welcome to this edition of "newsline." it is friday, october 7th. 8:00 a.m. in tokyo. i'm catherine kobayashi. friday marks the tenth anniversary of the u.s. invasion of afghanistan. in response to the september 11 terrorist attacks. taliban fighters are stepping up their offensive, making

prospects for rebuilding afghanistan unclear. a decade has passed since the united states launched military operations against al qaeda in afghanistan. the invasion also toppled the taliban regime. a new government was later formed under president ham i did karzai with international support, however, with public discontent during reconstruction has allowed the taliban to get stronger. the u.n. says over 1400 civilians were killed in the first half of this year. the highest number since the invasion. >> translator: things improved after the collapse of the taliban. recent recently, the security situation is deteriorating. >> translator: people's lives have become much worse since the u.s. army came to afghanistan. >> the u.s. military began its pullout in july and nato plans

to withdraw combat troops from afghanistan by the end of 2014. a japanese expert says measures are needed to prevent terrorists from using afghanistan as a base for attacks. >> translator: the number of afghanistan troops and police are sufficient. but their skills are not. the taliban. the political situation could [ unstable. if afghanistan becomes a safe haven for terrorist organizations, they might plot and carry out attacks overseas. we must take all measures necessary to stop terrorism.

>> meanwhile, afghan officials say they uncovered a plot to assassinate president karzai. a further sign of deteriorating security in the country, and threatens to cast aw over the president's efforts to seek peace talks with the taliban. >> reporter: a spokesperson for national director of security says six people are arrested with alleged plot to assassinate president karzai. a guard and professor and several skuds from kabul university. they reportedly planned to kill the president while he was traveling in the provinces. >> reporter: unfortunately they infiltrated the presidential security system and got one of the body guards. luckily we averted the plot.

>> reporter: they suspect the guard was persuaded to take part in the plot after five hours how to train to use weapons in pakistan. former president who led efforts to talk with the taliban was killed by a suicide bomb last month. the president's own brother was also assassinated in july. such incidents are a sign the afghan government faces a tougher situation as it looks for ways to open peace negotiations the taliban. chinese investigators say last month's subway train crash in shanghai was the result of manual command errors by trained dispatchers during a power outage. 12 staff received disciplinary action. on september 27th, two subway

trains were involved in a rear-end collision in central shanghai injuring 295 people. an investigative team released the findings on thursday. the team said that an automatic signaling system failed to function due to a power outage which forced subway officials to control operations manually. the report says the crash occurred as the dispatchers issued orders without knowing the exact locations of the trains. investigators also blamed station staff for allowing the second train to run without confirming that the track was clear. the findings were announced quickly, roughly one week after the accident. this is seen as an attempt by chinese authorities to avoid public criticism of the government as being lax on safety. steve jobs that gave the world the ipod, the iphone, and a host of can't do without inventions. now the world is giving back. people in different corners of

the planet are remembering the co-founder and former ceo of apple. he died wednesday at 56. people in tokyo laid flowers at one of the stores>> translator: steve jobs was someone that lived by his own rule, stay hungry, stay foolish. it is looking at him and his way of life i decided to start my own company. he was my moral support in life. >> i came here out of gratitude for him. i have been using his products for ages now, and it is fun. i am grateful and want to say thank you. >> people gathered in front of one of the city's five apple stores in shanghai. >> translator: i am a systems engineer, so jobs was like a god to me. i'm sorry that i lost my icon.

>> translator: i believe apple will be all right. it is the spirit of jobs is instilled throughout the company. >> steve jobs was born in california. he founded his company in 1976 in silicon valley. his revolutionary products made personal computers more friendly and accessible, especially to young adults. his strategy created a worldwide personal computing boom. internal conflict among executives pushed him out of apple in the '80s. he was gone nearly a decade. apple suffered a downturn. he made a come back as a consultant. his gadgets successfully revived apple. the ipod music player changes how millions collect and listen

to music. >> sometimes people don't want to start a company, just have an idea they want to get expressed into the world. you have to be passionate about it because it is so difficult. >> jobs unveiled the iphone smart phone in 2007. the ipad tablet computer followed in 2010. both became big hit products around the world. they introduced the new concept of the touch panel. steve jobs' charisma won over apple employees and commernsume. jobs battled cancer for the last several years. he resigned as ceo less than two months ago in august, saying he could no longer fulfill his duties as apple's top executive.

