welcome to nhk world "newsline." i'm gene otani in tokyo. another bird has tested positive for avian flu in southwestern japan. this time it's a white-necked crane. earlier this month a hood crane was found in the same region with the highly virulent h5n1 avian flu virus. both species are on the brink of extinction. the infected white-necked crane was found in kagoshima city's

izumi city. it was brought to the city's bird protection facility on tuesday. a preliminary test was conducted on thursday after the bird died. the izumi municipal government sent a blood sample to tottori university for further analysis. the authorities are also stepping up efforts to prevent the spread of avian influenza. officials are calling on people who do not have to drive on local roads to avoid the area near the cranes' feeding grounds. four disinfection points have been set up along the roads. the authorities began distributing anti-septics on friday to all of the city's 128 poultry farms. they're also planning to increase the number of rangers in the city's nature reserves to five from the current two to keep a closer watch. japan is poised to shake up its russian diplomacy in the wake of a recent visit by

russian president dmitry medvedev to one of the four disputed islands off northern japan. the visit was the first ever to the island by a top russian leader. the japanese foreign ministry came under criticism for being caught off guard by medvedev's visit to kunashiri island in november. the japanese government decided to effectively dismiss the japanese ambassador to russia and replace him with the ambassador to the czech republic, chikahito harada, as early as january. harada is well-versed in russian affairs. he served as director of the russian division and director general of the european affairs bureau. foreign minister seiji maehara intends to bolster information gathering on russia to resolve pending issues with the country, including the row over the russian-held islands claimed by japan. he also plans to visit moscow either in february or march to hold talks with russian prime minister vladimir putin and foreign minister sergei lavrov. the u.s. senate has decided to cut 3/4 of its fiscal 2011 funding allocated for the

expansion of military facilities in guam. this will affect the planned transfer of 8,000 u.s. marines from japan to the island. the senate approved a budget bill that provides $107 million to build base facilities. the figure is about 1/4 of the amount requested by the defense department. the senate says the budget was cut because the annual construction projects are limited in size due to the u.s. military's environmental impact assessment. it also cites uncertainty over the relocation plan for the u.s. marine corps futenma air station in okinawa. the base relocation is supposed to precede the transfer of the marines to guam under the current agreement with japan. the initial development plan is already behind schedule, and the budget cuts are certain to delay the marines' relocation plan beyond 2014 deadline set by the u.s. and japan. tokyo metropolitan police officials plan to admit that sensitive documents leaked on the internet are likely to have originated from -- more than 100

police documents relating to international terrorism were found on the internet in late october. the documents included names, addresses and photographs of police officers and people who cooperated with investigations. tokyo police plans to acknowledge that the documents in question are internal files created by their foreign affairs division. one foreign resident's name was highlighted in the leaked documents. meanwhile, a publisher in tokyo says it will have a new version of the book containing police documents. the publisher began selling the book in november but was banned

from printing it by a court order. the publisher said it would black out personal data in the new version. south korea is staying on alert in case of further attacks by north korea. it put on another show of military might on thursday, a month after the north shelled its yeonpyeong island. the large-scale live-fire drills happened in the northeastern city of pocheon, which is 25 kilometers from the military border with north korea. 800 south korean army and navy personnel took part in the 40-minute exercise. they used 36 canine howitzers with a range of 40 kilometers to shell ground targets. they also ran an aerial attack exercise with two f-15 fighters. rocket launchers capable of firing 12 rounds continuously were used for the first time. it was south korea's largest

live fire drill for this time of year. the exercises were held on the assumption the country would strongly respond to any provocative attacks by north korea. in an unusual step, the south korean military invited about 2,000 people, including citizens and community officials, to watch. south korean president lee myung bak traveled to the front lines to visit soldiers who are stationed there. the troops are in the eastern province of ganguong near the military border. that's as close as 750 meters away from north korean soldiers. lee gave them words of encouragement and said they must remain on alert because no one can predict what the north will do next. >> translator: we thought up till now that patience would make peace possible. but it turns out that's not true. we will be able to preserve peace by powerfully responding to attacks from the north. >> lee stressed that a strong response could curb provocations from the north and prevent war.

