will be a happy one. welcome to nhk world "newsline." i'm gene otani in tokyo. the united states says it's too early to resume the six-party talks on north korea. according to a senior white house official, the north isn't remotely ready for negotiations on its nuclear program. china has proposed holding an emergency meeting of the chief delegates of the six-party talks, but the white house repeated its skepticism on tuesday. >> the belligerent actions that the north koreans have

demonstrated over the past many weeks i don't think provide anybody the confidence that they are even remotely ready to resume in a responsible way those talks. >> gibbs said the talks will be restarted when the north shows a willingness to change its behavior. north korea has shown a more flexible stance in recent days. it reportedly consented to u.n. nuclear inspections of its uranium enrichment during talks in pyongyang with bill richardson. he's the governor of the u.s. state of new mexico. but gibbs said the united states is not interested in words but in actions. he said north korea is not living up to its obligations. a giant christmas decoration has been illuminated by south korea near the border with north korea for the first time in seven years. the north has called the move a provocative act. ♪ the lighting ceremony took place

on tuesday evening amid heavy security, attended by around 400 people. the ceremony was an annual event since the 1950s. it was suspended in 2004 under an interkorean agreement to end border propaganda activity. the south korean military's decision to resume the yearly ritual followed last month's shelling of yeonpyeong island by north korea and the sinking of a south korean warship in march. north korea said this is part of the south's psychological warfare and such an irrational provocative act could trigger a new armed conflict. subway authorities in washington have begun random checks of passengers' bags as the u.s. capital steps up security measures for the holiday season. the metro transit system launched the inspections on tuesday. screeners swabbed some passengers' bags and ran the swabs through a device that detects gunpowder. last year on christmas day, an airline passenger arriving from europe was arrested for trying to detonate hidden explosives as the aircraft was about to land

in detroit, michigan. more recently in october, washington's metro system was the target of an alleged bomb plot. in biz news, the world's leading central banks will continue to supply dollar funds to the short-term money market until august 2011. six central banks agreed on tuesday to extend the emergency measure beyond january. the agreement aims to stem global credit worries, as europe continues to grapple with fiscal problems. the six banks include the u.s. federal reserve, the european central bank, and the bank of japan. the banks took the joint dollar supplying measure in may. the move came after the greek fiscal crisis triggered a credit crunch, making it difficult for european banks to obtain funds. the extension comes as ballooning debts in ireland and other european countries fuel credit concerns in the region

and beyond. japan's trade surplus in november fell 55.4% year on year. it's the first drop in three months. the finance ministry has announced in a preliminary report the trade surplus for november was $1.9 billion. that's down 55.4% from a year earlier in yen terms. exports rose 9.1%, to about $64.7 billion. imports grew 14.2% to nearly $62.8 billion. toyota motor has set its global sales target for next year at 7.7 million units, up 3% from this year. the japanese automaker says it expects second consecutive yearly growth as it looks forward to increased overseas sales mainly in north america and asia. toyota predicts its sales in the united states will go up 9% from this year's estimate. it expects to see an 8% rise in china.

a plunge to 1.3 million units. toyota says this is due to the lingering impact of the expiry of government subsidies for buyers of eco-friendly vehicles at the end of september. toyota's global sales peaked at 8.42 million units three years ago. then fell until they turned around this year. nissan, nec and sumitomo will set up a joint venture to consolidate a japanese network of charging outlets for electric vehicles. it was said on tuesday that outlets will be established at supermarkets, highway rest areas, among other locations. the charging stations will be available to electric vehicle users who take out a membership. the joint venture will try to widen the network by expanding ties with convenience stores and other locations with outlets. it will also urge restaurants and hotels to install charging equipment. nissan put electric vehicles on sale on monday, and mitsubishi is already marketing eco-friendly vehicles for individual use. the three firms will start trials in kanagawa near tokyo in

fiscal 2011. they aim to find out what locations will be best and what membership fees would be reasonable for use of the outlets. japan airlines has demonstrated a bamboo wheelchair at haneda airport that enables users to pass more smoothly through metal detectors at security gates. the wheelchair was developed bit airline in a bamboo workshop in oita prefecture. 90% of the parts are made from bamboo including the brake. the only parts that are not bamboo are the tires and shock absorbe absorbers, which are rubber, along with wheels and axles which are reinforced plastic. the developers say the wheelchair is comfortable and has passed endurance tests. >> translator: this wheelchair combines japanese technology and craftsmanship with the spirit of hospitality. we hope it will help passengers to feel at ease. >> the new wheelchair will be available at oita airport from

