hello and welcome back to nhk world "newsline." i'm raja pradhan in tokyo. here's a look at some of the stories we're following this hour. protesters in thailand forced their way into the compound of the army headquarters in bangkok, escalating their campaign to force the prime minister to quit. south korea says it's interested in joining the transpacific partnership free trade talks. government officials say they'll consult with other countries in

the tpp before deciding whether to join. and tokyo's governor has apologized for accepting $500,000 from a company that's been embroiled in a political scandal. opposition protesters in thailand are trying to force the prime minister to quit. pro government groups are also planning their own demonstrations this weekend. we have the details in bangkok. >> demonstrators on friday forced their way into the compound of the royal thai army. the choice of two sensitive locations suggest antigovernment protest leaders remain determined to carry on their campaign against the prime minister yingluck shinawatra. more than 1,000 protesters gathered friday. so far the demonstrations have been peaceful. yingluck on thursday survived a

no-confidence motion in parliament and made a televised plea for the dialogue and the end for the protests, but the group seems undeterred. on thursday evening, they vowed to expand the movement to get rid of the current regime. the opposition claims yingluck is a puppet controlled by her brother, former prime minister thaksin shinawatra. >> translator: we need to keep fighting, because we don't like thaksin's system of government. it takes advantage of the people and the country. thaksin's system is bad for politics and bad for the economy. >> thaksin was ousted in a military coup seven years ago and lives in self imposed exile.

opposition supporters on friday continued their sit-ins at the finance ministry and another official building to try to paralyze the government. they also began marching from a business district in bangkok towards the u.s. embassy. some demonstrators forced their way on to a soccer field within the compound of the army headquarters. they say they want to meet with representatives of the military. thaksin supporters are planning their own rally on saturday. it appears that the current turmoil will last for some time. we'll have more updates later on. the managers who run a private high school in fukushima say they'll soon shut down for good. the problem, not enough students are expected to come back. more than 100 students were attending the senior high school in minamisoma city at the time of the 2011 nuclear accident. those students had to transfer to different schools after

managers temporarily closed it. the managers say it's difficult for them all to return because many nearby areas are still designated as no entry zones. >> translator: the school is only 22 kilometers from the power plant. the situation there hasn't returned to normal yet. it's extremely difficult to open the school considering the health of students, teachers, and the staff. >> this is the first time a school in the prefecture will be closed because of the accident. the managers now demand compensation from the operator of the plant. prime minister shinzo abe says japan will deal with china's recently declared air defense identification zone in a calm and resolute manner and will work closely with the international community. abe received a resolution approved by the liberal democrats party policy research council and says china's declaration of the zone cannot be accepted. abe says he'll deal with the

matter properly by taking into consideration what the resolution says. he says he hopes to coordinate policies with japan's allies, other countries in the region, and international organizations. onodera says china's air zone differs from those established by other countries. onodera says normally a country establishes a zone to deal with unidentified aircraft heading towards its territorial airspace. >> translator: china has stated it could resort to military force. we think this is totally unacceptable. >> onodera's remarks follow a statement by a chinese defense ministry spokesperson who says japan should first withdraw its identification zone over the east china sea. it's late in the game, but another country is trying to join talks for the transpacific partnership.

let's get details from ron madison at the business desk. what's the latest? >> pretty late in the game, especially when you consider member nations have been at this for quite a while and are hoping to wrap this up by year's end, but south korean officials say they are interested in joining transpacific partnership free trade talks. they plan to make decisions after talks with countries taking part in the negotiations. cabinet ministers discussed their interest during a meeting on friday. senior trade negotiator from the ministry of trade concluded this is the last chance for the country to secure a seat at the tpp negotiation table. he added, though, that the country may not join the talks if officials decide after the upcoming discussions that the tpp framework would not serve their country's interest. originally, south korea had reservations about participating

in the tpp talks. but the country started seriously considering the step after japan joined the talks in july. it has been holding a series of public hearings on the issue. the european union said the eurozone jobless rate improved a bit. it was down 12.1%, down 0.1%. european stock markets looking like this, all turned up at this hour. germany currently at 9,391. paris, the market is gaining a tenth of a percent, london is up by .2 of 1%. no major trading cues with the u.s. markets closed for the thanksgiving holiday. tokyo's nikkei retreated from a six-year high that it touched on thursday. turning to currency, euro is hovering around its highest level in four and a half years against the yen, right now at

