♪ it's the top of the hour. "newsline" comes to you live from our studios here in tokyo, i'm james tengan. here are some of the stories we're following at this hour. people in beijing are breathing easier after the city has lifted its first ever alert for air pollution. that won't last as it returns. nearly two days to go befe

the end of the u.n. climate conference in paris. negotiators plan to strike a deal by the weekend. and drone users in japan are being slapped with new restrictions over safety and security concerns. china's capital has lifted its first ever red alert for air pollution, but air quality in beijing is expected to deteriorate again from friday night. authorities cancelled the alert at noon on thursday. cold air blowing in overnight helped bring back blue skies. the density of hazardous pm 2.5 particle it's in air fell to 20 micrograms per cubic meter. that's 115th of the peak over the past two days. th highest level of the city's four-tier warning tim was issued on monday. it meant that severe fog was expected for at least 72 hours. it triggered temporary factory closures and restrictions on the number of motor vehicles on the road. officials forecast that air

quality in and around beijing will begin to worsen on friday. causing severe pollution by sunday. in paris, the pressure is on to come to an on how to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. delegates have only two days until the end of the u.n. dliement conference. >> france presented a draft on wednesday but there are mixed reviews. hnk has the update on the negotiations. >> reporter: negotiators have made the agreement but reduced the wording from the document they're working on. but they're still struggling on the question of assistance to nations. countries argue that industrialized world should bear a greater burden because ts responsible for most of greenhouse emissions until now.

>> we are concerned that there does not appear to be a long-term vision on the provision of support, nor strong legal commitment for the developing countries' finance. >> reporter: they say the burden shouldn't fall entirely on them. they want emerging economies such as china and india to be included as well. in the draft text presented on wednesday, the french president added the notion that other countries will be mandatory donors. it also mentioned that another others may contribute resources on a voluntary basis. >> after 2020, countries in the position to do so should also join in. influences those in other countries. >> reporter: experts following the climate talks say a compromise between the two sides is still possible. >> all of the negotiators, the ministers have been working very hard. the cop presidency is

determined. that is exciting to see. >> reporter: the head of the negotiations says she's confident because all party at the conference rec this the need to mitigate climate change. >> we already feeling the impact. there's been devastating, extreme weather events all over the world. that's become more clear to people. climate change is real and it's happening. what we, again, would want to see is that the result is something that we all can feel proud of, that we all know that our future is secured. >> reporter: he emphasizes that there's enough political momentum to reach an agreent, but delegates still have to overcome differences on a wide range of issues. sleeps negotiations will continue at least for another two days. takafumi terui, nhk world, paris. >> and "newsne" will keep you updated.

thanks. military leader kim jung-unhas admitted to can make hydrogen bombs. it's not clear whether the country actually has a hydrogen bomb. kim wants the u.s. to replace the armistice that ended the korean war with a peace treaty. i would suggest he step up the rhetoric to bring leaders to the table. u.s. president barack obama has made critici of the republican front-runronald trump. from banning muslims in the country. >> we bow tray the efforts in the past if we fail to push back against bigotry in all of its forms. >> obama said america's freedom is bound up with the freedoms of others, regardless of where they come from or what faith they

practice. a recent u.s. media poll found that 65% of likely voters support trump's 0 proposal. it appears that trump's repeated remarks targeting muslims could deeply divide the u.s. society. in britain more than 300,000 people have signed online petition to ban donald trump from the country. a woman wrote that writtbritain banned trump for the hate speech. parliament krs for debates all petitions that get more than 100,000 signatures. chancellor of the ex checker george osborne said trump's views should be through robust political arguments, rather than from trying to ban him from the country. executives at electronic's

giant toshiba is planning on the plan. for more, let's go to gene otani has more. >> thank you, they use the plant in guangdong province to make refrigerators and washing machines. toshiba is in talks with skyworth. the chinese company has been thinking about selling or closing factories in thailand and indonesia and lay off over 300 workers in their appliance unit. the executives have already decided to scale back their semi conductor operation. they plan to outline all of the details for their consolidation plan before the end of the month. the people at another japanese electronics firm are also trying to stem losses from one of their struggling units. executives at sharp plan to spin off their lcd business into a new company with help from a government-backed fund. the executives have turned to the innovation network corporation of japan for help.

