from our studios in tokyo, this is "newsline." i'm james tengan. japan's foreign minister has called on north korea to take steps toward denuclearization by allowing u.n. inspectors to return to its nuclear facilities. at a news conference on friday, maehara remained cautious about a chinese proposal for an emergency meeting at the six-party talks on north korea's nuclear program. however, he acknowledged the importance of the framework.

>> translator: dialogue for the sake of dialogue is meaningless. >> the key is to make progress in enforcing the agreements reached in past rounds of talks. i want to call on north korea to act first to increase transparency of its nuclear program by opening its facilities to inspectors from the international atomic energy agency. >> north korea has officially acknowledged it is constructing a light water nuclear reactor and is operating a uranium enrichment plant. the foreign ministers of japan, the u.s. and south korea are scheduled to meet in washington on monday to address tensions on the korean peninsula. maehara said he wants to discuss with his u.s. and south korean counterparts which conditions must be met before the three countries accept china's proposal for talks.

large scale joint japanese-u.s. military drills have begun in various locations across japan. the eight-day exercise kicked off on wednesday involving 60 ships and 400 airplanes. 45,000 personnel from japan's self-defense forces and the u.s. military are participating. >> continuing to build the u.s. navy's relationship with the japanese self-defense forces is an important step forward as we work together for the defense of japan. >> the maneuvers include training on shooting down incoming ballistic missiles. they are simulating defensive drills in kyushu and okinawa. south korean senior military officials are expected to participate as observers forhe first time. the military exercises between japan and the u.s. come as tensions simmer in the korean peninsula and other parts of east asia. for more insight, we are joined

by ryo sahashi, an expert in east asian and international politics. mr. sahashi, thanks for joining us. what is your perspective on the latest drills that started after the end of an american exercise with south korea? >> of course, u.s.-japan joint exercise has been scheduled long before as an exercise from 1986 but it compromises key regional deterrence. for regional deterrence it has importance to show the unity of yeonpyeong and tokyo. it is not clear so far. the regime change may be part of the reason, but it is also clear it may want to get the cause. americans visit last month also

shows their intention to create leverage against washington. at this moment, the most important is to stop north korea's ambitions. for that matter, to keep the deterrence by the alliance is crucial. >> the japanese government says these types of drills contribute to peace and stability in east asia. how effective are they, though? >> after the yeonpyeong shelling, south korea's domestic reaction is very serious. president lee myung-bak said it is very important to reinforce the unity of countries who are against north korea's aggressive brinkmanship. this exercise will create symbolic deterring effect. however, i have to point out that japan-south korea security corporation or the security cooperative mechanism with the united states has not been strong.

it is time that japan, south korea and the united states intensify joint security cooperation to respond. officers from self-defense forces observed u.s. south korea's military exercises. next week, three countries will have foreign ministers meeting to keep this unity. so this six-party talks can wait. >> thus far, there have been a number of disputes in east asia, the incident between china and japan in september near the senkaku islands is one and another is north korea's shelling of south korea last month. what do you think will be the key to stabilizing the region? >> u.s. and its alliance unity is a key to keep deterrence. on the other hand, to stabilize east asia is china. that is a key.

china can create pressure on north korea to change their behavior. if it refuses to take the same step with us, china should understand the instability of the region will not work to their advantage. in this sense, china can be the solution for the problem. secondary, china starts to create problems as shown in the process of senkaku island and the fishermen's arrest. they tend to use power for their own sake and ambition. this is called arrogance of power. it will be a difficult job but what we should aim is to guide china into international order, peace free and preventing tension. china should understand its behavior, such as increase of visible activities, for example, has created momentum for japan

and united states to have strong island defense exercises. >> that's about all the time we have today. mr. sahashi, thank you for your insight. japan's environment minister says he will seek the understanding of developing countries for japan's opposition to the extending -- to extending the kyoto protocol as a way to fight global warming. ryu matsumoto spoke to reporters in tokyo on friday. next week, he will join ministerial talks of the cop16 climate change conference now underway in cancun, mexico. >> translator: extending the kyoto protocol has to be avoided at all costs. i want to talk with other countries about creating a new international framework to cover

