welcome back to "newsline." the new cabinet of prime minister naoto kan presented the members of the new government. they were sworn in friday evening. one of them is land and truck

port minister seiji maehara, who was appointed as the new foreign minister. and finance minister yoshihiko noda retains his post. akihiro ohato, economy, trade and industry minister. the defense minister keeps his position. former tottori governor yoshihiro katayama, internal affairs minister. democratic party policy research committee chief will also serve as reform minister. shozaburo jimi retains his position as postal reform minister. he is a member of the people's new party, the dpj's governing coalition partner. kan says his new cabinet will

tackle three main issues including promoting the economy and improving japan's role in the global community. he spoke friday at the cabinet's first meeting. >> translator: we will aim to become a cabinet that will do what it has said and will address concrete matters. first of all, we must tackle economic issues. they include economic growth, employment and budget. our efforts to address economic matters must be relentless. we will speak out on japan's role in the international community. japan will show where it stands with its actions.

we will change the current centralization of government and give more power to local governments. the new cabinet must tackle these three issues. local politics in japan is becoming a boisterous affair. in the past few years municipal leaders have swept to power promising reform. that's triggered high-profile confrontations between local assemblies and elected leaders. >> reporter: a group of residents demanded a referendum

to recall this politician. if more than 100 sign the petition, a referendum will be held. the farming in this community in southwestern japan is home to 22,000 people but its population is aging and decreasing rapidly. this man was elected mayor two years ago. there is a sense of crisis among citizens. i will bring the city back to a point where we can look to the future with hope. >> reporter: after taking office, the new mayor had crashed the assembly.

take takehara presented a bill to reduce the members to six. takeh takehara was kicked out of office but he was re-elected in may 2009. after his kwocome-back, he post copies of paycheck stubs in city hall. it reveals that city officers get $77 nou,000 a year, more th twice that of average residents. but he didn't stop there. the mayor who removed copies of the paychecks he posted. a district court ordered him to be rerestated.

as criticism grew, the mayor decided to go it alone. he shut out the media. >> translator: say something, mayor. don't you think you have a responsibility to speak to the media? >> reporter: takehara didn't convene the state assembly for five months. the residents there are now worried a dysfunctional assembly will affect their livelihood. akinara segawa, nhk world. >> takehara is not alone in an effort to make government more fiscally responsible. local municipalities in japan face mounting debt, about $18

n $18stch$1 $18,000 per citizen. >> reporter: nagoya will become the first city to cut taxes in japan. this revolution will speak through the entire nation. >> reporter: where the population is 2.3 million and the fourth largest city in japan, takehara is sharply at odds with the city assembly. he has proposed drastic measures including cutting city taxes and hiring the families of assembly members. there is strong objection to these measures. there is a referendum called for. a poll shows the support for takehara has remained high at 74%. the osaka governor has a different adversary, the central

government. he is angry local municipalities are forced to soldier part of the costs for public works projects such as road and dam construction that are launched by the state. >> translator: this is like a bill some rip-off bar would issue. if it were a private company, it wouldn't be able to stay in business. this is just one example of how poorly the central government manages the nation. >> reporter: he also has reviewed many domestic projects ranging from public works to salary cuts, despite opposition from labor unions. he could reverse osaka's budget deficit in 11 years. we're now joined in the studio by the professor from the international christian university in tokyo. professor, thank you for joining us today. now in recent years, many governor in japan had been elected promising reform. what's the background to this? >> in the 1970s, many reform-minded local leaders,

socialists or communist governizer mayors formed the conceptive councils. but the background of recent conflict is different. first, scarcity of resources. many local governments are suffering serious financial difficulties and scrapping or streamlining management is a pressing issue. the second, transparency. the use for taxes became more apparent. people began to pay closer attention to the privileges enjoyed by the local government staff or counselors and their relatively high pay. in places where reformist governors and mayors are trying to fight these invested interests, conflicted counselors will be more intense. >> so people becoming more aware of the problems their local governments are facing and they

