Islands were illegally occupied after world war ii. Prevented tokyo and moscow from signing a peace treaty, a step that was never taken at the end of the war. Translator the four islands are an inherent part of japans territory. Through a diplomatic channel they launched a protest with russia. Their military expansion with the Mission Deployment is incompatible with our stance and is deplorable. The Missile System present a diplomatic headache weeks before putin is due to visit japan. The decades long issue is a thorny one but said that through the meeting with putin he ames to create a win win situation including in economic terms. Speaking of the economy, we now turn to business headlines. Tokyo stocks have been climbing along with the dollar. From the Business Team with more on that and other stories. The nikkei average extended its winning streak to a seventh day. Investor sentiment has been upbeat on expectations and president elect trumps will support growth. A weaker yen has fueled the nikkeis latest bull run. But briefly into negative territory as some investors book profits. The nikkei 225 ended at 18,381 and the index at one point surpassed its highest, closest year set on january 4th. The broader topix gained eed 0. Marking three straight weeks of gains and the dollar hit the highest level in eight months. Investors are confident about the outlook for the u. S. Economy and a december rate hike. The weaker yen boosted exporters like carmakers, mitsubishi motors, nissan a and mazda all showed strong. Casio computer also gained 7 . Opeek members are meeting to limit Oil Production so we could see big moves in the oil price and energy sector. Giang nguyen reporting from the tokyo stock exchange. Index rose 0. 5 snapping two days of losses. Sydney was up 0. 4 supported by higher medal prices. 3261 for the closing number there. The highest close in more than ten months. Shares of steelmakers rose as chinese iron or futures were sharply up. The index climbed more than 2 for the week. Advancing by 0. 5 . The index was up for a fourth day to its highest in more than a month after industrial output for october came in slightly better than expected. A Lower House Committee has approved by majority vote a bill to reform japan public pension system. Lawmakers of the Ruling Coalition liberal Democratic Party along with the opposition Innovation Party voted in favor. Members of the opposition Democratic Party and Japanese Communist Party surrounded the Committee Chairs seat and protested a key pillar of the proposal reform new rule for advising pension payouts. Reign in expenditures. Such revision of the rule would be necessary for securing the payout level for future generations. The Ruling Coalition hopes to have the lower house approve the bill next tuesday. The Democratic Party and other parties say the revision would cut pension payouts by a large margin and affect the Living Standards of pensioners. Theyre calling for thorough debate in the diet. The fund that operates government pension contributions in japan says it closed the july through September Quarter can about 21 billion in the black. The first surplus in three quarters. Reports that the earning was 1. 84 . Eleaveiation of excessive concerns immediately after britains decision to leave the european union. They also cite the bullish trend of domestic and foreign stocks over expectations about the japanese governments economic measures. The break down of the funds operation shows domestic stocks logged a gain. Up about 18 billion and foreign stocks about 9 billion. Meanwhile, domestic bonds lost about 6 billion while foreign bonds posted a loss of about 350 million. Officials say theyll continue efforts to secure stable profits. People in the u. S. Have been getting a head start on one of the biggest shopping kay days of the year. They took a break from thanksgiving festivities and headed to the stores to beat the discount frenzy known as black friday. Shoppers crowded into macys in new york for its late thursday opening. Jewelry was being offered at bargain prices. Traditionally sales start the day after thanksgiving but many stores have been moving them forward in recent years. Many see it as the a sign the economy is thriving. I walked all of fifth avenue this evening and there is an awful lot of people around. There must be good deals. And every shop i went to there were huge amount of people. The economy must be doing good. What do you think of the u. S. Economy right now . Its doing okay. Getting in better condition. And well see how it goes. The National Retail federation says it is expecting shoppers to spend more this Holiday Season thanks to better employment figures and a rise in wages. Its forecasting sales in november and december will be 3. 6 up from last year. And Donald Trumps election win has helped send share prices to a record high in the u. S. Thats expected to boost seasonal buying, something that usually accounts for 20 of annual sales. But shops near trumps home in Central New York are seeing fewer customers than usual. Security has been tightened in the area since he won the election. Heres a look at some of the other business stories were following. A leading gauge of inflation in japan was down in october for the eighth straight month. Officials at the internal Affairs Ministry say the Consumer Price index was 0. 