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. officials from japan and china have resumed talks over a maritime hotline to try to prevent accidental clashes at sea or in the air. supporters of an islamic militant group are thought to be responsible for a cyber attack that targeted the u.s. military. thousands of haitians are still living in shelters.

five years after a powerful earthquake leveled their homes. taiwanese aviation authorities have criticized china for creating new commercial air routes over the taiwan strait. they say the routes could be a threat to flight safety. chinese authorities on monday announced four routes that will pass near the mainland's southeast coast. the head of taiwan's civil aeronautics administration says it's unacceptable for china to make that decision without formal consultations. authorities in beijing say the new routes are necessary because those over the mainland have become too crowded. they say they'll start using the new routes in early march. taiwan's leaders see the strait as important in terms of security. they plan to urge china to exercise caution. defense officials from japan and china have resumed talks on creating a maritime communication mechanism. the discussions have been suspended for more than two years.

but now, both sides are looking to find common ground to help avoid accidents from occurring. nhk world explains. >> reporter: the officials met in tokyo on monday. the mechanism they discussed is meant to avoid accidental clashes at sea or in the air. the meeting came two months after japanese prime minister shinzo abe and chinese president xi jinping agreed to restart the talks. the talks broke off as a result of the deterioration of the relations after japan nationalized the senkaku islands in the east china sea in 2012. china and taiwan claim them. in 2013 one of china's navy frigates directed radar at a japanese maritime self-defense force destroyer. the threat was not only in the sea, but also in the air. in the following year the

chinese fighter jet flew abnormally close to a japanese self-defense force aircraft on patrol in may. and then a month later, a similar incident occurred. a research fellow with the tokyo foundation and former navy captain with japan's self-defense forces. he says the communication mechanism is indispensable to avoid a contingency. >> there is a huge perception gap between japan and china, especially in the navies. it means japan doesn't trust china's navy. also china's navy doesn't trust the msdf. they take aggressive action. so it is very dangerous. so something happened which cannot be understood then the other navy will take some action

against the other's action. if they can communicate, they can understand each other. they can try to understand the other side intention. so it is the very important for avoiding a miscalculation. >> reporter: japan's defense minister gen nakatani welcomes the resumption of the talks. >> translator: it is gratifying that talks have resumed. i believe they will start a mechanism that could realize a system that will help avoid an accident when the dangers are getting higher. >> reporter: japan and china had already agreed to establish a hotline and hold regular consultations between defense officials before the talks were broken off. o'hara says he thinks discussions on monday were focused on when and how the

communication mechanism should be set up. >> if they can have the specific frequency for communication between japan and china, so other people of the intention of japan and china for avoiding the collision or the something unexpected issues, and also the hotlines, they must have the some hotlines in some levels so they might discuss about which level, which headquarters built the hotlines with which headquarters on other side. >> reporter: japanese defense officials say they want to start the system as early as this summer, or by the end of the year at the latest. jun yotsumoto, nhk world, tokyo. this however, will likely

take time for the two neighbors to narrow their differences. both sides criticize each other for the diplomatic row. defense minister nakatani blamed his counterparts in china for firing weapons control radar and letting fighter jets fly too close. he made the remarks last week during his new year meeting. he said chinese forces had engaged repeatedly in dangerous actions that could lead to unexpected situations. defense officials in beijing responded on monday. they called nakatani's remarks an exaggeration and say japan's defense chief was ignoring facts and rehashing old stories. >> translator: i just express my own opinion regarding the current circumstances. >> nakatani noted that chinese defense spending has rapidly increased in recent years. china's state-run news agency xinhua says police in the country's northwest have prevented a bombing.

the report says officers in the xinjiang uighur autonomous region saw people trying to detonate explosives and they shot the would-be bombers dead. the report says residents in a commercial district of kashgar spotted a person with an explosive device. the person wielded an ax and tried to detonate the device before being shot by police. they shot five others who were attempting to set off explosives. they were wearing. xinhua says a vehicle with explosives inside was also found at the site. police have responded to a spate of attacks in recent months. many residents in the region are reportedly unhappy with the government's ethnic and religious policies. japan's foreign minister is seeking understanding from south korea on a sensitive issue. fumio kishida says prime minister shinzo abe has repeatedly voiced his sorrow over the suffering of these referred to as comfort women during world war ii. kishida is referring to a comment made by south korean president park geun-hye.

