welcome to "newsline." it's friday, october 24th. i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. authorities in canada are trying to pin down the motive behind an attack in the nation's capital. a gunman shot and killed a soldier and stormed the parliament buildings before he was shot by a security guard. police officers are investigating his connections to radical islamists. >> we have learned through the current investigation that this individual has been in ottawa since at least october 2nd, 2014, that he was in town to deal with a passport issue, but

that he was also hoping to leave for syria. >> he said the gunman was a 32-year-old canadian national. he believes he had him carry out the attack by himself and says the suspect had connections to radical islamists. security camera footage shows how he ran into the parliament building holding a gun. officials denied local media repo reports that the suspect was under government surveillance. police say they will investigate gait his moteer further. the prime minister stressed canada will not be intimidated by terrorism. steven harper spoke of the need of laws and to enhance police authority. official rs the world health organization are trying to find ways to stop the spread of ebola.

they've decided against a travel ban. who's deputy chief said a ban is likely to cause economic hardship in the three nations hardest hit. also that it could raise the risk of the virus spreading by creating an uncontrolled migration of people from affected countries. he said sierra leone, guinea and liberia should reenforce exit screenings, but said enter tri screenings may have a limited effect. e.u. leaders are meeting in brussels to disausz a framework for a new energy policy. they're proposing a 40% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by the year 2030 compared with 1990.

the e.u's reduction target was presented ahead of a u.n. meeting late next year. leaders of the nations are also implementing measures to achieve the goal. the measures include a reform of the blocks emissions trading system to encourage companies to make greater efforts. the leaders are also discussing whether to try and increase the share of renewable power to 27% of overall con supgs. however, some eastern european nations are reluctant to set a target due to their heavy reliance on coal and other fossil fuels. before the summit, the french president said the e.u. is furthest ahead on the issue and added that the block will not be able to convince china, the united states or the poor countries if it fails to agree on a le duction goal. now, an gup yup date on what's going on in business. good morning.

what's going on? >> investors have been seeing positive numbers on the economy and american companies, so they've been happy to buy stocks, but the ebola outbreak is back to haunt them. overnight in new york, investors were buying on better than expected reports like caterpillar, then they heard reports that a health care worker in new york is being tested for ebola and they pulled stocks back. for how investors here are acting, ramean has more. what are you seeinging over there? >> thank you very much. going by the figures you just showed for the u.s., we did see quite a bit of a rebound there and we're follows suit here in tokyo as well. that's following the trend from wall street. let's have a look at the nikkei and topics. 15,370 up 1.5% and the broader topix trading hire as well. now, on thursday, however, the nikkei did come in for a a

little bit of profit taking, however, the overnight jump in the dollar may be that tonic that investors need to encourage further buying of major exporters. i'll keep track of those. an analyst i spoke to says further encouragement may come from the series of broadly positive pmi manufacturing data, which came out of the euro zone. also, germany's rose, and on thursday, china's pmi manufacturing data rose. so, some encouragement there, still, the volatility we've seen in the currency and bond markets remains a concern according to analysts and many stock investors of course remain cautious because of outside factors such as geo political, risk events and also commodity price fluctuations. let's not forget the price of oil has been all over the place, hitting lows as well this week. and also, a focus on government economic policies, so, also, big

focus over the weekend, this weekend is going to be european central bank is going to release its latest survey of stress tests for around 130 euro zone banks and analysts say there's concern about the financial system across the euro zone economies. keeping this mind the results of the 2010 stress results which caused so much volatility in global markets. >> still, investors still remain upbeat about the outlook for the u.s. judging by where the dollar is trading. where it is now against the yen? >> exactly. let's have a look at the levels now. 108.17-19. that's having traded at the upper 106 range at the beginning of this week and around 105 yen just last week, so it has jumped against the yen. we'll see how that really effects some of the main sectors. exporters, as i mentioned. i'll keep an eye on asian stock,

investors saying they remain concerned about the pace of china's growth and the risk of the countries headed for a longer period of slow down than many have expected. we'll keep track of those as well. >> thanks a lot for that update. investors in short-term japanese government bonds will get back less money than they put in. that's for the first time. an auction drew a negative yield due to the effects of large scale money boosting measures by the central bank. the finance ministry held an auction on thursday for its scheduled issue wans of about 5.7 trillion yen in three-month debt. over 52 trillion were received. this drew a minus average yield. the negative return means financial institutions bought the bonds at prices higher than the amount they would receive at redemption. if they hold, they will suffer a

loss. market sources say the negative yield was brought about by a shortage in supply. that's because the bank of ja pap is buying a large amount of funds under its monetary easing policy. they say there are also many banks that want to hold government bonds as security toward the year end. the people in japan's biggest automaker are worried that cars are losinging their appeal to an important demographic. toyota executives are aiming to draw young people back with two new sporty models in their lexus luxury line. the executives released the lexus coupe rc and higher performance rcs model. they've been reportinging an increase in sales of their lux us cars in japan for five years in a row, but now, they're facing tougher competition from foreign luxury brands such as mercedes-benz and bmw. managers at those firms are opening more outlets in japan.

