you're watching nhk "newsline." . i'm kanako tokyo is seeking to lay the groundwork before this week's japan/russia summit. new responsibilities. members of japan's self-defense forces in south sudan can now use weapons.

and a surprising statement. president-elect donald trump says the united states is not necessarily bound by the one china policy. there's been more developments ahead of the key summit between the members of the leaders of japan and russia this week. holding vice minserial talks beforehand as they try to move ahead with discussions on a long-standing territorial issue. if the deputy foreign ministers meet a key topic is economic cooperation on russian-controlled islands. in japan they're known as the northern territories. japan claims them. its government maintain an ininherent part of its territor and says they were illegally occupied after world war ii. the two countries didn't sign a peace treaty after the war because of the dispute. russian officials have been urging japan to take part in joint economic activities on the island, but japanese officials want to make sure that would not lead to recognizing russian

sovereignty. a former russian ambassador to japan said he had a solution to that. >> translator: tokyo and moscow can join hands and come up with legislation to establish an economic zone where special legal and administrative rights can be recognized. >> shinzo abe and vladimir putin's meeting is scheduled for thursday and friday in japan. he pointed out the urgency of solving the dispute because they're getting old. >> translator: i will meet russia's president determined to resolve the issue in this generation. >> the group of oformer residents is optistic about the discussions with russia. >> translator: former residents are hoping to go back to the islands with their children and grandchildren. they believe the day will come.

i understand the issue is hard to solve, but i hope it will progress one or two steps further. >> he says the number of japanese people that used to live there has dwindled from 17,000 to a little more than 6,000. japanese peacekeepers deployed in south sudan can now use weapons in rescue missions. the first time they've been able to do that. the new responsibility came into effect monday that apply to 250 self-defense force members who arrived in south sudan as part of a mission. their duties will include rescuing ngo personnel who request urgent help, using weapons if necessary. the change stems from new national security legislation that came into effect in march and expands the roll of the fdf. a handover ceremony was held sunday in the capital city.

the colonel said the mission is significant for japan and the international community. the japanese government maintains that security in juba is stable, but says it will withdraw the members if the situation if detearierates that their safety can't be ensured. escalating in other parts of the country. fighting hasas intensified in t northeast and south. the united nations warned that ethnic cleanses is under way. anti-government forces that support a former vice president. more than 270 people were killed across the country, including civilians and chinese peacekeepers. aid agencies say millions of people have fled the violence. the u.n. is urging the security

council for the deployment of 4,000 additional peacekeepers. south korea's ruling and opposition parties are trying to stabilize the political situation after lawmakers voted to impeach the president last week. park involving her long-time friend. executives at the party and two opposition parties met on monday. they decided to hold an extra session of parliament through the end of december. they also agreed to create a parliamentary committee to discuss. opposition parties have been critical of thehe acting president, but agreed to hold talks that the government and ruling party among calls for the political turmoil to come to a quick end. many members of the ruling party

voted against park and both for and against have urged each uther to leave the party. a possible split could lead to a drastic realignment of the country's political landscape. we now turn to business news. oil prices surged after producers agreed to cut. >> opec and nonopec members struck a deal over the weekend. their first agreement for global production in 15 years and crude prices shot up and futures went above $54 a barrel. the highest since july 2015. the surge combined with the weaker yen. nikkei finished at a one-year high. here's more from the tokyo stock exchange. >> market sentiment was already rising high rising to new records last week. the news of the oil output there was well-received. the nikkei added 2.8% closing at

19,155. the index extended gains to a fifth day to end add a one-year high. the topix was up 0.4%. the dollar rose above 11115 ye its highest level since february. rate hike by the u.s. federal reserve later this week. turning to individual stocks jumped at the open. up 3.8% for oil refiner idemitsu kosan lost nearly 1%. demand driven stocks in later trading including the retail and food sectors. seven & i holdings, aeon and kkoman performed well. i'm phoebe amorosa reporting

from the tokyo stock exchange. the shanghai comp zt closed to juan-month low. investors were wary after authorities moved to crack down on speculative trading. hong kong fell by 1.44%. 22,433 the closing number there. the lowest in three weeks. some investors stayed on the sidelines and seoul, singapore and sydney ended little change. indonesia was closed for a holiday. convenient store operator lawson and panasonic have developed a electronic cash register system that bags items for customers. addresses the staff shortages at stores. the two companies tested the system. customers scanned the items they want to buy using barcode

readers on theirir shopping baskets. the total charge is displayed on a panel l at the register count and itemsms are automatically placed in bags after payment. the companies plan to introduce the system in which electronic tags eliminate the need for scanning starting in february. customers can take their items directly to the register. lawson says the system will allow it to cut store staff by about 10%. it hopes to introduce the system at several dozen stores after september next year. a japanese banking group is testing a system that allows users to make payment s by havig their faces scanned eliminating the need for cash or cards. the financial frup plans to test out the system for two months. the cafnearia of one of itsts group firms. thee electronics c companyny th bought the technology. a camera linked to a vending machine will scan the faces of workers and match them with

