officials in south korea have held a disaster drill at the nuclear plant in the country's south, along with the representatives of japanese and chinese governments. this is the first time for the three countries to participate in a drill in south korea. south korea's nuclear regulators staged the exercise on thursday. the scenario involved an earthquake in pusan, triggering a release of materials from the plant. about 7,600 people took part, including those from the south korean military, pli police andl residents. they examined challenges expected to arise during an emergency response, such as evacuating residents using public transportation systems. they also discussed with japanese and chinese officials how the three nations will share information and cooperate to deal with accidents. >>> researchers in northeastern japan are investigating the effects of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami on spawning salmon. they want to see if there's any difference between fish formed before and after the disaster. a spawning salmon normally returns to its birthplace when it reaches three to five yea

>> and the key countries, key states in the region, namely japan, china and south korea. the leaders aren't meeting each other. >> i very much hope the japanese prime minister and the president can meet. i very much hope they can adpree to set in motion a set of follow up meetings with various ministers and others. but there should be agreements that if there's a crisis, there would be certain types of hot lines where people would talk. in some ways, the relationship between japan and south korea is even more complicated, that these are two countries that share alliances with the united states. >> the rise of the islamic state militant group has further destabilized the middle east. the outbreak of the ebola virus is a threat not only to african countries, but also to countries in the west. haas says japan should play a role in a world facing so many challenges. >> if we're in a world where as we said, a whole range of problems, the united states can't deal with most of these things alone. we need partners. japan, australia, korea, philippines and other, these are all pot

but south korea has introduced a new visa to help foreigners cut through the red tape and get ahead. >>> policymakers at the bank of japan are expanding their monetary easing policy. they're going to buy even more government bonds than they are now. and stock investors are on a buying spree. tokyo's benchmark index hit 17,000 this morning. that's the highest level in seven years. the nikkei ended the morning session at 17,071. that's 4% higher than the close on friday. the market was shut on monday for a public holiday. ai uchida joins us from the business desk with the details. what's happening now? >> two things surprised investors by the b.o.j.'s moves, the timing and the size. the people at the b.o.j. hadn't expanded their stimulus since they launched in it in april of las year. the monetary base will grow at 80 trillion yen. that is roughly $730 billion. this is giving investors a reason to buy. let's go to ramin mellegard now. he has all the updates for us. what can you tell us? >> as you and yuko pointed out the nikkei breaking 17,000 level, so quite a big focus there. let's h

south korea? china? >> guest: you know, south korea's a really interesting success story. it's a long process of transition of giving. it so happened that at first they gave a lot more economic freedom, the about for entrepreneurs to flourish and export to markets. and there was an example of a really successful south korean entrepreneur who founded what is now hyundai from, basically, started as a garage repair shop in 1945. today is, like, one of the most successful car companies, of course. and that's what drove a lot of the early success of south korea. and then at some point south koreans also made a lot of effort to get their democratic rights and demanded their political rights as well as their economic rights. that happened in the late '80s, and they were successful in getting a full democracy in place also. so south korea's now a flourishing, prosperous place where south koreans enjoy both political and economic freedom. >> host: china? >> guest: china's more complicated case and is very misunderstood. i think what we're getting wrong about china is we don't, we d

we are live in south korea with the latest developments. welcome to "early start." i'm john berman. >> i'm christine romans. it is 4:00 a.m. in the east. 1,500 service members on the ground in iraq paving the way for the war on isis. they are the first to arrive since the president ordered more troops to arrive. they are there to advise and train iraqi forces. they are not there in a combat role. we have new information on an air strike that may have wounded the head of isis, abu bakr al bagdadi. coalition and iraqi forces did launch air strikes in two parts of iraq targeting isis leaders. there is still no confirmation that al bagdadi was injured in either of those attacks. >>> a militant group has pledged obedience to isis. up until now, they had attacked on the egyptian government. our senior correspondent arwa damon is in turkey with more. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, christine. let's try to sort through the muddyness surrounding the air strikes. >> arwa damon in southern turkey's shot is down. >>> in just a couple of hours, president obama has his f

we report from south korea where students have been taking the biggest exam of their lives. >> welcome back. let's recap the headlines. u.s. secretary of state john kerry has met palestinian president in jordan about increasing unrest in israel and occupied territories. he is also meeting jordan's king to discussion tensions over the mosque in jerusalem. >> two bombs exploded near the embassies are egypt and the united arab emirates. there are no reports of casualties. >> police in india arrested a doctor in connection with the deaths of 14 women who underwent sterilization surgery. the procedures were performed at a government health camp over the weekend. the surgeon said tainted drugs are to blame. >> football's governing body has found itself in even more trouble, despite releasing a report to try and end world cup corruption claims. the man tasked with investigating qatar and russia's winning world cup bids is now accusing fifa of a coverup. michael garcia investigated claims of corruption surrounding the 2018 and 2022 process. his full report was then summarized by fifa. a statem