want their elected leaders to do something about them. but if you look at one case, the mayor seems to be in support of it. what do you make of this? >> i think his management style is extreme. what is balanced and institut n institutionally problem mattic. counselors are now criticizing his behavior. however, when he was elected mayor two years ago and re-elected last year, people strongly supported his reform direction and dissemination. his policy was based on the people's desire for more transparent and efficient local government. the counselors have failed to respond to in public opinion. what is a present conflict and disorder is unhealthy. we can see a necessary process of trial and errors on the way

toward truly democratic local government. >> and if you look at the big picture, if the ruling democratic party is trying to promote decentralization of power in japan, will this have any impact on local communities? >> in relation to the reform at the national level, i think strong leadership will be needed to reform local governments themselves themselves. japan's poll significances wiito make tough decisions on how to allocate scarce resources an money. japan's economic growth ended decades ago. the political leaders must tell the people about in hard truth. when consensus building will be more difficult, it is the leaders' role to make the gft more transparent and accountable. i think friction is unavoidable, but only through friction like

the sound of a violin, they'll be able to hear people's real voice. >> professor, thank you very much for your insight today. >> thank you. >> the professor from the international christian university. afghanistan is about to hold its second parliamentary election since the u.s.-led military campaign toppled the taliban in 2001, marking an important step in the nation's reconstruction as the united states prepares to begin withdrawing its troops starting next july. but because of the grave security conditions, concerns are growing over whether the afghan people will be able to safely cast their ballots. >> reporter: afghans go to the polls on saturday to choose about 250 lower house members.

the afghan government and international community regard election as an important step in speeding up the country's reconstruction. taliban insurgents have repeatedly launched attacks in many parts of the country to obstruct the election organized by the pro western administration and president hamid karzai. >> reporter: the u.s. military's training afghan troops and police officers ahead of the scheduled withdrawal from the nation beginning next july. however, neither americans nor afghan security forces have been able to contain taliban attacks. in herat, a large city in western afghanistan was under

control until not too long ago by the taliban. but in recent weeks, the taliban have stepped up anti-election activities. local authorities are holding the taliban and supporters responsible for the action, saying that they are calling for an election boycott and protesting woman's participation in politics. candidates and campaigners have been attacked in many parts of the nation. in herat, six people were killed during the campaigning period in august. >> translator: my father was devoting himself to the people. i don't understand why he had to be killed. >> reporter: as security conditions continue to deteriorate, candidates must risk their lives to canvas support. this man is seeking re-election. armed guards have been following him everywhere he goes during the campaign.

he makes most of his speeches indoors. on this day, he is speaking to supporters at the gathering of the mosque and the head of security. >> translator: under the current security situation, we cannot expect a free and fair election. >> reporter: president karzai is determined to make the poll a success in the hope of regaining public confidence, which he has lost. he wants to demonstrate the legitimacy of his administration to the people of afghanistan as well as the international community. >> people will be able to exercise their right to vote freely and without interruption. >> reporter: despite karzai's wishes, observers are skeptical that the balloting will go smoothly.

the lead up to the election is exposing the chaotic situation the nation is under, the hardship is faces on the part of self-reliance. nhk world, kabul. now here's some of the news received from broadcasting stations across asia. we begin with this item send from sri lanka. an explosion in eastern sri lanka on friday left at least 20 people dead including two chinese nationals. officials say the accident occurred when explosives being used by a chinese road construction firm blew up while they were being unloaded from a truck. the cause of the explosion is not yet known but police have ruled out the possibility of terrorist activity. the olk nicers of the 2010 commonwealth games in new delhi

introduced the games to the village, scheduled to officially open next week. it is spread over an area of about 160 acres. it houses a state of the arts training center and an international center and hostiles for about 10,000 athletes and officials. the training facilities include a swimming pool, track, gymnasium and weightlifting and wrestling areas. hello. they say that records are made to be broken and that's exactly what we're seeing in sumo. this man has won 52 straight bouts and he wants this victory to match the number two man in the record book known simply as "the wolf." he has beaten him once in 23

tries. it is a slap-down so he is victorious of tying the record of 53 consecutive wins.