those. becoming increasingly popular among institutions. they believe it is speedier and protects the identity theft more effectively than using fingerprint. the banking group expects it to be useful such as places as sports clubs or people may prefer not to carry cash or cards. after checking the accuracy of the system they plan to put it in usese in fiscal 2017. here's a look at some of the other business stories we're following. japanese government and business officials are to launch a campaign to encourage workers to spend more cash. the initiative called premium friday dessinginates the last friday of each month as a day when workers can have extra time for shopping and dining. workers at participating companies would leave their office at 3:00 p.m. on the final

friday of the month. the first day of the campaign will be february 24th. japan's cabininet office sa private sector machinery orders in october were up 4.1% from the previous month. much higher than analysts predicted. the first rise in three months. orders for farm tractors and machine tools were processing metal led the rise but the office did not and it remains at a standstill. let's take a look at our global economic calendar for the week. on tuesday chinese officials will invest in november. retail sales will be coming out, too. the next day bank of japan released its tankan survey. the central bank pulls more than 10,000 firms on how they feel about the economy. also on wednesday the big decision on u.s. interest rates. u.s. reserve holding a policy meeting. the next day, central banks in south korea and england also announced decisions on monetary policy.

every week we ask specialists to share atheir view on the week in today's edition of "expert view" we ask an economist for his outlook on the upcoming tankan survey. compares optimists and pessimists. he is expecting the index for large manufacturers to show a major improvement. >> translator: i think the figure for large companies will improve by four points to plus ten. manufacturing companies are enjoying good business, especially in the export sector. thanks to the weaker yen, which has contributed to brisk sales in electronic components and cars. and i expect major nonmanufacturers to improve by 2 points to plus 20. things are picking up for real estate and financial firms thanks to higher share prices.

>> kobayashi says there are conditions to his optimistic view and many of them depend on what happens in washington. >> translator: exports are crucial to expanding the japanese economy. exports to the u.s. are expected to grow if president-elect donald trump promotes the infrastructure investment he pledged during his campaign. one of the conditions for japan is that his government will deliver on that t promise of mo investment in lower taxes. another condition is that china's economy won't slow down further. if interest rates start to rise as a result of trump's spending measures, there is a possibility that money will flow out of asia, including china. it's important that japanese companies' exports to china do not fall too much. >> you can catch our report online with a full transcript. that's a look at business news. i'm going to leave you with the

markets. the united nations conference on nuclear disarmament has opened in the japanese city of nagasaki. participants are to discuss the roles of citizens in achieving nuclear disarmament. about 30 government officials and researchers from around the world are taking part in the two-day talks in the atomic bombed city. japan has been hosting the conference almost every year since 1989. at an opening ceremony a representative of an association of atomic bomb sufferers

taniguchi showed a photo of his body taken soon after the nagasaki bombing and another photo taken recently. he called atomic bomombs the dedevil's weapon. > translator: not even a sine atomic bomb shouldld exist on ts plananet. nagasaki must be the last place to experience an atomic bombing. >> taniguchi urged the participants to help draw up a treaty to ban nuclear weapons as soon as possible. on day one of the event, officials from the united states, russia, and other countries discussed their efforts toward nuclear disarmament. the participants also plan to discuss prospects for the next conference to review their nuclear nonproliferation treaty in 2020. this year's nobel winners gathered in stockholm over the weekend to accept their prizes. among them was japanese

biologist yoshinori osmui for the category of physiology or medicine. his acceptance speech focused less on his achievements and more on the future of science. >> reporter: at 71 years of age ohsumi is ready to accept the most prestigious award in his field. but the humble scientist proves some things never change. >> reporter: the nobel prize award ceremony was arguably more intimidating than a school performance. it was held at a concert hall on the 120th anniversary of founder alfred nobel's death. and was attended by the swedish

royal family. ohsumi was recognized for discovering how human cells break down and recycle themselves. the process, known as autophagy, opens up possibilities for new treatments for cancer anand parkinson's disease. a committee member praised ohsumi's work. >> professor ohsumi, your groundbreaking research has solved a longstanding enigma in biology and revealed mechanisms for how our cells recycle components and combat disease. >> reporter: he then received his memedal and certrtificate f the king of sweden. that evening, 1,300 people

gagathered for the nobobel buff. ohsumi made light of his years of research. >> i would like to take this opportunity to note my appreciation for many residents and wonderful gifts from east. perhaps my favorite of all being sake. >> reporter: while in sweden, ohsumi also gave a lecture a at the home of nobel assembly the karolinska institutete. he took k a moment t to share a persrsonal memory of his p post childhood. >> this was a very challenging time in japan and everyone had difficulty getting basic daily necessities, including food. i myself suffered severe malnutrition and was a very sickly child. >> reporter:r: and he e encoura

his successorsrs. >> my message for young people, you had better keep yourr messae for young g scientists. my hope is that just as society itself enjoys science as a run of the culture, that's a very important point. i always say that it shouldn't be hard to get the application. you had better enjoy the science as a culture. that's my opinion. >> reporter: ohsumi has been calling for the need of support for the next generation of scientists. and he's a already taken action. he says he's going to donate his prize money to support young,

