i'm catherine kobayashi. rescue crews in the java sea are battling strong wind and high waves as they look for the downed airasia plane. they have so far recovered nine bodies. now, members of japan's maritime self-defense force are joining the search. officials with the government's emergency rescue team are to go into the waters on sunday. the ship rs bringing three large helicopters that can handle rough weather. authorities believe the plane crashed sunday off the coast of borneo. there were 162 passengers and crew on board. the airliner disappeared on radar screens from indonesia. survivors and witnesses at a new year's eve stampede in shanghai are demanding an investigation. they want to know whether there were enough security to manage the huge crowds. 36 were killed and 47 injured. the crash happened -- waterfront district more than 10 o,000 people there each new year's eve to celebrate. police said 500 were on duty. none were in sight during the chaos. the stampede happened on overcrowded steps. >> c

>>> hello and welcome to newsline it's wednesday january 21st i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. the government is using all available channels to help free two men encountered by islamic state militants. a purported member appears with the two japanese hostages in an online video and threatens to kill them unless japan pays a ransom in 72 hours. the video is highly likely to be authentic opinion but a senior government official says the militant group has made no contact and is not known when the 72 hour deadline will expire. the video appeared during shin zhu abe's tour of the middle east. >> translator: islamic state said in the video, they'll kill japanese citizens. using people's lives as shields for a threat is an act of terror. i'm furious about this. the two japanese citizens should not be harmed. they should be released immediately. this is what we insist upon. i have ordered the japanese government to put the highest priority on protecting human live s lives. we will cooperate with the international community to contribute to regional peace and security this policy is u

i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. thanks very much for staying with us.x ♪ ♪ ♪ >>> singapore is a gathering place of people from china, malaysia india, the philippines and many other countries. today, asian voices speaks with a film director who has captured the world attention by raising questions on some of the social issues in this city state. [ speaking foreign language ] >> a singaporean film "ilo ilo" depicts a relationship between a

i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo.>> japanese government leaders on a race against time. they are using all resources available to try to have two nationals believed to be captured by islamic state released. and they're promising the militant group that millions of military aid promised to the middle east is solely for humanitarian purposes. >> translator: we will use the trust and all the channels cultivated in the middle east. we will try every means available. >> the video released shows two men who are believed to be freelance journalists. kenji goto and harunai yakua. a purported islamic state member threatens to kill them unless the japanese government pays a ransom of $200 million within 72 hours. officials in tokyo assume the deadline is around 2:50 p.m. japan time on friday. state minister for foreign affairs yasuhide nakayama is taking charge of a task force based at the japanese embassy in jordan. he met on wednesday with king abdullah. the king gave assurances of his readiness to cooperate fully. japan's fo

i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. >>> the new u.s. congress has convened after midterm elections in november. the republican party has a majority in both the senate and house of representatives. the gop will likely step up its confrontations with president barack obama over key policies. the house reelected john boehner as its speaker on tuesday. republicans are against obama's plan to begin talks on economic sanctions ond normalizing diplomatic relations with cuba. they're also trying to block p reforms. they'll soon introduce a bill to approve the construction of an oil pipeline. obama is cautious about the project due to environmental concerns. the white house says the president will exercise his veto if congress passes the bill. >> i can confirm for you if this bill passes this congress, the president wouldn't sign it either. >> obama says he intends to issue executive orders to promote policies opposed by republicans. but he also says he's ready to seek their cooperation in matters such as the transpacific partnership free trade

i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. japan's prime minister shinzo abe says the country will play an active role to achieve stability in the middle east. abe held talks in israel with prime minister benjamin netanyahu on monday. >> translator: japan will play an active role to bring stability to the middle east. i would like to offer candid advice to both israelis and palestinians as a true friend. >> abe is to visit the palestinian territories on tuesday. he expressed condolences for four jews killed in recent terror attacks in france. he said the international community must continue to do its utmost against terrorism. abe and netanyahu announced a joint document that calls for deepening defense exchanges. it also says their countries will start preliminary discussions on an investment pact. abe also said this year marks the 70th anniversary of the atomic bombings of the cities hiroshima and nagasaki. he stressed that japan attaches great importance to the control and nonproliferation of nuclear weapons. abe urged isra

