Worries about the growing debt. And Australian Government leaders are facing growing opposition for their decision to seek out Japanese Submarine technology. People in central and western japan are digging out after heavy snow blanketed their homes. The snow toppled trees and cut off roads. And is the fourth day some mountain communities have been cut off. Nhk world reports. Reporter officials in tokushima prefecture in western japan say the storm took them by surprise. Snow blocked roads have left about 400 households cut off. Translator weve never had this much snow. Translator were trying to represent residents as soon as we can. Reporter selfdefense force personnel and local government officials have been trying to make sure residents are safe. Theyve also begun clearing trees and branches. The loss of power has disrupted peoples daily lives. Yoshio renovated his house five years ago. All of his utilities run on electricity. But now that the power is out, he has no heat. The kitchen stove and oven dont work, either. Translator this is really unexpected. Its an emergency. Im so cold i couldnt sleep well. Reporter this woman is 76 and lives by herself. Her phone isnt working. And she feels all alone. Translator without a phone, i cant even contact my neighbors. I live alone far from them. Im scared of being left behind. Reporter internet protocol phones like the one she uses is becoming more popular over the last decade in tokushima. But unlike conventional land line phones, ip phones do not work when a blackout occurs. The battery in her mobile phone has run out of power, so she has no means of calling anyone. The communitys wireless Warning System is her only source of information. Translator this really helped. Reporter she can at least get updates on the weather and the power. City Officials Say rescue workers found a 98yearold woman in one of the areas thats been cut off. She was later confirmed dead at a hospital. Weather forecasters are predicting more rain and snow in the coming week along the sea of japan coast. Theyre also warning people to watch out for avalanches. Nhk world. A powerful typhoon has moved across the central philippines, killing at least two people. Officials say trees have been toppled, and some homes have been flattened, and they say its now moving toward the capital manila. Typhoon hagupit has been downgraded to a severe Tropical Storm. Its moving west northwest at a relatively slow speed of 15 Kilometers Per Hour. Weather officials are warning residents of luzon island about the dangers of violent winds, strong rain, mudslides, and storm surges. Authorities say a 1yearold girl died of hypothermia in a shelter on the Central Island of panae. They also say utility poles were downed and roads were blocked by mud and debris in Southern Luzon and other areas. Power outages are continuing on samar island. The first place where the storm made landfall. The government has been calling on residents to evacuate. More than 1 Million People are taking shelter at schools, churches and other buildings. Manila schools and surrounding areas are closed on monday and public servants, excluding disaster officials, have been given the day off. Ministers from eight latin american nations are joining hands to fight Global Warming by planting trees. They announced the initiative to restore millions of hectares of forests during a u. N. Climate summit in lima, peru. Agriculture and environment ministers from countries including peru, mexico and argentina, say they will restore 20 million hectares of forests by 2020. The ministers are attending the u. N. Cop20 talks on climate change. Latin americas forests are rapidly disappearing. Much of the land is being turned into farms. Changes in land use account for almost half of the regions Greenhouse Gas emissions. Translator we want to tell the rest of the world that countries in the region are tackling the problem. Private investors will provide 365 million to get the reforestation project off the ground. Companies will be eligible to receive carbon credits based on how much they invest. Authorities in several u. S. Cities are bracing for more protests against police violence. Theyre dealing with nationwide demonstrations that are growing in size. And theyve seen some of them turn violent. Police in berkeley, california, fired tear gas after a group of protesters broke into shops. Local media reports say that two Police Officers were injured on sunday. And at least six people were arrested. People across the u. S. Are protesting a decision by new york city grand jury not to indict a white Police Officer over the chokehold death of an unarmed black man. Relatively Peaceful Demonstrations also took place in at least 26 cities, including miami and los angeles. The white Police Officer shot and killed an unarmed black teenager in ferguson, missouri. A grand jury also acquitted that officer last month. British officials promise scottish voters greater autonomy if they rejected independence from the United Kingdom in a recent referendum. Now, a top scottish politician is holding them to their promise. Former Scottish National party leader alex salmond has announced hes going to run in a parliamentary election in may. He stepped down as party leader in november. Two months earlier voters rejected a call for independence from the United Kingdom. And British Government report from for the election promised scotland greater autonomy if voters turned down independence. But salmon says the report failed to meet expectations. And with so much at stake for scotland, i think its imp impossible to stand on the sidelines. The Scottish National party has been gaining support since the referendum. We have ron madison with the latest in business news. Ron . Well, gene, certainly investors with a lot of data to digest today, and theyre growing concerns about Global Growth due to weak data from asias big economies. Japanese government officials have revised gdp growth downward in the Third Quarter of 2014. The economy contracted by 1. 