hello, welcome to "newsline." it's wednesday, december 10th. i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. ministers from industrialized and developing nations are meeting face to face in peru to fight global warming. they're trying to hammer out an agreement on a new framework to replace the kyoto protocol. but they remain divided on a number of key issues. >> more countries must be part of this solution. all of society must be engaged. this is not a time for tinkering. it's time for transformation.

>> u.n. secretary-general ban ki-moon is calling on all nations to bridge the gap. developing nations are demanding that financial support from industrialized countries be included in their green house gas emission targets but many industrialized countries are opposing the idea. officials from the u.s. and china outlined their targets last month. the move has put the world's two largest emitters to take a leading role to set a new framework. japan has not been able to put its goals on the table yet. the country's energy policies are under review since the 2011 nuclear accident. >> translator: japan hopes to play a bigger role in building confidence among developing and industrialized nations. >> japanese delegates are trying to emphasize that leaders in tokyo are providing technical and financial support to developing nations. three japanese born winners

of the nobel prize in physics are spending their time meeting with the public one day before they're to receive the award. the trio has earned the please te jus honor for the work on blue light emitting diode. the professors visited the science city in sweden. they observed math and computer classes at a high school and watched robots built by students. >> they then visited a shopping mall and took a look at some l.e.d. toys made by children. >> this is incredible.

>> oh, good. >> the other winner a university professor visited the nobel museum in stockholm. he followed the tradition of nobel laureates signing a chair at the museum's cafe. and he also donated an exhibit to help visitors understand the characteristics of blue l.e.d.s. well, this year's nobel peace prize winners have renewed their call to protect children's rights. pakistani teenager and indian human right activist are in oslo, norway, to receive their nobel medals on wednesday. the two met with reporters the day before. they'll share the prize for the fight to abolish child labor and the rights of all children to

education. millions of children have been denied freedom and the right to education. >> every child in the world must be born and free to grow in a peaceful environment. safer environment, protected environment. we have to create such a world. and i'll offer that to work together. >> malala said children must speak up and protect their own rights as she has done. she says the voices of children can bring about change. >> there are so many countries that children don't have a computer, what they're asking for is just to participate. why can't we give a book and a pen, give school to children. we can really change the future. >> the pair will be awarded the peace prize at oslo's city hall on wednesday. the work has impacted some of the poorest children around the world. here's more on his efforts.

>> reporter: he has been working to eradicate child labor for more than 20 years. >> child labor is a crime against humanity. it's violence. if is denying human rights and freedom, and opportunities. education has everything. so child labor has to be abolished completely. >> reporter: he taught at a college after graduating. he then quit his job to start a nongovernmental organization to help poor children. he has been work iing to interve in factories and other places to rescue children who were forced to work like slaves there.

it's not easy to rescue children. he's been in dangerous situations. on one occasion, an employer threatened him with a gun. but he never gave up. so far, his activities have saved more than 80,000 children. his ngo also runs a facility to protect and educate children that have been rescued. many of the children that came to the facility were traumatized

after being forced to work in harsh conditions. >> translator: don't worry, you're free now, aren't you? or are you still a slave? >> translator: i'm a slave. >> translator: no, you're not. you're free. you can play and have fun. that's freedom. >> to give them a sense of freedom, that they are free. >> reporter: the fight against child labor is spreading in this area also. a local ngo affiliated with the society has been emphasizing the importance of education for eradicating child labor in poor farming villages.

but it's not easy to change the views. many of them never attended school themselves. >> translator: my family can't get by unless we send our daughter to work. i don't want to live in poverty anymore. >> it's linked with illiteracy with the parent, with poverty. so many things are involved in it. the society, the government, the business sector, everyone should work hand in hand against child labor. that is my mission of life. and i want to see the end of child labor in my lifetime. and i believe in this. >> reporter: around the world there are about 168 million children who have been forced to work since they were very young.

that is why his fight against child labor goes on. nhk world, new delhi. time to take a look at the business headlines. japan's debt to gdp ratio is one of the highest in the world. leaders want to lessen that burden. but many analysts believe not enough is being done. what's their concerns, ai? >> catherine, that's right, leaders were planning to lessen the debt by hiking up the consumption tax next year. but they have delayed that. we've seen a pretty immediate reaction among people who work at credit rating agencies. they rate how safe an investment they think a product is. the people at fitch are saying they might consider a downgrade for japan. they've put government bonds on what is known rating watch negative. fitch currently rates japan's long-term government bonds at single-a-plus. this is the fifth highest investment grade. government officials in japan have a goal to stabilize the

primary balance. it measures whether the government needs to issue bonds to cover spending. japan has been in a deficit for years, and leaders have a target to cut it in have next fiscal year from what it was in 2010. but fitch analysts say that goal now seems almost impossible. and they say this puts at risk the longer term objective of achieving a primary balance surplus by fiscal 2020. the analysts say they'll decide whether to formally reevaluate japanese government bonds in the first half of next year. analysts at midy's lowered just last week their southern debt by one notch. it's now at a-1, the fifth highest grade. japanese government officials say business sentiment in large companies was in positive territory for a second straight quarter. still, the index shows a decline in the firm's optimism. the officials at the finance

