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. cubans are going over an agreement that would end decades of discord with the u.s. even as some american politicians vow to stall president obama's effort to normalize relations. the pentagon's top officer says coalition air strikes have killed three senior members of islamic state in iraq. and space race. a group of young entrepreneurs

in china have their sights set on launching a rocket into orbit. many cubans will spend the weekend talking about a decision that could forever change their country. u.s. president barack obama announced this week he's normalizing diplomatic relations with the communist nation. businesses are welcoming the move. as are many americans. but others in the u.s., including some republicans, say it amounts to a reward for a regime with a terrible human rights record. nhk world's craig dale reports. >> reporter: in a place that appears lost in a bygone era, citizens have been digesting the biggest news in a long, long time. this is the best that could happen to our people, says this man. and from havana, cuba, to little havana, miami, others are equally as positive. >> everybody's now, you know, taken out of their drawer their

cuba plan, their cuba strategy. >> reporter: it's been a long and winding road. from revolution, to the brink of war, to assassination attempts. and everything in between. u.s./cuba relations have been downright nasty. that's now set to change. >> after all, these 50 years have shown that isolation has not worked. it's time for a new approach. >> reporter: president obama's announcement has polarized his nation. some cuban-americans have said -- >> it's great. >> it's about time. >> reporter: others have protested. and among republicans, even those of cuban descent, there are accusations the president chose commerce, trade and travel over human rights. cuba, they say, gave up nothing. >> it's a terrible tradeoff. in exchange for diplomatic recognition, more cooperation on telecommunications, more banking, more commerce, more

travel, and more remittances -- >> reporter: but no matter, this deal is done. analysts are already crunching the numbers. >> the u.s. exports to cuba would be about $6 billion per year. cuban exports of goods and services to the u.s. would be about $6.5 billion to $6.7 billion per year where now there's nothing. >> reporter: business after business after business in the u.s. wants a piece of the action. >> we had at least five very significant plans, we're talking fortune 50 entities call us yesterday, to start a cuba conversation. >> reporter: americans are also talking. they get better access to everything from cigars to natural resources. not to mention the chance to freely visit a caribbean destination enjoyed by millions of other travelers. cubans would see their meager economy grow, along with their standard of living. of course, that won't happen overnight. cuban leaders would likely keep

a tight control on any changes, and president obama still has a lot of work to do from setting up an embassy to removing cuba from a list of states that sponsor terrorism. he'll also face political resistance. only congress has the power to left a far-reaching trade embargo and end a ban on americans traveling to the island. with the republicans in full control some january, it's unlikely they'll play ball given how they feel about cuba's human rights record. craig dale, nhk world. america's top ranking military officer says airstrikes have killed three senior members of islamic state. chairman of the joint chiefs of staff general martin dempsey spoke with "the wall street journal." he said the strikes by the u.s.-led coalition took place in iraq between late last month and december 9th. dempsey said the three militants include abu muslim al turkmani, one of the closest and most senior aides of islamic state leader abu bakr al baghdadi. another was the head of the group's military operations in iraq.

lieutenant general james terry says the coalition forces have gained the advantage in the fight against islamic state, also called daesh. >> we're seeing initial successes in this fight. my assessment is that daesh has been halted in transitioning to the defense and is attempting to hold what they currently have. >> the general says iraqi forces are showing improved capabilities and have retaken many critical areas. but terry adds patience is needed to defeat islamic state, saying it may take at least three years to stabilize the situation in iraq. the recent charp depreciation of the ruble could be casting a shadow not only over russia's economy, but also over its leadership in regional economic integration. the president of belarus has begun demanding that all commercial trade with russia be settled in dollars or euros. >> translator: the fault lies

with the belarussian government working with russia, we should have demanded that they pay us in a strong currency. either in dollars, or in euros. >> lukashenko says that 40% of his country's export revenue is denominated in rubles. in the past month, the russian currency has plunged nearly 30% against the dollar. this follows the imposition of sanctions by the u.s. and european union over the crisis in ukraine. low prices for crude oil, a key russian export, have also hit the economy. russia, belarus, and kazakhstan are part of a customs union. another former soviet republic, armenia, will join them in january to form the eurasian economic union. the alliance aims to guarantee the free movement of people among the member states. people in australia are once again having to cope with tragedy. eight children have been found dead inside a house in the

