"newsline." i'm gene otani in tokyo. here is a look at some of the stories we're following this hour. united nations officials are reinforcing their peacekeeping mission in south sudan to protect civilians from an increasingly violent conflict. japanese government officials have approved their largest ever draft budget for the next fiscal year, totaling about $920 billion.

it's christmas season, thanks to a century old tradition. soon some children will be getting special gifts from anonymous santas. members of the united nations security council are preparing their response to increasing violence in south sudan. they're expected to adopt a resolution later in the day. it would clear the way for the u.n. to send more peacekeepers into the african nation. u.n. secretary-general ban ki-moon proposed the move. he says he's determined to protect civilians in south sudan. >> we will do our utmost to protect, provide humanitarian assistance, and most of all to help the country regain the path to peace. >> members of the security council held an emergency meeting to discuss ban's request. they debated a plan to add

personal to the mission and police. >> this draft resolution has had a positive reaction of all the members of the security council. >> araud says the council is expected to vote on the resolution on tuesday. the violence erupted in the capital, juba, last week. troops supporting the president kiir are fighting those local to vice president riekmachar. the u.n. says about 45,000 civilians are seeking protection at peacekeeping bases across the country. u.s. diplomats are making a push to end the fighting. they're trying to get the two sides to sit down for talks. u.s. special envoy donald booth traveled to juba to meet with kiir. he says they are ready to start discussions without conditions. a senior officials said machar

has indicated he wants to sit down for talks. the violence in south sudan has had numerous officials to pull about 400 american citizens out of the country. japanese self-defense force troops are helping japanese in south sudan as part of a peacekeeping mission. they are based in the airport in the capital of juba. about 8,000 people taking shelter at a u.n. facility outside the airport last week. sdf members providing medical care and setting up temporary toilets. they have sent water trucks to the u.n.'s local headquarters 10 kilometers from the camp. about 5,000 people were last week taking shelter at the camp. a south defense force returned to japan tuesday for rotation. the u.n. chief briefed the defense ministry returning to japan.

>> translator: when we needed transportation we were escorted by armed troops. armed soldiers would ride on either side of water trucks to protect us. >> the defense ministry says there are now a total of some 20,000 evacuees at the facilities. japan formulated it's biggest budget ever. it won't be spent on bond projects or public works but something specific for the aging population. >> huge draft budget, largest ever, aging population a lot of funds allocated towards social security. one thing we are hearing, though, is the government will reduce new bond issuance but will still depend on a large amount of debt. the budget totals about 96 billion yen, roughly $920 billion u.s. dollars. that's up more than $30 billion from the current fiscal year. just about $700 billion to be

allotted for policy spending, social security is the biggest single item with about $290 billion as japan's population does age. the government plans to raise revenue by about $480 billion through taxes. that's up more than $66 billion from the current fiscal year. this is due to a scheduled consumption tax hike and increase in corporate taxes coming in as the economy recovers. the country's new issuance of government bonds will decrease by more than $15 billion to $400 billion, but it still accounts for 43% of the entire revenue. this will raise amount of outstanding government bonds to $7.5 trillion during the upcoming fiscal year. this is more than 1.5 times japan's gross domestic product. japanese leaders have been struggling to drag the country out of deflation. they've now cut the word from their economic report for the

first time in more than four years. the report contains a small but significant change from the previous assessments. it no longer includes the words deflation is ending. instead it says that prices are holding firm. it also maintains the view of the previous reports that the economy is on the way to recovery at a moderate pace. consumer prices for items excluding fresh food rose for the fifth consecutive month for october. they are climbing as raising imports. cabinet office officials are raising caution. they say they will wait to see what happens next before they declare that deflation is officially over. japan's prime minister shinzo abe stressed determination to create what he calls virtuous circle of growth. abe made the comment at a meeting of the government panel, council on economic and fiscal policy. at the meeting private sector

members proposed a view of the social security system, aim over the mid to long-term. the current social security system does not assume that the country's population will decline. the councilmembers should discuss other issues including bringing in more foreign workers. >> translator: next year will be a crucial period to realize virtuous circle, moving out of deflation, achieving economic recovery and restoring fiscal health. i hope this panel will get to the heart of cross-sectional issues by getting to the ties of the government competitiveness council. >> also said achieving the virtuous circle is only at a halfway point but japan is definitely seeing a light at the end of the tunnel. all right. onto the markets. london and paris have a half day

trading. ftse up by percent. frankfurt is closed and will be so through thursday. earlier most asian markets advanced on the back of monday's strong performance on wall street. nikkei rose .1%, hang seng over 1.1%. bangkok's index inched up finishing at 1,327. keeping around its lowest level since early september. analysts say investors will probably avoid buying thai assets until policymakers find a twoi end turmoil. baht at a four-year low against the dollar. other currency, dollar yen trading 104.32. in a time range. analysts say the dollar may lack direction during the holiday period. analysts say investors may be looking to a report on u.s.

