hello and welcome to "newsline." hong kong's chief executive says he has no intention of resigning, he has refused the call by protesters who are demanding freer elections, but he is offering to hold talks between his governments and student leaders to try to diffuse the demonstrations. >> i won't resign. i must carry electoral reform forward. >> he held a news conference on thursday, just minutes before a deadline set for him to step down.

he stressed that the government and police have been responding patiently. three senior government officials, including the chief secretary, will meet with the secretary soon as demanded by the protesters. leung is the second highest official. the representative of the student group said leaders will meet with officials but warned the protesters will completely besiege government buildings unless their demands are met. >> really trying to open up room for this. >> the demonstrators are protesting beijing's limit on voter choices in a newly observers say they want to

resolve the situation because it will affect parts of china. turkey's parliament approved a motion that could help join the campaign against islamic state. also allow foreign troops to use the own tri's territory for the operation. the resolution passed with a strong majority. the legal framework will allow the turkish military to send ground troops across the border if necessary. the united states and other nations can also station troops at military bases in the country. officials expressed concerns about the safety of turkish hostages held by the militant group, but the hostages were released last month. islamic state group is occupying villages in northern syria and moving closer to the turkish border. the militants have continued to

increase their activities despite air strikes by the united states and other countries. thailand's interim prime minister has held the first meeting with a government official. he said he will support democratic reform in his country and express his wish to hold a summit in japan. after seizing power in may in a coup. on thursday, he spoke with japanese vice foreign minister in bangkok. he handed him a letter from abe that expressed the desire to establish good relss. he asked the prime minister to promote the process of -- elections in the country are expected next automatic. he said it is important to make democratic reforms in the country to provide stability and he said he'll continue strengthening ties with japan. central bankers in the euro zone are worried by what they

see, still they chose not to take new action on monetary policy. >> yes, they see things like low prices and know they have to support the economy, but just last month, they introduced new measures to do that. things like lowering the key interest rate to a record low so they want some time to see how it all plays out into the economy. that's why policymakers at the european central bank have decided to keep monetary policy unchanged. board members met in naples. policymakers last month lowered the interest rate to 0.05%. they agreed to keep it there for the time being and they decided to maintain their deposit rate as .2%. after the meeting, mario draghi said they would start bying

securities and yuans. draghi says the buying program will last for at least two years. >> surrounding the economic outlook remain on the downside. in particular, the recent weakening in growth momentum. alongside geopolitical risk cut down the confidence and in particular, private investment. >> he said policymakers are ready to do more to address the risk of inflation. he said they're committed to using conventional instruments if needed. the concerns remained strong across the euro zone. the region's inflation rate in september was 0.03% and was the lowest level in nearly five years. it's far below the central bank' inflation target of almost 2%. investor, they were disappointed by the ecb and they sold european stocks.

france shed 2.8% and markets across southern europe dropped more than 3%. the selling carried over to early trading on wall street, but share prices rebounded in a volatile session and the dow and ended the day only slightly lower. let's go to ramine at the tokyo stock exchange. how are tokyo markets trading ahead of that? >> yes, indeed. investors all over the world are really waiting to see how the u.s. jobs numbers comes out for at least any signs that at least the u.s. economy is on a path to recovery. let's have a look at how the topix and nikkei are opening. the nikkei has been in and out of positive territory. we'll see how that develops, but the nikkei has really fallen each day in october, pulling back from the highs we set in

september. investors remaining cautious amid increasing concerns and the likelihood of the federal reserve pulling the plug on its quantitytive easing program. now, the other key factors the euro zone economy, analysts are saying steps after the policy meeting are a touch disappointing. many expected a little bit more of an aggressive move to steer the euro zone away from deflation. continuinging to be a big focus. now, here in tokyo, we should keep an eye out for exporters as we've seen selling of blue chip exporters on a stronger yen against the dollar compared to earlier this week. >> we have seen a bit of a pullback in the dollar. where does it stand against major currencies now? >> let's have a look at the dollar yen. the big focus there, 108.63 to 68.