january and at haneda from february. here are the latest market figures. ♪ ♪ iraq's new government has been sworn in. more than nine months after the parliamentary election in march. but ministers for key security-related posts have still not been appointed. the new administration launched

on tuesday is led by prime minister nuri al maliki and represents all the major political forces. talks to form a coalition government had continued since the parliamentary election as no single bloc had a majority. 1/3 of the cabinet posts will be covered by other ministers for the time being due to disagreements among the parties. u.s. combat troops pulled out of iraq in august, but terrorist bombings have continued across the country. the improvement of infrastructure has been delayed, causing the frequent blackouts. some baghdad residents expect a lot from the new government, but others doubt its ability. >> u.s. forces are scheduled to completely withdraw from iraq by the end of next year.

the new government faces the challenge of ending the political turmoil to put reconstruction efforts on the right track. u.s. president barack obama released a statement on tuesday saying the inauguration of iraq's new government is a significant moment in the country's history and a major step forward in advancing national unity. obama said iraq's decision to form an inclusive panership governme is a clr rejection efforts by extremists to d states will help to stabilize hip withtseoplanation in variou in start degnpartnership.ns

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see izumi, kagosha efectutamiays foure en bds tested positive in preliminary tests, and officials said on tuesday the deadly h1 virus strain was detected in onef thprectural government convened an emergency meeting later in the d and decid to set up -- or step up, rather, l area within a 10-kilometer radius from the site where the infected cra was found the prefecture will send officials to poultry farms in a any signs of infection. farmers are being contacted as rt of a telephone inquiry, but no abnormalities have been poed. > the japan coast guard has decided to reprimand its chief cneio with a leaked video of isioen a trawler and japanese patrol boats in the east china sea. the agency is expected to

announce on wednesday that it will suspend from duty the 43-year-old officer who admittee youtube website last month.sour likely to resign aft disciplinary action is taken against him. the tokyo metropolitan police department plans to refer the r'ca tthtokyo district public prosecutor's office. he could be charged with e on public rve law. they say the contents of the video had not been made public prior to the leak and that the data constitutes secret information obtained while on duty. the coast guard also says its commandant hisayasu suzuki has oversight responsibility and will penalize him with a pay cut. pasorer farmers are not impressed with the national treasure status the government has given local monkeys. summer heatnd otheractors

damage the monkeys' natural food supply, so the hungry primates of shimokita peninsulaobep food in farmers' fields. now people have come up with inventive ways to fend them off. >> translator: these were all eaten by monkeys. i'm upset. >> reporter: specialists from the japanese monkey protection and control unit arrive on the scene. four munts pts on the shimokita peninsula set up the squad with help from the prefecture. the unit is dealing with the local monkeys, the only primates in the world thativ s f north. the government designated them a national treure in 19. bu er since then the treasures have become nuisances,

damaging crops. as the number of monkeys grows, so does the amount of damage they cause. 9 sia hitat in shimoqita peninsula has grown larger since their special status in 70 buit not just their growing numbers that made them spread out. 40 years ago there were only six groups of monkeys lininhe ar. now there are 51. an expert explains that as the mb otrps increased it forced them to spread out. they caused more crop damage in a greater areahabefore. >> translator: for example, if the same number of monkeys split into two groups instead of one, then their habitat starts to spread out in a wider area in proportion to their numbers.

