here in japan it's 7:00 p.m. on a friday. welcome to "newsline." a former member of the cult has been acquitted. he was part of the group responsible for its attack on subway. sentenced to five years in prison for her role in a separate incident. the tokyo high court has overruled that sentence. the she was charged with

attempting murder by transporting bomb making materials for the cult. she spent 17 years on the run before being arrested in 2012. the cult sent a parcel bomb to headquarters where it seriously wounded an official. she pleaded not guilty at the tokyo district court which convicted her last year. the high court judge reversed that decision saying the terrorist attack was intended to kill but there is reasonable doubt as to whether she was aware of that. they are held responsible for a series of crimes, including the saran gas attack that killed 13 people and injured thousands of others. her lawyer says the decision made at the lower court is now regarded as a mistake and urged prosecutors not to appeal. prosecutors called the ruling unexpected and highly

regrettable. now we turn to what's happening in business. toshiba has saidts sorry for dragging its feet. here's more on that and other headlin headlines. gene? >> toshiba's president apologized for insufficient disclosure of large losses at the nuclear arm westinghouse. he called a news conference on friday, ten days after toshiba revealed that westinghouse broke down $1.3 billion in assets in years 2012 and 2013. the revelation came only after the tokyo stock exchange put pressure on toshiba to come clean. >> translator: we take the tsc instructions seriously. we have reflected on the fact

that we should have disclosed more timely information. >> the asset write-downs were excluded from group earnings results as toshiba expects the subsidiary to become profitable. they will aim to acquire orders to build 64 reactors over the next 15 years. he will leead the fight to actively provide financial data. japanese prime minister shinzo abe has asked for a xplemt tri budget to jump start the economy. it's part of emergency measures to realize abe's vision at what he calls a country where everyone can play an active role. the government has lalso adopte new policy guidelines under the rules of the transpacific partnership free trade pact. >> he told a cabinet meeting on friday that japan's economy remains on a moderate recovery

path. the nation's economy has shrunk for the last two quarters, abe has set a goal of increasing gdp to 600 trillion yen or $5 billion, about 20%. the draft includes handouts to 10 million low income pensioners and plans for financial support to farmers. chief cabinet secretary suga said the size of the budget had not been decided at this point and said it will be focused on urgent necessities. japanese stocks edge lower as investors took some money off the table. >> japanese shares are technically in a correction phase and one market watcher sa domestic retail investors and foreign investors still away after their thanksgiving holiday. let's check the closing levels this friday, november 27th.

the nikkei fell to 19,883 and the broader topix clos down half a percent. the nikkei managed to post six weeks of gains. the last time we saw this kind of rally was in march. but blue chips fell in tokyo on profit taking, and toyota was down nearly a quarter percent. investors are worried about fanuc's business in china after weak data coming out this morning. speaking of china, they hit a three-month low against the green back ahead of the international monetary fund decision whether to include the yuan in currency reserves. the focus is on the bank next week expected to unveil additional stimulus. a seven-month low against the green bay on friday. it was a risk off day across the

asia pacific but next week's focus will be on the ecb and u.s. jobs data. >> mayu, thanks. moving on to other markets, stock markets in shanghai poeflted the biggest drop in three months. the shanghai composite tumbled more than 5% closing at its lowest in three weeks. and financials were hit hard with news that the big brokerages will be investigated. growing concerns over the slowing in china weighed on hong kong. the hang sang lost 1.9% stretching its losing streeak t a fifth day. the taiex dropped 1.02%. share prices in indonesia

slipped 0.8% and mumbai bucked the trend and it gained by .65% on hopes tax reform bills will be passed next month. here's a look at some of the other business stories. china's statistics bureau says oil and coal and steel industries are among the hardest hit by falling sales and weak eflt prices. october data on the japanese economy shows spending by households fell 2.4% from a year earlier. the consumer price index was down 0.1% from the same month last year. the jobless rate was 3.1%. it's the lowest level in over two decades. eight major japanese car makers say total domestic production rose 0.1% year on year, the first rise in 16 months. a pickup in exports to the

united states and europe offset weak sales of mini vehicles following april's tax hike on such models. south korea is suffering from the slowdown in china. that's because beijing is its biggest trading partner. south korean exports fell for the tenth consecutive month in october which also saw the biggest decline in more than six years. for more insight, we spoke with the professor about his view. he teaches economics. >> professor, thanks for your time. can you tell us more what kind of effects we're seeing in south korea due to china's situation? >> well, the slowdown of chinese economies gives more need to the korean government to make the economy structure reform and the boost the creative industries. reason why i think so, china has

been the number one trading partner for korea for the last several years. $235.4 billion. this is very huge even comparing with usa. in 2014 the trade volume between korea and usa was $115.6 billion. the slowdown can mean the reduction of exports to china, and structure which is relying on external trading. so the slowdown of chinese economy provides the motivations, needs to korean government to make the economic structure reform and boost to creative industries. >> south korea has been promoting free trade agreements with many countries and signed one in june with china.

