live from tokyo, this is "newsline," i'm james tengan. the peace prize has been awarded to the north african peace group. it's been key to contouring the spread of violence in the country. >> the nobel peace prize for 2015 is to be awarded to the

tunisia national dialogue kwa quartertes in the wake of the revolution of 2011. >> the quartet is made up of labor unions, business sectors, human rights lawyers, and they helped the country when on the brink of civil war and played a role in establishing a constitutional system of government that guarantees rights for the entire population. the arab spring originated in tunisia in 2010 and 2011 and the committee noted that democratic reforms have stalled in many other countries where in the uprisings had occurred. it said thanks to a vibrant civil society, tunisia has seen transition towards democracy. see ya president assad is

trying to regain lost ground. there's a vast offensive launched against the insurgents with the backing of russia. >> translator: today the syria armed forces began a wide ranging attack with the aim of wiping out terrorist groups and liberating the areas and towns which have suffered from their crimes. >> syria state run television run aired this video showing tanks and antitank weapons in the province of the provinces, and they linked groups controlled most of the provinces. u.s. secretary of state kerry is expressing concern over russia's role in syria, speaking to the counterparts over the phone, and kerry said many of the targets russia is striking are not connected to the islamic state militant group.

the russian military launched its campaign last month. officials say their warships in the sea launched 26 cruise missiles into syria wednesday, but u.s. media outlets quoted u.s. government sources saying at least four missiles landed in iran. iran state run television has not confirmed the report, but it did quote a russian defense ministry spokesman as saying the attacks against militant positions were successful. medical charity doctors without borders say 33 people remain missing five days after a u.s. air strike on the group's hospital in northern afghanistan. the medical group said nine patients and 24 staff are unaccounted for after saturday's attack. 22 people have been confirmed dead. a male nurse who survived said afghan government forces and taliban fighters were exchanging fire outside the facility at the time. he said bullets were fired into the hospital and a fire broke out. he said patients and staff were

killed in the confusion. fighting between insurgents and government forces in the vicinity of the hospital is hampering the search for those still missing. u.s. president president obama apologized for the air strike saying the military attacked the hospital by mistake. people in north korea are preparing for celebration. saturday is the 70th anniversary of the founding of the country's workers' party and all out efforts are ensuring it will be a memorable occasion. the festivities include a major military parade in the capital pyongyang as well as a concert on a stage set up over a river. signed boarded celebrating the country has been in the city and citizens gather in the square to practice gathering in formation. observers say it's the first major parade in more than two years and that north korea leaders hope to use it to publicize the country's military

strength. they believe the event is aimed at the u.s. which has suspended dialogue with pyongyang. >> translator: south korea and the u.s. are trying to trick us into destroying our country. we will defeat their plans and fulfill our political goals while maintaining our high ideals. >> north korea suggested it may mark the anniversarily launching a satellite carrying a rocket although such a launch is believed to be a cover for a ballistic missile test. there's been in specific signs of preparations. a top u.s. military official warns north korea may have the capability of hitting the u.s. homeland with a nuclear weapon. admiral bill courtney who leads the u.s. northern command was speaking at a symposium wednesday. >> we assess they have the ability to have the weapons and put them on a rocket that can

reach the home lands. >> he added u.s. forces are prepared to respond if north creigh why were to use a nuclear weapon. >> the united states officially has been a ballistic missile defense, they expect me to take a threat seriously, so that's what we do. >> in my, north korea issued a statement said development of nuclear weapons entered miniaturization and diversity. the impact of the world's biggest free trade pacts on farmers and consumers is yet to be clear. gene otani has that and more head liv headlines. gene? >> thank you. there's been a briefing to talk details, and under the treaty, tariffs are abolished on half of 800 farm items. duties lifted over time or immediately such as the tax on grapes and certain marine products. officials from the agricultural

ministry spoke with concerned groups in tokyo. about 4 00 people from farming and manufacturer associations atte attended. they admitted negotiators concealed details of the agreements during the sensitive tal tal talks. he understands people now have worries and concerns. a dary farmer expressed fears for his business in the face of increased foreign competition, but a tofu maker welcomes cheaper soybeans. they expressed anxieties for domestic industries as well as hopes for cheaper prices. >> translator: tariff elimination is good for consumers, but it will be tough for food producers. >> translator: cutting tariffs help consumers, but i'm worried about food safety. >> the prime minister abe promised to revitalize the economy by making the best use

of the tpp and pledged at the first meeting at the task force of the cabinet ministers. >> translator: the tpp is a key element of my government strategy to make japan's economy more open and vigorous. we will compile comprehensive measures to use the deal to revitalize the economy. >> abe instructed ministers to come up with ways to enhance the farmer competitiveness. central bank governors of the world's 20 major economies were in peru talking global issue, how to prepare for risks facing the global economy, and finance leaders focused on the slow down in china, emerging nations, and exporting country. the declaration and world's second world economy led deceleration in the world's second largest economy led stock

