welcome to nhk world "newsline." i'm gene otani in tokyo. japan and south korea have agreed to closely monitor north korea amid signs the country may carry out a third nuclear test and its first since may last year. the japanese foreign minister

and the top envoy to the six-party nuclear talks met in tokyo on thursday. saiki said there's no need to rush back to the stalled talks although the north is signaling a positive stance toward dialogue. the japanese official said it's necessary to create a suitable environment for resuming talks. the two officials also agreed that north korea must first take concrete action toward denuclearization. after the meeting wi told reporters that south korea is trying to verify the accuracy of reports that the north is preparing for another nuclear test. but he said details including the possible timing of a test remain unknown. a u.n. general assembly committee has called on myanmar's military government to release all political prisoners. at the same time it welcomed last week's release of pro-democracy leader aung san suu kyi from house arrest. the committee on human rights issued -- adopted -- human rights issues adopted a resolution op myanmar thursday

with the backing of t96 countries. china voted against the resolution. southeast asia. countries either voted against the resolution or abstained. the resolution expresses concern about the situation in the country, where pro-democracy forces are restricted from engaging in political activities. u.n. secretary-general ban ki moon talked with aung san suu kyi on the telephone on thursday. the two agreed that all political prisoners in myanmar must be released to advance democracy in the country. u.s. president barack obama has called on the senate to ratify a new nuclear arms reduction treaty with russia by the end of this year. the u.s. and russia signed a new s.t.a.r.t. treaty in april designed to cut the number of strategic nuclear warheads deployed by more than 30% and to reduce the number of launch vehicles, including ballistic missiles and strategic bombers in half. at least 2/3 of the senators must vote in favor of the treaty to allow ratification. however, some republican senators want to postpone the

vote until next year. obama discussed the new treaty at a meeting on thursday. >> it is a national security imperative that the united states ratify the new s.t.a.r.t. treaty this year. this is not a democratic concept. this is not a republican concept. this is a concept of american national security. >> obama explained that a delay would mean jeopardizing russia's cooperation in providing support for u.s. troops in afghanistan and putting sanctions on iran for its nuclear program. following the democrats' major defeat in midterm elections, republicans are likely to have more influence in congress next year. obama may be trying to influence the current senators in order to ratify the treaty by year end and create a precedent for cooperation between the two parties in congress.

shares of general motors are trading again on the stock market 17 months after going bankrupt. gm shares were relisted on the new york stock exchange and canada's toronto stock exchange on thursday. the stock rose sharply in the first minutes of trading, going for about $35 per share. that's nearly $2 more than the price gm set for the initial public offering. >> i think north american car industry's probably the healthiest it's been in a generation, literally. and one of the things that i think appeal to investors in particular is this is not just a gm story. ford has been through a similar transition. chrysler's going through a similar transition. a lot of people are taking capacity out. and shared in the pain of the last few years. >> including preferred stocks gm is expected to get over $20 billion through the deal. the total figure is the largest initial public offering in u.s. history. gm was delisted in june last

year after filing for chapter 11 bankruptcy. the firm has since closed some of its plants and trimmed its workforce. the rehabilitation helped gm rapidly improve its performance. it has shown profits for three straight quarters through september. china's biggest automaker and joint venture partner of general motors said on thursday that it has bought about 1% stake in gm. shanghai automobile industry corporation bought 0.97% of gm's shares for about $500 million. it will raise the funds needed to fund the purchase in hong kong's financial markets. the shanghai-based firm said gm is a key partner. it added that the investment was based on solid cooperation and mutual trust. the joint venture, shanghai gm, was set up 11 years ago. its operation has grown steadily in china, which the two companies see as the world's most important auto market. so far this year its sales have topped 2 million units as of the start of november. that's the first time a

foreign-owned maker has achieved such volume. an oecd report urges japan's central bank to take extra measures. it says further easing may be needed to keep the nation's economic recovery on track if a strong yen and deflationary pressures persist. the organization for economic corporation and development released its semi-annual economic outlook on thursday. it forecasts a 1.7% growth for the japanese economy for 2011. that's down 0.3 percentage points from a forecast given in may. the report says the pace of expansion will slow further in 2012 to 1.3%. the report says the slowdown in growth is due to sluggish consumer spending. it comes from the waning effects of government stimulus measures. these include the end of subsidies in september for buyers of ecofriendly cars. the report also expense deflationary pressures to continue to weigh down on prices in 2012 at the earliest.