ministry and the cabinet office disclosed the results of their latest survey for the october-to-december quarter. the index for large firms came in at 5.0. the figure is less than half the 11.1 for the previous three-month period. the index is the difference between respondents who expect businesses to improve and those who see it worsening. survey takers polled about 16,000 companies across japan. the respondents also gave their outlook on the next quarter, the index for large companies was unchanged from the current period at 5.0. that data on business sentiment is weighing on the markets. analysts say sharp stock declined in europe and china are affecting trading here in japan, too. the benchmark index averaged the nikkei average opened lower, currently trading lower by more than 1 1/3% from tuesday's close. some investors are locking in gains following the recent

advances. investors are selling the dollar, and buying the yen. the pair is trading in the mid-19 yen levels. traders are adjusting their currency holdings, buying the yen because they consider it a safer asset. they're becoming more uncertain about the global economy. meanwhile, taking a look at the euro/yen, that is currently trading at the upper 147 yen level, 147 to 148 yen. let's take a look at the euro dollar. one euro dollar will get you about $1.23. in other markets in the asia pacific region, south korea's kos pi trading lower by two-thirds percent. australia's is down .7% this morning. the global recall of vehicles over air bags may put a procurement squeeze on honda motor. they're trying to figure out how to secure enough parts needed to deal with any defects in its

recalled vehicles. honda plans to recall 5.4 million cars in the u.s. market alone. if mechanics will look for ruptures in air bags supplied by takata. honda will expand the move worldwide. takata is ramping up inflaters at its factories around the world. honda is to get additional supplies from other japanese parts makers, and swedish ones as well. sources say the auto maker is considering giving financial support to takata. that could include covering some of the costs of air bag production. another japanese automaker mazda motor is also planning nationwide recalls in the u.s. the company has yet to decide which models and how many. i'll have updates on all of these business stories for you next hour. i'll leave you with a check on markets.

tropical storm hagupit has made its way out of the philippines and heading west to vietnam. typhoon haiyan last year left 7,000 people dead or missing. they took no chances, and urged residents to evacuate quickly. nearly 1.7 million moved to safer locations. people in the province of batangas south of manila were seen on tuesday leaving their shelters and returning home. authorities are still estimating crop damage. an initial tally by the agriculture ministry said it could reach $2.2 million.

>> translator: all we can do now is gather what's left of our crops. even if only a few are left, we'll try to cut down and harvest everything we can. even the fallen crops. >> it took three days for hagupit to move across the arc epel a go. authorities at the national disaster risk reduction and management council have confirmed eight deaths. some occurred on the island of samar where the typhoon first made landfall. trees fell on some victims. southern luzon was flooded and hit by landslides. powerful winds damaged more than 260 houses, ripping off the roofs of some buildings. the storm approached manila during the predawn hours from monday. so far, no significant damage has been reported in the capital. with lingering memories of last year's typhoon, residents appear to have responded well to the

government's call to evacuate early. but access remains difficult in areas cut off by landslides. authorities say they're still evaluating the damage. they say they're determined to provide quick relief to people in need. the u.n. special envoy for ebola has warned the epidemic is spreading in sierra leone. the country now has the highest number of cases. >> the increase in transmission in western sierra leone is a reflection of the fact that communities there have yet to fully embrace the outbreak and to take action to avoid infection themselves. >> the special envoy said it was a lack of facilities for isolating ebola patients. he said treatment centers should quickly be built. his remarks came one day after the world health organization said sierra leone has the

largest number of cases among the hardest hit countries in west africa. sierra leone has nearly 7,800 cases, following by liberia and new guinea. the total is 17,800 cases or suspected cases. the united nations set an interim goal of isolating 70% of patients to prevent the further spread of the disease. liberia and guinea have met that goal. but in sierra leone, about 500 new cases are reported each week. a court has ruled that physical fatigue caused the death of a woman following the march 2011 disaster in northern japan. local government officials had refused a claim to that effect by her family. a lawyer said it's the first time a court has gone against such a decision. 85-year-old oyaka lived in se

sendai. >> we survived in our car for three days. we had no water and no food. >> she and her common-law husband returned to the house. they lived there for about a month after the disaster. she needed nursing care. she and her husband decided against living in an evacuation site. she started running a temperature in april. she developed pneumonia. her condition worsened. she died in august. the presiding judge at sendai district court said the conditions worsened her conditions. that led to the physical and mental stress that caused her death. the judge ordered the local government to pay the family condolence money. >> translator: she could have lived longer if there hadn't been an earthquake. >> city officials say they'll carefully examine the ruling and decide how to respond to the case. the central government says more than 3,000 deaths are related to

the disaster. a woman in northern japan has created a video that has a lot of people smiling. she's been trying hard to get survivors of the march 2011 earthquake and tsunami to think positively. she's been seeing a big difference. here's more. >> reporter: this producer lives in fukushima. she's the driving force behind the music video "happy." the video features residents of fukushima, the site of the 2011 nuclear disaster. dancing to the popular song. she wants to show that even in tough times, people don't have to give in to despair. now she's produced another video called fukushima. she's going to share it with the prefecture and its people.