markets to plunge around the world. the g20 agenda included possible effects of a rate hike by the u.s. fed. another item the delegates discussed is a package of measures drawn up by the organization for economic cooperation and development. it aims to stop multinational firms from avoiding paying taxes. finance minister and bank of japan's governor attended the meetings. there was activity on the sidelines as well. oso met with his chinese counterpart ahead of the talks. the finance ministers and central bank chiefs from japan, china, and south korea held discussions, and after, they released a joint statement calling for strengthening cooperation in fince including providing funds in financial crisis. the statement suggests promoting structural reforms to boost economic growth. now checking the markets, investors in tokyo bought stocks friday after minutes from the u.s. federal reserve latest meeting indicated it won't rush

to a rate hike. our business reporter is joining us for more from the tokyo stock exchange. >> reporter: investors seem more willing to take risks. minutes from the feds' september meetings eased concerns about bets and prices are up. consumer spending is weighing down on major indexes. look at today's closing levels. nikkei closed at 18438, a one month high, and the broader topix rose 2.3%. the chart benchmark jumped 4% this week posting the best weekly performance since mid-july as money flows back to riskier assets. we saw strong gains coming through energy and basic material producers like kobe steel trading at 7% and others faired well on the back of recovering commodity prices. machine makers saw gains over

slowing demand in emerging markets, and fanuc rose 4%, on the other hand, though, consumer brands dampened on benchmarks led by fast retailing. it plunged nearly 10% after its profits fell short of what was expected. the risk appetite is back here as well, but it's not exactly full on, and that's the case many envesters think the japanese government can do more to encourage spending. aika nanao at the tokyo stock exchange. >> thanks. other markets also rose in the asia pacific region. in china, the shanghai composite gained 1.3% speculating the chinese government may take stimulus measures soon. index rose more than 4% this week. sydney's s&p asx 200 index rose 1.3%, five straight sessions of gains, ending at the highest level since august, marking a

weekly gain of 4.5%. hong kong up 0.4%, the strongest gain in six months. the mumbai gained .8%, and taiwan was closed for holidays. here's a look at the other stories we're following. japan's foreign minister will visit iran this weekend together with representatives of about 20 japanese firms. he is expected to sign a bilateral investment deal. the agreement will ensure japanese firms enjoy equal treatment with iranian businesses and appropriate legal protections. japan's store chain reported mixed reports in half year earnings. those popular with foreign shoppers enjoyed good business, and retailing say profits rose by double digits. the profits sogo and seibu fell 36% as they were not strong

enough to make up for business in women's clothing and other items. >> born in japan and spread across the planet with passion, but at home, customers are drifting away. the karaoke industry is trying everything to pull them back. here's the report. ♪ >> reporter: japan's unanimous kararoke is where anyone can be a rock star. many businesses are adding attractio attractions. ♪ this booth comes with drums and other musical instruments. or how about turning your singing performance into a promotional video? ♪ in this age of self-made youtube

celebrities, would-be idols can customize performances with video from the smart phone for the extra wow factor. this enthusiast is alone. he's filming himself with cameras installed in the booth. he uses his smart phone to send the video to an online sharing site provided by the chain. about 10,000 of the videos are uploaded each day. the service even allows users to combine clips with other performers and create an instant band. ♪ >> translator: i can connect with a variety of people. it's the best entertainment ever. >> translator: rather than just providing places to sing, we want to offer the chance to talk about songs and share interests with others.

we hope, ultimately, that more people will want to try karaoke boxes. >> reporter: in this district, a karaoke chain is targeting foreign tourists. in march, the chain created a free booth with the help of the local tourist office. there are helpful instructions on how to use a karaoke machine. and visitors can enjoy singing japanese songs with the staff. >> karaoke is better in j pan. it's good. >> reporter: there's other services for foreign customers. tablet devices allow them to search for their favorite japanese song. the song titles and artist names

are searchable in the roman alphabet. and when people sing, lyrics are shown phonetically above japanese. >> translator: there is a big market among foreign customers who want to sing animae and other japanese songs. thinks ahead, we want to add voice recognition systems so they can choose songs by just speaking to the devices. ♪ >> reporter: with entertainment options growing ever more diver diverse, karaoke is trying hard to compete, fighting back with a string of bells and whistles. nhk world. >> all right. that's all for business news. i'm going to leave you with the markets.

senior officials from ja pane and russia looked for a breakthrough in a decade's long territorial issue, and could not narrow differences after a 7 hour talk, but agreed to keep lines of communication open. nhk world has more. >> reporter: it was the first time in about 20 months the officials sat down to discuss a peace treaty. tokyo and moscow never signed such a pact after world war ii mainly because of four islands

in japan known as the territories. russia controls and them japan claims them. >> translator: i strongly claim japan's basic position, but at the same time, russia also claimed their position. this is a tough situation. >> reporter: japan's basic position is the islands are in an inherent part of the ter tor illegally occupied after the war. russia maintains it became their territory as a result of the war. leaders of the two countries agreed to start peace treaty talks in 2013 to try to find a mutually acceptable solution. japan's deputy foreign minister was in moscow trying to lay foundations for more senior talks and hopes putin will fly to japan later this year, but the meeting came at a time when russia is boosting its military presence in syria in support of

