japan's prime minister is getting caught up in his own words. he suggested a few months ago he would call an election.

members of the opposition are putting more and more pressure on him to follow through. he faces division within his party. noda said during the summer he would call an election and sometime soon. he says he stands by his promise. >> translator: i'm responsible for my own words and i take their weight very seriously. >> he told his secretary party that he's thinking of dissolving the lower house by the end of the year. he said three conditions for calling the election including passing a debt financing bill. lawmakers said they expect it soon high pressure he said he's concerned about the prospect of early elections. one of the world's biggest consumers of fuel may be self-relia self-reliant. u.s. us a makers churn out car

after car but it seems americans will making more fuel to power them. >> that's light. industry analysts expect a major shift will take place in the near future. we're hearing the united states will become the world's largest oil producer in the next five years. the iea said u.s. oil output would surpass saudi arabia. commercial production has already begun. the agency says the u.s. will be nearly self-sufficient in energy by 2035. that's due to an expected surge in production of shale gas. a type of natural gas trapped in under ground rock. america relies on it for 20% of

import needs. now let's get a check on the markets. the yen is losing ground slightly against the dollar and the euro. dollar/yen is changing hands at 79.57 and the euro/yen is quoted at 100.99 to 104. debt stricken greece could get bail out funds. share prices are rising slightly in tokyo. this morning the index stands at 8,695. that's up about two-tenths of a percent. the index fell six days in a row. investors are now buying back

mainly export related issues. other markets in special regions. the kospi is down about.14%. the people who will made japanese money, the operators of the national mint are pitching their services to overseas government. the first customer looks like being bangladesh. officials are expecting to receive the order soon for 500 million bangladesh's coins. they are made of stainless steel and worth about three cents. other bidders included britain

and germany. japan's mint has produced coins in the past but this will be the first time to mint a foreign common currency. production is expected to start at the end of the year after contracts are signed with the bangladesh bank. production has been on the decline due to the rising popularity of electronic funds. that's all for me now. i'll leave you with the markets in asia.

israeli prime minister says his forces will not tolerate further attacks. an israeli tank has shelled a syrian armored vehicle in retaliation. syrian motors fell for a second day on golan heights. the takes may be a spillover from the syrian civil war. >> we'll take whatever action is necessary to put a stop to this. >> israeli soldiers sent out warng shots. israeli forces captured the

golan heights from syrian in the 1960, six-day war. a truce has been in place since 1973. iranian military commanders have launched their ever military drills. about 8,000 revolutionary guards and regular army troops are taking part. state run media said fighter pilots are enunteng maneuvers. the attacks are designed to bring down unmanned planes. the drills are intended as warning to any country threatening iran. iranian war planes fire ed on a surveillance drone over the persian gulf. israeli leaders have threatened to launch air strikes against iran's nuclear facilities.

afghan officials have had litt success in getting taliban insurgents to lay down their weapons. now they are reaching out to pakistan for help to start peace talks. the government's chief envoy to the taliban met pakistani foreign minister. he said negotiations are necessary for ensuring stability in afghanistan. he reportedly asked pakistan officials to act as mediators. the insurgents have indicated a willingness to discuss a peace deal with u.s. officials. former pakistani intelligence chief says pakistani authorities are well placed to support peace talks. he cites their close relationship with the taliban. china gave the media a glimpse of its military aircraft. it showed off some unmanned

aircraft and a stealth fighter. the air show will open on tuesday. it will be the country's largest. drones develop by a state own company are on display for the first time. the nine meter aircraft was covered by a cloth. the front tip is round and there appears to be missiles beneath its wing. other models are on display. government plans to use drones for surveillance in the east china and south china seas. china succeeded in a test flight in october.

tuna draws customers back in. they are discussing how to manage the fish in the atlantic ocean and mediterranean sea. they were at odds before the talk began. members for the conservation of atlantic tuna are meeting. delegates are expecting to call for an increasing quota. members say in recent years stocks have started to recover. japan is the world's largest

tuna consumer. japanese delegates plan to urge those from other fishing nations to strengthen measures to prevent overfishing and poaching. south korea prosecutors have obtained documents involving president's son. his expected to be involved in the illegal purchase for a plot of plan. part of the money was funnel frd t funneled from the office. they were rejected from searching the office even though they had a search warrant. they are considering the president's wife in the matter as well. two more bbc executives stepped aside monday amid fall

out over the corporation's child abuse investigation. helen boden and her deputy passed their responsibilities onto other executives. the public broadcaster was wrong the air a report implicating a former politician in child abuse allegations. the accusations were later found to be false. bbc officials are conductg investigation that a late tv children's presenter sexual lly abused children. they were involved to not broadcast an investigation into the allegations. bbc says they plan to overall its editorial system and clarify the chain of command.

