standing strong. >> the work of protecting you are nation is never done. >> u.s. president obama reworks his national security team as he addresses challenges in a number of theaters. president barack obama has drawn on some veteran names to take care of defense and security. he nominated chuck hagel and his counter terrorism advisor as the director of the central intelligence agency.

obama brought both men by his side in making the announcement. >> as president and commander in chief my most solemn obligation is the security of the american people to help meet the challenges of our time i'm proud to announce my choice for two key members of my national security team. >> obama nominated hagel to replace leon panetta. both men will have to go through senate confirmation hearings. hagel could be in for tough questions. lawmakers are looking into statements he made about iran.

leaders in congress need to agree on comprehensive measures to reduce the u.s. debt by the end of february. if they don't the pentagon's budget will be cut by $45 billion. that's 9 prz. secretary of defense robert hail said what's even worse is the automatic cuts would continue over a decade. >> we are working toward rebalancing toward asia pacific presence there. we will pay attention to long-term press in the asian area, including china. >> senior u.s. officials do not usually use such language when referring to china. japan's prime minister shinzo abe is preparing to offset growing chinese strength in the asia pacific region. he's planning policies to expand china's defense capabilities. other plans to scrap defense guidelines endorsed by the former government in 2010. ministry officials have constructed a budget fiscal plan for 2013. they are looking for rise of about 100 billion yen or about $1.1 billion.

leaders expected to use part of the funds to increase surveillance around the songuku islands in the east china sea. chinese government ships have repeatedly entered japanese waters since japan's government bought the islands from a private owner last september. abe's cabinet members will consider increasing the number of personnel in the south defense forces. the pentagon announced a $1.2 billion deal to sell spy planes to seoul. an editorial in the newspaper criticized the plan to sell four unmanned global hawks. the drones can fly nonstop for more than 24 hours. they can identify objects the size of a golf ball from an altitude of 20,000 meters. the editorial says the u.s. is

advancing a reckless and hostile policy. it says north korea attends to stand up to the aggression. the u.s. agreed to deploy more powerful missiles in south ko a korea. nato personnel are rolling out more hardware to deal with the possible fall out from the civil war in syria. missiles are rumbling toward turkey to strengthen air defenses. the trucks carrying the equipment left monday from a base in the netherlands. dutch, american and german officials agreed last month to send six air defense batteries to turkey to protect their nato ally. >> we have seen the use of missiles within syria several times against the civil population, and these missiles, they do have a reach of hundreds

of kilometers, so they can reach 30 cities. and turkey is very concerned about that. >> the convoy is scheduled to arrive in the turkish town of adona in the next month. they are 30 kilometres above the syrian border. this is the first time they have brought missiles into turkey. we've been starting off the new year finding out about people in japan who are considered front runners in their fields. numiko saya is the focus of our next story. she spent years working on peace in conquer zones, the middle east, africa. she says stopping people from fighting is just the beginning of a long process. she spoke with nhk world's rita nakano. >> reporter: in a place where the line between life and death is often blurred, numika saya found her calling. >> i need to do something for that.

>> reporter: and do something she has. in her career, she's worked to disarm soldiers in africa and the middle east, helped to dissolve ethnic tensions in the balkans and worked on demining projects in asia, all in hopes of achieving some sort of peace. >> 50 or 60 years ago, the war was mainly between the states, but after late 1980s, it became inside the states. and what's happening right now is the expansion of terrorism. it's completely changing the dynamics of the conflict. >> seya has adapted to that change through her work, with the japan center for conflict prevention. she doesn't just mediate talks between states, it focuses on smaller groups or individuals that remain threatened. seya's mission began with the goal of disarming former child

soldiers, but she realized that simply taking away weapons was just the beginning. >> finding the piece of code itself did not provide any peace. we would like to change the local population from the victim or the assault to the positive asian to change the society. >> reporter: the jc cp now >> reporter: the jc cp now handles post-war rebuilding in east africa. this includes increasing security, vocational training, psychological counseling and ethnic reconciliation. how do you bring peace to two parties who were taught to hate each other for generations and generations?

