tv Newsline 30min KCSMMHZ December 29, 2011 6:00am-6:30am PST
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welcome back. you're watching "newsline." north koreans have spent days crying, wailing and grieving over the death of kim jong il and now their long period of carefully-orchestrated collective sadness has reached its conclusion. the final day of national mourning was as much about the man who once led them, as it was about the man who leads them now, kim jong un. high-ranking officials called him a supreme leader, and said,
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he'll carry on where his father left off. hundreds of thousands of north gathered for the memorial in the capital, pyongyang, to mark the end of a week-long period of official mourning. the government instructed people across the country to offer silent prayers, these trits are for kim jong il, but his memory is sharing the spotlight with kim jong un. the president of the supreme people's assembly in north korea's number two official, praised the country's new leader. some wondered if kim jong un would make his first public speech, but he only stood before the crowd, bowing from time to time.
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that's what his father did 17 years ago during the ceremony for his grandfather, kim il sung. that memorial apparently served as a model for this week's services. observers say the yumger kim didn't speak in an effort to enhance his mystique as a leader. his job is clear, north korean officials say he will continue his father's work. the kim jong un will face challenges. namely, fixing the economy. >> kim jong il's regime said it wanted to turn north korea into great prosperous and powerful
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nation in 2012 through military build-up and economic reconstruction. this won't be easy for kim jong un. he is still young and he needs to focus on solidifying his power base so his leadership will endure. well people celebrated the legacy of kim jong il elsewhere in asia. so many mourners went to the north korean embassy in beijing that not everyone could enter the building. a number of attendees ended up praying outside. here in japan, people gathered in tokyo to remember the late leader. the general association of korean residents says more than 3,000 people attended the event. well south korea's top envoy on north korea said he is and his counterparts are ready to resume talks with the nation. they want the country's new leadership to show a willingness to work toward denuclearization.
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he spoke wednesday in washington after meeting u.s. special representative on north korean policy, glen davies and others at the state department. he reaffirmed the importance of maintaining stability on the korean peninsula following the death of kim jong-il. he pointed out they are waiting for north korea to send the right signal before committing to restoring discussions on its nuclear program. >> translator: we agreed to restart negotiations on north korea's nuclear issues and right conditions. >> the six-party talks on north korea's nuclear development have been on hold since december 2008. the united states, south korea, japan has indicated they will resume negotiations if north korea stops its iranian uranium enrichment program and takes other steps to show it is serious about denuclearization. 2011 will likely be remembered as the year of the
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protesters. from cairo's tahrir square to madrid's prieta del sol to wall street in new york. demonstrators of different stripes pushed for change. some got what they wanted, when others are still pushing. among them, farmers in the united states. they say they're losing out against big business and not getting what politicians promised them. nhk world's corine schneider has the story. >> reporter: earlier in december, 600 small-scale farmers gathered in wall street, new york, where waves of demonstrations, called occupy wall street, have occurred since last september. this was the first time so many farmers from across the country joined the movement. they protested against big corporations now dominating american agriculture. and with small-scale farmers left to their own devices to survive.
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it was organized by the founder of an advocacy group for grassroots food communities from iowa. >> they've fundamentally failed to follow through on the majority of his promises he made to farmers. >> we'll let folks know whether their food has been genetically modified, because americans should know what they're buying. >> reporter: over 80% of corn and 90% of soybeans grown in america are gmo, or genetically modified crops. the technology was invented by large corporations. once processed in food, labelling to distinguish gmo from nongmo is not required by law. paul willis is a hog farmer in iowa. who insists that food should be labeled so that people know what they're eating. in the fields where paul grows nongmo crops, he uses no
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chemical pesticides or herbicides. he feeds his pigs a vegetarian diet, using no hormones or antibiotics, the pigs freely roam out in the field from spring to fall. this, paul claims, is the traditional way to raise healthy pigs whose meat will taste good. but now, he fears the traditional way is diminishing in america. big agricultural businesses are growing even larger. pushing small-scale farmers out of business. on his family's dinner table, almost everything comes straight from their farm. however, without labelling, consumers and households across america are kept in the dark as to what's in their food. paul is frustrated that
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president obama has not been able to keep his promise. >> i think a lot of people have been disappointed in him not being stronger on some of the issues. i mean it kind of all comes back to political influence and the kind of system that we have here. where, where the money, the more money you have, money talks. >> reporter: paul began attending weekly demonstrations to express his dissatisfaction. >> i voted obama. i wouldn't do that again. i think, it's, he's been a disappointment. >> i really believe this movement is, is going to have some power and influence in these candidates, i think have to pay attention to this. >> including mr. obama? >> including mr. obama, president obama and all of the other various candidates, whatever party.
