nhk news world li"newsline." japan and india agreed to strength tlen economic and defense tiees. this came after a meeting on wednesday between japanese prime minister and indian prime minister in new delhi. noda told sin that they will provide a loan worth $4.5 billion. they will be building a railway line linking new delhi and museum buy.

noda and sin agreed to create a new framework for surn can i swaps to help pro vent europe's credit crisis from invading into asia. the u.s. military has warned iran, that blocking a strategic waterway will not be tolerated. teheran threatened to block the strait at the mouth of the persian gulf. the u.s. navy fifth fleet based in bahrain warned in a statement that it is always ready to counter ma lef lant actions. iranian vice president said not a single drop of oil would flow from strait if the west imposes sanctions over iran's nuclear program.

the narrow passage in the persian gulf is major sea lane for tankers carrying oil from the middle east. the west is increasing pressure on iran urging stopping development. they call for a ban on trading with iran. the european union is studying tougher sanctions including oil embargo. oil prices fell on wednesday in london and new york. a saudi oil ministry official told the associated press that saudi arabia and other gulf producers are ready to provide more oil if necessary. people in north korea didn't hold back on wednesday. they kept openly for their late leader ant country's state-run media captured it all on video. the funeral procession went on

for three hours in the capitol pyongyang despite the snow and freezing cold. in some kay ways the ceremony mirrored the late leader's life, full of ceremony and secrets. korean central television began broadcasting what appeared to be recorded footage of the funeral on wednesday afternoon local time. the special program willing lasted for three hours. military officers and others gathered for the ceremony in a snow-covered square in front of the me moral palace. a vehicle bearing a huge portrait of the late leader arrived. another car carried a wreath with the name of his son, kim jong-un. a herz carrying kim's coffin adorned with the communist party

flag. kim jong-un walked alongside the vehicle. they proceeded slowly down pyongyang's main avenue. crowds of mourners lined the street despite the cold weather. when the procession returned, soldiers gave a 21-gun salute, a traditional part after military funeral. kim jong-il's body is now back inside the memorial palace. that's where his father, kim il-sung, is also laid to rest. government security services in japan are reviewing the way they do their jobs. the defense ministry and other agencies didn't learn about the death of kim jong-il until north korea made the official announcement. the forth state run radio gave advance notice of a special rod brod cast on december 19. defense ministry officials ran through several scenarios.

but they failed to clarify that kim died. the national police agency and the public security intelligence agency couldn't confirm either. south korea's national intelligence service denied that kim had died. then that view spread through other agencies. head of the cabinet intelligence and research office when kim il-sung died. >> i must say the government seems to not have any long-term outlook right now. japan needs to do studies on the northeast asia situation. with more forsight. >> he said japan's intelligence services need more money and personnel to do their jobs properly. the families of japanese people abducted by north korea want the government to take advantage of the change of leadership. they want the government to get their relatives back.

the relatives and supporters held a rally in tokyo as north koreans attended kim's funeral. representing the families, he says that the government should act now instead of just watching the situation. >> translator: this is a time of great change and should be taken as an opportunity. >> his daughter was abducted in 1977 at age of 13. >> translator: i believe that japan needs to identify the stance of north korea under its new leader. only then will the government be able to restart negotiations, which might create an opening to resolve the problem. >> his wife said japan should tell north korea to ensure the abducties safety. there is express optimism about the change in leadership.

others were more pessimistic about how it might affect their relatives. falling to the 100 yen level in wednesday, the lowest in 10 1/2 years. selling pressure on the euro increased on wednesday afternoon, on deepening concerns over european credit worries. the currency slumped to the 100.70 yen range at one point for the first time since june 200137. the euro plunged to the lower 1.29 dollar level for the first time in 11 months. on european bond market, yields on the italian government ten-year bonds climbed over 7% which will make it very difficult for the country to carry out fiscal reconstruction on its own. market sources say the euro

dropped shafrp sharply partly because of speculative moves. they say investors are nervous, ahead of italy's auction of its long-term bonds on thursday. this year europe sank under a quagmire over its sovereign debt. burgeoning governing debt is also a reality for japan. the outstanding balance of japanese government bonds orjgb as japan's gross domestic product. the country's fiscal standing is the worst among developing nations. the figures are concerning. but one expert sees significance differences between japan and europe. our reporter spoke with university of tokyo professor ito. >> the difference between japan and greece is two-fold. one is that most of the debts

