Welcome to NHK Newsline. I'm Gene Otani in Tokyo.
We start with breaking news. The Islamic group Hamas has released three more Israeli hostages under the terms of the ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip.
Israeli forces and other sources say 3 male hostages were freed on Saturday. This brings the number of captives released by Hamas under the agreement to 19. The ceasefire went into effect on January 19.
Hamas had said earlier that it would postpone the 6th round of releases accusing Israel of violating the terms of the agreement. Israel reacted sharply to this. Raising concerns over whether the ceasefire would hold.
In other news, Japanese automaker Mazda has announced it's going to open a new SUV production line in Thailand.
This comes at a time when other Japanese automakers are downsizing their operations in the country due to a loss of market share.
Mazda officials say the company will invest more than $144 million in a factory that's jointly operated with U.S. carmaker Ford.
Production of hybrid compact SUVs will begin in 2027 with a capacity of 100,000 units per year. The automaker plans to sell the vehicles in Thailand and other Southeast Asian countries. Mazda plans to further boost sales by importing electric sedans to Thailand. Japanese automakers had long enjoyed a nearly 90 percent share of the Thai market, but the figure has fallen to the 70 percent range in light of rising demand for Chinese electric vehicles. Suzuki Motor plans to shut down a subsidiary's factory in Thailand by the end of 2025. Nissan Motor is going to partially shut down production in the country next fiscal year. And Honda Motor plans to consolidate production and cut capacity. Mazda President and CEO Moro Masahiro says the firm wants to meet the needs of customers in Thailand, where the transition to electric vehicles is progressing.
The paper carried an interview with Vance in its Friday edition. It reported Vance said the option of sending US troops to Ukraine remained on the table if Moscow fails to negotiate in good faith.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has clearly denied that possibility all along. The Wall Street Journal also reported that Vance said it was too early to say how much of Ukrainian territory would remain in Russian hands. Or what security guarantees the US and other Western allies could offer Kiev. The paper said Vance added that those details would need to be worked out in peace talks.
Meanwhile, Vance was in Germany on Friday, where he addressed the Munich Security Conference and said the war in Ukraine can be brought to an end.
The Trump administration is very concerned with European security, and believes that we can come to a reasonable settlement between Russia and Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke at a different venue and laid out his conditions for peace talks.
I will meet with Russians, with only one Russian guy, with Putin, only after we will have common plan with Trump, Europe, and we will sit with Putin and stop the war.
Zelenskyy says negotiations will not take place without Ukraine's involvement.
Vance used most of his address to deliver a critique of those in the audience. He denounced European leaders for restricting free speech and ignoring the populist movement sweeping over the continent.
He says he'll impose levies on imported cars, too.
Trump said the new tariffs could start around April 2. He didn't specify which countries would likely be affected or how much the tariffs would be. The president has repeatedly said unfairly low prices on foreign vehicles have harmed domestic automakers. Japan exported 1.5 million vehicles to the United States in 2023.
China's foreign minister has rejected the Trump administration's use of tariffs to reshape global trade in a speech at a major security conference in Germany.
Wang Yi told the Munich Security Conference that China's policy toward the United States is based on mutual respect, peaceful coexistence, and win-win cooperation.
Protectionism is not the solution, and imposing arbitrary tariffs has no winners. Decoupling destroys opportunities, and high walls around small courtyards only isolate oneself. We should adhere to openness and cooperation and support a world multipolarization based on inclusive and beneficial economic globalization.
Washington raised tariffs on goods imported from China by an additional 10% earlier this month. Beijing responded by hiking tariffs on some US imports starting Monday. Wang also said that all disputes should be settled through dialogue. Observers say Wang's speech may have been aimed at getting Washington to make concessions to avert a trade war.
President Trump has suggested he wouldn't mind if Japan's Nippon Steel took a stake of less than 50% in US Steel.
A minority stake I wouldn't mind greatly.
But he also said he didn't want to let US Steel go to a foreign company. He added that his country psychologically cannot allow the takeover. Trump said tariffs will protect the domestic steel industry. He has announced that the US is imposing a 25% tariff on steel imports.
The president said his administration saved US Steel. He added that he believes the company is going to be very profitable. Nippon Steel announced a plan in 2023 to acquire all shares of US Steel and make it a wholly owned subsidiary. After his summit with Japan's Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru on February 7, Trump indicated he would meet with Nippon Steel executives this week, but the meeting has yet to take place.
A team of researchers at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say 3 veterinarians who work with cattle caught bird flu, but apparently didn't know they were infected. The cases were revealed in a report by the researchers and others. That was released on Thursday. Last September, the team analyzed blood samples from 150 vets dealing with cattle in the United States. Three vets were found to have antibodies to the H5 bird flu virus, indicating recent infections. They didn't show symptoms such as abnormal respiratory functions and bloodshot eyes. All reported no exposure to cattle suspected of having bird flu.
One vet worked with poultry infected with the virus. The team is calling for systematic surveillance of people who have been exposed to cattle to ensure appropriate risk assessments. The CDC says the threat to the general public from bird flu remains low.
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Those were the main stories for this hour.
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And that's the news this hour. I'm Gene Otani. From all of us here at NHK Newsline to all around the world, thanks very much for joining us.
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