here in japan it's 7:00 p.m. on a friday, i'm james tengan in tokyo. welcome to "newsline." here are some of the stories we're following this hour. deadly accidents, a tour bus veered off a mountain road in central japan, killing 14 people. transportation ministry officials are investigating. entering the home stretch. taiwan's presidential candidates make their last appeal to voters

before an election that's being closely monitored by beijing. and facing the aftermath, indonesians are reeling from the shock of thursday's terror attacks in the heart of their capital. authorities in central japan are investigating a deadly bus crash, trying to figure out how and why it went off a mountain road killing 14 people. as nhk reports, they're zeroing in on the working conditions of long distance drivers. >> reporter: the overnight bus that was supposed to arrive at the ski resort in nagano with 41 people on board. around 2:00 a.m. on friday it veered into the opposite lane, broke through a guardrail and fell three meters. >> translator: we suddenly swerved widely, and the next

thing i knew i was outside of the vehicle. >> reporter: a tokyo-based tour agency says the bus originated here and most of the passengers were in their late teens and early 20s. >> translator: we cannot find the words to express our sincere apology to the families who lost loved ones. >> reporter: bus company operators said the two drivers were experienced with at least ten years behind the wheel. and neither had reported health problems. they say road conditions were clear at the time. >> translator: the possibility of skidding on snow or ice is slim. there's a high likelihood that the accident occurred as a result of something being wrong with the driver.

>> reporter: this, experts say, what might have been wrong with the driver, could be the issue japan's transport ministry has been trying to address. as competition among tour bus operators intensifies, working conditions for drivers decreases. a 2012 crash killed recei7 peopd injured 3. police say the driver admitted to dozing off. and the ministry cut back on time drivers spent on the road at night. and he pointed out another factor, price competition. >> translator: expressways are toll roads, so some companies may opt to use free, ordinary roads to minimize costs. how much the bus operators can earn from passengers is crucial. many of them are struggling

financially, so they must be keen on cutting costs as much as possible. >> reporter: nhk obtained the schedule of the bus involved in the accident. and it appears the driver was traveling on the public highway, a different route from the expressway schedule. transport minister officials say the bus operator involved had already broke a few rules. a majority of the drivers had not undergone health checkups and new drivers weren't tested to see if they were fit for the job. ministry officials are now conducting a safety inspection. keiko yamamoto, nhk world. >> thanks. officials at japan's defense ministry called off a mission

for to search for radioactive particles in the skies above the country. self-defense force aircraft had been collecting dust and gas samples every day since last week when north korea conducted a nuclear test. they found in traces of radiation. the aircraft began their flights right after the january 6th test. officials say no radioactive substances had been found by thursday and none would likely be detected after a certain period of time. they plan to conduct sampling flights at the same frequency as they did before the test. government officials say radiation ratings at 308 monitoring posts across japan have been normal. they say they'll stop releasing the data every day and will only do so if abnormally high levels of radiation are detected. north korea's state-run media is once again reporting on an official believed to have been exiled to a remote farm. choe ryong hae is a close aide to the country's leader and the report signaled his punishment is over.

the state media reported that choe spoke thursday in pyongyang at an official event. it provided official confirmation he had been reinstated. south korea's intelligence service earlier indicated he had possibly been sent to the farm for what they called re-education. allegededly mishandled a construction program. he frequently accompanied kim jong-un on inspection tours and in september he represented north korea at a military parade in beijing. taiwan's opposition leader appears to command a strong lead going into tomorrow's presidential election. but experts say the scope of tsai ing-wen's success and the number of seats her party takes in legislative elections could have big impact on ties with china.

nhk world reports from taipei. >> reporter: the ruling candidate eric chu battled strong winds ever since he headed the race in october. he's adding voters until the very end. chu mobilized more than 70,000 people in taipei. >> translator: peaceful cross straight relations are vital to ensure the people of taiwan have both social stability and economic prosperity. . >> translator: we're afraid what might happen if she becomes president. >> reporter: staff from the campaigns have used their war chest to advertise.

