north korean's bid farewell to their leader. north koreans are lining the streets of pyongyang for the funeral of kim jong-il. they are honoring their long time leader, the way many things are done there, under a cloak of secrecy. they say they are using the event to legitimize the trance per of power. thor e the ceremony likely is similar to kim il-sung who died

in 1949. north korean state broadcasters are giving. his father's body lies in state at memorial palace. korean central television said that kim visited for the fifth time. when kim jong-un's father died, he was said to visit his father's body twice before the funeral. the country will observe a moment of silence on the final day of mourning period set by the leadership. south cree yeah a intelligence agency says kim jong-un will become the country's supreme military commander. military chief announced the news at parliament committee. one referred to saturday's addition of the newspaper of north korea's ruling workers party. the paper used the title of supreme commander of the armed

forces. the intelligence chief says this suggests that kim jong-un will follow directions left by his father and lead a military revolution. once said the title leader was for kim jong-un immediately after the death of his father. he said this suggests kim is making an effort to speed up the transition of power. the title of supreme commander wasn't bestowed own kim jong-il until six months after the death of his father, kim il-sung. one pinted to kim jong-un's visit saturday to the palace where his father's body is lying this state. the young leader was accompanied by senior officers from the central military kpligs, national defense commission and korean people's army. kim jong-un wanted to show that he gained control over party and the military, it is said. kim jong-un stepped into the rule of statesman after a delegation paid respects. instructing senior officials to

provide tlem with warm hospitality. the widow of former president head et the delegation populater briefing south korean lawmakers on the visit. she said kim told officials to provide letter group with the same level of hospitality that she and her husband received when they visited in 2000. they were there for the first interkorean summit. she says she was given the same room in the state guest house where the couple stayed 11 years ago. she added that nor korean officials called the young kim comrade general. kim yang nam called him the respected supreme leader of the ruling party and the state. political analyst say the regime wants to demonstrate that kim is exercising his leadership. the esdest son of the late north korean leader kim jong-il is not expected to attend his father's funeral in pyongyang on

thursday. he wants it avoid giving the impression that he has ambitions to join the country's leadership. he had been seen as his father's likely successor but he reportedly fell out of favor ten years ago when he was caught trying to enter japan with a fake passport. he is now believed to be based in beijing. there have been no reports that kim jong nam flew out of china since his father's death last week. sources say it appears that kim jong nam hasn't returned him since his younger joerj made brother made an appearance as heir in 2009. the unemployment rates was released. ai from our business team joins me now. ai? >> yes wp a handful all for the month of november. let's start with the job market.

the unem ploim rate was unchanged from the previous month. the internal affairs ministry said the seasonally adjusted jobless rate stood at 4.5%. the number of unemployed was 2.8 million while people with jobs stood at 62.6 million. separately the labor ministry said a job availability in november rose from the previous month. there were 69 positions available for every 100 job seekers. the labor ministry says areas hit hit by the march disaster need construction workers for rebuilding. but the ministry says it aims it boost employment in fisheries and other local industries as many job seekers are looking for such opportunity. is let's turn to the prices. the consumer price index for november was released. the index excludeing volatile fresh foods was down 0.2% from a year earlier, that's the second

consecutive fall. items including televisions and refrigerators pushed the index down but increased prices for electricity and gasoline helped to prop up the index. the ministry says while prices are relatively flat at the moment, their outlook depends on trends in the price of energy such as electricity and gasoline. household spending fell for the ninth straight month in november. internal affairs ministry says households of two or more people spend an average of about $3500. that's down 3.2% year on year in real terms. consumers cut back on electricity in particular as they coped with power shortages caused by the nuclear accident in fukushima. share prices are little change this wednesday morning as the market lack new incentives pb the nikkei is currently 8,438. that's down just two points. you can see the to p pix trading

a little bit lower. both index is basically flat. investors remain cautious about the u.s. economic outlook despite the country's better than consumer confidence data overnight. many foreign investors sit on the side lines. on the tokyo foreign exchange, the dollar is almost unchanged against the yen this wednesday morning. the euro now at 101.69 to 74 yen. the italian bond auctions are scheduled for wednesday and thursday. it will increase downward pressure on the euro. here is a look at long-term interest rates. ten-year is bond up almost one basis point. china plans to maintain rare earth export quotas in 2012 but actual shipments may fall short

as the government will enforce environmental standards on producers. china provides more than 90% of the world's rare earth metals which are vital for making high-tech devices. china's commerce ministry says it'll combine a quota of 25,000 tons to 31 domestic firms during the first half of the year. the ministry said the amount will account for 80% of quotas for the whole of 2012. that would put the annual limit at slightly above 30,000 tons. that is about the same level as this year. but the ministryaid 20 of the firms have not passed screening to verify their production process meets environmental standards. if the companies fail it meet their requirements, china's total rare earth exports could plungell this year, europe was gridlocked over its sovereign debt but governing debt is also a reality for japan.

