welcome back to "newsline" i'm miki yamamoto in tokyo. first the headlines for this hour. new york city officials say a doctor has tested positive for ebola. canadian leaders promise tougher security laws as authorities reveal the man behind a fatal attack in ottawa was a radicalized muslim who planned to go to syria. and another mass kidnapping in nigeria.

suspected boko haram militants have taken at least 25 girls away, despite a cease-fire announced last week. officials in new york city say a doctor there has tested positive for ebola. they say the man had recently returned from working in west africa. nhk world's michio nishikawa explains. >> reporter: new york city mayor bill de blasio spoke at the news conference on thursday. he said there was no reason for fear. >> today, testing confirmed that a patient here in new york city had tested positive for ebola. the patient is now here in bellevue hospital. we want to state at the outset there is no reason for new yorkers to be alarmed. >> reporter: city officials say the man was working for doctors without borders in guinea. one of the west african nations which ebola has hit hardest. they say he had no symptoms when he returned to the u.s.

the man had reportedly spent much of his time since then in his apartment. he'd been checking his temperature twice a day. officials said he developed a high fever on thursday morning. they say he had traveled on the subway and gone to a bowling alley the day before. but the city's health commissioner said his behavior did not pose a risk to public health. >> he did not have a stage of disease that creates a risk of contagiousness on the subway. we consider that it is extremely unlikely the probability being close to nil that there would be any problem related to his taking the subway system. >> reporter: she said very few people have come into close contact with him. >> we are aware that he has been in close contact with his fiancee, and with two friends,

both of -- all three of these contacts are healthy and are being quarantined. the governor mentioned an additional person. this person was a driver of ayyuber car with whom the patient had no direct physical contact, and is considered not to be at risk. >> reporter: the first confirmed case of ebola in the largest city in the u.s. has renewed fears that the disease is spreading. but the governor of new york state said officials there have been prepared for months. >> we are as ready as one could be for this circumstance. what happened in dallas was actually the exact opposite. dallas, unfortunately, was caught before they could really prepare, before they really knew what they were dealing with. in dallas. and we had the advantage of learning from the dallas experience. >> reporter: experts say the

ebola virus is not carried through the air. it can only be transmitted through contact with bodily fluids. but neighbors of the infected man expressed frustration over the government's response. >> i'm extremely disappointed. i mean, i am a little surprised. because i just expect more of this country. we're supposed to be a first world country. like i said, if nigeria can have it under control, why can't the united states? >> reporter: 8.4 million people live in this large metropolis. though they know that the risk of contracting ebola is small, many feel more urgent action is needed to keep the disease from spreading. mitsuko nishikawa, nhk world. in another part of the world, health officials in mali have confirmed the country's first case of ebola. they say a 2-year-old girl has the disease. cases have been reported in six countries in west africa, and nearly 5,000 people have died.

officials said the girl had recently arrived with her grandmother from neighboring guinea, where the outbreak began. they believe she contracted the disease there. guinea, sierra leone and liberia have been hit hardest by the ebola outbreak. officials at the world health organization have declared senegal and nigeria free of the disease. the w.h.o. and governments around the world are taking steps to keep the virus from spreading. now for the latest in business news here's our ron madison from the biz desk. ron? >> all right, thanks, miki. we do get started in china this hour where housing prices are continuing their slide. a government survey shows that prices for new houses fell in september compared to the previous month in all but one of the 70 cities surveyed. china's national bureau of statistics says the only market that bucked the trend, the southern city of xiaomin saw no change in prices. 69 of the cities saw declined

and it was the highest number since data became available in 2011. as for existing homes their prices fell in all of the cities. the declines come amid a slowdown in investment in real estate. the trend is hurting the housing materials business. chinese government officials see the decline in house prices as temporary, and say demand does remain robust, even sew they've rolled out some market boosting measures. these include the lifting of a regulation that restrigted households from purchasing no more than two homes. the government is also urging banks to ease housing loan conditions. consumers remain on the sidelines. they're apparently waiting for the market to bottom out. investors in asia traded on some mixed cues today. fears about the spread of ebola, coupled with falling home prices in china, weighed on sentiment. but we have some upbeat u.s. corporate earnings giving a boost to some share prices today. here's how the region finished out the day. markets like seoul faced downward pressure. others like tokyo, though, managed to finish the day higher. the nikkei climbing 1% today, it

finished at 15,291. the highest close in two weeks. the index managed to post a weekly gain. still we had profit taking outcapping the advance. the shanghai composite finished flat at 2,302. it has fallen for three straight sessions through thursday. some players bought back recent decliners despite the segive sentiment stemming from the weak home price data. in seoul the kospi seeing declines of 0.3%, 1,925. that makes for a second consecutive loss there. before the market opened investors saw that the country's gdp growth figures did not meet market consensus. well, engineers in the united states have started work on a project that will provide cheaper energy to people in japan. they're building a liquefaction plant in the state of louisiana that they'll use to export millions of tons of natural gas. >> one, two, three.

