. welcome back to "news line." japanese officials proposed a february meeting in tokyo between the deputy foreign minister and his counterpart. it seems an attempt to lay a groundwork for a summit meeting. it is believed they will discuss holding a summit meeting between

shinzo abe and russian president vladimir putin. they are expected to discuss ways to advance peace treaty negotiations and find a mutually acceptable solution to the issue of the northern territories. japan claims the four islands and claims they were occupied by thun soviet forces. the territorial dispute prevented the two countries from signing a peace treaty. the meeting was imposed a they did not set a deadline. korean americans have expressed mixed reaction to the deal over the issue of comfort women. officials from japan and south korea reached the agreement on monday. shinzo abe offered an apology to the women and government agreed to give them financial support. >> korea and japan agreed, we have no reason to pursuing this issue anymore. and it's about time to

rebuilding a relationship, like a friendship between the two countries. >> an official with another group called the apology ambiguous and continued members will advocate on behalf of the weekend, including building statues and other memorials. >> this agreement is not binding in the united states and also it's not prohibiting any educational activity. a spokesperson for the u.s. state department called for all groups to back the agreement. >> we believe it's an important gesture that will promote healing and reconciliation and the support of civil society for this settlement will be crucial. in 2007, lawmakers in the u.s. house of representatives adopted a resolution calling on japan to formally apologiapolog

since then civic groups have put up statues honoring the women. a keep diplomat and close aide to kim jong-un has died in a traffic accident. the korean central news agency reported that kim yang gon was the secretary of the worker's party since 2007 and known to be trusted by kim jong-un, attending high level talks in august in the village. in october, he sat with the north korean leader in a meeting with a top chinese official. experts suggest kim's death won't affect north korea's policy towards the south. the news agency described his passing as a huge loss and says a state funeral will be held in his honor.

japanese stocks rose on the last trading day of the year. the nikkei average marked gaenz for the fourth year in a row and hit the highest year end closing price in 19 years. here are the details as well as a year in review of stocks. [ applause ] >> the market is in a festive mood, a ceremony was held to mark the end of the year's trading. market players will leave for a four-day new year break. let's have a look at how the nikkei and topix ended december 30th, wednesday, 19,033, and broader topix, 1,547. now on the year, the nikkei was up about 9%. that's stronger than last year's 7%. in april the index hit the 20,000 mark for first time in 15 years but it failed to maintain

that level through to the year end. shares of companies related to domestic consumption were strong this year and they include food and drug makers, a lot of investors bought them as they are relatively free from external impact. energy related shares were also a big focus andhowed strong volatility in 2015. that's due to crude oil prices. wti fell below $35 a barrel, the lowest in nearly seven years. earlier we spoke with equity strategist and asked for his analysis on the stock moves for this year. >> and i think three factors have influenced the tokyo stock market, first c is the corporate factor, corporate earnings having regarded profit for major

companies grew, expected to grow double digit level and the second "c" is the china factor. first this summer had significant downturns because of worrying about slowing down the china's economy. and third "c" is the commodity price, especially the crude oil price decline. basically the corporate earnings had supported this year's advance. the major risks for the 2016 will be the economic activities especially in the u.s. and china, if the u.s. economy cannot live up to its interest rate hikes and if the fed cannot raise the rates as smoothly as planned. then i think the market will be worry about and the economic

health of the world. chinese economy is also now i think recovering seeing the housing price recovery, there is still -- remains risks of china's economy to enter that differentiation stage like we did in japan. >> now 2016 is in the chinese calendar the year of the monkey, which is marked by creatity, curiosity and conning. let's see if those three cs play into investors' actions. >> from our nhk market studio. concern is rising in the u.s. that anti-muslim sentiment is spreading. a civic group there says the number of incidents targeting mosques and muslims has hit a record high. increase comes after the paris attack and deadly shooting rampage in california.

the council on american islamic relations said 71 acts were reported through december 16th, the highest number since the group began keeping track in 2009. the council says it received about 30 claims of incidents categorized as damage, destruction or vandalism and the same number of reports of intimidation, including threats of attack. the group says about 40% of the incidents occurred in november. the same month as the terror attacks in paris. that's the highest number for any single month. a muslim store owner in new york says he was repeatedly punched and threatened with death. >> i never feel like that. even after not after september 11th, it was not like that. >> the paris attacks and shooting rampage prompted donald trump to suggest muslims should be barred from entering the u.s. the front-runner for the republican nomination has been criticized for his remark. u.s. secretary of state john

kerry has said in a statement washington welcomes the uranium to russia as part of a nuclear deal with world powers. mark toner said that iran sent more than 11 tons of low enriched uranium. >> iran is taking the steps it committed to take to prove to the world its nuclear program is and will remain exclusively peaceful. while we're not yet at implementation day, the steps already taken made us and allies safer and concrete in measurable ways. >> iran reached the agreement with the u.s. and five other world powers in july. the u.s. and other countries will lift economic sanctions on iran when the international atomic energy agency verifies tehran fulfilled all its commitments. diplomatic sources say they may be lifted as early as next month. the deal requires iran to cut its stockpile to 300 kilograms

