at 18:00 (JST), February 11 / Tokyo Skytree

20250211180000_english_1.mp3

Welcome to NHK Newsline. I'm Gene Otani in Tokyo.

U.S. President Donald Trump has imposed a flat 25% tariff on foreign steel and aluminum, and he hinted he may also hike duty on imported cars.
Trump signed documents on Monday to impose the levies. The tariff rate for aluminum imports will be raised from the current 10% to 25%.
The White House says the measure will take effect on March 12.

Our nation requires steel and aluminum to be made in America, not in foreign lands.
We need to create, in order to protect our country's future, a resurgence of U.S. manufacturing and production, the likes of which has not been seen for many decades. It's time for our great industries to come back to America.

Trump says he saved the American steel industry by imposing tariffs on the two key metals in his first term. Back then, the tariffs didn't apply to steel imports from Mexico, Canada, and Australia. Under Joe Biden's administration in 2022, duty-free quotas were granted to Japan.
These exemptions won't apply this time, but he said he's considering making an exemption for Australia Because the US has a trade surplus with the country, Trump and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese spoke by phone before the announcement. The president said his administration will also consider placing new tariffs on automobiles, chips and pharmaceuticals.

Turning to the Middle East, President Trump has floated the idea of canceling the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas if Hamas doesn't release hostages as promised by this weekend.

If all of the hostages aren't returned by Saturday at 12:00, I think it's an appropriate time. I would say cancel it and all bets are off and let hell break out.

Trump's comments on Monday came after the Islamic group Hamas announced it would delay a hostage release scheduled for Saturday. Three hostages were reportedly set to be freed. Hamas says Israel violated the six-week ceasefire agreement attacking residents in the Gaza Strip. It also says Israel failed to fully allow aid supplies to enter the enclave. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz says it's Hamas that violated the ceasefire deal. With its latest announcement, he says he's instructed the military to be at the highest level of readiness in Gaza and for domestic defense. Under the agreement that took effect January 19, Hamas has released 16 Israeli hostages, and Israel has set free more than 760 Palestinians.

President Trump has signed an executive order banning paper straws at federal agencies. He criticized his predecessor, Joe Biden for promoting the use of paper instead of plastic ones.

We're going back to plastic straws. These things don't work. I've had them many times. And on occasion, they break, they explode.

Trump signed the order on Monday to direct federal agencies to stop buying paper straws and ensure that they are no longer provided within agency buildings over the past several years. A move to replace plastic straws with paper ones to stop pollution in the oceans has gained momentum in the US. The Biden administration also promoted a policy aimed at phasing out federal purchases of single use plastics, including straws from federal operations.

Japanese Defense Ministry officials have been monitoring a Russian Navy vessel near the southwestern prefectures of Miyazaki and Okinawa. They say it sailed in the contiguous zone just outside Japan's territorial waters.
The Maritime Self-Defense Force spotted the Vishnya-class intelligence vessel on February 1. Officials say it was sailing south, 50 kilometers southeast of Okinawa Island. It then navigated through waters, including Japan's contiguous zone, before sailing toward the East China Sea on Sunday. Ministry officials say they saw the same vessel in the Tsushima Strait last November. They also say this is the first time a Russian Navy vessel has been seen in Japan's contiguous zone near Miyazaki.

French President Emmanuel Macron is hoping to position his country as a key player in artificial intelligence. He has revealed plans for a massive AI data center backed by foreign investment.

Now, today and tomorrow, 109 billion euro of investment will be confirmed for France for the years to come. And this is a great amount of investment.

Macron made the announcement Monday at the AI Action Summit in Paris. That's where corporate and global leaders, including Indian Prime Minister,Narendra Modi, US Vice President JD Vance and Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Guoqing have gathered to discuss the future of the industry. Macron highlighted one of France's competitive advantages, nuclear power. He said the country can supply the enormous amount of electricity required for AI operations without relying on fossil fuels.

It's very important in this world where I have a good friend in the other part of the ocean saying drill, baby, drill. Here, there is no need to drill. It's just plug, baby plug.

The move signals France's ambition to challenge the dominance of the US and China in the AI field. The French presidential office says the investments will come from US IT giant Amazon and other companies in Canada, Britain and Japan.