4 lower from the same month last year. The cpi includes oil products but not fresh food. Pushed down the price of electricity and gasoline. A drop in prices of consumer electronic products including washing machines and rice cookers contributed to the decline. The japanese government has kept its overall assessment of the countrys economy unchanged for nine months in a row. The Monthly Economic report for november says the economy is on a moderate recovery while weakness has been n seen recent. But f for the first t time in t yearars and nine months, the assessment of the global economy. It says Oil Investment related in thehe u. S. Are recovering wi employment and personal spending picking up. The port city in japan lies near rich fishing ground. Fish mongr is growing around the world. Looks into the secret of his success. Reporter this is a fishmonger who supplies some of the worlds top chefs in hong kong, new york, and other cities. He knows the menus of all the restaurants he supplies. And makes each fish to order. Fish can last over a long journey and skills come into play. Translator once you fillet the fish, it no longer moves. But now im going to revive it. Reporter he sprinkles salt. The fish begins to twitch. The salt draws o out moisture a shrinks the cut. It prevents rotting and preserves the fish. It also seals inside the source of its salivating taste. Translator the taste gets better after two or three days. The longer the time, the better the fish gets. Reporter skills like this have helped him turn the drawbacks of longgdistance transport into an advantage. The fish is transported by air, and arrive in hong kong the following day. Hong kong is teaming with high priced restaurants. The only sushi restaurant in the area has just received its order. Translator the moment you touch it, you are amazed by its wonderful condition in terms of freshness, moisture, and temperature. You can feel the mans spirit in the fish he sends. Reporter the sushi chef makes the move to inform his customers. He take care of all fish, and then he prepare for us. Its really amazing. Its the best sushi ive had for sure. Translator i want the fish to leave a lasting impression among people overseas so they remember that this tasty fish is from japans shizuoka prefecture. Reporter he wants the fish from hisis prefectcture to beco global brand. The challenge is how to use his skills and techniques to make that happen. Nhk world. You can catch our report, again, online with a full transcript. That is a look at business news. Ill leave you with the markets. Colombias government and the Largest Rebel Group signed a revised peace plan to end five decades of civil war. Voters rejected the original deal in a national refererendum. The leader signed the accord on thursday. Translator the revised deal is better than the previous one. Its better because it includes the hopes and the observations of the vast m majority of colombians. The farks leader says the modified agreement is final. The original deal was signed in september and hailed as historic. It was supposed to end a conflict that claimed more than 2,000 lives. But voters in octobers referendum unexpectedly rejected the deal. Critics say it wasnt tough enough on the fighters. Under the new deal, the rebel group must hand over its assets. The money will be used to compensate the families of victims. But the critics havent won all the concessions they wanted. Fark leaders wont face prison if they admit their guilt and be allowed to fill especially reserved seats in congress. Congress is expected to approve the deal as early as next week, despite strong objections from some opposition parties. Japans foreign minister says north korea may soon be hit with more sanctions from the u. N. Security counsel. It began after the fifth nuclear test in september. Translator japan has been contributing to the discussions in c close quarter nation with e United States and other countries. I have been informed that the negotiations are in their final stage. The japanese government will decide on its own sanction taking the u. N. Resolution and other countries into account. A japanese tv announcer has made it on the bbcs annual list of top 100 influential women. Its not for her work as a journalist, but for a blog detailing her battle with cancer. Such details are often not shared publicly here in japan, but her courage has inspired and touched the hearts of many. Reporter her life and the anxieties of her illness. She writes, my body has been weak and i was in hospital every day. I had infusion, so i hope i can recover this weekend. Because i want to be with my kids tomorrow. The bbc calls itt the blog gripping japan. She is used to being in the spotlight and not just for her own work. Shes married to renown ed star. Two years ago she was diagnosed with Breast Cancer and withdrew from the public eye. She hid the illness for more than a year. She later admitted she was scared for being associated with the illness or showing weakness. In september, she started sharing all of that online. Her honesty is not just inflew we fluencing those with cancer, but many others. Translator after reading her blog, i worried more about my daughter than myself. I will definitely go for a checkup. Translator i dont think i would have the strength to share my illness on a blog. Reporter she is a mother of two, battling the same disease. She says her blog is helping her feel less alone. Translator very striking words of dont hide behind cancer encouraged me to think differently. Reporter she also says her words encourage her to return to work two months after her surgery. She is the president of Japan Cancer Society and has studied the disease for more than 40 years. Translator anyone could get cancer at any time. So each of us has to support cancer patients. Our Society Needs to live together with cancerr patients and take c care of them. We have to create a society that can do that any time and anywhere. Reporter her blog is in line with his organizations goals. Which are to heighten Public Awareness about the disease. Nhk world, tokyo. Tokyo is preparing to host the olympic and paralmympic game in 2020. Considering what to do with an Advertising Campaign she inherited from her predecessor. Transnslator we have to dece whether to keep promoting the city with the campaign and tokyo or come up with something new. The previous governor launched t Tokyo Campaign to ho the citys many charms. Nearly 600 organizations have used variations such as sushi and tokyo. Designers and other experts met on friday to discuss the future of the campaign. Some said it should be scrapped because its message is not clear. While others said a change would lead to further costs. To date, goods and ads with the and tokyo motto have cost about 25 million. The panel is also looking at the uniforms volunteer guides at the games wilill wear. They agree t that by t the end this year they would decide on the motto and uniforms, as well as the overall direction of the branding. Chinese president ping has been working to forge ties between asia and europe through his ambitious one belt one road initiative. Traditional chinese medicine is being promoted. 