9 , in annual terms, from july to september. Now thats well above a preliminary reading of 1. 6 . Trade data from china was also well below expectations. Release of the data is casting a bit of a shadow over Investor Sentiment as we can see here. All the major benchmarks in europe are down with london leading the pack lower, losing about 0. 75 . Taking a look at the asia pacific region. Tokyos nikkei hit the highest closing level since july 2007. That was due to upbeat u. S. Jobs figures. Chinas shanghai composite index gained 2. 8 , hitting a new 3. 5 year high. South korea retreated from a twomonth high. It was down today just about 0. 4 . And in terms of currencies were seeing dollar yen at 121. 12. The dollars been gaining ground against the yen. Analysts say the gap between u. S. And japanese Interest Rates will encourage the dollar buying, and weaken the yen. The euro has slipped to its lowest against the dollar in more than two years at 1. 2252. Some investors are selling the euro and buying the dollar due to the better than expected u. S. Jobs data. Well, increased exports of cell phones and steel to the United States and Southeast Asia have helped china rack up a record Monthly Trade surplus. Customs Officials Say the trade balance for november was in the black by about 54. 5 billion. That does top the previous monthly record set in august. Exports in november totalled nearly 212 billion. Thats a 4. 7 rise from a year earlier. And its the eighth straight monthly increase. Imports totalled more than 157 billion. Thats down 6. 7 . The first decline in three months. And the weak Real Estate Market slowed down to domestic demand. That caused sluggish imports of raw materials, and auto related products. Government Officials Say uncertainties over the Global Economic outlook could put pressure on export growth from the yearend to early next year. Business sentiment among japanese workers in november worsened for the second straight month. Government officials have lowered their assessment of the economy in response. The index of the Economy Watchers survey for november stood at 41. 5. Down 2. 5 points from the previous month. Officials at the Cabinet Office asked more than 2,000 workers nationwide for their views on the economy. A reading below 50 does suggest more people are pessimistic about business conditions. The officials downgraded their Overall Economic assessment for the second straight month. They said the economic recovery has recently shown some weakness. The Officials Say consumers and companies are more concerned about the Economic Outlook due to the weaker yen, and rising food prices. Strained political ties and the weaker yen, mean fewer japanese people are visiting south korea. Tourism businesses from the two countries are working together to reverse that trend. Just about 100 people from japans travel industry arrived at Incheon Airport near seoul. Theyre part of a group of 1,000 professionals who plan to visit south korea. Industry groups from the two countries are sponsoring the tour. The number of japanese visitors to south korea dropped 22 in 2013 from the previous year. The number so far this year is down more than 10 . Translator south korea is a nice place. I hope to learn more about the country so i can share my knowledge can customers. Well the people taking part will visit Tourist Spots in seoul, and other parts of the country. They hope to get ideas to help them develop package tours. Researchers at Japanese Electronics firm hitachi more than a decade ago developed technology that identified people by scanning the veins in their fingers. Well, now theyve taken that a step further. People in the industry thought it was next to impossible for a machine to read finger veins while people were moving. But researchers have come up with a device that does just that. People pass through an automatic ticket gate, for example, hitachi Officials Say its a industry first. They claim it can handle 70 people a minute. Translator it will become very important to ensure security at largescale facilities such as shopping malls and sports venues. Hitachi says the company aims to put the device on the market in two years time. Okay that is going to do it for biz tonight. Lets get you a recap of the markets. People in japan have a big decision to make before they get into the spirit of the yearend celebrations. Theyre voting at a general election this coming sunday. Prime minister shinzo abe had his liberal Democratic Party return to power less than two