welcome could nhk world "newsline." i'm gene otani in tokyo. here's a look at some of the stories we're following this hour. people around the world are celebrating the life and legacy of nelson mandela, the anti-apartheid leader and first black president of south africa. rival forces continue to clash in the central african republic. at least 100 people are reported dead. and in a remote area of

northeastern japan, a group of architects has been working not just to rebuild houses but to revive shattered communities. millions of people around the world are remembering and paying tribute to the man who is considered the father of modern south africa, nelson mandela has died. he was 95, known respectfully as madiba by south africans, he dedicated his life to the fight against apartheid and went on to become the country's first black president. nhk world's chie yanagichi reports. >> reporter: the news was shocking but not unexpected. >> fellow south africans, our beloved nelson mandela, the founding president of our democratic nation, has departed. >> reporter: minutes after

president jacob zuma announced mandela's death, south africans started to mourn and remember. >> so painful. i just can't believe it. >> we cry with the family and the nation, we have a great loss. >> reporter: mandela had been in and out of hospital since 2011 because of a lung infection and other ailments. he died at home on thursday night, surrounded by family. nelson mandela was born in 1918 in a small village in south africa's eastern cape province. in university, he became involved in the movement to abolish the policy of racial segregation known as apartheid. after he became active with african national congress, mandela faced arrests, charges and trials. authorities eventually sentenced

him to life in prison. he continued fighting apartheid from his jail cell and gained the respect and support around the world. the government released mandela in february 1990, after more than 27 years in prison. he worked with then president f.b. daclerc to abolish all apartheid laws. they shared the nobel peace prize in 1983. the next year, mandela became south africa's first black president. >> i cherish the idea of a new south africa, where all south africans are equal. >> reporter: he worked for reconciliation between whites and blacks and oversaw the creation of a constitution that enshrined racial equality.

he retired from active pop ticks in 1989 but continues to mediate in conflicts in other countries in africa. news of mandela's death quickly spread around the world. delegates to the u.n. security council adjourned their meeting and observed a moment of silence. >> many around the world were greatly influenced by his selfless struggle for human dignity, equality and freedom. >> reporter: political leaders came, one after another, to speak about what mandela meant to the world. >> we've lost one of the most influential, courageous and profoundly good human beings that any of us will share time with on this earth. >> translator: he achieved a major success in building the nation, his policies centering

on national reconciliation. >> reporter: the mourning and tributes for mandela will go on for days to come, then south africans will hold a state tune follow for the man many called madiba and many considered a hero. chie yamagishi, nhk world. hero, statesman, freedom writer. mandela was many things to many people. two japanese women who spent a lot of time with him told nhk world world's mitsuko nishikama. >> reporter: naoko at kansai university spent four years working at the african national office. she served as coordinator after mandela was released from prison in 1990. she says she cannot forget the

speech he gave. >> our struggle is your struggle and our victory -- [ applause ] our victory is your victory. >> i felt that i was part of the big movement, i was part of the big way of struggle and way to get the victory in south africa. i think he showed me what type of society we want to create. >> reporter: tsuyama says she was deeply impressed by the respect mandela showed to each and every visitor as he shook hands and spoke with them.

she says it was a sign of his true passion for dialogue. >> translator: he was kind to everyone, even to me. nelson mandela had an unconquerable spirit but he was also a very gentle person, full of personal warmth and kindness. >> reporter: during his visit to japan, mandela also left a deep impression on his acupuncturist, shikako ueda. she would later become his appointed therapist in south africa.hikako ueda. she would later become his appointed therapist in south africa.chikako ueda. she would later become his appointed therapist in south africa. ? i talked a lot and he just listened and i had an indication that he was listening very carefully. >> reporter: mandela taught her

to keep a forward-looking attitude. he said that kind of stance was that enabled him to cope with the decades he spent in detention. >> translator: mr. mandela said being deprived of freedom for 27 years of one's life is certainly a tragedy, but it gave him time to think. i think mr. mandela is the kind of person who believes there is a good and a bad side to everything, that nothing is 100% negative. >> reporter: mandela also ueda a necklace sporting the amc colors. she believes his loveable personality is the pillar that kept south africa from descending into chaos and hat d

hatred. >> translator: i saw many people who criticized mr. mandela fall in love with him as soon as they met him in person for the first time. i think that's probably how he was able to pull his country together. mandela's charisma has spread well beyond his entourage and touched younger generations, including ueda's son. >> translator: i'd be happy if i can grow into even a fraction of the kind of person mr. mandela

was. >> reporter: nelson mandela may have passed away, but his passion for dialogue his indomminable spirit and captivating wisdom are here to stay. mitsuko nishikawa, nhk world, tokyo. violence continues in the central african republic, fierce fighting between rival forces has reportedly left at least 100 people dead. armed militants attacked three muslim-controlled locations in the capital bangui, with machine guns and rocket launchers. the muslim side says christian militants were behind the attacks. the minority muslims seized the capital in march, they then declared the establishment of an interim government. the country fell into chaos

