here, celestial navigation is taught on a south pacific island. we begin to learn language and other symbolic systems at birth. in time, they become a part of who we are and how we perceive the world. still, it's difficult for those of us in one culture to fully understand the symbolic systems of another. for archaeologists, the task is even more complex. the cultures they study can no longer be directly observed. archaeologist david webster. webster: suppose i came into this stadium a week, or even a century, after all the people left. how would i figure out what happened here ? what this arena was used for ? this is the dilemma facing archaeologists. symbols are of fundamental importance in understanding any human culture because they're so laden with meaning. but they're not very durable, and even if we find them, often we can't decode them. in this case, though, i'm in luck because of this -- writing. writing is a set of graphic symbols that is directly or indirectly related to language. keach: we use writing to convey very specific informatio

south and east china seas. disputes over islands in the south and east china seas have broad economic and security implications to the united states interest in the asia pacific region. disruption in this region could cause serious problems across the globe. i strongly believe that the united states must take a leadership role in these disputes and work to support a peaceful collaboration to these issues. the resolution takes a step in the right direction. we cannot accept unilateral action by any of the countries involved in these disputes as it it further degrades security in the region. here is a clear example of congress supporting the united states role in the rebalance to the asia-pacific region. in particular, we cannot allow

west bay, which has been in existence since 1968, has been serving philipinos and asian pacific islanders in the south of market ever since, is a part of the soma youth collaborative, a partnership of youth organizations that serve soma and whose mission is to instill protective and supportive factors for youth, particularly for youth and families at the bessie carmichael school, the only school in the soma district. this will allow them to have an even wider reach to soma youth and provide college prep services for them. they propose to serve grades 8 through 12 with this money to provide academic support and tutoring, individualized case management, counseling sessions as well as training for parents related to financial planning for college. the contract if approved would be two years starting july 1, 2015 and sending june 30, 2017. the united playas proposal is to serve as a down payment to acquire the building at 1038 howard street where they have been operating their clubhouse for the last 5 years. they recently celebrated their 30 year anniversary providing antiviolence services to soma and acr

south koreans. later that year we saw north korea, again this is in 2010 shell a small pacific island and it killed south koreans so we've seen this in 2010, this increase in terrorism from the north koreans, i don't understand why president bush took them off the list in 2008 and certainly we should have put them back on the list at least by 2010 when they demonstrated that they were willing to kill their neighbors just for a military exercise. >> rick, i get the distinct impression that you don't buy this denial on their part that they had nothing to do with the hacking of sony pictures. >> you know, i don't buy it but it's a golden opportunity for the president and for the nsc, for our national security advisor susan rice to come forward with evidence for the world. you know, these types of denials by north korea do play well at the un. there are some people who will believe this. others, obviously are very skeptical. what we should do is take the opportunity to ruin north korea's credibility here and to really push this issue that they are lying. that they are deceiving. that they are a sponsor

south koreans. later that year we saw north korea, again this is in 2010 shell a small pacific island and it killed south koreans so we've seen this in 2010, this increase in terrorism from the north koreans, i don't understand why president bush took them off the list in 2008 and certainly we should have put them back on the list at least by 2010 when they demonstrated that they were willing to kill their neighbors just for a military exercise. >> rick, i get the distinct impression that you don't buy this denial on their part that they had nothing to do with the hacking of sony pictures. >> you know, i don't buy it but it's a golden opportunity for the president and for the nsc, for our national security advisor susan rice to come forward with evidence for the world. you know, these types of denials by north korea do play well at the un. there are some people who will believe this. others, obviously are very skeptical. what we should do is take the opportunity to ruin north korea's credibility here and to really push this issue that they are lying. that they are deceiving. that they are a sponsor

in the south pacific somewhere. taking care of the islands. i think australia is next. but norad's santa tracking program has been going on for nearly 6 decades and you can follow along on the agency website. i bet there's an app for that. >> probably. >> i'd imagine so. >>> this is a live look right now at the 14th annual lefty o'doul's toy drive in san francisco, the last-minute toy drive will run through 11 p.m. the goal is to collect 10,000 toys before tomorrow. and if you get a chance to stop by, you can just drop off a toy. young carollers and mayor lee will be stopping by this morning. and it looks like they are already getting a little bit of a crowd. so great. >> 5 a.m. why not. >> no kidding. >>> time for traffic now on this christmas eve. how are we doing? >> it's busy out there, frank and michelle, even though it is christmas eve. we have some stuff to talk about on the roads and local transit. the bart system is experiencing up to 25-minute delays leaving daly city bound for all east bay locations. bart's telling us there's some type of equipment problem on

pacific program the center for a new american security. thank you for joining us. a story on how china was literally building islands in the southacific see. i was excited to find out that they were in fact the same thing. incredible story -- 6 different countries lay claim to this area of the world. explain to us what the status quo in the region is. >> this is in fact one of the most important waterways in the half of worldover trade. what happens there absolutely matters to the world economy. the reason the area is so contrasted -- so congested is, as you mentioned, these islands in the south china sea, there thousands of islands where sovereignty is contested by 6 of the governments that ring the city. about't think a lot sovereignty issues in the united states but these issues get to the core of the legitimacy of governments in the region and they are central to the politics of southeast asia and china. >> is it about resources and gas under the ocean floor or is it really just a strategic location? >> it is about all of those things and that is the reason these have been so hard to solve and manage. as you mentioned, there

south western islands of japan. in okinawa, gusts pummelled the area. 120 kilometers per hour gust reported. no injuries have been reported. now the system has pulling away. conditions will improve over the pacific side, however snow will redevelop over the north western corner of japan down toward the region. additional 50 centimeters likely in the next 24 hours. in fact over the past couple of days nearly 90 centimeters of snowfall. a lot of snow across the northern areas. as you can see, snow will likely continue at least into your sunday in sapporo. tokyo staying sunny. temperatures low in the single digits the first time of the season on your saturday. bundle up. here's the extended forecast. >>> that's "newsline" for this hour. i'm gene otani in tokyo. these are our top stories. outrage spreads in the u.s. as another grand jury decides not to try a white police officer for killing a black suspect. it is once again taking to the streets. can putin's popularity whether the perfect financial storm? the russian president gives a defiant state of the address despite economic turmoil. and mission to mars, the countdown is on to what nasa is handling as the first step in mankind's journey to the

south and east china seas. disputes over islands in the south and east china seas have broad economic and security implications to the united states interest in the asia pacific region. disruption in this region could cause serious problems across the globe. i strongly believe that the united states must take a leadership role in these disputes and work to support a peaceful collaboration to these issues. the resolution takes a step in the right direction. we cannot accept unilateral action by any of the countries involved in these disputes as it it further degrades security in the region. here is a clear example of congress supporting the united states role in the rebalance to the asia-pacific region. in particular, we cannot allow recent aggressive actions by china to go unchecked so i urge all parties, like secretary clinton did new york 2012, to push toward finalizing a code of conduct that would establish a mechanism to resolve these differences. i believe that it is important for all parties to come to a resolution over these disputes and not allow them to fester any longer. theseties putes should no longer be used as -- these disputes should no longer