held by japanese residents so that there is little room for panic. and second, that the -- there is a room for consumption tax increase, valued a tax increase. and greece, it is 23% and it is very hard to raise that beyond 25%. japan, it is only 5% value added tax. so there is 20% room it raise the max value added tax. if japan, japanese government, can raise the value added tax rate to say, 25%, immediately, all of the fiscal 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 jgb holding and that would be a real serious situation. >> what concrete measures 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 expand tour does it cut? very little. i think it's now that their turn to, you know, look at increasing taxes. and the least distortionary tax is the value add tax, which is called 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 jgb market from collapsing. >> greece and italy could not ignore market sentiment, informing their new governments. so do you think japanese politics will be more sensitive to the market? >> i hope so, but the -- 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 the bud tl duction then the government will force action and that would be really difficult decisions to that they have to do and time will be very limited. so i hope that government and the people wake up and take actions now.

>> that was professor ito from university of tokyo. a chinese state run firm has become the first foreign company to sign a contract to develop oil deposits in afghanistan. the deal between the china and national petroleum corporation and afghan government was signed in kabul on wednesday. the company will develop an oil field in the northern province with estimated deposits of 80 million barrels. it will pay user fees and part of the profits from sale to the afghan government. the contract also calls for a cmpc to build infrastructure such as roads in the area. >> translator: the chinese company will build schools, hospitals and other facilities to help with the development of the region. cnpc is the second chinese firm

to sign a contract to exploit afghanistan's natural resources following a company that has invested in a copper mine. the development of its rich natural resource says seen as a key it afghanistan's self reliance. china and india are competing for contracts in afghanistan while developed nations are holding back due to the country's poor security. a the top of the chinese government's priority list for this year was price stabilization. inflation pressure eased after a round of monetary tightening but economic growth also started slowing down. our reporter jamie ung looks back at what happened with chinese economy this year with economist in hong kong. >> very nice meeting you. thank you for coming over. >> thank you for having me. >> thank pup. >> could you give us a brief

evaluation of the chinese can economy in 22011. what kind of year that has been for the economy? >> it has been a demanding year. the government is actively -- in the first half of this year, they tighten a lot the ratio many, many times and hike interest rates and the impact wasn't obvious. then in the second half year seems all impact finally came through and now the economy is slowing very fast. >> m the latter half of the year, expert growth declined due to credit problems in europe which is china's largest trade partner. concerns over economic slow down are spreading rapidly do you doo you to the drop that have been the driving force behind high economic growth.

>> the latest trade number just published showed that the export growth slowed quite a lot to only 13% or so. it is a long way from the more than 30% yearly growth in the beginning of the year. it is very claeling for the chinese economy, can see for example, the export to italy has contracted by 23%. and given all of the fiscal austerity that is going to happen in 2012, in the euro area, thing can only get worse from here. >> how do you think the chinese economy will do next year? >> the first half will be difficult. expert sector is one thing and economy mark set another thing. so the two big engine of the economy will probably stall for a while bp but at the same time,

we don't think china will have a hard landing next year. so for 2012, our forecast is still above 8%, slightly above 8%. it is going to pick up a little bit in the second half. because of, you know, the fiscal support to the consumption and also because there is going to be a political transition in the second half. i think the government will have extra incentive to ensure stable gdp gross. >> that was economy wei gi at associate general in with hong kong. today we go behind the story of plan to relocate an american military base in okinawa. the leaders of japan and the u.s. support the move. but many locals are against it.

one reason, people in okinawa have been hosting american troops since the end of world war ii. but troops haven't always been the best of neighbors. now, a group is acting out an old story to give everyone a fresh perspective. nhk has more. >> [ airplane noises ]. >> performers make last-minute adjustments. their play becomes a real life drama. june 30th, 1959, a u.s. fighter jet crashes into a village on okinawa. it skids into an elementary school killing 11 children. six people who live nearby die. more than 200 others are hurt.

working with the play group, she remembers that day. >> that year was after -- for years after world war ii, in okinawa people were so poor but they add hope with their children. but suddenly they lost their lives. >> the play also deals with the impact u.s. forces have had on okinawa. they took over in 1945. then gave control back to japan 27 years later. but the bases stayed.

okinawa accounts for less than 1% of japan's total land area. but about 70% all u.s. military facilities in the country are concentrated here. some bases are surrounded by densely populated urban areas. the air station is one of them. in 2004, a helicopter crashed into a university. no one died. but the accident showed okinawa there was still risk, after the elementary school crash. other play group members feel it is important to tell the story of june 30, 1959. she and myuki script songs on the lives of people who lost loved ones.