after muslim forces ousted the president. this led to repeated clashes with christian militants. looting and vandalism are rampant as most government troops and police have fled the city. about 460,000 people are seeking refuge inside and outside the country. the u.n. security council is taking steps to get the situation under control. it has authorized african and french troops are sent to the country to help restore security and public order. the security council unanimously passed a resolution proposed by the chair country france. the council has authorized the deployment of african union or a.u. troops for one year to restore security. french troops will also be sent to assist them. the resolution says the security council will consider giving the forces the status of u.n. peacekeepers if the situation in the country doesn't improve within three months. the au plans to display more than 3,500 troops in the

country, france will dismatch more than 1,000. japan may have to continue to rely on nuclear energies that a cheap option to keep the economic engine running. ron madison is here with more. >> japanese government officials drafted a basic energy policy. it says the country will maintain nuclear power generation as an important base source of electricity. the draft has been presented to the industry ministries a's energy policy panel. it says japan needs to reduce its reliance on nuclear energy as much as possible but that does go on to say the country will continue nuclear power generation as long as the safety of power plants is ensured. it notes that nuclear power allows the steady supply of electricity at a lower cost and without aggravating climate change. the draft represents a major shift from a policy drawn up last year by the government of the democratic policy, the policy aimed at ending nuclear power generation in the 2030s t came after the 2011 nuclear

accident at the fukushima daiichi plant. all nuclear reactor plants in japan are currently offline. the new policy contains no mention of a plan to rebuild a nuclear power plant, with the government to construct more reactors. the draft says japan aims to promote renewable energy as a promising domestic resource over the next three years or so. the government plans to approve the new energy policy early next year. on to markets now, european equities bouncing back from recent losses, the rebound is due to bargain hunting today in part. investors also receive news that germany's central bank raised next year's growth forecast to 1.7%. it seems to be giving a bit of a boost to the markets now, london is up by 0.4%, frankfurt gaining being 0.5%, and paris's cac is up 0.25%. tokyo's nikkei rose after two consecutive days of heavy loss, hang shy declined 0.4% ahead of

the release of chinese economic data and jakarta hit a three-month low. thaila thailand's key index loss over 1%, it was the worst performer in the region, fears over political tensions flared up again after anti-government protesters took a day off thursday for the king's birthday. dollar/yen is right around 102.10, really in a tight range as you can see, investors are looking at what the latest u.s. jobs report will show that, key data is said to be an important indicator for the fed for times of reducing its asset buying program. the country where europe's debt crisis started is still struggling to turn its economy around, but a the head of the investment agency in greece says the government is reforming the business envirnment to attract overseas capital. >> greek government mandated by

the greek people embark on a major overhaul of all sectors of the economy, so a structural reform, a huge structural reform has been undertaken at the same time. >> greece's economy is expected to contract this year for the sixth consecutive year. the government forecasts though the gdp will grow in 2014 as global demand gradually picks up but austerity measures keep pressure in people's lives. the jobless rate remains the highest in the eurozone. >> the unemployment is soaring and this is a very important problem, especially among youth, when it is a time that the people need to hone their skills. unfortunately, they are left without a job, so no one can overlook this, but that's exactly what we're trying to accomplish, and that's why we have placed the attraction of fdi right at the center of our efforts. >> oesias says the greek

government is making it easier for foreign firms to invest in the country. >> most of the barriers were coming in the form, as i said, of bureaucracies and inefficiencies, the licensing process was reduced. we have to admit that. so right now with the latest loss, the greek government first of all has established a fast track law. the latest development law gives some very handsome tax relief and subsidies that can go all the way up to 50%, 55% of investment compared to the sector of the area. these are major and smaller changes that render the environment a lot friendlier and welcoming to international investors. >> he says the greek government is planning to develop a port near athens and turn it into a hub for ocean transport between europe and asia. all right, that is going to wrap it up for biz tonight. let's get another check of the markets.

u.s. defense officials are preparing to dispatch a ship to help destroy syria's chemical weapons. they say they plan to test their system next month. officials from the organization for the prohibition of chemical weapons and the united nations are overseeing the destruction of the weapons. they intend to dispose more than 1,000 tons of chemical agents by the middle of next year. they plan to transport the most hazardous substances out of the

country by the end of this month to destroy them at sea. pentagon officials say two chemical processing units are being installed on the transport vessel. they say the operation to turn the stockpile into low-level hazardous waste will take up to 90 days. they say it's a proven technology and poses little danger. residents of cities across northeastern japan have seen crews working to rebuild their neighborhoods, even if they complain about the pace of reconstruction. some people who live in smaller communities say they can't get the help they need. so one group of architects has stepped in to change what they see around them. here's nhk world's yuko aotani.

