welcome to nhk world "newsline." we begin this hour with a look at japan's cabinet reshuffle. prime minister naoto kan has vowed to form what he calls the most powerful line-up in order to carry out reforms in a divided parliament. all the ministers have stepped down in preparation. former finance minister kaoru yosano is expected to join the new cabinet while it looks like both the chief cabinet secretary and transport minister will lose their posts. kan accepted the resignations of

all his ministers at a cabinet meeting on friday morning. the prime minister has unofficially decided to remove chief cabinet secretary and justice minister yoshito sengoku. the democratic party's deputy secretary-general, yukio edano-l succeed him as chief cabinet secretary. the opposition-controlled upper house censured both sengoku and transport minister sumio mabuchi in late november for their handling of the september 7th collision between a chinese trawler and a japanese patrol boat. opposition part yies had threatened to boycott debate in the upcoming ordinary session unless both ministers resign. yosano will succeed banri kaieda as economic and facical policy minister. he'll oh oversee the prime minister's policy reforming the social security and tax system. yosano, who left a small opposition party on thursday, advocates increasing the consumption tax and fiscal reconstruction. kaieda is to succeed akihiro ohata as economy and trade

minister. ohata will become transport minister. with regard to other key posts, foreign minister seiji maehara, finance minister yoshihiko noda, defense minister toshimi kitazawa, and national policy mirn koichiro gemba will retain their jobs. by replacing them the prime minister appears to have cleared the way for a diet debate on the budget plan. but it remains to be seen whether budget-related bills can pass the opposition controlled upper house. japan and the united states have begun working-level talks on a transpacific partnership, or tpp, a regional free trade agreement. two days of talks in washington from thursday. japan is expected to tell the u.s. whether it will reach a decision on whether or not to join the tpp by june. the u.s. is expected to say it will welcome japan's sxags explain negotiations already under way among nine countries including australia and singapore. the talks are likely to cover

agricultural issues. japanese farmers oppose the liberalization of rice imports and the country has been restricting u.s. beef imports. japanese and u.s. officials also met at the u.s. energy department to discuss rare earth minerals. these are the first japan-u.s. working-level talks on the diversification of such resources. china says it will allow some of its companies to make direct overseas investments in yuan. the chinese government apparently aims to promote the internationalization of its currency. the people's bank of china made the announcement on thursday night. according to the central bank, the new rules will take effect from this month. china began lifting its ban on the use of yuan overseas in 2009, when it allowed some companies to settle trade accounts in the currency. the new decision will allow chinese firms to buy companies,

acquire stocks, and expand businesses abroad in yuan. china has continued to intervene in money markets to sell yuan and buy dollars in order to increase exports while cushing the yuan's exchange rate. critics say the interventions have triggered inflation and a steep rise in real estate prices. u.s. federal reserve chairman ben bernanke says the country's economy will likely grow 3% to 4% in the year ahead. >> we see the economy strengthening. it's looked better in the last few months. and we think a 3% to 4% type of growth number for 2011 seems reasonable. >> bernanke made the comment in a speech on thursday. he also said deflationary pressures have eased quite a bit. but he added that while the job market is doesn't expect a big reduction in the unemployment rate anytime soon. observers say bernanke's relatively upbeat comments are aimed at supporting the positive impact from the fed's extra

credit-boosting measures, which have been widely criticized. the european central bank has decided to keep its main interest rate at its lowest level ever amid continued credit uncertainty for some euro members. the bank held a meeting of its governing council in frankfurt on thursday and decided to keep the rate at 1% for the 20th consecutive month. since may 2009 the ecb's refinancing rate has stood at 1%, the lowest sint t yefest si introduction of the euro. the decision comes at a time when credit uncertainty remains in europe with government bonds of countries with huge fiscal deficits like portugal and spain being sold. in december annual inflation in the 17-nation euro zone increased to 2.3%, the highest in two years. despite the rise, the ecb apparently hopes to keep the interest rate unchanged for the time being to prop up the eu economies and help companies and financial institutions procure

funds more easily. the bank of england also decided to keep its main interest rate unchanged at a record low 0.5% on thursday, despite a rise in inflation in britain. the indian government has announced measures to tackle soaring food prices. a long period of rain in the fall caused a surge in prices of vegetables and other food items. the price of the main ingredient of popular curry dishes, onions, has risen by more than 70% from january last year. on thursday the government announced measures to fight the inflation. they include subsidies to hold down the retail price of onions and export limits on vegetables and wheat. some wholesalers are reportedly reluctant to sell vegetables, expecting more price increases. it remains to be seen whether the government measures will ease pressure on household budgets. in the run-up to prochbltial assembly elections, india's opposition parties are blaming the government for its slow response to the problem.

