welcome back to "newsline." i'm yuko aotani in tokyo. first the headlines for this hour. north koreans are mark the third anniversary of the death of their former leader, kim jong-il. a pakistani government is promising to crack down on terrorists after militants unleashed a deadly attack on a school. investors are watching to see if oil prices will take another drop after hitting the lowest level in more than five years.

those are the headlines for this hour, but first, chinese leaders look set to increase investment in central and eastern europe. li keqiang has announced the financing of a high speed rail link in budapest. >> translator: cooperation will help reach our goal to achieve better growth. >> li taken heads of 16 countries gathered in serbia's capital for their annual summit. many expressed hope about china's investment in the region. >> translator: this region could become an engine to move stagnant european economies. potential for partnership is big especially in the areas of transport, infrastructure, and energy. >> vujacic said that the leaders have to give hope to their

people by focusing on the future. the economies are lagging behind those of western europe. china is establishing a stronger presence in develop regular johns by investing in infrastructure projects such as roads and power plants. next year's conference is expected to take place in china for the first time. people in north korea are observing the end of formal mourning for their leader. kim jong-il died three years ago. state run media is commemorating kim's life and also highlighting the reign of his son and successor. a female announcer on state-run television read out a tribute to the late leader as she introduced a new documentary on his life. since kim died, north korean officials have been putting the spotlight on the achievements of the current leader, kim john un. they praised rocket launches. officials in pyongyang say the rockets have carried satellites.

but western analysts believe they carried long-range missiles. state media reported that a panel met last week to discuss technology for launching rockets. that suggests that north korea's nuclear and missile programs remain intact despite international calls to scrap them. north korea's isolation has increased under the younger kim for other reasons. kim had his uncle executed on treason charges about a year ago. north korea used to have close ties with china. but relations have cooled since the execution. there are no signs that senior chinese officials will attend ceremonies to commemorate kim jong-il. members of the pakistani taliban have carried out the country's deadliest attack in years. they stormed the military-run school in the northwestern city of peshawar on tuesday and they killed more than 140 people, mostly children. seven members of the militant group detonated explosives and fired at random.

military personnel rushed to the scene to try to rescue students. the standoff lasted about ten hours before soldiers killed the gunmen. a spokesperson says 141 students and officials were killed. 121 were injured. the incident is the deadliest in pakistan since 2007. a bomb targeting former prime minister benazir bhutto exploded, killing more than 180 people in karachi. the country's teenaged nobel peace laureate says she is nearly heart broken by the news. she herself is a survivor of a taliban shooting. >> i call upon the political parties and everyone that we should stand up together and fight against terrorism and we should make sure that every child gets safe and quality education. >> malala says she stands with the children who are injured and traumatized.

the united nations secretary general and world leaders are condemning the attack. >> it is an act of horror and rank cowardice to attack defenseless children while they learn. >> ban said no cause can justify such brutality and no grievance can excuse such horror. he said getting an education is every child's right, and going to school should not have to be an act of bravery. u.s. president barack obama said his country will support efforts by the pakistani government to combat terrorism and extremism and also to promote peace and stability in the region. japan's foreign minister, fumio kishida, said he's deeply shocked and saddened by the many deaths and injuries. he said no act of terrorism can be justified. kishida said japan will work with the international community to support pakistan in fighting terrorism. the pakistani taliban is the

country's largest radical islamist group. it operates mainly in the northwestern region that includes peshawar. nhk world's masaki suda has more. >> reporter: the militant group has close ties with the taliban in afghanistan and al qaeda. in october, it showed support for islamic state, the radical group that is expanding its influence in iraq and syria. members of the pakistani taliban shot and seriously injured this year's nobel peace prize laureate, malala yousafzai, back in 2012. the group says the school attack is in retaliation for the large scale military offensive that has been underway in the northwestern region since june. the school is known to be heavily guarded because the students are children are military personnel.

