welcome to nhk world news line. i'm gene otani in tokyo. prime minister can is on his way to inspect mass graves from world war ii. the team will focus on recovering the remains of 13,000 soldiers left on the island for 65 years after the end of the war in 1945.

one site in the middle of the island is believed to contain the remains of 2,000 soldiers. another 200 are thought to be buried at the foot of the mountain in the south. speaking on monday, kan expressed his determination to do his best. >> translator: i want to apologize for the long delay in recovering the remains and returning them to the bereaved families. >> the prime minister added he intends to recover all remains from the island as well as other locations in asia. japanese prime minister naoto kan has instructed his cabinet ministers to reduce the corporate tax rate by five percentage points for the next fiscal year starting in april 2011. the country's corporate tax stands at 40%, the highest level in the world. kan delivered the directive on monday in a meeting with finance and national policy ministers.

>> translator: if the government was to slash corporate texas by five percent annual points, industry would invest domestically, create jobs and boost salaries. >> kan added the move will spur economic growth and help the economy out of deflation. the government has already secured around $7.7 billion to make up for the predicted drop in revenue after the tax cut. however, if the government lowers the rate, it will need another $5.9 billion or more to fully cover the loss. attention is focused on how the government will compensate for the projected shortfall when drafting the fiscal 2011 budget next week. one of the japanese winners of this year's nobel prize in chemistry, eiichi negushi, has concluded a series of ceremonial events. he lectured at one of the most

prestigious universities in sweden. >> the distinguished professor of purdue university in the united states spoke to about 200 students at uppsala university on monday. negishi looked tired from his ten-day stay in the country but he told the audience how he developed the technique called cross-coupling. he spoke about how the chemical reaction has been further developed by akira suzuki, the other japanese nobel laureate. he was asked how to win a nobel prize. he stressed the importance of persistently pursuing a subject of interest, rather than aiming to win. negushi, suzuki, and american scientist richard heck shared the prize for the development of a cross-coupling technique with palladium as a catalyst. negishi is expected to return to japan on wednesday local time. he is expected to give a helping hand to japanese businesses.

sony appointed him its special adviser. negishi will help develop products as as solar cells and electronics and other organic products. he'll help the japanese draw up long-range plans. sony said he's the first noble laureate to be appointed an adviser. they hope his appointment will lead to the development of ro h revolutionary products. russia's foreign minister told his north korean counterpart monday that his country is deeply concerned about the north's uranium enrichment program. he stressed the importance of resuming the six-party talks. they met in moscow on monday. he expressed serious concerns about the uranium enrichment facility. he urged pyongyang to abide by a commitment to abandon its nuclear program. bak gave an interview to a

russian news agency prior to his visit. he said seoul is to blame for the north's artillery shelling of a south korean island. he also said the united states is obstructing the six-party talks. it's believed he reiterated these views when he met lavrof. iran's president mahmoud ahmadinejad has fired a foreign minister in an apparent attempt to reflect the country's hard line foreign policy. ahmadinejad made the announcement on monday on the presidential office website. he said vice president ali akbar salehi who heads the country's atomic energy organization will double as interim foreign minister. he did not disclose the reason for the dismissal. iran's media reported the news came as a surprise as mottaki is visiting the african nation of senegal. the media raised the possibility of a rift between ahmadinejad and mottaki. it cited mottaki's opposition to the president's appointment of six special foreign envoys in august. it also mentioned the close relationship between mottaki and ahmadinejad's rival, parliament speaker ali larijani.

iran is at odds with the international community over the country's nuclear development. it speculated that mahmoud ahmadinejad intended to reinforce his tough stance on the nuclear issue by naming a foreign minister with similar views. a close aide to video mere putin visited two of the russian-held islands over which japan claims sovereignty. they visited the islands on monday. he expected a hospital and airport and schools on the islands. he said although the government has carried out a number of projects in the area, much remains to be done. russia wants to convey its policy of developing the islands as its territory.

>> translator: i express sincere regret over his visit. deputy foreign minister has lodged a strong protest with the russian ambassador to japan. >> in early in of, russian president medvedev visited the island. he was the first russian leader to step foot on the disputed territory. a japanese violinist said he is hopeful about his role as first violinist for the philharmonic orchestra. he spoke at a news conference on monday. he said the orchestra string players have kept the authentic german sound and has long been a fan.

