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tv   Newsline  PBS  November 16, 2016 7:00pm-7:31pm PST

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hello, there. welcome to nhk "newsline." it is thursday, november 17th, 10:00 a.m. i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. south korean prosecutors say the president's lawyer will speak thursday about their hope to question the leader over a continuing political scandal. park geun-hye's lawyer already declined a request for an earlier date saying he needed more time to prepare. the prosecutors asked park to voluntarily sit for an interview with them by friday. the day before they plan to indict one of her longtime friends. they believe choi soon-sil conspired to abuse the president's power and attempted to commit fraud. park has admitted to giving her access to some policy documents on state affairs.
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south koreans have been angered by the scandal and have staged massive protests. they'll be watching to see how park handles the questioning. at the same time, the governing and opposition parties plan to pass legislation to appoint a prosecutor with more power to investigate the matter. the special prosecutor would be infeint and have the authority to look into suspected illegal hacks by senior government officials including those who may be in positions to influence legal probes. if lawmakers approve the move, they would propose two candidates then the president is able to choose which would be the special prosecutor. in 2008, a special prosecutor questioned then president-elect lee myung-bak over fraud allegations. he was not indicted. earlier this month, park said she'd accept an investigation by a special prosecutor if necessary. although as president, she cannot be charged with the crime other than treason. now, the ongoing scandal has gripped the nation and united
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many people in anger against the president. nhk world has that story. ♪ >> reporter: it's young people that are spearheading the recent anti-park movement. the latest support rate among people in their 20s is zero percent. that means nobody from the generation is in favor of park geun-hye's presidency. this university student is a prime example. along with friends, they channeled their frustrations into creativity. they made an app. it's called chess-gate. like the scandal, it's about park's speeches. in the app, some of park's apps are checked. users get points and go to the
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next stage by choosing the right words. if they're wrong, she gets an ary. when the game is finished, this happens. the app's been downloaded over 15,000 times in just 2 weeks. >> translator: many people feel depressed due to this scandal. i hope the game will help remove their frustration. >> reporter: as the scandal engulfs the country, even other supporters of president park are greatly disappointed and are turni ining their backs on her. he runs a fashion design business. he's been a lifelong conservative but now that's changing. he's deeply dises appointed with the president. he's upset for allegedly
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alleging -- state affairs. >> translator: i couldn't believe it at first. even small companies have auditing systems. an individual with no public post reportedly controlled the government's operation behind the scenes. it's just unthinkable. >> reporter: the current state of the country is a hot topic among his colleagues. >> translator: i expected president park to make policies for the youth but now i can to longer support her. in many ways i feel betrayed. >> reporter: he did something he never did before. he attended a mass anti-government demonstration. about 260,000 people came out in the center of seoul and called for the president to quit.
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he and his children joined the rally. ultima ultimately, he hopes this mess gets cleared up soon. >> translator: they are worried whether this kind of scandal may undermine people's willingness to live modesty and honestly. i'm very upset and frustrated. >> reporter: young and old, so many koreans are together in expressing the same feeling. frustration. with the president involved in scandal who refuses to step down. nhk world, seoul. a south korean foundation says despite the political turmoil, it will support those
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referred to as comfort women. the foundation was set up under an agreement between tokyo and seoul and has already made cash payments to some of the women. the reconciliation and healing foundation says last month it began providing money to women. south korean medineemedia outle questioned the payments, whether the controversial agreement will remain in effect given the rising calls for the president to step down. the fight to recapture iraq's second largest city from mosul from the islamic state militant group has hit the one-month mark. and the number of civilian casualties is mounting. on october 17th, iraqi and kurdish forces backed by the u.s.-led coalition started their
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offensive. the islamic state group has controlled mosul for over two years and the city is its largest stronghold in iraq. earlier this month, some iraqi troops were able to enter the city. now the iraqi government says its forces control about one-third of the eastern side of the city. troops have been advancing slowly and cautiously as they search for islamic state fighters and bombs. the militant group continues to fight back using residents as human shields and carrying out suicide attacks. an official at an iraqi military field hospital told nhk that since the battle moved to highly populated areas, more civilians have been killed or injured than soldiers. islamic state militants are expected to further intensify their offensive given rise to concerns that the civilian death toll will only continue to increase. it's time now for the latest in business news. leaders of japan and russia are scheduled to meet in japan next month.
