>>> welcome to "newsline." i'm shery ahn. >>> u.s. president barack obama has admitted his responsibility for the democratic party's major setback in tuesday's midterm elections. the democrats secured the majority in the senate, but they suffered a historic defeat in the house of representatives, losing more than 60 seats. obama spoke at the white house on wednesday. >> over the last two years, we've made progress, but clearly, too many americans haven't felt that progress yet. and they told us that yesterday. and as president, i take responsibility for that. it underscores for me that i've got to do a better job. >> obama stressed his willingness to work in a spirit of bipartisanship with the republicans. he said he's eager to hear good ideas wherever they come from and that if the republicans want to suggest legislative modifications, he's happy to consider them. meanwhile, house majority leader john boehner told reporters on wednesday that he has discussed fiscal spending cuts and job creation with obama. >> and we hope that he wil

>>> welcome back to "newsline." i'm hideshi hara in tokyo with the latest at this hour. >>> as a fleet of u.s. navy ships sailed toward the yellow sea to take part in a joint drill with south korean forces, a top u.s. military commander has taken steps to reassure south koreans. u.s. army general walter sharp told residents on the yeonpyeong island on friday that the u.s. and south korea will work closely together following the north korea's artillery attack. >> what i see here physically is that north korea attacked this island, which is a clear violation of the armistice agreement. >> on friday afternoon, the sound of artillery shells being fired was heard six times coming from the north, but sources say it was just regular artillery training. military authorities fear the north may strike again as the u.s. and south korea are scheduled to begin joint military drills in the yellow sea on sunday. president lee myung-bak visited a hospital near seoul where the bodies of two soldiers killed in the attack are being ke

>>> welcome to "newsline." i'm shery ahn. >>> video footage of what appears to be the collision between a chinese trawler and two japanese patrol boats in september has been spreading rapidly across the internet. the japanese government was against the idea of making the video public because of the sensitivity of the issue. the footage was posted on video-sharing website youtube on thursday night. it was then copied and posted to other sites in japan and china. the footage appears to show the september incident near the senkaku islands in the east china sea. a japanese lawmaker who has seen the original footage says the internet video looks authentic. the original footage had been closely guarded by the japan coast guard and the prosecutor's offices on okinawa's ishigaki island. soon after the collision some of the footage was sent to coast guard headquarters in tokyo to brief the government about the incident. but the coast guard says that footage has been completely erased. the coast guard says copies of the

>>> welcome back to "newsline." i'm hideshi hara in tokyo with the latest at this hour. >>> the japan coast guard is investigating the release of a video posted on the internet of what appears to be a chinese trawler colliding into two japanese patrol boats in september. the coast guard now suspects the footage is authentic and someone intentionally posted it. the footage posted on youtube on thursday shows a chinese fishing vessel ramming two coast guard boats. the incident took place in japanese waters off the senkaku islands. china disputes japanese sovereignty over the islands. the coast guard says the cameramen who are identified in the video titles are the same people who shot the original footage. the coast guard has sent officials to its regional headquarters in okinawa where the video is being stored. prosecutors have begun an inquiry as they received a digitized copy of the video as evidence. they say the copy was stored in a computer accessible to officials at a district office no inn okinawa, a higher of

>>> welcome back to "newsline." i'm hideshi hara in tokyo with the latest at this hour. >>> leaders from emerging and developed economies have ended their two-day g-20 summit in seoul. the member countries have agreed to avoid a currency war and to compile guidelines to assess and correct large trade imbalances. our business reporter yongghi kang joins with us a summary of the seoul g-20. >> reporter: the g-20 leaders failed to iron out differences on pressing issues, but they did agree that a currency war must be avoided. one of the major focuses of the summit was the issue of global trade imbalances, and on this topic, the heads of state only agreed to set up vague guidelines to correct imbalances between countries with trade surpluses and those with deficits. they did not agree to post targets for american account balances, something which could limit a country's export potential. the details will be discussed in the first half of next year. on how the g-20 members view the state of the global economy, the final

>>> welcome tonhk world "newsline." i'm gene otani in tokyo. >>> leaders of developed and emerging economies have begun their second day of meetings at the g-20 summit in seoul. it's the fifth time the group has met since the global financial crisis hit. to get the latest we go live to our business reporter yonggi kang at the g-20 media center. >> reporter: the g-20 leaders are busy getting down to business. security is tight around the city and the movement is restricted around the summit venue. on thursday, about 3,000 students and ngo members held a demonstration but there have been no disruptions today. this morning the heads of state kicked off their first general meeting with discussions on a global economic framework. five plenary sessions are scheduled today with topics including financial regulatory reform and economic development. the g-20 members are expected to release their communique at around 3:30 p.m. but from my experience, covering previous g-20 meetings, we could see delay in the announcement of the f