durable goods in the light economic calendar on tuesday. meanwhile euro yen at 142.63. japan's suzuki motor rolling out a new mini sports utility vehicle in january. company officials say it performs well in bad road conditions such as snow and also carries more load. strong sales in japan due to low maintenance cost and fuel efficiency. automakers are worried about the impact of a consumption tax hike in april. taxes on small cars are set to go up 50% beginning april 2015. carmakers are trying to strengthen their suv business to cash in on the popularity of mini vehicles. just this month nissan motor and honda motor put their new suvs on the market. okay. that's going to wrap it up for biz tonight. i'll leave you with the markets.

the tokyo metropolitan assembly has formally approved the resignation of governor inose. he stepped down from receiving money from a chain operator that led to scandal. the successful bid for 2012 olympics and paralympic games. inose did not answer questions as he left office. he submitted a letter of resignation thursday to the chairperson of the assembly. inose received $500,000 from a medical group in november last year while serving as vice governor. he was elected governor a month later. prosecutors raided the medical group over a separate

allegations that included the son of the group's founder. inose served just over a year as governor, the shortest term in tokyo's history. workers at the fukushima daiichi nuclear power plant are responding to the latest in a long line of problems. they are painting a protection coat on barriers around the storage tanks to stop radioactive water from leaking out. tokyo electric power company workers found water seeping from the barriers at four spots on the weekend. workers said water was leaking at cracks at other locations. workers suspect cold weather caused cracks to widen. they plan to apply protective coating around barriers. tepco said three tons of water

seeped out at the leak. they said radiation may have exceeded safety standard but officials said no way water could have reached the sea because there's no drainage ditches nearby. ayu sweet fish made a comeback. the tsunami severely damaged the local fishery. the fish raised in a hatchery in ofunato. it washed much of it away but resumed operations in september. workers moved 100,000 sweet fish from the hatchery to a truck. they transported to another city. production there is taking place on a trial basis and shipments from the hatchery expected to be two one-third and half the level before the disaster. >> we will keep up efforts to restore shipments to predisaster levels. >> the sweet fish will be kept

in the city until may and released into a nearby river. chinese are looking back even as they look forward. they planned a serious of events on thursday to mark the 120th anniversary of the birth of the founder of communist china. mao's idea such as the great leap forward in the cultural revolution led to the deaths of millions of people. but these days many chinese feel nostalgic about his rule. nhk has more. >> reporter: mao was born in shaoshan. his picture. commemorative banners are seen

everywhere. a statute stands in the suburban area. it is common to see people line up with flowers. >> reporter: people buy three times like they are worshipping a god. this shop has many souvenirs of mao, like medals and badges. people buy statutes for good luck charms. the gap between rich and poor chinese widens, so more people look back on mao's era.

they see it as a time when everyone was equal. this is leading people to mao worship. >> translator: he was a great man. i worship him and will take him home so he will protect my family. >> translator: mao's statutes are made at the local factory. this one does 3 to 4,000 in various sizes each year. neighborhood, $800,000. this year anniversary of his birth. workers making four times the usual amount. the factory also makes large statutes for companies. this one is 183 scene meters

tall, a nice size. the price is $20,000. many ordered have to be delivered by mao's birthday. >> translator: since we're receiving more orders than usual, we've been going all out. we're really busy. >> reporter: other kinds of mao souvenirs are also popular. people are paying large sums for old books and photos from the period. more than 100 items at a recent auction in beijing.

