welcome to "newsline" live from tokyo. i'm james tengan. officials of russia's presidential office say the downing of a russian passenger plane in egypt was an act of terrorism. the officials say russia's federal security service reported the results of its investigation to president vladimir putin monday night. they say the fsb concluded explosives set by terrorists

caused the crash. fsb head alexanderdri borsakov said the explosives tore the fuselage apart. the russian air jet crashed last month. all 224 passengers and crew members died. investigators in the u.s. and britain say a bomb was most likely on board. but russian and egyptian officials have reserved judgment. a group linked to the islamic state militants has claimed responsibility for the crash. russia has been conducting air strikes in syria since late september. it says they're aimed at defeating the militants and supporting the government of president bashar al assad. france's president is calling for aggressive action at home and abroad to defeat the terrorists who attacked paris. francois hollande told law patients he'd seek changes to the constitution to fight terrorism in france. he said he'll meet with other world leaders to discuss a joins

response to international terrorist networks. >> translator: the acts of war of friday were conceived and planned in syria. they were organized in belgium and perpetrated on our soil with french accomplices. >> ol lande told a joint session of parliament the constitution should be amended. he says the government needs more flexibility to combat terrorism. he plans to table a bill to extend france's state of emergency to three months. hollande said he'll also meet with the presidents of the united states and russia soon to discuss action against islamic state militants. he told lawmakers france will step up air strikes on the islamic state group's stronghold in syria. the military will deploy aircraft carriers in the mediterranean sea to triple the bombing capability of its aircraft. >> translator: terrorism will not destroy france because it is

france that will defeat terrorism. >> french investigators have identified five of seven of the known suspects in the attacks. four were french citizens living near paris or in belgium. one applied for refugee status in greece last month using a syrian passport. fringe and belgian investigators are search is for another man, salah abdeslam. they believe he may also have been involved in the attacks. people in paris continue to mourn but life there is returning back to normal. on monday the louvre museum, the eiffel tower, and other tourist spots reopened. a battle between tokyo and okinawa over the relocation of a u.s. military base will be carried out in court. the island prefecture's governor has been refusing to allow land reclamation at the proposed site. now tokyo has filed a lawsuit to try to override his authority.

central government officials filed the suit with the high court in naha, okinawa. the governor revoked work permits in october that was granted by his predecessbread p. the permit allows land reclamation off the coast. under the plan the u.s. marine core futenma air station is to be moved to a less populated area. central government officials say the move sugly undermines public interest. the land ministry instructed him to retract his cancelation of the permit but okinawa refused. the government's top spokesperson suga says the revocation of the permit is illegal.the government's top spokesperson suga says the revocation of the permit is illegal. >> translator: the land minister instructed onaga to withdraw his decision. but the governor has refused. this is w the central government is taking the issue to court.

the government regards the lawsuit as inevitable to remove the dangers posed by the futenma base. >> translator: the governor of okinawa has the authority both to approve the landfills and to cancel it. there's no reason why the cancelation of the approval that i did lawfully should be branded as illegal by the central government. in court, we will insist that our thoughts are fair. >> the central government and okinawa prefecture went to court 20 years ago. a governor refused to sign an order to allow u.s. forces to continue using land for military purposes. the debate over the relocation of the base has been going on nearly two decades.

nhk world takes a look at how it all unfolded. >> reporter: tens of thousands of people gathered in 1995 to protest the rape of a 12-year-old girl by three u.s. military personnel. they demanded that the united states and the central government reduce the number of bases in okinawa. okinawa hosts 73% of u.s. military facilities in japan. the u.s. occupied the islands for 27 years after world war ii. japan's government says the okinawa bases are essential to maintaining the deterrent effect of the u.s. military, given the unstable security situation in east asia. but anger over crimes and an accident related to the military

presence in okinawa set leaders in japan and the u.s. to agree to remove one of the facilities. they focused on the futenma air station in dena densely populat area. aircraft take off and land within meters of nearby houses. residents fear that an accident could occur at any time. >> translator: the futenma air station site will be returned within five to seven years. >> reporter: but many people in okinawa were disappointed by one of the terms of the agreement. japanese officials announced that they will build a replacement facility off the coast of henoko in nago city, also in okinawa. many fiercely oppose building

