tomoko yamaguchi, nhk world, nara. >>> the global economic slowdown is even downshifting the boom inhina. ron madison is here with the details on that. ron. >> yeah, we are seeing a bit of a slowdown, gene, but still pretty enviable numbers out of china. chinese government economists there say they do expect their economy will grow this year by less than 8%, though. it would be the first time in 13 years that it's dropped below that mark. the government targeted growth of 7.5%. a representative of the chinese academy of social sciences said the economy would grow 7.7%. >> translator: china's exports are slowing because of the european debt crisis and the global economic slowdown. >> he said the economy bottomed out in the july-to-september quarter, but consumption as well as industrial output improved in september and october. he's predicting growth will rebound next year to about 8.2%. he said increased public investment and more monetary easing would spur the economy. but li called for flexible government policies if the situation in europe gets any worse. >>> a report sponsored by

tomoko. what about tomoko i asked? matzu gathered the food and wrapped it up. i followed you and the others down to the beach yesterday morning. i wondered if you might find your way to peace. i couldn't, i began to cry, turning away in shame. matzu lned over and smelled a sweat, it takes greater courage to live. [applause] >> i'm going to throw it open now to questions. so you might direct me as to what you might want to know about. as we are taping this with sfgov tv i will ask you to ask your question into the microphone so they can pick it up. and you, too will be on tv. now nobody wants to. i will ask a requequestion, wha you working on now? >> does that sound planted? it wasn't. i just finished a monster of a book it's a huge book, set in japan and covers the earth from 1939 and 1966 about 2 brothers and the title is a street of a thousand blossoms. if you haven't noticed we are talking about themes that run through my book. one of the things i like a lot is exploring subcultures. the lepercy. the silk working women. i like to write about groups of people

tomoko kamata, nhk world. >>> the nuclear regulation authority is also working on new guidelines for evacuations should another accident happen at a nuclear plant. but experts say there isn't enough solid science in a draft outline, so they say they will need more time to finish their plans. >>> the nra decided to base the new guidelines on actual radiation readings. after the fukushima accident, authorities failed to get residents to evacuate promptly even though they had information from a radiation forecast system. the nra secretary is proposing the immediate evacuation of residents within 5 to 30 kilometers of a radiation plant when they reach 500 millisieverts per hour. they call for evacuation within a week's time if the level is at 20 millisieverts or more. but the panel of experts did not reach a consensus. some said the authority had simply decided on a level half that of international standard without enough scientific basis. others said the nra should adopt the international standard for the time being and continue discussions to set japan's own standards. >>> the operator

tomoko yamaguchi, nhk world, nara. >>> a report sponsored by the u.s.overnment says shipping surplus shale gas overseas will benefit the country's economy. this could fave way for getting government permission to export the commodity. the u.s. energy department released the report on wednesday. it says the export of shale gas and other natural gas products would raise energy prices but would help the economy overall. the government is now ready to examine whether to give the go-ahead to export projects. a number of energy firms hope to export natural gas as the surge in shale gas output pushes domestic gas prices sharply lower. >>> the export plans include business with japan's electric and gas utilities. japanese energy firms have had to increase their use of thermal power plants since the nuclear accident and are keen to buy cheaper u.s. gas. officials at japan's transport ministry have ordered airlines to inspect boeing passenger jets. they say state-of-the-art 787 dreamliners have had problems with their fuel lines. the emergency order followed a fu