"newsline." bell jans took tow the streets austerity measures that an incoming government says are vital to keep public finances under control. more than 50,000 people took part in the demonstrations organized by labor unions in brussels on friday. they were demonstrating against unemployment benefit cuts and other austerity measures. they complain that livelihoods

are being sacrificed so that public funds can be used to help banks. concern about the country's budget deficit led to a deal to form a coalition government after belgium government bonds were downgraded last week. the coalition will be belgium's first fully functioning government since june last year. that's when a general election was followed by a division between the dutch-speaking north and french-speaking south. the u.s. unemployment rate fell more than expected in november. the labor department says unemployment fell to 8.6% from 9% the month before. that's the lowest it has been since march, 2009. analysts have been expecting 9% again. u.s. employers created 120,000 nonfarm jobs. there were 50,000 new jobs in retail, and 33,000 in the restaurant industry. there were no big gains or losses in construction and

manufacturing. for insight of the job data, we talk to steven wieting. >> the u.s. unemployment data are moderately good news. we haven't accelerated the pace of employment games in recent months. the large drop in the unemployment rate is partly reduction in the work force, the largest since the january period this year, but that's only half the story. there was a fourth consecutive month of strong gains in separate household survey of employment. so the unemployment rate falling to 8.8% from 9%, if the labor force were steady. so there was some drop in the unemployment rate, even if there were steady labor force or trend gains in the labor force. we think in coming months the

unemployment rate will edge back some, but probably not back to 9%. negotiations on setting up a fund to help nations develop greenhouse emissions. this is after the climate change talks in south africa. delegates to the 17th conference to the parties to the convention on climate change held informal talks on the issue friday. an agreement to set up a green climate change fund was reached at a u.n. meeting in cancun, mexico last year. it was decided industrialized countries would be contributing $100 billion a year by 2020. participants at the durban talked about how the funds should be managed and which anti-global warming things should be supported. they demand the funds be put

into operation soon. other countries including the united states were opposed. they expressed concern about whether the fund would be managed properly. >> many countries that need to adapt, including south africa. green climate fund, that is part of the decisions of cancun. the day has come that we need now to act as a world. time is not with us. we need to work hard. efforts to drain water in thailand are making progress, but most of the businesses are still struggling to get back to work. some industrial parks were flooded. the thai government said it finished draining four of them, but more than 80% of the factories are still shut down. most of the water is gone in the

high tech industrial state in t central province. about 100 japanese companies have plants there, but only a few are back to work. most of the water is also gone at the industrial park. electricity and water supplies are expected to be restored at the end of february. work to remove water is under way at the industrial complex north of bangkok. but large areas are still flooded. a senior u.s. navy official says the production of f-35 fighter jets should be slowed because of failures found in tests. the stealth fighter jet is currently under development. the u.s. military aims to introduce the aircraft in the near future. the jet is also among those japan is considering as its next generation mainstay fighter aircraft. the u.s. navy admiral said in an interview with an online

military magazine aol defense, the cracks were found in jets in tests in the last 12 months. he noted most cracks are minor cracks, but will pose problems in the long run. he said that the pace of production should be slowed over the next few years. a u.s. state department spokesperson says it is supposed to finish in 2016 when japan plans to start buying new fighter jets. however, they say it could effect japan's selection process for the next fighter planes due to potential delay of delivery. other candidates are f-18 and euro fighter. the japanese defense minister visited okinawa to offer an apology. the visit after a seen kwlor defense official made an inappropriate remark about planned relocation of a u.s.

basin okinawa. he met with the governor on friday. he was forced to make the trip in the wake of the scandal involving the head of the defense ministry's okinawa bureau. earlier in the week, the bureau chief used an expression that is often taken to mean sexual assault when he referred to the central government submission of an environmental assessment report to okinawa. he was later dismissed. >> translator: the official hurt the feeling of the okinawa people. it may harm the relationship between the central government and okinawa. >> he said it will not be easy to win back the trust of okinawa, but he seeks the prefecture's understanding about

duties of the self defense forces and the defense ministry. the okinawa governor says that the central government should do all it can to restore confidence, but that it would be difficult to make that happen. >> translator: the remark angered and deeply hurt the feelings. >> he wound up the meeting after only eight minutes, highlighting the chief divide between the central government and okinawa. here is your extended weather forecast.

that's all for this edition of "newsline." i'm shery ahn. i'm shery ahn. thank you for watching. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com

. . .