north korea's media, meanwhile, have criticized the drills. they reported on them during a regular news broadcast. also, china has renewed its call for an emergency meeting of the chief delegates to the six-party talks on north korea's nuclear program. >> translator: the situation remains highly sensitive and extremely complicated. countries should stay calm and be responsible. >> the spokesperson also said china wants countries concerned to respond to its proposal to resolve the issue through dialogue and negotiation. japanese government officials have quoted north korea as saying it has never denied the 2005 joint statement committing it to abandon all existing nuclear programs.

the north also indicated that it will not heighten tensions further and will allow nuclear inspectors to return and monitor its facilities. foreign ministers from japan, the united states, and south korea recently agreed that north korea must meet five conditions before the six-party talks could resume. one is that the north must declare and implement the joint statement adopted at the six-party talks in 2005. the statement commits north korea to abandoning all nuclear weapons and existing nuclear programs. another condition is that the north must accept inspectors from the international atomic energy agency again. north korea expelled them in april 2009. during his recent visit to pyongyang, chinese state councillor dai bingguo conveyed what the u.s., south korean and japanese ministered had discussed. dai had meetings with kim jong il among others. according to japanese officials, north koreans were quoted as saying they would not heighten

tensions if the united states and south korea do not launch acts of provocation. the north koreans also reportedly said they would consider accepting iaea inspectors. the japanese government says it plans to keep calling on north korea to meet the five necessary conditions for resuming the six party talks. in the commodities market crude oil prices are on the rise again. the benchmark wti futures rose above $90 a barrel in new york on wednesday. for the first time in 26 months. higher oil prices worldwide are pushing up the cost of petrochemical products in japan. crude oil prices have been rising since october. investors are moving their speculative funds into the market as a result of the long-standing easy monetary policy in the u.s. in japan firms such as sumitomo chemical have decided to increase their prices for polyester by about 8% in japan. japan's largest tire maker, bridgestone, will also raise the

prices of its tires for trucks and buses by an average of 7% starting in march. other companies are expected to follow suit. there are concerns higher prices of petrochemical products may pressure profits for japanese makers. japanese electronics maker toshiba and u.s. computer giant apple will jointly build a plant in japan to produce small liquid crystal display panels for smartphones. sources say the companies will construct the new factory on toshiba's property in central japan. apple will invest about $1 billion in a subsidiary of toshi toshiba, around $360 million. the plant will make small lcd touch panels for smartphones. all the panels will be supplied by apple. the factory will -- all the panels, rather, will be supplied to apple. the factory will start operating as early as spring 2012. toshiba's small lcd panel unit posted a third straight year of operating loss last fiscal year due to intense competition with

foreign makers. to restructure the business, the japanese firm had consolidated its domestic plant and sold its factory in singapore to another company. however, as the smartphone market has grown rapidly, electronics makers are now boosting production capacity to meet the extra demand. here's the latest market figures. ♪ ♪ the prime minister of laos abruptly resigned on thursday, six months before the end of his term in office. his resignation may affect the country's economic policy.

prime minister bone zone bouphavanh announced his resignation. he has been replaced by 66-year-old tomsing tomawan, the president of the communist-dominated assembly. in 2006 at 52 years of age bouasone was elected as prime minister even though he was ranked seventh in the communist lao people's revolutionary party. during his four years in office bouasone aggressively courted foreign investment in the country and promoted a market economy. sources close to the government say bouasone resigned because he broke the law. however, diplomatic sources say the reason may be that party conservatives harshly criticized the former prime minister's economic reforms. chinese authorities in the capital beijing plan to limit new car registration in 2011 in an attempt to ease traffic congestion. however, auto makers around the world are concerned the new policies may hurt business. the beijing municipal government announced its new traffic control measures on thursday.

under the new plan the issuance of car license plates will be limited to 240,000, roughly one third of this year. car buyers in the city will have to draw lots to obtain a license plate. cars registered outside beijing will be banned from entering the city center during rush hour on weekday mornings and evenings. government agencies and institutions in the capital will also be banned from purchasing more vehicles. china ranked as the world's largest new car market for the second consecutive year. the number of newly registered cars in the city has doubled over the past five years to 4.7 million. however, the construction of roads and parking lots has not kept up with the demand. taiwanese authorities have ordered japan airlines to pay fines p about $20,000 for violating regulations against age discrimination among

employees. j.a.l.'s taiwanese branch office laid off 18 flight attendants in june this year as part of an early retirement program designed to address its financial difficulties. the flight attendants filed complaints with the taipei city government's department of labor, claiming that jal unfairly dismissed them because of age. taipei authorities said on thursday that the layoffs appear to be based on the age of senior staff members. all 18 flight attendants had years of experience. jal says it will study the order and respond appropriately with full respect for the law. the japanese flag carrier filed for bankruptcy court protection last january and has been downsizing its operations ever since implementing rehabilitation -- a rehabilitation plan. farmers in australia have their hands full coping with the ravages of nature.