officials at japan's leading trading houses mitsui and mitsubishi teamed up on the $9 billion project. they attended a groundbreaking ceremony at the plant. u.s. developers of shale gas have sparked a sharp increase in natural gas supplies. the people in charge of the new plant will send about 12 million tons of liquefied natural gas to japan. they'll be supplying about 14% of annual gross demand and they're likely to begin exporting in 2018. japanese importers expect to make big savings by taking gas from the u.s., instead of the middle east, and other parts of asia. >> translator: it's important that japan now has more options on where to source its liquefied natural gas. >> mitsui officials say the plant will help to satisfy japan's energy needs. mean time, officials at two japanese companies are working on a way to make clean energy for less money. they're working on a way to produce hydrogen at sea. the people at mitsubishi heavy

industries and chiyoda corporation will build the world's first floating hydrogen plant. officials from the firms want to put the plant into operation in 2020. they plan to extract hydrogen from gas generated by crude oil that comes from the ocean floor. they say building a floating plant right next to offshore oil fields means that they won't have to spend so much money transporting the gas. people at other companies are keeping a close eye on this situation. they'll be needing a stable and affordable supply of hydrogen for themselves. toyota executives for one are thinking of selling fuel cell cars as early as this hour. honda motor officials say they're making progress in developing a car that can drive itself. the automaker is working on a model equipped with an automated driving system that controls the steering wheel and the gas pedal. the officials say a production car could be on city streets as soon as 2020. the officials say they began test runs on a u.s. highway last month.

honda's system integrates a car navigation system with cameras, and radars mounted on the vehicle. the officials say they are putting the finishing touches on an out mated steering technology that can drive a car onto highways and actually change lanes. a number of carmakers are racing to develop automated driving technologies. toyota aims to have a model ready for use on highways in the next year or two. nissan is aiming to launch a similar model by the end of 2016. government officials in south korea have released figures for their gdp in the july to september quarter. they say the economy expanded 3.2% from the same period last year. which was slower than the previous quarter. exporters in south korea account for more than 50% of gdp. and they send many of their goods to china. but now they're feeling the effects of slower growth in the world's second biggest economy. government officials say exports rose just 2.1%.

spending has been pretty sluggish, too. private consumption rose 1.6%, investment in facilities was up 3.9%. now the officials were hoping that growth in the third quarter would be stronger. for more insight, ai uchida spoke earlier with a professor in seoul. >> 3.2% growth this quarter seems to be a little bit of surprise to many people in korea. i think the real problem is not the private consumption, it is rather from poor plant investment and also poor performance in an export. in particular, the plant investment has been growing more than 7% in the first half but the third quarter of statistics shows that it is 3.9%, and in the area of exports, first half

was about 3.7% growth in exports but it came down to 2.1%, so i think the real surprise for the sluggish economic growth in korea, it is, i think the poor investment, and also poor export. >> and how do you evaluate, then, what the government is doing? >> the government has been presented about 13 packages and most of that was expansionary packages, but the problem with the government plan because they have to abide by the national budget deficit, and also, you know, the government has to finance huge amount of packag s packages -- expansion packages, i think the budget deficit and difficulty in tax revenues, i think that is the constraint for the government to implement the

very active policy. >> and what about the outlook, professor, for the whole year officials at the bank of korea lowered their prediction for growth to 3.5%. economists at the international monetary fund share their view. south korea's finance minister forecasting 3.7%. what are you expecting? >> you know for korea to grow 3.7%, you know, fourth quarter growth has to be more than 4% which seems to be pretty difficult. and, for 3.5% projection, i think the fourth quarter has to grow more than 3.7%. so i think a little bit lower than 3.5% will be the sound projection for the entire year. >> okay that is going to wrap it up for biz this hour. let's see how things are looking on the markets.

