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opening day of the sapporo snow festival. the sculptures are lit up at night, filling the air with dream-like visions. the governments of north and south korea have agreed to hold reunions of families separated by the korean war. they'll take place beginning february 20th. red cross officials from the two countries met to discuss the issue at the border village of pan mum jong on wednesday. 100 people will take part in the six day reunions at the mt. kumgang resort in the north. it will be the first time since 2010 that families divided by the war have been able to meet. the korean war lasted from 1950 to 1953. both countries agreed to hold family reunions last september. but the north called them off at the last minute. south korean president park geun-hye last month urged the north to allow the families to get back to the. analysts say north korea may set conditions for the reunions. leaders in pyongyang remain strongly opposed to an upcoming military exercise between south korea and the united states. a senior u.s. official is urging leaders in china not to establish air defense identification zones over sensitive areas, including the south china sea. authorities in beijing raised tensions last november by announcing a zone over the east china sea. assistant secretary of state for east asian and pacific affairs daniel russell spoke to reporters in washington. he said the u.s. does not recognize china's air defense zone, and warned leaders not to set up more. >> we urge china not to attempt to implement the adiz and certainly not to replicate it in other -- in other sensitive areas, including and particularly in south china sea. >> russell said the u.s. military has shown that china's air defense zone won't affect its operations. a former senior u.s. defense official has also expressed strong concern over the country's rapid military buildup. michelle fourteenny served as undersecretary of defense during the first term of president barack obama. she commented on china's test flight last month of a missile that travels more than five times the speed of sound. >> do think that, again, one of our overarching concerns is lack of transparency on chinese technological development, and therefore, lack of explanation as to the intent and purpose of the systems. >> flournny said the defense department's upcoming quadrennial defense review is likely to confirm the continuation of rebalancing u.s. forces to the asia pacific region. she said officials are expected to allocate 60% of naval forces to the area and maintain the number of marines throughout asia despite a planned reduction of military personnel. prime minister shinzo abe wants japanese self-defense forces to have greater leeway in responding to security threats. he says the government should achieve that goal by changing its interpretation of the constitution. so he assembled a panel of experts to study the issue. and they agreed that lawmakers should take action. nhk world's miss hoe nishikawa has the story. >> reporter: members of the panel met on tuesday. sources say they backed the government's view that the constitution should allow the right to collective self-defense. that would give the sdf the right to defend an ally under attack. some panel members said the current legal framework does not allow the sdf to use force in anything shorpt of a direct military strike. abe said the current law allows the forces to act only in cases of systematic and premeditated attacks on japan. but he noted there might be cases that do not involve the use of force. >> translator: many believe the sdf must respond to situations where there is a gray area. as when contingencies occur on remote islands, and if police and the coast guard cannot immediately respond. >> reporter: abe's views have been causing concern abroad. neighboring countries such as china and south korea are worried that japan is taking a shift to the right. but an expert on security policy says the panel's decision is a necessary step in light of increasing tensions in the region. >> without security and stability in the region heavily depends on the global environment. so it's -- it's not appropriate to name a specific region. but still, as we can see, the tensions are very high in the east china sea and south china sea. >> reporter: the panel members will issue a final report to abe as early as april. it will likely list the conditions that the sdf would be able to exercise collective self-defense. cottonny says the panel members need to hold more discussions about how the government would authorize such actions. >> the key issue is, of course, the civilian control, or in other words how the diet should be involved. when the government exercises collective self-defense. >> reporter: debate among lawmakers and the public is likely to grow heated before the panel members submit their final report. miss ueckco nishikawa, nhk world, tokyo. prime minister abe wants people here in japan to spend more. but in order to do that they need to get aid more. negotiations for wages are under way throughout the country, and ron madison is here with details on that. >> for a long time economists have insisted that rising wages has been one of the key elements missing each time japan enters a recovery phase. so they're hoping to change all that this time. annual wage negotiations, in full swing now. labor and business leaders met on wednesday. >> translator: this year's labor negotiations will affect the course of japanese society and its economy. >> japanese trade union confederation or rengo called for an across-the-board increase in basic pay as well as periodic raises. kozu said he will seek higher compensation for workers, including temporary staff. the leader of japan business federation or keidanran expressed willingness to raise wages to help improve the economy. >> reporter: 2014 will offer a big chance for japan to end deflation, and also accelerate its economic recovery. >> yonekura said he will continue his efforts so higher corporate earnings will lead to a virtuous cycle of more investment, job growth and wage hikes. executives of large firms will be issues responses around mid-march. japanese automakers are showing higher earnings and that's because a weaker yen is giving a boost to their global khk. mitsubishi motors says its sales rose 18% to about $15 billion in the april to december period last year compared to the previous year. mitsubishi executives say operating profits stood at around $950 million, and the profit more than doubled, setting a record, in fact, for the nine-month span. the yen's decline helped sharply improve the company's overseas business. brisk domestic sales of many vehicles also pushed up earnings. but the officials revised downward their projected annual sales largely due to political turmoil in thailand that is a key market for mitsubishi. another automaker, mazda, expects to post a record profit for this full business year ending in march. the executives say group sales for the april to december period rose 26% to around $19 billion compared to a year ago. its operating profit hit the highest for the period, topping $1.2 billion. the executives say the annual operating profit is likely to raise from an earlier estimate. that's due to brisk new car sales in japan, as well as europe, and an improvement in export profits. if the projection is realized, mazda would post its highest operating profit for the first time in six years. let's get a check of the markets now. recent weak sentiment in europe is recovering somewhat now. london is now higher after opening lower by about a quarter percent. we're seeing declines for frankfurt down about 0.2% and paris' cac 40 is up about 0.1%. still many investors reluctant to take new positions ahead of the european central bank's policy meeting. that's on thursday, as well as important economic data out of the u.s. earlier many asian bourses rebounded from tuesday's sell-off. tok tokyo's nikkei got a boost from upbeat earnings results released by high profile companies. singapore's straits times index extended its losses, posting a fresh low since november 2012. and in hong kong the hang seng index dropped 0.6% to a near seven-month low. shares of macao casino operators took a beating after data show gambling revenue in the city grew at a much lower pace than expected in january. moving on to currencies now, dollar/yen is currently at 101.22 roughly. analysts say traders are focusing on upcoming economic data out of the u.s. this does include a private sector jobs report on wednesday. meanwhile euro/yen is being quoted at around 136.74. the euro fell after december retail sales for the eurozone came in much weaker than what many economists had estimated. morgan stanley has agreed to pay $1.25 billion to settle a case with u.s. regulators. the major u.s. investment bank is among 17 firms taken to court by the federal housing finance agency. and this is for selling complex financial products to state-sponsored home loan lenders without fully explaining about the high risk. the transactions on mortgage-backed securities between the firm, and freddie mac and fannie mae took place between 2005 and 2007 and this was at the height of the u.s. housing bubble. seven financial institutions, including jpmorgan chase, and germany's deutsche bank, have already agreed to pay fines. the huge fines are weighing down now on their earnings. european firms are eyeing japan's clean energy market. they're showcasing their latest technologies in tokyo, with the increased interest in green energy after the accident at fukushima at the fukushima nuclear power plant. the delegation of the european union to japan organized the event. 