it's the top of the hour here in tokyo and this is nhk "newsline," i'm ross mihara. indian prime minister narendra modi has made a surprise visit to pakistan. he went to the city of lahore to talk with his counterpart, nawaz sharif. he got a personal welcome from sharif. they talked for about an hour at sharif's home. the pakistani foreign ministry said they agreed to continue dialogue as a way to deepen trust. and give citizens more chances for contact. officials say the visit was

decided when modi called sharif to wish him a happy birthday. india and pakistan have reportedly fought or repeatedly fought over control of the kashmir region. modi's visit has raised hopes of better relations. china's finance ministry says the asian infrastructure industrial investment bank has been formally established. the institution aims to help developing countries across the region build infrastructure. the ministry says the bank's articles of agreement went into effect on friday. the document has been ratified by 17 countries, with a combined stake of over 50%. they include britain and south korea. the deal was signed in june. the bank's board of directors and executive counsel are scheduled to hold their first meetings in january. their tasks will include appointing jun liqun to serve as director of aiib. he served as vice finance

minister. aiib officials say they're open to accepting more members. japan and the united states are among countries that have not joined the bank. the aiib plans to start financing projects by the middle of next year. the chinese government has said that sunday's landslide was not the result of a natural disaster. they say it occurred when soil from construction sites that had piled up collapsed. authorities have confirmed four deaths. and say over 70 people are policing. the landslide moved massive amounts of soil that buried 33 buildings, including several factories at the industrial park in shenzhen. chinese authorities released the findings of the investigation as military and police rescue crew continue to work around the clock at the site. the landslide is drawing attention to the safety standards of construction

companies and as nhk world tells us, it's also highlighting the challenges that china faces as it rapidly develops its cities. >> reporter: the massive landslides took place in one of the many industrial complexes that are in the city. rescue workers are still searching the rubble here in shenzhen. and local people are watching with concern. shenzhen used to be a poor fishing village with a population of 30,000 people. it was used as an experiment in introducing a market economy for china. and the former leader, deng xiaoping. in 1980 he designated shenzhen a special economic zone as part of drastic reforms to boost the economy. this included attracted foreign firms. many laborers from rural areas came here to earn money.

now more than 30,000 sprawling companies reside here and the population has increased to over 10 million. to keep up with this load, the local government is rushing to construct subways. currently, there are five subway lines running for a total of 180 kilometers. but the plan is to have 16 lines covering 600 kilometers in total by 2030. this rapid growth causes a serious problem, how to deal with the large amount of soil that is removed? to find out how it is disposed of, we followed a dump truck. we saw it leave the soil at some waste sites in the outskirts of the city.

local media says the government plans to construct 12 new waste sites this year, but has only built three of them so far. >> translator: there's no place to dispose of soil and mud taken from construction sites. they brought soil here and abandoned it. they paid about $50 per truck. >> reporter: the sites where piles of soil are be stored. the companies that handled the excavated soil is keeping quiet on how it's disposing of waste. a number of people have expressed their concerns. >> translator: the government is not working enough on risk management, especially in rapidly developing cities. some issues may be resolved some day, but there hasn't been enough progress yet.

>> reporter: the landslides highlights the danger of the breakneck pace of development in china. with this instance, the pursuit of profits seems to have trumped safety. hiroki yajima, nhk world, shenzhen. a mine has collapsed in eastern china, leaving people 19 workers trapped underground. the state run news agency says the collapse happened in shandong province. 10 other workers have been rescued. the agency reports that the accident was likely caused by a different collapse at an abandoned nearby. officials say a magnitude 4 level jolt was detected near the site. the mine collapse comes days after the deadly landslide in shenzhen. the accidents had people posting online messages about concerns over safety management in the country. french defense officials say the terror attacks in paris last month have served to swell the ranks of the military.