park said japanese leaders need to change their stance on the issue before she'll consider a summit with abe. the remarks suggest she's seeking compromise from tokyo. >> translator: prime minister abe has repeatedly said he's worried about those who experience sufferings beyond description. his stance is the same as those of his predecessors. >> kishida said japanese leaders have put their maximum effort into resolving the issue. he said a bilateral summit would be an important means of dialogue and that japan is ready for discussions at any time. abe and park have yet to hold official one-on-one talks, even though they've been in office for about two years. efforts to clean up

radioactive materials left over from the 2011 nuclear accident in northeastern japan have gotten a major boost. a mayor of a town where government officials hope to temporarily store the contaminated waste has finally given his approval. officials with the central government want to build interim storage facilities for contaminated soil and debris on a 16 kilometer site. the location is in fukushima prefecture. the site of the damage fukushima daiichi nuclear plant. officials accepted the plan last month. the mayor has now made the same decision. >> translator: i decided to accept the construction of intermediate storage facilities with the approval of the futaba townassembly. >> people say the decision will help speed up decontamination efforts in the region. but others site the possibility that the intermediate facilities will become permanent unless the

government fulfills its promise to dispose of nuclear waste outside the prefecture. government officials must now continue purchase negotiations with the individual land owners. investors remain jittery over the plunge in crude oil prices. ron madison joins us for more on that and other business stories. what's happening in the markets? >> investors have really been focused on these oil prices which have plunged in recent weeks. that's really been putting a drag on some markets, gene. major benchmark crude oil prices are at nearly six-year lows. market players are afraid that cheaper crude prices will hit oil producing countries hard and could indicate sluggish global growth. that's taking a toll on investors' appetite to buy riskier assets like stocks. asian markets finished fairly mixed today. tokyo's nikkei dipped more than 2% at one point before finishing 0.6% lower. australian shares down 0.3% with sell-offs in energy and mining stocks. hong kong adding 0.8%. it finished at a four-month high on the back of positive trade

data out of china. major benchmarks in europe are looking like this at this hour. gains for all the majors. reversing a course from earlier in the day. london is now up by half a percent, frankfurt and paris both up by 0.8%. analysts say the plunge in oil prices is putting pressure on energy shares though. gains in the retail sector are offsetting those losses as cheaper oil gives consumers more purchasing power. let's move on to currencies now. the dollar dipped below 117 -- or 118 yen, as currency traders bought the yen to avoid risk. the greenback is now rebounding from its one-month low. we're seeing it now at 118.47. the euro hovering at around 1.18 to the dollar. that's not far from last year's -- from last thursday's nine-year low of the mid 1.17 level. investors are selling off the single currency on speculation that the european central bank may carry out fresh stimulus measures. well looks like more people in japan are feeling optimistic about the economy.

and more of them see it improving in the next few months. officials at the cabinet office each month asked 2000 randomly chosen workers how they feel about business conditions. the index for the current state of the economy for december was 45.2. that's an increase of 3.7 points from november. and it's the first rise in five months. a reading below 50 does suggest more people are pessimistic than optimistic about business conditions. department store employees said sales to foreign visitors grew sharply. rural shop operators said cold weather helped to boost sales of winter clothing. the officials also asked workers how they think the economy will do over the coming two to three months. the economic outlook index rose 2.7 points to 46.7 and that's the first rise there in seven months. the officials say falling crude oil prices and expectations ahead of a government stimulus package are making people more optimistic about where the economy is heading.