korea. >> translator: the current chair of the three-way talks is south korea. so i hope south korea will take an initiative to realize the meeting of leaders and foreign ministers among japan, south korea, and china. >> kishida spoke on friday with reporters. prime minister shinzo abe said on thursday that he hopes the foreign ministers will meet soon and he hopes their discussions will lead to summit talks. kishida said he's heard that south korean president park geun-hye respond positively to abe's call. according to the south korean government on thursday park said she hopes a meeting will take place in the near future. and that she hopes leaders will also hold summit talks. kishida also referred to abe's meeting with china's president and his exchange of views with south korea's leader on the sidelines of the asia pacific economic cooperation forum in beijing. he said the dialogue should be welcomed, especially because difficult issues exist between japan and the two countries. >>> officials at japan's health and welfare ministry have released the results o

she's covered the north korea-south korea issue for some time. she joins us now live. >> reporter: with kenneth bae the first lady she hugged, i spoke to her a year ago and she was allowed to go into north korea. only member of his family that was allowed to go to pyongyang to visit him. that was a very emotional moment as she realized just how ill he looked. we saw his sister terry chung there. she's been very vocal in trying to lobby for his release. he has diabetes. he has heart problems. it was a matter of urgency according to the family he came home. and now you see he has come home. he was sentenced to hard labor. six years hard labor. he's serving a couple months of that. >> i was reading something about why one perspective was to solidify his power so he could get a senior official with the obama administration to come to north korea. bear in mind it said he'd made an apology. north korea saying the most powerful man in the world has apologize odd to me, so i'm giving this humanitarian gesture. we know general clapper had gone with a lett

paula, this is a national tragedy for south korea. these parents are not satisfied with the verdict. >> reporter: absolutely not, christine. one mother described it as outrageous. you say 36 years behind bars for the captain. he is approaching 70 years old now. he knows he won't be freed anytime within his lifetime. the fact is the families want the death penalty for the captain and all crew members on trial. in this country, death doesn't mean death. an execution hasn't been carried out since 1977. the three judges decided to acquit the captain of murder. they said they believed his account he did give the order for evacuation of the ship. it wasn't carried out by those under him. this is the main criticism in the country that the passengers were told to stay where they were as the ship went down and the captain and crew escaped. this is why the death toll was so high. more than 300. the prosecutor will appeal. they are trying to decide to appeal the captain's verdict or all verdicts. only one of the crew members charged with murder.

the ferry went down off the southern coast of south korea in april. many of them were high school students. nine people are still missing. investigators say the ferry was carrying too much cargo, and they say crew members didn't properly secure it. they allege the company boosted its profits by millions of dollars by overloading the vessel. are they left many of the passengers behind. judges in the district court in the southern district came to their decision. the presiding judge said he neglected to take proper measures to help the passengers. but he said he could not determine if he knew and accepted that the passengers would die as a result. he found the captain guilty of gross negligence. they had sought the death penalty, but he had defended his actions. he had said he did all he could to try to get people safely off the vessel. relatives of the victims rejected the ruling. >> translator: more than anger or resentment, the judgment makes me feel empty. i wanted the captain and crew to get the death penalty. >> translator: the defendant is clearl

the risk is mainly for south korea. seoul is only 62 meters from the border of north korea so even with a crude weapon, a very crude, simple missile, they can hit that already. that is not there in at all. they don't -- that is not their aim at all. they use this as a bargaining chip. they only test when they think they could get concessions from the international community, from the united dates, maybe china, russia -- the united states, maybe china, russia. so, i think this is merely a political threat, rather than a military threat at the moment. >> thank you for taking the time to speak to us. you are watching "france 24." a second islamic state militants seen in the gruesome beheading video is said to be a french citizen. he was among the executioners. that has shocked the french public. plans for more jewish settlements in the west bank spark new palestinian anger in a region that is already on the edge. and the head of the company that operated south korea's ill-fated ferry is sentenced to 10 years in prison. tha