>> reporter: the job of the specialist is to protect monkeys but at t same time prevent them from harming people and damaging crops. here they're using specially trained dogs, monkey dogs they call them, to chase the pests back up the mountain. the idea is to scare them off so they don't return. the chase requires special planning. if a dog charges the cenr of a troop, it might split the group in two. the subsequent chain in events could end in more crop damage. in a proper chase the dog handlers examine the monkey troop's formation and the

terrain. next they decide where the troop should end up. then they set the dogs loose to chase the monkeys there. the municipality started using monkey dogs two years ago. during the second year some areas suffered less than half the damage compared to when there were no dogs. on the shimokita peninsula people strive to find ways for humans and monkeys to co-exist. >> translator: i want to continue to hone my craft and gain expience so can have a better handle on how to predict the movement of each monkey. >> specialists are seldom used to deal with conflicts between humans and wild animals in japan, but this may be a thing in the past as the work of the municipalities in shimokita

peninsula gets more attention. here's the weather forecast with saki ochi. hi, and welcome back to your world weather update now. in east asia we are getting a little bit of snow that's spreading across the northeast of china here, but nothing too major. definitely just a few snow flurries for you here. now over towards japan, though, it gets a whole lot wetter here. it's been raining this morning pretty hard across central sections of tokyo and japan, that is, and now the rain is starting to move more towards the north, and this system is still on a developing track so winds, especially, are expected to get a whole lot stronger in the days to come, and then also definitely more rain in store for those of you in the north as well as high waves for coastal areas. coastal flooding is also going to be a pretty big concern with the system. now, for tokyo, as this rain pulls away this morning, it's going to warm up quite nicely. 18 for your high today.

we're looking at 22 in taipei and then 31 for your high in manila. now, for north america, saw a lot of activity going on out towards the west. west coast has been pretty wet these past few days. still a lot more energy coming in off the pacific, so we're going to see all sorts of stormy weather with showers which will impact a lot of the coastline and then, of course, for the southwest, southern california, especially seeing very heavy rainfall and still here, this section will continue to see more of the heavier concentrated amounts of rain in the next couple of days. now snow, of course, will impact the rest of the area, and snow amounts could get pretty high in areas across the four corner states. out towards the east, mostly settled. a little bit of lake-effect impacting the great lakes region. also some snow in toward the new england region and eastern canada. highs 14 in atlanta and 4 for d.c. nice and more pleasant in miami with a high of 23. now, europe today remains quite messy, and it has caused all

kinds of problems. here's a look at the situation. we've got footage coming out of heathrow airport now. there has been major delays and cancellations for the past few days. chaos continues again today, too, and people are resorting to staying in tents because they can't fit in the airports. about 200 volunteers have also come out to help these stranded travelers. now, we move into the south of spain here, and it is instead looking very, very wet. heavy rains have been impacting the area the past couple of days. that's creating a lot of flooding problems, and actually this is about the third time in a month for this region to see all of this rain and all the wet weather. not good news. and here's the setup that we've got coming for the next day. still more rain headed into the iberian peninsula, and some of the heavier rain looking to impact the south of spain again, so flooding situation could easily worsen in the days to come.

rain also is moving in towards france and a lot of western europe while -- central asian sections of europe as well as the alpine region will be looking at more snow again. temperatures remain quite cool out towards the north. minus 9 in moscow, minus 14 in stockholm and london frigid temperatures for you again. all right. now here is your three-day outlook. ♪ ♪ ♪

♪ ♪ ♪

once again, the headlines this hour, the united states says it is too early to resume the six-party talks with north korea. according to a senior white house official, the north isn't remotely ready for negotiations on its nuclear program. china has proposed holding an emergency meeting of the chief delegates of the six-party talks, but the white house repeated its skepticism on tuesday. >> the belligerent actions that the north koreans have demonstrated over the past many weeks i don't think provide anybody the confidence that they are even remotely ready to resume in a responsible way those talks. >> gibbs said the talks will be restarted when the north shows a willingness to change its behavior. north korea has shown a more flexible stand in recent days. it reportedly consented to u.n. nuclear inspections of its uranium enrichments in talks in pyongyang with bill richardson. he's the governor of the u.s.

state of new mexico. but gibbs said the united states is not interested in words but in actions. he said north korea is not living up to its obligations. a giant christmas decoration has been illuminated by south korea near the border with north korea for the first time in seven years. the north has called the move a provocative act. the lighting ceremony took place on tuesday evening, amid heavy security attended by around 400 people. the ceremony was an annual event since the 1950s. it was suspended in 2004 under an inter-korean agreement to end border propaganda activity. the south korean military's decision to resume the yearly ritual followed last month's shelling of yeonpyeong island of north korea and the sinking of a south korean warship in march. north korea says that this is part of the south's psychological warfare an and that concludes this

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