hello there. welcome to "newsline." it's thursday, november 5th. i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. there are new revelations about the crash of the russian passenger plane. the jet went down saturday in egypt's sinai desert killing all 224 people on board. britain's foreign secretary suggesting a possible cause. >> we have concluded there is a significant possibility that that crash was caused by an explosive device on board the aircraft. >> hammond spoke to reporters after a meeting of the government crisis response committee. he didn't elaborate on intelligence reports, but he did say all flights to the egyptian resort of sharm el sheikh are suspended.

that's where the russian flight originated. aviation authorities are analyzing data from the black boxes. the civil aviation ministry said the cockpit recorder is damaged. egypt has dismissed claims by a group linked to islamic state that they brought down the plane. they say the militants don't possess weapons capable of reaching that high of an altitude. >> the operator of the nuclear power plant in central japan is to apply for screening of one of the three actors in a bid to put it back online. they concluded in the assessment in martha the number two reactor stands directly above a fault that could move in the future. the unit may be forced to shut down permanently. japan adopted tougher regulations that banned construction of reactor buildings and other key instruct tours above such faults after the food sheem ma power

disaster. they will apply on thursday for a safety screening. the operator compiled reports on the new findings after carrying out fresh drilling surveys and other onsite studies. it argued it found that the fault that the nuclear regulator concluded may shift in the future is not active for many years and said the fault will remain inactive. nuclear regulation authority chairman suggested that experts will study the application and attach importance to the panel conclusion. >> defense ministers close add a meeting in malaysia without consensus. they scrapped the statement after differences emerged between the u.s. and china over mentions of the disputes in the south china sea. nhk world reports from kuala

lumpur. >> what is the issue and who objected is just going to fuel it amongst ourselves. we couldn't sign the jd because there was no consensus. it was a decision by asean. >> china's construction of artificial islands has caused alarm over its territory ambitions. the united states last week sent a warship close to an artificial island on what it called a freedom of navigation patrol. u.s. defense secretary ash carter and chang wanquan held a meeting on tuesday. china wanted to keep any mention of the south china sea out of the final declaration. the u.s. as well as japan backed the philippine's position that the topic must be included. asean is planning to create a single market of 600 million people and become a unified engine of the world economy. many countries want to resolve the potential maritime flash

point close to its middle. so far, they have failed to agree on how. the philippines had a dispute with china over the spratly islands. the president says international law allows for freedom of navigation. other members, such as cambodia and laos are not directly involved, but depended heavily on china for investment. they support china's position that each dispute should only be resolved with the countries concerned. >> we will continue to engage china. we will continue to engage the u.s. if it cannot be done bilaterally, we'll do it as a group. >> reporter: observers say the failure has again revealed how divided members are with china. >> u.s. dwens secretary ash carter plans to go on board a

u.s. navy aircraft carrier operating in the south china sea on thursday. >> the teddy roosevelt's presence here and our visit is a symbol of our commitment to our rebalance and the importance of the asia pacific to the united states. >> carter's remark is believed to be designed to keep china in check as it continues to claim sovereignty in the disputed areas of the south china sea. carter was asked to comment on whether u.s. activities are heightening tensions in the region. he replied that the presence of u.s. naval vessels in the south china sea is not new. what is new is dredging and militarization. >> defense ministers of japan and china have discussed china's activity in the disputed area, but they failed to narrow their differences over the issue. china's chan wanquan held talks after attending the aasean

ministerial meeting. this was the first time the defense ministers of the two countries met in about four years. nakatani expressed concern and expressed the importance of securing freedom of navigation and maintaining order in the region. chang responded that it needs to be resolved among the concerned parties. the two ministers agreed on the early launch of a defense hot line between the countries to prevent accidental clashes in the air or sea. >> they have been talking about the economy and joining us now from the business desk, tell us, who was there and what did they discuss? >> this was a pretty high level meeting and included the chinese premiere and also the chairman of japan's biggest business federation. the two sides were able to have an official meeting for the first time in six years. the scale of the delegation expanded this year with the participation from the japan chamber of commerce and industry

which represents small and medium sized businesses. they met the chinese premiere at the great hall of the people in beijing. >> translator: the japanese delegation's visit shows that the members expect to have stronger economic ties with china. >> the delegation was eager to find out how he would comment on china's economic policies and he xpraned the five-year plan, they need an annual growth rate of 6.5% to meet the goal of establishing a moderately prosperous society and called for active investments from japan. japanese business leaders were happy to hear about that target growth rate. >> translator: we still have lingering concerns but it seems

that china is trying to be realistic by stating the target of 6.5%. a soft landing may be possible. >> japan post holdings and its two financial arms made their debut on tokyo stock exchange on wednesday. now they need to impress investors by improving profitability. executives from the japan post bank plan to strengthen asset management operations and cut holdings of japanese government bonds and diversify their portfolio by investing in foreign bonds. legal regulations do not allow the bank to provide loans to businesses or home buyers. >> translator: we aim to become one of the world's top institutional investors by hiring more skilled and talented people. >> executives at japan post the