a royal commission will begin an inquiry into institutional abuses. >> child abuse is wrong and wrong doers should be punished. this is an incredibly evil thing and i think we'd all hope that anybody is held accountable in the criminal court. >> church official who is discovered the abuse were transferred to other churches. the commission will also investigate whether policand child services are properly handling cases of child abuse. carpenters in japan have built houses throughout the country side with wood made from

nearby forest. some homeowners worry their homes could burn down. a company has developed a treatment that makes lumber resistant to fire. >> rorter: this is a coffee shop in tokyo. each shop has its on unique design. in this shop wood is used extensively. >> translator: wood has a warm image that's just right when you want to relax. >> translator: unfortunately, japanese law prohibits the use of lumber in many public buildings. that's why noncome bustknoncombr has been used in the shop. it's highly resistant to fire. the this experiment shows how noncombustible lumber compares

to standard lumber. each piece is set alight reaching 1,000 degrees celsius. the standard wood was completely burned in about 20 minutes but the noncombustible lumber turn into charcoal without producing any flames or smoke. the great east japan earthquake heightened awareness concerning disaster prevention and increased demand for noncombustible lumber. this special type of lumber was developed by a lumber company. the company president shows us the special liquid that makes his lumber noncombustible. this is a concentrated solution of borate, one of the ingredients used to create glass. the liquid is permeated into the

wood's cell wall. once dried only the borate remains on the cell wall. the cell call is encased in glass making the wood fire resistant. taking advantage of this technology he's in charge of a big project. the projes collaboration between industry and a leading university. its aim is to construct a high-rise biluilding using noncombustible lumber. wooden buildings are lighter than steel reenforced ones and the elastic allows vibrations to be absorbed. because of this they are known to be resilient to rthqkes. disaster may strike again but

he's determined to keep contributing to the creation of materials that can with stand damage. >> translator: noncombustible lumber is useful for building a nation and we'll be able to provide special spaces of a type never seen before. >> reporter: is it possible to build a whole noncombustible town? he aims to take up the challenge. the government abolished prepublic sensorship earlier this year. media is discovering new ways to question authority. we report on a comic artist who has documented some of the changes. >> reporter: standing in the largest city. it has a variety of newspapers

and magazines. many publications include satirical cartoons. some devote an entire page to these popular sketches. he has drawn cartoons for more than 20 years. >> translator: i have drawn the voices of people, what they want, how they feel. without democracy we were all suppressed and oppressed so i draw for democracy. >> reporter: he drew this cartoon during the military regime. it shows inmates talking about how they ended up in jail.

>> i was jailed because i was caught gambling. >> his crime was the most serious. he fooled a blind woman in a card game. >> reporter: he likened the citizens to bryan uma. the previous government as a criminal that cheated the public. >> we love our president. >> reporter: things are changing since the president was sworn in. publication sensorship was abolished. ham brings his now cartoons to a weekly newspaper publisher. the editor in chief chooses one. it shows a legislature about to

leave home but his wife says he won't be able to fulfill his responsibilities without knowing about the lives of ordinary people. she asks him if he has forgotten about the conflict with ethnic minorities. the cartoon shows those who seem disconnected from ordinary citizens. >> reporter: wh . >> translator: i like that he can depict what is going on with ordinary citizens like us. >> reporter: he's owns many copies purchased from second hand bookstores he hopes to introduce japan's world famous into his own works. to expand his skills, he takes a

comic drawing ve ining event at japanese embassy. he hopes that by improving his ability he can support. >> translator: i will draw the characte that will bring well being to others. i would risk my life to draw those characters. >> reporter: the role of cartoonist like han is becoming more important.

people in north eastern china are dealing with heavy amounts of snow. we have more if the world weather forecast. >> still in north eastern china and russia and north korea are looking at really heavy snow. some blowing snow that will be persisting across the region. this heavy peak is over but the winter storm is going to be lingering across the region for quite a while. across the rest of china high pressure system will be predominant in making things very clear but very cold. it's summer-like across the tropics. we have a tropical depression that formed over water. this is not likely to intensify. it will be moving in a westerly pass toward southern vietnam so

heavy rain and gusty conditions will be impacting the coastal gions especially across japan. cold surge is on its way. tomorrow we'll be looking at really cold weather. western flake of this country will be looking at thunderstorms, gusts hail and tornadic activity. across sea of japan the waves will be high about five meters high. western japan not too bad but any precipitation here. higher elevations could turn to snow. this is due to the cold wave that i mentioned. 's going to be dominating much of the country here. in the low lying areas you may see the first snow.

tokyo hanging onto the teens. moving over to the americas. things are pretty rough across the eastern canna region. we're looking at the low pressure system that's dropping and bringing heavy snow across quebec and the great lakes region. this cold front sags toward the gulf of mexico. yesterday didn't bring significant severe thunderstorms but still thunderstorms are likely along anywhere in this area as it moves toward the east. behind it high pressure system dominates but toward the pacific northwest this is another winter storm impacting the cascades. things are looking pretty warm across the southwest. warm temperatures and the gusty conditions will combine critical fire weather there.

meanwhile texas and alabama freeze warnings are on tap tonight. oklahoma city at 16 degrees. houston 19 degrees. overnight hours will be dipping down. new york already in the low teens. that could go down to single digits. here in the european continent i iceland and the british isles will be impacted. moving into norway it's going to get really windy here about 70 kilometers per hour and the rain could get heavy here in italy. don't want anymore additional rain. floong situation sti not eters. allevia alleviated. here is our extended forecast.

our lead story this hour, japanese opposition parties are putting more and more pressure on the prime minister to call an election. noda facing divisions within his democratic party. he said during the summer he could call an election sometime soon. he said he stands by his promise. >> translator: i'm responsible for my own words and i take their weight very seriously. >> he told his party's secretary general on sunday that he's

thinking of dissolving the lower house by the call of the year. lawmakers say they expect to enact the legislation soon. that wraps up this edition of "newsline." thanks for joining us.