he's going to sue olympus for unfair dismissal. nhk world's mitsuko mish kau waugh tells us more about the cross-sharing system that woodford opposes. >> cross-shareholding is a traditional japanese system that gives big banks a lot of influence on boards of directors. some of olympus' largest share holders include megabanks such as mitsubishi usa. they are often cornerstone investors in japanese blue chips. they not only lend money and make interest off those loans, they also make profits off the shares they hold. woodford says the system while clearly serving the country well in the years following the second world war is in today's world harmful due to the unwritten convention that one must never publicly criticize another. now, while woodford is giving up his fight to the reform olympus, the company is still facing other problems. tokyo police are investigating its accounting fraud. plus, there's pressure to overhaul senior management. last month's report by an independent panel criticized the corporate climate that allowed exe

olympus launches another lawsuit as it tries to find out what happened to its lost millions. scandal tainted olympus corporation has filed a lawsuit against five current or former auditors. the japanese optical equipment maker blames the men for their role in a cover up. olympus announced on tuesday it is demanding the auditors pay up to one billion yen or about $13 million in comp siegs. a panel of outside lawyers received a report earlier in the day saying the three current and two former auditors share responsibility. the panel says they caused losses of about $110 million. earlier this month olympus sued the former president and 18 other current and former executives. these officials transferred the losses to overseas funds and tried to cover them up through corporation acquisitions. lawyers in that suit are seeking damages of about $46 million. meanwhile an olympus shareholder has filed a lawsuit against the optical equipment maker. the shareholders say the company has not done enough to make clear who was responsible for the accounting cover up scandal. the shareholder

he's going to sue olympus for unfair dismissal. nhk world's mitsuko nishikawa tells us more about the cross-sharing system that woodford opposes. >> cross-shareholding is a traditional japanese system that gives big banks a lot of influence on boards of directors. some of olympus' largest share holders include megabanks such as mitsubishi usa. they are often cornerstone investors in japanese blue chips. they not only lend money and make interest off those loans, they also make profits off the shares they hold. woodford says the system while clearly serving the country well in the years following the second world war is in today's world harmful due to the unwritten convention that one must never publicly criticize another. now, while woodford is giving up his fight to the reform olympus, the company is still facing other problems. tokyo police are investigating its accounting fraud. plus, there's pressure to overhaul senior management. last month's report by an independent panel criticized the corporate climate that allowed executiv

olympus a major focus for investors in japan. we will follow it up with end of the day market reports, of course. but for now, back to you, ai. >> thanks a lot. ramin mellegard. trading in the positive. >>> time to get a look at other market figures now. >> that's the latest in business. >>> fukushima prefecture pledged to relocate residents of an apartment block built from contaminated concrete. radioactive cesium was detected in the building. some rooms on the ground floor had readings up to 1.24 microsieverts per hour, higher than atmospheric levels. the gravel for the concrete came from a quarry near the fukushima daiichi plant. the town was designated an evacuation zone in april. 10 of the 12 households are evac ways from other areas. >> translator: i have been living here since last august. i'm concerned about how much radiation i've been exposed to and what i should do. i'm wondering whether i have to move out. >> the prefectural government says they will ask residents whether they wish to move. they offered to find altern

. >>> japanese optical equipment maker olympus is suing some of its currents and former executives. this is for their role in a scandal that covered up losses over many years. olympus announced on tuesday it had filed the lawsuit against 19 people at the tokyo district court. it is seeking up to $47 million in damaged compensation. the move came after a third-party panel lawyers concluded a probe into current and former board members in connection with the accounting fraud. the panel said former president, former auditor and former vice president all played a key role in hiding investment losses worth over 100 billion yen. legal panel also criticized current president and five other directors for failing to detect the fraud. olympus announced that the current executives who are accused of fraud are to resign their posts by march or april. >>> french and german leaders are again taking the lead on the european credit crisis. ai has the details. >> the german chancellor and french president met yesterday. they agreed that economic growth should be part of the region's plan and not jus

now lawyers olympus want toorme auditors in the we'll haveails on t of do stay with shi in tokyo. thanks for -- www.vitac.com

prosecutors say olympus concealed investment lawsuitses of 100 billion yen. they transferred those losses to overseas funds and tried to cover them up through corporate acquisitions. a panel of outside lawyers released a report concluding the five former auditors shared responsibility. they say the auditors lost the company more than 8 billion yen. olympus sued the former president and 18 other former and current executives earlier this month. lawyers are seeking damages of up to $47 million in that suit. >>> a credit agency slashed the rating of yet another pivotal piece of the euro zone, the bailout fund. ai uchida at the business desk for that story. >> europe's way out of the credit crisis took a bleak turn when standard & poor's downgraded the efsf. s&p is the same agency that cut the ratings of nine euro zone nations on friday. the rating for the efsf was lowered by one notch from the highest aaa rating to aaplus. the funds are intended to assist euro zone member countries that are unable to procure financing on their own. france and austria are among t