but in today's sophisticated south korea, it isn't. failings in the rescue services, particularly the coast guard, have been severely criticized. and the government says there will now be a full, independent investigation. an ongoing protest in the streets of the capital seoul has been a demanding one. >> translator: this is not the end. it is a start. now the cause of the tragedy and the conduct of the rescue can be fully investigated. >> reporter: as the crew begin long terms in prison, so south korea continues its long process of investigation and intro spec. rob mcbride, al jazerra, south korea. >>> in ukraine, the eastern separatist strong hold of don everything hadonetsk has come uy schilling. the battle has been intensifying between pro-russian separatists and ukrainian forces in the past few days, according to ukrainian military this shaded area is under control of the separatists and includes the cities of don everything and luhansk, it says this is where rush an military units are being sent something moscow denies. fears tha

south korea controls the islands. the japanese government claims them and maintains they are an inherent part of the country's territory. it says south korea is illegally occupying them. >> translator: the drill is unacceptable in view of japan's stance on the territorial sovereignty of the islands. it's deplorable. the government has lodged a strong protest. >> suga said he was not given advance notice of the drill. he said officials would deal with the issue after carefully assessing seoul's position. senior diplomats of the two countries are scheduled to meet in south korea on thursday. >>> japanese police have arrested four south korean men on suspicion of stealing an ancient statue of buddha. they say the men took it from a temple in nagasaki prefecture. the head priest of the temple called police after finding the depository's lock broken. he said a bronze statue was missing along with several buddhist scriptures. police arrested the four men as they were about to leave for south korea aboard a ship. they were c

over to south korea. direct trading between the country's currency and the chinese yuan will begin next month, according to a joint statement from the central bank and the government. about 10 banks will be appointed as market makers for the currency pair, following an agreement between the presidents of both countries to deepen economic ties. coming up, let's take a look at dollars-yen. we came into this morning at 112.35. striking distance of 2007. extreme levels. japan is closed, on holiday, but not south korea. those are the stories driving your markets this morning. >> forget gridlocked roads. commuter cues. another fantasy may soon become reality. i give you the real flying car. >> is it a bird? is it a plane? it is a car, just not in the conventional sense. the flying roadster is that show system anyone has come to making is the closest- anyone has come to making a vehicle for road and sky. station.up at the gas it is the same length as they looks resell them, so you can park it on the street. mph,

. >>> executives from japan and south korea are placing bets on a billion project. they're overseeing the work on a resort complex home to the biggest casino in south korea. executives from the game maker are working with south korean casino operator paradise. they joined officials and japan's ambassador at a ground breaking ceremony. two countries built the complex near the airport. they plan to spend $1.2 billion on the project and aiming to open in march 2017. they say it will include a larch casino, hotel and shops. it will be a less than five minutes drive from the airport to help attract chinese tourists. they're working to legalize casinos in time for the olympics. japanese executives hope they gain valuable experience in how to manage casinos from the south korean firm. >>> world make areas are targeting big spenders. they've unveiled a host of high end models at the la show. they hope to cash in on surge in u.s. car sales that hit a ten year monthly high in october. >> welcome to la. >> representatives from more than 40 firms are showing off their latest pr

rob mcbride, al jazeera, south korea. >>> now to india, where eight women have died in more than 50 are in a critical condition after sterilelize surgery. faiz jamil has the story. >> reporter: the women were taken to hospital in critical condition after complaining of severe pain and fever. all had tellallization procedures at a government health camp on saturday. they are among the 83 women who had the procedure as part of the state government's family planning campaign. >> translator: around 55 are critically ill. and the chief minister has ordered an inquiry. a medical team has been sent, and a composition of more than $3,000 each will be given to the family of the deceased women. >> reporter: there are allegations that all 82 surgeries were performed within just five hours. critics say that shows the government is more concerned with governments than safety. >> demand an end to the target-based approach, and we demand full compensation to the women who have been victimized by this wrong-policy approach. >> reporter: the government has been criticized for giving the women $22 each t

there has been some question given the atmosphere in south korea. the kind of fair trial that can be received here, given the strength of feeling. it has to be said there's palpable anger. it raises questions, not just about this ferry, and the company that ran it was being operated, but safety standards generally in south korea. and there are concerns that really just as the economy bounded forward, that really the safety standards applied have not kept up with that, with what should be a developed highly modern state. >> live for us in south korea. thank you >>> a suicide attack in a nigeria high school killed dozens of boys. the bomber waited until thousands of students were gathered for morning assembly before detonating the explosive. it's believed to be the work of boko haram, the same group that kidnapped 300 girls earlier this year. >> protests are proceeding over the disappearance of 43 students. thousands marched in aceh pullingo, clashing with police and injuring a dozen officers. >> protesters in alka pull coe, the latest of daily demons

