hello, you're watching "newsline". health officials say they've confirmed an outbreak of bird flu at a poultry farm. they found the h5 strain of the flu in three birds. they conducted a genetic test after 29 birds were found dead on the farm. workers began counting chickens early tuesday morning. they plan to bury the car kuses nearby. prefecture authorities have ordered two nearby farms not to ship any poultry or eggs.

the agriculture ministry had an urgent mee meeting to tis kus how to respond to the outbreak. >> we have to take swift action. initial response is most important. in preventing the spread of the flu. >> prime minister abe has asked officials to provide fast and k accurate information. he told members of his government to work faster than ever to prevent the flu from spreading. health ministers from across asia are discussing measures to prevent ebola across the region. they're in bangkok for a meeting. >> on measures for the preparedness and response to ebola outbreak that will be implemented in the national regional and global. >> officials from 13 countries

agreed to work together to develop drugs and vaccines. experts fear the region's warm and humid climate will contribute to the spread of infectious diseases. they plan to step up monitoring of anyone arriving from countries affected by the outbreak. members will inaugurate a zone next year that will enable more movement of goods. the urgent need is for other diseases before it -- commandos in sydney have brought an end to a day-long siege in a city center cafe. they stormed the building after hearing a series of loud bangs. they say the gunman and two hostages have been killed. >> two deceased amongst the hostages and six that were uninjured. we also have a lone gunman who has been shot and killed. and we have a police officer who

has been injured as a result of a gunshot wound to the face. >> several people fled from the cafe shortly before the police went in. the siege began before 10:00 a.m. local time on monday. the gunman entered the cafe and took staff and customers hostage. local media say more than ten people were in the cafe at the time. police say the gunman is an iranian refugee. with a record of violent incidents. he reportedly demanded an islamic state flag be brought to the cafe. he also asked to speak to australian prime minister tony the plot is thickening in a political scandal involving south korea's president. authorities have been investigating allegations park's aide meddled in state affairs. now, prosecutors have summoned her brother for questioning. last month, a newspaper reports the aide tried to have park's

chief of staff fired. the information was based on a leaked document from the president's office. he denies the accusations and has filed a suit against the paper. president park also denies the allegations that authorities are investigating the source of the leak. the president's younger brother visited the seoul district prosecutor's office on monday and said he's ready to share what he knows with investigators. they are said to have been involved in a power struggle over control of the president's office. the scandal has already dealt a heavy blow to president park, whose support rate has been declining. human rights activists are monitoring how south korea is dealing with its media and are urging the government to stop using criminal information as a sciencing tool. members issued a statement. it refers to the statement president park's aides filed against reporters and says

criminal defamation laws have a chilling echkt on freedom of expression and work against public interest. it also refers to a trial against a chief of a japanese newspaper. cato is accused of defaming president park. the statement says all laws criminalizing peaceful expression should be repealed. officials from one of the world's biggest air bag makers have been counting the cost of a major safety scandal. executives may find the damage. we have all the details. what's the latest? >> u.s. safety regulators have spent some time investigating air bags by the japanese firm takata. they say in some situations, the bags can blast apart and spray metal. lawmakers have linked the

product to at least five deaths. now, lawyers at a new york firm are getting involved. they're preparing a class action lawsuit for damages of up to $2 billion. but lawyers say the case will combine more than 50 individual suits nationwide and they say it will also target car makers including honda and toyota. the plaintiffs will include openers of vehicles with the air bags as well as people effected by accidents. the lawyers say they'll file the suit in january. they'll argue for the plaintiffs that takata and the car makers knew of the defect, but concealed it. the energy minister of the united arab emirates says he's not fazed by the falling price of crude oil. countries won't cut back on production. traders have taken that as a cue and have off loaded more crude futures and pushed prices down this to their lowest level in five and a half years. the west texas intermediate

dropped to below $56 a barrel. the uae minister said countries won't limit output even if the price falls to below $40. delegates initially agreed not to scale down production. since then, they've seen futures in crude plunge by more than 20%. prices rebounded briefly on speculation that libya and nigeria might cut their output, but assurances from the uae minister triggered renewed selling. falling oil prices are bad news for oil exports countries like russia. traders are selling the ruble against major currencies on worries of the economy. the dollar rose more than 10% against the ruble on monday hitting 65. it was the biggest rise since 1998. in response, russian central bankers decided to raise their key interest rate from 10.5% to