group's core firm are studying takeovers of overseas logistics companies and the company acquired on australian based logistics firm in may. the emissions scandal involving volkswagen is widening of the carbon dioxide data was falsified on 100,000 gasoline powered cars. officials earlier admitting cheating on emission tests for carbon deoxide and nitrogen oxides. falsified results from 800,000 cars made by volkswagen. the transport minister is now saying 98,000 of them were gasoline powered. the engines are reportedly 1.4 liter models sold under the volkswagen and audi brands. they offer tax breaks for

environmentally friendly vehicles that ee met low levels of carbon dioxide. they have to pay extra tax retroactive to the purchase date. he says he will study ways of makesing volkswagen and not the owners shoulder the extra cost and cite the costs to the company of $2.2 billion. the disclosures have sent a shock wave to european stock markets. volkswagen share prices temporarily plunged more than 10% in trading on wednesday. let's check in on the markets here in tokyo. share prices are trading higher this morning. bucking an overnight slump on wall street after federal reserve chair janet yellen hinted of a december rate hike. this is pushing up the dollar and boosting export related shares in tokyo. the benchmark nikkei up at 19,010. it is continuing yesterday's momentum, which was fueled by

the ipo of three japan post companies and their stock prices are rising this morning as well. let's move on to currencies the dollar gained following yellen's comments and some encouraging jobs data, a two-month high against the yen. the pair is trading in the mid 121 yen levels. as the fed and european central bank are taking different policies, the u.s. currency climbed to a three-month high against the euro, single currency knew fetching just about $1.08. taking a look at other markets across the asia pacific, sydney shares are trading lower, down 1.25%. in seoul, also down by just about half a percent. more for you next hour in business. i'll leave you with a check on some other markets.

the presidents of china and taiwan are about to make history. xi jinping and ma ying-jeou will sit down for talks this weekend. it will be the first meeting of its kind in more than six decades. a spokesperson for taiwan's presidential office said the leaders will discuss cross-trade relations. xinhua news agency says the leaders will discuss ways to pursue peaceful development. in 1949, china's national party

commanders lost a civil war against the communists and they withdrew to taiwan and cross-strait relations have been strained ever since. in the late '90s, the then taiwanese president inflamed the situation. he said the sides had a state-to-state relationship. beijing and taipei ceased all communication. the opposition democratic progressive party succeeded lee and regarded chen as pro-independence and relations worsened. things changed in 2008 with the election of the nationalist party as president. ma reopened cross-strait dialogue through liaison offices in taiwan and china. he also started direct flights to china. last year, the taiwanese leader oversaw the first ministerial level meeting with beijing. ma will leave office in about six months. voters will go to the polls in

january to choose his successor. ma hopes to use the talks with xi to show how far his government has improved ties with beijing. japan supreme court has heard two separate lawsuits questioning the constitutionality of two civil code articles related to marriage and women's rights. here's more. >> reporter: one article states that married couples in japan should use a single sur name and the other says women cannot re-mary within 180 days of getting a divorce. plaintiffs say the two provisions run counter to japan's constitution which guarantees gender equality. the current one surname policy

has far-reaching consequences for some. this couple chose not to register their marriage because both parents expected them not to change their surnames. the offshot of this, the pair is not recognized as a legally married couple. their two daughters have to ugs their mother's surname unless they take the issue to court. the couple will now qualify for the usual inher ens tax break. when one needs surgery,thy ask a partner to sign consent. since they are not legally married, that consent may not be enough. >> translator: we may not be recognized as a family, that's what i'm afraid of. >> japan's government con ducked

a survey three years ago on this issue. the result showed public opinion running neck in neck for and against allowing use of different surnames. nhk survey shows the same results, supporters of amending the article say it will be more convenient for their work if people can retain their maiden names. they also say separate names are needed to preserve family names amitd the declining birth rate. but opponents say the use of separate names will destroy family ties as they say people may lose the sense of unity among family members. in japan, the proposal for changing the law has been talked about for more than two decades. but nothing has changed. the united nations has recommended japan revise the law as it sees it as discriminatory

legislation and the other civil code provision to go before the court bans women from remarrying within 180 days of a divorce to avert disputes over the paternity of children. the civil code stipulates that children born to women within 300 days of a divorce will be recognized as offspring of their previous husbands. it further stipulates that children born at least 200 days after their mother's remarriage will be acknowledged as offspring of their mother's current husbands. the provision was drawn up under the notion if mothers remarry soon after divorce, children's fathers cannot be identified. a plaintiff who couldn't get married right after her divorce sent a letter to nhk. she questions why in an age of dna paternity testing such legal

provisions are necessary. she says all she wanted was to turn her happiness, which she worked hard to achieve into a marriage. >> the two provisions in question date back to the 19th century, some say they are outdate and do not reflect either advancements in technology or social changes. the supreme court right behind me is expected to hand down rulings as early as the end of this year. nhk world, tokyo. following the disaster at the fukushima daiichi nuclear power plant, many of the surroundings communities had to be evacuated with no people around wild animals took over and even though evacuation orders are being lifted, people are thinking twice about returning to their homes. >> reporter: hunter visits his home almost every day.

