welcome to "newsline". i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. first a look at the headlines. delegates from japan are . winding up two days of talks in north korea and pushing for answers on abducted japanese nationals. the head of the u.n. mission to fight ebola says the next 30 days will be decisive in the battle to bring the crisis under control. and a japanese disaster expert is training more nurses

how to best respond when emergency strikes. a delegation from japan has resumed talks with north korean officials on wednesday to press for answers. they're in pyongyang for two days of meetings with a special investigation committee looking into the fate of missing and abducted japanese nationals. the chief of the foreign ministry's asian and oceanian affairs bureau, junichi ihara met on tuesday with north korean committee chair, so tae ha during the first day of talking. the japanese delegation also spoke with seven other officials including the heads of four investigation panels. they also heard the explanation from the north about the current status of their probe on the missing and abducted for three hours. and ihara says he reminded them that resolving the abduction issue is japan's top priority. >> translator: we urge the north korean officials to speed up their investigation. and report the results as soon as possible.

the north korean side explained the structure of the committee. and the current status of their investigation. we asked for details from the north korean side. >> the second day of talks got underway at 9:30 a.m. local time. the delegation is expected to be updated about the investigation into the remains of japanese. they'll also be briefed about those left behind at the end of world war ii and spouses that moved to the north with their korean partners. officials say they plan to take up the abduction issue again during the afternoon session. another issue that's divided japan and north korea for seven decades is that the japanese governments want the north koreans to prepate rat remains dating back to the end of world war ii. officials say more than 34,000 japanese nationals died in what is now north korea. the remains of most of them have not been returned.

>> reporter: the korean peninsula was under japanese colonial rule. japan's retreat at the end of the war paved the way for an invasion by the soviet union. many japanese living in what is now north korea became stranded or were detained. they endured hunger and bitterly cold winters. japanese officials say the remains of 20,000 of those who died are still in north korea. three years ago, authorities in pyongyang said they had located the remains of numerous japanese. they said the japanese government could arrange to collect them. the following year, relatives of some of the deceased visited north korea for the first time. and others have traveled since then to visit possible burial sites in pyongyang and other cities.

>> translator: i think i finally have peace of mind. >> reporter: japanese officials believe more than 70 burial sites were built in north korea soon after the war. but they do not know where all of them are. senior japanese and north korean officials met in may in stockholm. they agreed to work together to repatriate the remains and they said they would arrange visits for the families of those who died. the head of the u.n. mission to fight ebola says the next 30 days will be crucial in bringing the crisis under control. anthony bambery spoke with nhk ghana's capital. >> the month of november is when we have to put all those capabilities into the fight against ebola and aim to achieve these ambitious targets of 70%

of people with ebola in a treatment facility and 70% of burials being done safely. we have a hard, difficult job ahead of up. >> the world health organization reported this week that confirmed or suspected ebola infections has now topped 10,000. the majority of cases are in west africa. >> anywhere from 40% to 70% of new cases of ebola are caused by unsafe burial practices. >> members of the u.n. have launched an effort to contain the virus. they are storing supplies in acura. team members transport the goods to liberia, sierra leone and other countries. >> i hope member states around the world will respond to the critical, urgent needs we now have to bring this crisis under control. the thing we need the most are trained medical teams.

the only way we can reliably stop it from spreading and posing a risk to those around the world is to end the crisis here in west africa. >> banbury says time is running out and more people must get involved. american health authorities say a second nurse who contracted ebola in the u.s. has been released from hospital. tests show that she is free from the virus. the nurse contracted the disease at a hospital in dallas, texas after caring for an infected liberian man who later died. amber vinson was isolated on october 14th and received medical care and was discharged on tuesday from a facility in the state of georgia. >> i'm so grateful to be well. while this is a day for celebration and gratitude i ask that we not lose focus on the thousands of families who continue to labor under the burden of this disease in west africa.

