welcome back to "newsline." i'm hideshi hara in tokyo with the latest at this hour. leaders from emerging and developed economies have ended their two-day g-20 summit in seoul. the member countries have agreed to avoid a currency war and to compile guidelines to assess and correct large trade imbalances. our business reporter yongghi kang joins with us a summary of

the seoul g-20. >> reporter: the g-20 leaders failed to iron out differences on pressing issues, but they did agree that a currency war must be avoided. one of the major focuses of the summit was the issue of global trade imbalances, and on this topic, the heads of state only agreed to set up vague guidelines to correct imbalances between countries with trade surpluses and those with deficits. they did not agree to post targets for american account balances, something which could limit a country's export potential. the details will be discussed in the first half of next year. on how the g-20 members view the state of the global economy, the final statement says some of the member countries are experiencing strong growth while others have high levels of unemployment and face sluggish recoveries. it warns that the uneven growth is fueling a temptation to diverge from global solutions into uncoordinated action.

the communique also refers to the competitive devaluation of currencies in which countries seek to lower their currency's exchange rate to their own advantages. it says the leaders vow to move towards more market valued assistance, enhance fundamentals and refrain from competitive devaluation of currencies. the g-20 members did not point fingers at any specific countries from manipulating their currency, however, chinese president hu jintao indirectly criticized the united states for introducing aggressive easing. hu said the federal reserve's latest easing was prompting money to flow into emerging economies raising the risk of inflation. u.s. president barack obama stressed that the fed's easing was aimed at supporting economic growth and avoiding deflation and not to weaken the dollar. >> from everything i can see, this decision was not one designed to have an impact on

the currency, on the dollar. it was designed to grow the economy. >> reporter: after the meeting, south korean president lee myung bak, who was the g-20 chair, expressed hopes for a global economic recovery. for many participants of the g-20 summit, it's going to be a busy weekend, because they are heading for yokohama, japan, to attend the apec summit. that's all from the g-20 media center in seoul, back to you in the studio. >> yonggi kang reporting from seoul. the leaders of japan and the european union are planning to work toward an economic partnership agreement in the new year. prime minister naoto kan met eu council president herman van rompuy and european commission president jose-manuel barroso on the sidelines of the summit in

seoul on friday. kan will work hard to forge an economic partnership with the eu and pointed out that his government's basic policy promotes such deals. kan called for both sides to make efforts and the eu leaders responded positively. the two sides will try to reach a preliminary agreement at their summit in the first half of next year. that will help start official negotiations. kan promised to speed up studies on issues of particular interest to the eu. they include its demand for japan to eliminate known tariff barriers and promote deregulation. the prime minister said the government is doing all it can to eliminate unnecessary regulations and he will instruct his ministers to make further reforms. the two-day summit of the asia-pacific economic cooperation forum will open in yokohama on saturday. ahead of the meeting, world leaders including the presidents of the united states, china and

russia have started arriving here in japan on this friday evening. prime minister kan flew back from seoul where he attended the g-20 summit meeting. kan will now chair the apec meeting and is also scheduled to hold bilateral meetings with other leaders on the sidelines of this weekend's summit. on friday evening, chinese president hu jintao arrived at tokyo's haneda airport. hu is the first top chinese official to visit japan after bilateral ties were strained in early september following an incident in which a chinese fishing boat collided with a japanese patrol vessels near japan's senkaku islands. but it remains to be seen whether hu will hold an official meeting with kan. if he does, the prime minister will use the opportunity to improve bilateral ties. on saturday morning kan will meet u.s. president barack obama. officials say he hopes to reaffirm the japan/u.s. alliance against the backdrop of china's increasing influence in east asia.

in his scheduled meeting with russian president dmitry medvedev, kan intends to express his regret over medvedev's recent visit to one of the four russian-held islands claimed by japan. he will also convey the government's position that the islands are japanese territory. the leaders of 21 asian and pacific economies are expected to agree to aim for economic integration by 2020. they are expected to issue a declaration at the end of the summit to be called the yokohama vision. nhk obtained a draft copy of the declaration. it expresses the results of apec leaders to further promote regional economic integration towards the target year 2020. the draft also says that apec will take concrete steps towards a comprehensive free trade agreement by developing and building current regional undertakings such as the transpacific partnership, asean plus 3 and asean plus 6.

