Officials say there is a lack of everyday linking him to the death of the halfbrother of north koreas leader. Kim jong nam was attacked at kuala lumpur airport more than two weeks ago. Local Authorities Say ri was not seen in security footage from the airport. In that police werent able to establish a link between the two women charged with his murder. Police believe they smeared a toxic nerve agent on kims face. They demanded north korea hand over four other suspects who have been returned there. They want to speak to three North Koreans in connection with the case. With the only north korean in custody released, many say it will be more difficult for Malaysian Police to find out whether pyongyang was behind the attack. In the cases raising attention between the former friendly countries. Starting from monday, all north korean nationals who want to travel to malaysia will need a visa. Malaysias Prime Minister says the move is to ensure public safety. And the Foreign Ministry is condemning the attack, say ing the use of chemical agents is wrong and could put people in danger. North korean officials reject the notion a nerve agent was used. They still refuse to acknowledge that the dead man is kim jong nam. Malaysias staterun News Agency Reports that police have received a warrant to detain an employee of north koreas stateowned airline. Police have wanted to question the employee of the airline as well as the second secretary at the north Korean Embassy in kuala lumpur. Both men appear in security video taken at the airport on the day the killing took place, investigators believe the two men are still in malaysia. Theyve asked the north Korean Embassy for cooperation, but have no prospect of getting any help. The second secretary is protected by diplomatic immunity and cannot be detained. Japans air selfdefense forces scrambled jets to intercept 13 chinese aircraft. Defense Ministry Officials say it was the Largest Group of foreign planes to draw a response from japan since 2003. Officials say the planes came from the East China Sea and passed between islands in okinawa before heading toward the pacific ocean. All of them later flew back toward the East China Sea. Official says the aircraft didnt violate japans airspace and the asdf planes were scrambled to insure that. Three chinese navy vessels sailed through the area on the same day. Ministry suspects the aircraft and vessels took part in a drill staged by chinas navy and air force. The air selfdefense force has scrambled jets more than 1,000 times through the ten months through january higher than the cold war record of 944 in 1984. The number of scrambled planes has been surging. Syrian forces have recaptured the ancient city of pal m palmyra from the Islamic State group. They took control a year ago, only to lose it in december. Its registered a as a unesco World Heritage site. The governments fight against the group is complicated by continued resistance from syrias opposition forces. Russias deputy Prime Minister has indicated his country is ready to go it alone if there are no breakthroughs with talks with japan on joint Economic Activity on four russianheld islands. The president ial envoy to the far east told local media in a russia wont long because it can develop the northern territories without japans cooperation. Russian president Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister shinzo abe agreed to begin negotiations, the talks are to begin on march 18 in tokyo. The envoy revealed that russia may designate the area as a special economic zone. Russia intends to call on china and south korea for investment. Japan says it will never accept such a plan. Earlier he had indicated that russia would postpone the special economic zonee project, in light of the summit meeting. Russia controls the four islands, japan claims them. The japanese government maintains the islands are an inherent part of japans territory and that the islands were illegally occupied after world war ii. New information shows that tourists continue to flock to japan. Japanese government Officials Say the number of foreign visitors who stayed in hotels last year set a new high. Officials at the Japan Tourism Agency said there were 70 Million Hotel stays by foreigners for the year, up five million or 8 from 2015. Tokyo topped the list with about 18 million stays, osaka prefecture followed with more than 10 million, hokkaido drew seven million. The popularity of the socalled golden route linking tokyo, osaka and kyoto left hotel rooms there scarcer than elsewhere. The officials plan to set up more Tourist Information centers with Foreign Language help outside the big cities to draw more travelers there. More than 620,000 Fake Products were confiscated by Customs Officials or officers around japan last year. Finance Ministry Officials say computerrelated products top the list with about 195,000 Fake Products, mainly ink cartridges, a 19fold rise over the previous year. Officials also seized 74,000 mobile phones and accessories and 39,000 pharmaceutical products, the total retail value is 100 million. They warned that products are becoming more sophisticated, that requires professionals to decide on patent and other violations. The Officials Say they plan not to let up in the battle against counterfeiters and the Fake Products will be destroyed. Japans Public Pension Fund has posted a record gain for the october through december period. The fund holds foreign and japanese stocks and bonds. Figures released on friday show the Government Pension Investment Fund or gpif logged the highest quarterly income since fiscal 2001. The fund posted a profit of about 10. 