welcome to nhk world "newsline." i'm gene otani in tokyo. here's a look at some of the stories we're following this hour. the u.s. vice president will soon begin in japan to begin an asian tour as leaders in the region voice concern about china's air defense identification zone. anti-government protesters in thailand are calling for a nationwide strike as they increase pressure on the prime minister to step down.

and belgians with a deep affection for haiku have found a unique way to send their poetry back to its birthplace. u.s. vice president joe biden will soon get off a plane in the japanese capital and step into a dispute that's increased the friction between neighbors in this region. he'll be meeting leaders in tokyo, beijing and seoul to talk about china's newly established air defense identification zone. biden will sit down on tuesday with prime minister shinzo abe. abe has called the zone very dangerous. chinese defense ministry officials announced last month they'd set up the zone. it covers a large part of the east china sea. and includes islands the japanese control, but the chinese and taiwanese claim. biden will head to china after he leaves japan. the vice president will meet on wednesday with president xi jinping and other chinese leaders. analysts say biden is starting his tour in japan to highlight

the decades-old u.s./japan alliance and to coordinate the response to china. he'll travel to south korea later this week. u.s. leaders responded quickly to china's move with both words and actions. top officials criticize the chinese for trying to change the status quo in the asia-pacific. and military commanders sent b-52 bombers to fly over the air defense identification zone. it sent a strong message to authorities in beijing that the operations of u.s. forces in the region wouldn't change. we asked bonnie glaser with the center for strategic and international studies about biden's visit to the region and how much will the identification zone dominate the talks. >> i think this new air defense identification zone that china has announced will be a very important topic of discussion. it has created new tensions between china and the united

states. it has certainly increased the friction between china and japan. and now introduced new tensions between china and south korea. and created the potential for an accident in the region that could be quite dangerous. it is the timing of the announcement and the extent of this zone that i think is quite worrisome to the united states as well as the procedures that the chinese have announced that apply to aircraft that are flying through the zone. and therefore i think that the united states does not expect that china will rescind this zone. but i think the u.s. hopes that we can influence how the chinese actually implement these procedures. the circumstances under which they intercept aircraft flying through the zone. i think he will certainly

encourage more diplomacy and then specific discussions about confidence-building measures between air forces in particular but also between other parts of the military and law enforcement systems. but i think overall, what the vice president is going to do is encourage a lessening of tensions between china and japan and underscore how important the relationship is to both countries and to the preservation of stability, prosperity in northeast asia. >> and that was bonnie glaser, senior adviser for asia at the center for strategic and international studies, a u.s. think tank based in washington. monday marks one week since anti-government protesters in thailand began sit-ins at official buildings in bangkok. the demonstrators are calling for prime minister yingluck

shinawatra to step down. tension across the country remains high, and the anti-yingluck groups are escalating their protests. we have the story. >> so far it appears there's no sign that the demonstrators will stop any time soon. instead the scope of the activities appears to be expanding. the protesters are calling on government workers across the country to come out on strike to paralyze the administration. demonstrators are continuing their sit-ins in and around a range of government buildings including the finance ministry. they want prime minister yingluck shinawatra to step down immediately. tension is mounting among government house. protesters continue to pelt the compound with rocks. the former prime minister met with yingluck last night, but they failed to make progress. he says he will continue leading the protests and is calling on

all government workers across the country to join them and strike on monday. at the parliament in bangkok, demonstrators stopped getting inside. instead workers had to wait for instructions at the entrance. >> translator: as a government worker, i must do my duty as usual today. but if i had time, i'd rather take part in the protests. >> the escalation of the anti-government protests is beginning to affect everyday life in bangkok. many colleges and high schools are closed out of security concerns. the latest demonstrations were triggered last month when yingluck forced a controversial amnesty bill through the lower house. critics say the bill was intended to pave the way for her brother, former prime minister shinawatra to return from parliament. he was ousted in a coup seven years ago. on sunday about 5,000 people clashed with security forces when they tried to storm