they used words such as peace and stability to paint his rival as a risky option. many voters are keenly aware that relations with mainland china could hinge on the outcome. >> translator: if the chinese government ordered our factories out of the mainland, there won't be a thing taiwanese authorities can do about it. >> translator: there's no use going on about our identity as taiwanese people. the important thing is focusing on economic growth. >> reporter: chu failed to advance his lackluster showing in the polls. meanwhile, tsai has been reaching out to young voters by putting particular emphasis on the internet and social media. an animated character inspired

by tsai is featured in online videos. the cute figure explains the party's policies on issues ranging from food safety to house prices. images of tsai also appear on souvenirs that are designed to highlight her appeal as an ordinary, approachable candidate. tsai is urging young voters to vote for a local candidate as well. she knows it's crucial to securing the majority her party needs to rule effectively. >> translator: please give me the mandate i need to press ahead with reform. help me to win a strong backing in the legislature. >> translator: tsai has tried to address concerns over her position on china.

she's given assurances that she'll keep the relationship as it is. >> tsai's policy is not so clear. people in taiwan, would love the chance to give one opportunity to tsai. >> reporter: people expect ed relations to be a decisive issue in this campaign. however, so far, tsai has been able to dodge the tough questions. but if she wins tomorrow's ballot, she'll have no choice but to show people in both taiwan and mainland china where she really stands. nhk world, taipei. and "newsline" will have more on taiwan's election. thanks for that report. on the business end,

financial fronts, numerous factors have been weighing on the asia-pacific markets. gene otani has more on that along with the rest of business news. very much so, james. thanks. investors have been cautious with china's economic slowdown and lower oil prices. tokyo's nikkei average ended lower for two sessions in a row. for the details we go to our business reporter mayu yoshida at the tokyo stock exchange. >> we saw a bit of a recovery in tokyo on friday morning as investors bought back stocks at bargain prices, adjusting theiring positives. stocks wiped out those gains following losses in chinese markets. it was a very choppy day in here, the nikkei eventually fell 0.5% closing at 17,147. the broader topix was down 0.3%. this week, stocks were volatile on worries over china and falling oil prices. the nikkei fell 3% on the week,

briefly dipping below 17,000 for the first time since september. stocks were especially volatile on friday. investors initially bought back the stocks after watching overnight gains on crude oil features. crude futures fell again during asian trading hours. these stocks such as inpex and mitsubishi turned lower from the day's highs. what surprised the markets was a 14% jump in sharp. as you know, sharp is in financial trouble. but a report says a taiwan company is set to invest nearly $6 billion in the company. market players are fleeing risky assets because of china and terrorist attacks in indonesia. one an almost i talked to said the stronger yen tells us the markets have not completely turned risk on yet. i'm 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 plunged 3.5% to close at a one-year low. analysts say weak data on new bank loans and money supply in december dammpened sentiment. taiwan's taiex rebounded 0.25%. gain s are limited as investor stayed on the sidelines. the kospi fell to the lowest in four months. the hang seng plummeted to the lowest close in more than three years. china will be out wit one of their key economic numbers next week amid the volatile stock market and a falling yuan. leaders are expecting growth rate for all of 2015 will be around 7%. and some analysts feel china will be able to maintain that number. earlier my colleague ai yuchida

spoke with jackson wong. he gave us his take on the recent stock market volatility. >> i think the current situation in asia is tangoed. the economic data, health and outlook, stock market performances, everybody are so tied up. investors, like a herd of sheep, whatever the government make decisions, they run for safety. we saw they canceled the circuit breaker start of the year. i think now investors, the confidence level is extremely low and they are waiting for the china government to rescue them. luckily last week or start of this week, the government rode out policies to stabilize the yuan. this is really the key to the whole thing. if the yuan is stabilized, we look for next week to see whether they can roll out a more