>>> welcome to "newsline." i'm hideshi hara in tokyo with the latest at this hour. >>> the people's bank of china has ordered the country's banks to raise their reserves at the banks by 0.5%. the usual move left the reserves for second time in two weeks. the order is in effect november 29th, reflects china's strong determination deal with inflation. keeping large reserves at the central bank reduces the amount of currency in circulation that theoretically restrains credit and consumer price increases. in october, china's key consumer price index rose 4.4% from a year earlier, far surpassing the government's target of 3%. concern is also mounting that inflationary pressure will increase because of a large influx of money from overseas, particularly the united states as it eases its monetary policy. >>> an explosion ripped through a coal mine in new zealand on friday. 27 workers are missing. the blast happened near the town of atarau on the country's south island. several workers came out of the mine after the ex

>>> welcome to nhk world "newsline." i'm gene otani in tokyo. a death sentence has been given for the first time in a judge trial in japan since the system was introduced in may last year at the yokohama district court. a panel of judges, including ordinary citizens, handed down the sentence to a man charged with robbery and double murder. the unemployed man was found guilty of killing two men and taking $160,000 in june last year. one of the men operated a mahjong parlor in central tokyo. the defendant dumped the bodies in yokohama port. prosecutors said the defendant deserved a death sentence for what they called a cold-blooded crime. they said the man killed one of the victims with an electric saw while he pleaded with his life. >>> in a lay judge trial, six randomly chosen citizens serve along side three professional judges to determine guilt and sentence those found guilty. >>> japan's space agency has confirmed that most of the particles brought back to earth by the unmanned probe hayabusa are from the itokawa astroid. it marks the success

>>> welcome to nhk "newsline." the reinforcement follows the north's artillery strike on tuesday which killed four people, including two civilians and injured 18 others. south korean cabinet ministers in charge of national security decided on thursday to double the number of long range artillery guns on the islands of the yellow sea. the guns have a range of about 40 kilometers, the government cancelled a plan to reduce marine deployment on the islands and decided to allocate additional military budget to defend them. it also decided to review the military combat rules to encounter any further attack by the north. the president accepted the defense minister's resignation on thursday in what is being viewed as a dismissal. kim has been criticized for south korean military's fumbling of the response to the attack. with bipartisan support, the south's parliament overwhelmingly adopted a resolution condemning the attack. it called on the government to stop any further provocations from the north. >> i'm now in a reside

>>> at the top of the hour, it's time for "newsline" from our studios here in tokyo. i'm james tengan. britain said it's halting air cargo from somalia and yemen following the discovery of a parcel bomb. british authorities found the bomb in a cargo bound from yemen. it was hidden from a printer cartridge. a similar bomb was intercepted in dubai. british home secretary theresa may said that the suspension of air cargo from yemen will be expandeded to somalia. she cited a possible link between an al qaeda offshoot in somalia and poor airport security in mowing deegadishmog. may said large printer cartridges will be banned from hand luggage and air cargo. the german government also announced the suspension of flights from yemen and large cargo flights. >>> voters in the u.s. will cast their ballots in the midterm elections on tuesday to decide whether the democratic party can retain its majority in congress. all 435 seats in the house of representatives and 37 seats, or about a third in the senate, are up for grabs. voting starts from the eastern state of vermont at 5:0

. >>> welcome to nhk world "newsline." i'm gene otani in tokyo. >>> the south korean government has decided to suspend humanitarian dialogue and aid to north korea following tuesday's artillery attack by the country. the shelling of the south korean island of yeonpyeong in the yellow sea left two marines and two civilians dead. 18 people were injured, including three civilians. the casualties have led to calls from the public for a tough response, including military retaliation. >> translator: we have to show a firm attitude. we've been patient. >> translator: i don't want our country to stage a war. but north korea should be properly punished. >> the south korean government decided on wednesday to reject an inter-korean red cross meeting to arrange reunions of families divided since the korean war. the meeting was due to be held on thursday. the government also decided to suspend the delivery of 7,000 tons of cement to flood-stricken areas in north korea. south korean president lee myung-bak on wednesday talked with leade

>>> welcome to nhk world "newsline." the u.n. conference on climate change has started on anderson cancun, mexico. participants will discuss a framework for 20 ten and beyond. we have more from the site. >> reporter: delegates from 119 countries and territories are taking part in the two-week conference. under the kyoto protocol, only industrialized countries are required to curb their greenhouse gas emissions. those countries, including japan, are calling on china and other emerging economies to share the burden of cutting emissions. emerging economies claim industrializeded countries should share the costs because their actions are to blame for global warming. some say the kyoto protocol should be extended so the industrialized countries will be required to cut emissions. at the beginning of the meeting, the head of the u.n. climate change secretaryiate called on participating nations to compromise. >> when the stakes are high and the issues are challenging, compromise is an act of wisdom thatta can unite different positions in

. >>> welcome to nhk world "newsline." i'm gene otani in tokyo. >>> japan's ruling democratic party has unveiled its draft proposal for new foreign and security policies. it includes plans to strengthen self-defense forces in the east china sea. the party's foreign and security policy panel came up with the draft. it comes shortly before planned revisions to the nation's defense program guidelines. the draft says japan should reinforce its maritime and air self-defense forces to improve monitoring of nearby waters. it says japan's defense policy should focus on areas southwest of the country, instead of the north, in order to check china's naval moves in the east china sea. the draft added that ground self-defense force troops should be scaled back, except in the southernmost japanese prefecture of okinawa. the document says japan should relax its so-called three principles on arms exports, which essentially bans weapons shipments. it will allow japan to jointly develop and produce arms with other countries but only within