17. russians stock prices fell, too. the benchmark rts index plunged more than 10%. this negative sentiment carried over to western europe, the u.s., now here in japan. the nikkei index is trading below 17,000 for the first time in one month. the index is exactly at 16,807. a loss of 1.7%. investors are selling stocks across the board, major exporter shares are being heavily sold on a stronger yen. so, on to currencies now. traders are buying the yen against other major currencies since they regard the japanese currency as a safer asset as global stock markets are falling. at other markets, we are seeing a negative picture in this part of the world. kospi trading lower by more than half a percent. in australia, we are seeing losses bigger than a third a spernt.

officials at the bank of japan say people who run businesses are feeling less confident about the future. officials at the central bank lease leased the results from their latest survey. they say manufacturers plan to boost capital investment by more than 12% this fiscal year. central bank officials say the number of managers who can't find enough workers is much greater than those who have too many. they say the difference is at its greatest level in 22 years. the people who run japanese beverage maker sunturi are aiming to make the best whisky in the world. they've seen their product win a prize at a global competition in

britain, but are struggling with connoisseurs nationwide. we'll look at country's strategies to be the west. produced 90 years ago here at the distillery in the western prefecture of o kai siaka. the facility -- -- pot stills. top prize winning whiskys are produced here. whiskys are left in wood barrels for years for ageing. and the maker blends various whiskys in house to produce its distinguished flavors. the unique blending process, which can c cannot be found in scotland, the traditional home of whisky, has

improved the quality. he is the chief blender. in scotland, a single blender traditionally decides the taste and aroma of a whisky, but fukuoi crafts the blends with four other employees. the goal is to produce a perfectly balanced product. >> we can obtain greater perfection in developing and maintaining our flavors when we incorporate the expertise of the team in the building process. >> scotch whisky is a major british industry. japanese whisky is already on par with scotch, but it's still little known in the u.k. >> have you had the japanese whisky before? >> no. didn't know they made it. >> is it big in japan? >> japanese whiskys lag far

behind in terms of global market share. raising their profile is key to boosting sales. he is a marketing specialist at the london office. together with zar and perric, a senior member of the u.k. bartender's guild, he organizes more than 400 tasting events a year to promote japanese whisky. about 70 whisky lovers attend this tasting. they want the connoisseurs to try japanese whisky and then spread its excellence by word of mouth. >> our aim is to gain more japanese whisky fans. he explains that the blessings of nature allow them to create

the finest quality. he stresses the importance of water, a key ingredient. >> fantastic, really doing a good job. most of the whiskys he presented were sold. he wrapped them japanese style for taking home. >> here, people tend to ask if japanese is delicious. we urge them to -- we believe if we win recognition here, our

whiskys can spread globally. >> winning over british consumers is the test to becoming number one in the world. >> that's all for now in business. i'll leave you with a check on markets. authorities in hong kong have put an end to more than two

months of street occupations. they've cleared the last protest site. they tore down barricades along the 100 meter stretch of road in a shopping district. they had been blocking several major roads in the city since september. they're upset over a decision by leaders in beijing to vet candidates hong kong's chief executive elections in 2017. >> tourists, true democracy, will not end. >> the confrontations between demonstrators and authorities are expected to continue. police arrested more than 20 people over the weekend during a protest march. japanese prime minister abe focuseded his election campaign on his economic policies. on sunday, his ruling coalition secured a majority in the lower house and now that he's

celebrating victory, he's ready to move abenomics forward. >> yesterday, we got voter support for abenomics, so i want to advance the policy in three areas. we will take action immediately with economic stimulus measures by the end of this year. we will compile a budget for the next fiscal year. the diet will be convened at the start of next year. we want to carry out drastic deregulation in areas such as agriculture, health care, and energy. and we'll strongly promote our growth strategy. we will not change our policy of

reducing dependency on nuclear power through energy savings and introducing renewable resources. but as for nuclear plants, if we can confirm the necessary safety measures, we'd like the facilities to be restarted with the consent of local people. amending the constitution has been our party's consistent aim since its foundation. amendments need 2/3 approval in the diet and a majority of support in a national referendum. as ldp president, i would like to continue to work to seek public understanding on the matter.