they're dealing with a severe drought in the western region, but in eastern australia, where the weather has been good, farmers face ruin from a different kind of problem. nhk world's hiromi kurosaka reports. >> the plague spreads across this land. they're locusts. for the last several months they have infested eastern australia. it's the worst infestation in 75 years. the region's unusually warm and rainy weather this year caused the problem. it made soil condition ideal for eggs to hatch and survive.

ron hards grows wheat and barley on his 3,000 hectares of farmland. after this year's good weather, hards anticipated his best harvest in five years. but the day before the harvesting was to begin he found newly hatched locusts near his field. it made him very nervous. >> so how far is it from here to your crop? it's so close. >> mm-hmm. that's a real worry. >> reporter: now he's racing to kill them off. locusts grow to adulthood in no time at all, then wreak havoc on crops. so the nymphs have to be killed before they develop into adults. but hazardous' farm is so large he doesn't know where to start looking for nymphs.

he can't decide where to spray pesticides. luckily, the state government has set up the task force to help farmers like hards. it made a map of the infested area and wastes no time giving a map to farmers. if the farmers don't protect their field against the locusts, the estimated damage to farmland will be about $2 billion, enough to ruin many. every day state-owned police survey the area for locusts that have yet to mature into adults. >> determining where the edge of the band, the concentrations of locust nymphs are referred to as bands. >> they get the samples and check their rate of growth. once the locusts are fully grown, they're much harder to

kill off. >> there you go. >> reporter: after collecting data from several areas, they'll tell the farmers where they think the locusts will appear next. the farmers must start exterminating themselves. the labor is figuring out where to spray. >> which is very useful. even just to identify the targets from the air is going to be a great assistance for us and is going to be making a setup. we've got a good harvest pending, and we don't want to lose it. it's much too important to us. >> reporter: it looks like the locusts will remain a threat until early in the new year. the battle to save the harvest rages on. hiromi kurosaka, nhk world, sydney. >> the state's task force has

been observing the locusts' movement patterns from airplanes. also, the government is subsidizing the cost of the pesticides. it will cost an estimated $43 million to protect the crops from locusts. here's the weather with saki ochi p. >> hi, and welcome back to your world weather update. now, for east asia we are looking at some wintry precipitation that's starting to spread really over quite a wide area of central china, mainly inland areas right now picking up on that snow. the moisture, we're going to watch that head toward the coastline. so eastward. and once it does get closer to the coastline, it's going to be turning more into rain. looks like taiwan will also be picking up on some of that wet weather as well. now, areas like the korean peninsula, a lot of northern china, too, remaining in the dry, but it is going to be a bit on the stormy side for japan, especially northern areas. we are looking at a pretty

stormy day today, heavy blowing snow impacting a wide area of northern japan. mainly along the western flank. but we are going to be seeing winds that could blow up to 70 kilometers per hour, gusts even hitting triple digits, and then wave heights also will be reaching quite high amounts, seven meters or more. so coastal areas could be looking at possibly some coastal flooding. overall pretty dangerous situation. so do stay on the watch for that. tokyo's high today coming in at 13 degrees, but we will keep an eye on that. it's going to get cooler with the weekend. already getting quite cold in seoul. minus 8 for your high. also looking at minus 3 in beijing. shanghai too at 10 degrees. and it's likely going to be getting colder for you as well as we head through the weekend. all right. and a look at north america. here the west. a lot of the intermountain west finally looking a little bit more settled. good news because there's been a lot of flooding and landslides reported across southern california. however, it does remain wet across british columbia. coastal areas will be looking at

rain while mountain areas pick up snow. another snowy area is going to be here across the plain states. parts of areas like colorado as well picking up on that snow, but northern central plains also looking to receive some of that white stuff. well, down toward the south it will turn more toward rain as it is warmer, but actually, to looking at a cooling trend going on here. 19 for your high in houston. dropping down to 11 atlanta. we're looking at 3 in both new york and d.c. and then back down to zero again for chicago. over toward europe today, and it is going to be looking a little bit messy again. we've got this long frontal boundary right along the northern end of continental europe. right along it we will see rain and both snow with that system. another active low also moving into italy. and this one producing some stormy weather in terms of thundershowers something, strong gusts and heavy rainfall that's affecting parts of southern france as well as italy. of course all that moisture turns more into snow for the alpine region and could be a little more heavy snow for you as well.

