Hello and welcome to NHK Newsline. I'm Yoshikawa Ryuchi in Tokyo. U.S. President Donald Trump says he'll be meeting face-to-face with Russian President Vladimir Putin soon. He says he thinks they'll arrange a ceasefire for the war in Ukraine in the not-too-distant future. I think I can say with great confidence he wants to see it ended also. That's good.
And we're going to work toward getting it ended and as fast as possible. Trump made the comments after a phone call with Putin. He says he'll likely meet his Russian counterpart in Saudi Arabia. Trump also poured water on Ukraine's hopes for NATO membership. He echoed statements from Defense Secretary Pete Hexeth, who said adding Kyiv to the alliance is unrealistic.
I don't think it's practical to have it. I think long before President Putin, they said there's no way they'd allow that. This has been going on for many, many years. They've been saying that for a long time. that Ukraine cannot go into NATO. Trump says it's unlikely Ukraine will regain its pre-2014 borders before Russia unilaterally annexed Crimea.
His comments come as Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky is preparing to meet senior U.S. officials in Germany on Friday. Russia's presidential spokesperson has rejected exchanging occupied territory with Ukraine, saying it is impossible. This comes after Ukrainian President Zelensky suggested the idea in an interview with a British newspaper. Jelansky's remark in an interview with The Guardian was published on Tuesday.
Zelenskyy indicated that if ceasefire talks take place, Ukraine is ready to swap parts of Western Russia it controls for Russian-occupied land in Ukraine. But Dmitry Paskov quickly rejected the idea. This is impossible. Russia has never discussed and will not discuss the topic of the exchange of its territory. And, of course, Ukrainian formations will be expelled from this territory. Everyone who is not destroyed will be expelled.
Meanwhile, a survey by an independent research organization in Russia indicates more people now think that mediators will make it easier for the two countries to reach a peace agreement. The survey results released by the Levada Center on Tuesday show 67% of respondents are in favor of mediators. That's up 23 percentage points from November 2023. It also says 23% named China as a possible mediator, followed by the United States with 20% and Turkey at 8%.
The Levada Center has been designated as a foreign agent by Putin's administration. The center continues to conduct independent research and analysis, despite pressure from the Russian authorities. The U.S. Navy has sailed through the Taiwan Strait. It's believed to be the first exercise of its kind under Trump 2.0, and China is fuming. An official told NHK two vessels were involved, guided missile destroyer USS Ralph Johnson and survey ship USNS Bowditch.
They transited the strait from north to south between Monday and Wednesday. The official says all nations enjoy freedom of navigation in the corridor. Her spokesperson for China's Eastern Theater Command slammed the United States for sending the wrong signal. China's central television broadcast naval footage and stressed the country's readiness to fight.
A British think tank says last year's global defense spending reached the highest ever amount amid Russia's ongoing aggression against Ukraine. The International Institute for Strategic Studies published its annual military balance report on Wednesday. It says global defense spending reached $2.46 trillion in 2024. up 7.4% from the previous year. By country, the United States spent $968 billion, accounting for nearly 40% of the total.
It was followed by China at $235 billion and Russia at almost $146 billion. Japan's spending was the ninth largest at $53 billion. However, In terms of purchasing power parity, the actual value of China's defense budget is more than double, while Russia's more than triple. Moscow's actual defense spending is higher than all of Europe. The report points out that China's defense spending accounted for 44% of Asia's total and that Beijing is pushing to reorganize and modernize its military.
It says the modernization includes the use of artificial intelligence. As for North Korea, the report says the country continues to indicate that it's making improvements in its nuclear capacity. and that concerns remain that it may renew nuclear testing. rescued 260 foreigners they believe were forced to work in scam centers in Myanmar. They come from 19 countries and Taiwan.