as a key measure the oecd proposes more aggressive buying of long-term government bonds. let's take a look at the latest market figures. ♪ the japan aerospace exploration agency, or jaxa, has announced its first venus probe, akatsuki, will enter into orbit around the red planet early next month. akatsuki was launched on an h2a rocket in may from the tanagashima space center in southwestern japan. jaxa said on thursday that

booster rockets will be fired on december 7th at approximately 9:00 a.m. japan time to put the probe into an orbit roughly 550 kilometers above venus. jaxa's project chief masato nakamura says they will only have a 12-minute window to initiate a rocket burn and successfully put akatsuki into orbit around venus. once the stable orbit has been achieved, akatsuki will begin recording with its on-board video camera as it circles venus once every 30 hours. nhk has learned that russian foreign minister sergei lavrov was firm about his country's sovereignty over four disputed islands off hokkaido during a meeting with japanese foreign minister seiji maehara last week. maehara held talks with lavrov last saturday on the sidelines of the apec forum in yokohama. japanese officials told nhk that during the meeting lavrov referred to the joint declaration signed by japan and

the soviet union in 1956. it says that two of the four northern islands will be returned to japan after a peace treaty is concluded. lavrov said his country is prepared to fulfill the promise made by the soviet union but it shall be based upon russia's goodwill. he added that he does not understand the reason why the soviet union signed such a declaration. maehara opposed lavrov's idea and emphasized the need to sign a peace treaty and have all four islands returned to japan. japan and mongolia are expected to agree to upgrade bilateral ties to what is being called a strategic relationship that would cover a broader range of cooperation from economics to security. it would be the sail level as japan's relationship withas ind. mongolian president tsakhiaglin elbegdorj is now visiting japan and is expected to meet prime minister naoto kan on friday evening. the two leaders are expected to discuss the joint development of

abundant rare earth metal resources in mongolia using japanese technological support. this comes after china imposed restrictions on shipments of the special metals to japan. the two leaders are also expected to confirm on an economic partnership agreement to promote bilateral free trade, which has been under discussion since june. following recent diplomatic difficulties with china and russia, kan also wants to exchange views on regional issues with the mongolian president. environmental groups in guam have filed a lawsuit against the u.s. military. they are calling for a halt to the construction of new firing ranges on the island. the construction project is part of a plan to relocate about 8,000 marines from okinawa in japan to guam. the u.s. government plans to construct five firing rain ngz for the marine corps in a four square-kilometer plot adjacent to the anderson air force base.

on wednesday three civil groups filed litigation against the u.s. department of defense at the federal district court in hawaii. the groups claim that the construction of the new firing ranges would harm the environment and threaten ancient relics built by indigenous people. they also accuse the military of not doing a full land survey and for not complying with federal law on the environment. the u.s. military office in guam told nhk that they cannot comment since the case will be handled by the department of justice. the outcome of the lawsuit could affect the relocation plan for u.s. marines in okinawa. an australian opera is giving audiences a fresh look at a historic revolt by its aboriginal people. no longer able to take the cruel treatment by white authorities, scores of indigenous people walked off a mission in the state of new south wales back in

1939. that incident inspired aboriginal women to produce an opera on their strug p. nhk world's hiromi kurosaka reports. >> reporter: the opera "pagan summer" depicts the suffering of australia's indigenous people under white rule. white people take the land for their own, but eventually the aborigines stand up for their freedom. ♪ the opera is based on the famous historic event back in 1939 in which the aborigines rebelled against white rule. an aboriginal woman, debra

chatham, wrote and composed the opera and performs in it. her grandparents were involved in insurrection, so she feels a strong connection to it. she worked four years on the opera. >> this walk-off from the mission was so significant, but it got lost in time. so the first message is that there are australian stories that are worthy of an opera. ♪ >> reporter: one scene portrays an exam'll of how aborigines were treated. using force, white authorities take an indigenous girl from her mother and send her away to a white family. ♪ this was common practice under the white australia policy, which stipulated aboriginal children receive the same

