check out the website at the bottom of the screen and get involved, and help our young people pursue their dreams. thank you. edition of "newsline." i'm wednesday, december 29th in tokyo. i'm catherine kobayashi with your updates. south africa is to join the four-member group of fast growing emerging economies known as brics. a summit of leaders from brazil, russia, india and china is to be held in china next year. chinese foreign ministry spokesperson jiang yu said on tuesday that south africa will attend next year's summit.

>> translator: south africa's participation would be useful and enhance cooperation among emerging countries. >> she also said china's president, hu jintao, has already contacted south african president jacob zuma on the issue. the first summit meeting of bric countries was held in russia in 2009. the leaders shared a critical view of the western-led global financial system. economists believe that by inviting south africa, china and other emerging nations will have a greater say in world finance and topics such as climate change. china says it will cut its rare earth exports next year, a move expected to further push up prices of the minerals used in high-tech products. china's commerce ministry said on tuesday that it will reduce the first round quotas for 2011 by 35%, to 14,400 tons. the quotas are believed to be for the january to june period

as the ministry releases the figures twice a year. the chinese government had already announced a 40% export reduction for this year, citing environmental concerns and the need to preserve natural resources. it also decided to raise tariffs on exports from next year. china slashed rare earth exports to japan after the collisions between a chinese fishing boat and japanese patrol ships in september. but japan's trade minister, akihiro ohata, expressed optimism on tuesday that japan will be able to import enough rare earth materials because china views the country as an important trade partner. meanwhile, following china's announcement, the u.s. government has expressed concern about the export restraints. the u.s. trade representatives office issued a statement on tuesday about its concerns. it added that the office is continuing to work closely with stakeholders on the issue. last week the office said in its report to congress that china had refused to lift export curbs

on rare earth minerals. their report indicated that the united states may file a complaint at the world trade organization. the export restrictions have become a major bilateral issue ahead of chinese president hu jintao's scheduled visit to the united states next month. china's government is speaking out against the pope after he said the country doesn't have freedom of religion. in his christmas day message, pope benedict xvi said he prayed that christmas will strengthen the spirit of faith, patience and courage of the faithful in mainland china, despite the limitations imposed on their freedom of religion and conscience. chinese foreign ministry spokesperson jiang yu responded on tuesday. >> translator: we hope the pope will recognize the truth about religious freedom in china and the development of catholicism in this country. we also hope the pope will act to improve the vatican's relations with china. >> things between the vatican

and china have been thorny for years, especially when it comes to the right to appoint bishops. this year, china's catholic church ordained a bishop who was not approved by the vatican. japanese prime minister naoto kan is facing a bumpy ride into 2011. he's trying to appease a rival faction with his ruling democratic party. and he's also dealing with a powerful opposition block that's tret threatening to bring business in the country's diet to a grinding halt. the answer to both of these problems seems to be a cabinet reshuffle. the liberal democrats and other parties want chief cabinet secretary yoshito sengoku and another minister kicked out of cabinet because of how they've handled major issues. the opposition is vowing to not participate in legislative debates if that doesn't happen. kan says he wants to remove barriers to passing budget

measures and other key bills. he also suggested the possibility of new cabinet appointments. analysts say kan is being cautious about changing his chief cabinet secretary, because sengoku plays a pivotal role in his administration. but ditching sengoku would help keep that rival faction we mentioned earlier at bay. it's led by ichiro ozawa. he doesn't like kan's chief cabinet secretary, and the prime minister is likely weighing that ahead of the possible reshuffle, especially because ozawa is making concessions of his own to keep the democratic party united. ozawa has agreed to explain his alleged funding irregularities to the lower house's political ethics council. he pointed out that the dpj's biggest pore, the trade union confederation nengo, is calling for solidarity with the party. ozawa has spent weeks refusing to speak before the ethics council. lawmakers were going to vote to force him to appear and prime minister kan said if ozawa would not attend, he'd need to consider the possibility of voluntarily leaving the