another round of showers impacting portugal, too. that will be later on friday. and then a couple snow showers lingering across the northern end of the british isles. and it's getting cold again. 1 in london. 2 in paris. still towards the east a little bit milder right now, we're looking at 3 in kiev and then 8 degrees in vienna. so back up from those subfreezing levels. but that's all going to be changing with the weekend. we're seeing those temperatures drop yet again. areas like paris looking at subfreezing levels by saturday, and sunday vienna showing a big drop too, by saturday drop down to 1, sunday looking at minus 3 degrees. so it's going to get chilly again for those of you here. all right. that's a look at your weather for now. and here is your three-day outlook. ♪

♪ ♪ once again, the headlines this hour, another bird has tested positive for avian flu in southwestern japan. this time it's a white-necked crane. earlier this month a hooded crane was found in the same region with the highly virulent h5n1 avian flu virus. both species on the verge of

extinction. the infected white crane, or white-necked crane, was found in kagoshima prefecture's izumi city. a major wintering ground for cranes. it was brought to the city's bird protection facility on tuesday. a preliminary test was conducted on thursday after the bird died. the izumi municipal government sent a blood sample to tottori university for further analysis. the authorities are also stepping up efforts to prevent the spreading of avian influenza. officials are calling on people who do not have to drive on local roads to avoid the area near the cranes' feeding grounds. four disinfection points have been set up along the roads. the authorities began distributing anti-septics on friday to all of the city's 128 poultry farms. they're also planning to increase the number of rangers in the city's nature reserve to five from the current two to

keep a closer watch. japan is poised to shake up its russian diplomacy in the wake of a recent visit by russian president dmitry medvedev to one of the four disputed islands off northern japan. the visit was the first ever to the islands by a top russian leader. the japanese foreign ministry came under criticism for being caught off guard by medvedev's visit to kuehne sheero island in november. the japanese government decided to effectively dismiss the japanese ambassador to russia and replace him with the ambassador to the czech republic, chikahito harada as early as january. harada is well versed in russian affairs. he served as director of the russian division and director general of the european affairs bureau. foreign minister seiji maehara intends to bolster information gathering on russia to resolve pending issues with the country including the row over the russianheld islands claimed by japan. he also plans to visit moscow either in february or march to hold talks with russian president vladimir putin and foreign minister sergei lavrov.

the u.s. senate has decided to cut 3/4 of its fiscal 2011 funding allocated for the expansion of military facilities in guam. this will affect the planned transfer of 8,000 u.s. marines from japan to the island. the senate approved a budget bill that provides $107 million to build base facilities. the figure is about 1/4 of the amount requested by the defense department. the senate says the budget was cut because the annual construction projects are limited in size due to the u.s. military's environmental impact assessment. it also cites incertainty over the relocation plan for the u.s. marine corps futenma air station in okinawa. the base relocation is supposed to precede the transfer -- or precede the transfer of marines to guam under the current agreement with japan. the initial development plan is already behind schedule, and the budget cuts are certain to delay the marines' relocation plan beyond the 2014 deadline set by the u.s. and japan.

south korea is staying on alert in case of further attacks by north korea. it put on another show of military might on thursday, a month after the north shelled its yeonpyeong island. the large-scale live-fire drills happened in the northeastern city of pocheon, which is 25 kilometers from the military border with north korea. 800 south korean army and navy personnel took part in the 40-minute exercise. they used 36 k-9 howitzers with a range of 40 kilometers to shell ground targets. they also ran an aerial attack exercise with two f-15 fighters. rocket launchers capable of firing 12 rounds continuously were used for the first time. it was south korea's largest live-fire drill for this time of year. the exercise was held on the assumption the country would strongly respond to any provocative attacks by north korea. in an unusual step, south korean military invited about 2,000 people including citizens and community officials to watch.

and 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.