robert mcbride, al jazeera, jindo, south korea. >> survivors of the gas tragedy in india have begun hunger strike and say they will fast until the government offers additional composition to victims of the industrial accident, in 1984 a pesticide truck released 40 tons of deadly gas in the city killing about 4,000 people. military operation in pakistan was displaced hundreds of thousands of people. some suggest the number of people internally displaced by the fighting has reached one million, and we met some who feel the government has turned their back on them. >> reporter: these are the latest victims of another military operation dubbed cause hieber one going on in the hieber agency and hundreds of thousands effected by the renewed fighting when the military moved into that area but the real emergency is the plight of the people who were given no warning and told to leave their homes without their belongings. most of them are now sitting out in the open. it is already winter here in pakistan and they need urgent help. >> translator: we lived in homes due to military operation and now we

. >>> and a tunnel of light, a major land festival illuminates south korea. ♪ >>> thousands of people in yemen have protested in support of former president saleh. the u.n. will meet later on friday to consider imposing sanctions because of the continuing unrest. >> reporter: this is the biggest show of support for ali abdullah saleh since the uprising forced him to leave office almost three years ago. these people came here to protest against u.s. proposed sanctions against their deposed president. if the sanctions come into effect saleh won't be able to travel abroad, and his assets will be frozen. >> translator: the u.s. sanctions are baseless. doesn'tn't the ambassador know that saleh is backed by millions of people? >> reporter: the cleric who lead the prayer said the u.s. is aligning with a sunni group tody destroy the country. >> translator: i am here to sew sal darety with our leader. and denounce western intervention. we made it clear we are opposed to the sanctions. >> reporter: these loyalists will wearing heading bands that say we are ready to die for saleh. these tribesme

rob mcbribe, al jazeera, south korea. >>> iraq's military is trying to stake back strategic teller to held by fighters of islamic state of iraq and the levant. it has been trying to retake the biggest oil refinery for the last three days. the refinery used to produce more than a quarter of iraq's oil, about 300,000 barrels of crude oil each day. and the armed group is using desperate tactics now. imran khan has this exclusive report from bagdad. [ explosion ] >> reporter: when isil fights back, this is what happens. a humvee is turned into a car bomb. 12 soldiers are severely injured. iraqi solders say the bat ll be decisive. >> translator: we are now at the central neighborhoods of the city. these parts of the city are adjacent to the check point which is considered to be valuable because it controls the supporting lifeline of isil. today we have managed to cut isil's supporting lifeline. >> reporter: but that confidence is in stark contrast to how deadly isil fighters can be. this is the reality of the fight. iraqi forces and isil fighters are not at a stalemate, but it's close. isi

also on try here in this court case has been the safety standards generally in south korea. this case has shaken the country, it's true to say it's shaken confidence in the government here. and a number of pieces of legislation have been put in place, reorganizing search and rescue organizations for example, and also more importantly, paving the way for this full investigation, which will now be conducted in to exactly what caused this tragedy, as the crewmen here begin their long-terms in prison, so south korean begins a long-term of introspect and investigation. >>> still in the region the chinese president says the global economic recovery is unstable, he was speaking to world leaders at the a.p. ex summit being held near beijing, the president obama was also attending. they should speed up trade in order to push growth. >>> to iraq. the military is trying to take back territory held byize the fight nurse that jinx i beiji, they have beefighters in strate. isil captured the facility in june. they have been using dez perhaps tactic to his hold onto control. imran kahn with

al jazeera, south korea. >> still ahead, u.n. filipino peace keepers pull out of liberia because of the ebola threat, and there are no threats to replace them. >>> going on a hunger strike demanding better compensation. >>> and over his head, at first glass it looks like a great goal, but jo will tell you why all is not as it seems. next. >> now available, the new al jazeea america mobile news app. get our exclusive in depth, reporting when you want it. a global perspective wherever you are. the major headlines in context. mashable says... you'll never miss the latest news >> they will continue looking for survivors... >> the potential for energy production is huge... >> no noise, no clutter, just real reporting. the new al jazeera america mobile app, available for your apple and android mobile device. download it now >> game of thrones when it came out, didn't hit any best sellers lists... >> the worlds, the magic and the fascination of george r.r. martin >> i'm writing the equivalent of a medieval world war ii... >> how his ima