japan's corporate goods price index for december was up 1.2% from a year earlier. this marks a third consecutive month of gains. japan's central bank on friday said the index stood at 103.4 against a reference value of 100 set back in 2005. the index is a measure of prices of goods traded among japanese firms. prices of iron and steel were up 10.2% year on year while non-ferrous metal prices rose by 10.9%. the world's leading technology firms are shifting their business focus away from conventional pc computing and exploring the tablet and smartphone arena. the publishing industry is also changing gears. many publishers are being forced to reconsider their age-old allegiance to printed matter and are wondering how best to present their content in a new electronic form. yuko aotani has nor.

. >> reporter: one year after am unveiled the ipad, a succession of rival e-book devices are coming to market. businesses from other fields are breaking into the digital publishing industry. ipad-only magazines are emphasizing hyperlinks and interactive content to grab readers. >> the cover of the magazine comes alive. the inside feature comes alive. it just -- it's just suddenly i think makes conventional magazines thoroughly boring. >> reporter: many publications have abandon the traditional techniques of print layouts, developing a new format for the new devices. but not all publishers are taking this route. analog-style printing hasn't lost its allure, though. even younger generations raised on bits and bytes think traditional design still has a place. this daily newspaper has been losing subscribers amid

intensifying competition. editorial staff take pride in their paper's japanese-style format. sentences run vertically with the top news in the upper right corner. on its website, however, the text runs horizontally and the headlines are all the same size. the paper abandoned its traditional layout for the internet. when it began planning its tablet edition, the question was what to do with the layout. >> translator: our newspaper's layout has its own meaning and message. the size of headlines. how to arrange each article. and so on. on the internet, however, articles become no more than bits of information. >> reporter: a young entrepreneur provided the newspaper with a solution. mass heero ito is developing a unique digital publishing technology. >> most smartphones and tablets

run on 3g networks and wi-fi. the data needs to be very light. so we do a lot of compression. >> reporter: the data is too big and heavy to send to tablets. ito's technology compresses the files and divides them into hundreds of parts. each page, with its distinct style, will be duplicated on the reader's electronic screen. >> the digital age, i think, is an opportunity for old and completely newcomers to reinvent their product and actually try something completely new. and i think paper is very intuitive. anybody can use it. it's easy. so paper is staying. this is definitely staying. but digital is also -- digital versions of the same content are going to be emerging, and these will be new markets, and these are opportunities for the same companies to actually grow

again. >> reporter: to the surprise of the daily, its e-newspaper has become one of the most popular digital publications in the country. it clocks 100,000 downloads a day. and that figure is rising. smartphones and tablets are changing the way we read. but the age-old printing techniques are make the leap into the new digital publishing era. yuko aotani, nhk world. toke yeh stoc tokyo stocks traded a bit lower on friday morning. here's a look at the nikkei average, closing the morning session at 10,558, down 30 points from thursday's close. market sources say that trading was mixed. they say reports of strong earnings by u.s. giant intel triggered buying of high-tech shares. but some export-related stocks were sold. taking a look at currencies, on the tokyo foreign exchange the dollar is weaker against the yen. the greenback changing hands at 82.65-68. the euro at 1.3332-34.

the greenback retreated against the euro overnight as concerns over the european debt crisis eased, following successful bond auctions in italy and spain. this prompted buying of the yen against the dollar. taking a look at the latest long-term interest rates, this is the yield on the benchmark ten-year japanese government bond. a look at other markets. hong kong's hang seng index up by a fraction of -- a quarter of 1%. 24,307. shanghai index for major blue chips at 6538, down almost a percent. the shenzhen sse composite is declining 1.2% at 1,242. french automaker renault says it has filed a criminal complaint with prosecutors over alleged industrial espionage. it did not identify the subjects. the company suspended three executives divinitily for leaking company secrets on electric car technology ps developing with its japanese partner, nissan.

