welcome to nhk world "newsline," i'm gene otani in tokyo. here is a look at some of the stories we're following this hour. south korea has told other countries it's expanding its air defense zone to overlap those of chin nand japan. members of japan's ruling coalition have agreed on guidelines to cushion the impact of doubling the consumption tax. cheap electricity has fueled

south korea's remarkable growth, but with another cold winter on the way, some worry it could bring the power grid to a breaking point. south korean aviation authorities have confirmed to neighboring countries they'll extent their air defense identification zone this sunday. it will overlap japan's and one china declared last month. they all lie outside each nation's air space. initially the south korean and japanese zones were adjacent to each other over the east china sea. south korea's zone did not include a submerged rock both it and china claim. authorities in beijing says theirs did include the rock. officials in seoul asked them to revise it but the request was denied. representatives with japanese airlines say the change won't affect their operations. they say the revised zone coffers south corey yes, sir current air traffic control area.

defense ministry officials in tokyo told lawmakers with the liberal democratic party how they plan to deal with the change. they said the self-defense forces and the south korean military have use add communication line to notify each other of their flight plans in their air zones. they do that to avoid unintentional problems. they say they used the line around 20,000 times last year and plan to continue using it. members of a u.s. congressional panel say they're al lafrmd about how chinese authorities are treating foreign reporters. the authorities appear to be withholding visas for the journalists but won't say why. >> 23 reporters don't get their visas by the end of the year "the new york times" and bloomberg may not be able to cover china at all. >> members of the congressional executive commission on china gathered to discuss the issue. the chairman, senator sherrod brown suggested the chinese may be retaliating for stories last year in the times and bloomberg.

journalists published investigations into enormous wealth of chinese leaders. u.s. vice president joe biden raised the issue last week during a visit to beijing. he warned president xi jinping that there would be repercussions if the reporters were expelled. a spokesperson for the chinese foreign ministry say it is treatment consistently follows local law. north korean leaders are defying their critics. they've received warning after warning not to launch rockets, but they say they'll continue to do so to put satellites into space. the ruling workers party rodong similar reported the news the announcement comes exactly a year after the morning koreans sent up what they called a satellite carrying rocket. leaders said it was a test of ballistic missile technology. the article described the launch

as a great victory under the guidance of leader kim jong-un and said he fathered the path of his late father kim jong-il. analysts say this suggests officials are putting a priority onshoring up the leadership. authorities in pyongyang say they dismissed his uncle jang song thaek from posts. japan is reversing itself as the number one debtor nation among the g8. ron mad soy has been following this. >> japan very famously has a very high debt to gdp ratio. addressing that is going to be a big priority for the government. prime minister shinzo abe and his cabinet announced guidelines for the fiscal budget. the guidelines say the government will take a hard look at where to cut and what to focus resources on to help the economy grow. the government decided the framework at an extraordinary

cabinet meeting. the guidelines say the government will improve its primary balance by more than 4 trillion yen, roughly $40 billion u.s. dollars. it's a gauge for how well they discover discretionary expenses. the government also aims to make utmost efforts to cap the issuance of government bonds to less than $420 billion. that's the amount issued this year. the plan urges cutting subsidies for local governments. it also calls for effective use of taxpayer money for social security programs in the view of an aging society. the cabinet also approved a supplementary budget for the current fiscal year worth $55 billion to stimulate the economy. lawmakers in japan's ruling coalition are to introduce tax breaks to ease the impact of consumption tax hikes after the rate is doubled. the tax rate will be raised from 5% to 8% in april next year and then to 10% in 2015. policy and tax chiefs of the

liberal democratic party and new komeito party approved the tax guidelines for fiscal 2014. lawmakers were focused on how they can ease the tax burden on low income people. the two parties said lower taxes will be discussed further and they aim to reach an clougs by december next year. the guidelines don't say when the rates will be reduced but only when the rate is 10%. salary workers with higher pay will see tax cuts across the board. deductions are meant to be expenses needed to earn salaries. the coalition plans to scrap an extra corporate tax one year ahead of schedule at the end of march next year. the special tax was imposed after the 2011 disaster to help rebuild affected areas. the ruling parties will continue to study the possibility of lowering corporate income tax rates as well. let's move on to the markets now. global investors pulling money out of stock markets as the federal reserve's policy meeting for december draws closer. starting in europe, markets