but gunmen managed to infiltrate into the school, and killed more than 140 people, many of them children. the incident is sending shock waves. the pakistani taliban has proved that it is still capable of launching a massive assault despite the crackdown. prime minister nawaz sharif told reporters that the government will continue the military offensive until it's rid of terrorism. if insurgent attacks continue to claim civilian casualties, the government will face criticism for its security policy. masaki suda, nhk world, islamabad. officials in australia plan to review their anti-terrorism measures after the deadly siege at the sydney cafe. they say the attacker man haron monis had a history of violent crime and was influenced by radical ideas and they're

investigating why he was not on a terror watch list. police commandos stormed the cafe early tuesday after a more than 16-hour standoff, killing monis. 15 hostages made it out. two of them died. prime minister tony abbott said the government will look at why monis was not on the list, to learn lessons and act upon them. he says police officers will be deployed at major locations in sydney until after the new year. monis was known as a self-styled muslim cleric. authorities say he posted online messages pledging allegiance to islamic state militants. he was facing several charges but had been released from prison on bail. iranian police said monis allegedly embezzled money in 1996 from a travel agency. they said he fled to australia under a false name during the investigation. iranian authorities asked australia to hand him over through interpol in 2000. representatives of the group

reporters without border say that the violence against journalists is evolving. the media advocacy group is concerned about an increase in abductions and murders that have become more barbaric. members of the paris-based group installed a giant container in front of the eiffel tower to highlight the plight of imprisoned journalists and they spoke of colleagues who have died on the job. >> in 2014, everybody will remember the beheadings of american journalists, but in the world, 66 journalists have been killed in the course of their jobs in the real world. >> spokespersons for the group say five fewer journalists died this year compared to 2013. but it says 119 were kidnapped, that's an increase of 32 from last year. more than a third were abducted in syria and iraq. reporters without borders says the beheading of journalists for propaganda purposes had rarely taken place before. it says the murders have become

more violent and abductions are growing rapidly in an attempt to prevent independent news coverage. investors are worried. they are seeing the price of a barrel of crude oil getting lower. ai uchida joins us from the business desk with more. tell us the latest. >> investors don't expect the trend to reverse course any time soon. many are dumping their oil assets. they are hoping that they will get a bit more for it today than they might tomorrow or next week. in new york on tuesday, crude oil futures briefly sank to the lowest level in five years, seven months. benchmark west texas intermediate futures touched the $53 per barrel level. prices did bounce back a bit later to $57 range at one point. now it's at $54.07. traders are speculating the global oil glut will grow bigger if demand continues to fall. given that opec is refraining from cutting output. now along with falling oil

price, the russian ruble continues to plunge. traders are selling the currency on worries about the oil exporting country's economy. on tuesday the dollar rose 19% at one point, hitting 80 rubles. in six months the dollar has gained more than 50% against the russian currency. this move came despite the russian central bank's decision to raise its key interest rate from 10.5% to 17%. amid the uncertainty in global markets, tokyo stocks rebounded a touch this morning after investors bought shares that were sold off in the last two days. for more details we go to ramin mellegard who has a full wrapup for us. what did you see this morning? >> ai, as you touched on there, we did see a slight rebound in the price of crude oil and as such that boosted energy sector shares here which helped the nikkei. let's have a look at how the

morning session wrapped up for wednesday. the nikkei at 16,825 up 0.4%. and the topix at 1,357, up .3%. the nikkei opened in the negative following the declines in the u.s. and european markets but it rebounded. despite the fact that the yen is strong against the dollar, the investors were focused on the bounce on crude oil prices. they bought shares of oil and energy related companies. inpex was one of the top gainers today, having declined previously, six out of the last eight trading days. but they are up 3.39%. interestingly also just released earlier, for japan, we did see export numbers increase in value for november. and that, of course, was helped by that slightly weaker yen

during that period. some of the exporters trafding higher. tokyo electron and cannon. automakers gained on the back of. that we were checking out mazda as well as honda. let's look it currency levels for this morning's session and the lunch period as well. dollar/yen, 116.69-74. analysts say that investors may be on old until later today. the federal reserve's two-day policy meeting does wrap up. asian indexes, we're seeing a bit of a mixed picture there. the shan high composite continuing its rally into a fourth day but it's the hang seng into the negative but it's positive for the nikkei and topix. analysts at a u.s. investment bank are estimating that the oil prices could cause losses to the petroleum industry. they say if the current level of

prices of crude oil continues, projects around the globe could incur about $930 billion of losses. goldman sachs analysts have been researching the impact of low oil prices on crude oil and natural gas development projects. they say if north sea oil futures stay below $70 a barrel, fields with a production scale of 7.5 million barrels of crude oil per day would become unprofitable in 2025. the amount is equivalent of 8% of current output. the analysts say it will lead to delays and cancellation of high-cost development projects such as underwater drilling. they say the projects would need to cut costs by 20 to 30% to become profitable at today's oil prices. japan's trade balance remained in the red for a 29th straight month in november. that is the longest since comparable data became available in 1979.

