coming to you live from the studios in tokyo. here's a look at stories we are following this hour. leaders of china and india have signed an agreement that they hope will resolve the conflict over their shared border. a provocative front-page headline. >> and people in areas hit by

the march 2011 disaster in japan have published a magazine in english as a thank you to overseas volunteers who he clean up. >> leaders of china and india have patched up their differences and they've agreed to cooperate on defense. the indian prime minister singh and china's premiere signed the accord in beijing. we move forward in negotiationses to a fair, reasonable and mutually acceptable settlement to the india/china boundary question. >> translator: the china/india relationship is one of the most important and potentially fruitful relationships in the 21st century. >> in other talks singh said they would promote chinese

investment in india and agree to reduce india's deficit with china. china will build an industrial park in india. the border dispute has strained ties for more than half a century. earlier this year the military of the two asian giants had a three-week standoff around the frontier. philippine leaders concluded that china had nothing to do with the the recent discovery on uninhabited territory that both countries claimed. they discovered concrete blocks found on a shoal were part of a plan by authorities in beijing to strengthen their control of the area. >> the crew aboard a philippine naval area found several dozen blocks on the shoal. the rocky reef is 200 kilometers west of the philippine island of luzon. the philippines claims it. leaders in manila ordered coast guard officials to investigate the matter. the officials say they discovered algae on 50 blocks they checked. the philippine government

concluded u.s. forces probably placed the blocks there more than 30 years ago. military personnel used the area as a firing range in the 1970s and '80s. the scrapped ships they used as targets were tied to the blocks. president benigno aquino says the blocks are not new and that there's no reason for the citizens to worry about them. the editors of a newspaper in china are fighting back against a provocative front-page deadline. they are calling on authors to release one of their authorities who exposed illegal activities at a state-owned company. the new express newspaper is based in the southern province of guangdong. editors ran an article wednesday under a large headline that reads, please release him. police detained the reporter chen yongzhou last week on suspicion of damaging the reputation of a large company. chen wrote a series of articles on illegal accounting and other

dubious accounting at a construction firm. the editors say they take responsibility for their reporting. they are asking police to show evidence of any wrongdoing. representatives of the newspaper's parent company says media reporting is a social responsibility and must be protected by law. people have posted messages of support online. police arrested another new express reporter earlier this month. the journalist wrote an online piece that said senior government officials had engaged in serious misconduct. chinese government officials are rolling out emergency measures to deal with air pollution and asking the public to do what they can to make breathing easier. people downwind of the problem are keeping a close eye on the situation including those in neighboring japan. nhk world's tomoko kamata reports. >> reporter: a thick blanket

ever smoke cloaked the city for three straight days this week. visibility in some areas was less than 10 meters. local media reported that the level of pollution was too high for measuring equipment to read. the air quality in beijing is not much better. the chief concern is tiny air pollutants known as pm2.5. they're just 1/30th the width of a human hair, which means they can penetrate deep into the lungs. >> translator: we don't go out when the air looks highly polluted. i only take my son to the park on clear days. >> reporter: beijing officials on tuesday announced new countermeasures. from now on, air pollution warnings will include a forecast for how long the smog will linger. if the forecast predicts extreme conditions for three days or longer, officials will order a 50% reduction in vehicle traffic.

they will also shut down public schools and some factories. >> translator: we ask citizens not only to protect themselves, but to cooperate in protecting the environment by reducing pollutants. >> reporter: the weather is getting colder. coal emissions from heating systems are adding to pollution from cars and factories. officials say farmers burning fields after the autumn harvest is making a bad situation worse. winds will eventually clear the smog. but, that's just leaves people in neighboring japan breathing the same air. face masks are in high demand. a local manufacturer reports sales are up 1,000 times from previous years. company officials say the fine mesh in the filter blocks the tiny particles. they say they are boosting output to supply customers in both japan and china.

officials at japan's environment ministry are monitoring air pollution with this kind of machine. they have set up about 800 monitoring posts across the country, and they say the level of ph2.5 is below the government-set safety level since june. officials upload the collected data every hour on the environment ministry's website. people can check pollution levels in their areas and find out the precautions they can take to protect their health. researchers at the world health organization say breathing air pollutants increases the risk of lung cancer. working with the latest data, they estimate that in 2010, more than 230,000 people worldwide died from air pollution. in tokyo, the government's top spokesperson said officials are taking the problem seriously.

