here in japan it's 7:00 p.m. on a friday, i'm james tengan in tokyo. welcome to "newsline." we start off with a quick look at the hour's top stories. locking funds. the u.n. security council has adopted a resolution to disrupt the revenue of islamic state militants. boosting the economy. policymakers at the bank of

japan are adding new measures to their monetary easing program. and the force is still with us. "star wars" fans flood theaters around the world, including japan, for the opening of the space saga's latest installments. the u.n. security council is pushing further measures to target the funding of the islamic state militant group. they adopted a resolution aimed at choke off revenue. and they agree the goal will be a challenge. the security council held an unprecedented meeting of finance ministers who were unanimous in their decision. >> isil needs access to the international financial system. those dependence s encency ies - >> their resolution says the militants generate significant

income from activities from the sales of oil, antiquities and ransom of payments. they stress anyone supporting isil is subject to sanctions including a financial freeze and travel ban. >> translator: terrorists are nowadays making use of state-of-the-art methods in obtaining their funds. we're now facing a new threat posed by electronic money and virtual currencies. >> he also called for regulations that do away with anonymous transactions. russia's president says his military is prepared to shoot down turkish warplanes if they enter their air space. putin s responding to last month's downing of a russian warplane by turkey near its border with syria. >> translator: the shootdown by turkish authorities was a hostile act. at the moment i don't see any prospects to improve ties. >> russia is carrying out air

str strikes in syria. some countries have been concerned that it it was attacking the opponents of syria's bashar al assad who russia supports. putin says his military deployed an air defense system in the country. >> translator: we've deployed ground-to-air missiles, turkish forces have constantly violated syrian air space. let them try it now. >> putin said russia supports an american plan to draft a u.n. security council resolution on syria. he added russia's plan for syria broadly cohincides with the u.s viewpoint. u.s. prosecutors have brought charges against a long-time friend of the man behind the mass shooting in san bernardino, california. he's suspected of buying rifles used in the shooting and plotting earlier attacks that were not carried out. enrique marquez appeared in court after being charged with conspireing to provide material support to terrorists.

he was a friend of syed farook who was killed in a shootout after the attack. prosecutors say marquez bought two assault rifles used by farook and his wife, tashfeen malik, in san bernardino. the couple killed 14 people at a social services facility on december 2nd. fbi investigators said marquez and farook became friends about ten years ago. marquez was introduced to islam by farook and is likely to have been influenced by extremists ideology. the two men are also suspected of plotting to commit terrorist acts at a community college and on a congested freeway in 2011 and 2012. the plans were aborted. the united nations will be sending a human rights mission to the central african nation of burundi as soon as possible. it wants to investigate alleged abuses among escalating violence in the country. the u.n. human rights council discussed the situation there

where clashes between supporters and opponents of the president are increasing. they started after he announced in april to run for a third term. >> the international community must use all the tools available to push for an immediate end to the cycle of violence perpetrated by both the security forces and elements of the armed opposition. >> the council is calling for e identification of human rights abusers and ways to hold them legally accountable. the u.n. says since april, at least 400 people have been killed, nearly 3,500 arrested and over 200,000 displaced. the council hopes its mission will put pressure on burundien authorities to prevent the situation from deteriorating. policymakers with japan's central bank have met for the first time since the u.s. federal reserve hiked its key interest rates. gene otani has the details and a wrapup of other business headlines.

gene? >> thanks, james. policymakers at the bank of japan have voted to continue their massive monetary easing program in a bid to hit a 2% inflation target. they have decided to introduce supplementary measures to further boost the economy. the decision came after a two-day meeting that ended on friday. policymakers will establish a new program for purchasing exchange-traded funds. the purchases will increase at an annual pace of 300 billion yen. that's more than $2.4 billion. and it is in addition to their current purchases. the bank will start the new program next april. the policymakers have kept their assessment of the economy unchanged. they say it has continued to recover moderately. though exports and production have been hit by the slowdown in emerging economies. boj governor kuroda spoke to reporters after the announcement.