president assad, and in relation with western nations already frosty over the ukraine crisis are worsening. >> it's not time for business as usual with russia. >> reporter: japanese leaders are faced with a balancing act as they try to resolve the territorial issue while western countries become increasingly weary of tokyo's dialogue with moscow. nhk world. >> thank you very much. the volkswagen emissions rigging scandal is taking a new turn. investigators in germany searched the head office of the auto maker and residences of company officials. prosecutors say they wanted to secure a number of documents and data storage devices. it's the first search over the allegations of emissions software in volkswagen diesel vehicle, and some 1 1 million vehicles around the globe were reportedly fitted with the software to manipulate test

results. in wushashington, the head of t american unit testified before a house panel, apologizes, but distanced himself from the scandal. >> this was not a corporate decision. this was a couple software engineers who put this in for whatever reason. >> lawmakers asked when executives became aware the illegal software was to blame for emissions exceeding u.s. safety standards. horn admitted they heard about irregularities in the spring of last year, but said they only learned in september that software was the cause. one of the world's top footballers is to stand trial. spanish authorities seek a jail sentence up to 22 months for messi on tax fraud charges. spain's tax authority charged he and his father, jorge, in 2013 for defrauding the state and agreed to pay $4.5 million in

tax on income from image rights between 2007 and 2009. media says the authorities requested the prison term for the fc barcelona striker on thursday. messi claims he was not involved in the management of his finances saying it was done by his father. messi was named fifa's world player of the year for four consecutive year, known as one of the world's high education paid athletes. the hearing takes place in a town near barcelona, and no date has been set for the trial. now here on "newsline," it's time for world weather who starts off with southern europe. >> it's a low pressure system that's starting to pull away from northern africa, and it's now aiming for central portions of the mediterranean.

now, this system is going to be a strong system. we are looking at stormy conditions to happen on friday as we go into the weekend over the central and western portions of the mediterranean, especially sicily, central and southern areas of italy. there's potential for thunderstorms, gusty winds, large hail, and even tornados. it's going to dump quite a bit of heavy rainfall causing flash flooding and mud slides in the area. kno now, temperatures are chilly in the east, 3 degrees for the high in moscow. this area had the first snowfall of the season on wednesday, and more snow is expected friday. meanwhile, across the siberian peninsula, sunny weather continues, but stormy into the weekend due to the remnants of hurricane joaquin. there's stormy western in southeastern portions of the russia.

we have video coming out of ido to show you t situation. the storm caused dangerously violence weather in hokkaido. one woman killed and ten people injured. three vietnamese fishermen were missing after their boat capsized. authorities are advising people to stay away from the water. now, because of the stormy conditions, red warnings for strong winds are posted for two areas, and gusts of 120 kilometers reported in russia and heavy rainfall, 210 millimeters fell in 24 hours, making it the new record for the area. now, this system is pulling away from hokkaido, but still stormy conditions continue in the northern areas for the weekend, and russia will continue to see quite dangerous conditions into the weekend as well. strong wind gusts continue in northern hokkaido, but

temperatures will be as follows, 19 degrees for a high in sapporo, and wet weather will happen over many parts of northern japan as well as central portions of japan including tokyo on sunday. now, china is dry in the eastern areas, but wet weather is expected across taiwan and temperatures of 26 degrees for the high in taipei and tokyo at 26 degrees, four degrees higher than normal. now let's go to the eastern side of the pacific. you can see plume of moisture battering british columbia, the pineapple express because it starts year hawaii famous for pineapple, and because of the ample flow and moisture, we are continuing wet weather intoed weekend with 200 millimeters of rainfall. rain is not expected for the south where rain is much needed. drought is continuing, and sunny weather continues into the next

couple days, and temperatures will be extremely high. l.a. at 36 degrees, that's 12 degrees higher than normal, and in the 40s for palm springs into the weekend. wet weather continues in the northea northeast, dry weather in columbia, but they are battled by wet weather on saturday. here's your extended forecast.

here on "newsline," the top story, the nor wee january nobel committee awarded the peace prize to a north african pro-democracy group saying the tunisia national dialogue quartet is key to countering the

spread of violence in the country. >> the nobel peace prize for 2015 is to be awarded to the tunisia national dialogue quartet for its decisive contribution to the building of a pluralistic democracy in tunisia in the wake of the revolution of 2011. >> the quartet is made up of four organizations representing labor unions, the bez sector, human rights groups, and lawyers. the committee says the quartet helped support a peace fful process when the country was on the brink of civil war and the group played a major role in establishing a constitutional system of government that guarantees fundamental rights for the entire population. the arab spring originated in tunisia in 2010 and 2011, and the committee noted that democratic reforms stalled in many other countries where the uprisings occurred, but it said thanks to a vibrant civil

society, tunisia has seen a transition towards democracy. news updates and more at the top of the hour with ñqoñ÷p÷99ç

molly: welcome to the "france 24 " newsroom. i'm molly hall. a tunisian democracy group wins this year plus nobel peace prize. the committee says it hopes to encourage the people of tunisia to carry on with their push for inclusive democracy following the jasmine revolution. french bombs islamic state targets in syria for a second time, while damascus presses on with ground defenses. under russian air cover.