"newsline". i'm raja pradhan in tokyo opinion here are the top stories we're following this hour. a south korean government source said it's proposing first one on one meeting between park geun-hye and shinzo abe on november 2nd. workers have built a sunken

steel wall at the crippled fukushima daiichi nuclear plant to reduce ground water into the ocean. russia has invited nhk and other international media to its air base in syria for the first time. a source close to the south korean presidential office said it's proposed summit with japan on november 2nd in seoul. it's the first one on one meeting between president park geun-hye and shinzo abe. the source says the south korean side is waiting for a reply from japan. the proposed talks would follow a three way summit with china. japan and south korea last held a bilateral summit in may of 2012. park has called on japan to work on a settlement of those issues considered comfort women. she's believed to have said to to meet abe partly in response in calls from u.s. leaders.

she took into consideration public opinion at home. park could take up the issue in her meeting with abe. another focus is whether she will emphasize security cooperation with japan to deal with north korea's nuclear and missile program leading aside historical issues. authorities in western japan have given their approval for a nuclear reactor to go back online. it brings it closer to resuming operation. the governor informed the president of shikoku electric power company of its decision. the utility would restart the number three reactor. officials in the town of ikata have also given their approval. all japanese nuclear plants must meet regulations introduced after the 2011 accident in fukushima before they can resume operations. the nuclear regulation authority set in july that the reactor of ikata had passed its screening. the plant is the second in japan to gain approval for the restart

from the prefectural and municipal leaders. nuclear regulators must now give the go ahead for the restart and inspect new equipment at the plant. officials with shikoku electric could have the reactor operating again as early as next spring. the governor said the decision came only after a thorough study. he said ate sensitive issue considering the disaster in fukushima but concluded that the plant would not have the same serious consequences. the president of shikoku electric says he'll continue to improve the plant's safety. he wants to restart operations as soon as possible but did not specific a date. chief cabinet secretary yoshihide suga said the governor's decision is significant. safety needs to be the power company's top priority. he expects the regulatory committee to carry out regular

checks. people have gathered outside of the office froeft the governor's decision. a senior member of the group said he doubts that the governor listened to the people opposing the restart. >> translator: ikata plant is in the center of the sea and surrounded by residential areas. those factors could lead to matters more serious than the fukushima accident. >> now the operator of the fukushima daiichi nuclear plant says they are moving forward to block contaminated ground water from seeping into the ocean. tokyo electric power or tepco completed the construction of underground walls on monday. the company had begun the construction of the water shielding wall in 2012, a year after the nuclear accident. the steel walls built along the entire stretch of the coastal embankment extend 30 meters

under underground. the barriers are expected to reduce contaminated flow into the ocean. tepco plans to pump up. ground water and decontaminate it before releasing it into the ocean. it plans to northern the levels of ground water within the plant premises and concentration of radioactive substances in the sea water to verify the efficacy of the walls. >> chinese officials plan to gather to talk about their economy. gene otani has mo. >> chinese leaders are discussing key economic policies for the next five years, attention is on how they will balance structural reform with stable growth amid clear signs of an economic slow down. the state-run news agency says the central committee of the chinese communist party kicked off its fifth plenary session in

beijing. the president and more than 300 senior officials are attending. the government is trying to put more focus on the quality of growth rather than its pace. the leaders want to steer the nation towards a consumption driven economy from one that relies on exports and investment. the officials have also set a golf doubling gdp and average income by 2020 from the 2010 level. in light of these objectives leaders are like try to discuss whether to lower their target growth of 7% per year. it fell to a 6.9% in the last quarter. we this discuss inequality, demographics naechbt. the meeting continues until thursday. china's central bank cut it's benchmark central rate late last week and took other steps to stimulate the economy. the surprise move boosted markets around the world and investors in tokyo jumped in. our business reporter joins us

with the details. >> the move is pumping liquidity into the chinese market and has added to risk on seiment. investors were already in a buying mood after the european central bank signaled it's ready necessary to ease. the nikkei average briefly rose above the 18,000 mark for the first time since august but lot of steam in afternoon trading. the topix added 0.72%. movers and shakers included companies releasing earnings this week, both hitachi and panasonic surged on expectations of strong results. hitachi climbed 6%. panasonic was up by 6.1% on a report its britaining profit rose 10% in the six months

ending in september. toshiba is negotiating to sell its business to sony as part of a restructuring plan. that news spurred trading and lifted share prices in both companies. policymakers at the bank of japan will meet on friday. some analystsing expect the boj to follow the path of the federal reserve. the federal reserve is expected to stand pat on interest rates this month. thanks. moving on to other markets in the asia-pacific region. investors in china cheered the rate cut. the shanghai composite added a half of a percent. some are expecting more stimulus measures as the communist party meeting gets under way. taiwan climbed at 82% for a gh. hong kong slid 0.15% reversing

earlier games. indonesia closed at it highest in more than two months. kospi ended at a three month high. japanese business leader has called on south korea to join the transpacific partnership. member countries in the free trade pact reached a broad agreement earlier this month. >> translator: economic partnerships will gain even more importance in the field of global trade. so japanese business leaders have great hopes that south korea will join the tpp. >> he was speaking at annual talks with south korean business leaders in tokyo. the tpp is one of the world's largest trade pacts. it has 12 member countries although south korea is not one of them. the chairman of the federation was positive to the idea. he said cross board cooperation is needed to deal with slow growth in the global economy.