38 firms took part. a french company displayed a product used to float solar panels on water. executives from japanese manufacturers and trading houses were among the visitors. the exhibitor of floating solar panels sees japan as the most attractive market in the world. >> european company have a little bit of advance, but that could be easily shared with japanese partner to make a very strong market from japan. but also, to push other asian country, as an example, to invest in this kind of technology. >> the japan external trade organization says more foreign firms are entering the country's renewable energy market. japan has been diversifying its energy sources following the nuclear disaster in 2011. all right. that is going to do it for biz tonight. let's get you a check of the markets. every morning, investors turn our attention to asia. the tokyo market leads the way and markets around the world follow. >> from the decisions that could change the course of an economy. >> to the latest business trends. >> up to the minute market reports. >> and analysis by specialists from around the world. >> get all the latest business news and insight every day. here on "newsline." the u.s. navy is investigating allegations of cheating on exams at a training facility for nuclear powered submarine operators. the chief of naval operations revealed at a news conference that officers at the facility in south carolina may have cheated on a regular written exam designed to maintain their proficiency. u.s. media reports say around 30 people have been involved. >> to say that i'm disappointed would be an understatement. whenever i hear about integrity issues, it's disresultive to our unit's success. >> u.s. defense secretary chuck hagel gave a direct order to the navy to look into the scandal, which is the second to hit the country's military this year. last month the u.s. air force found that more than 90 officers had cheated on a proficiency exam for the operation of intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads. nearly three years have passed since a massive quake and tsunami devastated japan's northeastern region. but the harmful effects are still spreading within coastal forests. experts recently discovered the main cause for the death in the plants there. nhk world's kaye yam massieu has more. >> reporter: our prefecture, northern japan, has been maintained by the government for 150 years. to protect inland areas from strong wind, sand, and possible tsunami. during the 2011 tsunami, tourists stopped a floating boat just before it smashed into a residential area. but the forests may no longer be able to protect residents. a researcher now finds many dead pine trees which didn't -- the forest. >> translator: the bark comes off easily when the tree is dead. you can't bring it back to life. >> reporter: this aerial photograph was taken one month after the tsunami. the forest is healthy and green. only a part of it had been knocked down by the waves. however, a photograph taken in the following year showed large gray area of rotted trees. the forest rot has now grown ten times bigger. 134 hectares across the prefecture. >> translator: the forest can't block tsunami anymore. inland residents and farms are at risk of serious damage. >> reporter: two discovered mechanics of the plant death. on the day, sea water was covering the entire area then gradually receded. but it revealed some sea water continued to cover low-lying land. ocean salt blocked the absorption of water by tree roots, weakening the body. kimura says the sick trees couldn't survive the hot, dry summer. >> translator: the trees were weakened by tsunami. and lost their leaves. that reduces their ability to photo synthesize enough energy to sustain themselves.synthesizo sustain themselves. >> reporter: the local government is planning to restore the forest as soon as possible to prepare for another disaster. but young pine trees need at least 20 years to grow enough to offer protection from tsunami. effects of the 2011 disaster are still spreading in the environment, nearly three years later. nhk world. a popular japanese composer of classical music has revealed that he has paid someone else to write his pieces. he has been called a modern-day beethoven because he is hearing impaired. a lawyer representing him explained the existence of a ghost writer who wrote some of the works for more than a decade. he is a 50-year-old native of hiroshima prefecture and is described as a self-taught composer. he has published several popular works of music while fighting to save his hearing. he says that what he did is an act of betrayal. he apologized to his fans and those who were offended by the news. he won the hiroshima citizens award in 2008. >> translator: the city will have to consider taking back the award if the reasons he was given the honor prove to be false. >> his symphony number gave hope to many people and became a major hit following the march 2011 disaster more than 180,000 cds of the composition were sold. an annual snow festival has opened on february 5th in sapporo on japan's northern island of hokkaido. massive know and ice sculptures are illuminated at night creating a very unique atmosphere. nhk world is taking in the sights and sounds for us. >> reporter: i'm here in sapporo city. it is turned in to night. earlier on it was snowing. but right now the temperature has dropped to minus 6 degrees. now as you can see there are a lot of people crowding the venue. there are huge snow sculptures on display at this year's snow festival. the festival features ice sculptures, as well. this big piece here is carved from 250 blocks of ice. we can see the sapporo city tower behind a veil of ice. lights are reflected through the ice, giving the sculptures an air of mystical glow. now, depending on the music, the illumination changes colors. now, you might see behind the scenes, they work so hard to make this sculpture, a lot of effort is required to give the sculptures lighting effect. snow falls over them every day, blanketing the surfaces. it prevents light from shining through the ice, which degrades the illumination effect. but snow in hokkaido is so light it can be blown away easily. staff members brush it off before the illumination starts. now, lighting techniques are used in many different ways here at this festival. organizers are using a popular lighting technique called protection mapping. the images include horses running freely across a hokkaido landscape in different seasons, and pictures representing the birth of life. the result is a very impressive display showcasing the variety of scenes from the region. now i'm going to ask a few visitors what they thought of the festival. hello, ladies. >> hi. >> where are you from? >> sydney, australia. >> and is this your first time here? >> no, it's our second time. >> how do you like it? >> yeah, i really love it. it's amazing. >> what do you think about the illumination effect? >> we came in this afternoon, we couldn't really see much. it's so much better in the night time. >> thank you, ladies. have a great time. as you can see the sapporo snow festival attracts a lot of people. more than 2 million people are expected to come this week. the event runs through february 11th, with illuminations continuing every night. akane nakajima, nhk world, sapporo. there's another snowstorm rolling across the u.s. just when the icy roads started to melt. our meteorologist robert speta has more on that. >> gene, first start off by talking about this system, which has already resulted in several deaths out here into the central plains, including kansas, over to missouri, as well. we first got a video coming out of kansas, where that snow continued to come down, and just absolutely treacherous driving conditions out there. you can see the snow plow trying to drive through the snow drifts, very dangerous. that's what caused those two deaths. local meteorologists in kansas city say that, you know, snow is not uncommon here, but about 3% of all winter storms add up to 15 centimeters or more. this latest one did result in 15 centimeters. so some pretty unusually heavy snow. now this whole system is continuing to pull east though out towards mid-atlantic states. much of the eastern seaboards will be impacted by it. the heaviest snow and freezing rain is going to be in the cold sector. that's the northern half of this low pressure. down here, this is mostly rain. and even some mixed precipitation mixed in there. but these areas in the black. that's where you're going to be seeing 10 to 20 centimeters of snowfall. isolated regions could see up to 30 centimeters. the lake-effect snow is going to be kicking up