hello and welcome to nhk. it's friday, november 1st. i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. the united states faces growing criticism national security agency's targeted spying. however an alliance was formed after world war two that excluded five countries. it was called five eyes which

includes britain, australia, new zealand and canada. 9 officials said other allies including japan and germany have been subject to u.s. surveillance programs. the source added that u.s. surveillance gathering facilities are located at the country's military bases and embassies around the world. "the washington post" said the nsa collected information from the google and yahoo! data centers worldwide. is they posted that the infiltration was on wednesday by edward snowden. and by tapping into the links, the nsa has positioned itself to collect data from hundreds of millions of user accounts, this would include e-mails sent and received as well as text, audio and video.

the post says that during a 30-day period up to january 9th of this year, the nsa used the links to collect more than 180 million new records. google said it is outraged at the lengths to which the government seems to have gone to intercept data from the firm's private fiber network. nsa chief general keith alexander has denied the allegations. he says that this is incorrect and that his organization gets court orders before collecting necessary information. the post's report suggests other means could intensify criticism of the u.s. government. peek in charge of the fukushimas plant may find themselves working under different conditions. officials at the industry ministry have taken steps to turn tokyo electric power company into a holding company.

they want the officials to review how the company is organized and they hope to split it up and create one company for the decommissioning operation and others for nuclear power generation, thermal power generation and transmission. the ministry officials believe that would make it easier to manage the work at the nuclear plant and deal with the reactors. tepco executives say forming a holding company would allow them to better manage each unit and make it easier for them to cut costs. an international monitoring organization says the syrian government no longer has the capacity to manufacture chemical agents for use in weapons. officials of the organization for the prohibition of chemical weapons say the government has destroyed all of its production facilities. >> the syrian government has completed what we call the functional destruction of its

entire chemical weapons-making apparatus and what are mixing/filling equipment for use in sarin gas. >> officials say syria's government has destroyed all equipment to make chemical arms at 41 declared facilities. they said the process was completed before the friday deadline under the supervision of international inspectors. a senior opcw official said so far officials are satisfied with the syrian government's efforts. the focus now shifts to the destruction of about 1300 tons of chemical agent stockpiles. they will draw up a plan by mid november to achieve the goal of destroying all of syria's chemical agents and production equipment by mid-2014. due to the ongoing civil war and with no suitable facilities inside syria, the organization is considering removing and destroying the materials outside the country.

china's foreign ministry says it suspects a connection between monday's deadly tiananmen square car crash and the east turk stand movement. beijing calls the movement a terrorist organization. they are expected to step up restrictions on ethnic uyghurs in the name of fighting the terrorism. this was the first public official to link the group with the organization. >> translator: terrorists have lock engaged in activities to divide china with the aim of establishing a so-called east turkistan. they have named five suspects

which they say was an organized attack. they are all believed to be uyghurs. the uyghurs received the news with growing anxiety. we have this report on that. >> reporter: many armed police men are patrolling a major city in the uyghur region. they fear the authorities will tighten their control over them. >> translator: if it really was caused by uyghur people, i'm worry it could affect my business and we could be subjected to further discrimination. >> reporter: the uyghurs are a separate group from the chinese. nearly all of them are muslims. many uyghurs are economically and politically disadvantaged compared to the majority. dissatisfaction among uyghurs

has occasionally erupted into violence. protests four years ago escalated into deadly riots. the chinese government says about 200 people died. the leader of a group of uyghur exiles issued a statement. she expressed the fear that the chinese authorities will intensify their crackdown against the wiegers on the pretext of fighting terrorism. the administration of xi jinping will mark its one year anniversary in november. the top leaders of the chinese communist party will hold a key policy meeting within two weeks in beijing. some experts say the administration is trying to prevent ethnic unrest from spreading. nhk world.

the president of the world congress said they can't september that this was an act of terrorism. >> translator: the chinese government hadn't told the media what really happened at the scene. the coverage is based on the story the government made up. and the credibility -- >> she called for an independent international investigation. she asked world leaders to watch what's happening to them and insists that chinese leaders respect the rights of ethnic minorities.