the asean plus 3 group includes japan, china, south korea, and the ten-member association of southeastern nations. the asean plus 6 group adds australia, india and new zealand to the 13 countries. the transpacific partnership originated in a free trade agreement among brunei, chile, new zealand and singapore. negotiations are under way to expand it with another five apec members, including the united states and australia. ahead of the apec summit scheduled for this weekend, we have been looking at japan/u.s. relations here on "newsline." our series wraps up today with a story about nuclear cooperation between the two allies. u.s. president obama is calling for tightened global nuclear security. japan as the only country where nuclear bombs have been dropped strongly supports his initiative. president obama hosted a nuclear security summit last april in washington. obama has said his long-term

goal is to create a world without nuclear weapons but he recognizes nuclear terrorism as an imminent threat to international security. >> the urgency of the threat and catastrophic consequences of even a single act of nuclear terrorism demand an effort that is at once bold and pragmatic. our work today not only advances the security of the united states. it advances the security of all mankind. >> leaders from 47 countries welcomed and joined obama's call to secure all the vulnerable nuclear material within four years. japan's prime minister at the time yukio hatoyama gave an example of how his country could have contributed. >> translator: the scientific investigation of nuclear substances is very important. japan and the u.s. will jointly develop these technologies over the next three years. >> nhk world's junko noda visited a center to see how

nuclear detection technology works to help maintain security. >> reporter: researchers here at the japan atomic energy agency are developing technologies to detect and analyze nuclear materials. i've been permitted to enter this laboratory as long as i don't bring in any dust or dirt. in the future, any nuclear materials that are seized or exploded will be brought here for examination. recently, high-profile cases have shown the need for this type of lab. in 2007 police in slovakia arrested three people for allegedly possessing highly enriched uranium. investigators thought the uranium came from somewhere in the former soviet union and believed it could have been sold to terrorist groups. >> translator: japan has been promoting the peaceful use of

nuclear energy and developing technologies to analyze nuclear materials. at the same time, its technology is one of the highest in the world. >> reporter: that technology could be used to identify nuclear materials, including enriched uranium and plutonium. these materials can have different compositions depending on how and where they are processed. this is one of the devices used to analyze uranium particles. it gives details on the structure and purity. here is what the particles look like under a high-powered microscope. their shape is one of the things that can be used to identify them. much like fingerprints help identify humans. when analyzed, the materials could be checked against the database to find out where they came from. the process is called nuclear

forensics. it is expected to act as a deterrent, because it encourages countries with nuclear materials to use proper safeguards so terrorist groups can't gain access. the japan atomic energy agency held its first international workshop on nuclear forensics last month. experts from the u.s. and europe participated. they called for the creation of an international database of so-called nuclear fingerprints. with that in mind, japan is asking the u.s. to share information with it as a first step. >> translator: with this technology, japan could have deterrent effect in the asian region. and that's what the u.s. expects from our country. >> reporter: information on

nuclear materials is top secret as it could be used for military purposes to build an effective framework against nuclear terrorism and proliferation, g key. junko noda, nhk world, japan. nuclear security could be a topic of discussion when u.s. president obama meets with japanese prime minister kan on saturday during the apec summit. with china expanding its influence in asia, the leaders will also talk about rebuilding japan/u.s. bilateral relations. ties have been strained over the relocation of a u.s. military base in okinawa. diplomats from countries desiring permanent seats on the u.n. security council have welcomed u.s. president barack obama's endorsement of india's bid for membership.

also lobbying for such seats are japan, germany and brazil. obama offered his official backing for india to become a permanent member of the council during his visit to the country earlier this week. on thursday in new york the u.n. general assembly debated the long standing issue of reforming the security council. german u.n. ambassador peter wittig said the structure should be changed to reflect the current geopolitical reality and that obama's address emphasized this need. speaking after the session, the brazilian ambassador maria luiza ribeiro viotti said her country regards obama's remarks as a positive sign that the u.s. is committed to reforming the security council. japan's u.n. envoy said it is good news for the four countries that the u.s. president has stepped forward on the matter. referring to obama's visit to japan for apec summit meeting in yokohama, nishida