he indicated that japan and south korea should pursue active economic exchanges through partnership deals. south korean business officials also proposed that the two countries reinstate their currency swap arrangements given the state of instability in the financial markets. struggling electronics company sharp expects to move a net loss for the april through september period. company officials say they failed to reach sales target for lcd panels used in smartphones in china. sharp officials estimated net loss of $700 million. they have projected an operating profit of about $83 million. they now expect an operating loss of about $215 million. they revised down full year operating profit to one eighth of their original estimate. they are seeking outside investors. officials at toshiba are preparing to take legal action

against former executives. the plan is in response to an accounting scandal at the japanese electronics giant. three former presidents are among the people to be sued for damages. the final decision will be made after an external report on individual responsibility comes out in early november. toshiba set up a panel of three independent lawyers in september. they looked into involvement of company executives in accounting irregular ity irregularities. toshiba officials hope the legal action will help regain confidence in the company. here's a look at some of the other business stories we're following. the price for the initial public offering of japan post holdings has been set at 1400 yen or $11. stocks will start onovember 4th. it's estimated at $108 billion

making japan's ipo largest. executives at two regional banks based north of tokyo say they are in the final stages of negotiating a merger. the joining of ashikaga holdings and joyo bank would make it the third largest bank. japan's eight major automakers say their domestic output fell 2.2%. 15th month straight of decline. sales of many vehicles remain week since the vehicle tax hike in april. pace of decline slowed due to strong exports to north america. japese diners had a healthy appetite in september. sales at major restaurants and fast food chains rose 1.6% from a year earlier up for the third straight month. industry officials s many famili dined out during a five day holiday period in september. time to take a quick look at

our global economic calendar for this week. first on wednesday the u.s. federal reserve will wrap up a two day policy meeting. market players are waiting to see already the fed will decide to raise its interest rates. on thursday we'll find out japan's industrial output for september. production in august came in below estimates mark the second move decline. on the same day officials at the u.s. commerce department will release gdp figures for july through september quarter. policymakers at the bank of japan will hold a meeting on friday. they will release their latest forecast on economic activity and inflation rates. finally, eurozone inflation data will be released. it turned negative in september for the first time since march. every monday we ask specialists to share their views on the coming week. this week we speak to a former policy board member at the bank

of japan and currently editorial member at tokyo financial research. first he focused on the boj's outlook for economic activity and prices. >> the growth rate is going to be revised down wards rather substantially refrequenting recent weak data. accordingly price forecasts for the current and next fiscal years will be revised down wards as well. so the timing of achieve of 2% inflation target will be postponed from around the first half of 2016 to the latter half part of that fiscal year at the earlierest. >> he says the boj may carry out monetary easing but estimates the chance of such a decision being made at this meeting is 50-50. >> it will depend on one

important set of figures as related to industrial production. if industrial production declines rather substantially then they will drop the recovery story all together. i tnk the bank of japan can buy more government bonds. some people have some doubt whether the bank can increase the price of purchase of government pond. it's clear the single supply of liquidity has not stimulated the economy. this time the bank of japan like some central banks in europe may start reducing interest paid on the bank of japan current deposits. >> and that's it for business news. i'll leave you with the markets.

russia has invited nhk a other intertional media to its air base in syria. the former syrian base is where russia's air strikes in the country originate. >> reporter: the government of syrian president bashar al assad is in a fight against islamic state rebels.

now russia is assisting it by deploying sophisticated weaponry. russian air force have 50 aircraft in the area including bombers and fighter jets. these bombers are used for air strikes. war heads are being loaded. this state of art includes 44 bombers ready for air mission. russians call them precision attack machines. they take off one by one from the runway. >> translator: the military exchanges information with the syrian side and conducts its own reconnaissance to be 100% sure that the targets are terrorist strongholds. >> reporter: about 1500 russian troops are stationed in syria. the food is all brought in from russia.

logistics and abundant equipment, the russians look like they are prepared for the long haul. reporters were shown a camp established for people fleeing from areas controlled by the islamic state group. this man fled his home voiced his gratitude to russians later. >> translator: the accommodation and the food are free. i'm going to maim my child putin when it's born. >> reporter: others say russia is showcasing its operations to attract more domestic and international support and convince people that it's playing a key role in bringing in the conflict and control. the united states continues to criticize ssian moves. >> targeting moderate fighters doesn't hurt. it makes it easier for assad to

continue brutalizing syrian people. >> reporter: but many experts agree that u.s. strategy for syria has run out of steam. and gaps between the two powers continue to widen. johnson and balkan leaders have agreed to work together to cope with if flight of migrant and refugees. >> we believe it is imperative is to provide refugees and migrants along the western balkan route are treated in a human manner. >> the leaders of 13 countries along the migration route from greece to germany gathered in brussels for an emergency meeting. they agreed to send specialists to slovenia to help screen the incoming people. but the leaders left many details of the plan unsettled.

