. spotlight on china. hundreds of foreign journalists are in beijing for the communist party's congress trying to cover a high profile political transition playing out behind closed doors. welcome to nhk world "newsline." top leaders and officials from across china spent the day mapping out where their country will go over the next five years. they are taking part in the communist party's congress. between now and next wednesday delegates will work out the details of china's transition of power, then will get official confirmation of who will be among the next generation of leaders taking control of this economic superpower. the 18th congress of the chinese communist party opened thursday. it happens every five years. between now and next week representatives will be approving new policies and appointing new party leaders. delegates from each of china's

provinces held regional discussions friday. they went over the issues they're concerned about and talked about the ways to fix the problems they face. nhk world's james tengan is covering the congress. he joins us from beijing. james? >> reporter: gene, this process is carefully choreographed and controlled. chinese authorities are generally restrictive. but the bamboo curtain really comes down during the congress. that makes the job of jury roomism that much harder. still china's political transition is one of the biggest stories going right now. so despite the controls, no media organization wants to miss out. they got up early to get in line outside the great hall of the people. journalists from china and abroad, hundreds of them, all jockeying to get a better position for the opening of the communist party's congress.

journalists from around the world have converged on beijing underlying the international community's keen interest on what direction china will take with the changeover in power. chinese government officials say more than 2,700 domestic and international journalists are covering the meeting. media are trying to find out something, anything about this secretive political process. it's not easy. >> it was really difficult to get to talk with any delegates of the congress because they didn't want to talk with anyone that wasn't from any chinese media. >> reporter: china is a tough beat for foreign journalists, especially when the congress is on. government officials and others shy away from certain subjects. >> sometimes it can be difficult to find experts here who can

tell you something about sensitive issues. >> reporter: government censures carefully manage information. they interrupted nhk's broadcast in china on the opening day of the congress. programs looking at the gap between rich and poor or clamp-downs on activists went black for almost 30 minutes. the government's biggest challenge, though, is controlling the internet. here in china, restrictions are placed on search engines. lem show you an example. you might remember that controversial issue involving wen jiabao and his family. the government blocked "the new york times" website because it reported wen jiabao's relatives profited from his time in power. many chinese search engines have banners promoting the congress. but queries about leaders turn up partial information or no information at all.

journalist olga tan see shook sometimes comes up short researching for she fires for a ukrainian wire service. >> due to chinese wars and regulations, if there is something going on, sometimes you can't get access to some of the pages. >> reporter: china's rise has given foreign media much to write and talk about. but it's a story that can frustrate even the most persistent of journalists. although the media can't get detailed information about the congress, what do we know that's expected to be confirmed when the meeting wraps up next week? >> reporter: we've got an idea of who will head up china's next generation of leaders. we've heard their names before, she jingping and lee kowtow. we'll be hearing them for years to come. they'll be chosen for top

communist party posts next week and unveiled to the world. analysts say xi will become general secretary taking over for president hu jintao. >> reporter: chinese vice president she jingping is 59 years old, she comes from shang something province. communist party leaders named xi vice chairman of the central military commission in 2010. he's taken an active role in diplomacy as well as domestic affairs. >> xi jingping's father was a vice premier, so xi became part of china's informal prince ling network. prince links gained power by taking advantage of their

parents' ties to influential figures. xi didn't have it easy. authorities ousted his father and jailed him during the cultural revolution. xi was forced to work in the countryside as a teenager. he went to a prestigious university in beijing from 1975 to 1979. and then he spent the next quarter century holding down key positions in the communist party and the government in few engine, joe general and shanghai. xi gained domestic and international prominence in 2007. he skipped the stage of politburo member and went straight to the politburo's standing committee. ♪ >> xi's wife is a well known figure in her own wife. she's a popular singer in the troop belonging the the people's

liberation army. analysts say she's helped xi's career. xi shas 13e7b9 the last couple years cementing his position as successor to president hu jingh engine toe. he visited the u.s. in 2012 to promote relations. his counter part, vice president joe biden was with him for much of the visit. >> xi showed on some issues the two governments will not necessarily see eye to eye. >> reporter: xi will likely be joined at the top by lee cow tow tao, the man widely expected to become china's next premier.