another u.s. installation on the island. the project was stalled. some expected the deadlock would break when the democratic party of japan came to power. >> translator: the base should be relocated at least outside the prefecture. >> reporter: but dpj leaders couldn't reach an agreement with u.s. officials. so the dpj reversed its position. >> translator: i came to the conclusion that we have to build a replacement around hanoko. >> reporter: when shinzo abe's liberal democratic party returned to power they moved forward with the plan. abe promised to promote okinawa's economy and implement measures to lessen the burden of hosting the u.s. bases.

>> translator: the government will make an all-out effort to work with the people of okinawa to tackle the issues that need to be addressed. >> reporter: the previous governor accepted tokyo's stand. but voters had a different idea. they chose takeshi onaga as their new governor. >> translator: i will not allow the now hanoko base to be built. that's been my goal. i will honor that pledge. >> reporter: and last month, onaga canceled the permission for reclamation work that his predecessor had granted. workers have started construction behind this gate. and in front of it, protesters continue their rallies. tokyo hopes the pending lawsuit

will bring an end to this long-standing confrontation. but in the meantime, the demonstrators and the governor show no sign of backing down. nhk world, okinawa. >> "newsline" will keep you updated on this issue. government officials are crafting a plan to give japanese firms an edge in the scramble for infrastructure projects worldwide. gene otani has the details and a roundup of other business headlines. >> thanks, james. people at japanese firms face growing competition to build rail networks, airports and other infrastructure projects abroad. but soon they'll get help from a government action plan that aims to put them ahead of their rivals. >> translator: competition with other countries to export infrastructure technology is intensifying. the transport ministry needs to do more.

>> the minister instructed officials to draw up an action plan. they're aiming to have it ready by march. the government says that by 2020 it hopes to increase the value of contracts won by japan to about $240 billion a year. in september a team from japan lost out to china for a high-speed railway project in indonesia. ministry officials want to ensure in the future, japanese delegations are better prepared. they say their action plan will include a list of target infrastructure projects and negotiation timetables. could have on local agriculture. the ruling liberal democratic party has come up with a set of proposals to shield rice and cattle farmers. the ldp lawmakers got together to discuss the broad tpp agreement reached last month. japan would have to set a new tariff-free quota more than 78,000 tons a year for u.s. and australian rice. the let me fors are proposing the government increase the

amount of domestic rice it buys annually for stockpiling. they say that would stem the fall in prices. the tpp agreement also provides for a gradual reduction in tariffs on pork and beef imports. the lawmakers worry that could cause meat prices to fall. they're calling for legislation to partially cover losses by cattle farmers. under the current system the government uses a reserve fund to cover up to 80%. the ldp proposal calls for raising the rate to 90%. the lawmakers hope the measures will be included in the government's tpp policy outlined to be compiled as early as next week. on to the markets. the fallout from the paris attacks is fading. japanese stocks recouped yesterday's losses and ended the day higher. for details we go to mai ushida at the tokyo stock exchange. >> tokyo stocks pounced back following big gains in new york. the sell-off following the paris attacks was much shorter than we expected. take a look at the closing levels here in tokyo this

tuesday, november 17th. the nikkei was up 1.22% at 19,630. and the broader topix closed up .93%. tokyo stocks saw a big recovery and this is in part because investors spotted stocks at bargain prices following yesterday's drop. today some of the biggest winners, a brokerage raised rates of fujikura and daikin. both saw very strong gains today. the weaker yen boosted japanese exporters. for example, toyota was up 1.8%. the insurance factor was the only sector that fell today and this follows a report that profits at three major insurance firms in japan likely declined during the april to september period due to losses of summertime food. tokyo marine fell nearly 1%.