5 trillion yen or 92 billion for the third quarter. It brings the total amount held by the gpif to 1. 7 trillion. Market gain since u. S. President Donald Trumps election win have boosted the funds performance. Global investors are upbeat, they think trumps economic policies will generate higher growth. The Officials Say the fund will keep investing carefully as the economic situations change. Checking the markets, tokyo stocks ended lower after a threeday rally, a pause in the dollars advance pulled down the nikkei average. Our Business Reporter giang nguyen has more. Some investors took profits after a couple of days of strong gains, on thursdays tokyos benchmark nikkei touched a 14month high. Lets check the levels this friday. The nikkei 225 finished at 19,469. The broader topix shed. 4 . The nikkei advanced just under 1 . Turning to currencies now, the dollar retreated a bit in tokyo trading hours, after hitting a twoweek high overnight. Several fed policy makers expressed the possibility of a rate hike soon. Moving on to individual stocks, Energy Shares were among the biggest losers, dragged down by an overnight fall in oil prices. Both oil explorer inpex and showa shell fell more than 2 , and nintendo gained 3. 7 as latest game console switch went on sale on friday. Im gian nguyen reporting from the tokyo stock exchange. Most of the markets in Asia Pacific Region ended lower, hong kong fell 0. 7 . Sydney with 0. 8 lower. Dragged down by resource shares, the sharpest oneday fall in more than a month. In south korea, the kospi ended down by 1. 14 . The lowest in more than two weeks, plans to install a advanced u. S. Missile Defense System are causing tensions with china and thats weighing on market sentiment. The shanghai composite ended down. 4 , 3218, after Service Sector activity slowed in february, investors stayed cautious before the start of the annual National Peoples congress on sunday. Japanese government officials have released the latest batch of economic data. We start with the Consumer Price index, a leading gauge of inflation, it rose in january for the first time in 13 months. The Officials Say the index inched up 0. 1 from the same month last year. Higher crude oil helped push up prices, the index excludes fresh food. Still consumers in japan continue to keep a tight grip on their wallets, spending by all households with two or more members fell 1. 2 from january last year. On average they spent about 280,000 yen or around 2400. Officials have also come out with data on jobs, the Unemployment Rate edged down to 3 in january, thats down 0. 1 from the previous month. The ratio of job offers to applicants is unchanged from december to 1. 43. This means there were 143 job openings for every 100 people looking for work. Officials at the labor and Welfare Ministry say japans job mamarket has improved as the economy remains on a moderate recovery path. Japans cabinet has approved a bill that imposes stricter penalties on automakers that cheat on their fuel data. The move comes after Mitsubishi Motors manipulated its numbers and suzuki motor failed to use a governmentset method for the testing. Both Companies Went unpunished due to a lack of legal penalties. The bill would allow officials to ban sales of models whose data was falsified. Makers would have to unundergo e government screening all over again to resume selling affected cars. Our government is strengthening penaltieses to pua stop to unlawful actions. We want to illicit practices to cease and win back Peoples Trust in how cars perform. The bill would also drastically raise the fine for reporting false data to up to 1. 7 million. The current fine is up to about 2600. Toyama prefecture is famous for its seafood, especially yellowtail. Its normally eating as sash emi or a hot pot. Now one company has found a new way to enjoy this popular fish. This fish sauce is made from fermented yellowtail. Its used in a dressing at this restaurant and customers love it. Unlike ordinary fish sauce, it has a light aroma. So it doesnt overpower the taste of food. The company that produces the sauce has been making soy sauce for more than 180 years. Executives were concerned by poor sales caused by changes in eating habits. Translator people love yellowtail, we thought why not make it into a sauce. The new product is made from parts of the fish that are normally thrown away. Amino acids they contain produce a rich taste when fermented. Its better to use these things rather than throw them away. 40 of a yellowtails weight consists of fat. That makes the fishs flesh delicious, but it also makes the inside kind of smelly. Kataguchi spins the parts in a centrifuge to remove excess oil. He has taken his search for customers nationwide. This food fair features specialties from across japan. This is japans f first fish sauce made from yellowtail. Kataguchis