democratic party. earlier, james tengan got some insight from nhk world's political commentator, masayo nakajima. >> masayo, a tumultuous end to japanese 2010 politics. how is ozawa's testimony and his possible cabinet reshuffle affecting kan next year? >> the prime minister might be able to regain some public support by dealing with the two unpopular politicians, ozawa, the democratic party's power broker and sengoku, his chief cabinet secretary. at the same time, he would be appeasing the opposition parties, because they have criticizing the two politicians for their scandals. kan is the dpj leader, so he needs to calm the intraparty confrontations between the two men. sengoku tried to oust ozawa and force him to testify in the

diet which could damage ozawa politically. for his part, ozawa has been pushing kan to get rid of accept goe cue out of his cabinet saying the chief cabinet secretary has decreased kan's approval rating with his gaffes. the prime minister is still unpopular because some people feel that he has mishandled foreign affairs and domestic policies. so dealing with ozawa and the opposition parties by taking sengoku out of his cabinet could eliminate some of kan's concerns before the diet sits again next month. he doesn't want anything standing in the way of passing japan's state budget bills for the fiscal next year. if he fails at that, he will have no choice but to leave his office or call a general election. >> thanks, masayo. stay there a minute. we'll be getting back to you. first, let's take a look at the ups and downs that brought

japan's ruling democratic party to this point. >> reporter: the dpj won a landslide victory during the lower house election in august 2009, ending more than five decades of almost uninterrupted rule by the liberal democratic party. yukio hatoyama took office as prime minister. kan served as his finance minister and right-hand man. after nine months in office, hatoyama resigned to take responsibility for the political fiasco surrounding the relocation of an american military base in okinawa, and a money scandal involving his fund management organization. kan succeeded hatoyama as prime minister. his image as a clean politician immediately helped regain the support fostering the previous hatoyama government. kan's approval rating was 60%. >> translator: i will form a

system that can free japan from the deadlock. >> reporter: but kan's remarks on a possible hike in the consumption tax caused the dpj to lose the upper house election. >> translator: i'm at the starting line again. i'd like to continue to lead the government responsibly. >> reporter: kan ran in the dpj's leadership election in september and beat ichiro ozawa, another political heavyweight. his stance of distancing himself from ozawa earned him public support, but the approval rating for his cabinet surging to 65%. the highest since his inauguration. but kan came under severe criticism for his handling of the collisions between a chinese trawler and japan coast guard

vessels in the east china sea and ozawa's political funding scandal. what's more, the divided diet in which the opposition rules the upper house also put a lot of strain on the kan cabinet. the support rate for his cabinet dropped into the 20% range in december. at that level, it's said it is difficult for the government to stay in power. >> we're back with our political commentator, masayo nakajima. masayo, how would you sum up 2010 for kan's administration? >> well, really just so, kan inherited a huge set of problems from his predecessor when he came into office. the country's stalled economy, the relocation of the u.s. futenma airbase in okinawa and the democratic party's political funding scandals. losing a majority in the upper house meant that he could not follow through with the dpj's plans for government and tax reform.

kan's cabinet has been criticized for the way it handled everything, from a diplomatic dispute with china to a territorial tiff with russia and to the crisis on the korean peninsula. the public is disappointed. >> that obviously is reflected in his poll numbers but he's trying to regain support. do you think he can recover? >> he has embarked on a program to demonstrate that his administration is ready to address pending issues, that includes his decision to cut corporate tax by 5%. companies of course are welcoming the tax cut, but the administration has to find some way to live without the lost reven revenue. kan also wants to wrap up the okinawa base relocation issue. japan and the u.s. agreed to move the futenma air station to okinawa, which has angered local people. he's trying to show that he is involved in advancing the plan

forward but he has failed to get okinawa's governor on his side. some people close to him told me that many of the things he has been doing are just off the top of his head. so nothing significant was expected to happen. >> looking ahead, what will kan face in 2011? >> well, public opinion for any government ebbs and flows, but kan is experiencing an awfully bad support rate of 25%. it could mean that the people in japan no longer want him to lead this country. the past three prime ministers all resigned once their public approval fell below 25%. kan is approaching that danger zone. even members of the democratic party have begun to worry about losing the next election with kan as leader. in a couple months, the prime minister has to find, has to convince at least one of the opposition parties to help him

pass the state budget for fiscal 2011, but you know, it's getting harder to envision a happy new year for him. >> thanks, masayo, our senior political commentator, masayo nakaji nakajima. the japanese government will reintroduce an investment and loan program for the private sector through its aid agency to help win overseas infrastructure projects. the japan international cooperation agency or jica will resume its funding for private companies after a ten-year suspensi suspension. the program was abolished in 2001 to facilitate private sector funding activities. jica will provide funds to a tokyo based firm that plans to develop water infrastructure in hanoi, vietnam. the project is worth about $610 million.