we want to go to the path of the chinese communist party or japan, south korea is a debate going on in the world right now but the voice of the people on the global poverty has a censorship we do not allow so we are on the wrong side of this global debate on freedom. >> host: are they working in tandem? >> guest: the gates foundation is one that is getting it wrong and there are the others in the human rights watch that he is campaigning and others like the open society foundation but there's not there is not enough that they are getting it right and there is a vision we worry about the material deprivation and it's a very good thing to be concerned about that we ignore their rights as human beings do not have their rights violated. >> host: so what do we do? >> guest: we have to consider what comes first, action or caring. it is not an action of the plan but it's that most people don't care about this issue so the first thing is to try to get people to care. it's like the civil rights issues to convince people to care and convinced that black people have the same rights that white peo

south korea as well. we're still holding the line in south korea. we held what looked at the time like a very similar line in south vietnam, and that was a terrible, terrible mistake. terrible disaster. and we've had to make a lot of terrible and hard calls. in iraq in 2003 we misdiagnosed weapons of mass destruction. in iran in 1953 we misdiagnosed the threat of communism but at the same time we functioned as a umpire not an empire. the u.s. defend the the territory of egypt. we threw our best friends, france and britain, out of the game, and we allowed things to resume. we did not take the place of the sovereign government of egypt. what happened after world war ii is that the world entered what historians call an economic golden age. all kinds of historians will tell you this. it's also true that in every decade since the second world war, violence between states has gone down. in every single decade. since 1947. now, what are the results been for the united states? those are the results in the world. some bad, some actually quite good, dramatica

korea said in a message to all four transportations and south korea you have to do better you have to make sure people are safe back in 2013 flights to 40 was heading into sfo from south korea met on the runway and tumbled down a runway the can down to the conclusion it was an error that killed three people and injured 200 others. that when 90 days but the airlines lauria fought for 45 days and even then they're not happy with that they have 15 days to appeal the decision if this goes into effect it will be a convenience for the passes out of sfo it will end and $13 million. >>will tran: in the meantime south korean air and understand this could be hard for a lot of passengers police step of your efforts rubble to monitor the situation is sibley the talks all the passengers. >>mark: after reports of a suspicious person. >> reporter: to the level of 16 year-old students the third incidence involved in adult education still the most alarming happened just after 6:00 evening the man approached the adult education teacher on monday this week around the clock in the morning police said the

but first, breaking news out of south korea. we have a verdict following the country's deadly ferry disaster. and we start with that braking news. the south korean ferry captain has avoided the d

south korea which saw a big bump up on friday his parent back some of those gains. taiwan, malaysia, singapore, just opening up over the past few minutes. i will leave it there for now. u.k. has confirmed that a 29-year-old british banker has been arrested in connection with the deaths of two women in hong kong. police were called to the man's apartment in hong kong. they found one woman unconscious with cuts to her neck and body. she was pronounced dead at the scene. the lease on the suitcase containing the body of another woman who sustained neck injuries. south korea is announcing a record trade surplus last month. the gap came in at $7.5 billion. companies shipping steel pipes and computers to the u.s., and the bank of japan's latest forulus, may hurt demand those made in korea goods. indonesia's new government is cutting fuel subsidies. the president made it the central part of his plan to rejuvenate the economy, using the savings to fund infrastructure. speaking exclusively to bloomberg, court 19 and economy justter says no timeline yet. >> the most critical i

his role in the ship's capsizing in south korea waters. more than 300 people, mostly high school students, died that tragic day last april. the prosecution is seeking the death penalty. but as paula hancocks reports a death sentence in south korea does not mean the condemned will actually be put to death. >> reporter: 58 people are on death row in south korea. but here the death penalty does not actually mean death. more than 900 people were executed since the freeing of the country in 1958. this unofficial moratorium started in 1998. as a pro-democracy activist kim was himself sentenced to death in 1980. he was later pardoned after intervention from both the pope and the u.s. government. >> the death penalty in south korea, especially during the military dictatorship before 1987, has been abused -- has been used and abused to get rid of political opponents. >> reporter: amnesty has launched many campaigns over the years calling for the death penalty to be abolished, saying it is a violation of the right to life. the justice ministry rejec

rob mcbride, al jazeera, south korea. >>> still ahead on this al jazeera news hour. asia pacific leaders pledge closer economic ties after a two-day summit in china. plus we need army veterans using their skills to help people struck by natural disasters. >>> i'm lee wellings in the heartland of formula one, as fans of the sport find themselves in the unusual position of being asked to find money to get a team on to the grid. ♪ >>> first world leaders are wrapping up the asia pacific summit in china. the meetingsened with a promise to improve relations between regional rivals. scott heidler reports from china. >> reporter: as the sun rose on the second day of the apac summit, the leaders traveled outside of beijing to this place. each of the 21 heads of government made a long walk down the red carpet to the brand new grand hall where they held closed-door discussions. the group took a break for a photo, followed by a tree-planting summary. the chinese and russian presidents appeared to have a friendly chat, while u.s. president barack obama is off to the side. late