as that low does continue to push off there towards the east. cold air will be descending in behind it. much drier conditions at the very least. but the temperatures are just going to be one of those frigid days here on wednesday. where you just want to stay inside. denver with a high of minus 14. chicago at minus 4. toronto getting up to minus 5. and even winnipeg, you're absolutely frigid up there at minus 20. ahead of the front, though, we are still seeing the single digit temperatures, and even into atlanta, up to 14 there on your wednesday. now, take a look over towards japan. the sea effect snow is still the main topic out here. definitely good news if you're off towards hokkaido and getting ready for that sapporo ice festival. you still could see an additional 40 centimeters in the next 24 hours. by thursday evening, this should be tapering off as those northwesterly winds start to change. and that's a direct result of the next system that's coming in from the west out of china right now. this low is starting to develop. it's bringing some rain showers across southeastern china over towards taiwan. that southerly moisture coming in. off towards the north you're also looking at 5 to 10 centimeters in northeastern china. but what's going to be happening with this, it's developing and it's going to trek east along the pacific coast of japan, and by this weekend we could be looking at another wintry mix or even some snowfall across the pacific coast, including tokyo, as well. keep an eye on that. temperatures at least on your thursday, tokyo up to 7. seoul just 4 and ulan bator, minus 15 here on your thursday. now over towards europe, well, the big topic is this low pressure system right here. this is just one storm after another. this is just bringing gusty winds on the western seaboards. trains, airports, have also seen cancellations and delays out here. it's just numerous reports of flooding overall, and still looking at about 30 to 40 millimeters of rainfall on top of this. not to mention these gusty winds. look at all these lines really close together. that is indicating those winds which could be up to 100 kilometers per hour. so you have that. also the risk of storm surge in coastal areas accompanied by 5 to 7 meter high waves. so definitely this is a story to watch in western europe. eastern europe, staying much calmer. but frigid out here. moscow minus 2 for your high on wednesday. here's the extended forecast. the public has gotten its first look at the medals that will be awarded to athletes at the winter olympics. they feature a traditional russian mosaic pattern and a landscape of the sochi region. olympic authorities commissioned a jewelry manufacturer to make the medals. each one is 10 centimeters in diameter and 1 centimeter thick. they're made from metals produced in russia. the designers used a transparent synthetic risen to portray ice. the jeweler produced a record 1300 medals for this year's games. that's the most ever for a winter olympics and paralympics and reflects an increase in the number of events. that's "newsline" for this hour. i'm gene otani in tokyo. from all of us here at nhk world, thanks for joining us. >> welcome back to the newsroom here on "france 24." here are the top stories. they u.n. releases a scathing report on child abuse in the catholic church, demanding the vatican removes all clergy who are known or suspected child abusers. the ukrainian president is kia afterwn in battling -- kia after battling two months of protests. the winter olympics kick off in sochi on friday, the most
AustraliaSapporoHokkaidoJapanBeijingChinaRussiaKansas-cityKansasUnited-statesWashingtonDistrict-of-columbia collected a human rights award she won more than two decades ago. aung san suu kyi won the prize for freedom of sort in 1990, but she was under house arrest at the time. she could not leave the country because that would have put her at risk of never being able to return. authorities released her three years ago. last year, she won the seat in parliament and became leader of the opposition. >> we still have to work very hard before the basic law of the land which is the constitution. will guarantee us right to live in accordance with our conscience. >> the president of the european parliament praised her for what she's done. martin schulz said she's shown people that fight for democracy will prevail in the end no matter how long it takes. diplomats are trying to use their influence to bring the two sides in syria's civil war together. they're hoping to persuade leaders of syria's main opposition group to attend an international peace conference. but opposition leaders are resisting. diplomats from the united states and russia have been trying for months to organize peace talks. their latest plan is to hold a conference next month in geneva. represents of 11 western and arab countries met in london to try to move the process forward. they agreed opposition leaders need to be united if they hope to put an end to the civil war. but some of those leaders refuse to sit down with representatives of syrian president bashar al assad. the british foreign secretary offered some reassurances. >> assad would play no role in that future government of syria. >> opposition leaders are not convinced, including the head of the main opposition group, the syrian national coalition. ahmed al jarba said they will not participate in any negotiations as long as assad remains in power. south korea's unification minister says his government is ready to resume talks on re-opening a symbol of cooperation between the two koreas. the tourism project of mt. kumgang has been on hold for five years. >> translator: i believe that through such talks, people from both countries can come up with approaches we can agree upon and make progress toward resuming the project. >> thousands of people from both sides of the border used to visit mt. kumgang to enjoy the scenery. it grew into an important source of foreign currency for the north koreans. but authorities suspended the project in 2008 after north korean soldiers shot and killed a tourist from the south. ryoo said north korean leaders need to take responsibility for what happened, then both sides can work toward re-opening the project. but he said they need to ensure that tourists are safe. white house officials say the recent partial government shutdown will likely trim economic growth by 0.25 percentage point in a fourth quarter this year. head of the council of economic advisers, jason thurman, said payroll growth in october could decline by $120,000 due to the shutdown. >> so as we look at more of october, those numbers could change and potential ly get worse. this all just really underscores how unnecessary and harmful the shutdown and the brinksmanship was for the economy, why it's important to avoid repeating it. >> the white house calculation is based on eight economic data including jobless claims during the first 12 days of october. officials in japan and russia are using electricity generation to boofrt ties. a new power plant equipped with japanese turbines started operations in eastern russia. the thermal facility provides electricity and hot water to the country's largest aquarium using natural gas. japanese machinery maker kawasaki heavy industries supplied its two turbines. the president of a local power company priced the efficiency of the machinery. russian government officials are trying to make better use of natural gas reserves by improving infrastructure. they are building gas supply networks in the far east region, and they're also working to convert thermal plants that burn coal. a kawasaki heavy industries official says he hopes the new plant will encourage economic cooperation. the people at apple have unveiled a thinner, lighter version of the ipad. they say it's their weapon to fight off their competition. >> ipad air. >> the new tablet has the same size screen as its predecessor, but is about 20% thinner and 28% lighter. consumers in the u.s. and japan can buy the device in about a week. they can expect to pay about $500 for basic model. apple's executives will also launch an improved version of the ipad mini later in november. >> ipad combines into an incredible experience of hardware and amazing software and intuitive services into an experience that no one else can match. >> south korea's samsung electronics and other firms offering tablets that run google's android operating system. apple's tablet sales for the april to june period fell year-on-year for the first time since 2010. it used to hold over half the market share. now it only has 32%. the executives hope the new products will help them win back what they've lost. firefighters in eastern australia are trying to make every minute count. they're working to contain wildfires. the flames have burned through vast tracts of land and destroyed more than 200 homes. one person has died. nhk world reports from sydney. >> reporter: some 60 wildfires are burning in australia's eastern state of new south wales. the premier declared a state of emergency after the flames tore through residential areas. some people have been told to evacuate their homes and head to shelters. firefighters have