the decision to resume the program is in line with a new economic growth strategy compiled in june. the government hopes that japanese firms will expand their infrastructure development projects overseas. japan has become the top importer of east siberian crude oil shipped from a port in russia's far east. the operator said it shipped 15 million tons of crude oil and to% went to japan. trade should be kept separate from politics the firm chief said. the official suggested russia wants to promote cooperation with japan in the energy sector despite the territorial issue over four islands in the northern pacific. crude oil from russia accounts for up to 10% of japan's monthly imports. russia is becoming a major oil supplier for japan as it tries to reduce its heavy dependence

on the middle east. japan relies on the middle east for nearly 90% of its oil impor imports. the japanese government has decided to postpone the introduction of a greenhouse gas cap and trade system. on tuesday, ministers including prime minister naoto kan and environment minister ryu matsumoto discussed policies to night global warming, such as a cap and trade system. a planned trading system would set caps on emissions from businesses and allow them to trade excess emissions with one another in japan. the ministers said the system on top of tax and other regulations would impose new burdens on major corporate emitters and they also pointed out the government must consider carefully the negative impact on employment, the trends of cap and trade systems abroad, and if a new framework after the kyoto protocol will integrate major emitting countries. major japanese life insurer firm dai-ichi life will buy out an australian insurer to step up

its business overseas amid slow growth in the domestic market. dai-ichi life said on tuesday it plans to pay $1.2 billion to take full control of tower australia group in may next year. it already owns nearly 30% of the australian insurer. the buyout will be among the largest overseas investments in japan's life insurance industry. it will also be dai-ichi life's first acquisition of a company since it became a stock corporation back in april. tea is a traditional drink, that's an indispensable part of life for many chinese but recently a new competitor has arrived on the scene in this tea baempbl culture. young people are instead tending to drink coffee. the sales of which are sharply growing in china. nhk world's yuko fukuyama has

more. >> reporter: coffee shops have sprouted up all across beijing. the world's largest coffee chain opened its first shop 11 years ago. now the number has increased to almost 400 across mainland china. this nation's coffee lovers are mainly people in their 20s and 30s. a cup of coffee costs about $3, a price that's far more expensive than that of a regular chinese tea, but still, the shop is always crowded. >> translator: young people prefer coffee. tea is bitter, but coffee is a bit sweet. i like it since i can add other things to it to suit my taste. >> translator: we don't have the habit of drinking tea like our parents. i like the flavor of coffee, and i'm attracted by its aroma. >> reporter: the swerp province of yunnan is regarded as the

cradle of brewing, but now it accounts for 98% of china's total coffee production. if you drink chinese coffee chances are strong it was grown somewhere in these mountainous regions. the warm weather and a wide raping of temperatures are suitable for growing coffee. the province is at about the same latitude as some of the world's top producing regions. in order to make yunnan coffee a worldwide brand, an expert frequently visits local farms to teach them how to grow coffee beans. >> translator: this is china's best region to grow coffee. coffee is the first main product from this area that we've been able to export overseas. >> reporter: on this day, 20 farmers attended the lecture. most of them are from minority groups such as aini and mao who

have long planted tea, rubber and bananas. compared to other crops, coffee is said to be less troublesome. the unique flavor and aroma attracts consumers, the provincial government plans to expand coffee volume from the current 38,000 tons to 200,000 tons in ten years. it also hopes to increase coffee growing acreage to 100,000 hectares. >> translator: at first i wasn't so interested in growing coffee, but after hearing success stories, i wanted to start planting coffee myself. >> translator: there's a huge potential for yunnan coffee. the makers of well-known foreign brands are also paying great attention. so i'm sure that there's a bright future for our coffee. >> reporter: coffee has become economically attractive to local farmers.

kao duyun used to grow rice but now grows coffee with his wife. for kao, coffee growing has become a blessing as his family earnings have doubled compared to that of rice farming. this is earnings he's been able to buy new household appliances and provide his children with an adequate education. kao hopes to enlarge his farm to join other farmers who have even tripled or quadrupled their earnings, thanks to the coffee beans. >> translator: i had difficulty earning a living before. but after i started growing coffee, our lives have improved a lot. i'm happy that i can buy new electrical appliances every year. >> reporter: however, the switch to coffee is causing unexpected problems for some people.