>> her son died that day. >> he was so burned. only the string of his pants and a part of his socks were white. the rest was all burned. >> i will tell many people what you told me. >> translator: we parents never forget, even if we try to. i really appreciate that young people like you try hard it tell others about my son. >> in november, the play group took their show to tokyo for the first time.

>> singing about parents who lost their children, the message hit home. sn. >> translator: i feel close to the issue now. we better think about the okinawa issue seriously. >> translator: i think many people are still suffering. that makes me wonder, who benefits from the u.s. military bases. >> translator: there weresome students. i'll be happy if one or two realize the reason we came from okinawa and understand that life is precious. >> the members of the play group believe it is their responsibility to inform people about the reality of life in okinawa. they want to make sure the

tragedy of 1959 is never forgotten nor repeated. >> well, i had to bundle up to get to work this morning, and it seems chilly conditions here in tokyo. here is the latest on the weather around the globe. >> hi there, time to get you updated on the world weather events. well start in india. we swr there see veer storm heading towards the eastern coast of india. at the moment it is stationary. not really moving but it is expected to pick up the pace and make a land fall. it will be friday morning local time in the northern part of the region. now winds are at about 120, 130 kilometers narrow. that sustained winds, gusts are

stronger than that as well. this is likely to be a very destructive storm. it is moving into an area very well populated. that is definitely affect bid there storm. and also, the rain, anywhere up to about 250 millimeters in isolated areas. the storm will start to weaken off once it makes land fall. not by much initially but once it starts it move over the land, it will start it break up but i think this is going to be a lot of damage to come in terms of the wind and rain before that happens. we will keep you update pepd let's move on to eastern asia here. very dry across much of mongolia and china. we will see a few showers south of china here. scattered thunder storms for the philippines here. it is going to be a bit heavier towards the north today and that will move down in toward the south for the weekend. now, japan has been seeing that snow piling up in the west coast for the last several weeks. we actually have a storm moving through now. so it is really going to be intensifying, leafy snow accompanied by thunderstorms.

and that will be some rough seas for you. especially the western coast there, high waves as well and blowing snow from thursday into saturday. all right, let's look at temperatures now. tokyo, 11 degrees. o we are just into double digits in shanghai. and then low 30s for ma minila well as bangkok. storms on the northern tier of the continent here. nothing much towards the south but we have a couple of very potent storms. one on the pacific northwest here. this is bringing plomountain sn. and rain towards the coast, now parts of southern bc, can you see about 50 millimeters of rain. that is certainly enough to cause flooding problems and there are warnings issued. southern albertoalberta, and gu

to a hundred miles an hour. this is snow rather than rain and there are winter storm watches into effect for places in the reej rio de janeirogion. canada has another storm. this bringing snow into quebec and nova scotia. there will be gusts up to about 130 kilometers an hour. things are going to be considerably warmer though down toward the south. we have 18 degrees in oklahoma city. 19 in houston. 24 in l.a. and not a bad day in denver either at 11 degrees. for europe, while the windy and wet conditions will continue across the northern tier as well. scotland back into scandinavia, starting to get rid of one system. but another one coming in to the atlantic. northern france and into the countries in germfully, that is turning into snow for upper

elevations. then lingering situation here which could bring heavy rain into sicily. here are your temperatures. just a little bit warmer here. 13 in athens. 14 in rome and just 9 in paris. here is your extended forecast. here is a recap of the top

story. japan and india agreed to strengthen economic and defense ties. this came after a meeting on wednesday between japanese prime minister and indian prime minister. in new delhi. noda told sin that japan will provide a loan worth $4.5 billion. india intends to build a 1,500 kilometer railway line linking new delhi and museum buy. noda and sin agreed to create a framework for currency swaps to help prevent europe's kre credit crisis from attracting asia's economics. they will also speed up productivity in the south asia sea. from all of us at nhk world, thanks for joining us.