been trying to keep the fires from merging. as you can see behind me, hazard reduction burn has been conducted in order to stop fire from expanding. firefighters raced to make the most of the cooler weather on tuesday. they burned vegetation and small bushes to eliminate fuel for the fire. the cleared areas will act as barriers to contain the flames. firefighters at this regional headquarters are monitoring the situation in blue mountains national park where the wildfires are the worst. they're trying to maximize their resources. more than 2,000 firefighters have been called in from around australia to battle the flames, but they still don't have enough teams to cover all fronts. >> the biggest challenge is purely the large size of this fire. it's over 40,000 hectares and over 300 kilometers around. so it's a massive fire. there's a lot of fire edge, and that is the most challenging at this point in time trying to get to all that. >> reporter: some of the fires started spontaneously. residents say in other places, strong winds brought down power lines, igniting the dry bush. defense ministry officials are looking into whether explosives at a military training site sparked the fire at a national park. authorities have arrested two boys they suspect deliberately started fires in other areas. millions of people are seeing the result. smoke is clouding the skies. a haze envelopes sydney on monday. a burning smell lingers in the air. >> coming in on the train, you could definitely smell it and it's pretty hazy, as you can see, today. >> reporter: wildfires are common during the summer month, but authorities say it's extraordinary for them to be this intense and large scale. so early in the season. forecasters blame an unusually dry winter, and they say the past 12 months have been the warmest on record. the conditions for wildfires were perfect. and the firefighters are bracing for those conditions to worsen. forecasters are calling for hotter and drier weather on wednesday. nhk world, new south wales. a japanese astronaut has finished his final prelaunch test and is ready to head into orbit. koichi wakata is set to be the first japanese commander of the international space station. wakata has been preparing with his crew at the training center outside moscow. he will spend half a year in space. he will take command of the station during the final two months. >> communication is a key to the success of space flight. so i will like to make sure that we have good teamwork, communication between the crew members, and also with the ground support teams. >> the astronauts will take off in two weeks onboard the russian spacecraft, soyuz. japan's chefs could soon find their work endorsed by the united nations. members of a unesco committee have recommended japan's culinary arts be dez signated a intangible asset. unesco is expected to endorse the decision in december. japan's cultural affairs aswrgc proposed it. the recipes, tableware and other culinary arts are a fundamental part of japanese culture. the officials say they hope unesco recognition will be a boost for businesses hit by concerns about food safety since 2011 nuclear accident. unesco currently recognizes four food cultures. french, turkish, mexican, and mediterranean. thousands of foreign volunteers traveled to northeast japan after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. many of them helped clear debris in the city of ishinomaki in miyagi prefecture. a team of local amateur journalists is trying to give something back to people overseas. nhk world has the story. >> reporter: he runs a gas company in ishinomaki. he's very busy these days with reconstruction efforts. he has another commitment as well. he started an english magazine with two friends last year. they named it "rolling press" because they want to set people's minds in motion. they write about what's going on in their hometown. >> translator: we're trying to focus on locals who are working with a positive attitude. >> reporter: arakawa had a good reason to start a magazine for people overseas. the march 11th tsunami destroyed his home and his business. he says the devastation made him feel hopeless, but then many foreign volunteers arrived and offered help. >> translator: i was amazed that so many of them came and worked so hard for us. i'm not sure i would have done the same thing in their situation. >> reporter: arakawa's team is working on an article about a japanese restaurant that was destroyed in the tsunami. many foreigners helped clear debris from the ruins. the restaurant was able to re-open this summer in time for its 100th anniversary. >> translator: the support of many volunteers made it possible for us to re-open. >> reporter: one of arakawa's goals is to tell the story of survivors who are helped by foreigners. one of the volunteers was bree mcwilliams. she helped clear the debris in ishinomaki. now that the cleanup is finished, she's helping in another way by translating articles in the "rolling press" into english. >> i want to stay involved. and it's also just a continuation through the 2 1/2 years i've grown a kind of affinity toward ishinomaki and it's become a place i feel is quite near and dear to my heart. >> reporter: so far, more than 1,700 copies of "rolling press" have been distributed around the world. arakawa and his team are trying even more to disseminate to the world more information about the situation in affected areas and the progress of reconstruction. they've also conducted a tour for foreign visitors. arakawa hopes to share his experiences from the disaster in what he learned from them. >> translator: i felt, so, so huge and cannot fight for nature. but i felt people's power is also very huge. can change your mind, can change your situation. >> reporter: arakawa told people on the tour about the "rolling press." some took copies to take home with them. >> it reminds people life here isn't perfect and there's a lot of work to be done. >> i'd like to come back and see how it's doing in five years' time, ten years' time. >> translator: i'd like many people to visit ishinomaki to see the rebuilding for themselves. they can connect with residents who were helped by foreign volunteers. that would help the economy, too. it's my dream. >> thank you, again. >> reporter: arakawa says he'll keep spreading the word about people in is h hinomaki. their new lives and challenges. he also says he hopes to attract more tourists from overseas. nhk world, ishinomaki. time now for a check of the weather. a typhoon is battering southwestern japan, and another is on the way. meteorologist sayaka mori tells us the latest. >> hello, there. we've been focusing on typhoon francisco francisco. clouds are covering minamidaito island. we have some video from this location. trees are swaying in the winds and gusts of about 105 kilometers per hour were reported this morning. ferry services and flights have been canceled due to strong winds and high surf. now, it looks like the southwestern islands of japan will remain on the stormy side throughout the day. and it looks like gusts of about 200 kilometers per hour are likely with waves of about 10 meters today. and a rainfall of about 150 millimeters into the next 24 hours. kn now, starting friday, francisco is starting to move toward the northeast as it interacts with jet stream. and then probably stay over the waters into the weekend. but, of course, mainland japan, kishu, will be feeling quite stormy conditions into the weekend. and before the arrival of the system, a new system has formed here. that is producing quite heavy rain for many areas across the pacific coast. especially kishu and shikuku. you could be seeing as much as 2 a millimeters of rain into tomorrow morning. so flooding, landslides, all of them are going to be a very high risk for some time. now, further down toward the south, we have a more intense storm. this is violent typhoon lakima packing wind gusts of over 300 kilometers per hour. tornado-like winds are battering in and around the center of the storm, and the system will likely affect the northern mariana islands tomorrow and affect the ogasawara island by friday. now, across the continent, we have this low producing wet and windy conditions. some snow is in the forecast in the upper elevations. and this is actually improving the bad air quality. some people in northeastern china are dealing with hazy conditions, but because of the wet and windy conditions, conditions could improve on your wednesday. so that's good news. now, further down toward australia, as we have been reporting, the worst wildfires in decades are raging through parts of new south wales. especially the blue mountains in the city of katumba. the fire danger is at a severe level today because of high temperatures and high winds. now, tomorrow, although temperatures may go down to the mid teens, but winds will remain on the high side. and even friday, although winds will ease, a humidity will remain on the low side into the weekend. so, unfortunately, no big improvement is in the foreseeable future. all right. across europe, then, a big and powerful low-pressure system is affecting the western half of europe. as you an scan see, we have a v