they say more and more young people have answered the call to join up. troops are maintaining security under a state of emergency. the government canceled plans to downsize the military. the defense ministry is running a recruitment drive on the web and tv. officials say citizens began paying more attention to defense after the attack in january on the satirical magazine, "charlie hebdo." they say around 170,000 people had inquired about joining the military. by the beginning of this month. that's 50,000 more than in the whole of last year. officials also say applications to join the air force tripled in three weeks after the attacks in paris last month. saturday marks 11 years since the 2004 indian ocean earthquake and the devastating

tsunami that followed. more than 220,000 people were killed or went missing. to pass on what survivors went through and the lessons learned from the disaster, one indonesian man is looking to tradition. nhk world's metalia has more. >> reporter: in the worst-hit aceh province in indonesia, more than 160,000 people were lost. but on this island, 60 kilometers from the epicenter, several people were killed. this area was devastated by tsunami. that was as high as the top of the roof. local people got themselves uphill. surprisingly, a song which means "tsunami" in the local language, helped many people. ♪ ♪

>> reporter: it was composed to pass on the lessons learned when a tsunami hit the island a century ago. the song is passed on from parents to children across the generations. >> translator: i've heard about the risk of tsunami from elderly people. >> reporter: moris mesasilae remembers the song his father taught him and rushed his family members who were at home that day, to higher ground. they all survived. but mori s's four children, who were attending university and high school in banda aceh were taken by the tsunami. moris felt strongly that such a tragedy should never happen again. he started to perform the tsunami song with some friends. and he composed new lyrics.

the words emphasized the vital importance of escaping to higher ground. >> translator: as a father whose family members died, i felt i have to pass on my lessons through the song. ♪ ♪ >> reporter: moris has held concerts across indonesia and overseas. in jakarta, he shares the lesson in his lyrics. ♪ ♪ >> reporter: moris presented the song, sharing the feelings for his children. >> translator: when they sang the high notes, i felt the fear of tsunami and their sorrow. i was moved by the song.

>> translator: we will continue to send out our message to people around the world, in the hope that it will minimize potential damage. >> reporter: moris tries to pass on what the tsunami-hit areas have learned in the name of the children he loves and the effort is slowly, steady raising awareness of the danger posed by tsunami. metalia, nhk world, aceh province, indonesia. japanese manufacturer mitsubishi electric has unveiled what it says are the world's fastest elevators. they have been installed at a new skyscraper in shanghai. company officials demonstrated the machines to the media. the firm said it won the bid for the project on condition it made the devices the world's fastest. the elevators can reportedly travel up to 18 meters per second. moving from the second basement to the 119th floor in 55

seconds. mitsubishi engineer s say they achieved the performance by making the ropes lighter and developing a new motor system. the shanghai tower is china's tallest building and is expected to open next year. japan's financial regulators have ordered electronics giant toshiba to pay a record $61 million fine for falsifying its financial statements. that's nearly five times as much as the previous record in japan. the move by the financial services agency followed a recommendation by the securities and exchange surveillance commission. the commission uncovered toshiba's accounting irregularities in february and in september the company revised down its pretax profit for the past seven business years by over $1.8 billion. earlier this month, commission officials judged that toshiba falsified its financial reports for fiscal 2011 and 2012 in violation of the law and advised the agency to impose the penalty.

japanese foreign minister fumio kishida has formally announced he'll visit south korea on monday to hold a meeting with his counter part, to seek a conclusion on the issue of those referred to as comfort women. the lack of a consensus on the issue has been a continuous cause of friction between both countries. >> translator: the issue is extremely tough, but i hope to engage on last-ditch adjustments on what i can do. >> kishida also said he'll do his best to improve lateral ties within the year, which marks the 50th anniversary of the two countries' normalized relations. the two countries have had different views on history and territory for years. our next piece tells us how that has affected the relationship. >> reporter: relations between japan and south korea were good enough in 2002 for the two

countries to jointly host the fifa world cup tournament. then in 2012, things took a nose dive. bak made a surprise visit to takeshima island in the sea of japan. south korea controls them, japan claims them. the japanese government claims the islands are an inherent part of japan 's territory. the visit sparked strong opposition. the two countries also disagreed on the issue of those referred to as comfort women. japan maintains all issues of reparations were settled in 1965, when the two countries normalized relations, but some south koreans continued to call for compensation. statues symbolizing the women were set up, including one in front of the japanese embassy in seoul. the current president park geun-hye called for japan to address the matter, making it a