analysts have released more data that show the japanese economy is recovering. they say bankruptcies last year fell below 10,000 for the first time since 1990. analysts at tokyo research say more than 9700 companies went bust in 2014. that's down 10.3% from the previous year. the analysts say bankruptcies were down in a broad range of business sectors. they say a key reason was public works projects carried out as part of the government stimulus program. that meant fewer construction companies went out of business last year compared to 2013. but the analysts also say the weaker yen pushed up the cost of some materials. that forced about 280 companies into bankruptcy. double the number in 2013. negotiators from japan and the u.s. are preparing to meet in tokyo on wednesday for crucial trade talks. the 12 countries involved in the trans-pacific partnership free trade talks are trying to conclude the pact. but they have struggled to set a

date for reaching a final agreement. now lingering divisions between japan and the u.s. are partly to blame. negotiators from the two countries hope that working-level walks will clear a path. the focus of the meeting will be on whether officials can agree on conditions for implementing so-called safeguard measures. the safeguards would allow countries to temporarily pull up tariffs to -- after a sudden rise in imports such as american beef and pork or either japanese cars. japan's minister in charge of tpp talks akira amari said last week that the key too progress is finding common ground with the u.s. >> translator: it is important to create an environment for the 12 member countries to hold a ministerial meeting by early spring. >> the japanese government aims to conclude the tpp deal by the spring. china's trade surplus hit a new high there 2014 topping $300 billion for the first time. soaring exports of steel and

smartphones to the united states and southeast asia drove up the surplus. customs officials say the trade balance for last year was in the black by about $382.5 billion. exports rose just over 6% from the chief year so about 2.3 trillion. imports rose just 0.4% to nearly $2 trillion. imports of automobile related items grew but they were offset by a fall in crude oil and other resource prices. the united states has long criticized china for keeping its currency undervalued. the new figures are likely to increase pressure on beijing to raise the value of the yuan. and that is going to do it for biz tonight. i'll leave you with the markets.

american authorities say they have no plans to cancel their annual trip over south korea. leaders in pyongyang had asked them to scrap the joint exercise. north korean officials said last week they would stop nuclear tests if the u.s. called off the drill. a spokesperson for the u.s. state department said authorities had rejected the proposal. >> the dpr case statement that inappropriately links routine, u.s. rok exercises to the possibility of a nuclear test by north korea is an implicit threat. >> harf said the joint drills have been taking place for 40 years. she described them as transparent and focused on defense.

she said the u.s. remains open to dialogue with the north with an eye to resuming the six-party talks on pyongyang's nuclear program. hackers claiming to support the islamic state militant group have staged a cyber attack against the united states. they disabled the twitter and youtube accounts of the u.s. military's central command. the hackers posted the image of a person dressed as a militant fighter, and they put up a text message threatening u.s. troops. they also struck the central command's youtube account. they posted video clips promoting islamic state. centcom leads the military operations against the militant group. american military officials confirmed they're having problems with the sites. but they say no classified material has been breached. a white house spokesperson says authorities are looking into the attack. >> it is a significant difference between what is a -- a large data breach and the

hacking of a twitter account. so, we're still examining and investigating the extent of this incident. >> experts say it's relatively easy to break into accounts. but they say the militants can use the attack as a propaganda victory. investigators in washington are trying to figure out the cause of a deadly railway incident. one woman died and dozens of people were injured when smoke filled a tunnel near a busy subway station. media outlets say the fbi has received no reports of a terrorist attack. the smoke began pouring in to a tunnel near le enfant's plaza station. it forced a train to make an emergency stop about 50 meters away. fire department officials say passengers were rushed off to the train, and the platforms. they say more than 80 people were taken to the hospital, and one woman has died. >> we just sprinted for our lives out of there because we had no idea what was happening.

we were all so scared. >> safety authorities say they've launched an investigation into what caused the smoke. people in haiti are pausing to remember the earthquake that devastated their country five years ago. the disaster left more than 200,000 people dead. international aid poured in to the caribbean nation. but then flooding and a cholera epidemic magnified the problems. nhk world has the story. ♪ >> reporter: president michele martelli led a memorial ceremony in haiti's capital port-au-prince. >> translator: my wish is that all the people of haiti will overcome their differences. and work to the to rebuild our country.