all major emitters. >> developing countries at the cop16 are criticizing japan for opposing an extension of the kyoto protocol after it expires in 2012. it obliges only developed countries to curb emissions, but the countries that are signatories to the protocol emit only 27% of the world's total greenhouse gases. australian authorities say a midair engine blowout on a qantas airbus super jumbo jet last month was most likely caused by an oil leak in the plane's rolls-royce engine. the plane made an emergency landing on november 4th after parts of one of its engines fell off over indonesia. none of the more than 400 onboard were injured. the australian transport safety burrough issued a preliminary

report on the incident on friday. the report says the oil leak from a defective pipe connection most likely caused a fire in one of the plane's four engines. it says pieces of the broken number two engine then went through the left wing damaging wiring and rupturing a fuel tank. the bureau says the findings are critical for aircraft safety and it plans to draw up a final report within a year. on thursday, the bureau urged rolls royce to conduct a new round of inspections of the engine citing the possible defect. the organization for security and cooperation in europe has ended a summit without agreeing on how to resolve conflicts in former soviet republics. it was the first meeting of the 56-member osce in 11 years. the two-day summit closed in the capital of astana on thursday. among the participants were russian president dmitry medvedev and u.s. secretary of state hillary clinton.

kazakhst kazakhstan's president nursultan nazarbayev announced the declaration which was signed by the summit participants. the declaration reconfirmed the organization's principles of banning member countries from using force against each other. and of calling for non-intervention and the peaceful resolution of conflicts. however, the summit failed to come up with ways to resolve conflicts in former soviet republics due to differences between russia and western states. these conflicts involved the breakaway regions of south ossetia and abkhazia in georgia and the breakaway region of transdniestria in moldova. which regards the former republics as being within its sphere of influence. britain's "guardian" newspaper says the u.s. central intelligence agency asked state department diplomats to gather information on u.n. officials in july last year. the orders were among the

diplomatic documents disclosed by the wikileaks website. the "guardn's" thursday edition said instructions to gather intelligence on the u.n. secretary general and other officials were based on the list drawn up by a cia official. some of the data requested included credit card and cell phone numbers. "the guardian" also said that u.s. diplomats were asked to collect dna samples and fingerprints from u.n. security council officials and north korean diplomats. but the u.s. state department denied the spy claims and said american diplomats ignore requests to engage in such activity. u.s. senator joseph lieberman and other lawmakers have unveiled legislation that would make it illegal for anyone to publish the name of a u.s. intelligence source. the bill was introduced thursday and comes after the wikileaks website published classified u.s. diplomatic documents. the lawmakers say wikileaks'

actions have threatened the safety of those working in u.s. undercover operations. in a statement, lieberman said "wikileaks' move is the latest example of how the illegal release of classified information can jeopardize the security interests of the u.s. and its allies." he also said the legislation will make anyone who puts sources of information at risk criminally accountable. u.s. secretary of state hillary clinton has been busy contacting foreign leaders and expressing regrets over the wikileaks document release scandal. u.s. assistant secretary of state philip crowley told reporters on thursday that clinton has been in contact with pakistani president asif ali zardari and argentina president cristina fernandez de kirchner to express regret over the issue. she has so far called leaders and ministers of ten countries, including chinese foreign minister and hamid karzai. clinton is said to be planning more phone calls on the issue. >> some government officials

that have talked to us freely in the past may be more reluctant. we understand that for a period of time this is going to make our day-to-day conduct of diplomacy much more difficult. >> crowley criticized wikiles founder julian assange. he says assange is not a journalist nor a whistleblower, but "a political actor with a political agenda." a new poll suggests the majority of americans view wikileaks as a threat. the private research firm zogby international surveyed more than 2,000 people this week. 77% have responded and said the release of classified u.s. documents by wikileaks compromises their national security. the poll also found that 76% believe the leaks endanger the lives of u.s. soldiers deployed overseas. 52% said the u.s. government should consider wikileaks as a terrorist group. 63% said american media organizations should not publish the documents released by the website.

india made remarkable economic progress in recent years. along with the new found wealth in the capital of new delhi, the number of cars has doubled in the last decade. but much of the distress of many residents, all the honking horns can be deafening. nhk world has the story. >> reporter: aggressive passing, sudden lane changes, and car horns always honking. this noise measuring equipment shows that the decibel level is above 100. this noise is very stressful and i have to shout to make myself heard.