precondition for a summit. but she changed her stance on that. last month the two countries held their first summit in three and a half years, and the first for abe and park. >> translator: i expect today's summit to be an opportunity to cure the painful history and to be an important step in developing the two countries' relationship. >> translator: i want to work together with president park to build a future-oriented relationship between our two countries. >> reporter: some see that as a turning point. last week a south korean court acquitted a japanese journalist of defaming president park. >> translator: i value the court's decision of acquittal. i expect it will have positive effects on our relations with south korea. >> reporter: south korea's still calling for three things, an

apology, payment to those referred to as comfort women, and an acknowledgment by japan of its legal responsibility. some sources say the japanese government is considering to offer some sort of support to those women. at the meetings, japan is expected to demand that the issue of comfort women not be brought up again, and to seek the removal of the statue in the capital. some japanese are trying to get rid of a nuclear facility that's been plagued by safety problems. they want regulators to revoke a permit for a prototype reactor called monju. and they're applying pressure through legal action. the plaintiffs live in and around the central prefecture of fukui, which hosts the monju reactor. they came to tokyo and filed a suit at the district court. monju is designed to produce more fuel than it consumes. it was meant to be part of

japan's fuel recycling system. but it's mostly been idle since a leak of coolant 20 years ago. the organization that operates monju has been criticized repeatedly for lax safety management. for instance, workers failed to inspect thousands of items. regulators asked the science minister last month to replace the operator within about six months. the citizens who filed the lawsuit say the current operator is not qualified and they say the reactor should be scrapped. >> translator: i want the government to fundamentally rethink this country's nuclear plants. and take monju out of the fuel cycle. >> regulators say they can't comment because they've yet to see the legal complaint. meanwhile, the operator of a power plant in central japan is getting ready to put a reactor back into service. a court reversed an injunction that was keeping to reactors

offline. now workers are loading fuel. kansai electric power company started the loading process at the number 3 reactor of the takahama plants. the containment vessel had been empty since march 2012. the fueling process is expected to take until tuesday. utility executives plan to restart the reactor in late january following an inspection of critical equipment. it will be the third reactor to be reactivated under stricter regulations introduced after the 2011 nuclear accident in fukushima. company officials plan to restart the number 4 reactor in late february. out of 43 reactors nationwide, only two are currently online. a woman in japan is making moves to become the first foreign professional of shogi. also known as japanese chess. and she's playing a role in helping the game go global. nhk world's yuji osawa reports.

>> karolina styczynska of poland has made history at the age of 24. the first-ever foreigner to turn professional in the 400-year-old game's history. karolina became interested in shogi at the age of 16 when she read about it in a japanese comic. >> there is this ninja who played shogi. the dynamic of the game makes the end game more interesting. >> karolina developed her skills by playing on the internet. she later won the european shogi championship. karolina got the chance to come to japan two years ago to study the game in-depth. she was invited by professional player madoka kitao, who has been trying to promote shogi overseas. >> translator: i heard about a strong female foreign player. so i looked her up and found her enthusing about shogi on facebook and twitter.

i was really surprised to discover just how much she likes the game. >> reporter: but it was not an easy task. karolina had to beat other talented young players to have a chance of turning pro. >> at first i was like oh, my god, they are moving and making noises, i couldn't get used to it when i looked again, i go home -- of course it's difficult. i mean sometimes i cried. sometimes i i was depressed. but well i like shogi. i have to continue, right? >> reporter: one additional challenge she had to overcome was seiza style, sitting on your heels. it was not easy for her. and affected her concentration. >> seiza was quite a problem. >> reporter: karolina gets up at

6:00 every morning and studies shogi for more than four hours a day. she studied japanese intensely to help her read books on strategy. after a year and a half of struggle, she became the first foreigner to join professional shogi tournaments. in her debut karolina lost a four and a half-hour match that included 92 moves. >> it was a difficult one. i did my best, but it was not enough. so i need to train more. >> karolina has earned only a temporary professional qualification. if she fails to perform well enough in the next two years, she will be demoted to trainee status.