steamed rice recipe was one of several he had to share. Fish from toyama is really delicious. I want to try it and steamed rice or simmered vegetables. Kataguchi also visited a store selling regional Food Products in a popular tourist destination. I think customers might find such a unique sauce apappealing w well make the most of the yellowtails excellent reputation. We want lots of people to try this one of a kind fish sauce. Kataguchi has shown that with a little imagination and the right equipment something tasty can be made from even the humblest of ingredients. You can catch our report online with a full transcript. Thats a look at business news, im going to leave you with the markets. The person at the center of a fiasco connected to the relocation of tokyos iconic tsukiji market has broken his silence. The governor acknowledged his responsibility in approving the plan. But he said hes not the only one to bebe blamed. T translator i had to endor the decision, whichch was basedn discussions of experts and officials. The responsibility of the approval lies not only on me, but on the administration as a whole. Tsukiji was built over 80 years ago and is beginning to show its age. So the tokyo government decided to build a replacement two kilometers away. But there were safety concerns. The site was the former home of a Gas Processing plant. Still, i ishihara struck a deal with the company,y, sayaying th government would carry out the cleanup. But last year the Current Governor announced a delay in the relocation and said excessive levels of chemicals were found in the groundwater. On friday, ishihara defendede hs decision. I asked my staff about the soil contaminatioion. They replieded thahat they coul manage itt withh the technology. So i approved it. He said because he doesnt have any Technical Knowledge of the issue, he simply trusted experts. He said Assembly Members also endorsed the plan. And he pointed a a f finger at current governrnor. Translator lots off mononey needed for the cosost of havavi two sites,s, as well as the cocompensation for the tenants, the responsibility of the current turmoil is on governor koike. Ishihara is scheduled to teteify at t the tokyoyo assemb over his handling of the case later this month. Were learning more details about a controversial land deal in western japan. The finance Ministry Bureau handling the sale said swift action was requested so the school could open on schedule. The deal involved stateowned land sold to a School Operator for just 14 of the appraised value t. Price was lorde to account for the cost of cleaning up contamination at the site. The directorgeneral of the Financial Bureau spoke at an upper house committee. He said an official from the bureau met with the School President a year ago. The School Operator said they discovered new objects buried underground while doing construction work. The operator said they were worried this could delay the opening of the school and asked us for a m meeting. He said then the School President asked for quick action. He says the official maintains they were following necessary legal l procedures and called o the operator to Work Together with relevant local bureaus. Japans Sumo Association is getting ready to debut the latest grand champion for the spring tournament. Kisenosato is the first japaneseborn yokozuna in two decades, busy prepping for the big day. Ten wrestlers in the top division took part in an annual joint training session. Kisenosato practiced with yoshiokaze who has speed and technique. They fought 13 bouts. The new grand champion gave a solid performance. He sometimes forced his opponent out of the ring and won all their bouts. His stablemaster was on hand to watch, hes been coaching kisenosato on how to perform the ringentering ritual. Kisenosato looked even bigger than before. Now thatt hes been promoted to grand champion. Translator i think i can do better day by day. I try to do my best. Kisenosato attended a party held by his sumo stable. A new set of ceremonial aprons and swords for the ringentering ceremony were unveiled. The crane and a red mount fujii reflect the hope that kisisenoso will become an outstanding champion. Translator i will meet peoples expectations, as sysymbolized by the new aprons d swords. I will try hard. Im looking forward to your support. Kisenosato has already become a hit with children. Hes featured on ththe cover of schoolol notebooks t that go one on the day the tournament starts. Japans imperial couple have met people contributing to ties with vietnam. Where theyre on their first visit. One of them was a man born as a conjoined twin and operated on by japanese doctors. The chem were among 100 people who met the emperor and empress on tuesday. He and his twin brother were born with their lower bodies joined together. Its believed to have been caused by a toxic chemical used by the American Military during the vietnam war. The twins were successfully separated by a team of japanese and vietnam hes doctors three decades ago. Viet died in 2007. Dok has been working at the hospital where his surgery took place. Emperor akito expressed his condolences over viets death. But is glad to see dok is doing well. Dok showed the emperor of his children, who