education as white children. deborah herself was taken from her parents soon after her birth and raised by a white couple. it is estimated that more than 100,000 indigenous people received the same treatment. >> at that time in australia aboriginal people weren't even classified as human beings. we were classified as flora and fauna. >> reporter: the premiere is performed in the town of mooroopna in victorian state, where the aboriginal people first rose up. a crowd of 400 whites and indigenous people watch the performance. ♪

the audience were extremely moved. [ applause ] >> amazing. great depiction of the conditions people lived in, the way they were treated. i think it's more about educating white australians about the conditions that they forced other people into. >> reporter: 70 years after the resistance movement, deborah hopes australians remember and understand the brutal side of their history through the opera. >> we want to go to the major centers. i want to tell a powerful australian story. i want to tell an australian story to australians. >> 500,000 aboriginal people live in australia. the policy to remove the aboriginal children from their parents lasted for almost 100 years, until the 1970s. in 2008 the australian government finally acknowledged

the injustice and formally apologized to aboriginal people. german security authorities say namibian police have intercepted a suspected package bomb which was to be brought onto a flight bound for germany. the suspicious package was found on wednesday at an airport in namibia during the loading of an air berlin flight. the plane departed six hours behind schedule and arrived in munich early thursday. namibian police x-rayed the package and identified a detonator fused to batteries and a clock. they're examining if the item is an explosive or not. the german news agency dpa quoted a spokesperson for the airline as saying that the suspicious bag did not have a destination seal stamped on it. this raises the possibility that the package was brought in illegitimately to avoid the usual airport screening process. the german government has been increasing security in airports and railway stations since wednesday. after obtaining information that

islamic extremists were planning attacks on the country. the director general of the world health organization says she'll work with japan and other countries to strengthen support to contain further cholera outbreaks in haiti. margaret chen now visiting japan for a w.h.o. conference spoke to reporters in tokyo on thursday. chen said an increasing number of people in haiti are dying of dehydration. she said poor sanitary conditions and insufficient health care make it hard to end the epidemic in haiti. >> we assure you the u.n. agencies working with development partners and countries including japan is providing support. we are transporting medical supplies to the country, and we are deploying additional people to help. >> reporter: haitian health officials say the death toll since the earthquake has risen to more than 1,100 and more than

18,000 people have been sickened. the epidemic get worse as anti-united nations protests in the country have disrupted the flow of international aid. some of the protesters attacked u.n. bases and warehouses in northern towns. they blame u.n. peacekeepers for bringing the disease into the country. soccer's governing body fifa says it has fined and suspended two executives involved in a world cup vote selling scandal. fifa's ethics committee made the announcement on thursday at their headquarters in zurich. >> according to the announcement, vice president reynald temarii of tahiti will be suspended from all soccer-related activities for a year and fined $5,000. executive committee member amos adamu from nigeria will be

suspended for three years and fined about $10,000. the two will be banned from taking part in december 2nd's voting to determine the host countries for the 2018 and 2022 world cup finals. the punishment follows the "sunday times" newspaper's investigation which found the two officials demanded money in return for their votes to determine the host countries. reporters from the newspaper posed as lobbyists for the united states looking to secure a final. four other officials will also be fined and suspended for two to four years on suspicion of violating fifa's ethics code in connection with the world cup bidding process. those officials can challenge fifa's decision. time now for "asia vision," where we look at news received from broadcasting stations across asia. we begin with this item sent by irib, iran. since tuesday this week iran has been staging what it calls the country's largest ever air drills. unlike previous years the

five-day exercises being conducted across the entire country. a military spokesperson said the drills are aimed to produce defenses at strategic locations such as nuclear sites. it is also geared to test the country's new weaponry including long-range missiles and radar systems. on wednesday the war readiness of an upgraded version of iran's surface-to-air missile was tested. authorities in hong kong have increased their vigilance against avian influenza after they confirmed a case of the disease in a human on wednesday. health officials say the 59-year-old woman was likely infected during her recent visit to mainland china. she is in serious conditions. authorities have enforced strict hygiene guidelines and undertaken cleanup operations in some bird markets. individual vendors have also cleaned their shops. so far none of the people who came into contact with the patient has fallen ill. thailand welcomed 120 sea