government house. security forces responded with tear gas, injuring several dozens. on saturday shots were fired into a crowd of protesters at a university campus, leaving three people dead. demonstrators in ukraine are trying to force their leader out of office. they say the president should resign because he sacrificed closer ties with the european union under pressure from russia. more than 100,000 people rallied in the streets of kiev. they're angry the president's government reversed course and did not sign a pact with the eu. the deal is considered a prerequisite for ukraine's entry into the bloc. some of the protesters used construction vehicles to try to storm the presidential office. others threw gas and smoke bombs. security officers responded with tear gas and clubs. at least 100 people have been

hurt. the government walked away from the eu deal last week. russian leaders had put on pressure by restricting some ukrainian out this week here o "newsline." u.s. investigators are scouring a site near a riverbank in new york, looking for clues that could help them figure out why a passenger train went off the tracks. the derailment on sunday killed four people. more than 60 others were hurt. the accident happened in the bronx shortly after 7:00 in the morning. the eight-car train was carrying about 150 passengers. investigators with the national transportation safety board will examine various factors. they'll analyze data recorders to see how fast the train was traveling and how the brakes were applied, and they'll question the operator. >> our mission is to understand not just what happened but why it happened with the intent of preventing it from happening again.

>> media outlets in new york are reporting that some information suggests brake failure. but an ntsb official says the cause of the derailment has not been determined, and investigators will not rule out anything. the train connects new york's suburbs with manhattan. it's packed with commuters monday to friday. service isn't expected to resume for at least a week. the u.s. authorities are also investigating another derailment in new mexico. three railroad employees aboard the train were killed. local media say the derailment happened on saturday as a locomotive pulled eight cars carrying iron ore. it plunged into a ravine near the tracks and landed on its side. police say that after losing the locomotive, the eight cars apparently kept on traveling but derailed at a nearby curve. environmental group greenpeace says chinese officials should do more to deal with serious air pollution if they hope to host the 2022 winter olympics in beijing.

greenpeace has released the results of a study on airborne particles. the survey covered the area around the capital. chinese authorities announced in september a plan to cut air pollution by more than 25% by 2017. greenpeace says even if officials meet this target level of pm-2.5 won't fall below china's air quality standards before 2030. >> translator: many things still need to be done if the government wants to achieve the standard. >> greenpeace says emissions of air pollutants must be reduced by 80% from their 2010 levels. it says failure to do so would mean china won't clear its own standards by 2022. japanese leaders are doing more to help with the global fight against infectious diseases. they're giving an additional $800 million to an international fund-raising their contribution to nearly $3 billion. government officials are

expected to announce the contribution on tuesday in washington. they'll be attending a meeting of the global fund to fight aids, tuberculosis and malaria. japanese leaders proposed creating the organization when they hosted the g-8 summit in 2000. it provides financial aid to treat and prevent the spread of infectious diseases in developing countries. prime minister abe spoke about the fund in september when he met in new york with microsoft founder and philanthropist bill gates. abe said japan would continue its financial contribution. auto sales are surging in japan, and it's not just a abenomics behind the sudden boom. >> they're definitely loosening the pursestrings of consumers here in japan. there's more to it than two people buying cars. new car sales in japan rose in november for the third straight month. many people are rushing to buy vehicles before a planned

consumer tax hike next april. industry groups say more than 457,000 vehicles were sold last month, up 16% year on year. honda's sales surged about 48%. nissan showed a gain of more than 15% and toyota 1.5%. officials of the japan automobile dealers association say sales increased as automakers rolled out new models. they predict that the uptrend is likely to continue for a while. japan's minister for negotiating the transpacific partnership free trade pact has fallen ill. he was driving to seal a deal by year end, but officials say he's likely to stay in hospital for a few days. the economic revitalization minister felt unwell on monday at a crucial juncture for the talks. amari met michael froman on sunday. amari is also in charge of new

economic measures. leaders hope to finalize this week. but chief cabinet secretary suga said trade negotiations will stay their course. he said amari will give instructions from hospital. ministers regrouped on saturday for more tpp talks. officials will decide if amari attends pending more information about his condition. let's check on the markets now with data from spain with hurting sentiment in european equity markets. the country's manufacturing activity contracted in november for the first time in four months. here's how major indexes are performing at this hour. london's ftse is down about 0.6%. and paris's cac 40 is also down about 0.4%. and in frankfurt's dax, it hit a record high three days in a row last week. the index is now just slightly lower at 9,404. asian markets ended mixed.