>> in kenya, we started an agricultural project by inviting people from different sectors. that became a place whereby these former conflicting parties could be united and to communicate with each other. >> seya never thought destiny would take her to the world's conflict zones. but it was this photo of the rwandan genocide that changed her life at 17. >> if i was taking this photo, i would have to give whatever food i had to them, but ultimately it is not the solution, so what could we do? i did not have the answer. >> reporter: so she began searching, and for 15 years she hasn't stopped. she's devoted herself to peace through many organizations, including the jccp. the group has completed dozens of missions. but seya says there are limits to the success. >> i was in somalia training the local youth for them to be able to assess the risks in their

community for certain projects. during that exercise, there was a somalian lady who showed death. i felt that even if we managed to create something positive in the community, there are some situations we cannot really save everything. >> reporter: yet she carries on, knowing each project brings a glimmer of hope. when do you know when to pass it on? >> actually, when people tell us that they don't need us anymore. >> reporter: but in all seriousness, she says that is her ultimate goal. >> when we started this project, there were some parents or schoolteachers who are against it because they were the actual victim of the war. they didn't trust any groups yet. but as the age of the children start changing, they also started changing, the adults started changing, and the schoolteachers started

presenting these projects to other areas affected by the conflict. so when we saw that, we came to think that, you know, our job here is done. >> reporter: a small sign of success in regions where any success is a big step forward. rina nakana, nhk world, tokyo. japan's new government has been in place for just about two weeks, but the people who lead it are wasting no time giving the country a financial makeover. ai joins us with more from the business news. ai, what are they up to? >> catherine, they are re-evaluating the budget implemented by the old government. they are also adding new projects all in the name of stimulating the economy. japanese prime minister shinzo abe and his governor will soon make an outline of emergency measures to help the nation's sluggish economy. they are in charge of economic policies. the cabinet minister is in charge of directing of economic

policies. they will discuss the outline in its first meeting on tuesday and compile a supplementry budget for the current fiscal year. government officials plan to review the budget for the current fiscal year for march which was compiled by the previous administration. they'll consider issuing bonds to secure more funds. the outline will call for a framework to improve cooperation between the government and the central bank. it also includes infrastructure projects for disaster recovery and prevention, such as renovating aging roads and making school buildings earthquake proof. britain's prime minister has held a review. he will now focus on economic recovery and support for the socially disadvantaged. his announcement comes as belt tightening measures undermine his approval rating.

>> we need to rebalance and rebuild our economy. the challenges are great and there are still a long way to go. we're on the right track and we're making progress. c >> he added he would promote construction of a new rapid transportation system. in the latest survey the approval rating fell to 25% let's get a check on stocks. u.s. markets fell on some consolidation moves ahead of key earnings reports. the dollar is trading lower against the yen as some inves r

investors opt for dollar taking. market players say many dealers remain willing to sell the yen on hopes japan central bank will take additional easing steps. the euro is trading higher against the yen. let's take a look at other markets in the asia pacific. the kospi is trading lower and in australia the benchmark index is trading higher at 4,724. chinese drivers are steering clear of new cars. directors reported a 5.3% drop over the previous year with less than 1.2 million units sold.

toyota registered their first declining sell since entering china ten years ago. sales at honda shrank too. mazda's dropped by 12.9%. the japanese government nationalized the senkaku islands in the east china sea. china and taiwan claimed the islands and it pushed consumers to boycott products. here is a recap of markets.

five men appeared in in a new delhi court monday. the men have been charged with raping a 23-year-old woman on a bus. they threw her from the vehicle. she died two weeks later in the hospital. the men heard the charges without defense lawyers present. many lawyers are avoiding the case because of the scale of public outrage at the crime. the trial is expected to be closed to public and media. protesters have been demanding harsh punishment for the accused. people in china have taken to the streets and to the internet to speak out about what they consider a classic case of sensorship. the supporting journalists at a

newspaper in the south who accused communist party officials for forcing them to change one of their editorials. >> reporter: these demonstrators in guangzhou want the government to stop ordering the media. more than 300 gathered at the headquarters of the newspaper. they said freedom of speech has been buried. and they laid down chrysanthemums to back up their accusation. the flower is traditionally handed out at funerals in china. >> translator: it's a violation of our rights. i can't stand it. we're at the boiling point. >> reporter: things have been heating up for several days.

