they sense that winter has begun in earnest. welcome to nhk world "newsline." i'm gene otani in tokyo. japan's ruling democratic party has unveiled its draft proposal for new foreign and security policies. it includes plans to strengthen self-defense forces in the east china sea. the party's foreign and security policy panel came up with the

draft. it comes shortly before planned revisions to the nation's defense program guidelines. the draft says japan should reinforce its maritime and air self-defense forces to improve monitoring of nearby waters. it says japan's defense policy should focus on areas southwest of the country, instead of the north, in order to check china's naval moves in the east china sea. the draft added that ground self-defense force troops should be scaled back, except in the southernmost japanese prefecture of okinawa. the document says japan should relax its so-called three principles on arms exports, which essentially bans weapons shipments. it will allow japan to jointly develop and produce arms with other countries but only within the international weapons control framework. the plan also urges an easing of regulations on weapons used by japan's self-defense force and u.n. peacekeeping missions. that change would allow them to defend foreign military troops and civilians under attack. japan and the united states will launch working-level talks to strengthen bilateral defense

cooperation in the event of security issues in japan's territorial waters. top officers from u.s. marine corps headquarters and japan's ground self-defense force will hold a three-day meeting in tokyo starting on wednesday. they're expected to focus on security in the east china sea, following china's increased naval activities in the area, which includes japan's nansei islands. the u.s. side may want to discuss how marines stationed in okinawa can protect the islands. in september, japan and the u.s. confirmed that the senkaku islands in okinawa prefecture would be covered by their existing security pact. the move followed collisions between a chinese trawler and japanese patrol ships. the working-level talks are expected to boost the two countries' defense cooperation in the region. the u.n. security council has called on parties involved in a referendum in sudan to carry out a voting process as scheduled in january. the referendum will decide whether the south of the country becomes independent. the vote is the final phase in

the 2005 peace agreement that ended a two-decade-long civil war between ethnic arabs in the north and ethnic africans in the south. on tuesday the u.n. security council held ministerial-level talks over the poll scheduled for january 9th. u.s. secretary of state hillary clinton said that sudan should not return to the past when 2 million lives were lost in a conflict that lasted for more than a quarter of a century. >> it is critical to peace and stability that the referendum for southern sudan be held peacefully and on time on january 9th, and regardless of the outcome, the will of the people must be respected by all parties. >> a japanese representative also expressed his country's intention to give its full support.

a u.n. source says that many challenges remain for holding the referendum as scheduled. he said the international community needs to provide more support such as helicopters for areas without roads. in haiti protesters blaming u.n. peacekeepers for the deadly outbreak of cholera have exchanged gunfire with u.n. troops. at least one resident was killed. rallies continued in cities and towns across northern haiti on tuesday. protesters placed barricades in front of u.n. peacekeepers' camps and threw stones. a u.n. spokesperson in haiti says that in the town of quartier morin u.n. troops exchanged fire with protesters who started shooting. at least one demonstrator was killed. in another town six u.n. peacekeepers were wounded from stones hurled by demonstrators. the u.n. says its peacekeepers were acting in self-defense. the haitian health ministry says cholera has killed over 1,000 people and infected nearly 17,000. haitians are becoming

increasingly dissatisfied with the government's response to the outbreak. a u.n. spokesperson indicated a political motivation for the pre-election protest, saying it may be an attempt to shift the focus of public discontent to the u.n. haiti's presidential election is scheduled for november 28th. israel's deputy foreign minister says the country may suspend settlement construction in the occupied palestinian territories in a bid to resume stalled peace talks. israeli deputy foreign minister daniel ayalon, now visiting japan, spoke to nhk about the issue on tuesday. >> we may go for another moratorium of three months. we want to ensure that the palestinians will not make any more excuses. >> israel and the palestinian authority began their first direct peace talks in 20 months in september, but halted them a

