welcome to nhk world "newsline." i'm gene otani in tokyo. this year's nobel peace prize award ceremony will be held on friday in the norwegian capital of oslo. however, the winner, liu xiaobo, and his family members will be absent due to china's strong objection. the ceremony will be held at the oslo city hall from 1:00 p.m. local time. however, the chinese prodemocracy activist liu xiaob

sentence in china, and his wife and relatives are under strict surveillance by the government. many chinese democracy activists are arriving from countries and regions such as the u.s. and hong kong. on thursday about 50 protesters in front of the chinese embassy culled for liu's immediate release. >> we're not sure the solidarity with dr. liu xiaobo. >> china will not attend the ceremony and delegates from 20 countries with close relationships such as russia and iran are also likely to be absent. it's unusual for so many countries to refrain from attending the nobel peace prize -- nobel prize ceremony. at a news conference on thursday the chair of the norwegian nobel committee, thorbjorn jagland stressed the award. >> this is not a prize against china. everybody that wants to do business, they should be in favor of political reforms in

china so that the economic development can go further. >> a chinese writer in japan says she was approached by liu xiaobo to convey his passion of bringing democracy to china even if that meant in a different language. 45-year-old liu yan tzu lives in osaka. she assisted in publishing a book of liu xiaobo's poems and essays in japanese. >> reporter: this is the book of liu's work. a needle wanders inside a blood vessel and blames each other's betrayal like lovers who just broke up. liu yan tzu says the word betrayal is used here to describe the guilt liu xiaobo and fellow protesters she met

the chinese dissident three years ago through a mutual friend. she was later asked by liu to convey his hope of bringing democracy to china to the people of japan. >> translator: he said he wants japanese readers to look at what's happening on china not as a fire on the other side of a river or someone else's problem. he said he wants japanese to look squarely at china's reality. >> reporter: liu sent the poems to liu yanzi by e-mail. most of them describe his feelings about the tiananmen square crackdown. they were still young when they set out on a journey. when they fell to the ground, they struggled, longing to live. when they were hurled into a crematorium, their bodies were still soft. the poems convey the sorrow of the people who took part in the prodemocracy movement and who saw their fellow protesters

mowed down mercilessly. besides engaging in literary activity, liu yanzi teaches chinese at a university in western japan. she's hoping to convey liu's feelings to the people of japan. >> translator: japanese have access to freedom like they have access to air. freedom is not something given by the state government or someone in high position. >> reporter: she spoke about the significance of liu's receiving the nobel peace prize and the fact that he cannot attend the award ceremony. she also touched on freedom of speech in japan. >> translator: i was surprised to see that what's considered normal and what i've been given since birth in japan does not exist in china. >> translator: i want china to

advance democratically and adapt a two-party system so it can develop economically and politically. >> translator: liu says freedom of speech is a breakthrough toward complete freedom. he may now be imprisoned, but that will still be useful for the next generation. >>-some liu xiaobo's past writings calling for democracy in china will be read out at friday's nobel peace prize awards ceremony in oslo. china's state counselor in charge of foreign policy, dai bin gro has met with north korean leader kim jong il to discuss the situation on the korean peninsula. dai sat down with kim in pyongyang. china's special envoy to the six-party talks on north korea's nuclear program, wu dawei, also attended. china's xinhua news agency says the two sides held frank in-depth talks and reached an

important and shared understanding. dai is believed to have discussed a chinese proposal for an emergency meeting of the six countries involved in the nuclear talks as a way to help defuse heightened tensions on the korean peninsula. the meeting was the first between kim and a senior chinese official since the north shelled a south korean island in late november. the united states, japan, and south korea have said that north korea must first move toward denuclearization as a precondition for the six-party meeting. chinese foreign ministry spokesperson zhang yu said on thursday that a further deterioration of the situation on the korean peninsula will not be in any country's interest. zhang said china hopes south and north korea will maintain calm and restraint and act with caution. china is expected to report on the outcome of dai's meeting to u.s. deputy secretary of state james steinberg when he visits beijing next week. japan has asked russia to help persuade north korea to refrain from provocative actions.