>> translator: the government will cooperate with local municipalities to closely watch and take countermeasures. >> reporter: the government says it is also offering to cooperate with chinese officials. with an offer to share its anti-pollution expertise. tomoko kamata, nhk world. nuclear regulators in japan are criticizing a recent report by the crippled fukushima daiichi plant. locals submitted the document last week outlining the the safety measures in place at their nuclear facilities. members of the nuclear regulation authority met in tokyo to discuss the report. it it details the measures pep co is taking to prevent radioactive water leak at

daiichi. one report expressed it as unconvincing and whether it could deal with other challenges that may arise in the future. another member said if there was no problem on the sea of japan coast as tepco says, the utility should axe sign more workers there from fukushima daiichi. tepco members said they could safely manage two reactors. they've applied for permission to restart the units. the chairman of the nuclear regulation authority says tepco should be questioned thoroughly. he plans to hold a meeting with the utility's president soon. officials at japan's science ministry have put forward a plan to radically reduce the activity of waste from nuclear plans. they told a panel of experts how they intend to slash how it remains dangerous from tens of thousands of years to hundreds of years. the experts backed the proposal.

the plan involves extracting long lasting radioactive substances from spent, nuclear fuel. the officials say by using neutrons created by particle accelerators, the dangers posed by the waste can be dramatically reduced. if the plan succeeds it will cut the required space by a hundredth of current estimates. the japanese government is currently planning to bury toxic waste and it can't settle on location because of community opposition over safety concerns. thousands of foreign volunteers travel to northeastern japan after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. many of them helped clear debris in the city offish no mackey in miyagi prefecture. now a team of local amateur journalists is trying to give something back to people overseas. nhk world's junio sumoto has the

story. >> reporter: he rans a gas company in ishinomaki. he's very busy these days with reconstruction effortses. he has another commitments, as well. he started an english magazine with two friends last year. >> they named it rolling press because they want to set people's minds in motion. they write about what's going on in their hometown. >> translator: we're trying to focus on locals who are working with a positive attitude. >> reporter: he had a good reason to start a magazine for people overseas. the march 11 tsunami destroyed his home and his business. he says the devastation made him

feel hopeless, but then many foreign volunteers arrived and offered help. i was amazed that so many of them came and worked so hard for it. i'm not sure i would have done the same thing in their situation. >> reporter: orikawa's team is working on an article about a japanese restaurant that was destroyed in the tsunami. many foreigners helped clear debris from the ruins. the restaurant was able to reopen this summer in time are for its 100th anniversary. >> the support of many volunteers made it possible for us to reopen. >> reporter: one of his goals is to tell the story of survivors who were helped by foreigners.

one of the volunteers was free mcwilliams. she helped clear the debris innish inon mackey. now that the cleanup is finished she is helping in another way by translating articles in "the rolling press" into english. >> i want to stay involved and it is also just a continuation, and over the two and a half years i've grown an affinity toward ishinomaki and it's become a place they feel is quite near and dear to my heart. >> reporter: so far more than 1,700 copies of "rolling press" have been distributed around the world. >> arikawa and his team are trying more to disseminate to the world more information about the situation in affected areas and the progress of reconstruction. they've also conducted a tour