china was weighed down by the likelihood of the long-awaited restart of public offerings. it drew strength from positive manufacturing data out of china. in jakarta, the main index closed 1.54% higher at 4,321. investors took heart from better than expected trade numbers. the country's trade balance swung to a surplus in october from a deficit in the previous month. moving on to currencies, the dollar is gaining momentum against the yen. dollar/yen currently changing hands at 102.78-81. analysts say rising long-term u.s. interest rates are helping boost buying in the u.s. currency. the euro/yen is being quoted at 139.21-24. in other business news, u.s. online shopping giant amazon is hoping to bring the future a step closer. it's trying to deliver packages directly to your doorsteps using small unmanned aircraft.

the company has unveiled a test video of a small drone with eight propellers carrying merchandise in a little box. the drone is equipped with a gps system. it can carry packageswaring up to 2.3 kill am gras each. the company aims to deliver packages from distribution centers within 30 minutes. ceo jeff bezos says this is no science fiction. he says the service could be technically ready in four to five years. but bezos adds that u.s. aviation authorities will need to drop regulations for unmanned aircraft before such a service could get off the ground. fast food chains in japan are coming up with new menus to attract more customers and boost profits. those chains are trying to win price-cutting competition and overcome rising costs stemming from the yen's decline. a conveyor belt sushi chain is one of them. it has started serving coffee, unusual for japanese sushi restaurants. more than 300 restaurants in the

chain across the country have installed coffee machines. in some of them, coffee is served on a conveyor belt just like sushi. they plan to add a new dish of boiled beef and vegetables to its menu this week. it's priced at around $6, which is among the highest priced dishes. it's cut its earnings forecast for this fiscal year. the company says it will introduce value added meals to turn the business around. that's all for now in business. i'll leave you with the market figures.

haiku are short on paper but often long in meaning. more people around the world are writing these three-line poems, and some are mailing them to japan, the birthplace of haiku. enthusiasts include well-known names as nhk world's takashi chinosa tells us. ♪ >> reporter: as the president of the european council, this is the top eu official. he's also a keen haiku poet. in october, he published the second election of his works. this is one of his poems. >> an old dog faithfully ploding at his master's side. growing old together. >> reporter: this poem

celebrates spending your life together with someone you care for deeply. in another haiku, he expresses his sorrow for the victims of the great east japan earthquake. >> the three disasters. storms turn into a soft wind. a new, humane wind. >> you can only read haikus when you have some serenity in yourself, and then you come to haikus. but at the same time, writing haikus makes you more serene. >> reporter: it was really him who translate d his haiku into japanese. these days hue caikus are writtn over 70 countries. the basic rules are fixed. the poems are written on three

separate lines, and they should give a sense of the seasons. >> translator: haiku are short, but they're perfect for modern life. they feature literary elements. they leave a fresh impression. >> reporter: a growing number of people in belgium are writing haiku poetry. last april a special haiku mailbox was sent to belgium. it was a gift from one of the main centers for haiku in japan. the poems left in this mailbox are sent free of charge to matsuyama at the japanese embassy. >> translator: since i started writing haiku, i feel closer to nature. the small things in life have started to feel more precious. >> reporter: haikus are a way of reflecting on one's own

existence. even in unlikely places. you can haiku aficionado in this part of the city. this is the belgian national prison. >> translator: okay. please write your poem on this postcard. if you drop it in the mailbox, it will be sent to matsuyama. >> reporter: volunteers arrange weekly sessions where the prisoners write haiku and share them with their fellow inmates. >> translator: you are so far away. i broke the rules of the world. now i ponder my fate. >> reporter: thanks to this haiku mailbox, many poems make their way from belgium to matsuyama. the best of them are published in a specialist magazine founded over 40 years ago. this woman helps select the poems for the magazine.