plants have run a new year's message, calling for greater democracy and more freedom of speech. but the journalists say local authority has ordered major edits. once chinese citizens found out, they wrote message after message to show their opposition to the censorship and support for the journalists. most of their reports have been deleted. china's citizens want freedom of speech and freedom of press. but communist party officials sometimes order the media to stay away from stories that put the party or the government in a unfavorable light. staff at a newspaper affiliated with the party took the rare step of running an editorial monday calling on journalists and the protestors to calm down. but some chinese aren't listening. they feel that censors went too

far. about a dozen gathered in beijing to show solidarity with the reporters. back in the city, more than 30 police officers arrived to keep the demonstrators away from the newspapers. they removed the flowers away from the protestors. >> translator: if we do not stand for this newspaper now, we won't get support next time. >> reporter: a new group of leaders took control of china's communist party last fall. the demonstrators and members of the media are finding out some of the old ways are still in practice. nhk world, beijing.

social workers offer vital support to the survivors of the 2011 earthquake. it's a tough job and some say they need help themselves. >> reporter: every morning social worker visits all the units of this temporary housing unit. she is checking on the residents health. she has been doing this job since september last year. during the day she works out of housing unit's meeting area. she tells the local officials what they want and need. she's a disaster survivor

herself applied for the job hoping to help others. >> translator: i feel i couldn't stand by and do nothing. i wanted to be useful. >> reporter: now she feels that's harder to do. she feels stressed out and it shows. this office oversees 100 social workers. about 10% of them complain of health problems. it's a reaction to the malaise fed up with living in temporary housing, some residents take it out on the staff. >> translator: our workers listen to the occupants about housing problems and personal issues. some staff can solve problems on their own but others take them to heart and get stressed out. >> reporter: she struggled to

deal with bad feelings between residents. some complained their next door neighbors were noisy. others asked her to make children play quietly. she couldn't pass these complaints up the line and didn't know what to do. >> translator: when i drop in on some residents they say it's not necessary or tell me to shut up. the whole point of my visit is to confirm that they are okay. when i'm told this isn't necessary, i asked myself what's the point of this job. >> reporter: she had no one to turn to with her problems so she started a diary to write down what bothered her. she had become burnt out. >> translator: what i want most is someone who can listen closely to what i have to say.

i believe other social workers also face a lot of problems and want to share them with someone, but who can we talk to? >> reporter: if the system is to work the way it's supposed to authorities will have to move quickly to support their social workers. thousands of people waiting to go home. vast tracks of land waiting to be restored. overcoming the disaster won't be easy but step by step people are moving forward. find out how on the road ahead every wednesday at 1:00 p.m. japan time right here on newsline. firefighters in australia are working through a record heat wave as they try to put out

a record number of wildfires. >> the fires broke out on thursday. no deaths have been reported due to this fire. 250 buildings and houses were completely destroyed and also 20,000 pictures have been raised. we still have this catastrophic level alert. this means do not wait a wait a what happens. it means just leave early. whether wise we have this cold front that's just going to be swinging across the region which means that ahead of this system things are going to be really warm or hot and also the humidity level which is critical for fire danger is very low.

just about 22% in and around sydney and as this cold front passes already bringing sustained winds of 40 kilometers this hour. as this cold front passes it's going to be stronger gusts and the heat for your tuesday high, sydney 43. going to be another record breaking temperature for this time of the year. all these combined are going to be great recipe for fire danger. we'll keep a close eye on this. out across the asian continent, things are frigid and cold across much of the northern half. let's look at a video coming out from south korea. they have been contending with bitter cold since the end of last year. temperatures have been hovering around minus 20 degrees in the mountainous area. in the north of the country people and animals are suffering from lack of drinkable water as

rivers and water pipes have frozen. let o let's pull back and show you the temperatures. you're looking at shanghai at 6 degrees. that's going to be dipping down. tokyo in the double digits at 11:00. moving over to the american continent now. pretty rough across the west. out toward the gulf state this is where severe weather will rerur erupt. we're talking about tornadic activity. also damaging winds and hail are a possibility as well.

temperature wise things are pretty warm for this time of the year especially oklahoma city at 13 degrees. chicago at 5. that's well above your average. even washington, d.c. looking at some double digits here. now here is your extended forecast.

. that's all for this edition of "newsline." thanks for joining us.