realistic growth plan so that the market can stabilize from now on. >> well, leaders -- what are you expecting leaders to announce next week when they release official 2015 gdp data? >> i do expect the gdp number to be 6.9%, which is, i think, around the official rate 7%. they already said around 7%. it should be counted as a hit this year. they done the have lower the gdp growth for the next few years because the number is still okay. however, the current problem, which is the overcapacity and oversupply, they will really need to look into it otherwise. the private sectors will not invest. the slowdown would continue. >> you said you don't think leaders have to lower the rate going forward. what are you expecting when they announce their target rate for this year? >> for this year, i think they can still use that around 7%. however, for the next few years they might have to reduce it to

1%. we saw the current problems as i said, overcapacity, oversupply and private sectors don't want to invest. they have to fix this problem first. and on the one hand, they can keep doing whatever they're doing. on the other hand, they will have to fix the one new project so they can channel all this oversupply and overcapacity to the other areas. i think if they -- if everything goes well, the target should be around 7%. >> i see. speaking of fixing things, some point to weaker yuan, how serious do you think are the effects of the weaker yuan on the economy in the long run? >> weaker currency should help the competitiveness and the exports. however, the current weak yuan is making the markets losing their confidence and making the

markets more volatile. i think as of right now, they really need to fix the confidence level first. they did intervene this week and the yuan rose from a low point to a current point. whether investors will trust this is still unknown. i think going forward they'll have to fix the level first and let the yuan to depreciate slightly. executives at japan's largest city gas supplier say they expect $90 million in losses on a u.s. shale gas project. tokyo gas officials blame the shortfall on plunging crude oil and natural gas prices. >> translator: actually prices have tumbled much more than we expected. no one predicted it reaching this level. >> the company is taking part in the project in texas through a subsidiary. officials say they plan to put more focus on monitoring market conditions and international affairs. tokyo gas reported $195 million in losses on the same project

for the fiscal year ending in march 2015. here's a look at some of the other business stories we're following. u.s. transportation officials are planning to invest nearly $4 billion over t yea help delop selfriving vehies. thmove ces a iernation mpetition intensiesver the technolo. president barack obama will present a budget proposal for fiscal 2017 to congress next month that provides the funding. prices at gas pump in japan hit a six-year and eight-month low this week. officials at the oil information center say the average retail price of a liter of gasoline was 118.9 yen or about a dollar. the decline is due to a move by fuel companies to lower gasoline prices in line with cheaper crude oil. a decision was made last month by the organization of the petroleum exporting countries to put off a reduction in output.

that's it for business news. i'll leave you with the markets. indonesians are still coming to grips with thursday's deadly violence in their capital, the islamic state group claimed responsibility for the attacks by gunmen and suicide bombers. people in jakarta are placing through ares and messages at the blast sites.

one of them read "we are not afraid." >> i want to spread a mesge and pray, may god protect, especially the jakarta community. >> translator: terrorism needs to be eliminated. as long as such an ideology exists, many people will continue to get killed or injured in incidents like this. >>hursday's attacks were carried out in the center of the capital. police say an indonesian and canadian were killed and 20 people were wounded, including foreigners. five suspected assailants also died in the attack. militants calling themselves the indonesian branch of the islamic state group have claimed responsibility for the attacks. they released an online statement saying their fighters targeted nationals of the u.s.-led coalition. japan's prime minister has sent a message to in -- the indonesian president expressing his condolences.