all three have denied the charges. renault said on thursday it filed the complaint in france against unspecified persons for industrial espionage, breach of trust, theft, among other acts. the company says in its filing it has discovered serious misconduct detrimental to its strategic, technological, and intellectual assets. it gave no further details. french media have reported the possible involvement of a chinese firm, but the chinese government strongly denies the allegation. the world's biggest earthquake simulator made its debut on thursday in japan. construction company kajima built the state-of-the-art simulator in a western suburb of tokyo to examine how long-period ground motion affects high-rise buildings. long-period ground shaking can rock tall structures for as long as several minutes. in a 2003 earthquake off hokkaido this extended shaking phenomenon caused a fire at an oil storage facility about 250

kilometers away. on thursday an experiment was conducted to see what would happen on the top floor of a 50-story building if a temblor similar to the 2003 quake occurred. as the swaying gradually intensified over a period of three minutes, a desk lamp fell over. a glass on the table also dropped and rolled on the floor. kajima says their facility can shake a building up to 2.7 meters from side to side, making it the world's largest earthquake simulator. >> translator: the simulator helps not only assure a building's security but also to promote safer urban development. a top u.s. military officer says china's improving defense capabilities including the new j-20 stealth fighter jet may be aimed at the united states. >> what i just have not been able to crack is the why on some of these capabilities, whether

it's this, whether it's anti-satellite, whether it's anti-ship. many of these capabilities seem to be focused very specifically on the united states. >> the chair of the joint chiefs of staff, admiral mike mullen, was speaking to reporters in washington on wednesday. he expressed concern about china's recent military build-up, saying that it is investing in very high-end, high-tech capabilities. his comment comes a day after chinese media reported the country's military has successfully conducted the first test flight of its j-20 stealth fighter jet. local reports say the j-20 completed an 18-minute flight from an air field in sichuan province. the popular egyptian resort sharm el-sheikh has been hit by a series of shark attacks. the incidents have alarmed tourists and shaken the community. authorities are scrambling to

deal with the problem. nhk world's mostafa fathi has the story. ♪ clap ♪ clap, clap, clap ♪ clap your hands >> reporter: summer never ends at sharm el-sheikh, a luxury resort. it's a popular vacation spot-w 4 million visitors a year. it gets busier this time of year with tourists enjoying the sea. this is one of the most beautiful beaches all over the world. but unfortunately, it has been attacked by shark. and one lady has been killed. sharks were spotted last month. so far there have been five reported cases of shark attacking tourists. on december 5th a german woman in her 70s was attacked by shark while sitting near the beach and eventually died.

the egyptian government tried catching the sharks. they caught one that was two meters long, but there was another attack. the damage is adding up. >> i'm scared to go deep in the sea, but here near the coast it's safe. also when i want to swim i go in the swimming pool. >> reporter: to ease fears and to be vigilant for sharks, authorities put a watch tower on the beach. they also sent out boats to look out for sharks approaching the coast. >> translator: we've been patrolling the area. as soon as we notice anything unusual, we raise the alarm. >> reporter: until recently there had been very few shark attacks at sharm el-sheikh.

why are sharks so close to the beach? eric ripokas is a local diver. he has noted some changes lately. >> the temperature of the water is higher than the previous years, which actually happens sometimes, but this year, especially, it was a bit warmer, the sea. >> reporter: the government asked local divers to conduct studies and they found the water temperature is warmer than normal by four degrees celsius. this makes it easier for sharks to thrive. they suspect that abnormal weather has caused ocean temperature to rise. another possible reason is that sharks are hunting smaller fish that tourists feed. >> translator: we're still not

sure how to go about resolving a situation as unprecedented as this. it's a challenge. >> reporter: the attacks are occurring at peak tourist season. the government says it will do more studies on shark behavior to better prevent future attacks. mostafa fathy, nhk world, sharm el-sheikh. hi there. time now again for your world weather update. well, in japan a low pressure system to the north of the country will be impacting northern end with strong winds and more snow. and along the western flank of the country too dealing with significant snow while down toward the south the pacific edge looking at good spells of sunshine today. but come the week and the weather's going to turn really wintry stormy.

