welcome to nhk world "newsline," i'm gene otani in tokyo. european officials are getting ready to implement the terms of a landmark nuclear agreement with iran. french foreign minister lauren fab yous says the european union will begin lifting some sanctions as soon as next month. negotiators from iran and six world powers concluded the first stage of the agreement over the weekend in geneva. iranian negotiators agreed to

limits of their country's nuclear program in exchange for a partial lifting of economic sanctions. fab yous told french radio that foreign ministers are scheduled to meet in the next weeks to discuss their next steps. >> translator: this lifting is limited, targeted, and reversible. >> fab yous said sanctions will be reactivated if iran fails to follow through with its commitments. israel's prime minister says his national security adviser will soon go to washington to discuss the agreement with iran. benjamin netanyahu has described the interim deal as a historic mistake. he says a final agreement must result in one thing, the dismantling of iran's capacity to develop nuclear weapons. the prime minister is sending national security adviser yosi cohan and members of his team to the u.s. capitol. they'll hold talks to their

american counterparts about a comprehensive accord with iran. chinese leaders are hearing more criticism about their decision to set up an air defense identification zone over the east china sea. a white house spokesperson called the announcement unnecessary inflammatory. japanese officials want the chinese to revoke the measures. chinese officials announced on saturday that they had set up the zone that includes air space over the senkaku islands. japan claims the islands belong to the country. china and taiwan also claim them. chinese officials said aircraft entering the air space must obey instructions. they warned of emergency defensive measures if their instructions are not followed. japanese prime minister shinzo

abe called the creation of the zone very dangerous and said it could escalate the situation in the region and lead to unintended consequences, and he said the measures have no validity on japan. japanese officials plan to work with their counterparts in the u.s. and other countries to have the chinese retract the measures. disputes in the region should be resolved diplomatically. a pentagon spokesperson said u.s. forces will not change how they conduct their operations. colonel steve warren says u.s. pilots won't register their flight plans or identify themselves. the chief of japan's maritime self defense force says the aircraft are responsing calmly and safely to china's creation of the air zone over the east china sea. chief of staff told reporters that the maritime self defense forces watching the zone.

>> translator: chinese declaration of an air defense identification zone and limitations of every flight there could lead to contingencies. it's a dangerous situation. >> he added that under the circumstances, it's important to show the strong alliance between the u.s. and japan. japanese government officials are telling their civilian pilots the same thing, they say they don't need to register flight plans with china in response to the new zone. officials at japan airlines have taken the precaution of briefing chinese authorities about flights to and from taiwan, even though their planes don't fly in chinese air space. chief cabinet secretary suga emphasized they don't recognize the new zone. >> translator: the zone is not enforced in japan. the transport ministry told airlines on monday to follow the government's policy.

they should conduct their operations as usual. >> japan's transport minister says officials have also made their views clear to authorities in beijing. >> translator: we told the chinese government that japan would follow its usual rules. >> he said that ministry officials believe airline companies will make appropriate decisions based on the government's instructions. australian leaders are also expressing concern. foreign affairs minister julie bishop says the timing and the manner of china is not helpful. the government conveyed concern the chinese ambassador in australia and asked for explanation. chinese officials are getting ready to take their nation's space program to the next stage. they are planning to send an unmanned spacecraft to the moon. the state administration of

science, technology, and industry said if the conditions are right, the lunar probe will blast off from its base early next month. the probe is expected to carry a robot and examine the lunar terrain. the lunar launch would be china's first successful mission, would make china the third country after the soviet union and the united states to reach the moon's surface. they already have an experimental laboratory in orbit. u demonstrators have expanded their protests to more government buildings in thailand. tension is continuing to mount between the antigovernment protesters and security forces. on monday, sit-ins at more than

ten locations. on tuesday, 2,000 people continued sit-ins. other temporarily entered the compounds of three more ministries. the trigger for the demonstrations was an amnesty bill that could allow former prime minister thaksin shin what. thaksin is the brother of prime minister yinluck. protesters claim the prime minister is the puppet of thaksin and should stand down. some of the most expensive rice in the world is found in japan, but a shakeup in industry could change all that. ron? >> yeah, farmers have been enjoying a subsidy that's been supporting their industry for decades now, so you can imagine any changes to that might be met with some resistance. so what's happening, the japanese government has decided

to end a policy that's been preventing rice prices for falling for more than 40 years and plans to abolish its subsidy program. prime minister shinzo abe was among the participants in a meeting where the decision was made. >> translator: we need to develop an environment where business-minded farmers can grow. we'll proceed with agricultural reform to turn farming into a growth industry and boost farmers' income. >> the government plans to stop setting rice production targets by fiscal 2018 starting in april next year. it will also have the subsidy for farmers cooperating in the policy. the program has been criticized for inflating prices and rewarding a lack of innovation. well, opinion is divided among japanese farmers over the government decision. he says the government control of rice production is necessary.