>> i'm at third kyu now and i need to be second kyu to be really professional. and apart from learning japanese more so i can teach shogi to people. and of course i think about promotional shogi. >> about 30,000 people play shogi outside japan. there is also a junior trainee from china hoping to turn professional like karolina. karolina looks set to play a major role in promoting shogi around the world. yuji osawa, nhk world. with the year-end holiday season in full swing, locations across japan are decked out in colorful illuminations. nhk world's robert speta visited the yokohama bay area, a popular spot for sight-seers out to see the lights. >> i'm here in yokohama and despite the little rain we are

seeing out here, it is still a very festive mood. now specifically i'm here at the red brick warehouse district, a building that was actually built back in the early 20th century as a customs facility. now if you have have been here before, you may recognize a lot of the architecture out here is german style. and it really kind of blends in with the illumination and the christmas lights you're seeing out here. a lot of pine trees as well. kind of a western type of deal with this. now despite the name warehouse, this is not a place where you keep storage. in fact, recently it has gone under a big revitalization. now it's a big commercial district with lots of shops and cafes inside. not just a place for the holidays, but throughout the year, six million people come here to attend. all of these efforts to reimagine this district and the structure as well turning it into a commercial facility has

really paid off after winning an award from unesco that specifically recognized the preservation of this historical cultural heritage structure. now all of that indeed is definitely enough to come out here and visit this area. but some things unique to this specific illumination event is this ice rink here. right now it is closed. it has been warm all day we have the rain coming down right now. but it will be opening up soon. it's actually a fairly large ice rink as well. about half the size of an olympic-sized one. and really inexpensive to come out here and visit, about $4 to get out on the rink. but one other thing, not all is lost if you do come out here and it's closed. over here you have an illumination. this is an art gallery. the theme changes every year. kind of fitting for this year it's called fruit punch. kind of a tropical atmosphere there. if you do come out to this area

and you visit around here as well. there's still a lot of stuff in yokohama. you can see in the distance, you have the ferris wheel, that's lit up near the waterfront and a lot of other buildings over in that area as well. all doing their part to bring more people out here to yokohama around the holidays. i'm robert speta, nhk world, yokohama. people in thailand have been given a christmas present of sorts from the interim government. officials are offering consumer as tax break that will last until the end of the year. the military-led government is calling it a gift for consumers. but critics say the policy is merely intended to win public support. thailand's finance minister says anyone who spends money shopping or in restaurants over the next seven days will be eligible. all consumers have to do is apply with a national tax authorities. >> translator: it's a gift for taxpayers. the measure will likely boost consumption and fuel gdp growth by 0.1, to 0.2%.

>> people who spend up to 15,000 bhat, or about $1416, will be subject to the tax break. >> translator: i think i will use it, maybe for traveling and for shopping. >> translator: i think it's very useful because customers have to buy stuff during the end of the year. with the reduced tax, this will encourage people to go out more. >> thai police have introduced a similar measure. as of monday, anyone given a traffic ticket for such activities as illegal parking or not wearing seat belts will have the fine reduced. the measure will be in effect until january 15th. the police are calling it a gift for the public. but critics are expressing concern that it may cause irresponsible behavior. here is the weekend weather forecast.

that's all we have for now on "newsline." thank you for watching and have a good day.

host: hello and welcome to "global 3000." today, we visit some old friends. in 2009, we first met two women in mozambique. both were pregnant and hiv positive but neither of their babies were infected. we'll see how elayna and celia have been doing. and with the u.n. climate conference underway this week in paris, we look at the global impacts of climate change. when water's your enemy -- how pakistan's trying to beat climate change. can idealism and capitalism work together? we go to costa rica to find out. and, two mothers living with hiv/aids and their healthy kids. we visit celia and elayna in mozambique.