rob mcbride, in south korea. >> reporter: police launched former investigation to the $23 million spent on upgrades to his homestead but said he had no knowledge of the work which included the construction of a swimming pool, visitor center and am by theatre. we demand the release of journalists who have been detained in egypt for 317 days. greste and fahmy and mohamed are falsely accused of helping the out lawed muslim brotherhood and appealing against their prison sentences. philippine peace keepers leading the west africa liberia will be sent to an island on manilla to see if they have ebola and they will withdraw the troops because of the outbreak and liberia is the country that is worst hit by ebola with more than 2700 deaths and as our diplomatic editor reports the peace keepers are likely not to be replaced. >> reporter: keeping the peace in liberia but not much longer, the troops have been in the country as part of the u.n. mission for over a decade but now because of the threat from ebola they are pulling out, no other country is offering to take their place. liberia is the wor

violent crime rates are relatively low. >>> to south korea now. the captain and crew of the "sewol" ferry will be sentenced tomorrow for their roles in the sinking of that ship. more than 300 passengers, mostly high school students, died when the ferry capsized in april. the prosecution is going after the death penalty for the captain. but as paula hancocks reports even if that sentence is handed down it's unlikely the captain will be put to death. >> reporter: 58 people are on death row in south korea. but here the death penalty does not actually mean death. more than 900 people were executed since the freeing of the country if 1948. the last hanging was 17 years ago. this unofficial moratorium started in 1998. as a pro-democracy activist kim was himself sentenced to death in 1980. he was later pardoned after intervention from both the pope and the u.s. government. >> the death penalty in south korea, especially during the military dictatorship before 1987, has been abused -- has been used and abused to get rid of political opponents. >> reporter

also on trial here in this court case has been the safety standards generally in south korea. this case has shaken the country, and it's true to say it has shaken confidence in the government here and a number of pieces of legislation have been put in place. reorganizing and search and rescue organizations for example and also more importantly paving the way for this full investigation which will now be conducted into exactly what caused this tragedy. as the crewmen here begin their long-terms in prison so south korea begins a long-term of inter-spection and investigation. >>> people had sterilization surgery and the program has been used to control the country's population and we will go to new deli and talk about the program itself because that is quite interesting in itself but first the latest on the condition of the women. >> well, the latest is the 30 that have been survived, that were treated. they are still in critical condition in hospitals. now, they are a part of 83 women who took part of this family planning health camp on saturday. now, these surgeries though were

germany and south korea are cooperating closely. they have formed an advisory body to discuss policy. the chairman says it doesn't hold all the answers. >> there is no role model for reunification. the only thing we can make available is our own experience in germany. and we will have to examine what exactly could be applicable to the situation in east asia. >> there definitely are differences. the official policy is pointing out the benefits of reunification and reservation among south koreans is growing. the economic gap between north and south is ever-increasing and the people fear the enormous cost of bringing the divided country back together. >>'s are going well for south koreans right now. average incomes are 30 times those of north korea and the country's economy is the 12th most powerful in the world. opening up to the north could put that in danger but it is still on the political to do list. >> the children of a passenger on board a malaysian airlines plane that vanished are suing both the carrier and malaysia's governmen

we've got allies like south korea and japan. and now we have the marine from mexico that i was involved in getting released and now the administration deserves credit for this effort, kenneth bae and mr. miller will go back with their families. particularly kenneth bae, who has been in prison for two years and suffering. and now he's going home. it's a good news story. and we need good news these days. >> we certainly do. it is wonderful news and we're all happy to report they're on a plane headed here and expected to land sometime tonight. governor bill richardson, thank you for your time. >>> u.s. director of national intelligence, james clapper, went to pyongyang as an envoy to obama. he delivered this hand-written letter from the president to kim jong- jong-un, describing clapper as his personal envoy. joining me on the phone, david gergen, veteran adviser to four u.s. presidents. thank you for being with us. appreciate it. >> hello, good to talk to you. >> a senior state department official tells us that the letter from pre