>> translator: if people are free to grow as much rice as they want, prices will continue to fall. we have a surplus of rice even now. >> toda also says he may not be able to buy or repair farming machines if his subsidy is cut in half. meanwhile, aruga welcomes the end of the subsidy program. he's been growing rice without a subsidy for 30 years. he has cut down on the use of chemical fertilizers and says that step has set his rice apart from other farmers. >> translator: the rice production limit hasn't been suitable for our region. the government didn't recognize different conditions in the rice producing regions. >> he says the changes provide a good opportunity for both the government and farmers to consider a fresh farm policy for the future. let's get a check of the markets now. european shares pulling back

from a recent rally. let's see how things are looking now. all the markets are lower right now. london is down by .4 of a percent. frankfurt losing a touch, by .2 of a percent. french spirits group gave up almost 10%. company said a sales slowdown in china is likely to hurt its profit. asia markets finished mixed. tokyo's nikkei fell after its recent run-up. indonesia down 2.3%, the lowest level in more than two months. this is fuelling fears about capital outflows from the country to a fresh low since march 2009. investor worries escalated after poor results in government bond auctions. dollar/yen, 101.45, and this does come before the economic data out of the u.s. later on tuesday. among them, consumer confidence

numbers from november. euro/yen, 137.46 at this hour. representatives from japan, china, and south korea have kicked off their third round of negotiations for their three-way trade agreement. japan's chief delegate says he hopes the four-day talks in tokyo will be fruitful and lead to further negotiations next year. >> this framework among japan, china, korea should play a significant role in that context of the asian pacific p trade and investment. >> japanese officials plan to urge china to open up its market more. they've been calling for lower tariffs on cars and lower markets, but china wants to protect its industries. the three nations are also expected to discuss rules on patent protection and

investment. japan is trying to win an international competition as part of the campaign, it's showcasing the latest bullet train at a railway fair in sydney. the event is attracting more than 400 companies from about 30 countries. officials from japan are displaying their country's state of the art railway management system. >> it is just an absolutely magnificent display, exhibition of rail technology from around the world here in sydney. >> central japan railway company is showing the latest model in the n-700 bullet train series. >> translator: we like japan to be known as one of the best molgds in the world. >> australia plans to build a 1700-kilometer high-speed railway. japan is competing with rivals like france to win some of the business. all right, that is going to do it for biz tonight.

i'll leave you with a check of the markets. chinese have complained for years about the rot in their system. they've heard their leaders promise to reduce corruption, reform the court system, and bring more fairness to their lives, but for many chinese, promises of a better future just

aren't enough. nhk world reports from beijing. >> reporter: petitioners wind up outside a government office in beijing. lines were longer during the recent third plenary session of the party's central committee. the petitioners wanted to appeal directly to national government authorities about programs like corrupt local government officials. >> translator: this country is corrupt. the government doesn't care about the people, nor feel responsible for them. >> reporter: police officers kept an eye on petitioners. they wanted to discourage the people from demonstrating. if the police saw posters criticizing the government, they acted quickly. 55-year-old li fong comes from

hunan province. she, like many others, came to beijing to complain directly to government officials. li says authorities from her local government forced her and her parents out of their home. they felt they didn't receive enough compensation. li tried to take her case to court, but the authorities detained and beat her. >> translator: i still feel dizzy at times, because i was often beaten at the detention center. >> reporter: li now lives in her own apartment house in beijing. her unit is only about five square meters. she tries to keep a low profile, just because authorities have often detained her for protesting against appropriation of her home.

>> translator: i think there might be more incidents like the deadly car crash at tiananmen square. many people have given up hope. >> reporter: this day, li joined others who came to beijing to complain about corrupt officials and their high handedness. she began chanting her demands. her banner urged the communist party to give her case a fair hearing, but the police quickly moved in. they also forced us to stop covering her activities. >> translator: our country needs to change. if it doesn't, the people will continue to suffer. >> reporter: the chinese government has yet to listen to

many people who say their rights were violated. disputed seas strain relations with their neighbors. find out about the challenges china faces on "newsline." and this just in, lawmakers in japan's lower house have just passed a bill that would give government officials sweeping powers to decide what constitutes a state secret. the government already has controls in place on classified information. the bill would give senior officials authority to define what are known as special secrets that would include information related to information, diplomacy, counterintelligence, and counterterrorism. public servants found leaking or deliberately obtaining such information could be jailed up to ten years. they hope to pass the bill before the upper house before this session of the diet wraps up next month.