northeastern city of cairns. the mother of seven of them was also found with serious injuries. police were called to the house after receiving reports that a woman had been injured. when they arrived they found the 3w0d bodies of the children ranging between the ages of 1 and 15. authorities say the woman is in stable condition in the hospital. and that they're now questioning her. there is still no word on how the children died, but media reports say that some of them were stabbed. the tragedy comes at a time when australians are trying to come to grips with a hostage-taking incident in a sydney cafe earlier this week. three people were killed, including the hostage taker. a team of information security specialists has gathered in tokyo to discuss cyber attacks and ways to counter them. s experts came from the u.s.,

europe, and asia. they're part of a computer security network that aims to use its skills for the good of society. a south korean engineer explained about how small remotely controlled drones are especially vulnerable. they're often used by the military and tv crews. he said certain drones have flaws in their communications software that puts them at risk of being infected by viruses that could take control of the craft. he also said hackers could spread viruses to remotely controlled helicopters or invade wireless networks to attack other computers. the swedish engineer said tvs, game consoles, and other home appliances connected to the internet, should be protected by security patches. >> translator: when equipment is linked to an online network, it's easy for hackers to access other people's devices. >> she said these problems should be tackled by society, as a whole.

scientists at japanese research institute riken gave a discredited biologist one last chance. they allowed haruko obokata to try to verify the exist end of what was once hailed as a groundbreaking research. and now they've released their conclusion about so-called stap cells. nhk world's takafumi terui reports. >> reporter: the existence of stap is a question scientists worldwide have been debating for months. today, the leader of the reproduction experiment team revealed the answer. >> translator: we've conducted the experiments but failed to verify the stap phenomenon. >> reporter: obokata and her team published their work in the journal major, and drew global attention. they claimed to have found a fast and easy way to create embryo-like cells which can

develop into any kind of tissue or organ. but other scientists started questioning her claims. a riken panel concluded in april the papers involved fabrication and manipulation. "nature" also retracted her work. riken allowed obokata to start conducting experiments in july to try to reproduce the results she described in her thesis. they gave her a lab equipped with surveillance cameras. they said obokata followed her method 48 times. but she failed to reproduce the cells by the end of november deadline. >> translator: we feel there will be no meaningful outcome to continue with the reproduction experiments. so our institute has decided there won't be any more.

>> reporter: obokata hasn't made a public appearance in months but wrote a statement saying she will resign. but there's still one question many are asking. why obokata was able to publish her thesis in one of the world's most prestigious journals about the method she herself failed to verify. takafumi terui, nhk world, tokyo. toshiba settled out of court with a south korean chipmaker on flash technology. ramin mellegard is here with the latest. >> thanks, gene. japanese electronics firm toshiba says it has settled a damages suit with south korean chipmaker sx hynix. an engineer gave the company stolen flash memory data. toshiba executives say the korean firm has agreed to pay an out-of-court settlement worth $278 million. that's less than the roughly $900 million toshiba demanded in

damages from sx hynix and the engineer. the male engineer used to work for a u.s. chip company that had a joint venture with toshiba. the man quit and moved to seoul to work for sx hynix. toshiba claims he illegally provided the company with the flash memory data. at a court session held last month, they argued that the firm is not producing or selling products using the stolen data. as part of the settlement, the two firms say they've also agreed to jointly develop manufacturing technology for next generation memory chips. officials at the bank of japan have wrapped up their two-day policy meeting. they decided to keep their overall assessment unchanged. they say the economy is continuing its moderate recovery trend. officials voted 8-1 to maintain their monetary easing measures. they had expanded the program in late october to achieve the bank's goal of 2% inflation. and they revised upward their

assessment of exports. they previously said the sector was more or less flat. now they say exports are showing signs of picking up. they also see an improvement in the state of industrial production. officials maintained the view that private consumption is resilient, with employment and incomes steadily improving. they also assessed the continuing impact of the consumption tax hike. they say it's put a damper on demand, but that the effects of this have been on the wane. officials are believed to have discussed the impact of sliding oil prices on the economy, and consumer prices, as well as the effects of their monetary easing steps. boj governor haruhiko kuroda held a news conference after the policy meeting. >> translator: we've seen the positive effects of additional monetary easing. as a result, the deflationary mind-set is improving. and we think it will continue to improve. we are sticking to our stance of

