glad to have you with us. it's thursday, october 9th. a japanese journalist has been indicted in south korea on suspicion he defamed the country's president. he wrote an article about park geun-hye's whereabouts on the deadly ferry disaster in april. the questions are raising charges about south korea's press freedom. tatsuyo kato's article in august alleged park was with an unidentified man as the ferry sank in april. more than 300 people, mostly teenagers died in the accident. the sewol district prosecutor's

office banned kato to leave the country. he was summoned three times for questioning. they say his column was not based on fact and damaged park's reputation. the japan newspaper publishers and editors association says the move poses a threat to freedom of the press in south korea. the paris-based ngo reporters without borders has also criticized the south korean government. the newspaper's president tatsamisu kumasaka is demanding the indictment be removed immediately. he says the action is a grave and clear violation of freedom of speech that's guaranteed by the constitution of south korea as well as japan and other democratic nations. he says the bureau chief wrote a commentary on the president without having any intention to defame her. japanese officials say they will convey their concerns to their south korean counterparts. >> translator: the indictment will affect freedom of the press and japan/south korea relations.

it is quite regrettable, and i'm concerned about it. >> kishida says his government asked seoul to act prudently over the matter. he raised the issue when he met south korean's corn minister in august. he is expected to attend. the situation in ukraine has strained ties. japanese government officials say next week's conference could provide the opportunity to improve relations. they hope a meeting could lead to negotiations for a peace treaty that includes the issue of four russian controlled islands claimed by arjapan. they arranged a meeting in

beijing next month. they are now take iing a fr look at how they look at defense matters. they are paying special attention to gray zone incidents. japanese and u.s. foreign affairs and defense officials met in tokyo. they've written an interim report that will be the basis of new bilateral defense guidelines. the current framework was last revised in 1997 and outlines how the two allies would counter an attack on japan and what the two would do if there was an emergency situation near japan. it covers situations, such as fwra zone incidents. t they include illegal landings on remote japanese islands. defense officials say they're concerned about these actions due to china's maritime activities. the report describes areas of both countries, intelligence

gathering, surveillance, providing lodgist cal support and protecting equipment, including american ships. how the u.s. can work together to advance global and regional security. it gives peace keeping activities and support at examples the two nations will also pay attention to security concerns in outer space and cyber space. >> i expect discussions on revising the guidelines and drawing up the legislation. we'll proceed in tandem. >> how did you respond? >> very positive. very successful. >> translator: the u.s.-japan alliance is a bilateral agreement based on a specific historical situation. it must not exceed that framework and damage the interest of third countries includining china.

china will pay careful and close attention to the revisions. >> we have more on the ongoing revision of the bilateral defense guidelines. >> the report doesn't say how the guidelines would take into account japan's right to collective self-defense. officials of the two countries have agreed to address that crucial subject in the final draft. they plan to release it by the end of the year. the abe cabinet recently reinterpreted the constitution and the concern conditions. japan can now exercise the right to defend closely related countries that are under attack. but officials haven't disclosed how japan can exercise that right under the framework of bilateral defense cooperation. sources say some members of the ruling coalition don't want

details of the new gloouidelineo be announced too soon. many laws will be to have revised before the new policy can be put into practice. officials from japan and the u.s. plan to bridge south korea, china and other neighboring countries on the plan the to revise the glip. changing the the direction of the japan-u.s. alliance. officials from the two allies are trying to make the process transparent. >> japanese government officials have just released new data on how the economy's doing. good morning. what can you tell us? >> we've just seen the latest on machinery orders. now, managers tend to order more equipment when they're feeling optimistic about business conditions, so analysts used to understand business sentiment and since april, they've used it

to assess the demand on the consumption tax hike. machinery orders in august rose for a third straight month and the reading was much stronger than market consensus. officials at the cabinet office say managers placed orders with major machinery makers worth nearly 7 p$.5 being. that's an increase of 4.7% from july. now, the numbers did not include orders from ships and power utilities because they fluctuate too much. orders from manufacturers were down nearly 11%. demand from nonmanufacturers jumped almost 11%. u.s. central bank policymakers are concerned about the country's job market. a global economic slowdown and the stronger dollar. minutes of the u.s. federal reserve's last policy meeting in september were released on wednesday. u.s. labor market conditions continue to improve, but most

policymakers agreed the workforce is underutilized. they decided to maintain near zero interest rates for what they called a considerable time. the minutes show there was discussion on whether they should change this phrase, but they decided to keep it as is is. they figured a change in wording could be misinterpreted as a shift in policy. some express concern overthe economic outlook overseas including the euro zone. they also pointed out that the rapid appreciation of the dollar could have an adverse effect on the u.s. economy and on exports. investors sold the dollar and bought socks. the u.s. had its best this year. the dow was up 1.6%. nasdaq jumped 1.9%. let's go to maramine now.