expressed the hope that the u.s. president will lend his support to japan's membership bid. >> translator: given the importance of japan/u.s. bilateral relations and previous comments by successive u.s. administrations, i expect that president obama will make an appropriate remark when he meets prime minister kan. >> obama will hold talks on saturday with japanese prime minister kan. a tokyo-based cyber security firm says anti-terrorism files apparently from tokyo police computers have been downloaded in at least ten countries in a territory. the leak of the sensitive documents on international terrorism was confirmed on october 28th with initial exposure traced to the japanese file sharing software. the firm found in records of the

software in one week, the virus spread by means of other file sharing software such as share. the firm says in just over two weeks since the leak was confirmed the files were downloaded by over 4,800 personal computers in at least ten countries and a territory including japan, china, russia and the united states. the tokyo metropolitan police suspect that someone leaked the files intentionally. emerging u.s. electric carmaker tesla motors is planning to join hands with japanese car giant toyota motor to produce electric cars. the tesla chief executive and the president of toyota akio toyoda spelled out the plans at a joint news conference in tokyo on friday. the two companies have begun developing electric cars together after toyota acquired a stake in the silicon valley start-up company back in july. tesla currently sells electric sports vehicles in the u.s. at the news conference, he said tesla is hoping to start

producing around 200,000 evs within the next five to six years. toyota said the two companies will develop a jointly developed model at a motor show in los angeles later this month. the model is based on the toyota sports utility vehicle and uses a battery produced by tesla. the automakers plan to start selling the car in the u.s. in 2012. meanwhile, nissan motors is recalling more than 600,000 vehicles in north america, brazil and some other countries due to steering and battery problems. nissan announced that the recall involves the 2002 and 2004 model of the frontier pickup trucks, as well as xterra sport utility vehicles and sentra passenger cars produced in 2010. none of these cars are sold in japan. nissan said defective parts in the steering shaft in the frontier and xterra vehicles may cause these shafts to corrode and crack. the carmaker also said a separate battery problem may prevent sentra passenger cars from starting up.

the company said three complaints have been filed in canada, and six in brazil, but added that no injuries have been reported as a result of these defects. the head of the world health organization wants countries to remain vigilant against h1n1 influenza. the w.h.o. declared the flu pandemic to be over in august but it says the virus continues to lurk. >> we are in the post-pandemic phase. but, you know, the work needs to continue. the virus will continue to circulate for many years. >> margaret chan spoke to nhk on thursday from w.h.o. headquarters in geneva. she advised vigilance in countries in the northern hemisphere where the winter flu season is about to start. the w.h.o. chief also called for increased monitoring of the more toxic h5n1 bird flu virus. there are fears it could mutate into a form capable of human-to-human transmission.

chan says that although still rare, case of infections in humans continue to be reported in egypt and southeast asia. there appears to be no letting up for the caribbean nation of haiti, where people are struggling to get their lives back to normal. first there was the devastating earthquake in january, then earlier this month, hurricane-induced floods aggravated the country's already-poor sanitary conditions. and in between those two calamities, an outbreak of cholera last month has developed into an epidemic. nhk world's miki ebara has the story from haiti. >> reporter: this is port-au-prince, the capital of haiti. ten months after the devastating earthquake that killed over 200,000 people. even now, many collapsed houses and buildings are left as they were ten months ago. haitian government is not

performing fully, and the money promised by the international community to help the island nation has been slow in coming. driving from the capital for four hours northwards, we reached the northern region where the cholera outbreak originally started. this area was flooded when the hurricane passed off the coast of haiti earlier this month. i am in a town called rubatat, when the hurricane hit, the nearby river flooded over and the water came up to my, around my knees. since then, the people tell me the cholera epidemic started being reported here, too. the neighborhood is in extreme poverty with no proper sanitation, no access to clean water. children walk barefoot among garbage and in dirty water.

a breeding ground for cholera. a hospital here receives a constant flow of patients suffering from severe diarrhea and high fever, cholera-like symptoms. patients are overwhelming for this small hospital. they are being treated on stretchers in the courtyard or in corridors. the number of treated so far is over 1,000. 15 of which have passed away. >> reporter: the cholera epidemic has reached port-au-prince. haitian authorities, the u.n. and its partners have stepped up their efforts to prevent the spread. the red cross, for one, is urgently providing hygiene kits to people who lost their houses