>> translator: the latest decision is not an additional easing measure to respond to downward risks. we have decided to support the economy to the best of our abilities. >> kuroda says he wants more companies to spend on capital investment and on their employees. for more on bank of japan's decision win talked to a guest in our studio. he's a former policy board member at the boj and is now an editorial member at tokyo financial research. first i started by asking him why the bank decided on the supplementary measures. >> the inflation rate has not been on the increase. the consumer price index, excludeing fresh food, has been negative, actually minus 0.1% for three months in a row on a year-on-year basis. on top of it, inflation

expectations measured in various ways have come down in recent months. so i think the bank should do something about it. >> now, the bk has actually bought ets this time. how do you think that measure is? >> the amount of 300 billion yen is a rather small amount as compared to, for instance, the total market capitalization of the tokyo stock exchange. i think the tokyo stock exchange market capitalization should be something like 593 billion yen. i don't think this amount is big. this m be a reason why the market reacted in a negative way. >> more or less kind of like a symbolic measure it seems like. >> i think so. yes.

they call today's measure supplementary measure. these are nothing but additional easing measures. >> what do you think is boj's next step? >> well, i think the framework and the money to give may come to a limit sooner than later. so i think the current regime may not be able to survive for a long period of time to come in the future. so in that event, the market may have to result to interest rate reductions instead of increasing monetary base. >> the bank of japan has taken monetary easing measures twice since kuroda became governor. the policy started in april 2013, in kuroda's first meeting as boj governor. policymakers decided to double

the funds the bank supplies to the market over two years. market participants welcomed the move, which helped weaken the yen. tokyo share prices rebounded. the yen lost ground against the dollar. but the consumption tax hike in april 2014 slowed the economic recovery. japan's economy shrank in the subsequent two quarters. additional easing came in october 2014. the decision took investors by surprise. tokyo stock prices soared to a seven-year high on the day of the announcement. the decision also further weakened the yen. the japanese currency is worth 20% less since kuroda became boj governor. that has drastically improved corporate earnings. many japanese firms have posted record profits and started to spend more on investment. still, kuroda faces a key problem in hitting that 2%

inflation target. corporations have been slow to hike wages. he has urged companies to open their wallets and support economic growth. >> translator: companies have to take action now if they want to be among the winners in the future. >> share prices in tokyo fluctuated after the boj announced its supplementary measures. for me we go to mayu yoshida at the tokyo stock exchange. mayu? >> volatility is the word of the day. the federal reserve raised its key rates yesterday and today we have the boj's announcement. the boj initially surprised investors with its new program for purchasing exchange traded funds. one dealer said market players initially thought that this was an additional easing measure, so the nikkei rose more than 2% right after the announcement. as you can see, the nikkei gave up all those gains, closing below 19,000.

investors eventually understood the etf plans were supporting the existing policy. the broader topix finished by 1.75%. it was a difficult day to read the markets. on the week, the nikkei ended lower by 1.25%. the dollar hit the mid-123 yen range in a knee jerk reaction to the boj's etf program but then it slipped below 122 yen. so the volatility in currency markets weighed on some companies sensitive to the yen's strength, big names who are lower with sony and nintendo down over 2% and toyota was down 0.5%. all in all, it was a very volatile day in both equities and currency markets, after the boj highlighted diversions between u.s. and japanese central bank policies. mayu yoshida, reporting from the tokyo stock exchange. >> mayu, thanks. moving on to other markets in the asia-pacific region. in china, the shanghai composite

closed at 3,578. the index advanced more than 4% on the week on hopes for fresh government stimulus measures. taiwan's taiex retreated 0.75% after three days of gains. financials were widely sold after the central bank cut its key rates for the second time this year. other markets retreated from yesterday's rally following the u.s. fed decision. hong kong's hang seng dipped 0.5%. indonesia lost 1.9%. t . scandal hit toshiba, plans to shed more jobs. nhk learned that 4,000 workers will face layoffs, early retirement or re-assignment. it's the latest attempt to turn toshiba around following an accounting scandal that surfaced in may. sources say the company will announce the additional streamlining in its appliance business as early as monday. around 1,000 workers will be