the japanese foreign ministry's asian and oceanian affairs bureau chief, akitaka saiki, made the request during talks with russian foreign minister alexei borodavkin on thursday. he briefed borodavkin on a meeting between foreign ministers from japan, the united states and south korea in the wake of north crease attack on the south's yeonpyeong island last month. >> translator: north korea's attack and revelations of its uranium enrichment program should be sternly dealt with by the united nations security council. >> saiki also said he asked russia to help raise issues related to the north at the council. the two officials also discussed china's proposal for a meeting of chief envoys to the six-party talks on north korea's nuclear development. saiki said he conveyed japan's position that north korea must first take concrete action toward denuclearization before any dialogue can be resumed.

saiki expressed hope for russia's diplomatic efforts to rein in north korea, noting that north korean foreign minister pack ui chun is scheduled to visit russia next week. south korea's government and weapon manufacturers have resolved to boost the domestic defense industry amid growing tensions on the korean peninsula. on thursday the south's defense ministry and arms manufacturers held a seminar to discuss the country's military capabilities. south korean forces struggled to effectively respond to a north korean artillery attack on yeonpyeong island last month due to problems with waep weapons deployed there. a member of the presidential advisory commission asked weapons manufacturers to analyze the problems and quickly improve domestic capabilities. an industry representative pledged to help enhance the country's defenses. an official said the government continues to support the defense industry as a pillar of the nation's growth strategy.

south korea's government and military industry are jointly promoting arms exports. on thursday president lee myung bak agreed with indonesian president susilo bambang yudhoyono to export korean fighter jets to indonesia as part of a plan to boost defense cooperation. japanese prime minister naoto kan has told a senior russian official that he is willing to discuss economic cooperation and territorial issues. on thursday kan met with chief of staff of the russian presidential executive office sergei narishkin, who is in charge of relations with japan. >> translator: in last month's meeting with russia's president dmitry medvedev i protested the president's recent visit to one of the disputed islands off hokkaido. we agreed to postpone talks on the territorial issue and negotiations. >> narishkin said the territorial issue is difficult and delicate. he emphasized the two countries should seek a solution while

promoting bilateral relations in many fields including economic and cultural. narushkin said he will tell president medvedev that kan places emphasis on the relationship with russia. the cop 16 conference is deadlocked on whether or not to extend the kyoto protocol. the chair of the country of mexico has called for an informal meeting of the more than 50 countries participating in order to break the impasse. the conference is split between developing nation that's want to preserve the protocol and developed nations who oppose it. industrialized countries who signed the protocol are obliged to cut emissions. mexican foreign minister patricia espinoza, who chairs the conference, proposed that all participating countries discuss the issue. the panel will also discuss how to evaluate each country's efforts to reduce greenhouse gases. during the talks ryu matsumoto reiterated his country's stance opposing the exception. he pointed out the kyoto protocol only targets 27% of

global greenhouse gas emissions and questioned how the problem of global climate change can be dealt with under such conditions. the conference has less than two days to hammer out a final agreement. in biz news u.s. aircraft maker boeing will yet again postpone the delivery of its next generation model the 787 dreamliner. the mid-size airplane will consume 20% less fuel than its predecessor. the improved fuel efficiency has many airlines waiting eagerly as they search for ways to cut costs. but boeing announced on thursday that the delivery date will be extended from february to april or beyond. this comes after an electrical switchboard caught fire during a test flight last month. the maker said a detailed schedule will be released within the next few weeks. boeing has repeatedly postponed the new model's delivery for various reasons, such as design rework and delays in parts availability. last month tokyo's haneda

international airport resumed international operations after years serving domestic flights. it has gone further and now opened services for budget carriers for the first time making trips easy for discount travelers. on thursday the malaysian airline air asia x started a shuttle service linking haneda and the country's capital, kuala lumpur, three times a week. the first flight, with 320 passengers on board, arrived at haneda on schedule, and the company's ceo welcomed the passengers. >> translator: the fare was half of wh less than half of what i used to pay. my seat was comfortable. just like the other regular air carriers. i had enough space around my feet. >> the malaysian carrier has set one-way discount fares at around $60 and regular economy seats at

$165. the carrier says it has made efforts to cut expenses by omitting some cabin services and raising operation rates. more and more foreign airlines are expanding their flight schedules to japan with the addition of haneda airport's international services. japan aims to boost ice exports to china as part of a new trade deal on farm produce between the two countries. japan is calling on china to ease its rigorous inspection processes. japan's agricultural ministry signed an agreement with china's largest state-run food company on thursday to cooperate in expanding japan rice and other exports to china. japan hopes to tap growing demand in china for safe and high-quality food products. it aims to raise rice shipments to the mainland from the current level of under 100 tons a year to 200,000 tons at first and eventually to a million tons each year. japan's agriculture ministry intends to speed up talks with china on relaxing inspection rules and hopes to increase rice exports as early as next spring.