but a rift between the ruling and opposition parties is blocking that progress. how big of a blow is this to the economy? >> definitely by having the fta with china within the ten years, the korean gdp could increase by 1%. 0.96%. and it can also boost the consumer's career by $14.6 billion. so the benefits with south korea can be very enormous. i think this can be one of the various strong reasons why the political parties should work together. at the moment the opposition party is against the rectify indication but there a general election next year and the

korean economy has been in bad shape for the last several years. i think the opposition party can change their stance towards the kor korea/china fta. on japan's supplementary story, nearly $5 trillion. we said $5 billion. we apologize for that error. that's it for business news. i'm going to leave you with the markets. french and russianed from francois holland and vladimir putin have met in moscow and

discussed two issues deepening cooperation in the fight against islamic militants and tension after turkey shot down a russian war plane this week. it was part of the hollande's worldwide push to bolster the fight against islamic state group in the wake of the terrorist attacks. >> translator: we must create a grand coalition to combat television. >> the leaders announced they will help to improve the effectiveness of air strikes and agreed to limit them to islamic state militants. some believe russia was bombing anti-government rebels not allied with the extremists. >> translator: what we agreed and this is important, is to strike only terrorists and the islamic state militants and not to strike forces that are fighting terrorism. >> but the two leaders re, putin

backs assad while hollande and others are calling for him to go. >> translator: assad's military are al lyles in our fight against terrorism. >> he criticized the u.s. military saying russia had given it advance notice of the operation. the turkish president denies his military knew and said russia is the one who should apologize for violating his country's air space. david cameron has urged lawmakers to back his plan to expand the air campaign to sy a syria. >> we shouldn't be content with outsourcing our security to our allies. if we believe action can help protect us, with our allies we should be part of that action, not standing aside from it. >> cameron stressed the need to support the u.s.-led coalition

in syria. britain is already carrying out air strike in the group against iraq. >> if we won't act now, when our ally france is struck in this one, then our allies could be forgiven for asking, if not now, when? >> many are we'ry of getting drawn into another conflict after 2003. he asked if ground troops will be deployed and cameron insisted that won't happen, saying western troops there would be counter productive. leaders in germany are stepping up the efforts against the militants, cabinet members have decided to deploy jets and warships to syria but only in a noncombat role. >> the terrible attacks by islamic state militants deeply affected france. we know such an inhumane act can also hit germany or another country at any time. >> local media say germany will

send four to six tornado reconnaissance jets and a german frigate will provide backup to a french aircraft carrier deployed to waters off syria. a poll conducted by the public broadcasters shows germany is split over missions against the islamic state group. 41% support direct involvement in military operations while 52 oppose it. with refugees in the spotlight worldwide, some observers are turning attention to japan's response to the crisis. so far only one syrian family has been granted refugee status. 65 people have applied. nhk world reports on the difficulties they face. >> reporter: we are concealing his identity for his safety. back home he engaged in anti-government protests and his neighborhood was later destroyed by government air strikes.

>> sometimes you can't sleep because of the bombing sound. it's every day. >> reporter: at first he tried to go to europe but he could only get aisa for japan. he landed here with nothing but some clothes and 100 cash. he was going to stay temporarily in japan for reasons and wasn't allowed to work or go to school. >> i'm a young guy, i can work. we had no money and no stable life or so. so we needed at that time and they appears, i don't know the reasons, that forced me to borrow money from the others. >> this week, the u.n. high commissioner met japanese prime minister shinzo abe to discuss the refugee situation.

>> we also would like to see japan progressively assuming a bigger role in the refugee protection directly in japan, receiving more refugees in the settlement. >> in order to be granted refugee status, might go prarano prove their life is in danger. the screening process can take several years. critics say it takes much longer than other developed countries. officials at th justice ministry say that's because of the increasing number of people who want asylum statu just to work in japan. >> translator: there are some people that might take advantage of the asylum system or misunderstand its purpose. it takes a long time to review the application for people really in need of protection. >> the situation for the refugees make it more difficult in the wake of the paris attacks. some reports allege one of the attackers may have posed as one.