relocated or asked to take early retirement. executives are already considering selling factories in indonesia and china. the plants make washing machines, refrigerators and other home appliances. japanese government officials are putting the finishing touches on a draft budget for the next fiscal year. they're looking at a package worth more than $780 billion. that number would exceed this year's initial budget which set a record. social security spending is expected to grow to around $260 billion to meet the needs of the aging population. the money will cover the cost of medical and nursing care. the defense budget will come in at more than $40 billion. the government plans to earmark funds for the purchase of osprey transport aircraft and maneuver combat vehicles. on the revenue side, tax

authorities expect to get more money from corporate and income taxes due to strong business performance and wage hikes. the government plans to reduce the issuance of new bonds from the current year. it plans to approve the fiscal 2016 budget at a cabinet meeting next thursday. here's a look at some of the other business stories we're following. chinese officials say new home prices rose in november in 33 of the 70 cities surveyed from the previous month. prices drop mid27 cities and were unchanged in 10. analysts say many apartment units remain unsold, mainly in regional cities. more investors may try to sell properties to buy overseas assets. sales at department stores in japan dropped in november compared to a year ago. it's the first year-on-year fall since march. industry officials say sales at 238 stores nationwide total about $4.5 billion, down nearly 3%. ofcials say warmer weather hit

sales of coats and other winter goods. that's it for business news. i'll leave you with the markets. engineers at the fukushima daiichi plan the are facing yet another challenge in the troubled work to decommission the facility. they installed a steel barrier in an effort to prevent contaminated ground water from reaching the sea. but now they say it led to an

increase in the amount of contaminated water. in october, tokyo electric power company or tepco had the steel piling wall built along the plant's embankment. the initial plan was to pump up ground water, remove radioactive materials and release most of the water into the sea. on friday, tepco officials told nuclear regulators that some of the ground water is too salty to be processed by the decontamination equipment at the facility. they also said they discovered the need to pump up more water than initially plan. the officials say because the water cannot be released into the sea, workers are putting it into reactor buildings at a rate of about 400,000 liters were day. the utility has been making an effort to reduce the flow of waters into buildings where it gets contaminated. those efforts include pumping up ground water from inside the compound which did reduce the amount going that buildings. the effect of such effort has

been canceled out by the decision to divert untreated water from the embankments into the buildings. tepco says it plans to pump up more ground water upstream so that less reaches the embankment. it says it will also try to process a greater amount of salty water by carefully monitoring its quality. the operator of japan's only online nuclear power plant has submitted anti-terrorism plans for review. since 2013 regulators have required utilities a backup control room to use if the main facility is destroyed. the operator of the sendai plan the in southwestern japan submitted its plans to the nuclear regulation authority on thursday. utilities must set up a second control room and an additional cooling facility at least 100 meters from a reactor. one power company says it plans to build a backup control room inside its cooling facility. the regulator asked the company to complete construction by may

2020 but utility officials have no announced when the project will be finished. representatives from libya's two rival governments have agreed to unite within 40 days. the country has been split between the two sides for more than a year. delegates from the secular and islamic government signed the deal at a meeting in morocco. the agreement was mediated by a u.n. envoy. despite opposition, there are hopes the deal will resolve the divide and act as a first step toward ending the can't's civil war. >> translator: we should overcome our differences in opinion and live up to the agreement. we've had enough fighting. >> translator: the new unity government will surely have various difficulties and responsibilities. but i'm happy that libya will unite. >> libya plunge d in 2011.

the chaos has allowed the islamic state group to gain ground in the country. unesco unveiled new guidelines for its memory the world registration. the u.n. cultural body will now require joint application when materials involve multiple nations or organizations. the body will also ask organizations and individuals to submit nominations through national commissions or committees. the move follows a request by japan to assure transparency and neutrality in registering for the program. earlier this year, the japanese government criticized the listing of the 1937 incident submitted by china. they said the listing was made despite differing views of the incident. japan may reconsider its contributions to unesco. last year the country contributed about $30 million to the body.