♪ >> born in london, kashimoto has won various international competitions. he would debut as concert master in berlin at the famous sylvester concerts which end on new year's eve. years of war and civil strive in iraq have left a long list of casualties. one of the lesser known is growing dates. an industry that sits it at the heart of the country's food culture. fighting and neglect have decimated palm tree plantations. we have the story. dates, palm trees. a symbol of the middle east. iraq is thought to be the first

country to cultivate their fruit and used to be the world's leading producer. dates are sold on almost every shopping street in iraq. highly nutritious, it's a staple food in this region. >> translator: every household in iraq has dates if their kitchen. >> reporter: this date farm is located near the capital, background. this man is in charge of a government project to restore the date palm trees in this area. this region has been the scene of almost constant strife since 1980. the destruction of war is plain to see. the plantation is dotted with

shattered and fallen palm trees. in the past 30 years, iraq has lost two-thirds of its date palm trees. >> translator: when i saw the trees being bombed, my heart felt heavy. just like we've lost innocent people to this war for no reason, we've also lost our dates. >> reporter: he talked with local farmers. many said they are worried about attacks from insurgent groups. they do not feel safe growing date palm trees. >> translator: i'm scared to fly over the field to spray pesticides because i may be targeted by insurgents. >> reporter: some plantations are in areas claimed by the insurgents. the farmers cannot even visit their own farms. >> translator: the government isn't functioning properly.

as long as law and order is not restored, the farmers won't be able to grow dates. >> reporter: he and the farmers are trying to heal the scars of war. destroyed irrigation systems are being rebuilt from scratch. but it's hot work. some days the temperature climbs above 50 degrees celsius. >> translator: make sure the sapplings don't get damaged. that's the most important thing. >> reporter: many trees that were neglected during war time are producing less fruit. the goal is to plant 40 million new trees across the country over the next ten years. >> translator: iraq's land is perfectly suited to growing dates.

we also have specialists on hand and many farmers with experience. i believe that we can revive date farming. >> reporter: dates are deeply rooted in iran's national diet and culture. the work to restore their cultivation is a small but important part of their country's rebuilding effort. the farmers say the young date trees that were planted this year will be ready for harvest in about eight years. moving on to biz news. japan is looking to extend a law that allows small and middle-sized companies to defer repayment of bank loans. the stronger yen tons weigh down on their bottom lines. the government enacted the law in december 2009 in a bid to help smaller firms amid a

sluggish economy. the law is due to expire at the end of march next year. the financial services agency plans to extend it for another year as business conditions remain difficult. under the law, over 1 million small firm loans had their loan terms and conditions revised through september. while the measure provides much-needed relief to struggling businesses and may be contributing to a growing number of unrecoverable debt payments, to address this concern, the agency said it will also consider the monitoring of financial institutions. the world trade organization rejected china's complaint over u.s. tariffs on growing imparts of chinese tires. the wto dispute settlement said in a report on mondays that the u.s. action does not violate the trade watchdog rules. china filed a complaint in september 2009. that came after the united states decided to charge additional duties on fast-growing imports of chinese tires in response to labor union requests. u.s. you trade representative

ron kirk weekend the ruling, saying it is a major victory for the united states, in particularly american workers and businesses. he added the obama administration will continue to make efforts to protect their interests. japanese automak mamaker da released its latest car. the moon has 20% better fuel efficiency than the previous model. it has 15% fewer components, which makes the body 30 kilograms lighter. the new move also cuts gasoline consumption by automatically shutting off the engage when stopped at traffic lights. the president told a news conference his company plans to release a new mini vehicle next year. now that times are tough and spending is down, bartering is

becoming a popular way to shop. almost every week, exchange events are held across japan, attracting big crowds. >> reporter: at a toy swap held in november, about 400 parents and kids swarmed this tokyo elementary school gymnasium. the kids brought their old toys. they were excited to dig through the piles and find the perfect toys to trade theirs in for. >> translator: i was just going to check this. i'm so happy someone else wants it. >> translator: i am so excited that i got what i wanted by trading if my old stuff. >> reporter: swap events are held in a variety of venues, like this popular bar in yokohama. in november, this event pulled in more than 50 people.

most were women in their 20s and 30s. they brought in items like clothes and bags. >> translator: it's so cute. i like it. >> translator: i changed this hat for this top. it's a great deal. >> reporter: at this vintage imporium in nagoya, you can buy items with cash or barter, whichever you like. the number of customers has doubled since the economic downturn. the store is filled with about 100,000 items, including table wear, paintings and even a collector's edition set of the beatles cds. this woman brought pottery. >> translator: isn't it

gorgeous? >> reporter: she traded it for a fur coat. >> translator: i i wasn't using the bowl, but i can start wearing this coat right away. what a bargain. >> reporter: companies are also joining the bartering boom. this website, launched a year ago, is restricted to businesses. so far, more than 50 firms have joined. member companies exchange everything from used cars to office equipment. this hotel in fukushima is one of the members. the hotel decided to barter off-season weekday vouchers. during the week, the hotel rarely gets booked up. this is a way you to fill those vacant rooms. they were able to get 80 l.e.d. light bulbs from a manufacturer.