there are all down right now. london is lower by .8% as well frankfurt declining by .6%. paris is down slightly today by about .2%. investors a bit nervous about how soon the fed will start reducing its asset buying program. asian's finished lower. central banks in south korea, indonesia and the philippines all decided to leave their key interest rates unchanged at policy meetings on thursday. in jakarta the main index gave up nearly 1.4%, 4,212. bank indonesia came the bench rate at 7% citing improvement in the country's trade balance. the bank raised the key rate five times this year. moving to currencies. euro/dollar at 1.3775 roughly. the single currency fell to the european central bank mario draghi said the ecb stands ready

to take action against low inflati inflation. data showed the eurozone's industrial out put dropped 1.1% in october, short of market expectations. meanwhile, dollar is holding pretty firm against the yen. right now dollar/yen at 102.75. a court rejected a claim made by samsung that apple inflingd on patents. samsung accused apple of copying three technologies for tablets and smart phones. they include multitasking allowing users to input text while other applications are running. the seoul central district court said two of the three technologies can be easily developed based on those apple publicized in the 1990s and also dismissed samsung's claim that apple violated the patent for the other technology. samsung said in a statement it will continue to take the necessary measures to protect its intellectual property rights.

samsung and apple are involved in a number of legal battles in various parts of the world. last month jurors in california delivered verdicts in favor of apple. samsung may be ordered to pay over $900 million in damages. some south korean media say samsung should revise its legal strategy following its defeat at home. that is going to wrap it up for biz tonight. let's see how things are looking on the markets.

protesters in bangkok are continuing their sit-in outside the prime minister's office, demanding the immediate resignation of prime minister yingluck shinawatra and the influence of her brother and former prime minister thaksin shinawatra. on thursday the prime minister was indicted for murder in connection with a military crackdown on antigovernment demonstrations in 2010. he has denounced the move as politically motivated and is denying the charges. the demonstrators three years ago were demanding that he call early elections. the ensuing violence resulted in more than 90 deaths. the sit-in continued on thursday around the prime minister's offices. a few of the demonstrators

scaled the compound walls but didn't enter any official building. protest leaders is asking police and military chiefs for talks to determine their allegiance. despite a long history of queue attempts the army is currently refusing to take sides. >> translator: i don't have much hope for the meeting because i don't think they will accept the invitation. the armed forces chiefs want a new election but we don't want that. >> yingluck received a warm welcome in the north of thailand offered on monday to dissolve parliament and hold fresh elections. yingluck supporters strong in the northeast making her the most likely winner of the poll due in february next year. when in government her brother thaksin brought in policies to support farming communities there. however, middle class city dwellers who formed the bulk of

the protest movement are calling for the establishment of an unelected council to appoint thailand's next leaders. with that said, protest leaders have yet to make a formal announcement on whether or not they will back the election. that's it for our update. i'm in bangkok. south koreans are heading into winter worried about how they will power their homes and businesses. their country has seen remarkable growth in the past couple of decades. but rapid development fueled by cheap electricity has strained the grid. as nhk world's sherry ahn reports, the government is trying to figure out a fix.

>> reporter: people in south korea are bundled up for winter. the temperature dips well below zero across the country. as a result the demand for electricity skyrockets. south koreans have traditionally used underfloor heating to keep businesses and households warm in winter. their fuel of choice was gas, but more are now switching to electricity. that switch has changed consumption patterns. since 2009, south korea's peak electricity consumption has been higher in winter than in summer and the amount they use grew annually through 2012. low rates are fueling this trend. electricity in south korea is much cheaper than other energy sources and the rate industry pays is about two-thirds the oecd average.