i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo.nother deadline set by islamic state militants in the hostage cris hasxpiredndre nooron the japanese or jordanian they're holding. they demanded a prisoner swap but leaders in jordan wanted proof their citizen is still alive. >> yesterday that jordan is willing to exchange sajida al rishawi with the jordanian pilot moaz al kasasbeh. at this point we want to emphasize that we have asked for a proof of life from daesh and we have not received anything as of yet. we need a proof of life so we can proceed with what we announced yesterday regarding the exchange between sajida al rishawi and the jordanian pilot. >> a jordanian court sentenced rishawi to death for her role in bomb attacks in amman in 2005. the minister says the prisoner is still in jordan. he says they are ready to exchange her for the pilot as soon as they get proof he is alive. militants purporting to be with islamic state had set a deadline of sunset in iraq thursday. they relayed the demand through their captive, japanese

i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. china's state-run agency xinhua says police in the country's northwest have prevented a bombing. the report says officers in the xinjiang uighur autonomous region saw people trying to detonate explosives and they shot the would-be bombers dead. the report says residents in a commercial district of cashcar spotted a person with an explosive device. the person wielded an ax and tried to detonate the device before being shot by police. they shot five others who were attempting to set off the explosives they were wearing. xinhua says a vehicle with explosives inside was also found at the site. police have responded to a spate of attacks in recent months. many residents in the region are reportedly unhappy with the government's ethnic and religious policies. >>> authorities in indonesia may be a step closer to understanding why an airasia passenger jet crashed into the java seat last month. navy divers have retrieved the plane's flight recorder. search and rescue authorities say they found

i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. authorities in belgium say they have foiled a terror attack. police raided a town near brussels as part of an investigation into extremists returning from syria. they shot dead two suspects and arrested a third. >> during the investigation we found that this group was about to commit terrorist attacks in belgium. >> prosecutors say raids were carried out in vervies and the capital. they say the suspects were planning to launch a large-scale attack targeting police officers. officers evacuated a police station in brussels out of fear explosives may have been planted. authorities have not yet confirmed whether the three suspects had links to last week's attacks in france. at least 150 people from belgium are said to have gone to syria as fighters after being inspired by extreme ideology. this has raised concern that they may carry out acts of terrorism on home soil. >>> japan's prime minister has left for a tour to the middle east. shinzo abe will travel to four countries and territorie

i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo.apanese government officials are dealing with a new stage in the hostage crisis. they're trying to secure the release of the remaining at that pointive under terms dictated by extremists purported to be with the group islamic state. and those terms now involve another country. a message posted online saturday contains an audio recording of a man claiming to be freelance journalist kenji goto. and there's a still shot of him holding a photo of what appears to be the body of the other hostage, haruna yukawa. the man says his captors want a prisoner swap. in return for releasing him they want jordan to free sajida al-rishawi. she's a convicted terrorist on death row. japanese prime minister shinzo abe has directed his administration to make an all-out effort to secure goto's release. he sent his state minister for foreign affairs to jordan to set up a task force last week. yasuhide nakayama spoke to reporters on monday in amman. >> translator: i want jordan and japan to closely cooperate

i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. a group of armed men has stormed a newspaper office in paris, killing at least 12 people. they're still on the loose. president francois hollande has raised the terror alert in the french capital to the highest level. the masked men were carrying automatic rifles. they stormed the office of the "charlie hebdo" weekly newspaper and shot people who were at an editorial meeting. many victims were journalists, including the paper's editor and cartoonists. the attackers exchanged gunfire with police on the way out, killing one policeman, then fled. the site is located near the city's bastille monument. bernard cazeneuve that the authorities are looking for three men. the car they used to escape was found abandoned in a northern part of the city. the "charlie hebdo" newspaper is known for its satirical content. on wednesday they published a cartoon that lampooned islamic jihadists. the afp quoted the attackers yelled out "the prophet has been avenged." security officials strengthened securi

i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. >>> japanese government leaders on a race against time.are using all resources available to try to have two nationals believed to be captured by islamic state released. and they're promising the militant group that millions of military aid promised to the middle east is solely for humanitarian purposes. >> translator: we will use the trust and all the channels cultivated in the middle east. we will try every means available.

i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. >>> officials at mcdonald's japan are taking steps they hope will cleane outlets and reputation. they plan to check how sanitation is managed at all of their restaurants worldwide. this follows a series of scandals involving foreign objects found in mcdonald's food. officials with mcdonald's japan say an outside food safety company will check the more than 3,000 outlets. the sanitaryke

i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. a group of armed men has stormed a newspaper office in paris, killing at least 12 people. they're still on the loose. president francois hollande has raised the terror alert in the french capital to the highest level. the masked men were carrying automatic rifles. they stormed the office of the "charlie hebdo" weekly newspaper and shot people who were at an editorial meeting. many victims were journalists, including the paper's editor and cartoonists.