110 levels. so, it has dropped off, but actually, it did -- in new york trading. analysts we've spoken to during the week say the sudden surge took some by surprise, making some company executives comment on the rise of the dollar and the euro is again in the spotlight after the ecb meeting. we're looking at the euro dollar rate. traders brought back the euro following its slide to two-year lows. analysts believe the measures to boost growth may not have been big enough. mainland china's markets remain closed today. there's still a big focus on the outcome of democracy protests in hong kong and that's going to be closely watched. many banks and businesses are still being hampered by the thousands of protesters which are occupying key areas, including the fm district in hong kong. hang sang will be open for

business today and interesting to see how that trading in that index is going to develop. back to you. >> thanks a lot for that update. officials at japan's economy ministry say automakers have been producing fewer cars since the sales tax went up and they expect that will weigh on demand for steel. the officials predict the amount of steel used for october to december will be about 28 million tons. down 0.6% from the same period last year. the official said demand for steel used in houses is also down and they said japanese automakers are looking to produce more cars in factories overseas. more in business next hour. i'll leave you with a check on markets.

members of japan's self-defense force have watched an exercise by troops for the first time. they conducteded the drill in the philippines. military officials in the u.s. and philippines want to increase their readiness for an emergency. fi they carried out the exercise on a small island. they simulated an operation to regain control from an enemy force. about 100 marines approached the vild on boats as u.s. fighter jets arrived for back-up. officials of japan's self-defense force want to beef up their amphibious landing ability. >> the lf-defce

g tove it amphib operations. >> we can make this multilateral in the future and include the japanese and philippines with us at the same time. i think that's a positive step in the right direction. >> the jnt air and marine exercises are known at the bilateral exercises. the year, the drill focused more closely on maritime security and territorial defense operations as china steps up its activities in the asia pacific region. u.n. officials say the nu opeop living in extreme poverty has been reduced by half since 1990. that was a goal world leaders had aimed for and they say they've been met. but there are still 1 billion people who live on less than $1.25 a day, so they're working on a new global strategy. we traveled to east africa to

examine the issue firsthand. >> reporter: this footage from mid september shows migrants being rescued from a boat. thousands of africans have been fleeing to escape poverty and conflict. this year alone, more than 3,000 people have lost their lives at sea trying to get to better lives. this is the port city of obok. the city is a key jumping off point for migrants trying to flee to the arabian peninsula. this is the departing point that people take and then they head to yemen. >> there are no jobs in my country, so i want to go to saudi arabia to make money. i know it's dangerous, but i have no other choice.

>> the economies of sub saharan african nations to grow 5.2% this year, but many people see no sign of that growth. they haven't seen jobs created for income rise. the economy is expanding by 4% a year, but only a small number of people are enjoying the benefits. the country's unemployment rate is 60%. markets are flooded with food, but it is out of reach for many ordinary people. on this day alone, hundreds of migrants are being held by the police. the police say many risked their lives trying to flee abroad. fighting poverty is the key to

reducing the numbers of people dying out at sea. >> world leaders are discussing how to work together to make people's lives around the globe better. they set what was called the millennium dwoel goals in the year 2000. they included eradicating extreme poverty and -- some of their targets have been met, but challenges remain. in many countries, the gap between the rich and the poor has winded. so, they're now working on a new set of goals they want to achieve by 2030. the focus is on sustainability. jeffrey sax, professor of columbia university, has been working with the u.n. he sat down with nhk to talk about the effects. >> they definitely spurred progress if cutting poverty. in 1990, the poverty rate in the

developing countries was 43%. by 2010, it had come down to 21%. and it's still coming down further next year. maybe around 16%. the big challenges are pockets of extreme poverty. especially in sub saharan africa and in south asia. these are the two regions that still have the highest concentrations of extreme poverty. now, there are many problems. these are generally rural families for example, where it's farmers living on very small farm plots, not very high productivity, low income. and maybe lack of access to education. so, the big challenge is cooperation globally to help make the investments to raise the incomes and the productivity of very poor countries and very

poor communities. >> he also told us why he believes sustainability is the key to development. >> we say sustainable development means three objectives. economic, social and environmental. the theory is that if you just focus on one, say the economic, but the social objectives lead to greater tension, less trust in the society, then this will lead to instability and eventually also the economic crisis. if you have economic development, but don't take care of the natural environment, then you have crisis of pollution, water scarcity and climate change. so, we need a holistic approach that combines all three dimensions. economic, social and virmal. >> the u.n. aims to have the new set of development goals at the

general assembly next september. myanmar has been experien experiencing a serious shortage of engineers in its manufacturing and other sectors amid the recent economic boom, so some japanese universities are helping education engineers. the science and technology minister visited one of them for a first look. he was shown a state-of-the-art electron micro scope in southwestern japan. he also met the teacher frs myanmar who are receiving training at the school. the university signeded an agreement with myanmar's government in april to promote engineer kagsal exchanges. in september, they accepted 16 teachers and staff from eight colleges in myanmar. >> this is a 60 year diplomatic relation we have. so, in many areas, we have to thread in our relationship. >> nearly 300 students at the

university, but myanmar is aiming to change its -- he added that cooperation between the two nations in science and technology will have a favorable impact on other fields as well. silk worms in japanese labs are spinning a new kind of fabric. they've been genetically engineered to produce silk that grows and researchers will help the worms revitalize the industry that played a big role in the modernization of japan. >> the splendid colors of a magnificent kimono. what makes this piece so special is that the shreds are lumen es. the project is led by the