the outstanding balance sf now about twice as big as japan's gross domestic product. the country's fiscal standing is the worst among develops nationed. the figures are concerning. but one expert sees significant differences between japan and europe. our reporter spoke with university of tokyo professor about it. >> difference between japan and greece is that is two-fold. one is that most of the debts are held by japanese residents. so that there is little room for panic. and second that there is a room for consumption tax increase. and greece is already 23% and it is very hard to raise the bat

beyond 25%. japan is only 5% value added tax so there is 20% room to raise to the sort of max of value added tax. if japan government can raise the value added tax rate to say 25% immediately the deficit would be wiped out. if nothing is done between now and five years, i'm sure that debt burden will become really unsustainable and even the japanese may start fleeing the jjb holding and that would be a real serious situation. >> what concrete majors do you think japan should take to prevent a sovereign debt crisis? >> only two things they can do. one is to cut the expenditure.

the other one is to raise revenues. and cutting expenditures, they tried in the last two years. the mandate of this current government is to cut expenditures before increasing taxes. but how much expenditure does it cut? very little. i think it is now that their turn to, you know, look at increasing taxes. and the least distortion tax is the tax calls consumption tax in japan. so raising consumption tax would be the only solution i can think of to minimize the damage to the rest of the economy and to raise enough revenues to save the jjb market from the collapse. >> could not ignore sentiment informing their new governments, so do you think japanese parties will be more sensitive to the market? >> i hope so, but you know,

history shows that government doesn't get really serious unless, you know, market pushes the government to do. so i'm afraid that if reduction is taken, the market will be pushing the government to take actions and that would be really difficult he is sigss they have to do and time will be very limit pepd so i hope that government and people wake up and take actions now. >> that was professor ito from university of tokyo. time to get you a recap of some market figures.

that is the latest in business. back to catherine. >> thanks very much, ai. protesters try to block it but japan's defense ministry manage hand deliver a key report on the planned location after u.s. base in o okinawa prefecture. the bureau arrived in the office in five vehicles shortly after 5 a.m. on wednesday. carrying more than 16 boxes into the security guard's room. one of the officials told reporters that the boxes contained the environmental assessment report on the plan to relocate the u.s. marine corps air station. the ministry intended to send it by parcel service on tuesday but

labor union members surrounded the vehicle to prevent it from entering the okinawa government office. during the 4 a.m. delivery a representative of a peace group confronted the defense ministry officials. among them was the new chief of the ministry's okinawa bureau. the report is expected to mark a step forward in the plan to move the air station from a densely populated district to a coastal area. the japanese and u.s. governments have agreed on the relocation. but the governor of okinawa and many local residents are calling for the base to be moved out of their prefecture. we receive an analysis of the government report. >> the report is part of process to determine the impact of the u.s. stem air station relocation. it is supposed to move things along. but it may not do the job. is the japanese government is

now planning it file a request with okinawa's governor but that is likely to inflame local opposition to the government plans. they know that administration order the environmental assessment before the prime minister met president obama in november. to show that it is making some sort of progress. the relocation deal was signed in 2006. the years of delay have irritated the u.s. government. it's believed that u.s. president barack obama wants to see as many obstacles removed as possible before next year's presidential election. the stalemate has stalled the restructuring of whole u.s. military forces in asia. because you know, moving the base is an essential part of washington's overall plan. that includes moving about 8,000 marines from okinawa it guam. the territory is set to become a

crucial regional hub for the american military. japan also needs u.s. help to counter chinese military growing influence in asia. china has taken an increasingly bold stance on territorial issues in japan's waters. on top of all this wbt japanese government does not want north korea's new leader to take advantage of the situations. rapid economic growth has brought many benefits to china but there are some negative side effects as well. the rising population and cultivation of land have caused vast areas of the country to change to desert. nhk report. >> the city has a population of 180,000. its history dates back more than 2,000 years to the japan

dynasty. it was a well known cross road connecting east and west. the tourist trade is booming. 2 million people visiting this year. but they're threatened by the encoaching desert. i'm standing on the eastern edge of the desert. less than five kilometers of south central japan. on the other side of this dune is crescent lake. the natural spring has served as precious source of water for travellers since ancient times. it has also been a big tourist draw since the 1980s. buthe lake new faces serious threat of drying out. >> translator: if crescent lake drys up, we will lose our income and be in serious trouble. >> the lake used to have a total