finance ministry officials say that preliminary figures last the trade deficit last month was about $7.6 billion. it fell partly due to a fall in crude oil prices. exports rose 4.9% from a year earlier. the officials say the increase is mainly due to a rise in exports of semiconductors and liquid crystal panels to china. imports were down 1.7% from the same month last year. japan's tax collectors expect to bring in more revenue than they originally thought. they say the windfall will come to around 1.7 trillion yen or $14.5 billion. they say improved bottom lines at companies will generate higher revenues from corporate taxes while workers will contribute more due to pay raises. the total revenue for fiscal

2014 that ends in march is estimated at around 51.7 trillion yen. when the tax authorities compiled the budget they expected to net about 50 trillion yen. the government is now thinking of spending the extra revenue plus a surplus from the previous fiscal year on economic measures. these could include new sunsdies for local governments and extending discounts on toll expressways for trucking companies and other large lot users. this is the second day of our three-part series on japanese tastes. many companies face a challenge of a shrinking domestic market as the population falls. one is a company that makes a fish paste. a manager at the food maker has come up with a new spin on this traditional favorite that he hopes will tickle the taste buds of people overseas. nhk world's saori yam moe moe though has more. >> reporter: the company's

located on the sea of japan coast. people have been making kamaboko here for more than 40 years. the main ingredients of kamaboko are japanese mackerel and flying fish. -- itou is a manager at the company. he is trying to sell the product in the united states. >> translator: it's tough to get new customers in japan. so i want to expand overseas. >> reporter: itou went to the united states to study the market. he noticed people were concerned about food allergies there. for example, some people can't eat gluten, which is found in wheat. itou had the idea of making fish paste chips that don't use wheat but without wheat, fish paste doesn't hold together and is too chewy.

itou thought about using rice powder instead. he wanted to use only natural ingredients. it took him a year to develop the product. itou also wanted to cut costs by using the firm's existing packaging facilities. that made it hard to ensure the new product wouldn't be contaminated by wheat. itou found a way to solve the problem. >> translator: this is the new packaging machine we bought. >> reporter: it cost the firm about $370,000. that represents a few years of profits for the company. he finally developed fish paste chips with no trace of wheat. his co-workers give them the taste test. >> translator: it tastes good.

and it's crunchy. i think it will do well overseas. >> reporter: itou recently went to a trade fair in los angeles. he speaks very little english. he uses body language and his outgoing personality to get his message across. [ speaking foreign language ]. >> they don't use wheat. they use rice. >> translator: i think i can sell the products to people of all generations and nationalities. i believe it could by my company's main product. >> reporter: there was a time when many people outside japan recoiled at the idea of eating raw fish. now sushi is all the rage.

itou hopes that his chips will catch on in the same way. saori yamamoto, nhk world. she man -- shimane. >> u.s. i.t. giant google has decided to buy the product as snacks for employees in the london office. that's it for business for this hour, i'll leave you a check on markets. before moving on to our next story we have an apology for a mistake that was made earlier in the show. in the story on china's

investment in europe the names of the leaders of china and serbia you saw on the screen were misplaced. transport authorities in south korea are preparing to file a criminal investigation against a woman at the center of the so-called "nut rage" saga. they are also planning to punish korean air for the actions of cho hyun-ah. cho has apologized for what happened this earlier this month before her flight left an airport in new york. she was furious when an attendant served her nuts in a bag and not on a plate. she berated the crew and instructed the captain to taxi back to the gate and then she ordered the cabin crew chief to get off. cho is the daughter of korean air chairman who is the family of a powerful family in korea. cho resigned from all her posts following a storm of criticism. transport ministry officials say cho may have violated the aviation safety law. they say prosecutors will look into whether she used physical violence against crew members.