investigators in canada say the gunman who carried out a deadly attack in the nation's capital had planned to go to syria where islamic militants are waging war. they've been piecing to the clues in their effort to find out what drove the 32-year-old to kill a soldier and storm in parliament, resulting in his own death. nhk world's craig dale is covering developments for us. >> reporter: canadian born michael zehaf-bibeau is being painted as a troubled man who converted to islam, became

radicalized, and wanted to get to syria. his criminal record which included robbery and drugs charges triggered attention when he applied for a passport. >> we were contacted to conduct background checks. the rcmp did not possess information at that time that would reveal any national security related criminality. >> reporter: police say his motives for the attack are linked to his radicalization and his difficult circumstances. he'd been a drug abuser, spent time in homeless shelters, and possibly wrestled with mental illness. whatever drove him zehaf-bibeau charged up to the national war memorial in ottawa and shot one of the soldiers guarding it. 24-year-old corporate nathan cirillo died. >> the young man that died did nothing. he did nothing to deserve what he got. and i am so angry at the man that shot him. >> reporter: surveillance cameras captured zehaf-bibeau's next moves, which happened in the span of about four minutes. he drove to parliament in his car.

then hijacked another car to get closer to the entrance. he exited that vehicle then ran with his gun drawn as bystanders scattered. seconds after zehaf-bibeau went inside parliament, security forces shot at him. the sergeant at arms for parliament, kevin vickers, fired the fatal bullet. lawmakers praised vickers and also held a moment of silence for the dead soldier. then the prime minister promised enhanced security measures are on the way. >> there are laws and police powers need to be strengthened in the area of surveillance, detention, and arrest. they need to be much strengthened. >> reporter: the country clearly remains on edge. just as the prime minister and his wife laid a wreath at the war memorial, officers drew their weapons to stop a man who had crossed a police line. still, many are focused on why zehaf-bibeau did what he did.

few are more confused than his mother who spoke to the associated press. susan bibeau says, no words can express the sadness we are feeling at this time. can you ever explain something like this? she asks? and she says, we are sorry. police say zehaf-bibeau acted alone, which experts say makes prevention harder. >> if you have an individual who decides to commit an act, whether it's murder, terrorism, or whatever, doesn't tell anyone and doesn't communicate with anyone, very difficult to track them. >> reporter: canadian investigators say zehaf-bibeau was not on a terrorist watch list. but they say his e-mail was in the hard drive of someone who they've charged with a terrorist offense. they say it's a weak connection, but one that has been strengthened by what happened in ottawa. craig dale, nhk world. a senior u.s. government official has said the flow of funds to the islamic state must be shut down. david cohen is the u.s.

treasury's undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence. he said the militant group amasses tens of millions of dollars each month through various means. >> with the important exception of some state-sponsored terrorist organizations, isil is probably the best-funded terrorist organization we have confronted. >> cohen said the group has taken in at least $20 million this year through kidnapping alone. he urged other countries not to pay the ransoms the group demands. he also proposed stiffer financial sanctions against oil smugglers in turkey and iraq. cohen said islamic state receives donations through social media in qatar and kuwait. that means the cooperation of countries in the middle east is vital to cutting off the group's cash supply. and to nigeria, suspected boko haram extremists have kidnapped at least 25 girls.

reuters and other news agencies report armed men attacked a remote town near the northeast of the country. a witness say they forced all females to go with them, and later released the older ones. boko haram abducted more than 200 schoolgirls in april. the government announced last friday that it had agreed on an immediate cease-fire with the militants. that raised hopes for the release of the girls who have been held for six months. but, the new abductions have cast a shadow over ongoing negotiations. the militant group staged other kidnappings and bombings after the cease-fire was announced. people in japan may soon be doing something they haven't been allowed to do in decades. dance the night away. members of the cabinet have approved a bill that would ease regulations on dance venues. the changes would allow night clubs to stay open beyond

midnight, and people to legally hit the dance floor. >> reporter: drink in japan isn't hard. in towns and cities across the country, traditional pubs and cozy snack bars provide clients with drinks and food into the small hours. but one thing you won't find at that time are night clubs. with people out on the dance floor. that's because dance halls and night clubs are categorized as adult entertainment establishments. and are strictly regulated and banned after midnight. the law was enacted right after world war ii. it aimed to clamp down on prostitution. but, times have changed. today, junior high school students are being taught hip-hop dancing as part of their curriculum. and people who frequent drinking