we have this report from seoul. >> reporter: following a visit to new york and united nations, foreign minister chose south korea for his second overseas destination since taking office. this is aimed at showing how much they know their government cares about its relationship with neighboring south korea. >> translator: it is true that there are sometimes challenging problems between japan and south korea. however, it's of the utmost importance that we communicate frequently with each other, and make efforts for the future as neighboring countries. >> translator: ties between

south korea and japan have developed steadily, based on close interactions among people. we also have to step up shuttle diplomacy at the governmental level. >> in addition to making arrangements for the summit, they agreed they will work closely together on north korea's nuclear issue and on abduction of japanese nationals from north korea. he stressed the need to resume talks towards reaching bilateral economic partnership agreement. the talks have been stalled since 2004. but higs reaction was at the present i did. concerns about eliminating tariffs would further expand the country's trade deficit with

japan. the two ministers agreed to disagree on the issue of south korean women who are forced to work as prostitute for japanese soldiers during world war ii. the south korean government is facing growing public polls to get tougher on japan over its refusal to directly compensate these so-called comfort women. kim called for holding government level talks, but he dismissed that proposal saying all questions about wartime represent ar agencies between the two nations have already been resolved. he called south korea one of the most important countries with which japan shares vital interests. whether japan will be able to set up future bilateral ties

will be the first hurdle in the government diplomacy. japan, china, south korea and the association of southeast asian nations are expected to agree for each country to stock pile rice. the pact is to deal with possible food shortages after natural disasters. food security is likely to be a major topic in a meeting of foreign ministers from the asian countries friday. the agriculture minister will visit japan or rather will represent japan. in addition to stockpiling emergency rice, the ministers are expected to agree to supply rice to nations in need of food. final arrangements are under way to allocate rice stock pile quote as for each country. japan would have to store 250,000 tons, and china 300,000. in total, roughly 790,000 tons

of rice would be kept. that's enough to feed about 13 million people for warmup year. japan's agriculture ministry says the proposed multi lateral framework is a rare international effort. "newsline" is the place to turn to for information post march 11. we have two segments offering unique perspectives on the fallout of the nuclear earthquake and tsunami. nuclear watch has the impact of the crisis. the road ahead efforts to recover and rebuild. don't miss nuclear watch and the road ahead on "newsline." one of japan's most powerful politicians is on trial. former economic party leader faces charges in connection with the political funding scandal. we go through his first day in

court. >> reporter: many people line up for a chance to witness the first day of his trial. they took part in a lottery to win a gallery seat available to the public. it's a sign of how much attention this case is getting. >> translator: i came here because i want to find out exactly what the truth is. >> reporter: security was tight in and around the court building. dozens of photographers and tv crews stake out a position to capture the best image of his arrival. the hearing started at 10:00 a.m. he is accused of ordering his aides to falsify a financial report involving a multi million dollar land purchase made by his

political funding organization. the court took a recess after sitting about two hours. early on, he pled not guilty to the charges. he spoke for about ten minutes, insisting he knew nothing about the crime. >> he is accused of falsifying financial reports with three of his former aides. the case involves a $5.2 million land purchase made by his political funding organization. he argued in opening statement the trial should be halted immediately. he also condemned the prosecution. he said they're abusing their power and trying to end his political career. the prosecutors count erred that he was aware his aides falsified the financial reports. they say he loaned more than $5.2 million in cash to his political funding organization so it could purchase the land in question. the prosecution argues lower house member that was his aide

at the time told him the money should not appear in financial reports to avoid public scrutiny. prosecutors said he approved the idea and asked him to deal with it accordingly. last month, a lower court found two former aides guilty of falsifying accounts. he spoke to the media after day one of the trial. he again stressed he is not guilty of the charges against him. >> translator: i can say that i didn't do anything illegal. and neither did any of my aides. >> he made it clear he has no intention of resigning from politics. >> tell us how one of japan's most powerful politicians ended

up on trial. >> prosecutors started investigating him in 2009. the caseñiñr forced himkxz/o res leader of the democratic party of japan. that means when he won the general election that year, he lost his chance to become prime minister. that career of politician began under the wing of former prime minister. he was indicted in 1976 over a massive bribery scandal involving a corporation in the united states. he was in court each time he went on trial. he said he searches for what it meant to stay in politics even after being indicted. here is what a former prosecutor from the case said about that trial. >> translator: all we want to

know is the truth. the japanese people want the court to investigate this case thoroughly. they want this trial to reveal the truth. >> prosecutors throughout the indictment against him twice i believe, how did he end up on trial? >> the case went forward because of the mandatory indictment system. the government launched it in 2009. the system with more power for inquest panels. it has been applied to four cases so far. this is the first to go to trial. it gives prosecutors control throughout indictment and inquest panel with review of decision. the panel can make conclusion but has no inference. when prosecutors throw out an indictment, citizens inquest