or less. they have been reducing the number of centrifuges since the agreement. a japanese author is shedding light on the ongoing republic of the congo. children have been forced to become soldiers and take part in atrocities and written a manga to express their cries for help. >> the manga tells the story of 14-year-old zafa, starts as a kind hearted boy, loved by family and neighbors. but one day his father and sister are both killed by insurgents. he is then tricked into becoming a fighter himself. the story develops based on a relationship kindled between the boy soldier and a reporter from japan. >> translator: the characters are fictional but the author says the events are all too

real. i wanted people to know what is going on in africa. the things happening there right now. >> reporter: he's seen the situation firsthand during a visit to the democratic republic of the congo. civil war in congo claimed the lives of 5 million people, every village there is scarred from the war and the suffering continues today. oishi was able to talk to former child soldiers and heard stories of unimaginable horror. >> translator: the armed militants forced us to transport weapons and tortured and shot shows who refused. >> reporter: he met another boy suffering from deep psychological wounds. this former soldier couldn't

even hold a conversation. >> translator: people say this boy was nearly an animal when he was brought here. i see why they had that impression. i really felt his heart rendering cry. >> reporter: after returning to japan, oishi was determined to reflect the slaughter taking place in congo and in graphic terms. >> translator: the depictions on these pages are very violent. does it have to be this gruesome? >> translator: the situation cannot be conveyed in words alone but it is also too violent to show in photographs. that's why we thought using manga would be good. it's a question of how much of

the brutality i witness can be expressed. >> reporter: in the beginning, he's reluctant to fire his gun. bu in a short while he is promoted to lead the other boys. >> translator: the children are killing each other. this is hell, i'm in the middle of hell. >> reporter: he refused to gloss over the harsh realities of war and his story also shows hope, a scene where he lays down his weapon. >> i know very well how adults deceive young children into becoming soldiers. i want to help as many boy soldiers like me as i can. >> translator: if readers can imagine their own children forced to become soldiers, they will feel for these boys just like i did.

>> reporter: life in tokyo feels a long way from the world of civil war and terrorism. but he says young people are suffering in africa and manga can express their cry for help. >> for first time in four decades a passenger airplane is being developed in japan. the mitsubishi regional jet had a successful test ride in october. back in the 1960s, another mitsubishi plane took to the skies. still going strong and in demand. the engineer whoover saw that project came to the job after a devastating detour. here's the report. >> reporter: it became a symbol of japan's post war industrial era. the small twin engine was developed by mitsubishi

industries. he led the design team, at 93, his still proud of the product. >> translator: it's a good plane, that's why more than 700 of them were manufactured and more than 300 are still in use. >> reporter: the success of the mu-2 emerged from the shadow of war. as a teenager, he was excited about airplanes and dreamed of flying his own some day. in 1943, at the height of world war ii, he began working for the company. at the time it was producing the plane. soon after he started his job, he was drafted by the navy.

he was assigned to work at the development plant for military planes. an attack plane was designed for s suicide missions, it was in essence a rocket fired flying bomb. japanese pilots used the aircraft to crash into enemy ships. the front range was short so it had to be hung from a conventional bomber and dropped off prior to the target. but the the conventional planes were slow and often shot down before being released. >> translator: it was like a coffin, a flying coffin. young pilots were put in and once they were up in the air, there was no turning back.

they had no equipment for landing. it was very sad. >> when the war ended, the u.s. and allied forces banned production of airplanes in japan. he and his colleagues were limited to designing agricultural equipment, such as dredging machines. in the 1950s, the ban was lifted. he joined the team now dedicated to airplanes. >> translator: of course, i was very happy to be back in my real profession. i worked very hard to create a good product. >> he was chosen as the mu-2 project leader. >> translator: of course my number one priority was safety.

my main goal was to create an airplane that was safe and fast. in those days blue prints for fighter planes and bombers were still around of the company. i looked through all of them and borrowed ideas for the new projects. >> reporter: seven years after the product began, mu-2 became a reality. it's been flying in places across the globe ever since. >> translator: flight is my dream and my ideal, my hope is that the technology we developed and the products we invented can be used for peaceful purposes. >> reporter: he wants japan to continue to create airplanes that people fly first with every

flight his hopes take wing. nhk world, nagoya. south korea's economy has been in a slump. people are losing their jobs and savings, even their homes. city officials in seoul have come up with an innovative way to help homeless people turn things around. nhk world has the story. >> one more. >> reporter: this photo studio is located in central seoul. it's called seoul hope studio and bustling with customers. tourists from other countries and couples and families come to get their pictures taken. but two photographers say they are busy all day. this photo studio was sets up as a part of a program to help