139.22. the november consumer price index released today rose .9% from a year earlier. traders seem not to be reacting much to that announcement at this time. dollar/yen meantime changing hands at 102.30. searching stock prices are proving to be a boon to a giant japanese pension fund, profits totally a little over $30 billion between july and september. the investment fund said it earned $32 billion in the three months. the fund manages some $1.2 trillion. profits from investments and domestic bonds totalled $7.3 billion and $11 billion from stocks. investments in foreign stocks also brought in $11 billion. the july to september period marked the fifth straight quarter of gains. fund officials contribute stock

market rallies in and outside of japan. fed's decision due to the tapering of the bond buying program and the selection of tokyo as the site of the 2020 olympics. a japanese advisory panel has urged the government to slash its deficit next year by much more than the previous target. the group says the cut should exceed to about $39 billion u.s. dollars. the council submitted a report and fiscal health to finance minister taro aso. the government faces a challenge of slashing the budget deficit, while pursuing growth. deficit has swelled to more than $220 billion. the government had set a goal of cutting the deficit by $39 billion in fiscal 2014 and 2015. the budget deficit is the gap between tax revenue and spending. in the report, it says japan faces a critical budget

situation and called for more streamlining of social security expenditures and tax allocations in next year's budget. well, some folks in the u.s. got a jump on things following thanksgiving dinner. the year-end shopping season is in full swing in the u.s. this year many stores started holiday sales earlier than usual to attract holiday shoppers. ♪ and a major toy store in new york's times square began sales on thursday evening instead of waiting until the so-called black friday. in the u.s., the shopping season usually kicks off on friday following thanksgiving. black friday means that all shops make money and go into the black. stores are getting an early start also because of competition with online shops. the retailers are setting prices lower than last year. >> i could tell early on that more spending even online, everyone is shopping earlier,

and i felt it was because of the boost in the economy. >> well, executives at the national retail federation say they expect sales this season to grow 3.9% from last year. all right. that is going to wrap it up for biz tonight. i'll leave you with the markets.

the new session of tokyo's metropolitan assembly is off to a contentious start. expected to face harsh grilling for receiving a large amount of none from a company that's been tainted by political scandal. nhk world has the story. >> reporter: governor onosa admitted to accepting about $500,000 from tokushuki, a major hospital group. several executive members of tokushuki were arrested this month for violating the election law. he apologized to the assembly at the start of his policy speech. >> translator: it is extremely regrettable that i have caused the citizens of tokyo and all the assembly members so much trouble. i am very sorry.

>> reporter: onosa says the money was a personal loan to help cover living expenses, but some observers are questioning that explanation. they say he received the funds closely before the official start of his gubernatorial campaign. onosa was elected governor of tokyo last year, with the largest number of votes in history. he has a reputation as a civic booster, who worked hard to help tokyo win the 2020 summer olympics. onosa told assembly members that he did not intend to do anything illegal. >> translator: i was careless in borrowing the money free of interest or collateral. i truly regret it, and i accept

any criticism on the matter. but i swear i did not give anything in return to the tokushuki group members. >> reporter: officials of several political parties say they will start holding question and answer sessions next week. the liberal democratic party and new komeito hold more than 60% of the seats on the assembly. members say they want inose to provide more information. >> translator: it can hardly be said that governor inose has explained what really happened. >> translator: i find the issue quite regrettable. tokyo will hold the summer olympic games in only seven years' time. we don't want it to have a negative impact on next year's fiscal draft budget or on the

metropolitan government. >> reporter: some assembly members say it will be difficult for inose to maintain the tokyo government until the issue is resolved. the japanese communist party is calling for the establishment of a special investigation committee. the group would have the authority to summon witnesses and file charges against anyone who gives false testimony. tokyo residents have launched more than 800 complaints, saying they don't accept inose's explanations. if the governor fails to have a convincing reason for borrowing the money, that could lead to calls for resignation and could place the 2020 olympics in a much weaker starting position. nhk world, tokyo. a group of japanese academics, including two nobel prize winners, have come out

against the controversial state secrets bill. the ruling coalition wants the bill to become law before the current diet session ends next week. the academics released a statement saying the bill would give the government a free hand in expanding the range of protected secrets. the group includes toesh hide maskawa and hideki shirakawa. the bill would let senior government officials define so-called special secrets. they include information about defense, diplomacy, countersbrejs, and counterterrorism. public servants who leak such information would face a maximum prison term of ten years. the lower house passed the bill on thursday. forcing the bill through the diet, despite widespread public opposition. the group says that reminds them of how the pre-war government destroyed freedom of thought and freedom of the press and forced

the country into war. the bill isn't clear about what kind of secrets would be protected and when they would be declassified. he warns that the proposed law could undermine research activities and says academics might think their work could be classified as state secrets. japanese investigators have arrested three people on suspicion of exporting fish to north korea illegally. the government has banned all exports to north korea since june 2009 after the country carried out a nuclear test. police and the japan coast guard say three people exported more than 400 tons of frozen cod without government approval. the shipment was from northern japan in august 2011. matsumoto is an executive as at a tokyo-based trading firm. the shipment was bound for

china, but there's no record of the ship arriving at that destination. it may sound like an unusual name for someone competing in one of japan's most ancient support, but he's the first arab and african professional sumo wrestler, making headlines not just in japan, but his home country egypt. many young egyptians are following him into the ring. our correspondent has the story. >> reporter: thursday at the japanese embassy in cairo.