>> doctors say vinson was administered unapproved drugs an blood plasma of an american doctor who had recovered from the disease. and they say it is difficult to determine what was ultimately effective for her recovery. another nurse who contracted the disease at the dallas hospital was discharged last friday. and officials say no other new cases of secondary infection have been confirmed in the u.s. but a doctor in new york developed the disease after returning from west africa. he was taken last thursday to a hospital and placed into an isolation unit. a u.s. rocket exploded seconds after liftoff. nasa officials say it was carrying an unmanned freighter bound for the international space station. and they say no one was injured. the rocket antares developed by orbital science. it was launched from a complex in the state of virginia. after takeoff the rocket suddenly fell and blew up in flames. it was carrying a cargo ship

loaded with about 2 tons of food and experiments for the astronauts living on board the iss. officials say so far they haven't determined the cause of the explosion. company officials held a press conference shortly after the accident. >> our team worked very hard to prepare it. we conducted a lot of testing and analysis to get ready for this mission. however something went wrong and we will find out what that is. we will determine the root cause and we will correct that and we will come back here and fly at wallops again. >> orbital sciences is one of two companies hired by nasa to fly cargo to the iss after the space shuttles were retired in 2011. people at the federal reserve have pumped billions of dollars in the economy for years and are beginning to get ready to wash their hands of it. ai uchida, what can you tell us? >> the round of quantitative easing has gone on for two years.

they are in the middle of meetings to discuss what the next step will be. many people believe policymakers will say they are done with qe. fed officials are believed to have started their two-day meeting by looking at recent instability in the markets. this includes falling share prices triggered by growing uncertainly over the global economic outlook. the policymakers are expected to discuss their bond-buying program. they said they would continue with their tapering with the aim of stopping it completely. it's widely believed they will decide to do just that. the fed lanch -- launched its third round of monetary easing called qe3 in september of 2012. officials purchased u.s. government bonds and other securities to pump $85 billion per month into markets. but since last december they have been reducing the program scale by $10 billion at every meeting. the huge injections of money have had a significant impact on world markets. they help boost stock price and

prompting investors to pull funds from emerging economies. the next focus will be on u.s. interest rates. the key rate is near zero and people want to know when it's going to rise. many experts say the middle of next year or beyond. the decision won't be easy given the state of the global economy. europe remains stagnant. japan isn't much better, showing some signs of weakness. and emerging economies seem to have lost steam. >> i think monetary policies are going to move -- the fed is going to raise rates a little bit. it's going to see what happens to both financial markets and to the u.s. economy and to the global economy. and if it looks like the economy can sustain further increase it will move. if it looks like things are weakening, it will stay put. >> investors are closely examining every statement coming out of the fed. policymakers say they will keep the key rate near zero for what they called a considerable time.

the fed may be turning off the tap but that's not stopping investors from buying stocks. the nikkei is rallying this morning, tracking the gains on wall street. the index recovered to the 15500 level for the first time in three weeks. the nikkei is up by 1.5%. the buying is spreading to other stock markets in asia. the kospi is up by 1.2%. shanghai is trading higher by .1%. currency traders are a little more cautious. people who track the market said traders want know where interest rates are headed. the dollar has been locked in a narrow range around 108 yen. factory output in japan was positive for september. even so, government officials say production is fluctuating. economy ministry officials announced industrial production rose 2.7% from august.

that's the first rise in two months. the figure comes after a 1.9% decline a month earlier. now increased production of automobiles for domestic and southeast asian markets helped push up the september figure. production increased in 13 of the 15 sectors covered in the survey. looking ahead, the officials expect overall output to fall a touch in october and rise by 1% in november. more than 20 u.s. consumers and car dealership manages are suing a japanese vehicle parts maker over alleged air bag defects. vehicles fitted with air bags made by the qatar are subject to a series of recalls. allegations state the air bags can explode bo upon deployment