. >>> the tokyo stock exchange is likely to continue listing scandal-hit optical equipmentmaker olympus but designate it in the alert category, which requires improvements to internal oversight. an official decision is planned for january 20th at the tse board of governors meeting. the tse has been investigating possible violations of the criteria required for listing because olympus hid massive investment losses for many years. investigators found that the company was not running a capital deficit and only a handful of top executives were involved in the cover-up. therefore, necessary criteria were not breached. however, the tse planneds to designate olympus in the alert category can which will require the company to submit an annual report to explain the improvements made to internal oversight. the optical equipmentmaker could be delisted, still, after three years if the exchange finds that internal oversight has not improved. time to get a check on where markets are at this hour. >>> market is off to a positive start this friday. we'll see where china opens next hour. back to catheri

olympus filed a suit at tokyo district court. the company is seek up to $47 million in compensation for damages. the lawsuit came after a third party panel of lawyers concluded an investigation into current and former board members. the panel named the former president, former auditor, and former vice president played key roles in hiding investment losses worth more than 100 billion yen at the time. the president has been criticized and five other directors for failing town cover the fraud. olympus spokesperson said current executives accused of fraud will resign at the next shareholder meeting scheduled for march or april. >>> firefighters in tokyo will soon be better prepared to deal with nuclear emergencies. the city's fire department is introducing a new response unit. the crisis at the fukushima daiichi nuclear power plant prompted the move. the department currently has four special units for disaster response and rescue. one of them is trained to handle radio active and chemical substances. those firefighters went to fukush

however, tse plans to did he say ig anyways olympus in the alert category. it will require them to submit an annual report that explains improvements to internal oversight. they could be delisted after three years if the exchange finds internal oversight has not improved. >>> time to recap the latest market figures. >>> that's the latest in business. back to katherine. >> thanks very much, ai. >>> voters in taiwan have two main choices in saturday's presidential election. ma ying-jeou is running, and tsai wen hopes to regain control after four years out of office. >> the opposition dpp is afraid this success could cost them votes. nhk world's raja pradhan has the story. >> um, this is delicious. the soup i'm having has milk fish, a local delicacy. people in taiwan enjoy milk fish, but as living standards get better, shoppers buy more expensive fish. demand for milk fish has hit the ceiling. rho cha-cha lives in the southern part of the island. no other place in taiwan produces as much milk fish. rho says last year the amount shipped to other locations increa

wolfford says olympus' big japanese shareholders let him down. he has harsh word for the company's president. >> if that had been in any other capitalist market in the world, takayama would have had fruit thrown at him the athe press conference. the headlines would be "idiot, liar, fool." how could he have said these payments were appropriate and good value? but he stays. >> mark woodford going down fighting. the news hasn't hurt olympus' share price. it was up by 2.25%. if you look at the longer term, it has a long way to go before it recovers its huge losses since the scandal broke just under three months ago. one stage down more than 80%. still down by more than 40%. charles? >>> just ahead on "world business today," as western powers increase the pressure on iran to try to limit its nuclear program, the country is playing its next strongest hand. we'll assess what threats a blockade could mean for the global oil industry. luck? i don't trade on luck. i trade on fundamentals. analysis. information. i trade on tradearchitect. this is web-based

olympus up nearly 20%. that's after the nikkei newspaper reported it would remain listed on the tokyo stock exchange. they are a big mover. a stock we've talked about as with olympus as we've talked about all year, tepco. the government will buy a majority stake in the floundering company. that was the company that was running the fukushima daiichi nuclear plant that has just been stabilized after the tsunami back in march. that is when the tsunami hit march 11 last year. that has been the following story. no confidence at all in tepco stock. it's down something like 90% since then. we're going to now take you to a live event happening in syria. the syrian president bashir al-assad is giving a very rare address. this is the first address he has made since late last month when the arab league sent in observers to monitor a peace plan in syria. let's listen in to the syrian president. >> translator: i have been longing for all these meetings and direct meeting with the citizens, but i've always been following