people representing the fund are in negotiations with the industry ministry which is overseeing the deal. they plan to invest in the display business by acquiring a majori of shares in the spinoff. hon hai precision industry has also been showing interest in sharp. sources say officials at taiwan based on the electronics jievnt are expected to reveal the plan soon. sharp posted a net loss of about $690 million for april to september period, mainly due to its lcd business. checking the markets, japanese stocks extended their losses as exporters were hurt by the stronger yen. it hit the lowest level since november 4th. let's go to mayu yoshida at the tokyo stock exchange. well, the recent volatility in crude oil prices is raising concerns over the world economy. now, this is leading to uncertainty in the markets about whether it's there to raise

rates when policymakers meet next week. that's why global stock markets are sluggish. the nikkei drops closer and closed down 1.3% at 19046. hitting its lowest level in five weeks. so did the broader topix which closed down to 1% on thursday. with the tokyo stock market with the strength we saw the in japane yen. the dollar briefly fell to a one-month low to 121, so the strong yen weighed on japanese exporters, auto makers like honda and toyota went down and sony dropped . 07%. and toshiba rose about 0.71%. toshiba is undergoing

reconstruction process. and we're still seeing some risk following the recent fall in crude oil prices but one said that the falling oil prices should be a positive for japanese markets in the long term because cheaper oil helps a lot of businesses here in japan. i'm mayu yoshida reporting from the tokyo stock exchange. moving out to other markets in asia. some investors initially cheered by the government's plan to simplify the process of carrying out i pos. the profit taking kicked in after therofits hid the 3500 mark. seoul kospi snapped its six-day losing streak ends at 0.2%. the central bank's decision to home the key rate at a kilo came as no surprise to investors.

sydney's index at 0.8%. hong kong's index declined for a sixth straight day. mumbai rebounded after six days of losses. and here's a look at some of the other business stories we're following. a japanese government survey reveals a big divide in how firms feel about the economy. for the october to december period, large companies have a positive business sentiment of 4.6. but small or medium firms, the index is negative 7.7. large companies are also updeet about the three months to come with large firms at 5.6. smaller firms are pessimistic at minus 7.9. bank of japan analysts say goods have fallen for the eighth month in a row. they say the price index is down 3.6% from the year earlier. the analysts say the fall is

mainly due in decline in prices for iron scrap and waste and that's because of the slowdown in the chinese economy. on honda board of directors have received the okay for the first aircraft. they plan to start making deliveries of the jet in weeks. hondz da says the aircraft is 17% more fuel efficient and 10% faster than its rival. they set the price at $4.5 million and have already received over 100 orders. you may have heard that a new episode of "star wars" will open worldwide this month and fans of the series couldn't be more excited. businesses across japan are trying to harness their devotion and turn it into increased sales. nhk world's akiko okamoto has more. >> the force, it's true. all of it. >> reporter: fans have been waiting ten years for the latest

installment. opening night tickets sold out instantly at many theaters. this departmt store wants to take advantage of the prerelease frenzy to boost christmas sales. and check this out. it looks like the movie's loveable robot, r2 d2, but it's also a refrigerator. another main character is carved into the heels of these shoes. the store offers more than 160,000 "star wars"-related items, including clothing and groceries. >> translator: this is so exciting. >> translator: i wish i could buy all of it. >> translator: we hope offering these items will increase our christmas sales by 5% over last year. >> reporter: this specially-decorated airplane took off in october. it was one of many "star wars"-themed events held across japan.

and tokyo's sky tree, a major tourist attraction, the operator has set up a special movie-related exhibition in the observatory to draw more visitors. on display are scenes and characters from the seri, created using a distinctly japanese technique called ukiyo-e. practitioners are using the firm's popularity to reach a new audience for this traditional art form. the printing technique flourished about 200 years ago. but only a few dozen artists work in this medium today. this is one of them. just like his father before him. >> translator: it is really inspiring to work with new motives like this. >> reporter: printers use carved blocks of wood to apply layers

of color to washi paper. this required more than 20 copies for each were printed and a single print costs $450. but young fans especially are quickly snapping them up. >> translator: i think even most japanese people don't know about this printing technique. it will be great if people who love "starars" have a chance to become aware that japan has this traditional craft. then they might take an interest in it and buy some prints. >> reporter: as fans around the country catch "star wars" fever, retailers are hoping this holiday season, the force may be with them. akiko okamoto, nhk world. >> that's it for business news. i'll leave you now with the markets.

the winner's of this year's nobel peace prize have called for dialogue for bring an end to conflicts in syria and elsewhere. representatives it at th tunisian quartette met wednesday. the quartet is made up of members of labor unions, lawys, business sector and human rights group.