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in the meantime, officials from both countries had been working on an economic cooperation plan. our ramin mellegard, sorry, ramin, joins us now from our business desk. ramin, what are some of the proposals? >> catherine, prime minister shinzo abe earlier came up with an eight-point plan and now officials are in the process of narrowing down the issues. they're going to be holding working-level talks alongside a meeting of ministers of asia-pacific economic forum in lima, peru. nhk has learned the governments are then going to issue a joint statement on the cooperation plan. the japan-russia plan proposes in the field of medicine and health, the countries will work together in the areas of rehabilitation, pain relief and pediatrics. they'll also create a system of sending doctors and patients to each other's country for treatment. energy development and industrial promotion in russia's far east are also in the plan. countries will develop plants that produce liquified natural
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gas in the arctic and sakhalin and join hands to build and upgrade seaports and airports. russian economic development minister alexi ulykayev had been co-chairing the task force, however, he's been charged with deputy. first deputy prime minister igor shuvalov will be taking his place at the talks. u.s. congressional panel believes the chinese economy would get a boost if the trans-pacific partnership fails to go ahead, and its own asian free trade deal does. u.s. china economic security review commission released its annual report on wednesday. it says if the tpp dies and regional comprehensive economic partnership goes into force, china would get an economic boost worth $88 billion. now, 16 economies including china, japan and southeast asian countries are negotiating it. the report also speculates on
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the reverse situation. the tpp going ahead without arsep, china would suffer a loss of $22 billion in that case. president-elect donald trump says the u.s. will withdraw from the tpp. in addition, republican senate leader has dismissed the possibility of tpp bills being submitted before president barack obama's tenure ends in january. now turning to markets. the rally in major stock markets following donald trump's election win appears to be petering out. dow jones industrial average closed lower overnight, led by declines in the sector. enthusiasm is waning in tokyo as well. share prices opened lower. now the nikkei 225 is currently trading at 17,793 and it's down 0.39%. banking shares are leading the index lower. many automakers are down as the u.s. currency weakened a bit overnight. let's have a look at currency levels. the dollar overnight touched the
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5 1/2 month high in the upper 109 yen level. some profit taking has kicked in, though. right now, 108.60-68. the dollar had rallied as u.s. treasury bond yields had been rising following trump's victory, but overnight, weaker than expected producer prices and industrial production data are weighing a bit on the dollar. u.s. currency's also weaker against the euro. middle of the screen there, trading at 1.08-07. ten-year japanese government bond yields is still holding above zero percent. 0.015%. on tuesday the yield could enter positive territory for the first time in about two months. turning to markets open in the asia-pacific region, australian shares trading in the negative. seoul's kospi just opened, delayed by an hour due to national college entrance exams. shares are right now trading in the negative. china markets open in just under half an hour. prime minister abe has been spending a lot of his time
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recently urging companies to hike the pay of their workers. in his latest call, he's asked business leaders to renew their raises in next year's annual wage negotiations. abe commented at a meeting of panel of experts discussing ways of reforming working conditions and practices. >> translator: the important thing is to boldly continue a rich chous cycle of growth. key to that are wage hikes next year. i hope for raises that will equal levels seen this year. i'd like to ask for a base pay raise for the fourth straight year. >> japan business federation chairman said he'll also push for pay raises but also wants the government to play its part. >> translator: the wage hike, itself, can't stimulate consumption of price increases so i'd like to ask the government to steadily carry out
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economic stimulus measures. >> now, we bring you the second segment in our series on rethinking work style reform. today we focus on working hours in japan where excessive overtime has long been a problem. now, some japanese company are cutting back. nhk world takes a look. >> reporter: it's just before 6:00 p.m. people at this company are packing up and heading out. they work for a major steel manufacturer with more than 10,000 employees. the management, from staying at the office until 7:00 p.m. since then, employees' monthly overtime has dropped by about 40%. but the problem has cropped up.