that w further yen which exporters on the b investor keen how things d olympus. the weekendmay be announcementexecutives including president of the camerasuedlows the corporateandal that erupted late lou remember. forjapan's willumer toshiba, anese makers lining 3d tablets and devihere as ai? >> focus on bond this hecies trade thg euro a at the focus tuesday morning you can see 98.21. below the lastrecently so focus. auctions italy and spai go could see the majorfocus. genera coming up central thursday and bon for in january, >> ramin, tokyo >>> nissanre gasoline the united ates.man automakers a engines announcedsunday.an spokesperson says automaker wi engines in 2014 fnd renault estab daimler i allowing for and the venture would daimler's need f produced increase car north america andnissan's plan t e factoryctively. automakers aroun trying to use to cut moreefficien germany's bmw agreed to toyota. >>> latest market figures.> i'llness newshour. you. >>>emen died in11 disa brigade new 27 their lives. while residents to the ceremony began m of the community 2300 m

on friday he said he would give up his effort to return to the ceo's job of olympus. >>> the nation court has found opposition leader an war ibrahim not guilty. his political career han been plagued by accusations of sodomy and corruption. an war served six years in prison on sodomy charges beginning in 1998. that was until malaysia's highest court overturned the conviction. they say it also proves malaysia has an independent justice system. >>> now in new zealand they're bracing for another oil spill after the breakup of a stranded cargo ship. coming up after the break, what authorities are trying to do to prevent another environmental disaster. only from visine®. just one drop instantly soothes and revives tired, overworked eyes. and comforts them for up to ten hours. visine® tired eye relief. try now and save $3. d you need a little help with your mortgage, want to avoid foreclosure. candy? um-- well, you know, you're in luck. we're experts in this sort of thing, mortgage rigamarole, whatnot. why don't we get a contract? who wants a contract? [honks horn]

however, it is also proposing a capital tie-up, pretty interesting, with olympus. we'll keep track of that development as well. let's look at some of the currency levels this tuesday morning. concerns about bond yields in eurozone countries especially portugal caused the euro to weaken against the dollar. you can see the euro yen 100.28-33. it was trading 101 yesterday. it has weakened against the yen. ai? >> you mentioned earnings that came out this week there. we still have key earnings due out here in japan, and not to mention economic data from the u.s. >> definitely still a lot on the plate. more i'd oh manufacturing, make the kpasors for iphones and ipads, strong sales expected there, and honda and also middle east a hoe financial. a lot for the investors to take in. >> indeed a lot to digest. >> we will have all the price action and share action at the close for everyone to see the developments today. but for now, the nikkei and topics marginally lower this tuesday morning. back to you. >> thanks for that. that was ramin mellegard from the tokyo stock exchan

investors in japan are keen to see how things develop with olympus. it was learned over the weekend there may be announcement today that executives, including the former president of the digital camera maker will be sued, and that follows the corporate bookkeeping scandal that erupted late last year, if you remember. also in the focus for japan's investors will likely be consumer electronics show in vegas and the likes of toshiba, other major japanese electronic goods makers lining up with new products in 3d tvs, tablets and other handheld devices. some focus there as well. ai? >> ramin, with the focus on bond auctions in europe this weekend, the ecb meeting, how are the currencies trade thg tuesday? >> the yen against the euro, a big focus there. let's look at the focus levels this tuesday morning in japan. you can see 98.21. already traded below 98 just in the last few days recently, so that's a major focus. if the bond auctions in italy and spain don't go smoothly, we could see further weakness for the euro. so that will be a major focus. generally

. >> let's move on and talk about the former boss -- boss of japanese camera giant olympus, digging upis effort to retake control of the company but he does plan to sue for unfair dismissal. he was fired as chief executive in october after he blew a whistle on a $1.7 billion accounting scam. >> japan is the same as every other capitalist market, and i respected his contribution, but you would never, ever get a situation where there is massive fraud -- share price down 80%, and a bunch of inadequates to allow it to happen but certainly did not react when they had the opportunity to continue. >> let us talk about jobs on both sides of the atlantic. unemployment in the eurozone at a record high, as the debt crisis continues. the jobless rate in the 17 nations that used the single currency which 10.3% in november 16 0.3 million people out of work. at the same time, the european commission said an index of consumer confidence fell to a two-year low. the u.s. labor department releases its monthly figures for december later today. with fewer americans claiming unemployment benefits last week,

electronics sectors sony is losing almost three percent of reports about its tie up with the troubled olympus and hong kong and several other asian stock markets are closed for the living new year holiday. russian markets open lower on tuesday the r.t.s. is losing point one percent in the first minutes of trading column isaacs is shedding over a quarter of a percent michael steiner about criticize that the upcoming davos economic forum a bomb a speech tell us corporate results will keep investors busy all week long. given the improved outlook for the oil price because of the around news that we saw yesterday and given the very low valuations for russia generally and the fact that many of our clients continue to see fund flows into the russian dedicated friends we think that the market will gradually melt higher and that's it investors will pay attention to global events and this week there are a lot of them investors will look at the f one c. meeting coming up president barack obama's speech his state of the nation's address . in addition we've got the world economic forum in more than one hu