and spray metal shrapnel. they claim the defendants concealed crucial safety information resulting in at least four deaths and more than 100 injuries. this month u.s. safety regulators issued an unprecedented same advising the owner of 7.7 million vehicles to immediately seek repairs. the u.s. congress is also investigating. people across the world share homemade videos on youtube, the planet's largest video sharing website. over 1 million of these so-called youtubers are popular enough to earn revenue from advertisements. company managers in japan have taken note. nhk world's miho achuwa has more. >> reporter: youtube celebrities

gathered in tokyo in mid october for an awards ceremony. from dance to rap their performances attracted hundreds of fans. >> translator: this is awesome. >> translator: it's so much more fun seeing them in the flesh than on a computer. >> reporter: some of these performers have millions of online fans. japanese firms are tapping into that pop laurel to advertise. ♪ this youtuber plays beat box noises using his mouth and nose. he has more than 4.3 million subscribers. when a maker of hair care products asked him to make a voorks he did something a bit unconventional.

this man shot videos of himself playing smartphone games for an online game maker. [ speaking foreign language ]. the video has also become a hit, perhaps because the players don't seem to be advertising anything. executives at a maker of drinks wondered if they could use youtube to reach younger customers. it contains medicinal herbs that supposedly recharge the body. but 60% of its customers are over 50. the company has been struggling to attract younger people. ♪ so they approach youtuber -- who rapped about the drink. the results topped expectations.

--'s clips had 1 million hits. >> translator: it's important to express the product in an entertaining and humorous way. the number of new customers in their 20s trying the liqueur is up 20% over a year. >> reporter: youtube has become a new marketing tool, alongside tv and print media. with millions of smartphone users viewing content online, companies are being pushed to change their marketing strategies. miho achiwa, nhk world. >> that's the latest for business at this hour, i'll leave you a check on markets.

a japanese disaster expert is trying to change the way medical staff prepare and respond to emergencies. she's drawing on her own experiences of working in some of asia's worst disaster zones and she's empowering more nurses to tailor their care to changing situations. >> reporter: september 2014. a group of indianian specialists are in tokyo for a conference on disaster medicine. they have also come to visit meiko ishii, an associate

professor at tokyo university. like japan, indiana has suffered many natural disasters such as earthquakes and volcanic eruption. she has worked in many disaster areas such as after the 2004 indian ocean tsunami and the sis sit -- sitz wan earthquake in china. for her improving living conditions for the survivors is just as vital as providing medical care. following the 2011 quake and tsunami in japan she was in charge of 4,000 disaster relief nurses to the worst-hit areas. >> translator: our work is only valuable if people appreciate us being there. >> reporter: the japanese nursing association have a registry of nurses who volunteer their services in the event of a disaster. ishii visited evacuation centers

and medical universities to find out where she should send them. ishinomaki was one of the places in the greatest need. in the emergency centers, people were sleeping in mattresses laid out side by side on the filthy floors. confined in these conditions, for extended periods, many people fell ill. the elderly very were vulnerable. ishii appealed to the city to open new shelters. this is one of them. the aim is to keep the elderly people healthy. it had a wide walk way so they could keep up the strength in their legs. dividers were placed between beds to give them privacy in their sleeping areas. and the eating area was separated from the sleeping spaces to prevent the evacuees from becoming bedridden. >> translator: there are needs that people on the spot may not see. the important thing is to dig out and express those needs. that is where our skills lie.

>> reporter: yoshiki and -- are in their late 70s. the tsunami in 2011 forced them into a crowded emergency shelter, set up in a damaged school. y sochld -- yoshiki suffers from a chronic condition that left his bedridden. after they moved into the new shelter, his condition improved rapidly. in a couple of months he was able to walk again unaided. >> translator: i was able to walk further and further every day. that made me very happy. >> reporter: one of ishii's goals is to train more disaster relief nurses. she keeps reminding them of her key point, the need to think for themselves. >> translator: in a disaster, everything is case work. that means you must constantly think and react.

if you don't do, that you won't be effective. >> reporter: as an example she introduces a case she witnessed after the indian ocean tsunami. a patient had his wound dressed by a nurse. normally this treatment would be perfectly adequate but this patient lived in an area where the roads were still flooded and muddy. the dressing would get filthy and the wound was likely to get worse. >> translator: she tells us a lot that each site imposes its own challenges. and our thinking has to match the situation at each site. i think that today's course was a good training to develop that aspect of our ability. >> translator: it's not just about nursing. everything comes down to one thing, the ability to think. you have to look at the situation as a whole, what kind of resources you have, and what you can do with those limited resources. otherwise, you will never move forward.