years ago. But hes put his lock on the lower house on the line. He says he wants voters to weigh in on his Economic Policy known as abenomics. Our special coverage, japan decides, will look at the key issues ahead of election day. One of them is the consumption tax. People in japan saw the first hike in nearly two decades in april, when the tax went from 5 to 8 and put a damper on the economy. Gdp declined for the last two quarters. And that was the state of play when the Prime Minister called the election and announced he was postponing the next increase. Many japanese welcomed the delay. But theyre still concerned about their countrys bloated debt. Nhk worlds daisuke sdama has the story. Reporter yoshifumi fujimoto works at the company that cleans and manages hospital facilities. His income supports a family of six. He says it hasnt gone up. Translator to be honest i havent reached the benefit of any moves toward wage increases. Reporter his wife manages the family finances. Shes watched their cost of living rise since the yen has lost value, and the higher consumption tax kicked in. Paper for example is 6 more expensive. She not only brings about 16 with her when she goes shopping, so she doesnt spend too much. She hunts for the best bargains. Translator this pack of sausages is big but its expensive. So i wont buy it anymore. Reporter the family is also cooking more at home, and eating out less. Still, they cant stay within budget. So they are dipping into their savings to get by. Me ueck ki is relieved, the second part of the consumption tax hike has been delayed. Translator the tax increase in april was only 3 . But altogether it adds up to hundreds of dollars. Reporter they and others in japan have seen the tax rise over the years as the leaders try to chip away at the debt. The government introduced a 3 tax in 1989, raised it to 5 in 1997, and this year increased it again to 8 . Still, low tax revenue and high expenditures has caused the debt to balloon to 9 trillion. Thats about 230 over gdp, more than any industrialized nation. The aging population has inflated Social Security costs, government officials hope the twostage consumption tax increase would turn things around. They promise to use some of the money collected to counter the declining birth rate. For example, improving child care facilities. The fujimotos would welcome such a move. After all, they have four children aged 1 to 13. They want to put the youngest in day care before miyuki returns to work. But the facilities in the neighborhood are full. With the second part of the tax hike unfolds, the extra money for day care seems a long way off. The fujimotos wonder when a spot will free up. In the mean time, theyll continue to struggle with conflicting emotions about the hike itself. Translator our generation will be fine if taxes arent raised. But im worried about the debt that will be passed on to each of our children. Reporter putting off raising the consumption tax to 10 will help japanese now. But like the fujimotos, many voters are aware something needs to be done about the debt. Its a bitter pill few want to swallow. But the most know they must at some point. Cial coverage japan decides sunday december 14th on newsline. Australian defense officials are on a mission to boost their naval power. Theyre eyeing japanesebuilt submarine technology. And theyve been facing a strong backlash for looking at machinery made from abroad. More from nhk worlds dan cook. Reporter on november 1st, a ceremony was held in Western Australia to commemorate the 100th anniversary of australian and new zealand troops being sent to fight on the battlegrounds of world war i. Escort vessels from japans maritime selfdefense force also joined the flotilla. Their participation in the albany event underlined the close relations between japan and australia. Following a recent reassessment of its National Security, australia is taking steps to strengthen its navy. One reason for this is increased activity by chinese navy vessels. At present australia has six submarines which were built with the support of sweden and other countries. However, from the start, the submarines were found to have problems, especially noise levels. Australia is very interested in the latest Japanese Submarine technology. It has not stated how far it will go in requesting Technical Assistance but australian media are speculating that the government plans to buy submarines built in japan. If japan were to produce submarines for australia, that will be its first sale of completed weaponry to another country since its guidelines in exporting weaponry were revised. [ chanting ] there is fierce opposition in australia to the idea of buying finished submarines. Critics say it would weaken the nations ship building industry. Prime minister abbott is also being accused of breaking his Campaign Pledge that new submarines would be built in australia. We will build ships and submarines in australia, because we love this country. Reporter peter briggs is a former Australian Naval officer who has served on two submarines. He says australia must carefully consider whether Japanese Submarine technology will be adequate for a country that faces both the pacific and indian oceans. But when you look at what australia