i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. >>> militants purported to be with the islamic state have a new deadline for their hostages. they say there are 24 hours to release a female jihadist for a captive. kenji goto. footage appears to show him holding a photo of the air force pilot and a voice claiming to be goto relays the demands. >> i'm kenji goto. i've been told this is my last message. and i've also been told that the barrier obstructing the freedom is now just the jordanian government delaying the handover of sajida. tell the japanese government to put all their political pressure on jordan. time is now running very short. it is me for her. what seems to be so difficult to understand? i only have 24 hours left to live. and the pilot has even less. >> it's not clear when that 24-hour deadline expires. the militant group is demanding sajida al rishawi be freed in exchange for goto. she's a death row inmate convicted of a 2005 terrorist attack. jordanian leaders have been mulling a prisoner swap of rishawi and the air force pilot. he was captured by the militants last month after his jet wen

i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. >>> people in myanmar will be voting in a general election for the first time in six years, but opposition groups may boycott the vote over concerns military leaders still hold too much power. the union solidarity and development party won the first selection in 2010. many of its lawmakers are affiliated with the military dictatorship that rules myanmar for decades. the party of pro democracy leader sue chiu boycotted the poll. it guarantees a quarter of the states in parliament go to military personnel. the date of this year's election has not been announced and leaders haven't said if they'll take part. they're demand inging changes to the constitution and the lek troll system. u.s. president obama has expressed concern over the slow pace of reforms an opposition boycott would cast further doubt. but many analysts see great promise in myanmar. they describe the country as asia's final frontier for its economic potential. they're looking to the election as a test for whether leaders can maintain stability while carrying out democratic reforms. >>> f

i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. china's state-run agency xinhua says police in the country's northwest have prevented a bombing. the report says officers in the xinjiang uighur autonomous region saw people trying to detonate explosives and they shot the would-be bombers dead. the report says residents in a commercial district of cashcar spotted a person with an explosive device. the person wielded an ax and tried to detonate the device before being shot

i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo.s for staying with us. q ouses are being rebuilt in the devastated areas at a rapid pace. in this situation, a project was launched to build affordable houses using locally produced timber. driving this project is the kamaishi local forestry association. five of the central figures including the president and the accountants perished in the tsunami and the cooperative was in danger of closing down. however, as part of its efforts to revive, it launched a

i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo.s for staying with us. >> garrison keillor: maxine kumin lives on a farm in new hampshire where she breeds arabian and quarter horses writing poetry, four novels, more than 20 children's books. she says, "i don't want to write poems that aren't necessary. i want to write poems that matter." >> this is a little one called after love. afterward, the compromise. bodies resume their boundaries. these legs, for instance, mine. your arms take you back in. spoons of our fingers, lips admit their ownership. the bedding yawns, a door blows aimlessly ajar and overhead, a plane singsongs coming down. nothing is changed, except there was a moment when the wolf, the mongering wolf who stands outside the self lay lightly down, and slept. ( applause ) thank you. >>> 3 1/2 years since the great east japan earthquake, houses are being rebuilt in the devastated areas at a rapid pace. in this situation, a project was launched to build affordable houses using locally produced timber. driving this project

i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo.e government officials are dealing with a new stage in the hostage crisis. they're trying to secure the release of the remaining at that pointive under terms dictated by extremists purported to be with the group islamic state. and those terms now involve another country. a message posted online saturday contains an audio recording of a man claiming to be freelance journalist kenji goto. and there's a still shot of him holding a photo of what appears to be the

i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. >>> people in myanmar will be voting in a general election for theirst time in six years, but opposition groups may boycott the vote over concerns military leaders still hold too much power. the union solidarity and development party won the first selection in 2010. many of its lawmakers are affiliated with the military dictatorship that rules myanmar for decades. thpa

i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo.japan's prime minister shinzo abe says the country will play an active role to achieve stability in the middle east. abe held talks in benjamin netanyahu on monday. >> translator: japan will play an active role to bring stability to the middle east. i would like to offer candid advice to both israelis and palestinians as a true friend. >> abe is to visit the palestinian territories on tuesday. he expressed condolences for