do brace yourselves for that. across the korean peninsula a chance for light snow showers here and then to china looking at coastal rain just to the south of shanghai. inland areas looking at light showers. that should be about it. looking at mostly dry conditions throughout the country. as for southeast asia, we're looking at more active rain clouds to pop up over the philippines. that's going to continue into the week. and the ground here already quite saturated. so that could certainly trigger more flooding and landslides. another area that's been dealing with severe flooding is of course sri lanka. you can just see how high water levels are here. batakaloa received 300 millimeters in just a matter of a day. and in the last 24 hours as well more than 100 millimeters recorded. that rain is generally going to be weakening over the next couple of of days and should ease off by sunday. but as you can see, more isolated showers to come, and any additional rain is not going to be good news here. looking at your temperatures in asia, we've got 18 degrees in

hong kong today, 6 in chongqing, 7 degrees in shanghai. tokyo coming in at 7 degrees. 1 in seoul, minus 1 up in beijing. let's head into the americas, then. pretty chilly. we've got freeze warnings in place throughout the night. more lake effect snow to come for places like minnesota, wisconsin. up to five centimeters of snow is anticipated. and then over towards the west you can see this very large storm system moving in. that's going to be bringing blizzard-like conditions to parts of western canada. also for the northern rockies across the u.s. as well. but elsewhere looking at significant rain. widespread rain that could lead to significant snow melt in the area. and africa th and of course that could trigger flooding as well. 26 degrees in los angeles. pretty mild here. 11 in seattle. and then 10 degrees in vancouver. now, heading further south into

south america, of course it is the rainy season here in brazil. we've been looking at lots of rain in place. some hefty showers up toward the north. but also down in the southeast in around rio de janeiro. dealing with record-breaking rainfall this week. and that has led to massive landslides and flooding. we continue to see some more showers in the area. rain throughout your friday. that rain becoming more scattered throughout the next few days. but that could certainly worsen the situation. you can see homes being damaged and also a car being pushed into debris and mud here. it's a very serious situation altogether, and it has claimed over 300 lives so far. any additional rain for here is not good news either. all right. that's all from me just now. and here is your extended forecast. ♪

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♪ once again, the headlines this hour. a look at japan's cabinet reshuffle. prime minister naoto kan has vowed to form what he calls the most powerful line-up ever in order to carry out reforms in a divided parliament. all the ministers have stepped down in preparation. former finance minister kaoru yosano is expected to join the new cabinet while it looks like both the chief cabinet secretary and transport minister will lose their posts. kan accepted the resignations of all his ministers at a cabinet meeting on friday morning. the prime minister has unofficially decided to remove chief cabinet secretary and justice minister yoshito sengoku. the democratic party's deputy secretary-general yukio edano will succeed him as chief cabinet secretary. the opposition-controlled upper

house censured both sengoku and transport minister sumio mabuchi in late november for their handling of the september 7th collision between a chinese trawl your and a japanese patrol boat. opposition parties had threatened to boycott debate in the coming ordinary session unless both ministers resigned. former finance minister yosano will succeed banri kaieda as economic and fiscal policy minister. he'll oversee the prime minister's priority policy of reforming the social security and tax system. yosano, who left a small opposition party on thursday, advocates increasing the consumption tax and fiscal reconstruction. kaieda is to succeed akihiro ohata as economy and trade minister. ohata will become transport minister. with regard to other key posts, seiji maehara, yoshihiko noda, defense minister toshimi kitazawa, and national policy minister koichiro gemba will retain their jobs. by replacing sengoku and mabuchi the prime minister appears to

have cleared the way for a diet debate on the government's fiscal 2011 budget plan. but it remains to be seen whether budget-related bills can pass the opposition-controlled upper house. japan and the united states have begun working-level talks on a transpacific partnership, or tpp, a regional free trade agreement. at two days of talks in washington from thursday japan is expected to tell the u.s. that it will reach a decision on whether or not it will join the tpp by june. the u.s. is expected to say it will welcome japan's participation and explain negotiations already under way among nine countries, including australia and singapore. the talks are likely to cover agricultural issues. japanese farmers oppose the liberalization of rice imports. and the country has been restricting u.s. beef imports. japanese and u.s. officials also met at the u.s. energy department to discuss rare earth minerals. these are the first japan-u.s.

working-level talks on the diversification of such resources. china says it will allow some of its companies to make direct overseas investments in yuan. the chinese government apparently aims to promote the internationalization of its currency. the people's bank of china made the announcement on thursday night. according to the central bank, the new rules will take effect from this month. china began lifting its ban on the use of yuan overseas in 2009, when it allowed some companies to settle trade accounts in the currency. the new decision will allow chinese firms to buy companies, acquire stocks, and expand businesses abroad in yuan. china has continued to intervene in money markets to sell yuan and buy dollars in order to increase exports while cushing the yuan's exchange rate. critics say the interventions have triggered inflation and a steep rise in real estate prices. we'll be back with more news in 30 minutes. i'm gene otani.