faring people from other parts of asia when the fuji maru docked in bangkok thursday. the ship for southeast asian youth is on a 53-day voyage around the region. passengers hope to raise awareness about hiv/aids and to promote mutual understanding in asia. this year marks the 37th edition of the program since it began in 1974. hello there. welcome back to your world weather update. well, much of eastern asia is going to stay calm and settled. across the north not too bad across mongolia either, but there is going to be very cold air coming in from the north. and that's also going to be bringing widespread snow for your saturday. so you will notice the dramatic change in the temperatures here. there will be some showers developing in some of the areas across east asia for northeast china across north korea and

then down in the okinawa islands as well but warming up quite nicely in south korea and much of japan today. and we'll keep the dry conditions in place throughout the weekend too. as for southeast asia not much improvement here. lots of showers down in the philippines, especially in around southern luzon, contending with thundershowers. elsewhere look for some sunny spells and for indo-china peninsula dealing with more heavy showers in similar areas across the malay peninsula and also along the east coast of vietnam, especially down in the south looking upwards of 100 millimeters in the next 24 hours. so you're not out of the woods just yet. the conditions will remain fairly critical for you. temperatures 25 degrees in hong kong today, 33 in bangkok, with partly cloudy skies. manila coming in at 31 with some showers. showers also in taipei, with 23 degrees. all right. let's take a look at europe, then. generally dry across the british isles tonight. there is that very large storm

system that will continue to impact the area throughout your friday. generally bringing windy conditions, but there will be some heavy rain found up in the -- up in scotland as well. as for spain and portugal, this very large rainband coming in bringing some heavy rain and strong winds affecting coastal areas with high waves and strong winds. so watch out for that. as for southern areas dealing with some more thundershowers, things improving a little bit across italy but on and off showers. some of it will be pretty heavy on friday. thundershowers, too, will affect the balkan peninsula. as for the northeastern areas dealing with its own system we're looking at wintry precipitation of rain and snow. some rain moving across major cities as well. moscow 6 degrees for your daytime high and 10 degrees in kiev. but it does stay fairly mild despite the rain in place. now, before we wrap up, we have some footage coming out of saudi arabia. let's take a look. now, this is a rare event. a rainstorm hit mecca on

thursday. the rain was pretty strong. strong enough to cause flooding and cause a bit of chaos. as right now over 2 million muslims are attending the annual hajj pilgrimage. and so it did cause a bit of chaos. and winds were also very strong, too, enough to topple trees. and it does look like we will get some more showers later today. so do watch out for that if you are in the area. all right. that's all from me just now. here is your extended forecast. ♪ ♪

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once again, the headlines this hour. japan and south korea have agreed to closely monitor north korea amid signs that the country may carry out a third nuclear test and its first since may of last year. the japanese foreign ministry saiki and south korea's envoy to the six-party nuclear talks luk met in tokyo on thursday. saiki said there's no need to rush back to the stalled talks although the north is signaling a positive stance toward dialogue. the japanese official said it's necessary to create a suitable environment for resuming talks. the two officials also agreed that north korea must first take concrete action toward denuclearization. after the meeting we told reporters that south korea is trying to verify the accuracy of

reports that the north is preparing for another nuclear test, but he said details including the possible timing of the test remain unknown. a u.n. general assembly committee has called on myanmar's military government to release all political prisoners. at the same time it welcomed last week's release of pro-democracy leader aung san suu kyi from house arrest. the committee on human rights issues adopted a resolution on myanmar on thursday with the backing of 96 countries. china, which has close ties with myanmar, voted against the resolution. southeast asia. countries either voted against the motion or abstained. the resolution expresses concern about the situation in the country where pro-democracy forces are restricted from engaging in political activities. u.n. secretary-general ban ki moon talked with aung san suu kyi on the telephone on thursday. the two agreed that all political prisoners in myanmar must be released to advance democracy in the country. we often hear of the economic boom in china along with the success of the shanghai expo attracting a record of people. yet children still struggle to get a good education in rural

areas in order to be part of china's success. we have a report from beijing next hour.