>> reporter: changing behavior and increasing awareness one person at a time. for ishii, this is the key to saving more people's lives. >> mieko ishii's work is part of an indepth feature as part of the series "the creative woman." it will air on october 30th. it's time now for a check of the weather. people in northern japan are seeing clear skies after they dealt with their first snowfall of the year. mai shoji has the latest. >> hello there, the first sign of winter was detected here in tokyo. that's a very strong northerly winds. a lot of the areas in northern japan saw the first snowfall of the season. places in aomori are receiving about 30 centimeters piling up. and then out towards the northern areas in hokkaido,

we're actually seeing snow on the ground. it will be piling up more but tapering off due to the high pressure system bringing clear skies. great day for doing laundries and going out. but nighttime hours will be very chilly. so do carry your warm jackets. that goes the same with korean peninsula and northern china but down towards the central locations of china we're seeing very heavy downpours. 112 millimeters was found in chongqing. and that's traveling towards the east. so hunan provinces will be in that bulk of the very heavy rain. about 100 additional millimeters of rainfall is possible. flood willing be certainly a huge risk. down towards the philippines, also patches of very heavy rain could trigger flooding. and flooding in and around bangkok where vendors are still selling in very flooded water in the streets. urban flooding could get even more severe conditions because there will be on and off very heavy rainfall across these areas with a chance of

thunderstorms. towards the north, very heavy conditions in beijing. the temperature is at 15 degrees. northern china will be seeing hazy conditions there as well. out in the arabian sea. you can see that eye wall spiraling here and the outer fringes of the system are affecting the area in the next 24-48. so it's going to be a little risk of flooding out there. but it is more southeastern pakistan and india where it will be making landfall around friday. this is a very severe cyclonic storm system as we speak. it is likely to decrease its intensity because the wind shear will be very strong as well as the very dry continental air flowing into it. making it decrease in intensity. but no matter how the strength is, it looks like it will be making landfall bringing very heavy rainfall and stormy conditions into the next few days. we'll keep a very close monitor on it. out here across europe, the

northern locations still very messy. british isles with 83 kilometer winds. norway is seeing very heavy rainfall, about 90 millimeters have fallen due to this cold front generating a very heavy downpours as well as gusty conditions. and that's likely to prevail. wet and windy up in the north especially in the scandinavian peninsula. and down towards the central mediterranean we still have the risk of even tornados to be spawned. stormy weather will be continuing in and around western turkey. athens at 18 degrees. we're looking at nice conditions in the iberian peninsula. do enjoy it while you can because a cold front will be swinging by by friday. out here across the americas the pacific northwest is seeing the post-ana come in and that is likely to prevail with stormy conditions. and then we have this system in the east that's going to be pulling out towards the ocean. but new york, washington, d.c. you are in the bulk of messy

conditions and higher northern locations will see very snowy, wintery weather. down toward the south, atlanta at 23 and los angeles heating up to 30 degrees, well above the average. i'll leave you now for your extended forecast. pulling out towards the ocean. extended forecast.

and that's all for this edition of "newsline." i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. thanks for joining us.

good evening from los angeles, i'm tavis smiley. tonight, a conversation with a true broadcast legend, norman here. it is only a handful of folk who can be said to have fundamentally changed television. and in doing so influenced american culture. norman here certainly one of that handful. his groundbreaking series, "all in the family," "maude," "good time times," "the jeffersons," "mary hartman, mary hartman," addressed issues social and political in a way that hasd never been done. he's here, a conversation with norman here coming up right now. ♪