zwroo making waves on the fashion scene with eye-catching apparel that combines cutting edge styles with traditional chinese dyeing techniques. we spoke to her about preserving this time-honored krafrt and make it better known worldwide through her bold, new designs. >> reporter: this collection was one of if main attractions at this year's tokyo fashion week. >> translator: people really complimented my designs saying that they have both china's boldness and japan's subtlety. maybe because i have spent half my life in china and half in japan. i want to preserve the subtlety while also adding new actions and bold ideas. >> reporter: arai was born and raised in beijing and is married

to a japanese man. she cape to japan in 1988 to study traditional japanese dance. arai was enchapted by the subtle colors of the kimonos the dancers wore. to learn more about how those colors wore created, she visited traditional dyeing workshops around japan. arai learned the industry is in decline as fewer people are taking up the dyers time-honored craft. >> translator: it would be really sad if this craft disappeared. good things can't be madeimply in one or two days. i began to wonder if there was something i could do. >> reporter: arai came up with the idea of reviving classic dyeing techniques by using them in her designs. in 2008 she launched her own brand featuring colors and motifs inspired by japanese tradition.

arai's unique designs with her eastern design made a big splash when she debuted at the paris collection. arai wants to make clothes biening traditional crtsnsnsnsn fafafabrbric. araiaiai isss now workingngngngo fabric dyeing f f f f fsi fabri. >> trararararanslatototor:r: th.

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examples of japanese artworks designated as national i i i i n eseseseses back >> translator: the scripture was marketed in china so the auction procedure falls within chinese

law. >> reporter: a nationwide nhk survey found that 76 important cultural pieces are missing from 19 prefectures, including one designated a national treasure. one art dealer says there are underground markets for such smuggled treasures. >> translator: some buddhist statues that i sold for $1 million have circulated back to me with price tags of 8 million. >> reporter: this professor is an expert of ancient japanese art. he calls for stricter regulations to protect these treasures.

>> translator: authorities should be required to regularly check on the whereabouts of these pieces. >> reporter: officials with the cultural affairs agency say they will launch an urgent investigation into how many such artworks are missing. a new japan/u.s. study suggests iron and other heavy elements spread throughout the universe 10 to 12 billion years ago. researchers at the japan arrow space agency and stanford university studied this. they used a satellite e e e e ea a researcher says the study

revealed some interesting results. >> i think the most important point is that metals were distributed very evenly throughout the universe at very early stages of the life of the universe. >> the scientists argue the iron distribution could not be so even if the elements were formed after the clusters' birth. they conclude that iron must have already been widely disbursed in the universe when the clusters began to form around 10 billion years ago. the scientists think the research can offer important data to study the early stages of the universe. japanese researchers say they have found a substance that couldish be used to treat diabetes. will and obesity related disease. a professor and his team at the university of tokyo identified the substance from among more than 6 million different compounds. the substance named adiporon serves a similar function to a

hormone which lowers blood sugar levels and burns fat in the body. the team previously discovered that levels of this hormone are substantially lower in diabetics and overweight people who are at high risk of diseases. in the latest research project, the team found that the survival rate of mice with diabetes improved from 30% to 70% after they were given adiporon. the team also found that the substance eased fatty liver conditions from mice suffering from the condition. >> translator: some people can't exercise even if they need to. i hope this will be a substitute for exercise. >> the team is aiming to put adiporon to clinical use within a few years. the european union has reported that the jobless rate for the single currency block stayed at a record high in september.

the eu statistics office said unemployment in the 17 member zone stood at 12.2%. that's unchanged from the previous month. spain posted the highest rate among the member nations at 26.6%, followed by cypress at 17.1% and portugal at 16.3%. for greece, the jobless rate was 27.6% in july, the last numbers we have. that's 0.1 percentage point higher than in june. bank of japan policy makers have decided to continue their easing measures set up in april to pull japan out of deflation. the policy makers discussed economic conditions at home and abroad and price trends. the japanese economy has been showing some positive signs. they include a rise in corporate production and an improvement in

employment. but the policymakers decided to keep the monetary easing measures in place considering uncertainties such as a slowdown in emerging economies. the policy makers also discussed the economic and price outlook between now and fiscal 2015. they say consumer prices will rise 1.9% by fiscal 2015. they kept their inflation forecast the same as three months ago. >> translator: we have been seeing positive developments across broad areas in the economy, the financial markets, people's sentiment and expectations. the economy is on a path to achieve the 2% inflation target. >> kuroda also expressed hope that employers would pay higher wages on the prospect for improved corporate earnings. boj policymakers revised down their gdp projections for this year. umm uncertainties remain habit

the economies. they say japan's economy will grow 2.7% this fiscal year down one tenth of a percentage point from previously forecast. the policy makers forecast the consumption tax hike scheduled for april will not deal a serious blow to the economy. japanese companies are reporting strong earnings for the april to september period as a weaker yen is boosting their profitability. the earning season has peaked. nearly 20% of those listed on the main board of the tokyo stock exchange reported on thursday. 6 a survey by snbc nikko securities shows the total ordinary profit of the 277 companies that had reported earnings by wednesday rose 45% in yen terms compared to a year ago. 29% of those companies have revised upward their full-year profit pjections through 2014. struggling electronics companies are making a sharp come back. panasonic has reported a net profit of $1.7 billion for the april-september period.