A group of investors led by billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk has reportedly made a bid worth over $97.4 billion to buy Open AI, the developer of ChatGPT.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Musk's lawyer made the proposal to a nonprofit that controls Open AI on Monday. Musk reportedly said in a statement, it's time for Open AI to return to the open source. Safety focused force for good it once was. Open AI has a unique structure where the nonprofit controls the for profit entity.
Last December, it announced that it will transition to a for profit entity. Musk's proposal may affect Open AI's plans. Open AI CEO Sam Altman addressed Musk's bid with a post on the ex social media platform. He said. No thank you, but we will buy Twitter for 9.74 billion if you want.
Musk bought Twitter, now called X, in 2022. Musk shop back an X. post saying swindler, demonstrating the ongoing discord between himself and Altman.

A festival to savor blowfish drew crowds to Shimonoseki City in the western Japanese prefecture of Yamaguchi.
Local tradition says the winter delicacy brings happiness. It's called fuku, the Japanese word for good fortune.
Children gathered around a pool containing dozens of tiger puffers and tried their luck at catching them.
About 20 food stalls lined in the Haidomari Market, where the fish are normally auctioned. Visitors bought specialties such as sashimi and fried blowfish, which were sold about 20 to 30% cheaper than the usual retail price.
A hot pot dish was prepared by simmering ingredients in a miso flavored blowfish broth in an 80 centimeter wide pot. The dish was offered free to visitors who consumed 600 servings in less than an hour.

This is so delicious.

I'm excited to shop here. We're thinking of buying blowfish and tuna.

Shimono Seki is known as Japan's blowfish capital, handling the largest volume of the fish.

And those were the main stories for this hour.

♫～

And that's the news this hour. I'm Gino Tani. From all of us here at NHK Newsline to all around the world, thanks very much for joining us.

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Japan has various kinds of landmarks that fascinate visitors. They range from cultural and historic locations to modern buildings created with cutting edge technologies. What led to their creation and what were the challenges involved?
The Backstory of Japanese Landmarks brings you the stories behind these amazing places. In this episode of The Backstory of Japanese Landmarks, we feature the world's tallest broadcast tower, Tokyo Skytree.
Tokyo Skytree is 634 meters tall. Other landmarks, such as the Tokyo Tower and Paris's Eiffel Tower, have wide bases. But Tokyo Skytree is slim and more like a spire. Its color, named Skytree White, is based on the lightest shade of Japanese indigo blue. The tower can be seen from a great distance, but when people first see it, some think its form is rather simple.
Tokyo Skytree was built using state-of-the-art Japanese technology.
But that's not all. Traditional skills, respected and handed down over generations of craftspeople,also played a vital role in its construction.
The base of Tokyo Skytree is triangular in shape when seen from above. This was designed to let people enter from the three sides of the surrounding areas.
Meanwhile, the two observation decks at the heights of 350 meters and 450 meters are round and offer a 360-degree panoramic view.
This means the cross-section of the tower's base is a triangle,but becomes round toward the top.
Looking more carefully, Tokyo Skytree's outline is not made of straight lines.
The lines are actually slightly curved.
Depending where the tower is viewed from, some parts of the tower warp inwards, while other parts bulge outwards.
This comes from traditional Japanese architecture. The inward warp is called sori, or the outward curve is called mukuri. Tokyo Skytree's towering outline is a combination of sori and mukuri. A particularly important feature of Tokyo Skytree is its earthquake resistance.
The tower's construction began in 2008. Three years later, in 2011, a massive earthquake struck eastern Japan. After overcoming a number of challenges posed by the disaster, the tower was completed in 2012.
Tokyo Skytree has an outer frame and an inner column. The two are structurally detached. During an earthquake, the column acts as a weight and moves in the opposite direction as the outer frame.
This reduces the impact of tremors.
This anti-seismic structure was inspired by a traditional Japanese structure, the five-story pagoda.
Five-story pagodas of Buddhist temples have a column at the center. similar to Tokyo Skytree. Due to their excellent quake resistance, there are no records of any wooden pagodas collapsing in an earthquake in Japan's history.
Japan's oldest five-story pagoda is in Horyuji Temple in Nara, built more than 1,400 years ago. The wisdom of ancient people lives on in today's advanced technologies.
Thank you for tuning in to the backstory of Japanese landmarks. We hope you have a chance to visit these landmarks and see for yourself what makes them so special.