institute of biological studies. researchers manipulated the jeans of silk worms by introducing other life forms into their eggs. >> we inserted the genes that provided the fosse flour essence in jellyfish. >> here's one of the silk worms. when light of a specific wavelength is projected on to it, the worm's body emits an orange color. the glow comes from the silk thread inside the worm's body. it's like some types of jellyfish and coral. fabric from this thread could produce all kinds of products of high value, ranging from glowing garments to orangeal lamp shades. in the 1930s, there were more than 2 million silk farms across the country, but the growing

availability of artificial fibers led to the decline of japanese silk. only 500 silk farms remain in japan. their owners are pinning high hopes on the potential of this technology. >> translator: it's very atragtive for us, but it also means higher costs and t not like we would be free to grow these silk worms anywhere. the process involves gene manipulation, so it requires the authorization of the agriculture ministry. >> one necessary precaution is to make absolutely sure that genetically -- don't breed with natural species. researchers are working hard to turn this futuristic project into reality. once the process is determined to be safe, they hope to make their modified variety of silk works available to farms and put

their idea into practical use within a few years. the potential of genetic manipulation is not limited to silk that glows. one example is this gar met that incorporates the charistics of spider thread. >> introduce the genes of spider thread makes the garment 30% stronger. inserting the kinds of genes that's produced underwater could make a gar met more water resistant. our aim is to produce a type of material that can only be made with japanese technology and we hope a revival of the silk industry. >> the question now is whether these 21st century worms will be enough to give hope to japan's ailing silk industry.

japan successfully defended its softball title at the asian games. the team shut out taiwan and marked its third consecutive performance. japan's ace pitcher allowed only two hits over six innings. meanwhile, japanese batters helped win with a nine h hit attack. japan beat taiwan by a final score of 6-0. softball and baseball were not included at the 2012 london olympic games, but players hope to return at the 2020 olympics. medal winners from japan, taiwan and china, held up a banner to support the sport as an event. people in japan are basing

for a typhoon. robert speta tell us what to expect up ahead. >> what we are seeing is this rather powerful typhoon. it we want from a severe thunderstorm on wednesday to strong. you can see the storm continuing to rapidly intensify. we have good outflow towards the north and south, that eye becoming more defined. we are seeing winds gusting up to about 250 kilometclokilomete hour. that's what you're expecting there through saturday. you also could be expegting waves as high as 12 to 13 meters, but okinawa and the southern japanese islands, good news for you. do expect that the turn off pours in north and eventually towards the northeast before impacting you out there. still expecting tropical storm winds, so that could be enough to toss around light debris with

this storm system. as it moves toward the northeast still, on sunday afternoon into monday, this is going to be bringing rough weather across much of mainland japan. we're talking about western portions and towards tokyo, so this could be a very serious storm system. it's actually this lifting mechanism right here. it's a stationary boundary, which is already bringing heavy rainfall. we have video coming out on the sea of japan coastline where you have been seeing those scattered showers in the past 24 hours and record breaking rainfall has already occurred there. 163 millimeters causing a slow go out there and this is not even related with the typhoon. now, more rainfall definitely in the forecast. we're going to see this move off towards the north and sunday afternoon into monday, moving across the tokyo area, so monday morning, if you have plans here in tokyo, the morning rush hour, could be a rough go. especially afternoon rush hour

though as this pushes overhead. now, this is what i really want to talk about. a lot of people are watching this, coming in from overseas, the formula one grand prix taking place. no f1 race has ever been canceled due to weather, but this one could potentially occur. no announcements have been made, but on saturday, some decent conditions for the qualifier, kind of the calm before the storm, but on sunday, that weather will really start to pick up, especially during the afternoon hours when the planned start time is right around 3:00 p.m., so this is something you really want to be watching out for as our storm system pushes overhead. and then i want to turn your attention out here towards the east. we have a new storm that is continuing to develop. could be impacting mariana islands by monday as well. something to continue to keep a look out for. also, scattered showers and enhanced monsoon.

the area this week, now as we look towards the americas, i want to wrap things up here really quick. we have severe thunderstorms into arlington, texas. some reports of damage due to severe storm systems out there. that will continue to track toward the east. as we look ahead here through your friday. i'll leave you with your extended forecast.

that wraps up this edition of "newsline." i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. thanks for staying with us.

service. south korea's growing band of saki lovers are putting culture above politics. hello, you're watching "asia biz forecast." i'm yuko fukushima. sometimes sticking to your principles comes at a price. in the case of hong kong and the missed alibaba listing, a big price. china's latest e-commerce operator went public on the new york stock exchange last week.