shinzo abe says he strongly condemns the violence and his country would never tolerate the acts. he expressed solidarity with indonesia's people in their time of difficulty. families month are than 200 kidnapped girls in nigeria are demanding action. they were taken from their school by boko haram militants from years ago. hundreds of supporters marched through the streets of nigeria's capital thursday. >> we will keep demanding the movement for the action that is necessary to rescue our girls. >> some of the families later met with nigeria's president. he vowed to do his utmost to rescue the girls. he already ordered the military to eradicate the militant group by the end of last year but the two sides are locked in a struggle. boko haram continues to attack and kill civilians. last year, the group threatened

to sell the kidnapped girls as slaves which led to an international outcry. there's been no update on their condition. the city of rio de janeiro canceled the construction contract for its almost finished olympic tennis center. the move comes less than seven months before the opening of the summer games. a trial tournament was held last month. it was scheduled to be finished by last september. the city says it will find a new contractor. city officials accuse the construction companies of intentionally delaying the work. last month, the group of companies fired more than 350 workers. they deny the city's accusations and say they haven't been formally told the reason for the cancellation. they plan to file a lawsuit against the city. in tokyo, organizers of the 2020 olympics are dealing with their own problem. the additional plans for the main stadium were scrapped last july and a new plan was chosen

last month. now the firm of the original architect is demanding negotiations over payment and copyright. hadid's office says the new design closely resembles her original proposal in layout, structure. hadid's firm says the japan sport council asked her to give up the design's copyright in exchange for overdue fees. it says the council acknowledges there are intellectual property interviews. her office is calling for a quick resolution and says it will take legal action if it's not satisfied with the response. the world of sports has certainly seen its share of controversy. you're watching "newsline," live from tokyo. we are joined with this weather's update starting with how farmers in south africa are struggling with severe drought. drought in south aica is at therisis lel.

2015 was the driest year on record so farmers are struggling with the situation. we have footage coming out of the country. much of south africa remains in the grips of a drought after experiencing the driest year on record in 2015. the hardest hit area is part of the country's maze -- maize belt. corn is the staple food in south africa, especially for lower income families. usually a net exporter of the grain, as much as 5 million tons of maize may have to be imported this year. the ongoing el nino weather pattern is being blamed for the drought. good news. january is the wettest month of the year and on tuesday and wednesday south africa had heavy rainfall so this is definitely beneficial and then daytime thunderstorms are expected, so hopefully the situation will improve. el nino has been bringing wet weather to the western part of the u.s., especially california

and then two more systems are expected to move into the west coast of the u.s. so the risk of flooding is going up day by day. now, the mountains will likely see heavy snowfall, especially the northern sierras will see an additial 40 cenmeters o snow within the next 24 hours. we have avalanche warnings posted across western montana at this moment. heavy rain is expected across the deep south on friday. watch out for tornadoes. it is a fast moving system so conditions should improve by your saturday and heavy lake-effect snow is expected across much of the gre lakes region io the ekend. w, a very re event is taking place in the atlantic ocean. we talked about alex yesterday. it was a subtropical system yesterday, but now it's a hurricane. this is the earliest january hurricane that formed in the atlantic since 1938. and this system will likely move up to the north affecting the

azores into the next 24 hours or so. we are looking at very high waves, probably up to 11 or 12 meters and heavy rainfall expected in this area. so in addition to coastal flooding, inland flooding will be a concern. and alex will likely weaken and as a low pressure system it could affect greenland into the weekend or possibly into next week. heavy snow is once again affecting many parts of northern japan. it can see a belt of clouds. this is called jpcz, whenever we see this belt, heavy snow is falling across the hokariku region. they will see 60 isn't meters of snowfall plus heavy rain across the coastal areas. so watch out for the severe weather. we are looking at snow to fall across the korean peninsula as well. north korea could see 10 centimeters of snow. th's across the pacific side of japan, staying dry. sunny weather will continue for

the next several days. very frigid in ulan bathr. here's your extended forecast.

aside from the day's news, one feature story on "newsroom tokyo" zeros in on the rock group x-japan. if you're a fan, don't miss the

"> welcome to the "france 24 newsroom. i am molly hall. authorities in indonesia arrest several suspects in connection with yesterday's deadly attack in the capital. the assault claimed by the islamic state organization. we go to our correspondent for the latest. a global medical clinic is sent to madaya. d