by the january earthquake. but there are 1.3 million people who are living in tents still. in addition, there are thousands who live in slums. poverty and lack of knowledge among the population play a big part in spreading cholera. >> we expect it to spread further. so i want to be very clear that we don't feel right now this is an epidemic that will be controlled immediately. so we are preparing an appeal, which will be launched in the next few days outlining the urgent need for more medical supplies and more supplies for water for sanitation, even for communication with the population. so it's a very challenging time. >> nhk world's miki ebara reporting from haiti. and now here are the news received from broadcasting stations across asia. we begin with this item sent by btv bangladesh. china's government expressed

willingness to assist in the modernizing of the armed forces of bangladesh, especially its its navy. the chinese naval delegation led by the rear admiral wang gighou made the offer during a meeting with the president on thursday. the delegation also announced that their government has decided to increase its scholarships for bangladeshi students to 100 starting next year. the president says his country attaches great importance to its ties with china. sri lanka's parliament building in colombo has been inundated after the worst flooding in 18 years. on thursday, armored vehicles and boats were used to transport lawmakers to parliament as roads in the capital were submerged following 400 millimeters of rain. the parliamentarians passed six important financial bills in darkness, because the electricity supply was cut due to the flooding. it was the first time in sri lankan history parliamentary

proceedings have been carried out in the dark. an iranian cultural festival has opened in the russian city of lipidsk, about 440 kilometers southeast of moscow. on display at the event, or handicrafts, calligraphy and metal engravings. some artists are conducting workshops to show the visitors their distinct techniques. the organizers hope the festival will provide russians with firsthand knowledge of the iranian culture and arts, particularly its islamic character. all right, time to check on the weather once again. we head into eastern asia where a lot of the region is actually very dry and settled under strong high pressure. that's most of china, up into mongolia but we do have a few things going on. this storm here, this low pressure is bringing a blizzard through northeastern china, and

that is going to be heading in towards northern japan on sunday. saturday should be mostly fine, get a bit of a break, nice, clear, sunny conditions for much of japan but then that storm is coming and it could still be quite potent by the time it moves through hokkaido. up in the same area we've been talking about this yellow dust, the phenomenon we usually see in the springtime but it's been happening in the fall this year. now it comes across from the gobe desert when it's very dry, which it has been dry in china and the heaviest parts in eastern china, across into japan and by tomorrow evening it's going to be pretty strong, also for the korean peninsula, so low visibility, bad air quality is what we're talking about. if you have your lawn chair out you might see it gets a little bit dirty. heading down in towards the southeast i want to show you what's been happening in central vietnam. you remember it's been raining here really hard for at least the last week, ten days. well this low pressure that has been lingering off the eastern

coast is now strengthening so that's not good news at all. heavy rain continuing for portions of southern thailand. flooding and landslides continuing to be an issue into the weekend for sure. temperaturewise, 19 in tokyo. partly cloudy skies, beijing a clear day for you, 9 degrees. 23 in taipei, probably seeing a few showers here, minus 9 in ulan bator and probably some snow. headed into north america, out to the west mostly clear and settled up into canada as well. we can see the storm moving into b.c., affecting parts of washington state as well. the worst of the storm is much further up north into northwestern canada. through the center of the united states, another low pressure system, this one thunderstorms, wet stuff down to the south, snow heading in towards the great lakes area. as the system progresses, it's really going to bring temperatures down by about 10 degrees so watch for that. friday you're still fine, have a look at these, 16 degrees in chicago, 13 in topeka. 27 in houston.

you can knock about ten degrees off of those temperatures as we head into the weekend. all right, let's check out what's going on now in europe. well it is going to be pretty messy i'm afraid. we have that low pressure system, front's coming down off of it and this front here is going to be pushing down into iberia, into france, so the return of storms to parts of northern portugal as well as parts of northern spain, very strong wind here. as for the rest of the south across the mediterranean it's going to be quite clear, a few things going on here, maybe a couple of severe storms for parts of southern greece, into western turkey but generally it's going to be quite settled, and if you're up in scandinavia, things should be settling down for you as well so the snow is starting to move away. we'll see a little bit of wet weather for you in southern parts of sweden. temperatures 5 in stockholm, 8 in moscow, still staying warm in kiev, 13 degrees for the high. 16 for you in paris and 17 in london. 12 in london. here is your extended forecast.

that's it for this edition of "newsline." i'm hideshi hara in tokyo. we'll be back in half an hour. thanks for joining us on nhk thanks for joining us on nhk world. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com