he named after mount fuji and the cherry blossom. The imperial couple talked of the japanese celebrity who has been doing charity work in vietnam for manany years. Translator i believe the meeting will boost bilateral ties in political, economic and cultural fields. Sugi introduced visually impaired children to the couple saying he and a japanese music producer have been helping them over the years. Technology is Getting Better at human games following man versus machine matches of chess and the asian board game go. An International Team has developed Artificial Intelligence that can beat pros at the poker table. Computer scientists from containeden and czech institutions have published their findings. They developed software called deepstack. It took on 33 professional poker players in 45,000 games and won most of f them. Poker poses a unique challenge to a. I. Developers as it involves imperfect information. Because playersrs dont know wh cards their opponents have. Deepstack acquired something its Developers Call intuition through various game play scenarios. A. I. Technology has been makini rapid progress. I. T. Giant google developed the software alphago which stunned many last year when it beat one of the worlds best go players. Youre watching nhk newsline. Its time to bring in jonathan oh with an update on the whorld weather, starting with australia. I think the main concerns will be the possibibility of flh flooding, because were going to be dealing with heavier downpours. The western coast and most of australia not really concerned with this. But along the eastern side theres a couple of areas of low pressure that are impacting the northern and southern areas of the coastline. On top of that we have a trough in place. An area where were going to see rushing air come in and thats going to help trigger a little bit more of the instability as we go forward in time. We do have rain thats already trying to come onshore. Near sydney in new south wales. Were going to see the rain picking up and the time period of heavy rainfall will progress from south to north, saturday into sunday. To the north, new tropical areas are going to see the rainfall in place and som of that may be heavy from time to time. So as we go throughghout the ne few days, the rain wilill be in the forecast. By the time we go to around tuesday the Southern Coast may start to see drier conditions, butt cairns you may see more rainfall. Not a prolonged type situation, bubut the flash flooding, the quick, heavy downpours may be part of the story as we go forward in time. Heres a look at the threeday forecast starting with sydney on saturday. You may be dealing with thunderstorm activity. And further up the coast to brisbane on sunday, by monday, cairns, youre going to be seeing the the highest chance of thunderstorms, and the wet weather pattern continues through saturday, sunday and into monday. In tokyo we saw sunny skies, a nice day outside with blue skies and along the Western Areas of japan we also saw calmer conditions. Towards the north stronger winds overtook the area. Over into portions of hokkaido we saw gusts of 104 Kilometers Per Hour and even into ishinomaki we saw gusts of 95 Kilometers Per Hour. We are looking at the culprit of this low pressure system to continue to move north and east. Meanwhile we willll still have e flow comin i in fmm the north and west. So the winter p pressure patter continueues to be in plplace. So hokkaido and even into the sea of japan side of the tohoku region youre going to be looking at the possibility of snowfall. For the central and western portions of japan looking at mild conditions for the weekend with highs in the mid to upper teens. Fukuoka, youre going to start to see rain going into sunday and monday, most of the couount will be dealing win creased cloud cover or rain going into monday. Meanwhile, we go to north america, and a good portion of the United States relatively calm at this point. We do have that low pressure system that was really the culprit of major problems earlier this week, continuing to move towards the north and east. But its still in the area so we are looking into cold air return and strong winds, especially with the eastern portions of canada, even into New England States as we progress throughout the next day or. So so friday, we pay even n see flurries coming out of the great lakes in that process, over in the pacific northwest, we will be dealing with a wet and cool conditions. 9 in seattle, a high of 28 on friday in l. A. We wrap things up with a look at your relatively calm central areas of the continent. An oncoming low pressure system will bring rain to the iberian peninsula. And the British Isles as we go into the last day of the work week. Heres youre extended outlook. Well have more updates and special reports for you at the top of the hour onvxa molly welcome to the france 24 newsroom. Heres a look at the headlines we are following. Francois fillons seeking the president ial bid. The conservative candidate is refusing to budge. A Campaign Spokesperson is the latest to call it quits. Jeff sessions removes himself from campaign investigations. Top lawyer is under pressure for speaking with the Russian Ambassador twice during the campaign