>> translator: so loud. my blood pressure goes up. i get agitated. >> reporter: many indians are devote hindus and take good care of animals. you often come across scenes like this. a car dodges an elephant and another car honks loudly. >> translator: because of too much honking, it has got black marks here. >> reporter: this school holds a lecture every year for taxi and bus drivers teaching them how to reduce noise. but old habits die hard. >> do not honk! do not honk! >> reporter: fed up with the

honking, some citizens are taking matters into their own hands. this woman fled a noisy part of new delhi ten years ago to escape the din. now she lives in this elite neighborhood. but the number of cars in the area started driving, soon she could hear the horns again. >> translator: all the noise was really starting to get on my nerves. i even wanted to move out of this house. >> reporter: they live in a

gated community. about a year ago, she decided to do something about the noise. first, she called on her neighbors. then she placed a sign at the compound gate asking people to stop honking. she also handed out stickers to drivers. she sees that after three months it became a lot less noisy. >> translator: in south delhi, we have started to get results and now we want to shift the campaign to west delhi where there is too much noise pollution. >> reporter: back in downtown new delhi, there is nonstop traffic. the honking never stops. it seems that people who want

quiet surroundings will have to struggle for a long time. neha gupta, nhk world, new delhi. and now here's some of the news received from broadcasting stations across asia. we begin with this item sent by cctv china. organizers of the first paraasian games harnessed the power of the sun to ignite the flame on friday in beijing. the physically challenged athlete and swimmer helped with the lighting ceremony. a special gathering will be held on saturday in tiananmen square before the flame leaves for the game's venue. the 2010 paraasian games will be held between december 12th and 19th. about 5,000 athletes from 45 countries will compete in 20 events including athletics, swimming, tennis and cycling.

thailand has begun a nine-day celebration to mark the king's 83rd birthday on december 5th. the prime minister and government officials participated in a ceremony on friday to express their best wishes to the king. they also vowed to do their best for the country. various programs are lined up as part of the celebrations including an exhibition showcasing the king's contribution to the arts and culture. the interior ministry has constructed a pavilion to screen seven films produced specifically for the birthday celebrations. bangladesh kicked off a series of events on thursday to raise awareness about the repression of women. in the central city, the junior minister for women and children's affairs inaugurated a human chain rally. she said the country's system of repression hindered women's development and only the joint efforts of both men and women

can help to end it. the ministry of women and children's affairs also organized a rally and a discussion on the theme, stop women's repression, build a happy society. time again for a look at the world's weather. let's start off with conditions now across east asia and in japan, clearing up from the west here, we're going to find still a lot of rainy conditions across northern areas of the country. we're talking about in hokkaido, where we can see a further 100 millimeters or more within the next 24 hours due to a very hefty storm system that is going to be pushing into the pacific, leaving a brighter picture for the weekend, though. hong kong, conditions across many parts of the korean peninsula and towards china as well, the exception will be as we head to mongolia, a lot more snow for you this weekend, low air moving in and that will bring temperatures way down as well. let me show you the highs

expected in ulan bator, minus 12 for the high, 7 in beijing. warmer for you there. 8 in seoul. 15 in tokyo. and we're going to get progressively hotter as we head to the south. 25 in taipei. and 31 in manila. on we go to north america. all the winter activity is going to be contained in the northern half of the united states and up into canada. i'll tell you why, we have got our jet stream that is dipping a little bit far south, several lows just placed among that. that means the snow will be anywhere from the intermountain west, the cascades, all the way up to even new england there. heaviest snow falling in the dark blue areas fr all the way back just into the lower midwest here. and you can see why. there is that pulse of moisture that will move its way to the northeast quickly over the next 24 hours. temperaturewise, well, it is going to be very chilly indeed where it snows. minus 11 in winnipeg. just freezing in chicago, toronto, 4 degrees.