since he had to move to an evacuation shelter in 2011, the town has changed unimaginably. his home now has new occupants, a family of wild boars and they show no fear of people. >> they are good at opening the door. they got in the house through a small gap between the wooden boards and destroyed the interior. they ate our rice bread. more than four years have passed since residents were forced to evacuate after the nuclear disaster. wild animals have moved in claiming them as their own territory. in nearby town, after the evacuation order was lifted, the shocking incident took place. the family moved back in with their dog and it was bitten to death by a group of wild boars

outside the house. >> it feels as though the dog sacrificed itself for us. >> reporter: he and other local hunters called about 500 wild boars, but he doesn't feel it is having much impact in controlling their numbers. every morning they put food out as bait but the boars have about harder to catch. hidden cameras were installed to find out why. they showed a wild boar visiting the area almost every day for two weeks. but each time it avoided the trap. even after catching the boars, the hunters have mixed feelings about killing them. >> i feel sorry for them but someone has got to do it. >> the boars they capture can't

be eaten or sold because of buildup of radioactivity in their flesh. veterinarian is leading the research into ways to prevent the damage caused by wild animals. he has been studying the behavior of wild boars caught by local hunters. his team created a special collar equipped with gps. the collar transmits a signal every 15 minutes to give him the boar's location. >> translator: this red dot is 208. >> he's looking for clues to shed light on the boar's behavior and prevent further damage. >> translator: if we can find out where wild boars like to live, we might be able to change

the environment to make it less attractive for them. >> the same problem is affecting other evacuated areas of fukushima, a rapid increase in wild animal numbers. the local people are looking for ways to live alongside the wild animals as they did before the nuclear disaster. >> a storm is brewing in the ara arabian sea and following the storm of another path through yemen. what's the status on the latest storm? >> this storm is continuing to move over the arabian sea and the trajectory is not looking so good. it is moving towards the west. we've been talking about the

impact that brought multiple times the amount of annual rainfall in a 24-hour period. we don't need any more rainfall in this region as it tries to recover from the storm. and right now this system is looking like it's going to bring at least precipitation, whether it's going to hold itself together or not, we have to keep an eye on it. for the moment, it's going to have a hard time keeping the spin. the cyclonic spin-up may be on the weaker side but the rain associated with it will continue to hold itself together for the next few days. we'll have to keep an eye out for that system into the weekend and first part of next week and see if it will bring an impact for the arare ybian peninsula. high pressure the dominant force. we talk about high pressure. what is high pressure? an area of sinking air. opposite air is rising we're seeing evaporation and go to clouds and water cycle an seeing

precipitation. high pressure is the opposite. usually clear skies and more pleasant conditions. that's going to be the case over japan. back towards the west, we have a little bit more of an unstable weather pattern. we're seeing clouds developing and rain associated with that, even some of the northern areas may see flurries depending on the elevation. look at the temperatures here, 10 for the high in beijing on thursday. down to negative 1 for the high temperature. chilly conditions for thursday. rain extending into shanghai. i think the rain will move towards the korean peninsula into friday. by the time we go into the weekend, japan will be seeing some rain. for the forecast on thursday in japan, 18, sunny in sendai and temperatures in the low 20s for highs coming up as we go throughout the day thursday. looking at the forecast for north america, look at the influence of a large area of high pressure. you can see clear skies for the eastern half of the united states except for this stubborn

low pressure system that's fizzling out but it's holding on. it's going to bring clouds and maybe showers as we go into the thursday once again. low pressure system back to the west is gathering energy, already brought some snow in the higher elevations but we're looking at storm concerns as we go throughout thursday, especially southern plains and texas, looking for the possibility of heavy rainfall and thunderstorms. as we go forward in the day. houston, you don't need any more rain for the moment. high of 27. 23 in oklahoma city, 8 in denver and chilly in winnipeg with a high of 4 and another chance for rain. as we wrap things up with a look at europe. high pressure in place for the central portions of the continent but we do have rain back towards british isles. you'll see a chance for rain and cooler temperatures likely to be in place, also seeing wet weather down towards italy. i want to point out, another low is located over the middle east.

that's going to bring some high winds and some areas may be deal with with low visibility as we go throughout the day thursday and some showers as well. here's a look at the forecast, 15 in vienna, 14 in berlin. here's your extended outlook.

we have one more story to share with you before we go. nhk cameras captured aid spectacular view of what is known as the castle on the clouds. this mountain castle is in okayama prefecture and the sea of clouds enveloping its base is a seasonal phenomenon. the floating illusion can be seen in the morning during the fall and early winter. "newsline" will be back at the top of the hour. thanks for watching.

dr. lekutat: hello and welcome to "in good shape." your health and fitness program on dw. do you sometimes have the feeling you are being watched? that the world of big brother is just around the corner? when it comes to your health, some people like feeling constantly monitored. they pay good money for it. i am talking about the new generation of fitness tracking devices and software. i have to admit i am a fan of these devices. i'm talking about the trend with my guest today. here is a peek at what is coming up.