creative researchers at university of tokyo. nhk world. u.s. president-elect donald trump says his country is not necessarily bound by the one china policy. during the interview with u.s. media on sunday, trump floated using the policy as a bargaining chip. >> i fully understand the one china policy, but i don't know why we have to be bound by onen china policy unless we make a deal with china. having to do with other things, including trade. >> trump called china out for its trade policies, its activity in the south china sea and for not helping more with north korea. trump's comments followed a phone conversation h he had ande said it was a short congradlatory message. it was the first such call since the u.s. decided to diplomatically recognize china

instead of taiwan. it has since viewed taiwan as being one of the one china policy. he plans to nominate terry branstad as the ambassador to china. he is a long time friend of president jinping. they say his latest remarks could provoke a harsh reaction. italy's president has asked foreign minister pale gentloni to be prime minister following the registration of mateo renzi who stepped down after losing a refererendum on constitutional reform. he's a native e of rome e who belongs to the central left democratic party. first selected in 2001, he served a as foreign minister sie 2014. at a news conference on sunday, gentloni said he's aware of the need for urgency in setting up a new w administration to easese public anxiety.

observers say he could propose a cabinet by as early as monday. gentloni's first task will be to tackle a looming banking crisis. despite the next parliamentary election being scheduled for 2018, many political parties are demanding an earlier vote. in switzerland a passenger train has made the first trip using the longest railway tunnel through the alps. it connects zurich. the train left central zurich station on sunday carrying 500 passengers and passed through the tunnel. >> translator: it's a toric moment and i really wanted to be part of it.. >> at the end of the two-hour ride, passengers were welcomed by crowds and musicians at the train platform in lugano. the tunnel took 17 years to build at a cost of some $12

billion. it is reduced travel time between the two cities by more than half an hour. the tunnel is also expected to greatly increase capacity for freight trains. it's time now for the world weather with meteorologist. people in tokyo enjoyed clear skies today. will the nice weather tomorrow? >> your weaeather has been nice over the past several days. in fact, it's been sunny since last monday but tomorrow is going to be quite wet. a couple of systems are approaching from the west and it was a very cold morning today. in fact, the coldest morning of the season in several places, the coldest spot of the nation was hokkaido where the mercury dropped to minus 22.6 degrees. we had the first frost of the season in osaka. and tomorrow it's going to be wet t due to aowow coming g in e e west. snfafall aososs the north, hvy rainfallt t timen n the south including the tokyo area. tokyo will start to see rain from tomorrow afternoon.

and these are your morning lows expected for the next four days. for example, tokyo the morning low is going to be 4 degrees on tuesday. and down to 2 on friday. get set t for sub-zero figures intoto next week. quite chilly across many places of japan. let's go to india. this is a cyclone season across the indian ocean. in fact, cyclones form throroughout the year, but typically they form from february, , or rather april, to december. and a couple of weeks ago, nara moved through and this time another system is expected to move over the area and it's already causing a lot of heavy rainfall. let's go to some video coming out of chennai. heavy rainfall preceded very severe cyclonic storms o on mony flooding the centralal and southern portions of the east coast of india. strong winds tore through the trees while vehicleses struggle to move through the wet roads. this is a very severe cyclonic storm. that means it is the second or

third-strongest cyclone, and this is actually equivalent to a category 1 hurricane. it's packing wind gusts of 140 kilometers per hour. it should weaken a bit but as an intense storm it is expected to move throughgh the coast by tonight. we'r're looking atat heavy rainfall, up to 200 0 millimete, and wiwinds are e going to be q strong as well. severe rain thatat could cause flooding is expected across parts of india. let's go to north america. a couple of systems cause lots of snowfall and also freezing precipitation across several places of the northern united states. let's go to video from oregon and also illinois. freezing rain started to fall on friday evening in troutdale, oregon. major highways were closed due to the icy road conditions and up to 70 kilometer per wind gusts s were reported. in chicago over 15 centimeters of snow fell on sunday. more than 1,200 flights to and from o'hare international canceled. a winter storm warning is lifted

in chicago but heavy snow is falling across the northeastern united states and also freezing rain could falall in and around maryland. so that could cause some icy roads. that could cause very hazardous driving conditions. quite chilly across the north. minus 22 degrees on monday in winnipeg. new york city at 8 with rainy weather on monday. as we go into the next four days, temperatures expected to drop significantly. minus 22 on monday winnipeg. you could feel like minus 36 because of the strong winds. temperatures could go down to minus 21 on thursday as well. and washington, d.c., 9 on monday for the morning low, down to minus 2 degrees on thursday. bundle up. here's the extended forecast. that brings us to the end of

that wraps up this edition of nhk "newsline." thanks very much for joining us]

watching "france 24." time for 60 minutes around the world. these are the headlines. the syrian army inches closer to retaking full control of aleppo from the rebels. but with that army focused now on recapturing the second-biggest city in syria, another has once again fallen to the islamic state group. beijing has serious concerns about donald trump's latest comments that could put four dede