good morning. what do you have for us? >> yes, indeed, it really looks like that positive momentum from wall street is kicking into shares here, so let's have a look at how the nikkei and topix are opening for october 9th. 15,715. look at that. both indexes well into the positive, so we're seeing a good start here and the machinery orders you mentioned, i'll check how that relates to shares during the morning session as well. now, we had seen the nikkei decline for the past two trading days as markets looked to have consolidated the huge gains made in september. now, analysts say the fed minutes reaffirmed the view policymakers will take their time in raising rates as you touched on, the central bankers said their concern about slowing global growth, especially in the ur ozone, china and japan. i also want to highlight the fact u.s. earnings season has kicked off and alcoa came out with better than expected

results. in after hours trading, alcoa shares -- have faired in the last quarter and what -- the demand, sales outlooks and proftds going forward and how companies in japan relate to the world's biggest economy. so that's going to be a big focus as well. >> policymakers at the fed seem to be worried by the dollar's sudden gains. where is the dollar trading this morning? >> the dollar yen has been a big focus and has fluctuated a bit, hasn't it. right now, it's at 108.23 to 25. it has back ed off since last week. now, the surge in the dollar was touched on by bank of japan officials, so the recent

strength of the dollar or weakness of yen has caught the attention of bankers around the world. after the recent release of two year highs -- that's the euro dollar. many analysts are asking whether the dollar is in for a big correction and whether it will fall further or if investors will see this as an opportunity to buy the dollar at cheaper levels. in asia, also focus on china markets, the shanghai composite will be up for seven straight days. we'll see how that continues and how asia indexes relate. but for now, a positive start for the nikkei and topix. thanks a lot. we'll talk to you in a few hours. i'll be back next hour with more of your business headlines. here's a check on some other market figures.

every morning, investors turn our attention to asia. in markets around the world follow. >> from the decisions that should change the course of an economy. >> to the companies at forefront of change. >> up to the minute market roberts. >> analysis from around the world. >> get all the latest business news every day here on "newsline."

prodemocracy prodetesters he agreed to sit down for formal fau faulks, but students continue their sit ins. they're demanding democratic elections. most are students. some of the demonstrators have expressed high expectation for the talks on friday, wu others are more weary. >> the two sides will be able to consider another way to screen candidates for the top posts. and review the members of the nomination committee. >> translator: the government might listen to protesters' opinions, but that's not going to change anything. >> the two sides are busy trying to figure out the details of the talks. they still haven't agreed on an agenda nor on a venue. maritime authorities say a vietnamese tanker has disappeared. they say the ship left singapore last thursday.

authorities with the association of southeast asian nations say it may have been hijacked. the sunrise 689 left singapore last thursday bound for central vietnam. it disappeared from radar screens 40 minutes after it set off. an official of the international maritime bureau said the ship's communication equipment appeared to have switched off or destroyed, suggesting that the vessel may have been hijacked. on tuesday, the vietnamese government asked for cooperation with coasts on the south china sea or indian ocean. a series of pirate attacks has been reported in waters around southeast asia this year. at least 11 ships have been hijacked since april. critical sea lanes connecting the middle east and east asia pass through these waters. the international community has launched antipiracy efforts.

they have been conducting drills since 2000. a man suffering from ebola has become the first person in the united states to die of the virus. the case has raised questions about just how prepared u.s. hospitals are to handle other possible cases. health officials in the state of texas say the patient died on wednesday. he had spent ten days in hospital. the man fell ill after arrives in the u.s. from the west african country of liberia on september 20th. two days before he was put into isolation, he underwent an examination, but was allowed to return home. doctors failed to check him for ebo ebola. health officials are monitoring 48 people. japanese government officials say they're being proactive against ebola. they're gathering a panel of experts who will establish conditions on how they would

deal with the virus here. the conditions include the use of unapproved drugs. the health ministry will require anyone suffering from ebola be given the latest information on the effects and side effects of the drugs. the ministry will also require patients be closely monitored. there's currently no known cure for the disease, but french government has reported that an ebola patient improved after an unapproved drug was used. three scientists share this year's nobel prize in chemistry for their development of super resolved fluorescence microscopy. they discovered methods to look into the structure of living cells.