lee became a member of the politburo standing committee in 2007. he skipped the stage of politburo member during the communist party convention along with xi jingping. lee became vice premier in 2008. lee queue tongue is 57 years old. he hails from on way province, currently in charge of domestic economic policy. >>ly studied law at the prestigious beijing university where he went on to get a phd in economics. his classmate told us li also dedicated himself to studying english. he said the man who will soon become china's premier showed no

sign he would become a politician. >> i think every single day he got a lot of ticket in his pocket. in his one side he write english, on tore side c these. so i had no clue as to what will be the future after law school. i saw that he will be a very good professor for economic law. >> he joined communist party in 1976 and devoted himself to the party's communist youth league after graduating from university. go tofu met li in 1985. li was visiting japan as a member of a joint association of youth organizations. he was vice president of a 100-member delegation.

china's outgoing leader hu jintao was president. go welcomed them all to his chinese restaurant in tokyo. >> translator: li looked a little rough compared to hu jintao. hu was good looking. i spoke with li and felt he was as compassionate as hu. >> hu's support is said to have helped li rise through the ranks of the communist party. >> translator: li always seemed to take a back seat to president hu jintao. he looked as though he obeyed hu unconditionally. >> li became the party chief of hunan province in 2002. two years later he won the same position in you ling province. at the time he said he was doing everything he could to help people become better off.

>> reporter: so there's a look at the career es of xi jingping and li key quing. now let's look at how they made it to the top of the power structure. here is part of my conversation with ak had da tack had da from university of tokyo who specializes in modern chinese politics. >> xi jingping is said to be sensible and level headed. what's your i'm preparation of him? >> he's been a very careful crown prince to not show what's really in his mind, behaving carefully and prudently. certainly he must be a very capable administrator. he was a leader in the coastal

provinces like shanghai which all have been doing very well in recent years. so that part of his capacity was appreciated. he was a prince ling and a lot of the party elders apparently thought he was a very trustworthy person because he's the son of this revolutionary man that can be trusted. so all these factors i think played a positive role in making him the next leader. li question jing is expected to secede him and become china's number two leader. what's your impression of him? >> the communist youth league connection is very strong. if you do become a member of the top leadership of the chinese youth league, in a sense your future is promised because all of your elders who had been in

your post will look after you, and then next comes his personal capabilities. he's said to be very clever person. his cleverness was outstanding from his university days apparently. however, what his personalities are once again is not well known. >> both leaders worked in rural areas when they were young and both have strong patrons backing them. many analysts expected li to surpass xi in 2007 because president hu jintao supported him. but xi managed to outman ufr li at the last communist party congress. he's merged in sixth place in the politburo standing committee just ahead of li. professor tack hara tells us how he did it. >> hu jintao failed to put l

xifrnlths question gang, his favorite in the position to succeed himself in 2007 because all the forces who were against hu jintao and the communist youth league camp, they got together. xi jingping was somebody that all the anti-cyl forces could agree on. he has experience being a county leader in a rather poor country in the inner part of china. that stort of experience of hardship and knowledge about the poor peasants, that helped hu jintao to accept his defeat. >> reporter: that was part of my conversation with the university of tokyo's akio tack hara who specializes in modern chinese politics. we'll be covering the congress every step of the way. we'll guide you through the

issues and help you understand china's transition of power. on monday we'll be looking at why the country's poor are turning to christianity and what chinese leaders are doing about it. i'm james tengan in beijing. >> james, thanks. two major japanese automakers, toyota motor and mazda motor are expanding their business alliance, this time abroad. they agreed to produce a toyota brand car at mazda's plant in mexico. the companies have announced they will make 50,000 sub compact cars a year at a plant that mazda is now building in central mexico. production is scheduled to begin in the summer of 2015. a new design based on mazda's demio model will be used for this new car. toyota will pay for part of the production quip and and shoulder some development costs.