>> congratulations to him for reaching second place on the all-time list. how was fuji whose record was just tied? he was immense lly success full and popular in the 1980s. he possessed dynamic throws and a quick finishing technique. he never budged before opponents much bigger than him, thrilling many sumo fans. in 1988, he dominated the sport setting a modern day winning streak of 53 bouts. in all, he had 1,045 wins in his division, a record that still stands today and won the fournment 31 times, the second highest total. for all his achievements, he became the first and only person

from the sumo world to be awarded the people's honor award. here's his reaction to seeing his record tied. of course, futabayama is number one, winning 69 in a row. he reigned supreme in the 1930s. his 39 consecutive wins are still the most ever despite setting the record more than 70 years ago. now here are the current standings after six days.

hakuho's perfect record is matched by two others. one step hyped are a trio of men, harumafuji, baruto and one other. finally, let's check it all the winners and losers in the top division on day six. toyohibiki gets his first win.

on the seventh day of this tournament, hakusho. time for the weather. let's get you update on our storm systems around the globe. we'll start here in east asia. this is swirling around in the pacific. it is going to be a very stormy weekend for the southern japanese islands. the okinawa islands are going to get a lot of very heavy rain and strong winds coming in. at the moment these are the statistics on our typhoon.

it is moving slowly still, 144 kilometers-an-hour winds with gusts up to almost 200 kilometers an hour. we'll be seeing the system strengthening even further as it heads in towards taiwan where it is expected to make landfall on sunday. after that it will continue on into southern china. now in terms of the rainfall, we're looking at as much as 200 millimeters plus in the next 72 hours. see that straight path is going to be very, very wet, very windy. of course damaging winds and we will keep an eye on this as we move through. now to the laeb tiatlantic, car just about to make landfall once again in eastern mexico. then you can also see this monster system igor may be just off your screens here. julia is still here, a category 1 system, continuing to weaken as it moves out over water. hurricane igor is still very, very potent. it is a massive storm. the size of it, the breadth is just incredible.

it is moving at 15 kilometers an hour now, wind speeds at 195, a category 3 hurricane. we're starting to see dangerous swells and rip currents up along the eastern coast of the u.s. and then of course there is bermuda. now the eye of the storm is expected to come very close to the -- to bermuda on mopped. of course there are hurricane warnings in place here. let's talk about carl. now carl is also a category 3 storm. it's just as intense as igor but it is a much more compact system, a much smaller system moving at 15 kilometers an hour. wind speeds at 195. it is going to be making landfall here in the eastern coast of mexico on friday evening. the rain is going to be a huge issue because these areas here vera cruz, southern portions of the state of vera cruz, will already flooded from very heavy seasonal rain. looking at upwards of 200 millimeters here. it is going to be very high cause for concern for flooding and very high winds as well.

elsewhere in north america, the u.s. is looking quite settled for southern portions though ahead of this front, some stormy conditions, quite severe in nebraska, iowa as well. showers also pushing through the pacific portienorthwest. very cool to the north, just 11 degrees in winnipeg. let's move now into europe. that big wichbdy system across the north is still lingering here. you can see those bands very close together where it is going to be very breezy. then in behind that we have a new warm front moving in to the british isles. that will kept things wet and unsettled for the weekend across the north there. the alpine region is dealing with pretty intense storms. as one band of rain and storms moves away, another comes up from iberia so staying quite unsettled for you there the weekend. tens in temperatures across the board really. stock hoholm

stockholm, 13. 18 in vienna and kiev. athens, 34, keeping ahold of the summer's air. here's your extended forecast. archaeologists say they've made an interesting discovery among the ruins located in the former japanese capital of mata. they have he unearthed for more than 2,000 ancient peach stones. they made the find near a large structure discovered near ruins last year. it dates back to the early third century. some say it may have been the

palace of a queen. an excavation found the peach stones in an 80 centermeter deep stole dug next to the structure. peechs were considered sacred fruit that could bring about eternal youth and ward off evil. the latest discovery is expected to trigger fresh debate over the kinds of rituals the queen carried out. the location of that japanese kingdom has long been a matter of dispute in the country.

we'll be back in 30 minutes. thanks for joining us on nhk world.