>> 2014 nobel prize in chemistry to dr. eric betzig at howard hughes medical institute, ashburn, usa, professor stefan hell at max planck institute for biophysical chemistry, and the german cancer research center, heidelberg, germany, and professor william moerner at stanford university, stanford, usa, for the development of super resolved fluorescence microscopy. >> members of the royal swedish academy of sciences made the announcement in stockholm. the committee members say their groundbreaking work allowed scientists to look into the tiny structures of living molecules in nano levels. hell developed the method in 2000 using laser beams to scan the details. betzig and moerner separately laid out another method to superimpose images of the cell

structures. many are paying attention to who will win this year's nobel peace prize. one woman who knows what it's like to win the prestigious honor is tawakkol karman from yemen. she rose to prominence by campaigning for democracy and drawing attention to human rights issues facing women. nhk world's senior commentator aiko doden spoke with her in tokyo. >> fine, thank you. >> i hope you're not too tired? >> no, not too tired. >> i want to say that the era of women to be victims end. it must be end. it's the era of woman to be leader. so we need women to be in political participation. we need women to be on the front line. >> reporter: in 2011, the people of yemen took part in the pro-democracy movement known as the arab spring.

a crackdown by longtime ruler ali abdullah saleh left many people dead. public pressure forced him to resign. tawakkol karman was one of the leaders of the demonstrations. she was jailed many times, but she kept up her campaign of nonviolent protests. and she became a symbol of the arab spring movement. karman won the nobel peace prize three years ago. she was only 32 years old. the youngest person ever to receive the award. she was given a role in the national dialogue conference to help plan yemen's future. she's been working hard to highlight the problems facing women in the country. many yemeni girls are forced to marry much older men when they are around 10 years old. some have filed lawsuits to get a divorce. karman said yemen's constitution should set a minimum age for women to marry. >> it isn't just attacking the body of woman, of the children, but also it's attacking her chance to be effective in her

society. it is about how the people are educated. so no, first is education, the constitution, second law, then making yemeni people aware, making awareness inside society. it isn't just right. it's responsible. woman is responsible like man on making her society better, on helping people, on development, on building peace everywhere. >> reporter: the arab spring protesters managed to force the dictator saleh from power. but yemen, like many countries in the region, is still a long way from peace. militant attacks still plague the country. the situation in the middle east is not quite stable as of yet as a result. how do you assess the situation now? >> it takes time. so democracy takes time.

and we started a peaceful revolution in 2011. how can we imagine that we can create a democracy country in the same year or three years? i'm doing my best, and i will keep on doing my best. and i wish this all of the international community and ngos for women to achieve a lot of things for the people. >> reporter: while she was in japan, she visited a university in tokyo to share her thoughts with the students. >> be leader, so if you want to change anything, lead it. and again, be on the front line. so practice it. >> reporter: karman has been traveling the world trying to build international support for her country and campaigns. many women around the world are taking strength from her activities. aiko doden, nhk world. >> and tawakkol karman had more to say.

you can watch the full version of her interview on nhk world's program "asian voices." time for a check of the weather. a typhoon is heading toward japan. robert speta tells us how the storm will be affecting people here and in nearby countries. >> we are seeing right now is the second typhoon in a week out here across japan. on monday, we our other that pushed overhead. as you can see here, this is just one of those storm systems, their about as strong as they get. a very circular motion going around the center. look at that clear and defined eye. all those things meet logically

speaking. it is a violent typhoon with winds of 306 kilometers per hour. rarely do you see it drop this low. all this is occurring out over the open ocean. it is expected to make this turn apreching japan, but moves away from this intense environment for development and will weaken out. still expected to be a strong typhoon by saturday evening into your sunday morning. bringing these very gusty winds rainfall. western portions of japan, i think it's going to be a big rainmaker. still more days to talk about this. take a look at the wave forecast, even though it is over the ocean, high winds in the

center circulation, but that's cascading out, so the southern japanese islands, you're going to be seeing five to seven meter conditions. dangerous breakers in the coming days in the philippines and taiwan. that will continue to drift off here towards the north. meanwhile, we're looking at that moisture inflow. several school closures out this. that threat is still there here on your thursday and towards friday. some areas could see an additional 100, 200 meters of rainfall. and that on top of that, another sigh colonic storm. developing here on the bay of bengal. bringing heavy rainfall across the islands. some reports over 100 millimeters, but this will

continue to move off towards the northwest. a little bit weary, that brought significant damage. this one shouldn't be as strong, but it poses a threat to bring damage still. winds at landfall and still the threat of storm surge heading into the week here. so, this is the other thing we are keeping a close eye on. let's move over to the americas. we have our storm system moving across ontario into quebec. if the rain's over for you, t going to feel a lot more autumn like for you and then another storm system coming in behind that. this is the remnants of simon in arizona and new mexico, but as that develops, i know we're heading into a long week here in

the americas, but you may want to cancel some plans in the central u.s. and ohio river valley. you're looking at thunderstorms over the next several days. i'll leave you now with your extended forecast.

and that's all for this edition of "newsline." i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. thanks very much for joining us.

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