and buddhism test. "newsline." it's friday, november 14th. people living in liberia are seeing signs of progress fight against ebola. the country's president has ended a state of emergency put in place to try to control the outbreak. she says the situation there has improved. >> i have informed the leadership of the national legislature that i will not seek an extension to the state of emergency. >> ellen johnson told reporters on thursday that sufficient progress has been made. more than

of ebola in liberia, the highest death toll among the three west african countries. officials declared in august, a state of emergency. they restricted the flow of people in severely affected areas to try to control the situation. and they now say the ebola infections in the country are on the decline. but she warned that new cases are being found in some rural areas. she says people are still try dyeing from the virus and she stressed she'll continue proper management of the outbreak including isolating patients. u.n. officials say the virus is affecting the lives of many west african children and they say it's impagting their education and future. >> reporter: she works at the unic unicef regional office in senegal. together with local governments, she has spent years working to improve the quality of education in rest and the central africa.

she described the out break as a major blow to society as a hole. >> ebola's influence of society in these three countries are profound. it's not only that an epidemic b u also, the whole education system, health system and edge system affected because of the state of emergency in liberia and syria leone, all the schools are closed at the moment. >> the helpless children since outbreak, governments have started -- over the radio. >> between 2:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m., will be listening to mathematics. >> unicef and government

organizations are working to improve the content of this radio programming in an attempt to motivate children to keep on studying. >> t for primary school and one program in junior secondary school and another for ebola messages and life skills forever to fight against ebola. this is really an interesting initiative because radio can reach the children, all of the children, even the children who are not in school. >> reporter: she hopes that the international community will ramp up funding for human resources and equipment. she touched on other grave concerns regarding children. she said that kids infected with ebola and those other diseases are being left behind.

>> ebola treatment units do not have child friendly places for a children's care, so they often they are left on their own. if parents are dead, they will be looked after -- children will be looked after by their relatives, but ebola gives a fear. people will be afraid, am i going to get ebola from that child? traditional social protection system in africa might not work for ebola orphans. that's really a serious problem. >> she says the longer it takes to contain the outbreak, the more difficult it will become to get the social support system back on track.

she warns that both the local and international communities must act now to protect the rights and lives of these threatened children. nhk world. protesters in the streets of hong kong have suffered a setback. a court has denied their appeal. they want authorities to suspend the clearing of barricades from areas occupied. prodemocracy demonstrators have been blocking through main roads in the city since late september. the fully democratic election for the hong kong's chief executive. taxi and bus operators filed a court injunction last month to have the roadblocks cleared, but people supporting the -- filed an appeal asking for the enforcement to be postponed. however, on thursday, the court rejected the appeal. the court for the taxi operators indicated the authorities will likery start clearing the areas as early as this weekend with support of police.

leaders say they're preparing for possible action and that three representatives will head to beijing on saturday to seek direct talks with central government leaders. >> translator: we want leaders to understand that the one country two systems polly will only work when they respect the opinions of p people. >> and there's also no guarantee that they can enter mainland china since the central government see is their activit as illegal. today, many students and citizens participate ng the protest have not been able to visit the mainlands. indian police arrested a doctor in connection with botched sterilization surgeries, they are investigating deaths of at least a dozen women that underwent the procedure. they believe the doctor raced through each operation. police officials in the central state arrested the surgeon on

wednesday on suspicion of professional negligence. they say he performed sterilization procedures saturday on 83 women. 80 complained of nausea and pain after the surgery and 12 have died. police are investigating where the operating procedures, including the disinfection of tools were adequate. the doctor says he did nothing wrong. the indian government has been promoting sterilization as a way to control the population boom. they offered cash to people to undergo the procedure. human rights groups say some health authorities have a target for the number of people sterilized. indian media reports the government's campaign is a factor behind the tragedy. the operator of fukushima daiichi is facing another hurdle. workers have been trying to address a build up of radioactive water at the power plant, but now, the lie highly contaminated water may be seep

frg the buildings into waters. officials with tokyo electric plan to pump out the water and fill the tunnels with cement. the process involves freezing some of the water as well as plugging the gaps with filler materials. crews finished the project this month, but found that water levels in the reactor building and the tunnels are still at the same heights. the workers say it suggests that the flow between them may not have been stopped. tepco officials say that if the situation does not improve, they may start filling with tunnels with cement even before they finish removing the contaminated water. lawmakers in japan's main ruling part are trying to stop what they suspect is coral poaching. they are pushing for higher fines for any illegal fishing.

nhk world has more. >> reporter: this was the scene off the islands in the early hours wednesday, and it's nothing new. coast guard personnel have been telling chinese crews to leave around 100 times a day for over a month. the captains just ignore them. authorities in tokyo have been monitoring more than 100 chinese vessels near the islands. they suspect the crews are stealing coral. they've repeatedly urged the government in beijing to stop them.

