three below 0 on Tuesday. But Vancouver looking at snow into Seattle. Los Angeles looking at some wet weather with a high of 17.
Quick note on Europe cold front pushing through the United Kingdom and also into the Scandinavian Peninsula. High pressure down to the South. Keep these relatively dry through the eastern areas. Looking at some snow as they go into Tuesday.
Hope you have a good day wherever you are.
♫～
And that brings us to the end of this edition of NHK Newsline. We'll have more for you soon. Thank you very much for joining us.
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