area of 15,000 square meters. it was nine meters deep. past documents show that the lake's water once came up as mias the bottom of this willow tree. but sands carried by desert winds caused the lake to shrink by roughly half. officials in japan have been stepping up their effort to prevent it from dry willing out completely. the head of the city agency for protecting the lake. his group checks ground water levels at ten point around the lake each day. they also measure the shape of the dunes to check how much sand is slipping into the lake. >> we are very concerned it might disappear entirely in the next few years unless we take

action. even though it is minus 15 degrees celsius, we are will it make efforts to protect the lake. >> the lake accelerated in the 1970s because of deforestation and planting of ground water for local use. >> translator: we have been planting popular trees to prevent sands from flying over the city. >> the city has invested over $11 million since 1997 in efforts to save crescent lake. fruit trees with high water retention capacity has been planted to firm up the soil. work has also been under way it pump water back into the lake. in this facility, constructed by the city, water from a nearby river is plans cleansed of sand

and transported to the lake. >> translator: we're sure we can prevent the water level from decreasing further. >> water levels have remained steady for the past three years. officials will continue efforts to preserve the lake as a vital revours. resource. >> is a a cold and windy wednesday morning in tokyo. let's go to the global weather forecast. time now for your weather update. let's take a look at what is happening in the southern hemisphere. low pressure system which was once a tropical cyclone has brought in heavy rain and causing flooding situation in the northern territory. we have some footage coming out of this area.

tropical cyclone, a grant hit the northern territory over the weekend end the remnants have been soaking the area all week. roads are get willing cut off as river levels rise. some residents have been stranded due to floods. just outside of the town a freight train was swept into at river when crossing a bridge. it needs monitoring into the next few days. and in terms of the projected path, it's expected to move east ward and head out to sea on wednesday. then continues to move east ward aiming for quizland and winds are going to be picking up. and as i said, it could become a tropical cyclone again on thursday as it moves over relatively warmer ocean. so for those of you who are living in the northern area of queensland, you will certainly see wind increase over the next couple of days.

as for precipitation, already we are expecting -- we are 300 millimeters of rain have been recorded in the northern area but additional 200 millimeters are still expected on wednesday. and it looks like the bulk of the heavy rain will move east ward and affect the rain in this area. we will certainly keep you posted on its progress. now, moving on to east asia, a large high pressure system is in place bringing dry weather across most of clina and the korean peninsula. as for japan heavy rain is gradually moving into north western. down toward the south remaining wet again across luzon particularly under the area, on the east coast of this area. now temperature wise, we expecting 9 degrees in korea, 3 in seoul, and across the south 30 degrees in bangkok. now heading over to the european

countries, we can see completely different pictures between the north and south. why the southern areas are enjoying calmer weather than northern areas are still leading with very windy conditions. particularly windy in the northern uk. in scottland gusts could hit 160 kilometers per hour and in terms of precipitation and mix of rain and snow will move north ward over the scandinavian peninsula into the next 24 hours. temperatures wise we are expecting 10 degrees in london and 8 in paris. and not too bad in berlin, 10 degrees and 7 degrees. that's it for me now. >>

north koreans are believed to be line the streets of pyongyang for the funeral of kim jong-il. they are honoring their long time leader in the way many things are done there, under a cloak of secrecy. political analysts say the regime is using the event to legitimize the transfer of power. the regime has not revealed details but the ceremony likely resembled the one for the country's founder kim il-sung who died in 1994. a motorcade carry theory kim jong-il's coffin and another burying his photo. broadcasters are giving intense

coverage to jim jun as the new leader. korean central television said on tuesday that kim visited there for the fifth time. when the country's founder kim il-sung died in 1994, jim jill was reported to have visited his father's body twice before the funeral. another memorial service will be held in pyongyang on thursday. people across the country will observe a moment of silence on final day of the mourning period said by the leadership. a diplomatic source says the funeral is scheduled to start at 11 a.m. local time. south korea's intelligence agency says kim jong-un will become the country's supreme military commander. national intelligence service chief announced the news that a parliament committee. one referred to saturday's addition of the newspaper of north korea's ruling workers party.

the paper used the title of supreme commander of the armed the intelligence chief says this suggests that kim jong-un will follow the instructions left by his father and follow the path of military led revolution. the title leader had been used for kim jong-un immediately after the death of his father. he said this suggests kim is making an effort to speed up transition of power. the title of supreme commander wasn't bestowed on kim jong-il until six months after the death of his father, kim il-sung. kim jong-un visits the bad the building where his father's body is lying in state. the national defense commission and the korean people's farmee go with him. kim jong-un wanted to show he gained control over the party and the military. the funeral as we mentioned earlier is scheduled for start at 11 a.m. local time.

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