for foreign visitors. arekawa hopes to share his experience from the disaster in what he learned from them. >> i've felt natural power is so huge and cannot fight for nature, but later i felt people's power is also very h e huge. can change your mind. can change your situation. arekawa told the people on the tour about "rolling press." some took copies to bring home with them.that, you know, life here still isn't perfect and there's still a lot of work to be done. >> i would definitely like to come back and see highway it's doing in five years' time. >> translator: i'd like many people to visit ishinomak ito

see the the rebuild approximatifor themselves. that would help the economy, too. it's my dream. >> arekawa says he'll keep spregged the word about ishinomaki, their new lives and challenges and he hopes to attract more tourists from overseas. nhk world, ishinomaki. in other news, the obama administration is facing international criticism for its espionage activities. the french foreign minister has demanded his u.s. counterpart explain a report that revealed washington's spying activities targeting french citizens. the french newspaper "le monde" reported on monday that the u.s. national security agency intercepted more than 70 million

phone calls and emails in only one month. foreign menster laurent fabius met with u.s. secretary of state john kerry on tuesday in paris. fabius said this sort of practice with allies is an invasion of priefee and is totally unacceptable. however, a french government spokesperson said the issue should not be compounded. it suggests that france would prefer to prevent souring relation with the u.s. a new opinion poll suggests people in the united states blame the republican party for the partial government shutdown. a budget dispute suspended operations at federal institutions for 16 dayses and put hundreds of thousands of civil servants on unpaid leave. abc news and the washington post surveyed about 1,000 people last week. pollsters asked them who they considered responsible for the impasse. 53% of respondents said

republicans. 29% answered president obama. 15% blamed both sides. the republican's image has taken a beating since the shutdown, 63% say they had an unfavorable view of the party. that's 14 percentage points higher than those who say the same about the democratic party. the polls reveal 59% of respondents have an unfavorable impression of the conservative tea party. members of the movement tried to scrap obama's healthcare reforms and blocked congressional debates on the budget. >> okay. the weaker yen is encouraging more tourists to visit japan. the nation welcomed the highest number of visitors for cite september. officials at the national tourism organization estimate that more than 867,000 people came last month on business, vacation or for other reasons.

that's up nearly 32% from a year ago. the number of taiwanese travelers shot up about 75% and people from five southeast asian countries are finding it easier to visit. since visa require withments were relaxed, travelers from thailand rose 56%. there were almost 30% more visitors from mainland china marking the first rise in a year. group travel is becoming more popular. the officials say they'll step up promotional efforts ahead of the ski season and the year-end holidays. they're aiming to reach the government's target to draw 10 million foreign travelers a year. >> tourism officials in south korea have noticed a sharp influx from tourists in china. chinese arrivals topped those from japan. the justice ministry said more than 3 million chinese nationalses visited south korea between january and september. this is up 48% from the same period a year recallier. japan was second with 2,040,000

visitors. far more japanese visited south korea than those from china. ministry officials attribute the sharp drop to a weaker yen. they say worsening ties are another factor. >> a japanese beverage firm has introduced a hot soda it is hoping to increase demand for carbonated drinks that declines when the the chill willy season sets in. coca-cola japan had a promotion for its new hot ginger ale. the the fizzy liquid won't gush out when the can is opened. >> translator: the taste is not weird. it's quite good. >> the company hopes that the hot ginger ale will help boost

demand in winter. beverage makers say winter sales of carbonated drinks often end up at about half the levels of summer. another beveragemaker kirim beverage maker is set to market its soda soon. here are the latest market figures. moving right along here on "newsline," japan's chefs could soon

find their work endorsed by the united nations' members of unesco committee have recommended that japan's culinary arts with designated an intangible cultural heritage asset. unesco is expected to formalize the decision in december. japan's cultural agency proposed adding the country's food culture to the list of heritage assets. agency officials said the recipes, tableware and other culinary arts are a fundamental part of japanese culture. officials say they hope unesco's recognition will be a boost for businesseses hit by concerns by food safety since 2011 nuclear accident. >> translator: as members of the japanese government we should work hard to help people around the world understand that food from fukushima, including marine products are safe. >> unesco currently recognizes four food cultures, french, turkish, mexican and mediterranean.