i do not want people to think i am bestowing four pinocchio's from mount olympus on people. it is a judgment call. >> did you do it all yourself? >> yes. >> you have done some videos for "the washington post" website. here you're talking about rick perry and climate change. i want to ask you how you do this. >> in this episode, we will take a look at rick perry posted a surprising comments on climate change. >> there are substantial number of scientists who have manipulated data so that they will have dollars rolling in to their projects. i think we're seeing almost weekly and daily sciences to are coming forward in questioning the original idea that man-made global warming is what is causing the climate to change. >> climate is not settled on whether or not the climate change is being impacted by man to the point where we're going to put america's economics in jeopardy. >> there is growing skepticism among scientists. to the contrary, a survey showed that as many as 98% of climate researchers believe in the concept of man-made climate change. gov. perry is wrong for claimin

the man who blew the lid off the billion dollar accounting scandal in olympus is back in japan and pondering his job as the company's ceo. michael woodforde arrived thursday morning. he's making a final decision on whether to retake the top job. >> i think i have enough support from shareholders. there's not an issue in relation to support. >> woodford was dismissed after bringing its irregular accounting to light back in october. >>> china's four biggest airlines have delivered a blow to the european union carbon emissions rules. chinese airlines are considering taking the eu to court despite an unsuccessful legal challenge to the changes last month. airlines from countries who offset emissions in other ways may be exempt to the charges. i don't think that applies to china yet, andrew. >> "the wall street journal" is reporting that the once mighty imaging company kodak may have to file for bankruptcy protection if it can't sell its digital patents. kodak's revenues have been eroded by the rise of digital technology, something kodak invented but failed to profit from. they are down, as you s

i'm only human and i don't want people to think that i'm bestowing on mount olympus bestowing four pinocchiospeople. there are judgments about the pinocchios, particularly if i'm trying to decide between two pinocchios or three. it's a judgment call. >> do you do it all yourself? >> yes. yes. >> all right. you have done videos for the "washington post" website. and here is one where you're talking about rick perry and climate change and i want to ask you how you do this. >> uh-huh. ♪ ♪ >> in this episode of fact check video, take a look at rick perry's comments on climate change and the science behind the research. >> i think there are substantial number of sciences who have manipulated data so that they will have dollars rolling in to their projects and i think we're seeing it almost weekly or even daily, scientists coming forward and questioning the original idea that manmade global warming is what is causing the climate to change. >> the fact of the matter is the science is not settled on whether or not the climate change is being impacted by man to the point where we're going to put ameri

they see me working with it, they often say, oh, i want to get one of those, and i say fine, it's an olympus stylus with a fixed focus lens, no tell photo, so when you go in, don't get the telephoto. it won't cost any more. it's just a gadget but it will slow you down, and you're not going off using a camera like this to photograph giraffes in africa, so if you want to get closer to your subject, that's why you have these things called legs. move in. it actually will mccain -- make it more of a give and take relationship anyway. you shouldn't move in and grab a picture to begin with. if you're going to take a picture, take a good picture. >> do you talk to your subjects while you're doing it? >> yes, i do. i was just going to say about the color picture, i think it takes as good pictures as my lyca or my nikon. it's not the camera that takes the picture. so i picture i took in color recently on this is now on the back of saul bellow's novella. so a lot of the pictures i'm taking with this small camera are published and publishable. as far as talking to my subjects, yes, i talk to them only b

third quarter through december the company went ahead and made a formal proposal for a tie-up with olympus>>> and in other news, a new government report says japan's population will shrink 30% are from its current level to less than 87 million people by 2016. they will increase to about two out of five persons is estimated to be over 65 years old. >> thank you very much from the nikkei. karen? >>> the european debt crisis and slowing global demand has taken its toll on another joined in the electronics secotor. philips reported a 45% fall in fourth quarter profits. poor results in siemens fell 23%. joining us now is the senior sales trader at silver wind securities. darren, you've got a sell object siemens, the eurozone bellwether, but you seem negative on philips. tell us why. >> i can't remember the last tile philips produced anything but bad news. look back even to the time previous in 2008, philips has been a perennial disappointment. they've been restructuring the business it seems forever closing down division after division and the medical device specializing now. they're obviously