they still need to decide where to set up new reception facilities and how to secure the necessary funds. more and more people are trying to reach germany and other affluent countries before winter, but hungary has closed its border, leaving many stranded in slovenia. scores of people fleeing syria for europe have been making a risky journey by sea. a group of turkish fishermen found a toddler drifting in the mediterranean. one of the fisheen captured this video. a crew mate pulled the 18 month old boy out of the water and discovered he was unconscious. the boy had been on a refugee the boat that sank near the turkish coast. he then drifted in the waves. at first they thought the boy hadn't survived. but then he made a noise. the boy was taken to a hospital in turkey for treatment. three days later, the fishermen went to see him. his mother thanked them for giving her son a second chance at life.

he was reportedly one of the 16 passengers on board when the boat sanction. -- boat sank. officials at the united nations estimate that more than 3,000 from the middle east and africa have died this year while crossing the mediterranean to reach europe. poland's largest opposition party has won sunday's parliamentary election. the conservative law and justice party proposed tougher rules on migrants. poland's state-run television says the spaert liparty is like 40% of the vote. the election was fought partly how to deal with migrant from the middle east and elsewhere. the eight year performance of the government was another key issue. the law and justice party advocated greater emphasis on domestic problems. its leader said its victory was extremely rare for a single party in poland's democracy.

the prime minister has already conceded defeat. and we have breaking news out of northern afghanistan. the u.s. geological survey is reporting an earthquake of 7.5 has construction. the epicenter was 250 kilometers northeast of the capital kabul and 210 kilometers deep. the quake rocked large areas of south asia including pakistan and india. reuters news agency quotes a pakistani official saying four people have bern killed. a staff member of the japanese news agency said tremors lasted 40 seconds.

people in southern parts of the u.s. are dealing with floods caused by intense rainfall in the aftermath of hurricane patricia. our meteorologist jonathan oh has the details in our world weather report. >> hello. yes. we're definitely talking about some really, really intense weather that took place during the weekend. let me show you what happened here in terms of the satellite perspective. we see that massive amount of cloud cover that moved towards the north and east during the past several hours. but beforehand as we went through late friday into saturday it was a category 5 hurricane named patricia. let me show you what it did over mexico by looking at some video from the region. this is one of the strongest storms to make landfall in recorded history along the west coast of mexico. friday evening it was packing winds up to 260 kilometers per hour and we're talking about thousands of homes bei damaged

some completely destroyed by the winds. the most important news here and the good news is unbelievably no casualties have been reported despite that damage. now in houston, texas, the storm did rapidly weaken during the day on saturday brought rainfall and caused traffic to be brought to a standstill. as of sunday morning to 30 millimeters of rainfall was reported. the rainfall story is not over yet. we're going to see this continuing as we move forward in time. that low pressure system, what was patricia don't move towards the north and east and it's going to spread all of that rainfall into the eastern seaboard of the united states as we move forward in time. now then focal point as we go throughout monday when it comes to heavy rainfall is around the eastern region into mississippi especially the coastal areas. it looks like part of the core of that low, we move towards the east into the gulf of mexico which means a lot of rainfall

will be moving away from land but still a wet forecast as we move forward in time. some areas may deal with flash flooding. please be very careful as you drive along the roadways. carolinas back over to houston and portions of texas and louisiana, wet weather taking place from vancouver to denver because of another system from. looking a bit drier as we go through monday. for europe high pressure dominating the weather for a good portion of the continent. it's a dirty high because of the clouds associated with it. what's not associated with the high, a cold front will be coming onshore for the western portion of the continent and that's going to bring some rainfall. 13 for a high on monday for madrid, 21 for lisbon. stockholm 8 degrees coming up on monday. cold weather look at these lows

for the morning in japan. some areas down to negative 6 degrees as we woke up. we also had if first reported snow in hokkaido the northern portions of japan. we're seeing the low responsible for that type of weather, windy conditions and moisture shifting towards the east and away from japan. but we do have another low that's coming out of the korn peninsula bringing chance for rainfall for tuesday and extending into the east into portions of central japan as we go into wednesday. have the umbrella handy it's going to be a bit wet as we go through the week. hope you have a good day wherever you are. here's you extended outlook.

and that's all for now on this edition of "newsline". i'm raja pradhan in tokyo. ú

>> down to earth at friends rate for and france24.com. you're watching friends 24. these are the headlines. an earthquake rocks south asia leaving at least 70 dead. 12 afghan girls were among the victims question a stampede as they tried to run from the collapsing school. havee and the balkans agreed to come up with 100 thousand more spots