the highest among the members. unesco also extended the deadline for submissions for the next nominations to the end of next may. it says priority will be given to those submitted in line with the new guidelines. it's an auspicious day for followers of the "star wars" saga, the latest film, the force awakens is opening in athlete hes around the world, including japan. fans have turned out in force at tokyo's tallest landmark. and we have been getting into the spirit with them. hello, marie. >> reporter: hi, james, the excitement is running high here at tokyo's tallest landmark, the tower known as tokyo sky tree. you're looking at the view from the observation deck, 450 meters above the ground. sky tree has been redecorated for the release of the film.

it's being illuminated under the theme of battle of light and darkness. the first showing of the movie in japan started about an hour ago. the people here apparently decided they could wait a while to see it, though. this was too good a partyo pass up. some of them even came dress as their favorite characters, as did it. this look was inspired by princess leia and if you come to sky tree and stand in line, you'll eventually encounter an iconic item, the light saber. with that in hand you can take a picture with the tokyo night stick. you can take the memory home with you, too, by downloading the photo on to your smartphone. they give you a code, you scan it and voila. since they give you a picture, you can share it online with all of your friends who are also probably "star wars" fans. over there, visitors can watch clips from "the force awakens" as well as get a rare look at

the action figures of the characters. back to you, james. >> marie, thanks. she's closer to the stars than any of us here. marie will be back on "newsroom tokyo" which starts at the top of the hour to talk more about the film and products it's spawning in japan. moviegoers in tokyo will be standing in long lines will at least be blessed with good weather. the forecast calls for fair skies with highs around 11 degrees celsius or 52 degrees fahrenheit. we'll hear about the unseasonably warm weather in western europe. yes, it's good news for many people. it's good for every day life, however, it's definitely not good for ski resorts. we have some video from france. above average temperatures have ushered in a lack of snowfall across the french alps. this is taking its toll on local businesses and now they are

forced to import snow or make it themselves to get a few of the runs open. the big worry is there will continue to be a lack of snowfall during the christmas holiday, unof the busier times of year for these resorts. a high pressure system will continue to cover the western continents so we won't see cooler temperatures for the next several days. take a look at these temperatures. 13 degrees on friday in paris. that's 5 degrees higher than normal. bordeaux, 17 degrees for the high on saturday. it will be fight warm as we go into the weekend. too much snow is falling across the north of norway, a parade of low pressure system has been dumping snowfall across the northern areas. we will see more snowy weather starting late tonight. and then more severe weather is expected across the northern islands of norway, such as svalibard islands. winds up to 160 kilometers per hour, hurricane force wind gusts

expected. that will cause very low visibility. it could be one of the strongest storms ever to hit this area on record. do be prepared for the stormy conditions. let's talk about a tropical storm across the tropics. we're talking about this system, which is now a tropical depression. we don't think it will intensify, however, as a tropical depression, it is expected to make landfall in me mendinow over the weekend. the northeastly flow, a lot of rain is expected across the north of the philippines. watch out for flooding as well as landslides. across japan, it is the coldest day of the season in many areas. the morning low was 3 degrees in the tokyo area today. meanwhile, heavy snow is falling across the northern areas from hokkaido down toward the region.

more snow is expected into saturday. across the southern half of japan, including the tokyo area we'll see sunny weather to continue into the weekend. that's good news. 12 degrees for the high on saturday. 10 degrees on sunday. it's not too bad during the afternoon hours. but the morning low could be only 3 degrees. even frost may form. sunny weather for you with the high of 12 degrees on saturday and across northern areas, ski resorts are dealing with lack of snowfall like the french alps. no snow is expected, starting sunday. 7 degrees for the high on sunday with partly sunny skies. now, according to el nino, we don't think enough snow will fall across the northern areas. it's a different story across the pacific side of japan. above average precipitation expected for much of the southern half of japan. all right.

that's it for now. here's your extended forecast.

news and weather from us here in tokyo. the friday edition of "newsroom tokyo" comes your way live at the top of the hour. as we told you earlier, we'll have the report

genie: this is "france 24." i'm genie godula through these are the headlines. the latest international talks on syria get underway at the u.n. they are trying to lock in a way to stop the civil war that has gone on for four years. people in rwanda vote on a referendum that could extend the rule of long-term president paul can, a for close to 20 years. the vatican sa