needs for its submarine force its not surprising that it doesnt go as far as we would require, and it doesnt cover that distance as quickly. As we would want. Reporter on november 10th, a conference on submarines was held in australia. Some participants expressed concern over the risk of using foreignbuilt submarines. Experts point out the issue is controversial and will need to be examined very carefully. Its not going to be easy to pursue this option in japan. There are internal obstacles. Theres bureaucracy. And i think its important, also, as i think the government is aware, that australia look at the pros, and the cons. Reporter while the Abbott Government is keen to forge closer links with japan on National Security issues, it cannot afford to ignore domestic opposition. Dan cook, nhk world, sydney. People across japan are hoping for warmer weather, after a winter wallop delivers more than 100 centimeters of snow during the weekend. Our meteorologist jonathan oh is here with the details. Jonathan . Hello, gene. Yes. We are talking about a decent amount of snow all across japan, especially for the northern areas, because of the snow setup that took place during the weekend. And we are looking at the possibility of seeing even more snowfall going in to tuesday. First let me show you what it looks like on the ground. Lets go up to kanazawa. I want to show you how this snowfall unfolded in terms of the visual side of things. You can see here it almost looks like a Winter Wonderland after a weekend snowstorm. Eleven centimeters of snow piled up here as of 6 00 p. M. Monday and that is eleven times more than normal for this time of year. But, you have to look out for the risk of avalanches. We are seeing the temperatures starting to creep up just a little bit. The midwinterlike low temperatures for Tuesday Morning will be in place so the snow will not melt completely for a couple of days. But then we will look at the possibility of seeing those temperatures coming up, and then the increasing chance of avalanches as we go into the next couple of days. Let me show you the snow depth report for this point, 64 centimeters of snowfall still in place, 72 in shiakawa, and more than 100 centimeters still on the ground. And we are looking at the setup of moisture along with the cold air, to still be in place from sapporo down into niigata. You will see the possibility of seeing some more snowfall. Not nearly as much as what we saw this weekend. But, the snow possibilities do remain to tuesday. Then by wednesday, High Pressure from the northwest will move in, and that will start to not only clear the skies, but present an opportunity for some melting on the ground for the rest of the week. Now were talking about a very different weather scenario down toward the philippines, as we are continuing to monitor a tropical system. This is severe Tropical Storm hagupit, as it is now stalled over the northern philippines. It will continue to dump a lot of moisture already having problems with road blockages because of mudslides, flash flooding, all of these factors will continue to be compounded as the system continues to linger over the area. It is weakening. It will whoever over the Tropical Storm, severe Tropical Storm status for the next couple of days and then will move out to sea. But again, this slowmoving system is going to present the concerns of the rainfall causing problems on the ground level as we go throughout tuesday, and into wednesday. Heres a look at the forecast for europe as we look at this low pressure system down toward the balkan peninsula, we are keeping an eye out on this because we have six water spouts reported in greece on sunday. This system will present itself with some severe storms possible for your monday. Meanwhile back toward the west, we have an unstable weather pattern. That will bring some rain and we actually had wind gusts up to 126 Kilometers Per Hour reported in france. Seeing some more rain, maybe some storms coming monday with a high of 6. And rain for the eastern side of europe, as well. Maybe even some snowfall into moscow and kiev. Thunderstorms down towards athens with a high of 15 degrees. Now we wrap things up with a look at north america. A lot of instability for the eastern side of the United States. Lots of cloud cover. Chilly temperatures, as we have a wedge formation trying to set up from High Pressure up north, below off of the United States will actually bring some moisture and rain possibility of some rain, maybe even a few flurries for the northeastern coast and well see a low pressure system in the upper midwest presenting some road problems, possibly with some freezing rain in the forecast. Hope you have a good day wherever you are. Heres your extended outlook. And thats newsline for this hour. Im gene otani in tokyo. nncnoo syria accuses israel of bombing its Main International airport and damascus. No comment from the israelis so far. The typhoon is downgraded to a Tropical Storm, but it still is churning through the philippines, heading for the capital, manila. In mexico, the family of the first victim identified among the 43 missing students calls for justice. Also coming up, a surprising fundraiser just a stones throw from the kremlin. Tosian ballet stars dazzle help