>> reporter: in the capital work is under way to reveal government buildings. and new homes are under construction in residential areas. the u.n. has deployed 5,000 military and 2,000 police in its peacekeeping force to help with security and rebuilding infrastructure. officials say they've achieved much of what they set out to do so they're considering cutting the size of the military by half in the near future. >> we did, indeed have to carry out that work with respect to all of the damage and devastation that had been caused by the earthquake, in addition to continuing our mandate for support of the haitian government. >> reporter: but about 80,000 people still live in makeshift camps. this schoolyard is home to 900 people.

they live in poor sanitary conditions without electricity or running water. when it rains, so much water floods the area. this man used to run a taylor shop. but he lost it as well as his home in the earthquake. he bought a new sewing machine so he could support his family. two years ago, his son perished as a victim of the cholera epidemic while living in dire conditions in the camp. >> translator: even five years since the earthquake struck, i'm still struggling to make ends meet. all i can hope to do is to feed my family every day. >> reporter: people frustrated with the pace of reconstruction have been protesting against the government.

and clashing with security forces. on monday they joined hundreds of other people at a memorial service. it was held near the ruins of the cathedral that collapsed in the earthquake. >> translator: i hope our lives will improve little by little. but it's not politics that will save us. only god can do that. >> reporter: five years after the earthquake rebuilding efforts are ongoing. yet international aid has decreased. the population still cries for assistance. widad franco, nhk world, port-au-prince.

persistent fierce winds are causing widespread damage over northern europe. our meteorologist sayaka mori joins us for more details. sayaka? >> yes, gene blustery conditions are continuing over northern europe. over the weekend, 180 kilometers per hour gusts were reported in the north of the uk. that's the record breaking strong winds for the region. and similarly windy across denmark. we have some pictures to show you. how about the situation was on monday. strong winds have caused high waves and rough seas. people on the coast have dealt with flooding. gusts of 70 kilometers per hour were reported. houses and buildings have been severely damaged. and as you can see, the bubble this is called sea foam and it's created by the agitation of sea water, and there's no break in the winds, unfortunately. we have a strong low pressure system to the north, and a new

system is coming in over the west, and those systems will continue to provide blustery conditions for a wide area. we're talking about winds of up to 90 kilometers per hour on your wednesday. now on top of strong winds, there's a concern for large hail damaging winds, and excessive amounts of heavy rainfall for the south of the uk, and the northern areas of france as well as the low countries as we go into wednesday morning. and there's another spot of severe weather over the south of turkey in this area. one person was died -- died because of severe winds, and unfortunately there are heavy rain and risk of tornadoes will continue into your wednesday. now temperatures at 10 degrees in athens. but temperatures in the east and central europe are warmer than normal. about 5 to 10 degrees higher than normal 11 degrees berlin 7 degrees in vienna and 1 degree in moscow with snow on the menu on tuesday. now across the americas from the second week of january through the second week of february, it's the coldest time

of year for north america. very frigid air is blanketing central parts of the u.s. as well as western canada. and windchill values as low as minus 35 degrees in some places. so cover your skin to avoid frostbite. now, across the west winter storm conditions are still happening over the four corners region, and 40 centimeters of snow is likely into your tuesday. now temperatures are as follows. quite low, minus 12 degrees for the high winnipeg minus 9 degrees and chicago minus 10 degrees in toronto and your high in new york city will be minus 1 degree. but temperatures will slightly moderate on wednesday, and coming back to more average levels as we go in to thursday. now finally over japan, looking quite calm for many areas. but things will change as we go in to wednesday, a new system is coming in from the west. that will provide widespread rain for the west of japan and also eastern japan, as we go in to thursday. so rain is on the menu in tokyo on thursday with a high of 10

degrees. now the rainmaker is affecting east of china this moment and another spot of rain can be found over the area to the south of guam. this is a low pressure system at this moment. will likely become a tropical storm and then may affect the east of the philippines over the weekend. significant rainfall and deadly mudslides could happen. we'll keep it posted. across australia, the asian cup, a separate tournament is taking place. there's a chance of rainfall in both brisbane and melbourne. 31 degrees is expected high brisbane on wednesday. here's the extended forecast.

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

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