that's a record high for midyear earnings. the company sustained a loss of nearly $7 billion in the same period last year. meanwhile, sharp's operating profit rose to nearly $350 million. that's a big improvement from a loss of $1.7 billion posted a year ago. and sony saw a jump in operating profit by 40% helped by strong sales of smartphones and the yen's weakness. an analyst we spoke to pointed to some uncertainties though. >> translator: if companies don't spend their higher profits for capital investment and increased wages, they won't be able to bring about a positive cycle for economic growth. >> she also says companies with significant exposure to india and indonesia are still concerned about the slowdown in those economies.

here's a look at your latest market figures. here's a check of your weather. all week we've been keeping a look at a typhoon in southeast asia. what can we expect up ahead. good morning, it's the beginning of not have and we're talking about a 250i foon here in southeastern asia. it's made landfall over the philippines. and it is now traveling over the south china sea. it looks like it will be intensifying further into a stronger typhoon status but as

of now, we're speak speaking object this area here, which is cambodian and the gusty winds are up to 180 kilometers per hour moving at the speed of 20 kilometers per hour so it's a fast-moving system and it won't dump too much heavy rain but we're very much concerned with the very rough sea conditions across much of the sour rounding countries and the high waves can cause coastal flooding in the low-lying area so a lot of potential for secondary disasters here. and out toward taiwan to the easterly flow, it looks like taiwan will be in the target of that heavy downpour as well as the southwestern islands of japan where thunderstorms and intense showers with the indirect umm pact of the tie poon which is despite the proximity moving all the way away in toward southern china in the coming days. it looks like it could make a secondary landfall so we kept a very close eye on this system for you. to the north of that, widespread showers will be flirting with inland china and inland area

also see some snow. welcoming rain will be in and around beijing so that could improve the air quality across the area. but high pressure system will be dominating much of northern china, the korean peninsula as well as japan so we'll have a very dry and pleasant autumnal conditions across our country today. most of our country, i should say. the southwestern islands will be affected with rain but here we saw the radiation cooling and dropping of temperatures to minus 3 degrees in our morning hours. the daytime highs are in the normal range at 15 degrees. tokyo at 20 degrees. over towards northern europe we're talkinout gusty conditions as well as the heavy downpours and intense showers could dominate much of the northern regions and scattered areas. and then down towards the south we have this system that's going to create thunderstorms across the mediterranean region as well. but in between the two aforementioned systems we have a dry and pleasant conditions with

temperatures rising in the mid october range vienna at 13 degrees and car saw with sunshine at 11 degrees, moscow, despite the coldness you see lots of sunshine there as well. let's move over to the americas. the halloween storm has caused two tornado touchdowns in louisiana and not a good day for trick-or-treating. here's a video from texas. a powerful frontal system caused flooding. multiple road closures and power outages in texas. no injuries have been reported so far but up to 380 millimeters of rain fell overnight wednesday and thursday and in austin the rain has caused creek to swell more than five times its normal size and cities and churches have considered postpones halloween trick-or-treating and conditions are improving but severe weather could return next week so another round of severe weather to come across these regions. this is due to this cold front's

that's being very active from that surge of moisture. so this is your halloween outlook and it looks like you may get even more tornados and that's going to be shifting towards the east. so that weather to come for you in the eastern seaboard. los angeles looking at summertime. 28 degrees with plenty of sunshine. here's your extended forecast.

the imperial palace in japan's ancient capital of kyoto has opened to the public for its annual autumn viewing. the palace is the former official residence of the japanese emperors and it opens to the public twice each year in the spring and fall. this year visitors can view seven of the palace buildings. on display a famous painting that decorated sliding doors during the time of the emperor in the 19th century. seven dolls dressed in traditional dancer's attire also attracted much attention. >> translator: the palace buildings are amazing. >> translator: seeing various displays helps me understand how people in ancient times carried

out politics. >> the palace will next open to visitors in the spring. that is all for this edition of nhk. i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. thanks very much for joining us. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com

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