atlanta, 13, miami, cooler, 22. houston, a little better, 23 for the high on friday. and a pair of 6s in vancouver and seattle. along we go to europe and here as well it has just been a wintry mess all week long. there is going to be some good news and i'll tell you that in a moment. let's talk about the very stormy conditions we have had across the eastern half of the mediterranean. couple of lows pushing in, lots of moisture, drenching rains and they led to flooding in parts of the balkans. take a look. we're looking at the weather conditions here in albania, in the city of shkodra, seeing severe flooding cutting it off from the rest of the country. state of emergency has been declared because thousands of people had to be evacuated. about 10,000 hectares of land are under water. in addition, neighboring countries bosnia, serbia,

montenegro also declared a state of emergency due to all the heavy rains. and if we pull back to the studio, we're going to find unfortunately more wet weather in the same area. you can see these dark blues and purples coming through. that's because our very large overall arcing area of low pressure is going to push in that moisture again. the good news is we're going to find calmer conditions across mainland europe, just for a brief spell. that will allow for people to kind of get their bearings after all the snow. but you can see more wet and wintry weather to move in probably into sunday or even monday. here is a look at how temperatures are, at least for your weekend. saturday, warmer in london, 5 degrees for your high with fog. seeing 5 as well in paris. but you're going to look at a sleety day. still in negatives in berlin, below zero in warsaw. and 1 degree in kiev. i'll leave you now with your extended forecast.

here on "newsline," our top story once again. japan's foreign minister seiji maehara called on north korea to take steps toward denuclearization by allowing u.n. inspectors to return to its nuclear facilities. at a news conference on friday, maehara remained cautious about a chinese proposal for an emergency meeting at the six-party talks on north korea's nuclear program. however, he acknowledged the importance of the framework. >> translator: dialogue for the sake of dialogue is meaningless. the key is to make progress in

enforcing the agreements reached in past rounds of talks. i want to call on north korea to act first to increase transparency of its nuclear program by opening its facilities to inspectors from the international atomic energy agency. >> north korea has officially acknowledged it is constructing a light water nuclear reactor and is operating a uranium enrichment plant. the foreign ministers of japan, the u.s. and south korea are scheduled to meet in washington on monday to address tensions on the korean peninsula. maehara said he wants to discuss with his u.s. and south korean counterparts which conditions must be met before the three countries accept china's proposal for talks. before we leave you, we have a couple of seasonal stories that are sweet and shocking. first the sweet one. a giant christmas tree made entirely of chocolate has been unveiled in france.

the monument was molded as part of efforts to raise funds for charity. the tree is a chocolate lover's dream come true. it measures 10 meters in height and weighs about 4 tons. the artfully crafted tree has jagged branches complete with chocolate pine needles and sprinkled with powdered sugar that looks like freshly fallen snow. all the ornaments on the tree are naturally made of chocolate. the chocolatier who fashioned the tree said it was difficult to make the chocolate sturdy enough to prevent the tree from collapsing under its own weight. >> translator: a fir tree ten meters high is technically new architecture and very difficult to build. >> the chocolate tree will be opened to the public on friday. in a charity event to raise funds for people suffering from neuromuscular diseases. people who make donations will later receive a piece of the tree.

so that's the sweet story. here's the shocker. it's also about the christmas tree in central japan that's shining brightly this holiday season courtesy of a power source that is clean and green. this electric eel at an aquarium in kakamigahara city is providing the juice for the light. it's from the amazon river in south america. this type of eel can generate 800 volts when it catches its speed. they set up a christmas tree in front of the water tank used to breed eels. an electrode senses electricity from the fish, the lights on the tree are turned on and christmas song plays. children visiting the aquarium this week enjoyed the show, which will continue until the 26th. >> on that cheery note, we end this hour's "newsline."

thanks for watching.