achieving an inflation target of 2% as soon as possible. >> kuroda also referred to the sharp plunge of russia's ruble. he says the impact on the economy will be relatively small as japan's trade and investment with russia is lower compared to europe. he said a repeat of the 1998 currency crisis is unthinkable, because russia now has a huge amount of foreign reserves. investors went on a buying spree today after the federal reserve pledged to keep u.s. interest rates unchanged for now. in asia, all major markets ended in positive territory as you can see there. australian shares surged 2.45%. the biggest one-day gain since july 2013. tokyo's nikkei added 2.4%. investors took heart from the boj's brighter view on exports and production. now major benchmarks across europe opened higher on friday. they're actually erasing their

gains. frankfurt's dax is lower, paris' cac 40 is lower. but london's footsie still in the positive. moving on to currencies the dollar's rebounding as investors regain their appetite for risk now that the russian ruble and crude prices are more stable. dollar/yen right now 119.49-52. the euro is edging lower against the dollar on speculation that the european central bank will apply more easing fesh yours. euro dollar middle of the screen right now 1.2259-2262. japan's transport ministry has criticized safety management at airdo, a hokkaido based air carrier. ministry officials have ordered improvements after learning about an error and cover-up at the airline. sources say a co-pilot made a mistake flying a plane in september while training for promotion to captain. the error was not reported. the pilot attempted to land the plane with about 300 passengers on board at an airport in

hokkaido. the approach was too fast, triggering a cockpit alarm and the plane was forced to pull up and retry. pilots who make errors are supposed to be retrained. but the plane's captain reported that the training went smoothly. the co-pilot was later promoted. sources say airdo executives knew of the case, but did nothing. the airline's president apologized at a news conference. he said the co-pilot had many years of experience, and was trusted by his coworkers. saito said the co-pilot's second attempt at landing was error-free, so he judged the training a success. japanese government's latest monthly report says the economy son a moderate recovery. but economic data released friday paints a rather gloomy picture. sales at department stores dropped for an eighth straight month in november, due mainly to weak demand for winter clothing.

officials at the japan department stores association say 239 outlets nationwide sold about 4.7 billion dollars in goods last month. that's down 1% from the same time -- same month last year. the officials blame relatively warm weather, and sluggish sales in regional cities. they're hoping that customers will spend some of the bigger bonuses paid this winter by companies. meanwhile, officials at the japan iron and steel federation say companies used about 9.2 million tons of crude steel last month. that's down just over 1% for last november, marking the third straight year-on-year decline. officials blamed weakening demand for cars, and construction projects, following the consumption tax hike in april. they say output might continue to decline, compared to last year, when demand was strong ahead of the tax rise. that's all for business news

for now. i'll leave you with a look at the region's markets. a group of young chinese entrepreneurs are looking up into the sky and dreaming big. they're starting up the country's first publicly run rocket company. and they now have their sights set on reaching orbit. more from nhk world's eiji hamanishi. >> reporter: five engineers

check out a rocket engine. they work for link space, the first private company in china's space industry. everyone is in their 20 pps hu is a ceo. he started the business in january, with university friends. the start-up created the star in china, and now people call him rocket boy. >> translator: there are a lot of privately owned space businesses abroad. but, there are none in this country. i think china also needs the involvement of private companies. >> reporter: china is catching up to front line of the space development with other countries. earlier this month, the chinese

successfully launched a satellite with a rocket and all-china undertaking. the rocket that hu and his crew are working on differs from the one developed by the state. it's a sounding rocket or research rocket only a few meters long. the satellites launched by large scale rockets usually fly more than 250 kilometers above the earth. by comparison, planes and balloons can reach heights of around 50 kilometers. so, a small research rocket could operate in the band between them. the small rocket could collect air samples, and experiment with materials in microgravity conditions. hu said the research rockets

have an advantage. his team hopes to cut the marketplace by two thirds and secure orders from economic institutions and businesses. the team uses as many inexpensive over-the-counter materials as possible. china's government recently announced a policy of encouraging private businesses to enter the space industry. >> translator: many people who work for state-run enterprises are watching to see if link space can really success. in fact, they want to try the same thing themselves, and link space is their model. >> reporter: last month, hu successfully carried out an engine combustion experiment. his team hopes to have a commercial launch in 2021.

