here in japan it's a wednesday night. i'm james tengan in tokyo. welcome to nhk "newsline." prime minister shinzo abe is hosting myanmar's aung san zusu kyi in tokyo. in the meeting abe stressed his commitment to supporting the new government. abe commended myanmar's nation building efforts such as freedom, democracy, respect of human rights, and the rule of law. he said both japan's public and private sectors are ready to

support myanmar's new government as a friend. aung san suu kyi said she is writing a new chapter in her country's history. she is relying on japan to help her country move forward. she said japan's relationship in the past had helped her build stability. abe said they will encourage japanese firms to invest more in myanmar. he's also expected to promise to help stabilize the country's domestic security. myanmar's government forces have been fighting for decades with ethnic minority rebel groups. on wednesday aung san suu kyi met with members of the local myanmar community. >> reporter: the long line of people waiting for aung san suu kyi. in the sfront a former activist

who lined up at 5:00 a.m. to get a seat in the front row. >> translator: this is for mother suu. >> reporter: 25 years ago she fled her military regime and came to japan. for years she held out hope that aung san suu kyi would help the country and change is finally taking place. >> translator: thank you very much for coming an welcoming me. in the country's election last november. she serves as myanmar's state council and minister. and she is the country's de facto leader. she called on the residents in japan to help.

>> translator: foreign people judge whether myanmar is worth investing in or not. when they see those living abroad. >> reporter: she also took time toto answer questions from the audience. >> translator: am i satisfied with the current laws? no. there's no reason to be satisfied. >> reporter: she also said there is a lot of work that needs to be done before rule of law is established in myanmar. the response from the audience? >> translator: it's not easy to manage a country. especially a country like myanmar. she said that's why it will take time. i think so too. >> translator: i learned there are a lot of things we need to improve in myanmar. and i have the power to act.

>> reporter: for ma chi da, it has renewed her desire to help her homeland. >> translator: i support our country by sending money too. i'm determined to continue working hard to do that. >> reporter: on top of political meetings during her five-day visit, aung san suu kyi will also visit students where she was once a research fellow. nhk world, tokyo. south korean prosecutors have sought an arrest warrant of a long-time friend of president park geun-hye. the prosecutors have charged choi soon-sil of fraud. she's accuse of forcing firms to

donate money to her two nonprofit organizations. former presidential aide is suspected of conspireing with choi and was summoned to the prosecutor's office for questioning. the prosecutors are also questioning people connected to the two non-profit groups. choi is reportedly denying all allegations. president park is shaking up her cabinet to appease public outrage. she has named a new prime minister. park has named byong-joon. the ruling party lotted the appointment saying it shows determination to end talks of the political crisis.

but the other party called it unacceptable. saying she is only trying to change the political situation to maintain power. now people in seoul took to the streets to demand that the president resign. the demonstrators held up posters showing park as choi's puppet. >> translator: this scandal is something that should never happen in our country. the president should step down immediately. >> translator: the president has to take responsibility. >> police say 1800 people took part in the protest. joining us in the studio is kengo komoto.

how are they reporting this in the country? >> every news program is taken over by this. and some papers are reporting that choi soon-sil passed through the president's office without being checked. choi lost one shoe during the scuffle at the office. other papers reported the shoes were made in italy and cost about $600. people there think the president is special. and stands beyond their reach. but choi is an ordinary citizen. they suspect she's getting rich unlawfully and was treated too well by president park. so they are feeling angry and resentful. >> the prosecutors are expanding their probe. even officials at the office are being targeted. what are the prosecutors looking

for? >> yes. there are two points of interest. one is whether choi was improperly involved in the political policy making process. she may have used her knowledge about contents in the leaked confidential state papers. and the other is a corruption case whether choi used her close friendship with president park to siphon funds from two organizations. and using that money privately. this includes real estate investments and fees for her daughter's horse riding school. prosecutors seem to be focusing on her corruption case first. later they'll investigate her relationship with president office. >> okay. park is suspected of illegally sharing classified documents with choi. is there any possibility that park will step down or be asked

to do so? >> there has never been a president who stepped down before their time ended. at least seems the countries in 1987. the south korean constitution allows for presidential impeachment, but no one has ever been impeached. and presidents in sououth korea can avoid criminal chargeses whe they are in office. president park has just 16 months left. lawmakers in the ruling and opposition parties are now distancing themselves from her. they've discussed how to case report without drawing on her administration. now, some say park should give away some of her authority and yield it to the prime minister and cabinet members. in that case, park could stay in office, but she'll likely lose

her grip on power for the rest of her time. >> okay. nhk "newsline" will keep you updated on this story. thank you very much, kengo. the japanese government has ordered all prefectures to confirm that their early warning systems are working. it's after a news network reported that north korea is planning to launch a missile. fox business network said on tuesday that pyongyang will launch an intermediate missile in the next three days. the japanese government looked to check the nationwide warning system. >> translator: the government has been working to collect and analyze intelligegence related possible missile launches to north korea.