few weeks later, when israel resumed its settlement construction in the west bank. asked about iran's continued nuclear development, ayalon said iran is likely to acquire nuclear weapons within one or two years. he urged the international community to take tougher steps against iran, as the current economic sanctions have failed to stop the country's nuclear development. a death sentence has been given for the first time in a lay judge trial in japan since the system was introduced last year. at the yokohama district court on tuesday a panel of judges including ordinary citizens handed down the sentence to a man charged with robbery and double murder. the 32-year-old unemployed man was found guilty of killing two men and taking about $160,000 in june last year. one of the men operated a mahjong parlor in central tokyo. the defendant dumped the bodies of the victims in the water at

yokohama port. prosecutors said the defendant deserved a death sentence for what they describe as a cold-blooded crime. they said the man killed one of the victims with an electric saw while he pleaded for his life. the defendant had admitted to all charges. in a lay judge trial six randomly chosen citizens serve alongside three professional judges to determine guilt and sentence those found guilty. earlier yuko fukushima spoke with nhk senior reporter koji nishigaki to get insight on this story. >> can you give us the background which led up to today's sentence? >> in japan lay judges have ruled on 800 cases so far, but this is the first time they've imposed this sentence. japan introduced the lay judge system in august 2009 to reflect the opinion of general public in dealing with serious and significant criminal cases.

in the country there is a certain standard on whether to sentence a person to death. in a case like this, which involved the murder of two people and robbery, many district court judges have handed down the death penalty. so there was a precedent. however, the individual in this case can appeal the decision to a higher court and the supreme court. there's a chance he could get a different sentence from professional judges. the extraordinary comment by the presiding judge in court today urged the man to appeal to a higher court indicates how difficult it is to impose the death penalty. >> so do you think today's sentence will affect the sentencing of other cases involving lay judges? >> yes. to a certain extent. lay judges currently involved in proceedings of several multiple murder cases in japan, it is likely more and more of them

will face the difficult decision of whether to sentence a person to death. japan is one of a few developed countries that oppose capital punishment according to a survey conducted last year, 86% of respondents agreed the death penalty is necessary in some cases. most said victims deserve justice and their bereaved families would not be satisfied if their murderer was not put to death. others believed atrocious crimes could increase if japan abandoned the death penalty. >> all right. so how much information is available in japan on the process criminals go through before they actually receive the death penalty? >> actually, not a lot. a few facts made them public. some experts say japan's government should release more information on its death penalty process so lay judges can make an informed decision on whether

to sentence someone to die. in august the justice minister at that time let reporters take a tour of a facility where convicted criminals are put to death. the minister said by doing so she wanted to rouse public debate on the death penalty. but a lot of facts regarding capital punishment are still kept confidential. for example, when the convict is put to death and how the government decides who will be put to death next. there is another issue of lay judges for suffering from mental stress or claiming physical problems after they hand down a sentence. we should consider providing psychological counseling to lay judges who are forced to make difficult decisions. >> certainly. thank you very much. our senior reporter koji nishigaki.

many students find studying mathematics unenjoyable. some people think it's a dead sciences having nothing to do with their daily lives. but mathematicians say math is fun and that it can play a bigger role in solving many challenges in today's complex world. yuko aotani spoke with a science award winner. >> reporter: mathematics has been part of humanity since ancient times. the beauty of great works of architecture such as this couldn't have been realized without a way to calculate it. experts say a mathematical way of thinking is needed more than ever in today's sciences as well as sociology and other subjects. mathematician lazlo lovas won this year's international kyoto prize for his contributions to basic sciences. >> mathematics is progressing faster than ever, and it is becoming a part of everybody's

life. >> these are various jobs. >> jobs. and these are the people? >> these are the people. >> reporter: lovas specializes in what's called discrete optimization. he cites allocating jobs to people as a practical example of his complex mathematical algorithm. as president of the international mathematical union lovas is expanding efforts to spread the joy of maths to school children around the world. >> can you explain in very simple terms what can be -- what can we see that in everyday lives? >> something like traffic in a city. how to optimally set the traffic lights so that the traffic should roll as fast as possible. or you want to design optimally the routes of, say, garbage collecting trucks or buses or trains. >> so they work effectively. >> so that they work