>> translator: younger people are losing interest in cars. we hope these models will remind them how fun it is to get behind the wheel. >> he says he hopes the new models will enhance the brand's image to all drivers. that's the latest in business. i'll leave you with a check on markets. a united nations rights watchdog has expressed concerns about hong kong's electoral system. it called on china to ensure universal sufficient ran in the british colony.

the u.n. human rights committee gathered in geneva. they planned to send letters to the governments of beijing and hong kong to relay concerns and ask for details on how the election will proceed. a panel member argued they should strongly demand the hong kong government the right to vet and stand for elections without unreasonable restrictions. a representative from a hong kong-based ngo welcomed the stance. >> they have decided to write china to express concern about this. we hope that china would come to terms with the international standards. i hope that message will be clear to the home government that the world is watching. >> students and other protesters

are continuing their protests. public servants in hong kong have run an advertisement in a local newspaper expressing support for the protests. they hid their identities. the ad ran on thursday. the statement said the group believes most of the protesters are committed to peaceful and non-violent means in their fight for a better hong kong. a representative of the civil servants gave a phone interview to nhk on the condition of anonymity. the interviewee said the aims of the students are in line with the ideals of many in hong kong. it counters a statement issued by two civil servant unions on monday that criticized the movement.

the group claims that more than 1300 public workers including officials in the police and fire departments are using social media to express their approval of the effort. nearly two months have passed since a cease fire between israel and hamas brought an end to heavy shelling of gaza. during 50 days of hostilities, more than 2100 people were killed and about 18,000 houses destroyed. people in the gaza strip are now trying to rebuild their lives. but little progress has been made so far. pierre is the commissioner general of the united nations relief and works agency for palestine refugees in the near east or unrwa. he spoke to nhk world about the

challenges the people of gaza are facing. >> he says the prior theties are humanitarian assistance and rebuilding homes. >> we have still about 120,000 people who are homeless in gaza because their homes have been destroyed by the shelling. right now, we still have 45,000 people in 18 schools. they're not really prepared for housing tens of thousands of people whose homes have been destroyed. but of course, nobody, none of us would want to spend months in a school classroom instead of in one's own home. winter is coming, so the population is going to face very big difficulties if we cannot change their situation quickly. >> it's important said the people in gaza gets propt access to construction materials.

allowed shipments for the past time last week. but it still has -- shipments to continue uninterrupted. >> it's very important this continues. we cannot have it just once or twice. this has to be every day, dozens of trucks, because the destruction was so wide that you know, you cannot only repair one or two places. you have to repair hundreds and hundreds and hundreds apartments. if there is blocking of the construction material, if we have delays, then it could well go into 12, 15 or 18 years. which of course would be unacceptable for the people of gaza. this is why we have to have this

strong push now. it is an illegal blockade under international law. it is punishing the population in gaza and this is creating long-term instability in the region. let me give you an example. in the year 2000, you had 80,000 people who were receiving food assistance. in 2014, it was 830,000 people. this is because the blockade led to many people losing their jobs. many businesses to close. and therefore, people who were successful business people before started to receive humanitarian assistance. it's a question of dignity, of rights. so the international community has to mobilize also politically to change the paradigm that is now imposing so much suffering on the people of gaza.

>> nhk interviewed the commissioner general. japan's supreme court has made its first ever ruling on a maternity harassment case. judges ordered a retrial for a woman who sued a former employer over a demotion during her pregnancy. >> the woman sued the hospital in hiroshima. she had been removed from a managerial position when asked to transfer to an easier department. she claimed the treatment was against the law. judges at a superior court gave the woman a partial victory. they ruled that moving a worker to a lower position on the grounds of pregnancy or childbirth is basically illegal.

they said it's only acceptable in two scenarios -- one is a demotion that women freely accept. the other is a downgrade that's unavoidable for operational reasons and does not inconvenience her. the judges said the plaintiff did not agree to her demotion. they ordered a re-trial at the high court that had dismissed her damages claim against the hospital. the woman said through her lawyer that she's pleased. she said she hopes the supreme court's ruling will encourage others who want to have children and continue their careers. a group of women say they also experienced maternity harassment were following the case. >> translator: i am pleased the supreme court ruled in favor of the plaintiff in hiroshima. >> reporter: this woman said she

experienced maternity harassment while she was a contract worker. she said her boss told her not to try to renew once she learned she was pregnant. and she produced evidence. she said she continued to work and suffered a miscarriage. she claimed her boss told her not to get pregnant again. if she wanted to keep her job. she said she had no choice but to quit. >> translator: you can lose your whole career if you get pregnant. people speak of pregnancy as something bad.

i want them to change that mind set. >> reporter: labor bureaus around japan say they receive around 2,000 complained every year from women who say they were treated unfairly due to pregnancy or childbirth. some of those women say female colleagues are just as inconsiderate as male bosses. the people who run a nuclear plant in northwestern japan have opened their doors to showcase new safety measures. their facility has been offline to house a nuclear regulation authority check for preparedness in the event of a severe accident and are now undertaking a campaign to convince the public they're ready the to restart their reactors.