ms and ad insurance fell .11%. sompo japan moved higher. investors recovered their appetite for risk which pushes up the index here in tokyo. most of the other markets in the asia-pacific region also rebounded. hong kong's hang seng rose more than 1%. indonesia gained 1.3%. singapore snapped a four-day losing streak with a minor gain. sydney's s&p index jumped 2%. higher oil prices pushed up energy-related shares. in chine nat shanghai composite edged down to 3604, retreating from monday's gains. some investors sold shares after the index touched a three-month high. here's a look at some of the other business stories we're following. japan's direct investment in china continues to fall at as the world's second-largest economy loses steam.

the figure in the first ten months of this year was down 25% from a year earlier. the decline is due to the weaker yen and higher labor costs. japanese firms are also concerned about the future of their business in china. nissan motor officials have confirmed a ruptured takata air bag was caud of a passenger injury. they say doctors extracted shrapnel from the air bag that lodged from the head and left arm of a woman in a nissan x-trail. the transport industry says it's the first time a takata air bag has caused an injury in japan. gdp figures show japan's economy is losing steam. many people say they're struggling to make ends meet. a small minority reaps the benefits of abenomics. >> reporter: keiko nagishi is an investor, a successful one. she says profits from trading

stocks paid for this expensive kimono. and a new car. bought on first sight. >> translator: thank you, abenommics. >> reporter: the nikkei index has doubled over the past three years. she lives solely on the profits from her investments. >> translator: it made me really happy that bank of japan governor kuroda decided on an easy monetary policy. that led to the rise in stocks. >> reporter: people are benefiting from abenommics but they're few and far between. a bank of japan survey of 2,000 people found only 5% who said they were better off. almost half of them thought otherwise. ichiko says her life is harder these days. she's the mother of two. >> translator: i think i'll buy this one because it's 60% off.

>> reporter: inflation is hitting the family hard. food producers are paying more for materials because of the weaker yen. so prices are going up. the tokyo university index tracks supermarket data. it shows food prices climbed 1.5% over the past year. wages rose just .4% in that period. not even half of the inflation rate. >> translator: prices have gone up, especially for dairy products. unfortunately, we can't afford any luxury in our house right now. >> reporter: as working families struggle, it's a different story for their employers. comes are thriving, especially the big exporters. operating profits by japanese companies have gone up substantially in the past three years thanks mainly to the weaker yen led by abenomics. then why aren't people's lives getting any better? government officials appointed a

board. they say company bosses have ignored their calls to raise wages. retained earnings at japanese companies have increased along with their profits. in the business year 2014 they made a record 354 trillion yen. nearly $3 trillion. that's a 75% increase in 10 years. prime minister shinzo abe claims everyone can be a winner under his policy. he has set a gdp target of 600 trillion yen or $4.8 trillion, meaning an economy that's 20% bigger. to make that happen he took the unusual step of putting a direct request to corporate bosses, raise wages. the companies have been reluctant to comply. one manufacturer sitting on a pile of cash is sony electronics. its retained earnings amount to three times its sales. the company did raise wages this

year, but the ceo says they need to save for a rainy day. >> translator: there are good times and bad times. we need ample retained earnings to prepare for a crisis or else we will be in serious trouble. >> reporter: a cautious strategy, but it's the economy that will be in trouble, say some analysts, unless big companies start using their earnings more productively. >> translator: the important thing is to deliberate over the best way to use the money the companies have earned. >> reporter: abenomics did succeed in putting more money into the hands of companies, especially large corporations. and the g needs to find a way of spreading these benefits to consumers to get the real economy up and running. yuko fukushima, nhk world. >> and a correction on the market report. singapore snapped a seven-day

losing streak with a minor gain. we apologize for that mistake. that's it for business news. i'm going to leave you with the rest of the markets. cabinet ministers from the asia-pacific economic cooperation forum have wrapped up two days of discussions in manila. talks focused on how to shape a free trade framework for the region. nhk world is covering developments from the philippine capital. >> reporter: the gathering was the first international meeting on trade since a broad agreement was reached on the transpacific partnership free trade deal last

month. all 12 tpp members also belong to apec. japan and the united states are using the tpp model to push for a separate free trade area in the pacific rim. japan's economy, trade, and industry minister held bilateral meetings with those apec members which are not part of the tpp. hayashi underlined the significance of the deal saying it would accelerate trade and investment liberalization in the asia-pacific region. he called on more countries to participate. >> translator: we want to bring the tpp into effect as soon as possible. the philippines and thailand showed strong willingness to participate in the trade deal. participating nations will work together to move forward to implement the deal.