japan coast guard officials have arrested six captains since last month. lawmakers in the liberal democratic party approved the bill to raise the maximum fine to around $260,000. that's 7.5 times the current penalty for any foreign boat that fishes in japanese territorial waters. it also applies to any that operates without permission in the country's exclusive economic zone. the lawmakers also want to higher fines for any crew that refuses to let the japan coast guard come aboard. they want to raise it tenfold, to around $26,000. the lawmakers want to get the deal passed during the current diet session. they expect to get cooperation from the coalition partners and the main opposition party. the suspected coral poaching is also worrying leaders in the united states. >> these illicit activities are

threaten an increasing variety of terrestrial fresh water and marine species, including coral. >> reporter: u.s. government officials are trying to crack down on smuggling and poaching. in february, they compiled a national strategy to fight wildlife trafficking. in june, they hosted an international conference on protecting the resources and creatures in the oceans. analysts say u.s. leaders are also concerned the coral poaching issue could harm relations between japan and china. japanese prime minister abe and chinese president jinping held their first summit this week. masaki ohtaki, nhk world, tokyo. people who work for japanese companies are in for welcome news in time for the holidays. for many of them, their checks are getting bigger. we have more from the business desk with details. >> executives in japan are or thinking about paying their

employees more for several reasons. for example, earnings have been solid for many of them, so they have profits that they can distribute and it's competitive out there. so, they have to pay up to secure the best candidate. this has played out well for employees. those that work at major japanese companies are expected to get more from their winter bonuses this year. the japan business federation held its annual survey of companies listed on the text message with 500 employees or more. 76 firms responded. results showed the afternoon worker is expected to receive a winter bonus of about $7,706. posting a rise for a second straight year. the average winter bonus for this year marked the third highest figure since the federation began taking the survey in 1981. a higher increase was apparent in manufacturing industries. breakdowns by sector showed that bonuses in the cement industry

marked an increase of about 14.8% in chemicals up about 8% and in electronics, up about 7.2%. researchers say that business performance improved at many firms partly due to the weaker yen. this has apparently led to higher winter bonuses. new university graduates who begin work this spring received higher starting salaries than those last year. it's the first increase in three years. officials at the labor ministry said new graduates earned about $1,730 a month. that's $20 more on average and up 1.2% in yen terms. about 50,000 companies responded to the poll. starting salaries at large companies with 1,000 or more workers went up 0.4% marking a second straight year of increase. mid sized and small firm turned declines into increases this spring.

got paid of 2% this year. ministry officials say more small firms raised starting salaries because of a labor shortage in sectors like construction and nursing care. let's take a look at how markets are trading. tokyo stock pricing traded higher, the benchmark nikkei topped 17,500 for the first time in more than seven years as you can see, it has backed off a touch now. investors are taking some profits. right now, the nikkei is down a quarter percent. 17,349. let's take a look at currencies. traders are selling the yen on growing speculation that the planned hike in japan may be postponed. the dollar has climbed to the

116 yen level, a seven-year high. rig now, just above that mark. the euro is at 144.53 to 63. let's also take a look at what's happening on other asian markets. south korea's kospi trading lower and in australia, the benchmark index is trading higher. executives at u.s. retailer walmart stores are happy with cent market moves. they're seeing u.s. consumers spend more at their stores as they don't need to pay so much for gasoline. walmart's earnings report ending in october shows their net sales in the u.s. rose 3.4% year on year to $70 billion. sales at existing stores excluding those just opened or closed rose 0.5%. from a year earlier.

this marks the first increase in seven quarters. walmart u.s. president says gasoline prices have definitely dropped and american consumers have more money to spend freely. the average gasoline price has fallen about 20% from the peak mark in april due to a drop in crude oil prices. many experts expect that a sharp drop in gasoline prices will boost consumer spending ahead of the holiday shopping season beginning later this month. i'll have more business headlines for you next hour. for now, i'll leave you with a check on markets.

european space agency officials say they're getting signals back from a probe that touched down on a comet and they say the lander philae has begun sending its first images. >> it was very exciting when you knew that the first images were to come from the lander. >> they show show the landing gear and comet's landing surface. rosetta was launched in 2004. three months ago, it caught wup the comet, 679. it landed went. after the philae lander detached. rosetta commented its back feels chilly after philae left and philae replied it feels like

it's floating. they replied that the harpoons are not working properly. they say the landing site the different from their original plan and they say their concerned that the solar batteries may not have received enough sun light. the comet is believed to contain substances dating back to the formation of the solar system, 4.6 billion years ago. scientists hope that samples could provide clues to the orgin of comets, our solar system and life on earth. nishikori has advanced to the semifinals of the atp world tour championship. nishikori is the first asian player to make it to the men's singles final four in this prestigious season ending tourn. . he faced terar of spain -- at the last minute. however, the unexpected opponent didn't rattle nishikori. he defeated him 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 in