>> they got a look at the reactor on the coast of the sea of japan. the plant has seven reactors. the group looked at the building that would serve as command center in case of an emergency. they also viewed power vehicles, water pumps and flood barriers. that can wit stand 15 meter tsunamis. >> why do you have them all together and not nearer to the -- >> in the case of an emergency, do you use all of them? >> many had questions about the plant's safety. they wanted to know more about the specification of the equipment to be used in a disaster. >> it's hard for me to make any judgment on these. i can only appreciate to gain access to see by my own.

>> translator: i was quite impressed by the reactors, turbine buildings and the tsunami and antiseismic measures. i was also impressed eed with t fire fights system at the facility. >> japan has 48 nuclear reactors and all are currently offline. so far, the nuclear regulation authority has seen applications to start plenty of them. that september, tepco applied for the nra screening process to restart two reactors at this plant. tepco's business has been in operation since the 2011 nuclear accident. official says the company's taking its fate from the start of the plant. the company wants to create an environment to achieve this goal by strengthening the plant's safety. >> translator: we organized today's event in the hope of

letting people around the world know what type of measures we have taken at the nuclear power plant that we hope to restart. we want people to feel reassured. plant operators in japan still need to satisfy all mandatory government regulations. they include a re-examination of the faults that run under the facilities. they're working hard to win back public trust and improve safety measures. and they're communicating to the world the progress they are making to get the reactors safely back online. it's time for a check of the weather. people in north eastern areas of the u.s. are dealing with stormy weather conditions. robert speta joins us with more. >> we are seeing actually right

now, significant flight delays into boston across new york city. it's all due to this nor'easter, which has been spinning out here and it's just been bringing several days worth of rainfall and gusty winds. up and down the new england coastline, it was farther down towards the south and the thing is, this is not moving very fast either, so throughout the rest of the thursday, through friday and then even into saturday morning, some areas out here are still going to be seeing an additional 50 millimeters of rainfall. those persistent winds, not only for new england, but eventually, it will make its way towards nova scotia. behind it, cold air is dipping in from the north, so we're going to be looking at freeze watches for part of the great lakes region. high pressure really dominating much of the central u.s. and back towards the west, we have that series of low pressure systems, which have been continuing to batter the pacific northwest. some areas out here still could

see about 100 kilometer per hour winds. higher elevations still seeing the snowfall. you can see the white stuff showing up on our model. lower elevation, still an additional rainfall, but snow could be accumulating. let's go to the other side of the atlantic. t i want to talk about the snowfall here. some fairly decent images out of austria. let's roll that. where we saw one of the first significant snowfalls of the season here. caused some disruption, the traffic there definitely on thursday, hundreds were left without power due to fallen trees on wednesday evening. you see the flowers are taking the brunt of this accumulation. there's also the increased risk of avalanche and winds, 76 miles per hour, so you get the blowing snow. that reduces visibility and makes travel that much more dangerous. the thing about austria and this area of the world, you're not unused to snowfall. the thipg is, this is one of the first big accumulations thus far this year, so people may not be

quite used to it for this particular season. we still have the storm system roll rolling off here towards the balks, you'reoing to of the ntin to s this flarep. not only here, but extending over towards western portions of the ukraine and then kiev, you could see snowfall, but i think the bigger thing, temperatures, here. kiev not even getting up to the freezing mark for your high towards moscow at minus 3. now, that's the forecast now. at least you're going to see a warming trend out here and what i mean by that, it's all about perspective because kiev, minus 1 for your high on friday. up to 4, moscow up the freezing point for sunday. that's the high, remind you. the low is going to be well below the freezing point and still well below the average for this time of year. let's move over towards eastern asia. want to talk about japan. we have been seeing rain showers for the past several days.

heading into the weekend, decent weather in the forecast. little cooler than normal. still could see drizzle down towards ok inawa by the epd of the weekend, but high pressure is going to be dominating, so similar weather through the korean peninsula. northeastern china, we often see pollutants get tapped and it sits in place and looks like these levels as far as air equal thety back up to unhealthy to potentially hazardous levels. something to watch out for the through the coming days. showers remaining towards the south. if you are out in the tropics, expect them to flare. here's the extended outlook.

that wraps up this edition of "newsline." thanks very much for joining us.

♪ china exports improved big time. does that mean the world economy is picking up? joko the reformer. his opponents are digging in before he takes office. and spinning lettuce. meet the managers bringing factory know how to agriculture. >> great to have you on "asia biz forecast." i'm yuko fukushima. invtors from new york to tokyo were hanging on to their seats as stock markets went through another volatile week. the big swings in share prices reflect growing jitters about the global economy.