effectively. what is the best way and schedule for, say, the buses to get to serve as many people with as few buses as possible? >> in hungary, your home country, mathematics, the study, is extremely popular, and many renowned mathematicians have come from there. what's the particular reason behind this, do you think? >> i think it's mostly education and a system for looking for talented young people and then having some special programs for them. >> how young students can find interest in math, can find enjoyment in math? >> mathematical way of thinking is not that far from activities that the students love to do. for example, playing chess or go

or solving puzzles, sudoku puzzles. this is all math, or very close to math. so i think the education should build on these interests. >> where do you find the most enjoyment, enjoyable aspect of this subject? >> mathematics is all about harmony. it's all about different thoughts, different ideas, and you try to fit them together. it's really like solving a puzzle. it's a kind of revelation or peace or something. >> for me it's almost like a headache. >> well, i mean, you probably like to solve puzzles. >> to find the answer. is that -- >> to find the answer. yes. to find the answer. to see how things fit. and of course the wonderful thing about mathematics is that these things do fit together in a very, very beautiful way.

maybe you have to learn the language in order to appreciate the beauty of certain sorts. >> we have access to computers in almost every field, and computers sometimes work better than humans. from now on what can us humans do in terms of math that computers can't? >> oh, i think it works the other way. computers have raised so many questions, mathematical problems. maybe i can refer back to this -- to this picture. 15 employees and 10 jobs. and an experienced manager will sort of do it by heart, by feeling, in a very good way. but if you have millions of computers wanting to access, say, the same news site, then this optimal assignment is not something that anybody -- any person can do, and therefore the computers themselves force it on the mathematicians to come up

with mathematical solutions. and we can -- we try to understand the workings of various proteins and enzymes and hormones. and this is in your body, and that's a huge number of various components. and to find the best connection is the best -- to find the real understanding of it takes mathematics. >> well, thank you very much, dr. lovasz, for your time. thank you very much. >> thank you. some japanese parents have so much trouble caring for their adolescents they take special lessons. we followed one mother who's looking for answers about how to relate to her children. >> reporter: this is a parenting class in tokyo.

a 44-year-old mother, yasuko ueji, takes the course. she's a stay-at-home mom, raising two daughters in junior high school. >> translator: i don't know what my children are really feeling or thinking, so i have a vague sense of insecurity about my skills as a parent. >> reporter: after graduating from a junior college, ueji worked for a large securities firm. as an employee in the overseas stock department, she did her job well. she married at 25 and became a housewife. soon afterward she had two daughters. she signed them up for lots of afterschool activities, thinking it was in their best interests. she never let her daughters quit anything easily. when they entered junior high school, her daughters became more distant. the younger daughter, in her

second year of junior high, didn't want to talk to her mother at all. the older daughter would go straight to her room after school and stay there. ueji wasn't sure if this was normal adolescent behavior, so she read parenting books and even confided in her mother, but she simply couldn't find a solution. then, a friend told her about the parenting courses. she's been taking the privately run courses since last december. ueji learned that because children have anxieties and fears of their own, there are things parents should never say to them. >> translator: how do you respond if your child said, "when i graduate from high school, i don't plan on going to college"? >> translator: "you're always so irresponsible."

>> translator: i see. so you're basically judging and criticizing when you say you're an irresponsible child. children hear that criticism and might mistakenly infer that their parents think that they're losers. then communication shuts down. >> reporter: since she started attending classes ten months ago, ueji has been able to have longer conversations with her younger daughter. but her relationship with her older daughter has not improved like she'd hoped. so she is trying to reflect on her past actions and how she's behaved as a mother. >> translator: as a housewife, i fell into the trap of believing that raising children correctly was the most important job. i thought by doing that, people would think that i'm a better parent.