she says the spirit of haiku can be shared no matter what language they're written in. >> translator: haiku are a wonderful medium for communication. they are a great way to express yourself. and to share part of yourself with others. >> reporter: from japan, haiku are spreading around the world. they are the shortest form of poetry, but the links they forge are global. takashi ichinose, nhk world. it's been a pleasant past few days here in tokyo. our meteorologist robert speta is here with the forecast. robert. >> gene, you're right, it's been decent weather. much of japan over towards china and korea. high pressure is working its way in from the west. this is dominating, even shutting off that sea-effect show machine we've been talking about off towards hokkaido. and that is going to be really in place throughout much of the

workweek. the only down side, it has that capping inversion effect. any pollutants coming out of the cities will be just trapped in the atmosphere. we're already looking at some unhealthy air nexus into portions of beijing. so something to talk about for the next several days. outside of that pretty decent weather in the forecast. farther towards the south, not so much the case. northeast monsoon bringing showers into northeastern portions of the philippines. but this area here, that low pressure, that's what i really want to talk about because that's embedded within that northeast monsoon. but it's been persistent, bringing pretty heavy showers across southern thailand, malaysia and also sumatrsumatra. earlier on this afternoon we actually had some damaging landslides. actually deadly landslides here in northern sumatra where about 200 millimeters of rainfall has been reported in some areas. nine deaths have been reported. we'll have images of that area a little later on. but still looking at this tropical wave embedded in that northeast monsoon, bringing even more rainfall. about 200 millimeters expected

in the next 72 hours on top of what's already been falling out here. temperatures farther towards the north into the 20s if you're in southeastern china. shanghai, pretty much average across the board here. tokyo with a high of 15 here on your tuesday. now let's take a look over towards the americas. and really the big topic going on out here is our low-pressure area pushing across the northern rockies over towards the northern plains. this has already been bringing heavy snowfall in some areas of the rockies. and now you see that moisture stretching all the way out towards the western great lakes. we have winter weather watches, warnings and advisories in effect. the whole table here really just coming all across southern canada. and that's going to move out there and some areas could see about 20 to 30 centimeters of snowfall before this is all said and done. not to mention the winds, up to about 70 kilometers per hour is possible in some areas. as that moves off towards ontario, another thing we'll be having is that high pressure descending in from the north. and temperatures really starting to feel like arctic weather out

here. minneapolis for your high, minus 13 there on your friday. that is your high. your lows will be getting into minus 20, and then that's not even counting windchill as well. so really going to be getting rather frigid. if you plan on traveling in this, some advice may want to take on as you start to get your car ready here. make sure you have a full tank of gas. even going short distances. especially in some of these very foul weather areas. if you do get stuck, you want to make sure you have the heater running as long as possible. try to avoid traveling alone. of course, you always want to have a cell phone with you. i don't want to mention so much that. also i want to mention some of these things to put in your car. blankets, nonperish building food. sand or cat litter. it may sound odd. this can help you get out of a jam and help pull you out of it. a shovel and a rope. when i lived in upstate new york, a shovel would have come in handy. this low-pressure area here, that's bringing some rain

showers and thunderstorms across portions of italy. not so much a snowfall, but it has been dropping about 60 do 70 millimeters of rain there into portions of central italy. that's still going to linger, sink down towards the south, much of central europe, high pressure is dominating right now. that's been bringing in clear skies. but temperatures, well, that's rather cool. berlin with only a high of five. warsaw at four. that's a look at your world weather. here's the extended forecast.

volunteers in fukushima have set up an illumination tower to cheer up people living in temporary housing after the 2011 disaster. members of a citizens group built the tower in a parking lot of the housing complex using some 20,000 l.e.d. lights. more than 500 families live at the facility. >> translator: our spirits have been low since the earthquake. these lights brighten the mood

around here. >> translator: we hope these lights become a symbol of the bonds between evacuees and their relatives. >> as of september, more than 200,000 people were still living away from home in fukushima and neighboring prefectures. and that's "newsline" for this hour. i'm gene otani in tokyo. from all of us here at nhk world, thanks for joining us. have a great day, wherever you are. >> pro you are -- pro-europe

protesters in the ukraine block the trade deal with the e you -- eu. minister ofime thailand says she is not going to resign. she rejects protesters demands to shift the power to the people, calling it unconstitutional. the french prime minister comes out against the working on sunday. he agrees with a new government report that says it should remain mostly a day of rest. thanks for joining us on "france