The Thai Defense Ministry says the foreigners came under its protection Wednesday at a crossing point on the border with Myanmar. They include 138 Ethiopians, 23 Caneans, 16 Filipinos and 15 Malaysians. Thai officials say they were handed over by an armed ethnic minority group in Myanmar. Since the 2021 coup in Myanmar, scam groups, whose members include Chinese and others, have become active in areas near the Thai border.
in many cases foreigners have been confined and forced to carry out scams. Police in Hungary have taken disciplinary action against five officers who failed to respond to a Japanese woman's complaints about domestic violence by her former husband. The 43-year-old woman was found dead in her home in Budapest on January 29. Police arrested her ex-husband, an Irish national, on suspicion of murder on February 3.
A local group supporting the woman said she had contacted the police about domestic violence. In a news conference on Tuesday, police acknowledged that officers had dismissed the woman's reports about the theft of her computer and threats by her former husband. Police also said they will review domestic violence complaints made in the past year to see if they were handled appropriately.
A government spokesperson said in a social media post on Tuesday that Hungary will take strict steps to protect women and children from domestic violence. In Tokyo, Japan's Foreign Minister Iwaya Takeshi expressed his condolences to the victim and her family. He said the Japanese embassy provides the necessary support for people seeking help over domestic violence and other matters.
It is a very painful incident, and we offer our sincere condolences to the victim's family. Based on the wishes of her bereaved family, We'd like to continue to offer as much care and support as necessary. Iwaya said the woman had consulted with the Japanese embassy in Hungary concerning domestic violence in 2022. He said embassy officials had told her to report to police. A mourner in Budapest offered flowers and candles in front of the victim's home. The case is making headlines.
and has sent shockwaves throughout the country. Organizers of the Expo 2025 in Osaka are ramping up efforts to boost slow ticket sales, with just two months to go before the event opens to visitors. The Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, Japan starts on April 13th and runs through October 13th. But as of February 5th, around 7.7 million tickets had been sold, or about half the target of 14 million.
Expo officials are offering a 10% discount to those who pre-order tickets for the nearby Universal Studio Japan theme park. They are also considering same-day sales of Expo tickets. Additional promotions include running PR videos of the expo mascot called Myaku Myaku or Pulse of Life and the Hello Kitty character at shopping malls and other sites across the country. Please do access the NHK Royal Japan website for more details.
Strong winds have been reported in parts of Japan on Thursday. Meteorologist Setsi Monare has all the details up next. There we saw some record-breaking gusts for the month of February across central Japan, very close to that 90 km per hour mark there. So please do be extra careful. Watch out for any flying debris as we could see some more windy conditions.
throughout the day. On top of that, there's still some wintery precipitation expected for the north and northwestern sides of Japan. If you're in Tokyo, slightly sunnier weather. Still expected to dominate these regions up until about the weekend or so. Temperatures for you at 14 degrees. Osaka also still seeing some double digits, spelling about one of the warmest.
winters that I have experienced so far. If you are in Southeast Asia, the focus is a little bit more towards northern Vietnam. We've got a video prepared for you. Take a look at this as people are dealing with some air pollution there as the levels have spiked in Vietnam's capital since about Wednesday. A leading air quality monitoring services at Hanoi became the world's most polluted city on Wednesday. The air pollution is mostly caused by heavy traffic as well as agricultural.
and industrial activities. Now, several people have already voiced their concerns about this air pollution, saying that it could be difficult for them to spend time outdoors. could continue for that northern part of Vietnam, but some showers can be seen towards the east coast going all the way towards the south. In Europe, we're still seeing the chain of low-pressure system in several areas, leading to unstable weather conditions, bringing some...
or rather some really cool precipitation towards Berlin, Vienna, including parts of Moscow. Even though it's going to be quite dry, temperatures will drop to minus six degrees, a bit of a cold day. The African continent doesn't really change much. widespread showers too at the south high temperatures along the central parts especially if you are along the equator their temperatures as high as about 35 degrees in certain places so please do be careful out there Bye. Bye.
And that wraps up this edition of NHK Newsline. I'm Yoshikama Ryuichi in Tokyo. Thank you very much for joining us.