critics argue the bill will allow government officials to keep far more information from the public and they fear the provisions do not include enough oversight. nhk world tomoko kamata has more information. >> this bill is closely related to another bill the upper house is debating right now. prime minister shin doe abe is trying to coordinate foreign affairs and defense policies and this is called a japanese version of the u.s. national security council, but the americans have been reluctant to share sensitive information with their japanese allies, so members of the ruling coalition hope that these bills will show that they can control such information. japan has the national public service act, and it already prohibits public servant from sharing secrets. and those who leak classified data face up to one year in

prison. but members of the ruling coalition say that for some information, they need stricter regulations. they say this bill will allow them to freely exchange sensitive intelligence with the u.s. and other nations. some members of the oppositions, journalists, writers, and lawyers, are urging the administration to reconsider the plan. the country's lawyers group argues the bill could allow government officials to classify information as a special secret without information, and they say the prospect of a long prison term will intimidate people who try to access information and undermine people's rights to know. leaders of the ruling coalition met with their opposition counterpart to address some of these issues, and they amended

parts of the bill. under these changes, the prime minister would be given the right to oversee the classification of information and order corrections. also, ruling party leaders agreed to consider setting up an independent panel to watch over the process. the critics say checks by the prime minister would not prevent errors. some opposition lawmakers say they need to debate this bill more carefully. but starting monday, december 2nd, here on "newsline." another cyclone is heading towards india. rachel ferguson from the weather team has been following this storm. rachel, how bad are things expected to get? >> all right, gene, right now

the storm is situated in the bay of bengal, quite far off from the coast of india for a moment. it was battering small islands a few days ago, but now it's all the heavy rain and those winds affecting the sea, really. until the next couple of days, when it is going to be proceeding closer to the coast and then we're going to be seeing the storm making landfall. for the time being, the winds are at 135 to 45 kilometers an hour, gusts at 155 kilometers an hour, so it is a pretty powerful system. there's potential for it to strengthen before it makes landfall, but we really need to see what's going to be happening as it approaches the coast. in terms of the rainfall, right now it's giving about 200 millimeters, but as it heads further in towards the coast, we're just going to be watching to see what happens. certainly, storm surge and flooding are going to be high risk. on into eastern asia, and things

are looking quite dry across much of china and mongolia here. temperatures really starting to fall as we head into winter, but out here towards japan and the korean peninsula is where we're going to be seeing the precipitation. mostly going to be snow for northern portions of japan, because we have this arctic blast of air, winds coming across, and that gets the sea effect snow machine in motion. that's what we see at this time of year and we'll see it piling up, as well. hokkaido, 20 to 30 centimeters by wednesday morning. as we head into the korean peninsula, you could see a couple centimeters in seoul. 1 degree forecast for your high and snow in the forecast there. 15 in tokyo. that will probably be coming down towards the end of the work week as the arctic air filters in towards the kanta region, as well. as we head up towards the north, things are really falling apart there, minus 13 for ulan bator and 12 in shanghai. let's take a look at some of the

lows you can expect, though, with the arctic cooldown in the region. 8 degrees in taipei. we usually see an average about 16. 1 in shanghai. tokyo 6 degrees by friday and seoul, minus 5 for you. on into the americas, out west things are looking quite clear and dry. in fact, they'll be getting milder for areas in central parts of the u.s. and canada, but out towards the east, we have quite a mess. we have a big low down towards the southeast, that's creating very heavy rain and flash flooding is possible for northern georgia in towards tennessee and the carolinas here. then it switches over to freezing rain, which is such dangerous stuff for driving in, and, of course, there's going to be a lot of driving this week as people prepare to meet their friends and relatives for thanksgiving. into wednesday, doesn't improve much, i'm afraid. flash flooding risk further in towards the northeast, as will that freezing rain pushing up

into eastern canada, as well. here are your temperatures, highs for tuesday, across the americas. minus 12 in winnipeg, back up to 8 degrees in new york, but you're going to see that plunging again towards thursday. washington, d.c. at 6. lots of single digits here down towards the southwest, though, los angeles 24 and sunshine. here's your extended forecas

one of the main news this hour, lawmakers in japan's lower house have just passed a bill that would give government officials sweeping powers to decide what constitutes a state secret. the government already has controls in place on classified information. the bill would give senior officials the authority to define what are known as special secrets. that would include information related to defense, diplomacy, counterintelligence, and counterterrorism. public servants found leaking or deliberately obtaining such information could be jailed for up to ten years. members of the ruling coalition hope to pass the bill through the upper house before this session of the diet wraps up next month. once again, lawmakers in japan's lower house have just passed a

bill that would give government officials sweeping powers to decide what constitutes a state secret. and that's "newsline" for this hour. i'm gene otani for all of us here at nhk world, thanks for joining us.

thousands of pro-european protest is demonstrate again in ukraine as jailed opposition leader tymoshenko goes on a hunger strike in solidarity. the head of the opposition free syrian army says the rebels will not attend a peace conference in geneva in january. it says there is no role or president assad in transition. send 1000t to soldiers to the central african republic. the situation there has been described as desperate. you are watching "france 24." thankfo