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some workers complain the company has done away with overtime without reducing the workload. >> translator: i think our company has accumulated many unnecessary customs. >> reporter: managers are taking steps to fix this. they put limits on who attends meetings. before, employees might join a meeting to share information even if they weren't involved. now only people with direct responsibility take part. in-house communication has also become more efficient. in the past, some meeting minutes contained every person's comments. now, discussions are summarized. this has reduced the time needed to create the minutes. correspondence used to include every recipient's department and job title but confirming the information took time.
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>> translator: it's important to continue with our efforts to change the working climate. i hope each employee will reconsider whether existing tasks are really necessary. >> reporter: another company has gone a step further. it's using a novel approach to raise productivity and end overtime. it provides website production and data entry services. many of the 50 employees are women and are caring for children or aging parents. the president came up with a way to let people work shorter hours. >> translator: our employees work by the minute. if they finish the day's tasks early, they can leave the office. >> reporter: the firm scores
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employees based on the amount of work they do per hour. for data entry, one letter is counted as one point. the total number of points is divided by the work hours. workers with the highest score can become eligible for a raise. officials say some people put in about five hours but earn as much as others who work a full day. this system is one reason this woman joined the company. today she finished work in four hours and left at 3:00. she is a single mother. she says the job allows her to have more time with her child. >> translator: i can work at this company without pushing myself too hard. it's the only place where that's possible. >> reporter: under the payment system, the company's personnel
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costs rose by 4%, but sales jumped 16%, showing that the shorter workday can be good for business. keita kage, nhk world. >> tomorrow in the third part of our series, we'll look at efforts to help seniors find jobs. that's it for business news. i'll leave you with a check on the markets.
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delegates at a climate change conference in morocco are showing concern about what a donald trump government will mean for the paris agreement. they're taking a good look at how to keep pushing ahead with the scheme in the face of possible u.s. resistance. nhk world reports. >> reporter: the meeting of the paris agreement is the first since the accord took effect on november 4th, less than a year after it was adopted in the french capital. the delegates are making detailed rules in the effort to stop climate change. one hot issue is how the u.s. will change its policy. the world's second-largest emitter has been a driving force behind negotiations on the paris agreement, but president-elect donald trump is skeptical of global warming. leaders and other delegates spoke on the possible
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consequences. >> translator: i assure you that france will lead dialogue with the united states and its new president that's respectful and open but also affirmative. >> reporter: it is,, of course, a concern that a major economy and major emitter might not participate. >> reporter: closely watching the debate is masako konishi, an expert on climate change. >> people are really concerned about the result of the presidential election in the united states, but it's in the corridor, so the rulemaking process of the paris agreement has already started, and it's on track. people here, including the united states, the american delegation, are now doing the rule-making progress in a very serious tone and we are making progress. >> reporter: she singles out one of the key issues that could be
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greatly affected by the change in the u.s. presidency. >> the finance issue could be severely damaged because america was number one country who pledged finance to the green climate fund, so people are really concerned about the finance issue. >> reporter: she stresses countries other than the u.s. must now take on a greater role. >> united states is not the only one major emitter anymore. we have china, brazil, india, and, of course, european union who are already playing a big role in the negotiations. so the other nations who are willing to commit themselves to the paris agreement can move forward with or without the u.s. on board. of course, we all want to have the united states on board. >> reporter: she says each country needs to demonstrate on what it can do instead of relying on others. and she called on japan especially to play an active role.
