at 18:00 (JST), February 10

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Hello, welcome to NHK Newsline. I'm Yamamoto Miki in Tokyo. 

U.S. President Donald Trump has declined to give details on a report that he has spoken with Russian President Vladimir Putin about ending the war in Ukraine, but he says he believes they are making progress. Trump spoke on Air Force One Sunday after the New York Post published an interview with him. In it, he claimed to have spoken with Putin by phone. Reporters asked him whether the talks happened before or after he took office, but Trump would not say.

I've had it. Let's just say I've had it. And I expect to have many more conversations. We have to get that war ended.

Trump also says he is open to meeting his Russian counterpart in person at what he calls the right time. The president has repeatedly expressed willingness to bring an early end to the conflict in Ukraine. Later this month, Ukrainians will mark three years since Russian forces launched their full-scale invasion. And later this week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is expected to pay his first visit to Washington since Trump took office. He's hoping the American leader will help him get a fair deal for peace.

We are preparing a clear schedule of meetings with our key partners America, Europe, the Islamic world. We have specific dates.

Trump also says he expects to meet Zelensky as early as this week. On Friday, the Ukrainian president will likely go to Germany for the Munich Security Conference. If he goes, he'll have a chance to speak with U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance as well as European leaders in attendance. Meanwhile, Zelensky's chief of staff has told the Associated Press that Trump's special envoy for Ukraine and Russia will visit Kiev later this month. He says Keith Kellogg will be briefed on the battlefield situation as fighting grinds towards its fourth year.

Israeli forces have reportedly withdrawn from a strategic corridor that separates the northern part of the Gaza Strip from the south. Israeli media said on Sunday that the country's forces completed their pullout in accordance with a ceasefire deal with the Islamic group Hamas. The first stage of the deal consists of a six-week truce with the phased release of 33 hostages by Hamas, while Israel is freeing Palestinian prisoners. It has been proceeding smoothly so far, with the fifth round of hostage releases carried out on Saturday. But difficulties are expected in negotiations over the second stage, which aims to bring about a permanent cessation of hostilities. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reaffirmed his hardline stance on Saturday. He said he had instructed the delegation for the talks that Hamas must be eliminated from the Gaza Strip. He indicated that a complete Israeli withdrawal and a permanent ceasefire would not be possible until that condition is met.
Hamas vowed to keep fighting until it achieves its goal of establishing an independent Palestinian state.

The first summit between the current leaders of Japan and the US was a bilateral affair. But one political scientist says another country loomed large, China. Jeffrey Hornong focuses on Japan's security and diplomatic policies. He says the new U.S.
president is, for now, largely matching his predecessor's moves in the region.
But the approach to Beijing is still developing.

There is a very heavy China flavor throughout their discussions. Um But at the same time, they're talking about cooperating in economic domains, in the economic domain, technology, defense. Now, you could say that the motivation behind that cooperation is China.

Japanese Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru and Donald Trump held their first summit last week. They agreed to enhance deterrence and response capabilities to achieve a free and open Indo-Pacific region.
Ishiba says they confirmed that Article 5 of the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty applies to the Senkaku Islands in Okinawa Prefecture. The article stipulates U.S. defense obligations. Japan controls the Senkaku Islands. China and Taiwan claim them. The Japanese government maintains they are an inherent part of Japan's territory. Chinese government vessels have been increasingly appearing near Japanese territorial waters. Something Tokyo sees as provocative. Ishiba and Trump also confirmed the importance of peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.
Hornung says their joint statement caught his attention, specifically the part that reads, The two leaders also expressed support for Taiwan's meaningful participation in international organizations.

I do think that that is new, to to put that in there. That shows that the allies are willing to try to give Taiwan more diplomatic breathing room in the international arena. It puts China on the defense because now they have to wonder, well, what is Japan and the United States going to do to help support Taiwan and international organizations?
Now, maybe nothing comes of this, but the fact that they put that out there as one of the targets of where they want to cooperate, I do think that that is meaningful.

Hornung stresses the Trump administration is still in its infancy, and its full strategy for China is not clear yet. But meeting with Isabab is significant.

Having a summit like this, this early, where a ally like Japan is able to express their concerns about China, where the United States is able to express its concerns about China, and they can talk about, well, what do we do about this?
I think that's very important. It will feed into President Trump's thinking about his strategy. You will see a lot of these policies laying out in the in the weeks and months ahead. But again, it would not surprise me to see a very hawkish policy regarding China.

For more on this summit, I earlier spoke with our Beijing correspondent, Nakamura Genta.
Kinta, has China reacted yet to Ishiba's meeting with Trump?