>> reporter: ueji paid for this course to become a better parent, but now she realizes that she has to figure it out by herself. >> translator: i used to think that if i studied parenting like any other subject, i could improve my parenting skills. now, i see how wrong i was. i've come to realize that the only way to become a good parent is by openly communicating with my children. >> many participants in the parenting class in the report are housewives. most have children ranging in age from 6 to 18. let's take a look at the latest market figures. ♪

♪ ♪ ♪ hello there. time now for your world weather update. we'll start off in eastern asia, where we are seeing some showers near the kanto region today in japan and also some thundershowers coming in from the west, and that will affect the western side of the country, but elsewhere look for some sunny spells and temperatures warming up nicely as well.

the korean peninsula stays dry. a little warmer here as well. much of china basking in sunshine thanks to this big dome of high pressure. there will be some light showers working their way across the southern tier of the country, nothing really severe, anything really to worry about. central vietnam contending with some more heavy showers. this is an area that has been dealing with lots of heavy flooding problems since last month. and it looks like there's going to be more rain, more moisture being produced from the south china sea, threatening the area with more flooding and landslide risks. the philippines too looking very unstable, a little bit windy toward the north and along the malay peninsula too, looking quite wet as well throughout your wednesday. southern india looking at widespread rain due to a low pressure system moving on through, although the system itself is weakening. it will continue to produce ample amounts of moisture.

hong kong is going to be 24 degrees today. 17 in chongqing. cloudy skies and quite mild up in beijing. 13 degrees with sunshine. let's take a look at north america, then. well, we do have lots of wet weather in store for the eastern side of the u.s. today the system carrying lots of moisture, bringing torrential rains to a wide area throughout your wednesday. and accompanied by strong winds as well. now, during the overnight hours, especially around the mid-atlantic states looking at severe conditions. so watch out for things like damaging winds as well as tornados. and then out toward the west a new storm system moving into the pacific northwest to bring you another round of rain and strong winds. plenty of wintry precipitation for the northern rockies again, especially in around montana. looking at significant snowfall, maybe as much as 15 centimeters is expected during the overnight hours. notice the wintry precipitation is going to be moving into the plain states as well next. 7 degrees in denver today.

rather chilly. minus 3 up in winnipeg but staying warm along the east coast. 18 in new york and 18 in washington, d.c. as for europe, the weather is going to be really deteriorating along the western section of the continent here. ireland looking at rain throughout your wednesday, and lots of wet and windy weather affecting spain, portugal, as well as france as well. now, as for the central mediterranean, still looking at this storm system moving fairly slowly across italy, so more rain and upper elevation snow and do watch out for those strong thunderstorms as well. the balkans looking at lots of rain on your wednesday, too, and then over towards the north, looking at this large high pressure system keeping things sunny and dry across much of scandinavia. this is also going to be changing the wind direction across eastern europe, helping to cool things down in moscow. 3 degrees, 8 in moscow. still a little bit milder than usual but much, much cooler after we saw some

record-breaking temperatures in moscow earlier in the week. all right, here's your extended forecast now. ♪ ♪ ♪

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ once again, the headlines this hour, japan's ruling

democratic party has unveiled its draft proposal for new security policies. it includes plans to strengthen self-defense forces in the east china sea. the party's foreign and security policy panel came up with the draft. it comes shortly before planned revisions to the nation's defense program guidelines. the draft says japan should reinforce its maritime and air self-defense forces to improve monitoring of nearby waters. it says japan's defense policy should focus on areas southwest of the country, instead of the north, in order to check china's naval moves in the east china sea. the draft added that ground self-defense force troops should be scaled back, except in the southern most japanese prefecture of okinawa. the document says japan should relax its so-called three principles on arms exports which essentially bans weapons shipments. it will allow japan to jointly develop and produce arms with other countries but only within the international weapons control framework. the plan also urges an easing of

regulations on weapons' use by japan's self-defense force and u.n. peacekeeping missions. that change would allow them to defend foreign military troops and civilians under attack. that concludes this edition of "newsline." i'm gene otani in tokyo. we'll be back in half an hour with the latest news and weather.