she shows the video, the colors of the leaves in the region. it is one of the most popular sight-seeing area in northeastern japan. an american mom living in tokyo helped her with her latest project. gabe is youtube's supervisor. he has 1.5 million social networking site. >> translator: he has a lot of connections and followers overseas. we thought how nice it would be to let more people know how great fukushima is. >> reporter: they went around the area and documented their trip. the idea behind the video is to share the charm of fukushima and show the situation there. dave brought a geiger counter to

check radiation levels. >> we had our geiger counter with us today, right? we were checking everywhere. it was sometimes the same or lower than tokyo. so i think from that perspective, it's okay. >> reporter: dave is an amateur photographer. he visits popular sight-seeing spots. he takes pictures of the trees as they turn red and yellow. dave says the scenes of daily life and his interactions with the local people were memorable.

>> i think everybody was really nice, lots of nice stuff to see here, i think. good place to visit. >> reporter: they completed three days of shooting. she edits the video to include dave's photos. and here it is, "shoot fukushima." >> this trip is very relaxing. it's very calm, very peaceful here. very different than tokyo. >> translator: there have been many harmful rumors about fukushima, and that has hurt the local economy. nothing would make me happier than to be useful to the recovery effort. >> reporter: "shoot fukushima"

is another way for her to spread the beauty of fukushima to people around the world and make everybody feel happy. nhk world, fukushima. time for a check of the weather. people in northeastern areas of the u.s. dealing with a powerful winter storm. they're being hit with a mix of snow and heavy rain. mai shoji joins us with more. >> residents in the u.s. on both extreme coasts. the ones in the new england states moving to the extreme northeast, this is a nor'easter we call it. a very potent system. the isobars are very close to each other. bringing a lot of the coastal rainfall, making for a new daily record for new york city, for example, and jfk as well as laguardia airports for the maximum rainfall for the day since 1970s. the severe weather outlook is as follows. snowfall will be up to 30

centimeters in the inland locations. but the coastal regions will still see lots of that rainfall. mixed precipitation, so traveling could be very disruptive out here. waves will also be about six meters high. it will be enough reason for localized flooding. out here across the pacific northwest, it's going to be a chain of just storms coming in after another. so the atmospheric river is bringing lots of rainfall. it has been accumulating over the past week, for the coastal locations. but on top of that, it's going to be up to 300 millimeters of rainfall. so that's definitely going to be enough to burst the rivers, to burst their banks. gusts up to 160 kilometers per hour. the waves as high as eight meters. you really don't want to be out in the ocean. out here in the bigger picture, we've got snow and forecasts in d.c. and mild conditions will be prevailing in the midsection of

the u.s. all in double digits. denver still looking at 15 degrees. los angeles at 22. now, across the philippines, we are still keeping this track on the tropical storms. hagupit is moving at 25 kilometers per hour, and so it has picked up the pace over the relatively warm waters. it will remain status as a tropical storm as it pulls into southern vietnam. not only southern vietnam, but ample moisture will be pulled into northern locations. this is an area we have to watch out for the flooding as well as mudslides. flooding will also still be possible due to the amounts of rainfall, about 50 millimeters per hour in eastern luzon, due to the surge of the moisture from the system. meanwhile, high pressure dominating. if you want to do your laundry, it's best to do it today, because tomorrow we have a system pulling in and making things quite wet across much of japan. this is now bringing snowfall of up to ten centimeters in north korea. seoul, escaping from the

snowfall. partly sunny skies with 4 degrees. tokyo at 12. out here across the british isles, we're seeing a potent system pulling in. the isobars are really close together. that means gusty conditions. the gusts could pack as much as 100 kilometers per hour. and it is a slow-moving system. london will be escaping from that storm, but likely to see drizzles and also a lot of the heavy patches of rainfall across the british isles. that will continue for the next few days. i want to finish off with a different note. this is coming out from antarctica. a nine-year trip over 45,000 kilometers by a dutch actress came to the conclusion this last week. she drove from the netherlands to the south pole in her tractor. she drove to capetown before catching a transport plane to the southern continent. the tractor made it. but only for a short period of time before turning around and making the trip back towards the coast.

and on that note, here's your extended forecast. that's all for this edition of "newsline." i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. thank you for joining us. xxxx óox+có/v>ia

>> war, hunger, persecution, natural catastrophes. just some of the terrors which have forced over 50 million people to flee their homes worldwide. if displaced people were to have their own country, it would be the 24th most populous on the planet. welcome to "global 3000," and to our refugee special. the united nations are calling it the biggest humanitarian emergency of our era. after three years of civil war, over half of syria's population is dependent upon foreign aid for survival. already, over 3 million syrians have fled the violence with many more expected to follow. around half have sought refuge in turkey, with some 600,000 or so making for jordan.