the best of three set match. nishikori is ranked fifth in the world. he ended round robin play in london with two wins, one loss. roger federer of switzerland beat andy murray of england to ensure a top spot in group brk. nishikori's next opponent will be the winner of group a to be decide ds on friday. people in japan and around the world are trying to stop a so-called pick up artist from bringing his seminar to their countries. he sparked outrange online after teaching men how to meet japanese women went viral. australian authorities cut short his tour and immigration officials here are hearing calls to take action. >> she recently joined a growing

global movement. >> to be honest, i was very shocked. >> by this video -- how easy it is to pick up japanese women. >> at least in tokyo, if you're a white male, you can do what you want. >> this is what blank means by doing what you want. this, too. unacceptable. she joined more than 45,000 others in signing a petition, urging immigration authorities to stop him from bringing his seminar to japan. >> translator: japanese women are not accustomed to saying no very strongly. he's taking advantage of that. and it makes me really angry. >> jennifer lee got angry, too. she watched the video at her home in washington, d.c., and right away created the hash tag. >> but at that moment, i was

just like i need to do something. >> tens of thousands of people chimed in. lee's campaign unfolded when he was in australia doing social seminars for a company that teaches men how to meet women. she pressured hotels there to cancel his bookings, then the government canceled his visa. similar actions are underway in written, canada and the u.s. >> you can do a lot via social media. it spreads the word around. >> the online community in japan has also been spreading the word. >> it's scum bag stuff. >> this guy is sexually harassing women in japan. >> this has no place in our society. >> american rachel moon, who runs a youtube channel with her japanese husband, spoke out, too. >> they're not treating these women as women. as people. they're just treating them as like the prize to some sort of societial game they want to play.

>> japanese immigration authorities tell us they've never received a petition with tens of thousands of names on it. they say they scrutinize any information they get about foreign visitors. the people at real social dynamics didn't respond to our questions for a comment, but their cofounder wrote online that the video was quote, absolutely stupid and apologized. as for blanc, he was supposed to be in tokyo this weekend, but that trip has been scratched. still, b somebody from the company is supposed to visit in january. it's time for a check of the weather. people in many areas of the u.s. are dealing with severe weather conditions and seeing temperatures plumeting. >> the u.s. is covered with a

cold wave. the cold surge has brought the temperatures down to about freezing or below that. even across the four corners region. we have some videos coming up from here to show you what people are actually dealing as we speak. a potent cold surge drove south across the u.s. this week bringing snowfall and dropping temperatures for more than half the country. the heaviest snowfall occur nd th micga town where 108 centimeters fell this week. authorities say four people were killed in minnesota due to slick roads. now, as one snowstorm moves east, another one is working its way to the west. these images out of oregon show us the snow, which is already coveringing the tree land roadways. more snow will surely make for slick conditions. traveling will be very much disturbed and we're also talking about gusts that are reaching to about 65 kilometers per hour around colorado and another snowfalloving in.centimets o to the pacific side though,

seeing this turn to freezing rain and possibly heavy rain across these locations, especially around washington and more snow for you out here in the east. we're likely to see some first snow of the season in new york. as much as 1 to 2 centimeters. down towards the south, wefr a cold front and that's likely to bring dramac temperature drops, about 8, 9, or 10 degrees difference. especially in and around columbia and georgia swelz some areas in florida. a huge drop into friday and the low temperatures will continue on to your saturday. usually, your highs reach about 20s, but they only look at the low teens into your -- do bundle up. new york as i mentioned, has

snow in the forecast, but your lows are extremely low. denver, still looking at minus 12 degrees. easy to get frostbite within 30 minutes, so please watch out for this cold wave. across europe, thin are still very severe. the system is now moving into the southern balkans and western turkey. still the chance for tornados and heavy rainfall. rainfall alerts are across southeastern areas of france and northern italy because of this system pulling in, so not a break at all for these locations where the flooding is just ongoing. another round of heavy rain could worsen the situation. wet and windy conditions will be widely spread across the peninsula and british aisles and we're still looking at warsaw here in the east with rain for you. it's still well above the

average. winter pressure, very typical one, about 19 centimeters of snowfall day. that's like lly to add on top of what we have here. 50 sint meters in some sections of hokkaido. snow adding up to 40 centimeters in hokkaido and gts will be reaching about 126 kilometers per hour today. i'll leave you now with your extended forecast.

that's all for this edition of kn"newsline."

the financial markets just can't get enough. the world's largest floating structure. it could be allen g.'s answer to shale gas. and china is launching a new development bank, but not everyone is landing a hand. hello, you're watching "asia biz forecast." the bulls are out in force on global stock markets. currency traders have also had a busy week. tokyo stocks rose about 17,000, the highest level in