homeless people catch a fresh start. two of them are now professional photograph photographers. >> translator: i'm very happy with their high quality photos. >> used to own a graphic design business but it failed, so did his parents' business, he was left with a mountain of debt and became homeless. he moved from one house to another. >> translator: i was doing manual jobs and my health got worse and worse. i became lonely and started drinking. once i turned to alcohol, both my body and soul fell apart. >> reporter: he couldn't find work as a day labor roar, a shelter run by a church took him in. he's been living in the attic of the shelter for more than four years. he met a man earlier this year who inspired him to follow a new

path. city officials had asked a professional photographer to teach his craft to people without job skills. he says that at first he wasn't interested but he says the lectures caused photography to become his obsession. >> translator: i was glad to see lee grow more and more fascinated by photography. i believe a photo reveals the inner thoughts of the photographer. lee' works are very cheerful and convey his potential. >> he tries to improve his skills by walking around the city and taking pictures when he has free time. he also studies on his own. he wants people to know about the lives of the homeless and others on the margins of

society. his work at the studio has become morsteaddy and he's now taking on jobs like photographing weddings and planning to get married and dreams of leaving the shelter and rising a family. >> translator: i hope to become a better photographer by experiencing many things. life is tough but i believe if i have a strong will and work hard, my efforts will eventually pay off. >> reporter: his story shows how developing the hidden potential of homeless people can give them the confidence they need to get back on their feet. nhk world, seoul. >> people in the midwest and southern united states are reeling from a series of violent storms. authorities say heavy rains and tornadoes killed 48 people. the governor of the state of missouri has declared an emergency and told residents to leave their homes. >> it's very clear that missouri is in the midst of a very

historic and dangerous flooding event. >> residents in the eastern part of the state have seen particularly heavy damage. authorities say the rain and floods have killed 27 people in five states. and forecasters warn that more flooding may take place over the next several days. extreme weather has also hit texas and other southern states. rare winter tornadoes have touched down and killed more than 20 people. it's now time for the world weather with our meteorologist. dangerous weather impacted parts of the u.s. how are the conditions now? >> the peak is over but heavy rain is till falling across the deep south. weather has been very wild over the past several days. there have been about 70 reports of tornadoes as well as record breaking heavy rainfall in places like missouri. some areas have seen over 500 millimeters of rain over the past seven days, much more than the average this time of year and more rain is expected as i

mentioned. we're still looking at more rain to fall across the deep south and rain will also spread into the northeast coast, including new york city as well as washington, d.c. into your wednesday. and wintry precipitation is expected across the u.s./canada border. new york city, we'll see the high of 11 degrees on thursday and still on the warmer side as we go into the weekend and los angeles in the teens with sunny weather continuing into the second day of january. now let's go to the southern hemisphere, el nino has been writing heavy rain across many parts of south america, including northern parts of argentina a argenti argentina and brazil. torrential rain and floods continue to affect brazil on tuesday, causes thousands to evacuate their homes and declare a state of emergency in 43 towns near the border with uruguay,

reached 11 meters above the original level in one river. more rain is expected across the border, northern argentina and southern brazil, more rain will bring the potential of flooding and landslides even further. we're looking at very wild weather across northern areas of europe. this system is called frank and it's packing winds of very strong winds. the central pressure is 930, this high, the center pressure is over 1,040. because of the tight pressure gradient, very strong winds are blowing, 140 kilometer per hour wind gusts were reported in parts of scandinavian peninsula and because it will drag ample warmth, it's going to bring more

rainfall, which is not good news for northern england where the worst floods in 70 years are still occurring. temperatures are going to be in the double digits across london as well as paris. meanwhile, a very low temperatures can be found across the east, minus 7 degrees for the high in kiev on wednesday and first winter storm of the season will affect turkey on your wednesday. that's not good news for refugees who are staying outside or staying in temporary shelters. let's go to asia then. high pressure system causing calm weather for many parts of the continent. that is causing very low air quality in the beijing area. snow is falling heavily across the korean peninsula and still may see additional five centimeters of snow for the next 24 hours. staying calm across much of japan but winter storm conditions will likely come back to northern japan starting late thursday. as for tokyo, we see a spell of sunny weather going to the next several days and it's going to be springlike warmth, even reaching 15 for the high on sunday in the tokyo area.

here's the extended forecast.

that wraps up this edition of "newsline." we'll be back with more news at the top of the hour. thanks very much for joining us. 

over ago welcome back to the newsroom. i am aurore dupuis. the chief prosecutor says a suicide bomb was planted in central and carrot -- central ankara during the new year's celebration. the central african republic is electing a new president after 30 candidates -- out of 30 candidates. the white policeman