>> translator: it's better to drink mature tea on cold days, since it's especially effective for people who have weak digesti digestion. >> reporter: this woman opened her own chinese tea shop five years ago with the belief that the traditional drink enables her to lead a stable life. she mainly sells puer tea but several months ago they started to sell yunnan coffee to meet the strong demand from her customers. she's now worried about whether this coffee drinking trend will expand. she strongly hopes that people will try to protect the region's important tea culture. >> translator: as the cop sumpgs of coffee is growinga business trouble. i hope we make efforts to protect our tea culture.

>> reporter: coffee was once regarded as an expensive imported commodity, but due to rising standards of living and changes in habits, coffee is now becoming one of the most popular daily drinks in china. yuko fukuyama, nhk world, yunnan province, china. hi there. welcome to your world weather update. first taking a look at eastern asia then, we do have a high pressure system in control for much of inland china, things remain calm and settled here, but the cold air starting to really invade from the north, affecting the northeastern corner of the region. we are expecting widespread light snow to affect the northeastern corner of china throughout your wednesday, some of it making its way into the

korean peninsula as well, temperatures remain rather frigid here for places like seoul. now the western side of japan will slowly start to see that rain turn to snow during the day. we can expect some blizzard like conditions, very strong winds, high waves, possibility of avalanches as well, and significant snow accumulation again up to 50 centimeters is possible up in the north. the pacific edge does stay dry and settled, but in the days to come, things will change, the cold air will come in and bring some wintry precipitation. let's head into southeastern asia, lots of moisture over the philippines especially towards the east, dealing with hefty showers here, and also for the southern end of the ma lay, bouts of rain and showers pushing into southern vietnam. looking at the temperatures, 31 degrees in bangkok today, 20 in hong kong. the cold area dominating the northern end of china, 3 degrees in beijing and it will continue to creep its way further south, dropping temperatures in places

like shanghai on thursday. now, into north america then, the east is recovering quite nicely, still quite stormy and wintry up in the northeast, for places like maine and eastern quebec dealing with heavy, blowing snow, poor visibility and very strong wind gusts as well, but things are generally looking much, much calmer overall. now down towards the south you can see some showers blossoming again over texas, things becoming quite severe today, we'll see more thunderstorms on the cards for you and then out towards the west, winter storms really kicking up, will be affecting a wide area this entire section from montana down towards the four corners, dealing with snow. a lot of that will be heavy snow as well. for northern california, it's going to be rain, but torrential rains could occur and that could certainly trigger flooding problems, temperatures much cooler today, 5 degrees in seattle, 4 up in vancouver. now for europe, out towards the west looking still quite much

milder than of late. we do have a low pressure system that will continue to feed moisture into portugal today, looking mostly dry, though, for the british isles, some light rain at most, but rather foggy throughout your wednesday, and the middle section of europe stays calm and settled, just some snow showers to start off the day in southern germany. the bulk of the precipitation is from belarus into the baltic states and western russia and further south for turkey lots of heavy rain in the days to come so flooding is going to be a big concern here, still very cold out towards the east and turning even colder for central areas, minus 3 in vienna and minus 12 in berlin, which leads to very frigid conditions but out toward the west looking much more pleasant indeed. all right, here is your extended forecast now.

taking a look at our top story once again --

south africa is to join the four-member group of fast growing emerging economies known as brics. a summit of leaders from brazil, russia, india and china is to be held in china next year. chinese foreign ministry spokesperson jiang yu said on tuesday that south africa will attend next year's summit. >> translator: south africa's participation would be useful and enhance cooperation among emerging countries. >> she also said china's president, hu jintao, has already contacted south african president jacob zuma on the issue. the first summit meeting of bric countries was held in russia in 2009. the leaders shared a critical view of the western-led global financial system. economists believe that by inviting south africa, china and other emerging nations will have a greater say in world finance and topics such as climate change. and that's all for this edition of "newsline." i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. thanks for joining us.