So far, the government has remained silent. But there are signs Beijing had hoped Ishiba would receive a colder reception, but was let down by reality. For example, the Communist Party-affiliated Global Times ran commentary from an expert.
It says the summit was aimed at countering China. It adds that Japan and the US used talks to criticize Beijing over actions in the East and South China seas, and opening interfere in Taiwan affairs.
It says Japan is likely to continue to play a front-line role in America's China containment strategy under Trump.
It's worth noting Beijing had hoped this would change. Former Prime Minister Kishida Fumio was seen as too closely aligned to the previous U.S. administration. Now, both countries' new leaders are signaling little has changed. In fact, the joint statement included the reaffirmation that the US-Japan Security Treaty applies to the Senkaku Islands in Okinawa Prefecture. And Trump says he and Ishiba agreed to cooperate even closer to combat China's economic aggression.
Beijing notes there's still a chance the Japan-U.S. partnerships could face problems down the road. It just hoped the cracks would develop sooner.

So, does this mean that China may change its approach with Japan and the U.S.?

I actually think this outcome will convince China to continue seeking closer ties with Japan. China has already shown willingness to improve ties. It reinstated wither-free short-term travel for Japanese citizens earlier than Japan anticipated.
And Beijing has signaled, it may ease some measures taken in response to the release of treated and diluted water from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.
Going back to that Global Times commentary, the expert called Ishiba and Trump's meeting a diplomatic show. The commentary was also suggested that the US may put pressure Japan on trade and defense spending, which could strain their ties.
Beijing is betting on this. But until Trump's 'America First' policies potentially come for Japan, China will wait and keep things friendly.

Japan's government plans to provide more of the country's domestically produced drones to like-minded nations in Asia and beyond through its new cooperation framework. Tokyo hopes to deepen security ties by meeting rising demand for such products. The government intends to expand the provision of the devices under its official security assistance program.
The OSA's budget for the coming fiscal year that begins in April is around $53 million. That represents a nearly $20 million increase. Government sources say some of the nations are reluctant to purchase drones made in China and elsewhere. The fear that classified information could be leaked has been cited as a reason. The sources also report Japanese-made drones are considered to be reliable and of a high quality. The government is collecting information on products produced by about 80 firms in the country.

Record snow blanketed large parts of Japan this weekend. One city in Akita Prefecture took advantage of the conditions to create an enchanting winter wonderland.
People in Yokote City placed some 25-hundred candles into snow banks along a 10-kilometer road. They lit them as dusk fell, creating a warm atmosphere for passersby.

とても奇麗だった。この暖かい色の光に癒されます。

Some people even built igloos.
Families were able to enjoy some leisurely winter fun after several days of severe conditions. The event was part of a two-day magic light festival. It has been held in Yokote for 20 years.

Let's check out the world weather with our meteorologist Jonathan Oh, so Jonathan, ice and snow made it for a slippery, wintry mess in northeastern parts of the US this weekend. What more can you tell us?

Hello, we've been talking about the concern of not just snow, but a messy freezing rain kind of situation as we went through the weekend. With a low pushing on through, bringing some locations 15 to even 20 centimeters of snowfall during the weekend and in Philadelphia Saturday night, 2 to 6mm of ice just glazed on the roadways, which is really a dangerous situation. I want to show you some video that's coming out of Massachusetts where people were digging up after all the snow that moved through New Englanders dealt with a fast moving snowstorm this weekend, with local media reporting the residents have to stock up on food ahead of the storm. Parts of northeastern Massachusetts received more than 20 centimeters of snowfall. In a 24 hour period, airports in Boston and New York experienced increased delays and cancellations on Sunday. Because of that, what we are looking at is a possibility of some more winter weather for the northeastern areas of the US as we go throughout the next couple of days. We have one low that's trying to skip across the Great Lakes and another low down toward the South and that interaction may bring a bit of a mess coming up. So be on the lookout for that back toward the West, another low is bringing some snow into the Rockies and eventually spreading across toward the east. As you go throughout the day on Monday, snow to Denver with a high of two Winnipeg -17 degrees for the high, with some snow extending into Toronto as you go through the day on Monday.

Meanwhile, snow has been the big story across the Sea of Japan side of Japan. we do have tiny bit of relaxing, but we'll still see the snow continuing with the northwesterly flow, maybe even picking back up a little more as you go through today on Tuesday.

Back toward the West, we do have a little bit of disturbance trying to develop along the Yangtze River basin that will bring some clouds and maybe some showers from Chongqing into Shanghai as you go through today on Tuesday.

Quick Northern Europe, a couple of lows toward the western portions of the continent. That's going to bring some showers into Paris as you go through Monday with snow over to Istanbul with the high of 7.

That's the forecast I hope you have a good day wherever you are.

♫～

And that's it for NHK Newsline this hour.
I'm Yamamoto Miki in Tokyo. Thank you for staying with us on NHK World Japan.