they may order korean air to pay a fine and suspend some of its operations. passengers on a flight from south korea to the u.s. had an unplanned stopover in japan after turbulence tossed their plane about in the skies. the rocky ride ended at narita airport but not before 12 people were hurt. japan's transport ministry say the crew of flight aa flight 280 reported the turbulence late tuesday. the plane touched down at narita after midnight with more than 250 passengers and crew on board. >> it lasted for about maybe 30, 45 seconds and it was very sudden. it was like a little bump and then there was a really big one when where all my drinks went up and hit the ceiling. food went flying.

and it was really bad. >> i've flown millions of miles. this is the worst i've ever seen. >> transport ministry officials have quoted the pilot as saying the plane hit severe turbulence for about ten minutes. the jet was at an altitude of 8,000 meters, bound for dallas. low pressure is to blame for the bumpy flight. the system is currently moving over northern japan. people in hokkaido have seen heavy snow since tuesday morning and now they're dealing with a blizzard. authorities in the region have cancelled more than 300 flights. time now for a check of the weather. our meteorologist robert speta has the details and more. >> let's talk about this severe storm system which is now rolling across much of japan. we have been seeing numerous traffic delays out here. many of the trains have been cancelled especially if northern japan, most of the shinkansen

trains have been shut down. and numerous flights on the ground here at this time and a lot of the planes that are in the air moving over japan being diverted to try to avoid this storm system. i want to show you why we are not seeing planes get off the ground. this is video from hokkaido. this is why the japan meteorological agency has asked people to stay indoors in eastern hokkaido here today. whiteout conditions on the roads. we are looking at wind reports in some areas at 144 kilometers per hour. that, as well as 80 centimeters of snowfall could be coming down with this storm system. let's take a look at the forecast -- this first. not just in northern hokkaido where we have been seeing the winds gust all here. evacuation advisories in nemuro. but in the west, 163 centimeters have come down. and plus on tuesday evening into wednesday morning we are seeing the gusty winds near the coastal areas of kanagawa prefecture. and we have seen the gusty winds in chiba and you is the center of low pressure where the worst of the storm system is hitting

in eastern hokkaido as well seeing the gusty winds. but extending back to the west. the western periphery of this, those winds wrap around and pulls in that cold air out of siberia and moves over the sea of japan. we could see some areas with 160 kilometer per hour winds. i don't think it's going to get quite to 180 outside of eastern hokkaido. 10-meter high waves and a meter of snowfall is a potential with this storm system as all that cool air comes on shore and it really hits the mountains. skiers love this. but if you live out here and plan on traveling the roads will be blocked for a period of time. as far as public transportation as well. that's going to be on a slow go with this storm system. and it's not just hokuriku, hokkaido, 70 to 80. parts of tohoku could see 50 to 60 centimeters. and western honshu and parts of kyushu have been reporting snow down to nagasaki.

a few flurries in the air. and some of it really is accumulating. a lot of people still going to be seeing this. even back in korea. minus 7 for your high in seoul. you have been seeing snow showers coming out of this. and all this is fuelled by this absolutely frigid air mass. and this give use an idea of this. look at harbon, minus 23 for your high on wednesday. the low is minus 30. the cool air coming out of the arctic. plus you the radiational cooling during the overnight hours. makes for frigid conditions for you. i want to talk about europe as well, specifically the british isles we have another storm system coming through. the big problem with this is the winds. we're going to see rain showers and snow in parts of scotland. but you a deep low coming in off iceland. plus a high just towards the west of the iberian peninsula. that sets up a tight pressure gradient. that's what we are talking about with these high winds. that will push to the east. bring a rain/snow mix across the

low countries. also down to the south in italy, moving through balkan peninsula, you will be seeing storms out here. due to the storm system which has been pushing through last several days. even brought flooding back to the west. for those of you into morocco. that's a look at your world weather. i'll leave you your extended forecast. and that's all for now on this edition of "newsline."

i'm yuko aotani in tokyo. thank you very much for joining us.

good evening from los angeles. i'm tavis smiley. tonight a conversation with senator carl levin of michigan who at the end of this month wraps up 36 years in the u.s. senate. he is the outgoing chair of the armed services committee as well as chair of the permanent subcommittee on investigations. we'll get his assessment on the senate intelligence committee's report on torture, the passage of the controversial spending bill and so much more. we're glad you've joined us. a conversation with carl levin coming up right now. ♪