japan's corporate goods price index was up 0.9% in november from a year earlier. this is two consecutive months in the positive. japan's central bank said the index stood at 103 against a base value of 100 set back in 2005. the index reflects the prices of goods traded among japanese firms. the rise was due to iron and steel prices gaining 8.8% year on year, non-ferrous metal prices also rose by 8.6%. one of the largest motor shows in the middle east opened on wednesday in abu dhabi, the capital of the united arab emirates. over 100 auto and related parts makers from around the world are showcasing their models for the highly promising market. european and u.s. makers are highlighting four-wheel drive and luxury cars, which are priced at more than $2 million. carmakers are looking to boost their sales by 20% to 30% from last year. japanese makers are targeting

the growing buying power of the younger generation with specially designed models. >> translator: motor sport is becoming popular here. abu dhabi is hosting a formula one race. we want to offer the fun to drive, especially for the young people. >> auto sales in the petroleum-producing nations are soaring as the regional economy recovers due to rising oil prices. china's dominance over rare earth metals is heightening concerns in industrialized countries around the world. the united states is no exception. yuko aotani looks into the strategy of a u.s. mining company that's coming under the international spotlight. >> reporter: this tablet pc and everything from flat-screen tvs to electric cars to military equipment have one need in

common -- rare earths. but with china restricting exports, companies are scrambling to find alternative sources of these essential materials elsewhere. governments are acting to safeguard their national security. attention is focused on the united states and its mine in california that once supplied most of the world's rare earths. mountain pass mine was closed down in 2002. but it's now undergoing redevelopment and modernization with an eye on the world market. mining companies from resource-rich countries vied with each other at this week's rare earth conference in tokyo. a key person here is the ceo of money company, the u.s. company which owns mountain pass mine. >> this is a complete opening of people's minds and a complete change in how processing of rare earth's is going to be done at mountain pass. >> mark smith, ceo, joins us now. welcome to the show. >> thank you very much.

glad to be here. >> thank you. some u.s. lawmakers are pinning apparently great hopes on the revival plan that you have. and the u.s. government, particularly the defense department, seems to be backing your project. are you getting full support or even pressure? >> well, that's a very good way to put it. we certainly have a lot of support from the united states government right now. i think that the various agencies and the political bodies within washington, d.c. certainly understand the rare earth issue, and we have really worked hard to make sure that that educational process has come to fruition and that people understand how critical this issue is. >> now, let's take a look at some facts and data about this. now, it seems that currently china dominates the market with 97% -- >> that's correct. >> -- of the outcome. but when it comes to deposits, u.s. has -- >> correct. >> -- 13%. so it comes down to how much can

you sell it for, apparently. the cost. >> well, i'm not sure if we look at it as having the upper hand. what we do know is we have an absolute world-class ore body out there. second richest in the world and probably the second largest youl outside of china. second largest in the world. we have 58 years processing experience and mining experience, which is also second to no one. >> and one other thing about rare earth mining is environmental issues. >> yes. >> doesn't it cost more to be environmentally friendly? >> that's a great question. and to be quite honest, when i first suggested that we take on the stronger environmental standards and be more visionary in what we do, the first response i got from my design team was okay, no problem, but that's going to cost more. what we found at the end of the day is when we couple new technologies, environmental superiority, and just really critical operational thinking altogether, we ended up with

what we think will be the lowest-cost operation in the world, even lower cost than china. >> how come? >> technology. that's the key. our technological advances on our processing are going to allow us to use less than half the ore that we to produce the same amount of products for our customers. >> but people are still having doubts as if -- whether we can get hold of rare earth at right amount, right time, projected time, and right cost. >> i think that we are in a critical time right now. i think 2011 is going to be particular lly critical. everybody that works in the industry is expecting the chinese export quotas to be reduced by another 20% or so. which means that we're going to have less material available next year than what we had this year and that demand is growing probably about 10% a year right now. so we've got a very critical time period in 2011. molycorp is doing everything it can to produce products today for our customers. >> demand from chinese manufacturers probably will grow in the future.