they launched for the hero. it means the great man in japanese. in just two years, he advanced to elite division. it was the quickest assent ever for foreign sumo wrestler. >> who they put in front of me, i will fight him. >> reporter: at this gathering, his father spoke of his 21-year-old son. >> translator: he is still making his first steps, though he's made it to the top rank, he needs your big support. >> reporter: this is in the middle of cairo. right now, young egyptians are training. ahmad halifa is his former

coach. he says sumo is gaining more attention in egypt and more people are seeking his guidance. he went here for five years before he left for japan. he's exceptional. >> translator: he's different from other trainees. from the very beginning, i could tell he was superb. >> reporter: khalifa remembers, it took him three hours to travel between home and the practice arena each way. even during the violence and chaos of the arab spring, he never stopped training.

>> translator: his dream was to become yokuzuna, the champion. even though the security situation was bad, he made every effort to continue practicing. >> reporter: 20-year-old mohammed drew inspiration from him. mohammed says he told him to never give up his dream. despite the difficulties, mohammed wants to follow in his footsteps. >> translator: he encourages me through conversations on the telephone and facebook. i want to go to japan like he did. and i want to be even better than him. >> reporter: he has joined the ranks of the best sumo wrestlers in japan. he still faces a long, hard road to the very top.

but he's already providing a bright star for these young men to follow. starting monday, december 2, here on "newsline." now weather wise, the weekend is looking calm for many people across asia. rachel ferguson has the details. >> things are looking very clear across much of china and the korean peninsula as far up there as mongolia, but saz for japan, the snow is going to continue to come the. in the last 24 hours, we had more than half a meter in hokkaido, even down towards kyushu, we're seeing pretty good amounts of accumulation of snow there. it's the sea effect snow coming down. strong winds from siberia, then dumping the moisture mostly along the western coast there. so we have the snow going on up here. down towards the south, it's going to be the rain. some heavy rain hitting parts of

the philippines, central portions particularly, then down across parts of indochina, vietnam, and heavy rain, more than 100 millimeters reported in southern thailand. temperaturewise, things are going to be improving. they already have quite a bit for places like beijing and seoul, 10 degrees on saturday. just a few days ago, you were looking at a high of just above the freezing point. 13 degrees in shanghai, 19 in taipei. you'll be seeing a warming trend beginning next week, when temperatures should be just about average levels. on we go into the americas. no news is good news, and there's not that much in the way of weather news here across much of the united states. there is high pressure in place, and it's keeping things nice and dry, which is a welcome relief after that very dramatic weather and the lead up to thanksgiving with the storms moving through central and eastern locations. whether you got to your celebrations or not, certainly, you're seeing the calm after the storm and many people enjoying

lots of sunshine and moderating temperatures, too. if we look to next week, we'll be finding a storm dropping out of the northwest, bringing temperatures down again, so do enjoy those warmer digits at the moment, because things will be falling apart, temperatures getting quite a bit lower as we head into the middle of next week. for example, seattle, rain and 11 degrees for you on friday. your high is expected to be just 1 degree on wednesday. denver, 14, down to minus 2 for your high with a low dropping down to minus 7. things are really going to be considerably cooler as we head into the middle of next week. all right, taking a look into europe, the mediterranean still seeing some unstable weather. it's been a couple of weeks of storms, and we have another low here, redeveloping once again over warmer waters. that's going to be bringing you hail, flooding rains, strong winds, as well as the thunder and lightning. up towards the north and west, we have another low coming down, bringing chilly rain, upper

elevations, snow, and strong winds. any snow that is falling is going to be blown about, drifting snow potentially a problem, as well as reduced visibility causing some travel problems, as well. here are your temperatures in europe. 9 degrees in london and staying dry. some showers there in paris for you. further towards the east, snow in kiev, 2 degrees. also in moscow, 0 is your high. here's your extended forecast.

and that's all for now on this edition of "newsline." i'm raja pradhan in tokyo. we'll be back with the latest at the top of the hour. thanks for joining us on nhk world.

thailand's antigovernment protesters seize another symbol of the state. the government has declined to crack down on the movement. a frosty reception despite smile for the cameras. ukraine's resident prefers moscow to brussels, confirming the country will not be building closer ties to the eu but he could be persuaded if europe coughs up more cash. syria's lost generation -- the u.n. says nearly one million -- children have been forced to flee. a new report chronicling the distress in the new