>> translator: the former lee myung bak administration launched by advocating a business friendly policy so cheap prices helped businesses expand their economic activities. but the government held down the electricity rate excessively for industry. >> reporter: the demand has strained supply. in 2011 officials at the state-run korea electric power company triggered rolling blackouts to protect the grid. more than 6 million households lost power. nearly 3,000 people were trapped in elevators. >> translator: it's so cold i'm worried there will be power supply problems again this winter. >> so the role played by staff here at the korea power exchange is even more crucial. they monitor how much electricity the country is consuming. alerts go off when the reserve power supply falls dangerously low. that happened in the summer.

given the south koreans use even more power in winter, this is expected to happen again. making things worse, three nuclear reactors are off-line because of safety concerns. regulators found documents had been forged for thousands of components in some units. prosecutors have indicted 100 people including top government and utility officials. south korean leaders have been looking for ways to avoid another energy crunch. >> translator: we're trying to resolve the problems resulting from excessive electricity consumption by addressing the difference in the energy price structure. >> reporter: the government has increased the electricity rate for industry five times in the past two years and last summer it ordered energy guzzling companies to cut power use during peak periods. businesses aren't happy.

>> translator: because prices were cheap, businesses switched from oil to electricity. small and medium-sized businesses hadn't had time to deal with the price hikes. >> reporter: south korean leaders likely won't reverse course. at the same time they're preparing for energy shortfalls. officials will soon announce that power reserve forecast for this winter and outline emergency measures to avoid another blackout. sherry ahn nhk world, seoul. in july an asiana airlines plane crashed on landing at san francisco airport. the copilot flying said he was worried about landing the big aircraft without help from the airport's guidance system. the accident at san francisco international airport left three

chinese students debt and more than 180 others injured. the national transportation safety board held its first hearing on flight 214 on wednesday. officials from the south korean airline and boeing attended. the board released transcriptions of interviews with the copilot who was flying the jet for training purposes. he told investigators he was concerned and stressed about attempting a visual approach with a plane as big as the boeing 777. such an approach involves lining the jet up for landing by looking through the windshield rather than using radio-based guidance instruments. the pilot also told investigators that he had not been paying close attention to the auto throttle which he thought would automatically adjust the engine's power to prevent the plane from flying too slowly, but it did not. the plane was losing speed when it crashed. the board also released new footage of the incidents captured by a fixed security camera. it shows the plane hitting the ground and pivoting in the air before crashing.

the ntsb is expected to complete its investigation and compile a report next year. people living in cities across canada will soon have to go out to get their mail. managers with the national postal service say they're phasing out urban home deliveries. they say they need to cut their losses as people communicate more and more online. managers with canada post plan to wind down their deliveries to urban homes over five years starting in late 2014. residents will have to collect their letters and parcels from community mailboxes. two-thirds of canadian households already get their mail that way. deliveries of letters and post cards in canada have fallen 20% over the past seven years. postal chiefs blame increased use of e-mail. they say they would be losing $950 million a year by 2020 unless they made fundamental changes. those changes also include raising postal charges in march and cutting 8,000 jobs.

people in russia are gearing up to host one of the world's biggest sporting events. the winter olympics will open in sochi in just under two 3407k9s. the torch relay is already igniting local partial. nhk world's maria parm loaf va has more from vlad voss dock. >> reporter: russians have been waited ag long time to host the games. they have never staged the winter olympics before. their one and only games was boycotted by many western countries. the upcoming event is stirring lots of national pride. sports shops in have had vostok are packed with items bearing the olympic logo. we can see more than 100 goods with olympic logos from sports gear to pencils. they are popular gifts for

christmas among children. >> translator: we're looking forward to the olympic games. we'll watch it on tv. >> translator: i want russia to keep its prestige. i believe we'll make the olympics a success, and i dream that russia will come out on top. >> reporter: the people in the far eastern region have felt neglected by the central government since the collapse of the soviet union. but things started to change as the energy sector grew in eastern siberia. the government then put vlad voss dock on the map last year by hosting a conference there and invested heavily in infrastructure. now the olympics is adding to the momentum. russia's leaders are spending on sport facilities not juch in sochi but across the nation. young athletes come here to train and try to reveal russia's