>> people across japan have mixed reactions about another turn with abe and the policies he will try to implement. >> i'm happy the ldp has scored a major victory. i think abe is the person who can make us proud of our country. >> i'm afraid japan's politics will turn. >> i think it will be better if various parties can take part by providing different ideas for the public good. >> people are hopeful the government will focus more on the reconstruction of the prefecture. >> i hope the winners will try hard for the recovery. >> i want the government to come up with a policy that makes me feel glad to have been a following japan, a policy that

will last for 100 years. >> many people question the low voter turnout in sunday's election. >> i saw many friends saying on twitter that they're not going to the vote because it was cold. they weren't interested, so i thought i didn't have to go either. >> my colleagues weren't going to the vote. i have an impression that only elder people went. >> voter turnout was 52.66%, a post war low. more than six points lower than the general election two years ago. people living in remote villages of japan are looking for ways to address a common problem. they've started to create a stress free environment that's been luring them back. >> the village lies about two hours west of central tokyo.

a bus pulls in. a group of city people looking to relieve their stress. it's a tour for young professionals in their 20s and 30s with demanding jobs in tokyo with i.t. or financial companies. physical activity such as tree thinning is an important part of the stress relief program. the tour is accompanied by a nurse, who explains the relaxing benefits of each activity. >> what an amazing smell. >> as you cut the tree, it releases scents that have a very calming effect, which helps eliminate stress. after the hard work, they wind down with yoga.

>> so, who gets to press -- >> the nurse also leads a seminar on stress prevention, giving the participants practical lifestyle advice. >> even the air smells different here. it's good that it's not so far from the city. >> the tour was organized by a member of a local non-profit group. he moved to the village earlier this year, leaving behind his stressful lifestyle as working as assistant engineer in tokyo. >> my aim is to share my

experience with others who are suffering from stress. i hope it helps them connect with each other better and they can apply this experience in their workplaces when they get back to the city. >> the npo group has begun a new program arranging long-term accommodation at a hot spring in. some rooms have been converted for use as satellite offices, so they're ideal for i.t. companies doing project work. >> the baths can be used anytime. it's an environment conducive to communication. >> it's good to be able to discuss things we'd never touch on in daily life. >> during break, they can work with local people on farming jobs. it's all aimed at helping them relax. >> it's quiet here.

and there's no tv. so, it's easier for us to communicate with each other. that's the appeal. i'm thinking we could keep our headquarters in tokyo, but actually move up here to work. >> tackling stress and revitalizing the local community. it's a win win situation. and it could become a model for other villages around japan that are dealing with dwindling populations. time now for a check on the weather robert speta that has details and more. >> let's get into our latest storm system that is now rolling across much of the country. this comes much on the heels of the last one over the weekend. this is a castle there, you can see covered in some snowfall and in this area, we saw upwards, it has been a slow go out

roads. many trains were delayed over the weekend. the problem is is, now, we're going to be seeing more snowfall in your forecast. not only for the sea of japan coastline, but as far west as kyushu. we have a split low here, that means we have that low coming along the pacific coast of japan. first, most of this is going to be rainfall. warm air moving in ahead of this low. but it is going to be switching to snow. take a look at this though. look at the pressure on this. 952. typically, the lower you have with the pressure with the storm system, the stronger it is, not always the case, but with this scenar scenario, we have the strong high back there towards the west. our lows continue to deepen and that means very gusty winds. some areas as much as 80 centimeterses of accumulation. one whiteout conditions.

you're going to be wanting to stay indoors. inclutding tokyo, some rainfall, by i wouldn't be surprised if you get a rain-snow mix and maybe a few flurries out of this. the heavier stuff is back inland, 20, 30 centimeters, back towards the west. that's western japan, farther towards the south, you could see upwards of about 20, 30 centimeters of snowfall coming out of this. as far as your three-day forecast, rain showers on tuesday, but that switches to snow. sapparo, even the fukushima snow lingering until thursday. japan still dominated fwi storm system, but high pressure is really dominating much of central, eastern china. i want to take your attention back farther towards the west in the southwestern because we have

been seeing a storm system push out of nepal and northern india. there's some video, because you're also contending with snowfall here. our local residents just inching their way across the snow in this area. the snowstorm started on saturday, caused traffic -- 45 centimeters of snow piled up by sunday and some areas received as much as 60 centimeters. strong gusts of snow reduced visibility. in the forecast, high today, cloudy skies for you. let's wrap things up into the americas. still talking a t this storm system. some areas could see as much as 20 centimeters pushing through the northern plains into the western great lakes. down towards the south, isolated storm. don't expect any tornados.

we saw two. one in kansas and one in oklahoma on sunday. big rainmaker, travel delays expected in the northeastern states. here's your extended forecast.

>> thanks for joining us on "euromaxx highlights," we have put together the best bits of the week for you, lets have a look at what's coming up. on fire. what makes markus katterle one of the world's best pyro technicians? beautiful york. we visit one of england's most picturesque mediaeval cities having a ball. why europe's dance floors fill up in the winter months. when it comes to staging huge outdoor events, the flash art group from germany are your first point of contact. pyrotechnician markus katterle and his team use fire, gunpowder, water and lasers to put on performances. they have staged some of the world's most spectacular events, so we met up with katterle in his lab in bielefeld as he prepared for the national