long frontal system and strong low-pressure system and the lines are close to each other meaning very strong winds are blowing in many places in europe, especially severe weather is occurring from the iberian peninsula, through the western continent, up into the scandinavian peninsula. even snow showers are likely in southern parts of the scandinavian peninsula, and even tornadoes cannot be ruled out in places like germany, spain, or actually france and the low countries. different story in the center. sunny skies and temperatures are going to be summer-like in many places. like belgrade at 27 degrees for the high on wednesday. that's 10 degrees higher than average. here's the extended forecast. and that concludes this edition of "newsline." i'm keikichi hanada. on behalf of our team, thank you for staying with us. terry been i will be starting a association where one in 11 children go under -- go without food. this week, the tavis family foundation is launching ending nationala four-year initiative to examine barriers and examine solutions to alleviate poverty here in america. we will start that with andrew mccarthy, president and ceo of the casey foundation, dedicated to building better features for disadvantaged children. this will turn into a carcinoid greg kaufman. we are glad you have joined us. those conversations are coming up right now. >> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. the war on poverty, and only has it not been one, but we are losing battle after .attle game part ofick mccarthy is the charitable organization that has a leadership role in finding solutions that seems to be an intractable issue in this country. >> so happy to be with you. tavis: why -- tabby is it that we can seem to get traction on a real conversation about alleviating poverty in america? when we think about our own growing up, we have talked about opportunity in this country. if you have worked hard and stayed hard and do it you are told, you can get ahead. i think that is still a core value that we have as americans. it is very hard for americans to hear that there are many fellow citizens and their children who are in poverty. it is hard to hear that, even as we struggle with the question of how do we keep folks on the path toward opportunity. tois difficult for people engage in that position. but we have to. you are -- tavis you are right, but there are so many americans in the million who are living the story. the numbers tell the story. vested oro your less left or right, somebody struggling with this. how can you not get a conversation about it when this is not a poor story. i you, airing out in you and tax you are thanks i issues that part of the that there are major economic changes in the last 30 years. we have certainly entered a world of global competition. we have high productivity which brings the rices of their consumer is down. at the same time, there are fewer jobs available than there used to be back when fa
New-yorkUnited-statesMoscowMoskvaRussiaJapanAustraliaIberian-peninsulaSpain-general-SpainGermanyKumgang kim jong-un vicht visits a north korea resort gushing about what he saw. what is behind his sudden obsession with his regime getaways. i'm wolf blitzer and you're in "the situation room." a federal judge has just ruled that house democrats can see grand jury material from the mueller report for the impeachment inquiry. and new subpoenas targeting two officials from the office of management and budget and one from the state department have been issued and lawyers for john bolton are now in talked with the house committees leading the inquiry about the possible deposition of the national security visor. we'll talk with steve cohen and republican candidate mark sanford. and first straight to capitol hill. our senior congressional correspondent manu raju is on the scene. there is a very important new ruling potentially just out. >> reporter: perhaps the most significant part of this ruling is that this federal judge said that the impeachment inquiry conducted by house democrats is legal. this is despite what the white house has been arguing for sometime. that this is not illegal or valley impeachment inquiry in part because the house has not taken a formal vote to authorize that inquiry but in the ruling that said that the justice department must turn over underlying information and grand jury information related to the mueller probe to the house judiciary committee by next week and the judge made clear that congress has broad latitude to determine exactly how to conduct its impeachment inquiry. now since this lawsuit was filed, the impeachment inquiry shifted focus to over to the matter of ukraine. before this was about getting information related to episodes of obstruction of justice as laid out in the mueller report, episodes where the president tried to thwart the investigation and now capitol hill is looking into how the president handled efforts to bolster relations with ukraine and pushing for investigations into the president's rivals urging the ukraine government to do that. questions about any potential quid pro quo, what the judge said here is that congress could essentially do what it wants in terms of deciding how to carry out its impeachment inquiry. saying this, impeachment based on anything less than all relevant evidence would compromise the public's faith in the process. wolf, the justice department is reviewing the decision and we'll see if an appeal comes but a significant ruling that could have broader ramifications as a white house fights the democrat request as part of the impeachment inquiry. >> how big of a loss, manu, would this be for president trump? >> reporter: quite significant. because the president made it clear, a letter came from the white house counsel making clear they will not cooperate with what they call an invalid and illegitimate inquiry but the ruling said here if that is tested in federal court, that perhaps that will not stand up to legal muster. so it could significantly undercut efforts by the white house to stonewall demands from the democrats who have issued subpoenas for a range of information, wolf. >> so how does this play into the democrats' efforts in their impeachment inquiry? >> reporter: well the democrats impeachment push is moving quickly and the house side they have a full slate of witnesses that are coming forward right now. they are in negotiations with john bolton, the national security adviser, the former national security adviser. someone who had raised concerns about the with holding of ukrainian aid and raised concerned about rudy giuliani's efforts to push for investigations to help president trump and investigations that he sought and going for his testimony and also other key witnesses are coming next week, including tim morrison, a top national security counsel official. someone who we are told, according to multiple sources, will corroborate key elements of testimony from earlier this week in which the president's top diplomat in ukraine raised concerns. he testified that for some time he had been pushing to release that aid but then had been told that the president had withheld hundreds of million dollars of ukrainian aid to get the ukrainian government to announce an investigation into the bidens and as well as into the 2016 election interference and try to essentially undercut the findings that the russians had interfered in the u.s. elections to help the president. now we're also told that after morrison that we are learning today that more subpoenas have come out for the week after morrison testify and political appointees from the office of management and budget and state department officials to come in the following week. we're not certain whether they will comply with the request but democrats are continuing to investigate exactly why that ukraine aid has been withheld. and also another revelation today, we're getting clearer indication that the whistle-blower, the person whose complaint spawned this impeachment inquiry is highly unlikely to testify before capitol hill. there have been discussions for some time to bring this person in. perhaps employ extreme measure to guard their identity and do it off site but concerns over the person's safety and new op-ed from the whistle-blower's attorneys who said the whistle-blower does not have any information beyond what is already out there, what is already in the complaint and can't provide congress with any any information and a new letter that we're just seeing today from the senate sent to the senate intelligence committee which is also asking for the whistle-blower's testimony saying gyp the events of just the past 24 hours let alone the past three weeks to include threats from the president of the united states, our client is now only willing to communicate with both committees through written interrogatories, questions and answers. they're saying only written questions they'll respond to, not any in-person interview. a clear sign that perhaps this whistle-blower testimony is not going to happen, wolf. >> breaking news developing up on capitol hill. thank you very much. we'll get back to you. let's get to meanwhile on the ruling that just came in. our crime and justice