>> i agree that in the past two months many development, economic development, has occurred, both in japan, in thailand, and the world at large. >> reporter: but china, which is not a tpp signatory, was keeping its distance. chinese ministers were absent from the discussions. sending officials in their place. indeed, the concluding statement released on tuesday made no reference to the tpp as a possible concession to china. instead, promising to work towards the establishment of an apec free trade zone. >> we agreed to pursue strategic cooperation in human capital development geared towards developing 21st century skills that will increase people's employ ability, productivity, and ability to respond to emerging business demands. >> reporter: the discussion started by the apec cabinet ministers will now be taken up

by the leaders who start their talks on wednesday. it remains to be seen whose vision of the free trade agreement for the pacific rim will gain support. >> thank you for the updates. now for weather. currently it's cloudy here in tokyo with a temperature reading of 19 degrees celsius, about 66 degrees fahrenheit, quite warm for this time of year. sayaka mori has this hour's weather update starting with southern india. >> relentless rain has been causing numerous problems over southern portions of india. in fact, at least 70 people were killed over the past week. and traffic disturbances are happening. 370 millimeters of rain fell in one day. this was the image coming out of the region monday. you can see roads turned into rivers and houses were severely flooded. that area had 500 millimeters of rainfall in the past week or so.

that's much more than a month of rainfall. so many areas had lots of heavy rain too. now the system is slowly making its way toward the northeast. rain will continue across the area for the next several days. and rain will likely move towards bangladesh as well as western portions of myanmar as we go into the next 24 hours or so. chennai and southern porings of india will see heavy rainfall and a risk of thunderstorms into the weekend. let's go to china and russia. the coldest air of the season is blanketing, lowering temperatures. the morning low minus 44 degrees in southeastern portions of russia, minus 34 degrees in northern china, biting cold. the cold air will continue to grip the north because the high will continue to drag very cold air from the north and the cold and calm conditions will lead to hazy conditions in the morning hours and possibly into the afternoon hours in the northern portions of china. rain continues across the

southern portions of china and if you remember the deadly floods last week. more rain is expected. thunder rain should reach the korean peninsula and western japan the next 24 hours. rain will spread into the tokyo area tomorrow. tokyo will start to see rain from tonight and that will continue into wednesday morning. and then we'll see another round of heavy rain starting wednesday afternoon and going into thursday. temperatures, not too bad, 18 for the high wednesday. 17 on thursday. but on sunday it's going to be quite chilly, 14 for the high on sunday. at noon, snow is expected in sapporo on both friday and saturday, possibly into sunday too.noon, snow is expected in sapporo on both friday and saturday, possibly into sunday too., snow is expected in sappon both friday and saturday, possibly into sunday too.snow i both friday and saturday, possibly into sunday too. north america, dry and beautiful weather across the east. rough weather, including tornados and hail, across the mid portions of the u.s. winter storm conditions across the west. we have some video coming out of utah.

wintry weather greeted parts of utah monday, blasting towns with a burst of snow. some areas felt about 15 centimeters of precipitation. near whiteout conditions were reported in parleys canyon making the roads slippery for drivers, especially for those in higher elevations. however, residents saw the storm as a positive thing because of the boost to the economy and tourism. we have blizzard warnings in place across the colorado region. we're going to be up to 100 kilometer per hour winds as well as 40 centimeters of snowfall. that could cause near zero visibility. severe weather continues across southern portions of the united states. the worst conditions will likely happen across the mississippi river basin, and actually 37 reports of tornados monday across the southern and central plains. across the east as i mentioned beautiful weather and temperatures are going to be comfortable on tuesday. here's your extended forecast.

an in-depth look at the day's news and a special report ú

>> an intense search to find one of the paris attackers continues, and french police have staged fresh raids a day after arresting 23 people. the u.s. secretary of state, john kerry, showing support for france with a visit to paris. france dropped 16 more bombs on islamic state group targets in the stronghold of raqqa