Hello, welcome back to NHK NewsLine. I'm Maria Sato in Tokyo.
GERMANY'S MERZ URGES US TO REPAIR TRUST
World leaders and their top officials are gathering in Germany to discuss global security.
Chancellor Friedrich Merz has acknowledged the deepening gap between Europe and the US. He says the international rules-based order no longer exists.
Participants will discuss that issue as well as the situations in Greenland and Ukraine.
Mertz opened the conference by calling on the US to repair and revive transatlantic trust.
00:00:47 話者 Friedrich Merz/German Chancellor
Let me paraphrase this for our American friends in English.
For three generations, trust amongst allies, partners and friends,
He's made NATO the strongest alliance of all times.
Europe knows deeply how precious this is.
In the era of great power, rivalry, even the United States will not be powerful enough to go it alone.
00:01:22 (Maria Sato)
He urged European leaders to strengthen their defense capabilities.
And he says Germany has begun dialogue with France on the issue of nuclear deterrence.
He reached out to other countries, including Canada, India, and Japan, for a new partnership.
Japan's defense minister expressed concerns over threats to the international order.
He says Japan will boost defense spending and become stronger.
00:01:49 話者 Koizumi Shinjiro/Japanese Defense Minister
With the partners of the Indo-Pacific and all the like-minded nations
including our partners here in Europe as well.
We will enhance connectivity and generate synergies not only in training and operations, but also across equipment and industrial bases.
RUBIO, WANG MEET AHEAD OF TRUMP'S VISIT TO CHINA
00:02:08 (Maria Sato)
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy are at the conference. They're set to deliver addresses on Saturday.
Rubio has held talks on the sidelines of the conference with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.
They're believed to have discussed preparations for President Donald Trump's planned visit to China.
This was their first in-person meeting since last July when they met in Malaysia.
They have yet to disclose any details of Friday's talks.
Trump's visit is scheduled for April.
Trump spoke with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on the phone last week.
He said they discussed a range of issues, including Taiwan and Ukraine.
He described the call as very positive.
But a statement released by China's foreign ministry says Xi issued a warning.
It says he told Trump the US must handle the issue of arms sales to Taiwan with prudence.
The meeting with Rubio and Wang is also believed to have included exchanges on Taiwan.
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UKRAINIAN ATHLETE LOSES APPEAL OVER HELMET TRIBUTE
A Ukrainian skeleton racer has lost an appeal to overturn his disqualification tied to a banned helmet tribute.
The ruling came after Vladislav Haraskevich refused to stop wearing a helmet, bringing photos of athletes from the country killed during Russia's invasion.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport dismissed Haraskevich's appeal on Friday, one day after he was disqualified.
The International Olympic Committee said his helmet did not comply with its guidelines.
The court said the arbitrator who heard the case was fully sympathetic to Heraskevich's commemoration, but that IOC guidelines limit the right to express views on the field of play.
It said that athletes have other opportunities to raise awareness, such as at news conferences.
Ukrainian President Zelenskyy says the athlete's helmet is a reminder to the world of the cost of fighting for independence.
He later presented Haraskevich with the Order of Freedom.
00:04:32 話者 Volodymyr Zelenskyy/Ukrainian President
Medals are important for Ukraine and for you, but it seems to me that the most important thing is who you are.
00:04:40 話者 Vladyslav Heraskevych/Skeleton racer
I like to share it with these athletes, and I think they deserve it even more.
Because of their sacrifice, we are able to compete on the Olympics, and our whole team is able to compete on the Olympics.
JAPAN WINS MEN'S SNOWBOARD HALFPIPE, FIGURE SKATING MEDALS
00:04:55 (Maria Sato)
Japanese athletes have added to the country's medal tally in the Milano-Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games.
Totsuka Yuto won gold in the men's snowboard halfpipe at his third straight Olympics.
He successfully executed the triple cork 1440 trick, comprising three flips and four 360-degree spins on his second run, earning a score of exactly 95 points.
19-year-old Yamada Ryusei took the bronze in his first Olympic appearance.
Teammate Hirano Ruka finished in fourth place.
And 2022 Beijing gold medalist Hirano Ayumu came seventh.
He was competing despite suffering bone fractures before the Olympics.
In the men's figure skating competition, Kageyama Yuma scored a total of 280.06 to secure back-to-back Olympic silver medals.
Sato Shun, who placed ninth after the short program, improved to third in the free skating, winning bronze.
Japan has now won fourteen medals, three gold, three silver and eight bronze.
JAPAN POLICE SEARCH HOME OF EX-MAYOR OF ITO CITY
Japanese police have searched the home of the former mayor of Ito City in Shizuoka Prefecture. She's accused of lying about her academic record.
Takubo Maki allegedly provided false information in a document distributed to media during her election campaign, claiming she had graduated from Toyo University.
Takubo then refused to submit what she claimed to be a diploma from the university to a special investigative committee set up by the city assembly.
Criminal complaints have been filed against her for allegedly violating the public office's election and local autonomy laws.
Sources say that police raided Takubo's home in Ito City in central Japan on Saturday morning. Police had interviewed the ex-mayor on a voluntary basis.
They also asked her to submit documents she had shown to the city assembly chair and others, claiming there were graduation certificates.
The former mayor rejected the request on Thursday, saying she believes that she has the right to refuse the seizure of documents, as she is legally entitled to do so.
Takubo reportedly told police during the voluntary questioning that the allegations do not constitute a crime.
JAPANESE PANEL TO DISCUSS iPS CELL TREATMENTS
An expert panel is set to discuss whether Japan's health ministry should approve two products using IPS cells. The treatments are for heart disease and Parkinson's disease.
Health ministry officials say the experts will meet on February 19.
If the government goes on to approve the plan, Japan could become the world's first country to allow the sale and production of treatments, harnessing the new regenerative therapy. Induced pluripotent stem cells are artificially made.
They can be transformed into nerve, muscle, and other body cells, potentially restoring functions lost because of reasons such as disease.
Two companies, Korips and Sumitomo Pharma, applied to manufacture and market the products last year.
Korips has developed sheets that consist of heart muscle cells prepared from iPS cells.
They can be used to treat ischemic cardiomyopathy, a serious heart disease.
Sumitoma Pharma is seeking approval for an IPS cell-derived product that could be implanted in the brain, possibly improving motor functions in people with Parkinson's disease.
Those were the headlines for this hour.
WEATHER
♫～ 3-DAY FORECAST ～♫
And that's all for this hour on NHK NewsLine. I'm Maria Sato in Tokyo.
Do stay with us on NHK World Japan.
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