60 doctors from around the world have comee to this beijin hospital for traditional medicine. With the Chinese Government support, the facility is welcoming more and more interns every year. Really nice and really huge prevention here and i wish to take this knowledge to sri lanka. Acupuncture. Is effective. E. R reporter this medical schl is located in lanzhou. Because of geograpaphical and cultural, they focus on accepting students from countries along the historic. Translator this Pressure Point is used very frequently in clinical treatment. It targets diarrhea and constitipation. Eight students are here studying chinese medicine. In this class on acupuncture. They are learning where the Pressure Points are and how to insert needles. All the lessons are conducted in chinese. She says he wants to specialize in chinese medicine because acupuncture cured her of a blood disease when she was a child. Chinese medicine is very deep. The effects appear gradually and the treatments seem very natural. Reporter from tuition to housing, the cost of the fiveyear program for the students from are funded from the government and local government. Home to many chinese muslims so they have no problem finding food on campus that meets the islamic requirements. The students also learn about local history and the ancient they also learn about half of this area is one of the major places chinese medicine, so the local government wants to help boost exports of medicine. The government has established Training Facilities in eight locations outside china, including ukraine. It has also begun sending experts to these countries to train local people. Translator Cultural Exchange is a prerequisite for economic exchange. We are carrying out a strategic mission. More people in more countries being trained in chinese medicine will helpp the developmenent of regional businesses in the field. Reporter chinas expansion of its traraditional medicine i expected to strengthen ties among countries of the historic third world. Nhk newsline comes to you live from tokyo. Costa rica and fug washingt costa ri costa rica and nicaragua are contending with a powerful earthquake. For the details, here is jonathan oh. Looks like it is going to be messy when it comes to rainfall contininuing for the next 24 to8 hours. Those are trying to recover from any type of damage thatt may hae taken place because the earthquake going to contend with nasty weather as we go forward in time. Tropical storm otto a weaker system at this point, but, nevertheless, still packing winds with gusts up to 140 and what is particularly unique about the system is once it completely transfers and moves into the pacific ocean, one of the few storms that we have seen for this happening making it over land from the atlantic basically into the pacific basin. Thats just an interesting fact. Whats poutts more important w looking for avyy rainfall to continue friday into saturday. Looking thahat forecast in term of the rainfall here, looking at some places further up to the north, maybe seeing clolose to 0 millimeteters of rainfall over e next few days. So, this is going to be a m mes scenario looking out for flflooding possibilities andnd possible loooose ground maybe dealing with some landslides and mudslides, as well. Soso residents along Central America need to be looking out for this as we go throughout the next few days. Very wet scenario as we look at the forecast for europe. An upper level low that continues to spin over the ibeeriibee ibeeriibee ibeerian peninsula. Let me show you video coming out of the country there. Give you an idea of the seriousness of the situation becacauseorrentiall downwnpours caused flolooding in italy on thursday. Schools and Public Institution husband to be closed as heavy rain caused the river to overflow. Heavy rain is expected to continue through friday afternoon. We have red level warnings continuing for piedmont, northwest italy, as well as southeastern france. We are getting reports that one person is also missing. The low pressure area centered over the ibeaernn pensusula and alall of ththat is working toge to bring more rainfall into the region. So, look out for potential flooding to continue as it we go throughout the day on friday. Rome looking at wet weather and vienna looking at some rain and lisbon dealing with more rainfall from that low pressure system and snow into moscow and kiev as we go through friday. More water and rain stories to talk about. This time looking down towards the philippines. We have a tropical storm. This system is moving through the philippines. It is packing a lot of rainfall. Winds look somewhat weak. I mean, wind speeds of 95 gusts into 90. It may intensify just a little bit, but not a huge weathermaker in terms of wind, but a big weathermaker in terms of rain. Areas from manila anywheree between, youre looking at 100 millimeters. And japan looking at relative dry conditionss coming up for saturday, but we do have a system that will be developopin tt of china. That is going to bring plenty of rainfall as we go into sunday and dealing with some showers late saturday and then into sunday most of japan will deal with wet weather. Dealing with snowfall going into sunday and also monday looking at Cool Conditions over the area, as well. Hope you have a good day wherever you are. Heres your extended outlook. Visit our website for feature stories and special reports and dont forget to watch newsroom tokyo at the top of the hour. 8uxuoa cocoo qn hello and welcome to live from paris. Here are the headlines. Alain juppe and Francois Fillon vie to become the next french president. They squared off last night in a televised debate ahead of sundays conservative primary. The foiled terrorist