and an air conditioner and a coffee machine from a wholesaler. by bartering, they've saved about $10,000 in overhead costs. >> translator: these supplies are absolute necessity for the hotel. if we're able to barter for them, we don't have to use up our ready cash. this system is really ideal for us. we'd like to continue to barter for things this this way. >> reporter: as people become more interested in saving money and more concerned about the environment, the old-fashioned art of bartering is making an impressive comeback. >> here's the latest market figures.

welcome back to your world weather update. still quite a bit of clouds around over japan. but the rain is set to move out by this afternoon. turning warm as well during daytime across much of the region. by nighttime, we expect that cold arctic air to be entering

from the northwest, turning things wintery for the western side of the country, bringing cold sleet and rain for wednesday. the korean peninsula is dry but bitterly cold. the northern tier is cold and dry. eventually the cold air will be arriving in inland areas. some of the rain you see just now is likely to turn to snow by time time today. heavy showers to the south. southeastern asia, we'll be continuing with showers again for vietnam. we have remnants of a low pressure system, tropical depression, that will continue to sort of hover over the area. quite you unstable through the philippines. lots of showers and cloud about. manila is 33. stays mild in bangkok, 33. 11 in shanghai. turning wintry for bay joinieij

minus 2 degrees. 16 degrees on tuesday. taking you over to europe. the wintry weather is continuing to griffp central and eastern areas. places like germany and po land, the ukraine and into western russia. the cold air is spreading down into the balkans and has been affecting much of turkey as well. here's it's stormy and wintry for the past few days. we've got footage coming out of the area, the middle east. this was taken in lebanon. getting the first snowfall of the season up in the mountains. roads became blocked. workers got busy trying to clear roads of all the snow. strong winds impacting coastal areas with rusty conditions. the wind said to have do you understand a tree, killing one woman. in turkey, dealing with heavy

snowfall as well. it looks like some people did enjoy the wintry scene. of course, in the middle east, it has been dealing with lots of stormy weather in the area with sound storms as well in parts of egypt. flooding rains reported in beruit over the weekend. we have lots of snow forecast for it turkey as well as heavy rain towards the southern tier of the country. some of the rain making its way into lebanon. it looks like this is going to be the weather pattern throughout the week. more showers, more snow to come for turkey. elsewhere across europe. some showers forty loo italital too severe. spain and portugal, you're looking good. bright and mild. 11 in madrid. paris is struggling to rise above freezing. lots of subzero figures as we head into central and eastern europe. here's your extended it forecast.

once again, the headlines this hour, prime minister kan is on his way to the pacific island of iwejima on tuesday to inspect possible mass grave sites of japanese sfroerloldiers from wor

ii. he will inspect two sites. the team will focus on recovering the remains of 13,000 soldiers left on the island 65 years after the end of the war in 1945. one site in the middle of the island is believed to contain the remains of 2,000 soldiers. another 200 are thought to be buried at the foot of the mountain in the south. speaking on monday, kan expressed his determination to do his best. >> translator: i want to apologize for the long delay in recovering the remains and returning them to the bereaved families. >> the prime minister added he intends to recover all remains from the island as well as other locations in asia. prime minister kan has instructed his cabinet ministers to reduce the corporate tax rate by 5 percentage points for the next fiscal year, starting in april 2011.

it stands at 40%, the highest level in the world. kan delivered the directive on monday with finance and foreign policy ministers. >> translator: if the government was to slash corporate tax by five percentage points, industry would invest domestically, create jobs and boost salaries. >> kan said the move will spur economic growth and help the economy out of deflation. the government secured $7.7 billion to make up for the predicted drop in revenue after the tax cut. however, if the government lowers the rate, it will need another $5.9 billion or more to fully cover the loss. attention is focused on how the government will compensate for the projected shortfall when drafting the fiscal 2011 budget next week.

before we go, here's some good news for stargazers, the g geminid meteor shower will be on deploy in the northern hemisphere. it will be best viewed from the west coast of the u.s. and canada from midnight monday until sunrise on tuesday. in japan, the peak of the meter shower before monday evening through tuesday dawn. when the constellation reaches its highest point, stargazers should see meteors rain down straight from the sky. viewers may spot 15 to 20 meet yorz with the naked eye. the luckiest viewers will see more than 50 per hour. 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.