reporter shimon prokupecz is working the story. so from everything you're hearing, what is this potentially mean for house democrats? >> reporter: it is hugely important and hugely a big success. this is a huge success for the house democrats. not only in terms of russia investigation, but you have to think about the ukraine investigation, the impeachment inquiry and what is happening there. because what we're seeing time and time again from this administration is that they're trying to use the courts to stall the house members, the democrats, from getting this information. whether it is the grand jury information, whether it is information, documents from witnesses. and what we're seeing time and time again is that the courts are saying, you know what, the law is not on your side in this matter. we're seeing it today. but think about also, wolf, the taxes and the entire issue surrounding president trump's taxes and the manhattan d.a. wants his tax returns and they're fighting that and the courts so far have said this is not the law -- the law is not on your side. it is now probably headed to the supreme court. so what we're seeing time and time again from this administration is delay, delay, delay. and they're trying to use the courts to do that and what we're finding and consistently in the rulings is that the courts are not ruling in the president's favor. we've heard from the white house, we just last week there was a story we did where it said that the white house is trying to make all sorts of legal arguments regarding the impeachment inquiry. they're not winning on those. so far this is a huge loss certainly for the administration, for the department of justice, which has been fighting trying not to release this grand jury material. but now it seems they're going to have to. we'll see if it gets appealed. how all that is handled by the department of justice, i don't know that information will ultimately be made public. it may have to be done in a classified setting. but nonetheless, everything that we have seen consistently so far from the courts is that they are ruling against the president and that is going to potentially be a problem for him down the line. the other thing to keep in mind is does the house -- is there a way to expedite what is going on. they want to get all of the records, so far they've not been able to. will the courts go along at some point when the house decides to file lawsuits to try and get some of the materials, do the courts in any way try to expedite that? >> very significant developments. at the same time, shimon, cnn has learned that the attorney general bill barr probe into the trump russia investigation is now officially a criminal investigation. tell us potentially what that means. >> reporter: right. so it's definitely an escalation in the entire investigation of the investigation. of course the russia investigation and what this now allows is for john durham overseeing the investigation along with the attorney general, the attorney general has a lot of say in this, he's working hand in hand with this u.s. attorney. and it allows them to now start subpoenaing witnesses and records. some of the witnesses we've been told have not been willing to voluntarily come in and meet with the investigators and now this is an official criminal investigation, they can now be subpoenaed to come in and meet with investigators. potentially even some of this being put before a grand jury. potentially some criminal charges here. it is very unclear to us at this point what they're looking at that would rise to a level of a crime. some kind of criminal activity, wolf. >> shimon prokupecz, i want you to stand by as well. in the meantime, i want to get more on all of these dramatic developments. democratic congressman steve cohen of tennessee is joining us, a member of the house judiciary committee. thanks so much for joining us. let me get your immediate reaction to the breaking news, a federal judge just orders the justice department to turn -- it turn over the redacted material to the mueller report. how significant is this? >> it is very significant. the democratic side is ecstatic about it. we've gone to court and the justice department have stonewalled and obstructed our investigation and we're happy that judge hal required them to disclose the material. this is a proper impeachment inquiry. it is not for the administration or the justice department to argue about. it is within the purview of the house and we are a full-fledged impeachment inquiry and we have a right to that grand jury material and the american people need for it to come forth so that we can do our work and we'll get that material even though they may appeal it, we'll get it. >> what do you expect to learn from that material? >> well, i think we're going to find more likely obstruction of justice. mr. mueller had in this report ten instances of obstruction of justice which most people feel that five of the cases, all of the elements were groundly -- soundly laid out and some people think as much as seven. but that is conduct that is impeachable. we think we'll find other material. we know that bill barr lied and misled the american public when he came out and wouldn't release the report. but said it was no collusion and no obstruction. well, mueller cleared the president. well mueller didn't clear the president. he said i do not exonerate him. and he said there were contacted that the administration had or the campaign had with russia and that they knew about russia's involvement and they welcomed it. he couldn't prove conspiracy. collusion wasn't even the proper term. but they did that and then 30 days later they finally released it but still they had a press conference and put the same line out three hours before they released it, they poisoned the air and i'm sure there is things in the grand jury materials they don't want us to see because they will likely lead to more information that will show illegal conduct and in obstructing the investigation that mr. mueller was engaged in. >> as you know, congressman, the trump administration is argued this entire impeachment inquiry is illegitimate because there hasn't been a formal vote on the house floor. so what is this judge's ruling today say about the house effort? >> it says the house effort is entirely appropriate and right. it is within article 1 that congress is given the power of impeachment and congress has the right and the -- to set up the rules in the way they handle the impeachment. in fact the rules that we're going under particularly in -- with the investigation in ukraine are the rules set up by john boehner when he was the house speaker. so there is no difference in a partisan way. republicans are allowed and have participated to ask questions and participate in a full manner in the intel -- in the other two committee investigations. and the court confirmed what the house is doing with nancy pelosi and what nancy pelosi is doing is proper and appropriate and to make it further proper and appropriate we need to get all of the materials that are available to make a judgment and that includes the grand jury materials that bill barr doesn't want anybody in the american public including congress people to see. >> the house speaker still wants the impeachment inquiry narrow in scope focused solely on the ukraine issue. is that still a viable path considering all of the new information potentially you're about to get from this grand jury material? >> well, there may be more material that comes forth and might be a change of circumstances. speaker pelosi has been careful to go forward when she felt the public was with her and the facts would dictate. and she hasn't made a recommendation of what she will do or what the house will do and in the ukraine matter the public supports it and the facts are there that the president abused his power trying to get a foreign government to interfere in our elections and offered them military aid or refuse them military aid that congress had thoshz -- authorized and that he's committed an impeachable offense. i think 55% in the polls, getting close to nixon levels that were 62% or 63% after john dean's testimony in the rosemary woods tape episode came out and the release of the tapes. once we have public hearings, we'll probably get to 62% or 63% and trump knows it. but if we have this material that comes out from the grand jury, if there is evidence there that is strong evidence that shows obstruction of justice or other crimes, speaker pelosi might change her perspective because the public will come to believe we should impeach on those issues and the facts will be more evident. the facts weren't evident for her to move forward but the grand jury testimony gets materials -- that is the indictment and the meat and potatoes. when did you get the meat and potatoes and we've seen a lot of guilty pleas and convictions with mueller and a lot of indictments, you'll see more evidence and you'll see the material that will convince the american public that this needs to go forward. >> congressman steve cohen, thanks so much for joining us. >> let's go nats. >> i'm with you on that. we'll have more on all of the breaking news. in an important court victory for house democrats, the federal judge just ruled the house impeachment inquiry justifies the release of grand jury material from the mueller investigation. and in just a moment i'll speak with one of the president's top republican critics. welcome to fowler, indiana. home to three of bp's wind farms. which, every day, generate enough electricity to power over 150,000 homes. and of course, fowler. at bp, we see possibilities everywhere. 