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>> reporter: demonstrations like paul's or this one, in the state capital of des moines, are examples of many that have sprung up across the nation. they are small, yet tenacious. it looks as though some will continue into 2012. corine schneider, nhk world, des moines, iowa. a spokesperson for the u.s. defense department is a plauding the japanese government for submitting a key report on the planned relocation of a u.s. military base. both countries have agreed to move the marine corps air station futenma to another air station in okinawa, but local opposition in the southern prefecture has stalled the process. the japanese defense ministry handed in an environmental assessment report wednesday to the okinawa prefectural government office. demonstrators tried to stop the delivery. u.s. defense department press secretary, george little said in a statement that submission of the report amounted to
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significant progress. he said the u.s. will cooperate with japan in taking the next step of securing a landfill permit for the relocation site from the governor of okinawa prefecture. the u.s. congress has not approved the funding for transferring about 8,000 u.s. marines to guam from okinawa. american lawmakers say the plan is deadlocked because of strong local opposition. the transfer to guam is dependant on the futenma air station relocation. the current agreement would close the base in a densely-populated area and move it to a site off the coast of the city of nago. well a number of okinawans want futenma moved out of their island prefecture entirely. they've been hosting the american military since the end of world war ii and the soldiers haven't always been the best of neighbors. now, a theater group is acting out in an old story to give people a fresh perspective on this issue.
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nhk world's jun masumoto shows us. >> reporter: performers make last-minute adjustments, their play recounts a real-life drama. june 30th, 1959, a u.s. fighter jet crashes into a village on okinawa. it skids into an elementary school, killing 11 children, six people who live nearby die. more than 200 others are hurt. this woman works with the play group. she remembers that day. >> the years after, 14 years after world war ii. okinawan people were so poor,
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but they had a hope with their children. but suddenly, they lost their lives. >> reporter: the play also deals with the impact u.s. forces have had on okinawa. they took over in 1945. then gave control back to japan 27 years later. but the bases stayed. okinawa accounts for less than 1% of japan's total land area. but about 70% of all u.s. military facilities in the country are concentrated here. some bases are surrounded by
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densely-populated urban areas. the futenma air station is one of them. in 2004, a helicopter from futenma crashed into a university in ginowan city. no one died, but the accident showed okinawans still face risks after the minamori elementary crash. this woman and other avid play group members feel it's important to tell the story. they base the script and songs on lives of people who lost loved ones. hideko's son died that day. >> translator: he was so burned. only the string of his pants and a part of his socks were white.
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the rest was all burned. >> translator: i will tell many people what you told me. >> translator: we parents never forget, even if we try to. i really appreciate that young people like you try hard to tell others about my son. >> reporter: in november, the play group took their show to tokyo for the first time. ♪ ♪
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>> this woman sang about parents who lost their children. the message hit home. >> translator: i feel close to the issue now. we better think about the okinawan issue seriously. >> translator: i think many people are still suffering. that makes me wonder, who benefits from the u.s. military bases. >> translator: there were so many students, i'll be happy if one or two realize the reason why we came from okinawa and understand that life is precious. >> reporter: the members of the play group believe it's their responsibility to inform people about the reality of life in okinawa. they want to make sure the tragedy of 1959 is never forgotten. nor repeated. jun yotsumoto, nhk world, tokyo. two of the world's largest
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economies are going to work together more closely. japan's prime minister, yoshihiko noda, and india's prime minister, manmohan singh, have agreed to strengthen economic and defense ties. nodo told singh that japan will provide a loan worth $4.5 billion. india plans to build a 1500-kilometer railway line between new delhi and mumbai to link strim parks and distribution facilities. noda and singh agreed to create a new framework for a currency swap. they want to prevent europe's credit crisis from affecting asian financial markets. and they agreed to tighten security ties, too. they want to protect against chinese provocations in the south china sea. >> our cooperation on regional and global issues and nontraditional threats to security have significantly strengthened. we have a complete meeting of minds on most issues of common concern.
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>> translator: we made progress on economic cooperation. we also agreed to hold a joint naval exercise to reinforce security ties between our two countries. an explosion ripped through a chemical wearhouse in myanmar's largest city, yangon and killed 20 people. 80 others are hurt. police say that the blast happened thursday at around 2:00 a.m. local time. explosion destroyed about 200 houses. some firefighters died trying to put out the flames. police tell nhk a chemical reaction triggered the blast and no explosives were involved. a government report on last summer's fatal high-speed rail trash in eastern china is being criticized online. chinese officials released a document wednesday. it blame as combination of human
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errors for the accident, which killed 40 people in the province of janjiang. among them, a serious flaw in the design of train control equipment and the poor response of railway authorities after a lightning strike disabled a signal system. people online are questioning the investigative panel's conclusion that former railway minister, liu jang should get most of the blame for the accident. he was dismissed last february. the panel only recommends reprimands for current senior railway officials. they're also slamming the report for using an attempted cover-up by local officials as an opportunity to highlight the achievement of a government leader. the document says the local railway employees had tried to bury the train wreckage near the accident site according to past procedure, but didn't follow through with the plan, because president hu jintao sent an order telling them to preserve the evidence.