but i would like to decline further comment. >> north korea conducted launches of musudan missiles. both were said to have failed. it's decision time for america. two dwuded presidential candidates have been fighting a bitter battle for the white house. >> she should not be allowed to run. >> he is denigrating. he is talking down our democracy. >> the winner sets for the next four years. impacting relations around the world. including here in asia. u.s. election 2016 on nhk "newsline." the u.s. presidential candidates are pulling out all stops in the frantic race to the finish line which is just days away. both candidates are making a last ditch effort to win over undecided voters. republican candidate donald trump is focusing his campaign

on traditionally democratic states. he held a rally in the mid western state. >> she is the candidate of yesterday. we are the movement of the future. we are. we are. >> trump attacked clinton once again over the issue involving her e-mails as sececretary of state. the fbi said last week it was reopening its investigation into the matter. clinton flew to florida for a whirlwind series of rallies. the candidates are neck and neck in the crucial battleground states. >> it is time for us to say no we are not going backwards! we're going forward into a brighter future! >> clinton leads trump in aggregated nationwide polls, but the gap has narrowed to about two percentage points. even so, the democratic

candidate is set to take 259 electoral votes from states she's expected to win. close to the majority of 270 needed to reach the white house. trump trails with 164. now investors around the globe are growing more concerned about the outcome of the u.s. election. gene otani has the details on that and other business headlines. >> increasing uncertainties over the tight u.s. presidential race dragged down. fell to its lowest level in two weeks. giang nguyen reports from the tokyo stotock exchange. >> risk aversion has returned with a vengeance. investors sold off stocks in stock assets such as the yen and gold. tokyo shares plunged. the nikkei 225 lost nearly 1.8% closing at 17,134.

the broader topix fell by the same margin. on to currencies. the dollar dropped below the 104 yen level to hit a two-week low. let's check individual stocks. the yen's ascent depressed stocks for honda and toyota. both ended sharply lower. sony's shares fell more than 2% after the electronics company reporteded on tuesday that its t profit last quarter dropped 86% from a year ago due in part to a stronger yen and theecent earthquake in n japan. sumitomo electric industries fell after they cut the profit forecast by 15%. thursday is a holiday here in japan so we'll have to wait until friday to see how tokyo markets will react to wednesday's policy decision at ththe u.s. fedederal reserve. i'm giang nguyen reporting from the tokyo stock exchange. the downward trend spilled over to other parts of the

region. several fell more than 1%. seoul's kospi slipped to a four-month low. hong kong's hang seng dropped nearly 1.5%. philippines dropping more than 2%. 7,252 the closing number. concerns over duterte's foreign policy. over in china, the shanghai composite also slipping and finishing at 3,102. but losses were limited as higher gold prices pushed up gold miners and other resource related shares. corporate leaders have wrapped up the japan/china ceo summit in beijing. the members agree to cooperate on business and markets other than their own. they also pledge to work more closelyy in i.t. r related area such as robots and artificial intelligence. >> transnslator: we expecect mu trust willl grow and we'll see progress on specific issues. we hope japan's investment into

china will expand. >> some chinese participants said that japanese business leaders should join aiiib. a mark in japan's -- related to the transpacific partnership. it has prompted the ruling democratic party to postpone a lower house committee vote on the proposed legislation. the ldp informed the largest opposition democratic party of its decisio o on wednesday. special committee hadad plannedo hold the vote later in the day. the bills are designed to ratify the tpp free trade agreement. the democratic party has stepped up opposition to the vote since agriculture ministry said on tuesday he was about to be fired for a joke he made. yamamoto was referring to a

remark last month when suggested a ruling coaoalition may force e passage. that comment came while the committee was deliberating the bills. opposition parties are strongly criticizing yamamoto's latest remarkrk. opposition leaders have agreed to call for his resignation. here's a look at some of the other business stories we're following. executives at major japanese chip maker renesas electronics said they've made a profit for the april too september period f $185 million. that's a drop in yen terms of 56% other the last year. they attribute the fall to the stronger yen eroding earnings from operations abroad. the company suspended a factory in japan after it was hit by an earthquake as well. executives at five major japanese department stores say

revenues fell from the previous year. slavr shrank 5%. saw drops of more than 3%. isetan drop 2.5%. bank of japan officials say the monetary base hit an all-time high in october. it was the 11th consecutive record setting month. they've continued monetary easing by the central bank 37 they figured the end of october stood at 418 trillion yen. that's about $4 trillion. a monetary base is madad up of the total amount of cash in circulation plus commercial bank deposits held by the central bank. an economic partnership agreement between japan and mongolia came into force in june. one of the products on which import tariffs were lifted is

kashmir. companies in both countries that deal in the fine wool are now increasing their trade. >> reporter: this clothing store in ulaanbaatar has tourists from many parts of the world. mongolia is the second largest distributor of cashmere. coats are made from 100% cashmere here. makers expect to boost to japan. this major manufacturer is one of them. produces about 10,000 cashmere coats a year. however, it lacks the technology for high end processing of delicate cashmere fibers. so it commissions the work to a company in japan. >> translator: using japanese processing, we hope to make products that are competitive in the global market.