>> we like taiwan and south korea. that is a play on oil production. south korea is a big player. what is going on with technology. you get a lot of technology products from south korea and taiwan. the decline in energy a lot of people focus on in u.s. dollar terms. if you adjust for the decline in the euro and japan and energy prices are down across the board globally. a lot of the countries are much bigger importers than the u.s. is. outside the u.s. is a much bigger boost. those are great positives that you mentioned. >> thank you very much for joining us. we traversed the globe in so little time. >> thanks for having me. >> what should you do with this information? joining us is kathie murphy who oversees 1.3 trillion in customer assets. you have these markets here in the united states sitting around record highs. what are you telling clients and people? is it a bad time to be committing new money now? >> we have a real diverse range of customers. we have active traders. we had a big summit in san francisco. they remain quite bullish and continue to be active. we also have a l

it's rare to actually speak to them before they reach south korea. we managed to do that and filed this story. in a remote border region of northeast china, we've set up a clandestine meeting with a north korean refugee escaping through china. transported by people, smugglers known as snakeheads. we can't show you his face for safety reasons. we'll call him li. "i was coming over into hiding," he tells me. "i was here one day and there the next." li says he was a north korean soldier but won't say why he had to flee, leaving his wife and child behind him in one of the most closed societies on earth. "i knew they wanted to capture me," he says. li is on an epic dash for freedom. to get out, he must travel thousands of miles by road switching cars each day to avoid detection. across the whole of china, through the northern part of laos into thailand, and then seoul. he will owe the snakeheads thousands of dollars for the trip. his biggest fear is the chinese government. if they catch him, they'll likely send him back to the very regime he fled. >> chin

. >>> we're in south korea where students are preparing to take the biggest exam of their lives. >> it's a chilling and draconian sentence... it simply cannot stand. >> its disgraceful... the only crime they really committed is journalism... >> they are truth seekers... >> all they really wanna do is find out what's happening, so they can tell people... >> governments around the world all united to condemn this... >> as you can see, it's still a very much volatile situation... >> the government is prepared to carry out mass array... >> if you want free press in the new democracy, let the journalists live. ♪ >>> hello again any top stories here on al jazeera. israel east prime minister has arrived in jordan to meet jordan's king and the u.s. secretary of state. talks are aimed at easing tension between israel and jordan as well as palestinians over restrictions imposed on the al-aqsa mosque come pound. >>> a new audio recording has been posted on the islamic state case official within. the 17-message comes after alleged american attempts to kill the leader. >>> football's governing body

north korea wants to charm the international community specifically russia, japan, south korea and now us. the reason is about a year ago there was a rupture in their relations with their primary backer which was china. so north korea needs to replace the support that it's been getting from beijing and where better else than the united states. >> you know, this place is so mysterious, north korea and kim jong-un disappeared for a while, he's back, you get this release. could his disappearance and the release now be related? >> you know, i'm sure they are related it's just that outside of a very small circle in pyongyang we don't know. i think kim jong-un has lost power since he's been in office after taking over from the death of his dad in december of 2011. i think you have new players on the scene in pyongyang and they are pushing the country in better directions. now i don't know how substantial this will be, now enduring this will be, but nonetheless we do see an opening. so this is intriguing. north korea is doing things it hasn't done before. releasing people without getting anyt

and some pollutant will move into the border of north korea and south korea on your saturday. so you may want to wear masks. now across japan, we're seeing some rainfall across kyushu and also some rain and snowfall over the hokkaido area, but in the middle, sunny weather and sunny weather will likely continue into the next three days. monday is our national holiday. tokyo warmer than average temperures with partly sunny skies continuing into your monday. so enjoy your holiday weekend. now, across europe, we still have a low pressure system which has a history of producing flooding and mudslides for many parts of southern europe this week. it's still packing lots of moisture. enough to create more heavy rainfall, gusty conditions, and thunderstorms over the black sea region into the weekend. now, this high pressure system is sending colder air from the north. so we are seeing some snowfall in the area like eastern poland down towards eastern parts of ukraine, but that should taper off by your saturday. starting to see some wet and windy conditions over the british isles. but,

with south korea. this is good news. terrific for the familiels and we should rejoice in that. >> i asked this earlier and i ask you. what does this say about the leadership and struggle of leadership there? >> caller: well, clearly a decision like this to release these americans is made at the top. it is made my kim jong-un. so the new leader who we know very little. so i think he may be changing tactics. maybe he's moderating. maybe he's moving toward wanting a dialogue with his neighbor, with the united states. so it is a good sign. because in the past there was silence from the north koreans. they have held kaeennett bae fo two years. so it shows perhaps he is back in control, calling the shots. being influenced by the moderates. i think people wish there is going to be a regime change. i think he was sick. he had a bad foot, gout. and he's still in control. so this is a good sign. because decisions like this are made at the highest level. he obviously made it. and if it was without any conditions,