>> correct. >> will you be selling to china as well? >> we have no plans of selling our product to china right now because the demand outside of china is so great. we are focusing our marketing efforts on japan, the united states, and the european union, the three largest use areas outside of china. >> what's your take on the future rare earth market? >> a metal that is used in nickel metal hydride batteries, which are associated with the hybrid vehicles, and the use of rare earth permanent magnets, particularly the neodinnium iron boron magnet, those two segments within the rare earth sectors are expected to grow at double-digit growth rates for the foreseeable future. we have our own internal analysis, and we also look at the analyses that are done by third parties. everybody is of the same conclusion, that this is a demand -- the demand in the rare earth market is going to be growing at quite substantial rates. >> well, thank you very much. >> it's my pleasure to be here.

>> thank you very much. mark smith, the ceo of molycorp, a u.s. mining company. >> thank you. all right. and here's the latest market figures. ♪ ♪ ♪ hello and welcome back to

your world weather update now. in east asia we are looking at some rain that's going to be spreading out across southern china while we have snow to the north. so things aren't quite as dry as we've been seeing all week. that rain looking to spread quite a bit more as we head into saturday. so pretty wet picture for you here. now, across japan it's going to be largely dry today, but then reduc we o'do see a lot more moisture coming in off the sea of japan again. another round of rain showers first affecting southern japan as we head into the weekend. here's a look at highs. 12 in tokyo and 7 in seoul. 18 degrees for shanghai and then 21 degrees in taipei. now getting a look at north america, lots of clouds continue to stream into the intermountain west. it does remain quite messy. there's going to be a chance of snow as well as coastal areas still picking up on that rain. and then out toward the east it's dry for the moment but we've got that clipper system here that's really tracking across eastern canada today.

or rather tonight. bringing that snowy weather again to the great lakes area as well as both ontario and into quebec. luckily, east areas are looking clear and also a little bit of a warm-up going on here. 10 for your high in atlanta, 5 in d.c. and 3 degrees in new york. even 2 in chicago. so it's cold but not those subfreezing temperatures that we've been seeing these past few days. as for europe, it does remain rather messy still for you here. we do see a little bit of a clear spot going on here in the west. so western europe. and the british isles too, looking at some dryer weather for a change. which is good news. especially for both spain and portugal, that is, as it's been quite wet this week. here was the scene in seville on wednesday. heavy rains with flash flooding, really flooding these streets here. just how high those waters got. about 3,000 people had to evacuate. one death was reported due to

these floods. so very serious situation. and on thursday picking up on some of that severe weather. tornado touching down in central portugal tearing off this roof here. also toppling trees, creating quite a bit of destruction. no deaths reported here but definitely quite a few injuries. so overall it was a rather stormy and dangerous situation across the peninsula. luckily looking much more settled today. coastal areas in portugal picking up a little more rain but that'll be just about it. elsewhere it is going to stay rather wet and messy for central and eastern sections of europe. rain is really moving into the balkan peninsula and aiming for turkey, where it does look like it's going to get a little bit heavier too. ing and of course there's that snow. a lot of this precipitation is going to be falling as snow. and that's even extending into a lost balkan peninsula, even toward greece now. it's going to get snowier on saturday too. so areas will need to watch for that. temperatures are definitely low. low enough to bring in that snow. minus 2 in kiev and only 10 in

athens. big, big drop from thursday, when it was in the 20s. all right. so that's a look at your weather for now. and here is your three-day outlook. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

♪ once again, the headlines this hour, this year's nobel peace prize awards ceremony will be held on friday in the norwegian capital of oslo. however, the winner liu xiaobo and his family members will be absent due to china's strong objection. the ceremony will be held at the oslo city hall from 1:00 p.m. local time. however, the chinese pro-democracy activist liu xiaobo is serving an 11-year prison sentence in china, and his wife and relatives are under strict surveillance by the government.

many chinese democracy activists are arriving from countries and regions such as the u.s. and hong kong. on thursday about 50 protesters in front of the chinese embassy called for liu's immediate release. >> we're not sure the solidarity with dr. liu xiaobo. >> china will not attend the ceremony and delegates from 20 countries with close relationships such as russia and iran are also likely to be absent. it is unusual for so many countries to refrain from attending the nobel prize ceremony. at a news conference on thursday the chair of the norwegian nobel exit committee, thorbjorn jagland, stressed the meaning of liu's award. >> this is not a prize against china. everybody that wants to do busine business, they should be in favor of political reforms in china so that the economic development can go further. that's it for this edition

of "newsline." i'm gene otani in tokyo. we'll be back in half an hour with the latest news and weather. jj