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>> no. >> what do you think the white house will do. they dobts want all of that potential grand jury material to be made available especially to house democrats. >> what you want and get in politics are two different things. so i think democrats will go through the discovery process and decide whether or not to ultimately proceed with impeachment. it seems to me that they are. i think that is the way that the movie ends. and you're going to see a number of different procedural steps from the white house and the republicans saying no, walking into the scif as we saw day before yesterday or something like what is happening in judicial world. >> lindsey graham the senator from south carolina, a man you know well, is leading the charge now to defend the president. he said he has 50 co-sponsors of the resolution condemning what the house of represents -- the house committee members are doing as far as the impeachment inquiry is concerned. what does that tell you? >> it says again let's fight it on procedural grounds. it also said that everybody is a hypocrite in this process. what we need to be careful about is what is good for the goose ought to be good for the gander. if you look at benghazi hearings, trey gowdy could get more out of a deposition than everybody running five minutes on the clock in a hearing. so republicans have used the procedure in the past and on the democratic side, equally sort of crazy in that i remember back in the time of the clinton impeachment i think house democrats got maybe an hour. which is less time than we take to debate the naming of a post office on the impeachment vote. so both sides have flipped around. it is always a matter of perspective. this is a partisan effort which is the way impeachment trials run. >> you supported censuring the president as posed to impeaching. tell us why? >> because i think that if you want the impeachment merit badge, continue on the route we're on. this is why i think nancy pelosi was reticent. it is fraught with perils both for our republican debate and for the democratic party and ultimately for what comes next in the world of politics. i say censure for this reason. if you go through the process, at least as configured right now, the house will vote to impeach and the senate will acquit. what that does is it muddies the water in the november election because the president will say, see, i did nothing wrong and i was acquitted. i don't think that that is good. i think that it ought to be clear condemnation of the behavior that we know of right now. it allows for a much cleaner vote for voters to say, well, no, they said it was wrong, there was not absolved of anything and let the voters decide in a matter of months. the last two impeachments that we've seen in this country occurred at the beginning of second terms. this is at the end of the first term where the voters could render their judgment in a matter of moz. >> why do you think you would be a better republican presidential nominee than the current presidenty. >> because i think we're tired of crazy world. and it is a reality show that doesn't stop playing and what i saw in the congressional district that i used to represent was a weariness. just on tone alone. working moms, soccer moms, young millennials were turning off and you saw it across congressional districts in the midterms. i think there is a trump weariness and i think we need to go back to the basics of what the republican party was about and you used to look at financial sanity and you look at the deficit numbers in the last 24 hours in the way the numbers have ballooned under this administration. and look at -- inward versus outward versusa civilization and tone and i think there are a host of reasons as to why we should go a different way on the republican side. >> the president responded to ambassador bill taylor's testimony this week, the top u.s. diplomat in ukraine right now. and he tweeted that taylor, who is a distinguished career diplomat, a vietnam war veteran, he said taylor is a never trumper and in another tweet he said never trumper republicans are human scum. what do you make of that language? >> i say let's stop playing the trump game. he throws out something inflammatory, media and opponents respond and we spend a week in the spin cycle responding and he throws out next week something equally crazy. i think it is important for all of us, whether in the media or politicians or just talking to friends around the kitchen sink, to back away from reaction to his craziness and to say where do we want to go as a country on some basic issues that impact our pocket book or wallet. >> governor sanford, thank you for joining us. stay with us for more on the breaking news. once again a federal judge has just ruled that the house impeachment inquiry justifies the release of grand jury material from the mueller investigation. also we'll have more on the possibility of former national security adviser john bolton answering questions in the -- in the house impeachment inquiry. how much damage could he do to the president? and most of that debt is actually from credit cards. it's just not right. but with sofi, you can get your credit cards right - by consolidating your credit card debt into one monthly payment. you can get your interest rate right - by locking in a fixed low rate today. and you can get your money right. with sofi. check your rate in 2 minutes or less. get a no-fee personal loan up to $100k. billions of problems. sore gums? 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[ camera clicking ] wifi up there? -ahhh. sure, why not? how'd he get out?! a camera might figure it out. that was easy! glad i could help. at xfinity, we're here to make life simple. easy. awesome. so come ask, shop, discover at your xfinity store today. breaking news. a federal judge has just ruled that the house impeachment inquiry justifies democrats request to see the grand jury material from the former special counsel robert mueller investigation. let's bring in our political and legal experts to discuss. and gloria, this is a big win for house democrats. >> a huge win for the house democrats. now the department of justice is reviewing it and i don't know if they will appeal and i have to presume they will. but what the judge is saying is that this is a completely legitimate impeachment inquiry even t-- even though the house did not take a vote on it which is what the republicans are claiming. and what the house democrats wanted to see was all of this redacted information from the grand jury. a lot of which we presume has to do with donald trump. the part of the mueller report that was largely redacted was under the heading about contacts with the trump campaign about wikileaks. and a lot of that was redacted. so i think they're going to learn -- now whether they do this in a classified setting, et cetera, et cetera. if this continues it may go to the supreme court, who knows, right, but i'm assuming it is classified. a big win for them. >> huge. there could be appeals. >> of course. >> before the supreme court. the federal judge wrote, susan, that impeachment based on anything less than all relevant evidence would compromise the public's faith in the process. so what does this say about the current house effort right now? >> i think that gloria is right. this is a judge sanctioning this effort saying this is a valid inquiry and making a very important ruling saying that it qualify as a judicial proceeding within the meaning of the status and because of a recent d.c. circuit decision called mckeever designed to with stand is that scrutiny but they might win on the merits here. i think this -- the point about having the public integrity, there are key pieces of information and this is a judge saying we can't have this country go through the entire process of an impeachment to later find out critical pieces of information they didn't know. the critical redactions are related to donald trump's foreknowledge of wikileaks releases of hacked materials and his knowledge about the trump tower meeting in which his son met with russian officials promising dirt on hillary clint clinton, two critical unanswered questions. >> and nancy pelosi wanted a narrow impeachment inquiry focus in on ukraine. but now with all of this potential new evidence about to come forward if it does, that could expand the scope of all of this. >> yes. but this is what we have to separate. while this is a significant victory in something related to the mueller probe, don't lose sight of how significant a victory it is politically for the house democrats in their current impeachment problem on ukraine. so i understand this may have something to do with the redacted information