toyota aims to strengthen its lineup in north america. mazda on its part is hoping to ramp up production efficiency at the new plant and improve its profitability. the two firms earlier joined hands to produce a hybrid car in japan. mazda will be using toyota's hybrid car technology for the production of the car. japanese steelmakers have reported sharp profit declines in the first half of their business year. that's due to flagging overseas demand and increasing competition from china and south korea. three steel companies said that although they managed to stay in the black between april and september, their pre tax profits plunged between 73 and 92% from a year earlier. they are nippon steel, sumitomo metal and jfe holdings. anyplace poen steel and sumitomo metal merged. corporate executives say demand for steel remains weak in the

midst of the global economic slowdown. they predict supply is likely to remain excessive for some time. taking a look at the markets. european shares have started trading in negative territory. investors are nervous about u.s. fiscal problems and a bailout for greece. here is a look at how they stand now. london's shares down by almost half of 1%. frankfurt, the dax down by a percent. the cac 40 in paris declining by about .25%. earlier in the day most asian stocks meanwhile closed lower. in tokyo the nikkei average ended a three-week low falling nearly 1%. australian shares shed about a half percent. in main land china, the shanghai edged down 0.1%. the downside was supported by the news on china's relatively stable cpi. the yen is trading higher against the dollar and the euro due to concerns about u.s. budget issues and uncertainties over fresh assistance for

greece. the dollar now changing hands at 79.23 to 25 yen. the euro currently at 1.27 to 75 yen. china's industrial productions in sales picked up in october. the latest data shows the country's economy has started getting traction again. china's national bureau of statistics says industrial out put climbed over 9% from a year earlier. it was the second straight month of gainless. the pace of growth was 0.4% faster than in september. meanwhile retail sales were up more than 14%. the increase was 0.3% more than in the previous month. earlier in the day china announced that the consumer price index or cpi rose 1.7% from a year earlier. that's the slowest pace since january 2010. officials say the small increase is due to moderate gains in food prices. the latest data comes out one day after people's bank of china

governor joe chow twan noted some recent economic data were starting to show signs of recovery. he hinted the central bank would not take extra monetary easing measures at least for now. u.s. president barack obama is preparing to head to southeast asia for his first diplomatic tour since re-election. the four-day trip will include the first visit to myanmar by a sitting american president. the white house says obama's tour of southeast asia will take place between november 17th and 20th. besides myanmar, the u.s. president will visit thailand and cambodia. obama is scheduled to hold talks with myanmar president thein sein. the talks will likely focus on democratic reforms. he'll also meet with opposition leader aung san suu kyi. in cambodia obama will attend the east asia summit. one of the top items will be

territorial disputes over islands in the south china sea involving china, philippines, vietnam among other country. the u.s. administration said last year it should shift its diplomatic and security focus to the asia pacific region. obama will be keen to reassure leaders his position remains unchanged. the united states has launched a protest with iran after several iranian warplanes attacked a u.s. military drone. the pentagon says the attack occurred last thursday in international aerospace over the persian gulf. >> unarmed, unmanned mq 1 military aircraft conducting routine surveillance over the arabian gulf was intercepted by iran january craft and was fired upon with guns. >> little says the iranian jets fired at least twice at the drone but failed to hit it. the u.s. believes the pilots intended to shoot the aircraft down. he says the u.s. uses the drones

in accordance with international rules and they will continue to conduct such flights. the obama administration intensified surveillance of iran and also stepped up economic sanctions. the actions are part of efforts to pressure iran to suspend its nuclear development program. analysts say the attack on the drone reflects iran's growing frustration over the u.s. actions. the pakistani girl recently shot by taliban gunmen thanked her supporters in a video message recorded in his hospital room. her family released the four-minute video on friday. it shows malala yousufzai sitting on a chair clutching a white teddy bear. her father is reading letters sent by supporters around the world. malala was shot in the head by members of the pakistani taliban on october 9th. the 15-year-old advocate of women's education rights is undergoing treatment at a hospital in birmingham, england.