establishments are finding it hard to sit still. in may, a petition with 150,000 signatures calling for the dancing restriction to be lifted was submitted to the diet. pressure for change is also coming from within the government. a panel studying regulatory reform has called for prompt revisions ahead of the 2020 tokyo olympics to attract foreign tourists who like to dance. last month, an advisory panel to the national police agency also put forward a set of provisions. one recommendation was that the dancing restriction be lifted. takahiro saito is a lawyer and co-leader of civic group that organized the petition. >> translator: people have refrained from dancing all these years because of the law. and because of the negative

image associated with it. the revision will allow people to once again enjoy dancing. >> reporter: the proposed bill calls for allowing well-lit venues to operate into the early hours of the morning. but darker places would still be regulated. saito says the focus on the lighting does not reflect the reality of night clubs and the people who frequent them. he says there should be more discussions. we'll have more on this coming up in our weekly program "asia this week." it's time now to check on the world weather with our meteorologist sayaka mori. well, people in tokyo are experiencing clear and warmer weather. sayaka, what's up ahead over the

weekend? >> yes, miki in tokyo we have the sunny weather for the first time in five days, and clear and warmer than average temperatures will continue into the weekend. so that's good news. meanwhile in mia prefecture, rainy today due to leftover moisture and cool temperatures we saw this unique event. people gathered at me hampy to see a phenomenon this morning, fog over the mountain flowed down. the phenomenon can be seen until december. definitely beautiful out there. unfavorably bad conditions over beijing, it's foggy due to air pollution over the beijing area. we are still seeing some bad air quality at this moment the air quality is at the hazardous level. and as we go into saturday, no improvement unfortunately, because a high pressure system is still producing some stagnant air, so the red indicating air

is quite flat. on sunday some improvement because a cold front will bring some breezy conditions. however, instead, shanghai will be shrouded by the -- shrouded by the smog. unfortunately air is not clean over the beijing area on saturday, and shanghai area on your sunday. now in terms of precipitation, no rainfall over much of china. however, lots of heavy rain is anticipated for many parts of the indochina peninsula and hainan. all right, temperatures are going to be in the mid 30s in bangkok, with daytime heavy thundershowers. 26 degrees in hong kong. and across tokyo, 24 degrees with plenty of sunshine an saturday. now across the arabian sea we're seeing a tropical low right here. it hasn't organized yet. however it will organize to a cyclone and probably affect oman as we go into next week. and as the system develops lots of heavy rain is on the cards for you for many parts of southern india for the next several days. now, across europe, it's not tropical related, but we have

this swirling cloud right here, this is due to -- this was what was once hurricane gonzalo that battered bermuda last week. it's still packing a lot of energy, enough to cause more stormy conditions over italy and the balkan peninsula and parts of the black sea region on friday and into your saturday as well. we're expecting heavy rainfall, strong gusts and heavy mountain snow, even hail possible. and across the west, another batch of heavy rain over the british isles, as well as scandinavian peninsula. but in the middle, clear weather and temperatures are seasonal. 12 degrees in berlin. and across the east, quite chilly for this time of year. four degrees in warsaw. minus three degrees in moscow. some improvement is likely into the weekend. however these temperatures are much, much lower compared to they should be during this time of year. finally over the americas we have the remnants of tropical depression drifting over the yucatan peninsula that will eventually affect the south of the florida peninsula, and western cuba as we go into next

week. and still rainy weather for the pacific northwest. although you'll see a nice break in the rainy weather on friday morning over the seattle area, and the vancouver area. another batch of heavy rain is anticipated over the weekend, so flooding risk still remains. temperatures slightly cooler than normal over the west but much higher than normal over the mid part of the u.s. and canada. all right. that's all for now. here's the extended forecast.

and that's all for this edition of "newsline." i'm miki yamamoto from tokyo.

we'll have more news for you at the top of the hour. please stay with us. gg99ññwççe

>> hello and welcome to "france 24." we are broadcasting live from paris. here are the headlines. the first ebola case in new york and mali. a doctor and two-year-old girl have both tested positive for the deadly virus. guinea one of the most affected countries in west africa. e.u. leaders try to compromise to tackle climate change. they have agreed to cut greenhouse gas emissions but 2030. for activists it is a good step forward but not enough. parliamentary key