some countries rs reare reviewing their policy. in japan, opinions are divided. >> it's natural that we have to help those who are in need. >> translator: personally, i want to help refugees but because of the recent attacks in paris, i'm a bit scared. >> others insist that terrorism and humanitarian support should not be linked. >> translator: refugees are people who fled from conflict zone or the places where explosives are being fired. we need to be able to differentiate that refugees are victims of terror, not the terrorists. >> the refugees who make it out have faced a long hard road and many obstacles but in japan and elsewhere, the obstacles may

take a long time to overcome. nhk world. japanese publishers facing tough times are turning to public libraries as a potential solution. but as our report shows, people in the industry are divided on what role they should play. >> reporter: in mid-november, the library fair and forum was held in yokohama. it's one of the largest events of its kind. on display were many technologies that might one day be found in libraries such as the latest automatic back retrieval system and digital management services. but the president of a major publishing company attracted a lot of attention by criticizing the library. >> translator: we're getting more complaints that books

aren't selling because libraries are lending so many out. >> sato says libraries should refrain from lending out books for a year after they were published if the author asks them to. this remark reflects the difficult situation, the publishing industry faces. before 2010, the number of book sold in japan surpassed the number loaned out by libraries but the situation has changed. in some countries, authors receive government compensation for putting their books on library shelves. some impose a post publication waiting period. in japan, people can check out newly published books right away. >> an official with the japan library association says he's perplexed by the publishing

industry's position. >> translator: i hope they will understand that libraries have been around for a long time. and we have always promoted reading in the community. >> reporter: while some publishers feel libraries are competitors, others see them as places where they can expand and strengthen their relationship with readers. this library in central tokyo is owned by the local government but moneys by private enterprises, including a publisher, it offers services that many other libraries don't. it's open until 10:00 p.m. on weekdays so people can stop by after work. it has a restaurant and cafe where visitors can hang out and read. and a shop allows readers to build more permanent relation

shms with books they love. >> translator: we joined the management team because we want to promote a culture of reading. if people can pick up a book and learn the joy of reading, that might help increase book sales. >> an industry specialist says readers are also a big part of the equation. >> books are not just cultural properties. they are also commodities, people who want to read books should pay money or invest their time by waiting to get copies from libraries. libraries and publishers and book stores must cooperate in order to nurture a wide variety of readers by hosting events at school so young people develop good reading habits. it is possible for libraries and publishing companies to co-exist if they are willing to cooperate.

>> reporter: libraries have always been peaceful places where book lovers can retreat from the world for a moment of interspeks but they are on front lines of a quiet battle over the future of the publishing industry. nhk world. let's hope the battle can turn into collaboration soon. thank you for that port. fair weather prevails here in tokyo with the current temperature reading at 12 degrees celsius, or 53 degrees fahrenheit. time to bring jonathan oh in the picture starting with the tinder box conditions in southern australia. >> the latest is that conditions are starting to improve. the winds are starting to die down. we're seeing a few showers in the southern portion of australia. however the destruction that the fires have left behind are very clear. i want to show up the video to give you an idea how serious

this is. completely charred from fires that rolled through. hot and dry weather caused bush fires and 87 properties have been damaged or destroyed and at least two people were killed. because the conditions are improving and officials are saying the fire is contained at this point, roads are being reopened. so residents are going back to their homes and for those who are in situations like what you just saw there, it's going to be a very difficult recovery for them. some of the stuff they own, very difficult to replace because they come from their family history and things like that. it looks like we may still see showers but the trough that was the big wind maker, the one that really created the strong gusts, has now started to push off the coast and some showers hopefully will put out that fire as we move forward in time. as you look at the forecast for east asia, we're seeing a bit a different story. we're talking about snowy

conditions in northern portions of japan. what's happening is low pressure over the sea of japan moved north and east and wrapping around cold air and that's filtering through the moisture in the system. that's producing some snowfall, some of these close to 56 centimeters in some portions of hokkaido's gusts and down towards the western portions of japan, 22 centimeters of snowfall. we do still have the impact of the low in place as we go through saturday morning. the northern portions of japan looking at high gusts in play. the waves are expected to crest as high as 8 meters as we go into saturday morning. and even the higher elevations may see 10 to 30 centimeters of snowfall with some of those high gusts. further down to the south and west, we're seeing skies, tokyo at 16 for the high on saturday. a little bit warmer in seoul.

originally we were down to 12 degrees now a high of 5 on saturday. in beijing, a high of 3. slightly above freezing for the afternoon high as we go into the weekend. now as you look at the forecast for north america, we're still keeping an eye on this very long cold front moving through the central portion of the united states and seeing a low pressure system way to the north and east. lots of rainfall, may see strong storms and snow along the great lakes because of this particular system. further down towards the south we're keeping an eye on this major hurricane named sandra, it is coming onshore as we go forward in time. already seeing an impact on the system. some rainfall and winds also with this. but as it moves closer and closer to mexico along the western coast it's going to hit mountains and struggle and start to fall apart through the weekend. wet weather from toronto extending down to chicago, seeing snow possibly into oklahoma city coming up on friday with a high of 5.

we hope you have a good day wherever you are. here's your outlook.

people who want to stay at b and b's in japan, catch today' newsroom tokyo for a report on ú

>> welcome to the france 24 newsroom. it's 1:00 p.m. here in the french capital. the headlines. francois hollande leads a solemn commemoration in tribute to the victims of the paris attacks. the french president promises to destroy the army of fanatics responsible for the attacks adding his country will not give in to fear or hate. two turkish journalists are charged with spying after they allege ankara's