from the mueller report, but let's be clear here, having a court say that this is a totally justified impeachment inquiry just completely robs the president and republicans of their effort to try to paint this as illegitimate. i don't think this necessarily widens the impeachment inquiry into some unwielding process. i believe nancy pelosi and the intelligence committee is down a pretty narrow path in terms of keeping focus on the ukraine situation. >> but there are democrats who want a broader inquiry. >> there has been some discussions among democrats about the scale and scope of articles articles of impeachment against the president according to aides on capitol hill and i think there are some democrats who do believe that an impeachment inquiry could also include other investigations they've been overseeing pertaining to violations of the emoluments clause or whether or not the president obstructed justice looking at the allegations in the mueller report or the findings of the mueller report. but keep in mind a significant faction of house democrats came out in favor of the impeachment inquiry in the context of these allegations of this whistle-blower complaint and the release of the summary of the call by the white house where it was very clear that the president had repeatedly brought up this idea that the ukrainian president investigate joe biden and his son. and so i think some of the democrats, especially those in more competitive districts, they don't want this to potentially be too wide-ranging and they don't want this to drag on much longer. especially as we enter an election season. >> gloria, how worried should be the white house be about john bolton -- >> did you say john dean or john bolton? >> he may be called to make a statement. >> look, i think in many ways john bolton holds the keys to the kingdom here. and i don't know if he'll testify in public. my guess is he might. and it could be his revenge on donald trump. but while he wasn't on the fateful phone call with president zelensky and asking questions why wasn't he on the call but he could give the insider view of ukraine policy. and how the national security team viewed what ought to be done in ukraine. and how the freelancer rudy giuliani in tandem with the president reviewed ought to be done in ukraine. we know that bolton is anti-putin, anti-russia and this must have driven him crazy. and look at the time line. it may be nothing. but bolton was fired or resigned on september 10th. and the ukraine aid money was released on september 11th. now i don't know that there is any relationship but i think that question ought to be asked to him. and don't forget, he was also the guy who called it a drug deal when ambassador sondland was meeting with ukrainians in an office in the basement or a white house and didn't want to have any part of it. >> i want to totally shift gears and david put your sports and political hat on. a very important weekend starting tonight, game three of the world series, nats and astros. >> go nats. >> of course -- >> could i add to that. >> hold on a second. president trump said he plans to attend game five, that is sunday, if there is a game five, the nats are ahead 2-0 right now but doesn't want to throw out the first pitch. he said they have to dress me up in a lot of heavy armor. i'll look to heavy. there is a lot of politics going on. show our viewers some video. the president throwing out as a private citizen in 2004 first pitch in a minor league game and in 2006 at a red sox game and you could see him over there right now. but go ahead. >> you said he gaves reasons for not throwing out the first pitch but nationals are giving that honor to jose andres who is throwing out the first pitch. the contrast couldn't be more clear. they had a huge battle over immigration in the president's hotel so not only is donald trump not going to be throwing out the first pitch, but somebody with whom he has publicly battled is actually the one being asked to do it. it could be a little awkward politically at the ballpark. >> we all agree go nats. >> no. >> there is more on the breaking news. why is the trump organization exploring the idea of selling the iconic trump hotel here in washington? 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[phone ringing] how are we doing? fabulous. ♪ i wonder how the firm's doing without its fearless leader. ♪ you sure you want to leave that all behind? yeah. stay restless, with the icon that does the same. the new rx crafted by lexus. lease the 2020 rx 350 all wheel drive for $439/month for 36 months. experience amazing at your lexus dealer. surprising announcement today from the trump organization. it may sell the trump international hotel just a few blocks down the street from the white house. let's bring in our business correspondent cristina alesci. why are they considering selling this hotel? >> reporter: well the trump organization is considering possibly selling the rights to lease this property. because of all of the controversy surrounding it but there is more to the story based on my reporting. let's first take a look at what eric trump put out today in a statement. he of course runs the trump organization on a day to day basis and he said quote/unquote, people are objecting to us making so much money on the hotel and therefore we may be willing to sell. but to be clear, the ethics experts who have a problem have a problem with any amount of money that the president is making on this hotel because they believe it is a conduit for corruption. not to mention the fact that there is also a legal question as to whether or not the president's business can be accepting payments from either foreign or domestic governments and whether that is in violation of an anti-corruption clause in the constitution. now as for eric's claim that the hotel is making a ton of money, i've covered this hotel for years. and i could tell you that, yes, after or during the inauguration there was a huge bump up in revenue. but since then it has really been unclear how much money this hotel is actually making. remember, a lot of companies that go to d.c. for conferences or have their executives visit want to avoid the hotel because they don't want to be associated with the controversy so the trump organization may be losing business to competitors in that market. so the trump organization may be trying to explore how much they could actually make by unloading the rights to lease this property at this juncture. however, it is not clear whether or not that really clears up a lot of headaches for the trump organization. maybe on future allegations of corruption. but it is unclear how it impacts the current lawsuits in the system right now. >> christina thank you so much. we'll stay on top of that story as well into coming up. kim jong-un visits another north korean resort and unlike the one he went to earlier this week, he likes this one. so what is the north korean leader up to? 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>> he calls it the socialist fairyland. this vision of a country where the people are well-fed and well-housed, but most of it, i would say, is propaganda. realistically, and the people know this, it is only going to be available and accessible to the political elites. >> analysts say while kim does want to see that tourist boom in north korea, there is also a limit to what the supreme leader will tolerate. they say that with outside investment in tourism comes information from the outside world, information that kim would definitely see as a threat to his hold on power. wolf? >> brian todd reporting. thank you. there's breaking news coming up next. a major legal endorsement for the impeachment inquiry, as a federal judge rules house democrats can see some redacted information from the mueller investigation. managers focused on the long term. who look beyond the spreadsheets to understand companies, from breakroom to boardroom. who know the only way to get a 360 view is to go around the world to get it. can i rely on deep research to help make quality investment decisions? 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more subpoenas. new moves tonight by the house democrats to secure crucial testimony about the ukraine scandal, as the witness list grows, will ousted national security adviser john bolton agree to talk? no whistle-blower? it now seems highly unlikely that lawmakers will get to interview the person who helped expose the president's dealings with ukraine. will that hurt the democrats' investigation. and wildfire nightmare. a new state of emergency is in effect in california as fires rage in the southern and northern parts of the state. thousands forced to evacuate as powerful winds fan the flames with terrifying speed. we want to welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." this is cnn breaking news. >> we're following breaking news in the fast-moving impeachment investigation. a federal judge has just ruled that house democrats can see secret material from robert mueller's grand jury. the judge says impeachment investigators have a compelling need for the information. also breaking, another wave of
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