panel can force them to review the decision. if this happened twice, the case mug to trial. >> so he rejects the citizen in questions panel's decision? >> it does. prosecutors twice concluded there isn't enough evidence against the former leader to win the conviction. keep in mind, japan has a high conviction rate. prosecutors only go to trial when a guilty verdict is almost assured. but members of the in questions panel decided criminal court should determine guilt or innocence. >> so how is the trial expected to play now in the coming months? >> the prosecution must show he collu colluded with former aides. a lower court already found those former aides guilty of the

crime. ozawa's lawyers argue there is no proof of collusion. >> he says $5.2 million used to purchase the land in question came out of his own pocket, is that right? so why are there doubts about his claim? the judges in the case involving former aides says the former leader failed to provide clear explanation regarding the origin of these funds. previous statement appeared contradictory. at one point, he claimed they came from one of his family accounts. later, he said they came from cash savings or that he withdrew from his own account. in court today, he didn't say where the money came from. we hear more from him in january when he is scheduled to take the

stand. a verdict is expected next april. >> wait and see how things play out. thanks, koji. residents of a major city in northern japan are on the lookout for unusual visitors. in recent weeks, a number of people have reported spotting bears in residential areas of central hoe kied oh. experts examined footprints of a bear, believed to be 1.5 meters tall. >> translator: at first, i thought it was a customer and stopped my cab. but it turned out to be a bear. i was scared.

>> a bear was spotted walking in the grounds of a hospital just after midnight. police received eight reports of bear sightings thursday alone. it is not known whether all eight were the same bear. police are on high alert, and have mobilized more than 20 cars on bear patrol. elementary and junior high schools in the area urge students to walk together in groups on the way to and from school. the city of sappola says there have been 27 bear sightings since last month. more than twice as many as last year. an expert says ache orns, important food for them are in short supply. >> translator: the number of bear cubs increased because of last year's good nutritional conditions. as their habitat becomes more crowded, many bears are coming down to urban areas.

now let's look at the market figures. time to look at the global weather forecast. welcome back to your weather update. we continue to monitor all of that wet weather that we see in southeast asia again today.

we have one low off the philippines and another off the indochina peninsula. bringing more rain to the area. it has been a prolonged period of showers and thunderstorms. of course, we had several tropical storm systems move through. grounds are well saturated in the area. additional rainfall is not going to be good for the risk of further flooding and land slides. showers continue across portions of thailand. dealing with serious flooding issues. looks like you will not be out of the woods just yet. to the north of all of this rain, we see really dry conditions for the majority of china. japan, too. this morning, just a little rain hanging onto northern sections, but that is finally on its way out. we should be seeing nice sunny skies in the next few days even for japan. friday's highs look like this. 24 and mild. 22 in seoul, up to 22 in shanghai. towards the americas, clouds continue to move across the

western half of the united states. a low looking to drop out of the rockies and head for the plain states. it is still bringing rain to the inner mountain west and upper elevations will be looking at snow. as the rain heads to more central sections of plain states, we will have a severe weather threat for some of you here. watch for the possibility of stronger storms. thunderstorms and maybe hail or strong gusts. for the east, looking dryer for the canadian maritime. rain heading out tonight. here are temperatures. looking warmer on the east coast. 20 in new york, 23 in d.c. up to 22 degrees in toronto. winnipeg hangs onto warmth one more day going into the mid-20s on friday. finally a look at europe. seeing more messy weather spreading across continental europe, too. a long cold front that's been heading southward across the region here in the past couple of days, it looks like it will

continue to head further south and will continue to spread more rain in the area. even behind the frontal system, things don't really dry out for this moment. it stays unsettled across western and central areas of europe and scandinavian peninsula. more rain and wind for norway. seeing more colder air come in, too, so there is a risk of snow for upper elevations. as for the british isles, dry for tonight. more rain comes in out of the north, so it will start looking wet for areas like scotland and northern ireland and throughout tonight, winds are going to be on the gusty side across the area. as for the temperatures, along with rain, it is starting to drop across a lot of europe. looking at 14 only for the high in berlin friday. 11 in vienna. that's been a big drop the past couple days. seeing highs reach mid to upper 20s. paris and london coming in at 16 degrees. madrid looks to be dropping at

23 degrees. lisbon in the 20s. here is the three day outlook.

that's all for this edition of "newsline." i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. thanks for joining us. hello. this is nhk world tv. in the first of this week's three choices, we look at japanese aesthetics in the mark of beauty. since the late period, this has been used to serve and enjoy sake.

some are valued as fine art. we will share tips on appreciating their beauty. next, a documentary that looks at economic disparity in china's farming community. china city dwellers are flocking to buy organic vegetables that can be five times the cost of conventionally farmed ones. we will examine dispear tee between organic growers and poor farmers. last, we guide you through a unesco world heritage site. this is a port town in the north african country of tunesia. we will explore the impressive sea with its contrast of white walls and tunesia blue. that's it for