>> reporter: they send their product to this osaka mill. they use a technique that's almost a century old. that technique is what attracted the mongolian makers. they lift surface fibers of the fabric to make it fluffy and soft. workers carefully monitor the fibers and the humidity of the work place. to assure quality control, roller pressure has to be adjusted due to those factors. >> translator: we have to check constantly. it's really difficult. >> reporter: the president has preserved the labor extensive techniques even as others have shuttered due to low priced foreign made products. the company's earnings have grown by 10% thanks to the processing deal with the mongolian maker. and it has already received ororders for next year.

>> translator: we hope to deepen ties with our mongolian client and increase our orders. we'll also need to do more to meet their quality demands. >> reporter: with the japanese mill's help, the mongolian manufacturer plans to produce two times the volume of coats they did before. >> you can catch our report again online together with a full transcript. look for nhk world and business wrap. that's a look at business news. i'm going to leave you with the markets.

japan h has launched a weaer observation satellite. the rocket lifted off at 3:20 p.m. japan time from the space center in southwestern japan. about half an hour later, the satellite separated from the rockcket and entered the earth' orbit. it's expectedd to reach an altitude of about 35,000 kilometers in nine days where it will begin observing the weather in 2022. observing the weather for us now is sayaka mori. people in parts of northern europe are bundling up as snow and blustering conditions impact the area.

what's the latest? >> it's biting cold across scandinavia. it's actually blustery and snowy. i want to show you video out of sweden. winter is in full force in sweden. it's home to some 250,000 people. a storm dumped heavy snowfall, 5 centimeters accumulated in an hour causing traffic disruptions. a snow and ice warning will remain in place in stockholm into thursday. now, there is a low pressure system which caused some heavy rainfall. this system is a slow moving system. so more snow and strong winds are expected for similar areas suchss the baltic states and germany. watch out for blustery conditions. across the west, there's another system moving into the british isles. there is a stalled low pressure system to the west of the iberian peninsula.

some rain is going to be affecting the south of portugal. that includes lisbon. temperatures not too bad. 20 degrees for the high in madrid. 21 in lisbon. quite chilly across the north. stockholm could see a high of only 2 degrees with snow flakes expected. sunny weather should come back on thursday. but once again, snow will likely fall on your saturday. and helsinki right at the freezing points at least going to friday. now let's go to japan. people in tokyo arere bundling as well. we're experiencing the coldest day of the season. it was only 12 degrees foror th daytime high. we saw the coldest morning of the season in many plalaces suc as kushito and kumamoto. this is 25 days later than normal in the mountains. the second latest on record. now tomorrow will be a different story in the southern half of the country. about 20 degrees in tokyo.

that's about 7 degrees warmer compared to what we were experiencing on wednesday. but the northern areas are going to be quite chilly and it's going to be quite stormy. there is a low pressure system over the sea of japan and this system will likely move ovever e tohoku region tomorrow morning and will likikely move ovever hokkai i into thuhursday evenin. so we're expecting heavy snowfall probably up to 20 centimeters in hokkaido. and waves are going to be quite hihigh a as well. so the northern areas will see some quite chilly weather as well as stormy conditions. now, heavy rain warnings in place for vancouver islands as well as vancouver. watch out for flash floods and water pooling on roads. there's a high pressure system over the western united states to come across the area. but along this frontal sysystem there' a chance for s severe atather towardsds michigan. watch out for gusting winds and large hail. and temperatures are going to be as follows. 26 degrees in the u.s. capital.

21 degrees in new york city with partly sunny conditions on wednesday. but the warm weather will likely change quite significantly within the next couple of days. for example, new york city, you'll see a high of 21 on wednesday. down to 12 degrees by your friday. boston, 19 on wednesday. down to 9 degrees. so watch out for the significant temperature drop. all right. that's it for me now. here's the extended forecast.

winter is coming and for workers on the sea of japan coast, it means lots of preparation. each year they have to make sure tree branches don't break because of heavy snow. they start with two pine trees using a method for branch tying. tourists stop to watch the work. >> this is my first visit. it's wonderful. >> translator: i want people to enjoy the sight of trees with snow during the winter season in kanazawa. >> workers will cover pines and azaleas at about 800 locations in the garden by mid-september. with that we end this hour

of nhk "newsline." be sure to watch "newsroom tokyo" at the top of the hour. ñ

challenging the way we think. ." you are watching "france 24 time for 60 minutes line around the world. these are the headlines. south african president jacob's humor drops his court date as he delayed the release of a report over alleged influence peddling in government. this is thousands march in the capital. for theoops enter mosul first time in about to take the iraqi city from the islamic state group. more than one million civilians are trapped inside