>> reporter: widening income gap of the mao boom cause chinese to honor him. others see the trend as a way to make money. nhk world. people around the world have been counting down to christmas. somewhere up north santa claus is busy packing his sleigh.

he'll be getting some special help at a secret stop before he delivers his presents. nhk world has the story. >> reporter: new york is at its best in the christmas season. the lights are twinkling, the shops are bustling and children are wondering what they will receive oppose christmas day. >> a barbie dream house. >> some headphones and ipod. >> for many children, this is where their dreams come true, new york city's main post office. up to 300,000 letters arrive here each christmas. they are addressed to santa claus. one letter asks for winter coat.

another wants toys. many of the children who write letters can't get presents otherwise. the post office hires extra hands in the festive season just to sort these letters. and neighbors of the public come in offering to be secret santas. they grab the letters and choose which wishes to grant. it's known as operation santa. >> some families are not fortunate and capital celebrate the holiday. why not share a little. >> when i was younger, people helped out my family because we didn't have that much money. now that i'm older and i have a little bit of money, i want to help out other people. >> operation santa began 101 years ago. some of the previous children mailed letters, others to santa at the north pole and they ended

up at this post office. employees pooled some money and bought presents and sent them to those children. since then the operation got bigger every year. >> this santa claus project has been going on 101 years. it's just amazing through world war ii, world war i. >> reporter: 63-year-old man has been an anonymous santa for seven years. he's a retired elementary school teacher. >> during christmas hanukkah season i would do a lot of shopping for kids in the class for this time of year, so i miss it. >> reporter: this year he chose a letter from a 13-year-old boy who wants toys and clothes for himself and his two siblings. the boy says his parents are

poor. he spent a good two days looking for gifts for the three kids and their parents. >> purple is a nice color. art came back to the main post offi office. >> there are living entities that either can be considered santa claus or are santa claus. >> reporter: thousands of christmas dpifts are on their way to children in need. what new yorkers call the christmas miracle will surely happen again this year. nhk world, new york. >> the smiles on their faces. a storm is looming over western europe causing havoc.

our meteorologist robert speta has been following this situation. robert. >> yeah, gene will people traveling across western europe today, it is going to be a slow go or no-go for many of you who plan flying. we have a monster of a storm northwest of british isles. can you see cloud cover from the southwestern peninsula through spain. that's a big storm producing gusty winds out there. i want to show you wind reports over the past 12 hours, steppeding from greenland to ice land, east into austria, 90 kilometer winds, a far reaching storm. it truly is. it's going to impact many people out there. if you do have travel plans be careful if you are getting out and about. if you don't have travel plans i would recommend staying inside,

coastline of british isles, i would recommend riding this out. spend the holidays with your family if you can. it does look like this one will continue to pound this area creating not just gusty winds but snowfall in northern portions of the uk. the heavy rainfall out here. stock home high of 8, on the cool side. farther east staying cool. sunnier sides in warsaw out ahead of that storm system with a high of 6 on tuesday. lets see what's going on in eastern asia as well. looking at a wintry pattern out here. sea effect snowfall across much of the sea of japan pushing on shore along the sea of japan coastline there. some areas over hokkaido, pretty incredible amount of snow over the last several days. this is adding more of the white stuff. elsewhere staying dry, cor yarks china, high pressure dominating here. that's doing to move farther

east. that will shut off sea effect snow machine on wednesday. high extending further south still sparking up rain showers here into the philippines over towards the malaysian peninsula as well. one thing will be happening. you see energy, rainfall on the eastern seaboard on the philippines, still bring a risk of flooding. thursday and friday that's doing to carry north, could be impacting much of japan later in the week. sunshine skies, partly cloudy skies in tokyo. high of 3 in beijing, shanghai getting to the double digits on wednesday. see what's going on in the americas where earlier this week and into the week we were talking about severe weather across much of the u.s. tornadoes, freezing rain, heavy snowfall, just a mixed bag of precipitation. now that storm system pushing east. behind it arctic air setting in. truly the word. high pressure brought a dramatic change in temperatures.

some areas not reaching the freezing mark, northern plains, western great lakes. what that is doing, it is feeling the storm system that is going to drop about an additional 10 scene meters of snowfall across parts of michigan over towards minnesota and also into the dakotas. towards the southwest decent weather in place. los angeles, sunny skies for you. 24 on tuesday. that's a look at 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.

a bomb blast out of police headquarters in egypt leaves at least 12 dead. the military-backed government says the muslim brotherhood is to blame, labeling it a terrorist group. the brotherhood itself has condemned the attack. crisis in south sudan as hundreds of thousands of civilians flee the growing violence there. today the un security council is set to vote on plans to send and make sure 5000 troops to help .ave the world's newest nation and millions around the world are celebrating christmas eve. we will take you to the kitchens of one of paris' top chefs