. >>> coming up -- things heat up in south korea. >> if you want to be a politician in korea, a black belt in tae kwon do may not be a bad thing to have. >> a lawmaker with a tasteless strategy. >> we can't vote on this bill because it's in her mouth. and she's chewed it up. >> plus the most violent political brawls on video. >> someone could have gotten killed. right now, you can get a single line with 3 gigs for $65 a month. 3 gigs ... is that a lot? that's about ... 100 app downloads, 45 hours of streaming music, and 6 hours of video playing. (singing) and five golden rings! ha, i see what you did... (singing) four calling birds...three french hens ...(the guys starts to fizzle out) two... turtle...doves... i really went for it there ya you did ... you really, really did now get 3 gigs of data on one line for $65 a month. switch to at&t, buy a new smartphone and get $150 credit per line. americans drink 48 billion that's enough plastic bottles to stretch around the earth 230 times. each brita filter can replace 300 of those. clean. clear. brita water. nothing is better. [ male anno

an enthusiast in south korea has forked out almost 1.9 million euros, about $2.4 million for one of the french emperor's hats. that's five times higher than expected. experts believe napoleon wore the trademark felt hat around 1810. and they think he took it with him on to the battlefield. >> translator: there are very few of napoleon's hats left. there were only about 120 in all. today 19 are documented and 17 are in museums. >> napoleon's vest later came into possession of the hat. it's been on display at a museum in monaco. a major south korean food producer made the successful bid at auction near paris. a representative said the firm would show the hat at its new office to attract visitors. it was the first time in 45 years one of napoleon's hats has gone to auction. >>> that's "newsline" for this hour. i'm gene otani in tokyo. ññ x hello, and welcome. it is 1:00 p.m. here in the french capital. at what isa look making headlines this hour. an act of pure evil, that is how american president barack obama a manbes the beheading of from an aid group. also, in the wake of an acrimon

and a tunnel of light major lantern festival illuminates south korea. >>> we begin with some breaking news out of yemen where a new cabinet has just been announced there. a total of 36 ministerial pro forma s -- positions. including five women. this comes about with discussion of sanctions that the u.n. is about to discuss in a few hours against the former president. we'll go to the yemeni capitol. who is in the new cabinet? >> reporter: absolutely, quite defining moment here in yemen, very interesting times here. the president has just announced the new government. now this is a government that many yemenese hope would put an end to weeks of instability and political bickering, but then we have to wait and see what will be the reaction of the houthis. the houthis made it quite clear from the beginning that they will only put an end to their protest movement pull out their fighters from here, from the capitol, once they are sure there is a government that is going to clamp down on corruption and work for the benefits of the poor people and the nation. we know the president has talked

korea's ferry disaster that triggered national outrage. and a military operation in pakistan's north-west displaces hundreds of thousands of people from their home. >>> welcome back. here is a kick look at the top stories on al jazeera. chinese president xi jinping, and japanese prime minister shinzo abe held the first face to face meeting since taking office. the meeting on the sidelines of the apec summit is seen as being the first step to improving relations between the asian superpowers >>> a memorial service will be held in the netherlands for the plane that crashed over eastern ukraine in july. 298 peppingers aboard mh17 died. more than half were dutch. >> the iraqi army says it reached the center of the northern oil city of baiji, trying to break a siege by the fighters of the biggest oil refinery. i.s.i.l. captured baiji during an advance across northern iraq >>> 90 of ballots have been counted. results show more than 80% of voters favour a split. as claudio lavanga reports, more than 2.75 million went to the polls, a strong show o

victoria, al jazerra. >> speaking to robert kelly joining us via skype from south korea he's a professor of the political science of diplomacy. you know the americans coming out and saying no concessions off erred to north korea. that's on the public face. privately could anything have been given to them? >> yeah, well, in the past the north koreans have been pretty canny negotiators they usually ask for some quid pro quo which the northwest wants something out of north korea. if i was the north koreans i would be asking for three things, one, some kind of relief on the sanctions since north korea has engaged in the nuclear tests and missile tests the sanctions have gotten tighter i would ask for relief on the banking industry, the north koreans keep a lot of money offshore and places like hong kong and it's made it harder and harder for the north korean elite to import luxury goods if i were the north koreans i would be pushing for that. america probably didn't give any formal but maybe they are looking away. it's hard to believe they gave them away for nothing. unless they are looking