here in tokyo it's overcast with the current temperature reading of 17 degrees celsius or 62 degrees fahrenheit. here with the latest on world weather is robert speta. we are continuing to watch typhoon francisco. that's definitely the the main story today as it it approaches the southern japanese islands out here with winds gusting up to about 174 kilometers per hour -- excuse me, 180 kilometers per hour at this time as it it approaches okinawa here and moving just to the east of okinawa. we have been seeing winds gusting up to 112 kilometers per hour this evening and also waves about ten meterses high. a very serious storm system out here. much of the southern japanese islands and you'll see strong tropical storm force winds and gusts could be over a hundred. you still want to watch out for loose, flying debris and as it moves off toward the east.

the good news as it starts to approach mainland japan and by the time it gets out here by friday and then into saturday it will be a much weaker storm system becoming extra tropical and getting wrapped up with a stationary boundary and what that will be doing is it will be bringing a tremendous amount rainfall and that will be the main story andal wroted key peninsula saw a report of a landslide out here and some reports the miia zacky prefecture up to 160 millimeters in the past 74 hours. basically the next 24 hours, they could see 24 millimeters of rainfall and the southerly moisture coming onshore and that will create a risk of flooding and mud slides out here and much of western japan, you're looking at the rick of flooding with the heavy rainfall and not just from francisco and as i said, the stationary boundary wrapping up and one reason why francisco will turn toward the northeast is because you have the upper level trough coming in and that's supporting the stationary boundary and it's developing

thissy lo over northeastern china and that's good news there because we've been talking about the smog there especially around harbon. some improving conditions there with the air quality. with this coming through it will stir up the atmosphere and bring rain and snow mixed into it, did you definitely improving the conditions there. in areas of northeastern china, you could see ten centimeters of snowfall as it pushes off toward the northeast. another reason why francisco will be jettisoning off toward the northeast is because it it will start to interact with our very violent typhoon lekima. the good news with this one is that it will be staying over open ocean and it potentially could be very destructive, but take a look at this, the track keeps it out over the water. winds, though, at 306 kilometers per hour. a very serious storm system and thank goodness, though, it will stay out over the pacific. >> let's talk about what's going on in australia still dealing with these gusty winds and those wildfires just to the west of sydney.

unfortunately, winds will continue to gust on thursday. sustained winds will be lower, but the humidity is still very dry as well and that's not going to be helping out the firefighters very much. the good news for monday into tuesday does seem like improving conditions will help the firefighters combat these flames which a lot of firefighters are still out of control. >> let's talk about europe with one series of low pressure areas pushing across over the british isles and over the baltic states and also some pretty gusty wins and that's the big topic for much of western europe. it's the rain showers and the gusty winds out here. it will be scattered, isolated in some area, but temperatures will cool off and meanwhile, though, out here toward much of the mediterranean and toward eastern europe, take's look at your temperature. athen, 23. roma, 25. and 18 for your high. a little bit higher than average and that's a look at your world

weather, here's your extended forecast. >> one more item before we leave you. an apple harvest with attitude. image of famous personalities

have been imprinted on to the surface of the fruit just for fun. about 1200 specialty apples between 22 different images adorn an orchard in northern japan. popular themes include japanese iedio fwrafs and faces of celebrities. print stishgs are affixed to individual fruit while still green. the apples are allowed to ripen red in the sun light. when the stickers are removed from the fruit, illustrations come alive. apple lovers can choose from famous wood block prints, the japanese prime minister, the mona lisa or even the french president. >> translator: the daytime and nighttime temperature difference is quite extreme so this year the fruit has great color and taste. i hope many people enjoy these artistic apples. >> apples with art work are popular gifts here in japan. some will be presented to french

president olan. >> biting into minute's face might need some getting used to. i'm james tengan in tokyo. thanks for watching. ♪