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japan used to be a key player in combatting climate change but was slow to ratify the paris agreement. takafumi terui, nhk. concerns are growing about the rise of hate attacks on minorities in the united states after trump's election. a civic group received more than 400 reports of intimidation and harassment since his victory. the group warns that a trump presidency could fuel white supremacists at other discriminatory movements since he repeatedly made disparaging comments about imgrants while campaigning. the group says the main targets are immigrants and black people and that many of the cases have taken place at schools. an american reporter described the situation at another school. >> reporter: in jacksonville, florida, high school administrators are investigating the posting of two signs over
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water coolers. one said "colored," the other "whites only." >> in a tv interview on sunday, trump said he hadn't heard much about these kinds of incidents, but was saddened to hear about them. he called on people to stop the harassment. a panel of experts says japan's compensation system for nuclear accidents should be kept as it is. the system says responsibility lies fully with power companies. it requires them to bear unlimited liability for damages even if they're not at fault. the amount of compensation due to connection, in connection with the 2011 fukushima daiichi accident, is huge. so the government's atomic energy commission set up the panel to review the system. a meeting on wednesday, many participants opposed the idea of capping the liability of power companies and having the government cover the shortfall. they said the general public including residents near nuclear plants won't accept that.
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the panel will discuss an increase in the amount that utilities have to set aside for possible compensation. it's currently at about $1 billion but raising that could push up electricity rates. now let's head back over to the united states, a large storm is developing across the united states. our meteorologist robert speta joins us with the details. >> yes, this one looks like it could be a big travel delay maker here because what we have going on is this developing system over the rockies right now, already winter storm watches and warnings are in place. and this one is still going to be bringing not only the snow, but some fairly gusty winds in a few locations up to 70, 80 kilometers per hour. whiteouts are going to be a big concern ining, then down through colorado and maybe even over toward north dakota and also minnesota as we look ahead. anywhere you see here in the white, even mixed rain and precipitation as well, do expect some delays at the airports or
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at least out on the roadways with that reduced visibility as this storm does continue to develop and pull off there toward the east. down toward the south, we also have that fire weather danger in parts of new mexico extending over through western texas. you could be seeing winds 80 kilometers per hour. very dry conditions. any wildfires that do start could spread rather rapidly with this storm. now, if we look ahead into thursday and friday, even over toward saturday, this whole storm is going to continue to track off toward the east. into the midwestern states. eventually into the northeastern u.s. and eastern canada. around ontario, quebec, expect widespread snowfall and maybe lake-effect developing later on into the outlook. one of the big concerns, the big things you're going to notice here, is that temperature change because as this moves toward the east, look at that cooler air spilling in behind it. this is on thursday. denver, about a 23-degree drop from what you were seeing on wednesday. snowfall now out there with a high of 4. take a look at the extended
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outlook. it does look like aomaha, 21, near record-breaking highs for you, dropping down to 5 on friday. chicago as well, 23, passing showers by friday with only a high of 4 by the time sunday comes around. even into toronto as we look ahead into the outlook, 17, dra the start of next week. do enjoy the warm weather while it does last. travel plans across much of northern europe as well, you might be looking at some delays out here. widespread rainfall extended across much of france, into germany, poland, into the foothills and higher elevations, though. do expect that to change over to snow, not to mention this is going to be accompanied with fairly gusty winds across much of the british isles. you have the very tight pressure gradient continuing to develop and pulling toward the east. now, that's in the north. if you are in the iberian peninsula, pretty decent weather setup out there. actually south of the pyrenees,
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madrid with a high of 17. lisbon as well, 20 there for your high. take a look at athens, 17. sunny skies on your thursday. tokyo not looking too bad today, either. we do still have snow, though, off toward the north in parts of hokkaido, northern tohoku. sea-e fact continuing to pick up with the northwesterly winds. winds will be changing, though, through the next 24 hours coming in somewhat from the south. do expect conditions to kind of improve. really the big thing we're watching is this next storm back toward the west. already bringing showers there into shanghai. that's going to shift twhaowarde east, widespread scattered showers throughout the weekend for much of japan. tokyo, high of 17. for now, sunny skies on thursday. all right. i'll leave you now with your extended outlook.
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and that is all for this edition of nhk "newsline." i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. thanks very much for joining us.
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♪ >> welcome to "in good shape." coming up, the pain of eating acidic foods, caused by stones in the salivary glands. heel spurs and how to treat them. we test the effectiveness of hypnosis for losing weight and long-distance running. here's your host, dr. carsten lekutat. damien: -- dr. lekutat: hello and welcome to "in good shape." you might have seen this on tv, but hypnosis plays a big role in medicine. that is

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