hu's team must improve technological viability before funding runs out. >> translator: i don't know whether this company will eventually be list ed on the stock exchange or whether it will succeed or fail. but i will put my heart and soul into my work. >> reporter: observers in and outside of china are watching how companies like hu's fare amid china's strict government regulation. >> translator: at the moment, it doesn't look as if there will be any big setbacks for link space. but some day they may get support from the government, develop a large clientele, and grow rapidly. that's why we have to pay close attention to these developments. >> reporter: these young innovators continue on their push to become trailblazers in

china's space industry. eiji hamanishi, nhk world. strong winds, and unseasonably warm weather are affecting northern europe. our meteorologist sayaka mori joins us for the update. sayaka? >> yes, gene, strong southerly winds are pushing up temperatures in several areas in northern europe. for example, part of the uk, you saw the highest temperatures on record for the day on thursday. but things are changing. we have a cold front that is the leading edge of cold air as the system moves in, temperatures are expected to drop. and this is a very intense system, so we're expecting severe thunderstorms and excessive amounts of heavy rain will fall in thunderstorms and the system will likely move into central europe as we go in to the weekend. now, temperatures are going to be in the double digits still over central europe. however, that could cool down to the single digits as we go in to the weekend. meanwhile, snowy weather across moscow with a high of 2 degrees,

and down towards the south, athens, you're looking at sunny weather after days of nasty weather. all right, across the americas, this year's rainy season started with exceptionally heavy rainfall for over california but the southern areas, enjoying nice conditions, but northern areas, rain once again throughout your friday. more heavy rain is falling over the pacific northwest, and british columbia. the coastal locations may get up to 130 millimeters of rain, as well as high waves of up to eight meters on your friday. and also heavy mountain snow is in sight for the northern rockies. but after 25 centimeters of snow and ten centimeters for the cascades and sierra nevada for the next couple of days. meanwhile, rain is developing over the gulf coast. not just heavy rainfall, there's a concern for thunderstorms, gusty winds, and even isolated tornadoes on your last day of your work week. now temperatures are going to be up to 17 for the high with the rainy weather. 12 degrees in atlanta. sunny skies, gorgeous weather in

the u.s. capital. meanwhile, subzero figures in toronto, and winnipeg snowflakes on the menu on your friday. now across asia, we are looking at lots of heavy rainfall for southeast asia. especially in southern parts of thailand and malaysia. we have this low pressure system. this has strong northeasterly winds. so the eastern areas of kuala lumpur seeing heavy areas of rain paul. this area saw 750 millimeters of rain in just three or four days so the ground is already saturated and flooding is already occurring. however more rain is likely for the next several days so conditions will remain on the critical side. same thing happening over the eastern parts of sri lanka. this is the last of the rainy season and this is the timing where we saw -- we see lots of heavy rainfall. to the northern areas, china looking quite dry but we have a couple of systems that are aiming for japan. we saw stormy conditions over the past several days in japan.

however, we are looking at more stormy conditions. these are -- these are numbers of snowfall depth as of this afternoon. about 200 centimeters of snow has already accumulated. more snow and heavy rain likely into the weekend so that will raise the potential for avalanches. now we are looking at cold conditions, and also chilly, rainy weather for tokyo on your saturday. but sunny weather will come back on your sunday, meanwhile fukuoka 12 degrees for the high on saturday, and snow is on the menu on your monday. now from fukuoka we have some video of animals shivering in cold weather. chilly weather across japan is affecting more than just the people living in the country. some monkeys at a fukuoka zoo are trying to stay warm as temperatures are falling into the single digits for highs. caretakers have to crank up the heater so that the furry animals could get some heat in the cold conditions. now here's your extended forecast.

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

>> making gains in iraq, peshmerga fighters cut through the hole. mount sinjar. this is allowing civilians to flee for safety. pakistan cracks down on the country's militants in the wake of a deadly attack by the taliban that left scores of children dead. a hollywood scandal threatens to escalate into a political crisis. the white house calls the cyberattacks against sony pictures a matter of national security. also coming up in the program, in business, the latest on the financial hit to sony. it is expected to take a hit from canceling the showing of "the interview."