>> i want to say to people everywhere we can for peace. the only way -- to resolve world problems. >> other representatives said conflicts can not be resolved by weapons which merely lead to destruction. and dialogue is the only way forward in syria and libya. the norwegian nobel committee awarded the squatette peace prize for its role. s it in 2015 were it was the arab spring uprising two years earlier. the award ceremony will take play at oslo's city hall on thursday. politicians and activists in washington are urging beijing to release a peace prize laureate. lawmakers in the u.s. house and human rights activistsade the

appeal for hew's freedom. he was sentenced for 11 years in 2009 for criticizing the one-party rule online. he was awarded the nobel peace prize the following year but the chinese government warred him from going to the award ceremony. he's one of the people calling for release of hewa's release. >> translator: the chinese government hasn't taken any action towards the release of hew and continues to place his wife under illegal house arrest. >> u.s. lawmaker chris smith urged president barack obama to do more for the release of the fellow peace prize laureate. japanese regulators are enforcing tougher rules on drone

concerned by safety. they need permits to ply them out of sight or at night. anyone who wants a permit has to report the purpose of the flight, the routes and the drone's serial number. they also need at least ten hours of flight experience. anyone who breaks the rules faces a fine of up to $4,000. regulators clamped down after drones were involved in a string of public disturbances. in april, a small unmanned aircraft was found on the roof of the prime minister's office. authorities say they've already caught some in breaking the new rules. a man a man in the city crashed. the private secretarier is also thimblg of ways to monitor

drone flight. nhk world reports on new technology that would limit their access. >> reporter: if the drone finds out the distance from where the drone is coming from. microphones can be as far as 150 meters away. revealing details of the aircraft. when that happens, a security channel reads the system. they follow the drone's movement and transmit a message to security. >> reporter: one security firm sees a growing need for this project. >> translator: i think abuse of drones might grow, even if government restrictions are in

place. so i think we have to take this kind of action. >> reporter: the firm says they'd like to put this system into practice. they want to increase security so nearby noise can't interfere with detection. a lot of companies are also focus on the technology. this device by a company, the equipment installed on the building reads gps communications delivered between the drones and operator. a drone within the radius of the system will be spotted. >> translator: we can catch a suspiciousrone before takeoff, or we can prevent it from entering an area where people are gathered. this gps detection system should be useful. >> reporter: as more firms see a

need to prevent drone intrusion, they think it could also lead to big business. aquito igo, khk world. skies are overcast here in tokyo, and so far the winter season has been mild, but on the other si of the pacific, thing, all less benign. jonathan has the details. >> well, the latest is we have a jet stream, the fastest track in the atmosphere that's continuing to drive in various forms of rain and some strong winds into the area. and it's really a troublemaker for the region because they're having so much rain situations over the area. i mean, there's another low that's coming on shore. and it's going to produce even more rainfall. and you know, it's really a serious issue for the residents there. let me show you the video coming out of both washington state and also eventually for oregon. now, dozens of homes have to be

evacuated. you can see here the flooding that's taking place on the roadways. sewer lines have also burst in some of the worst-hit areas that's causing problems with a lot of problems, polluting and the process, you can see the mudslides on mountain roads making travel danger option. and here's sad news coming out of portland, one death has been reported due to a fallen tree. so, this is a serious is weather situation. and i think we're going to see even more rainfall as we go forward in time. yet again, another area of low pressure is coming onshore. and is this an included front which means coming up against the warm air that's very unstable as the system is winding itself over. it's deeply intensive. you can see the isobars are getting closer and closer together which means there's pressure which means the winds are a lot faster in the process. so it's just a messy situation all in all all together.

we have heavy rain in the coastal areas as far south as south california as we go through thursday. and the areas of hashed gray snowfall, and parts of areas showing a mix of rain and snow. it is justo through the rest of the weekend. vancouver and seattle, i wish i td better newsand los angeles,o wet. and las vegas, you're also g of canada, east of."

i'm genie godula. two days left before the deadline at the paris climate conference. a draft has been released, but they are still undecided on several key issues. in argentina, thousands turned out to say goodbye to