reputation as a winter sports giant. olympic officials are using the torch relay to whip up enthusiasm. the flame arrived in moscow in october. it then began a four-month journey around the country making more than 130 stops along the way. it reached have had vostok in mid november. the torch traveled by ice break tore the north pole. it even flew to the international space station on board the russian spacecraft soyuz. officials are making the relay an international event inviting local foreigners to take part. 45-year-old was born in japan but lives in siberia where she operates several restaurants.

she ran about 200 meters with the olympic flame i'm glad it went well. i hope russia-javp japan relations will improve, too. >> reporter: the torch is in siberia now. it has more than 50 stops to make before reaching sochi. some people have criticized the government for spending so much money on preparations for the games. most locals are taking pride, happy they can finally host one of the sports's greatest events. nhk world, have had voss dock. cold weather hits the japanese arc pell go. robert speta is here with the forecast. >> if you like the cold you'll be enjoying the forecast at least for the next several days. if you're on the sea of japan

coastline, if you like snow, you're really going to be enjoying it out here because the sea-effect snow machine really pushing that snowfall on the shore at some areas around hokkaido and the hoke queue region, you could see about 40 to 50 centimeters of accumulationless piling up in the next 24 hours around. further west we saw one report of about 30 centimeters coming down out there. it is really blowing. the good news, all this is staying on the west coast. if you are in tokyo and you don't enjoy the white stuff coming down out here, it does look like it's going to stay dry at least through the next several days. even dry farther towards the west. across korea you were looking at heavy snowfall yesterday. really much of china you're looking at high pressure as well. that's keeping things dry for the time being. there will be a change in the outlook, though, by the weekend into next week as the high does descend farther south. we've got a lot of moisture over

the philippines bringing rain showers. those two air masses will start to interact and we'll get a low pressure area developing in hong kong, across taipei. rain showers in your forecast here until about sunday, monday of next week. that's something you want to look out for. as far as your temperatures for now, seoul at minus four. tokyo at 14 on your friday. i know that looks chilly. let's go over to the americas and talk about the temperatures here. you're going to think like you're in a heat wave in asia because temperatures here are absolutely frigid. we do have another storm system actually setion up as well. high pressure dominating the central u.s. some lake-effect snow towards the lake. we have moisture flowing in out of the pacific ocean combined with that arctic air mass which is continuing to bring in the cold northwesterly winds. if we take a look at our 48-hour outlook, what we have is this system developing, and all that area in the blue, that's mostly going to be snowfall farther towards the north. rain showers towards the south and even freezing rain embedded

in there going into saturday, then off towards sunday. really messy travel weekend for many out here if you do plan on moving, especially across the ohio river valley going through the next several days. take a look at your temperatures. minus 21 in winnipeg for the high, minus 7 in chicago, toronto minus 6. if you want to go somewhere warm, you can head to los angeles, 21 for you and miami at 27, but you do have some rain showers there in your forecast. as far as europe is concerned, really in the north this is where we're seeing the cloud cover and the storm systems pushing through. parts of scotland, you're looking at about 120-kilometer-per-hour winds. norway, heavy rain showers coming in with the deep low pressure system. high pressure towards the south keeping the weather fairly decent. this is what i want to talk about. it's been the topic for a few days. it really needs to be. you have hundreds of thousands of refugees out here living in

tents and temporary shelter over towards lebanon, outside of syria in to turkey. you the cut-off low sitting here. and the problem is it's just bringing the hodgepodge of mix pd precipitation, rain and snow and it's expected to remain that way through the forecast. istanbul three here, five on saturday. you'll stay with snow, but toward damascus, the rain and snow mix going through the next several days. definitely be unsettled and foul weather through the outlook. that's a look at the world weather. here is your extended forecast.

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.