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well china has become the fastest-growing auto market in the world. and today, you see a lot more cars than what you used to see or bicycles. but here's a warning from nhk world's yoeshihikoyoshihiko. >> reporter: a bicycle, but the pedals are not moving. it cannot be a scooter. where's the muffler? these are lifted bikes powered by batteries. and an increasingly common site in beijing. this office worker recently made the switch to two wheels. she used to go to work on a crowded subway and bus, a one-hour journey. on her e-bike, the commute now takes less than 30 minutes. when she comes home. she takes out the batteries and
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plug them into a wall socket just like a cell phone. her bike cost over $700, that's ten times more than a conventional bike. but she's not complaining. >> translator: the e-bike is very fast and convenient and eco-friendly, too. i can also save gas money. >> the increasing number of cars on the road has led to serious traffic congestion. motorbikes are banned in many cities for safety reasons. that leaves e-bikes as the fastest way to work. there are an estimated 120 million electric bicycles nationwide. which means one out of ten chinese owns one. sales have had a lift from the transportation law which classes electric bikes as bicycles.
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so no license is required to rione. not always a good thing. i'm now at an intersection in downtown beijing. in september last year, an electric bicycle ran a red light, hit and injured a woman in her 50s. these e-bike-related accidents are rapidly increasing. it turns out e-bikers are running awe muck. amuck. somewhat against the traffic. others travel along sidewalks, buzzing pedestrians. media reports say about 3,600 people died in e-bike related accidents in 2009. >> translator: e-bikes often come out suddenly from behind cars. it's very dangerous. i pay extra attention with my child. >> reporter: the law says battery-powered bikes should not run faster than 20 kilometers
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per hour. but manufacturers are not paying attention. stores are full of souped-up machines, capable of breaking the speed limit. these ones can go 60 kilometers per hour. the central government has ordered local authorities to get tougher in enforcing the law. but two-wheelers are now in indispensable transport. not just for commuters. this delivery company in beijing shifted to battery-powered bikes two years ago. >> translator: using other transportation will raise the cost and affect our business. authorities should consider the circumstances in applying regulations. >> reporter: this expert on transportation systems is calling on the government to
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strike the right balance on its bike policy. >> we need to provide specialized lanes for the e-bike users. it will be good in the future we have a license system for the e-bike user. >> reporter: the electric vehicle industry is getting a strong push from government. as a way to cut co2 emissions. with the number of e-bikes certain to grow, china cannot delay any longer in tackling the safety issue. yoshihiko hirauchi, nhk world. the cyclone looks like it's going to be heading towards northern tamil and making landfall on friday morning, in the next 12 hours. if i step out of the way.
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you can see the system that we're dealing with at the moment. it was just about stationary, but now it's starting to move at about 13 kilometers per hour towards the eastern coast of india. it's a very severe cyclonic storm. the wind gusts are at 120 kilometers per hour and there's going to be a lot of rain with the system as well. so flooding as well as those damaging winds will be the main concerns. as the system pushes in, it will be affecting much of southern and southeastern india i should say. including the densely-populated city of chennai. so that's going to be a major concern and we will keep you updated with the system as we go along. eastern asia is looking much drier. high pressure across much of mongolia, as well as china. it will be hazy and foggy for many of you in the southeast. especially in the early hours of the morning it could make for dangerous driving. so do watch that. as for japan, a low pressure moving up towards the north, that's going to be bringing a winter storm. so more of the heavy snow. but also with it, thunderstorms,
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potential for avalanches and very rough seas, especially for the northwestern seaboard. speaking of rough seas, we'll be seeing those for the eastern seaboards and the philippines, as well as indochina, a strong northeasterly flow, just continuing and along with it, showers, too. down in the tropics, the lee 30s, in minella and bangkok. into the double digits for shanghai as well as chongqing on friday. tokyo looking for 9 degrees for the high, 1 in beijing and minus 4 in ulan bator. let's go now to north america. we have a pacific storm which is going to be causing a few problems up here across western canada. and in the intermountain west. on the mountains you can see some significant accumulations of fresh snow. also, very heavy rain at the coast. and it's in the mountains and the coast that the wind is going to be strongest. so that will certain be something to deal with out here in the northwest. we have another couple of low pressures moving along the northern tier of the continent.
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these are not going to be so significant in terms of the accumulation of precipitation, but you could see some freezing rain here and that's very dangerous stuff if you're going to be driving. so we'll watch for local forecasts to see what driving conditions are like in your area. to the south, things are fairly warm. and pretty dry as well. we have 17 degrees in oklahoma city, 21 in houston, texas. 11 in denver and 24 in l.a. a fairly warm day in chicago as well at 8 degrees, and out in the east, 14 in atlanta, but we still see the winter chill to the north and new york city, 3 degrees for your high. northwestern europe continues to see the storms moving through. very, very gusty winds, parts of the northern uk dealing with gale-force winds once again. a lot of wet weather will be focused over germany and down through the low countries into france. it will be rain into snow. we'll see heavy parts of snow in the scandinavian peninsula. so looking wet and wild for much of the north and west.
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down toward the south we have a lingering system which is actually just getting ready to rejuvenate itself and redevelop. so that will mean some intense storms coming into the balkans as we head into friday. here are your temperatures, not too bad to the west, 12 in paris, 8 in london and madrid, but things chilling down as you can see here, warsaw, and also moscow, just around the freezing mark. kiev at 2, berlin 5 for you and stockholm, 4 is your forecast. here's your extended forecast.
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