>>> welcome to nhk world "newsline." i'm gene otani in tokyo. >>> south korea has warned of a military response if north korea engages in further provocation after its artillery attack on tuesday. it was the first attack by the north on an inhabited area of south korea since the 1953 armistice to halt the korean war. president lee myung-bak told top military leaders on tuesday that their country should resist the north with force. the south korean military and u.s. troops stationed in the country have raised the surveillance level on north korea to the second highest status, mobilizing satellites and reconnaissance planes. earlier on tuesday north korea fired dozens of shells at yeonpyeong island near the maritime border. two south korean soldiers were killed and 15 other servicemen were wounded. three residents were also injured. south korea's foreign minister, kim sung hwan, invited the ambassadors of japan, china, and russia to a briefing on the exchange of fire. kim stressed that the attack was a clear violation of t

>>> welcome to nhk world "newsline." i'm gene otani. >>> tokyo prosecutors say leaked video clips that appeared on youtube were uploaded from an internet cafe in kobe. the videos show a chinese fishing boat colliding into japanese coast guard boats near the senkaku islands. the footage was posted on the internet site last thursday. it shows the collisions that took place in japanese waters off the islands in early september. on tuesday the tokyo district public prosecutor's office collected communication records on the videos as evidence. they were taken from the japanese office of google, the operator of youtube. after analyzing the internet protocol address, prosecutors located a pc at a cybercafe in central kobe. an ip address is a number assigned to any device connected to a computer network. tokyo metropolitan police are also investigating the case. they will analyze security camera footage and question cafe employees to identify the person who posted the videos. >>> ministers from the 21 apec members have begun dis

>>> welcome to nhk world "newsline." i'm gene otani in tokyo. >>> the u.s. secretary of state has called on the senate to ratify by the end of the year a treaty with russia to reduce nuclear arms. hillary clinton met republican senator richard lugar and other senators on wednesday before deliberations on the s.t.a.r.t. treaty. >> some have suggested we should hit the pause button, that it's too difficult to do this to this degree. this is exactly what the american people expect us to do. >> president barack obama is facing an uphill battle enacting key bills before japan, when the new congress is inaugurated. in the recent midterm elections his democratic party lost control of the house of representatives and its seats in the senate were sharply reduced. it remains to be seen whether the obama administration can gain bipartisan cooperation to ratify the treaty. many republicans do not want to compromise with the government after their big election win. >>> an american congressional commission has expressed concern that china's ballistic missiles can now reac

. >>> welcome to nhk world "newsline." i'm gene otani in tokyo. >>> leaders from developed and emerging countries are starting a two-day g20 summit in the south korean capital of seoul. high on the agenda are ways to tackle moves to deval yau currency and a correction in global economic imbalances. for the latest we go live to the media center in seoul where our business reporter yongi kan is standing by. what can you tell us? >> reporter: the g20 leaders are now arriving in seoul and preparing to discuss pressing global economic issues. the seoul g20 summit is the fifth of its kind and the first to be held in asia as well as in an emerging economy. u.s. president barack obama has already arrived in the south korean capital. japanese prime minister naoto kan is expected to arrive later today. south korean president lee myung-bak issued an outline of the agenda items to be discussed at the summit. the agenda takes up four major points. the first is the currencies issue. second is the ongoing effort to build a safety net aga

. >>> that concludes this edition of "newsline." we'll be back in half an hour with the latest news and weather. thanks for joining us on nhk world.

>>> welcome to "newsline." i'm shery ahn. voting continues across the united states in the country's midterm elections. abc news says that among the senate seats seven democrats and 16 republicans are expected to win. five of the republicans have been supported by the conservative tea party. the midterms are held halfway between presidential elections. 37 senate seats, which account for about a third of the chamber, and all 435 house seats are at stake. the focus of tuesday's elections is how many congressional seats president barack obama's democratic party can keep. the democrats currently hold a majority in both chambers. >> i hope he does a better job than he has. and i hope he listens to the people. >> i think he's doing the best job he can. he came in with a lot of problems. it's not going to be fixed overnight. got to give the guy a chance. >> abc news says the democrats are expected to win 117 seats in the house of representatives. opposition republicans are expected to win 151 seats. obama and his democratic party ar

>>> welcome to nhk world "newsline." i'm gene otani in tokyo. japan and south korea have agreed to closely monitor north korea amid signs the country may carry out a third nuclear test and its first since may last year. the japanese foreign minister and the top envoy to the six-party nuclear talks met in tokyo on thursday. saiki said there's no need to rush back to the stalled talks although the north is signaling a positive stance toward dialogue. the japanese official said it's necessary to create a suitable environment for resuming talks. the two officials also agreed that north korea must first take concrete action toward denuclearization. after the meeting wi told reporters that south korea is trying to verify the accuracy of reports that the north is preparing for another nuclear test. but he said details including the possible timing of a test remain unknown. >>> a u.n. general assembly committee has called on myanmar's military government to release all political prisoners. at the same time it welcomed last week's release of pro-democrac