>> i'm thankful to all peace loving friends of malala you saf san jose who prayer for her help and support the cause of malala. >> doctors say malala is recovering well although it will be a while before she can leave the hospital. former british prime minister gordon brown will visit pakistan to meet with pakistan's suf czarry. he is united nations special envoy of global education issues. he'll deliver a petition with over 1 million signatures urging pakistan to make education available to all its children. it was warm and sunny today in tokyo, snow in our neighbor china, though. rachel ferguson has more with weather. rachel? >> certainly we are going to be see snow spreading across northeastern asia over the next couple days. a low here moving across into the beijing area and heading towards the northeast.

north korea is going to be getting some of that snowfall. down towards the south, it is a rain event. that coming up through southern china in towards the east, through shanghai and from saturday evening, we're going to be seeing it coming into japan. pleasant day across much of japan on saturday as a low pulls away at the moment. however, we will see that rain coming in from the south and sunday is going to be a little unstable with showers and thunderstorms scattered throughout the country. temperaturewise not too bad, 18 on saturday. in tokyo, while we have 16 in seoul. temperatures will start to fall away from beijing. five degrees here and minus five up in ulan bator. let's head into the americas. out towards the northeast there has been some significant snowfall from a large storm system just departing, moving across towards the atlantic. it is still going to be causing some problems for the canadian maritimes. as for new england and the rest of the east, looking quite nice with high pressure moving in keeping things clear. however, out towards the west

and across the north it's a different story. we have quite heavy snowfall moving across the u.s.-canada border. the northern rockies, the cascades as well, getting about 25 centimeters. anywhere in the darker blue can expect upwards of 40 centimeters of snowfall. also will see gusts up to 80 kilometers per hour. with the snow blowing, snow drifting, blizzard like conditions and bringing very chilly air. windchill must also be taken into consideration. have a look at the temperatures. minus 4 in winnipeg, but it will feel much colder than that. so really starting to feel like winter across the north. however, down towards the south, a hot day in houston at 28 degrees. we have 26 for you in oklahoma city. we'll head now into europe where we're following a large storm sitting to the south of iceland. this one is sending in front affront across the uk and scandinavia. it's going to be bringing precipitation falling as rain

mostly. you can see how powerful the winds are going to be, seeing how the lines are so close together. that shows you the gusts that are going to be coming towards the british aisles and scandinavia. over the next couple of days. the rest of the continent looking pretty good apart from two storms, one to the southeast and one to the southwest. let's start with this low moving across the iberian peninsula coming into southern san francisco and the alpine region with rain rather than snow and also some severe thunderstorms. we're really watching the rain coming into portugal. you can see another front moving in. we've seen some flooding across parts of portugal. we have video showing what happened when it was hit by heavy rain on nrz morning. firefighters had to pump water out from several affected houses and shops. it's been reported 12 people have been left homeless due to the damage. a railway line was closed and a main road also cut off.

the road traffic has now returned to normal. more heavy rain over the next 24 hours which is not exactly good news. if we pull back, we'll see what's happening to the southeast. this is another system lingering over the black sea affecting the middle east and eastern turkey as well. could see flash flooding here with that short-time heavy rain. here are your temperatures across europe. even getting up to 20 degrees in athens. i'll leave you now with your extended forecast.

we'll be back with more updates in 30 minutes. i'm gene otani in tokyo. from all of us here at nhk world, thanks for joining us.

tavis: good evening. from los angeles, i am tavis smiley. tonight, what we can expect with a second term from obama in