>> reporter: shoko fukuya has knead her career as an architect but she doesn't design many buildings these days. instead she walks around northeastern japan talking to locals and doing research. how much of these fishermen's lives have returned to normal? >> translator: production wise, they're catching about half of what they used to, but it varies from one area to another. >> reporter: fukuya teaches architecture in the city of sendai. she was visiting tokyo on march 11th, 2011, when an earthquake hit northeastern japan. within the hour, a tsunami roared ashore and washed away building after building. >> translator: i couldn't imagine what one architect could do, so five days later, i talked with other architects about what

we could do for the devastated areas. >> reporter: they called their project arc eight. they started small, but now a network of 300 share ideas and draw up plans to rebuild communities. on the oshika peninsula, most people work in the fishing industry but the waves destroyed their ports and boats. more than 2,000 people died in this area. many others lost their livelihoods. the people in each of the 30 communities along this peninsula have their own history and ways of doing things. the architects wanted to preserve those traditions so they started by visiting residents to find out exactly what they wanted. all areas that suffered tsunami damage have been designated as risk zones. this means most people can't rebuild their homes in the same place as before, but fishermen need to be close to the port to check on their boats, so the architects found this higher ground for them to build on.

>> translator: from a safety point of view, it was decided to move people first, but we always have to keep in mind why they want to keep living there. >> reporter: some residents didn't have a reason to stay. many joined an exodus out of the area. the population of the peninsula is 70% of what it was before the disaster. >> translator: it's impossible to stop people from leaving the area. there's only just us fishermen left. >> reporter: the people at arc eight are trying to attract young people with the area, connecting young people with residents trying to help them understand the community. the students are rebuilding this sacred shelter for some religious statues.

in this small fishing village, this is the first reconstruction project since the disaster. >> translator: its see great to have this built. we're grateful for the energy of these young people. it's all thanks to these students. >> reporter: fukuya says hearing things like that encourages the arc tekthitects in their work. >> translator: i want the members of archiaid to be more independent, to be more rooted to the community. >> reporter: fukua a says she and her colleagues want to revive the communities and she hopes to pass on what they've learned to younger generations. yuko aotani, nhk world, ishinomaki. shoku's work will be introduced in tokyo as part of an extended feature to be broadcast by nhk world on december 7th. there's a severe ice storm in the united states.

meteorologist robert speta has more on that. robert? >> well, gene, you're right and if you want to travel to the united states at least don't go to the eastern seaboards right now or if you do go, be ready for some likely delays and cancellations at the airports, because the eye of this has widespread freezing rain impacts all the way from portions of texas, extending off towards the northeast, and in some areas around missouri, over towards arkansas and kentucky, we could be seeing about a half a centimeter of ice accumulation so just making not only for airport delays but also just treacherous driving conditions out here with this storm system, and just north of that freezing line we're also looking at some fairly heavy snowfall in this big band of weather, up to about 15 to 25 centimeters could be accumulated in a few areas out here so definitely slow down the roads and bundle up. once this starts to push off toward the northeast we have this high pressure coming in

from the north and that ice storm very well could be knocking out some power out here and if you have your generators, make sure they're set up correctly and stay warm if the power goes out because high temperatures are going to get frigid. winnipeg, minus 21, off to the north but where you are seeing that storm temperatures lingering right around the freezing mark and likely going through the overnight hours it will be well below freezing. washington, d.c., even only seeing 1 degree here for your high on sunday and like i said up there into canada it is that arctic air mass, minus 23. let's talk about what's going on over towards europe where we're also looking at a severe winter storm to say the least, the worst one in several years out here. this is just continuing to blow those winds onshore. you can see these clouds racing from the northwest toward the southeast across the north sea, belgium, denmark, northern portions of germany, looking at coastal flooding with this, some

storm surge coming onshore, thursday into scotland there was wind reports of 225 kilometers per hour, that is well over the equivalent of hurricane force strength winds and now up to about 130 kilometer-per-hour-winds is likely toward the baltic states and moving into western portions of russia, as this continues to race off there, not to mention all that cold air spilling in with it, so behind this storm system we're going to be looking at cooler weather, drier, but it's still going to be fairly breezy out here with only a high of 5 in london, at paris and still snowfall farther off toward the east. let's stay on the topic of snowfall and talk about what's going on in japan as well here, where off towards the north we have the sea-effect snow machine starting to crank back up here and some areas could see 10 to 20 meters of snow off western portions of hokkaido, hokuriku region but the pacific coastline

not feeling the effects of it, typical with these storm systems. if you like to ski this is definitely something you're looking forward to. let's quickly talk about what's going on toward the south in the tropics, completely switching gears because we have heavy rainfall continuing to occur across malaysia. loot last seven days, upwards of 500 to 700 millimeters, northern portions of kuala lumpur and singapore. the new developing cyclonic storm is off the bay of bengal, the bad news it is developing and it could bring risk of flooding in india and toward miramar and bangladesh by next week. that's a look at your world weather. here is your extended forecast.

that's "newsline" for this hour. i'm gene otani in tokyo.

>> remembering mandela. south africans gather to mourn the loss of a man who changed the nation and inspire generations. nelson mandela has died at the age of 95. thank for joining us on "france ." people around the world are gathering to mourn the loss of nelson mandela. this friday everyone from heads of state to people on st