Infrastructure than anyone in the world. Their Health Care System is incredibly impressive. And their ability to respond to crisis is there. So i think this is an appropriate role for japan to have. The observers i have spoken to said they will follow closely how mr. Abes foreign policies will be implemented. And that was miki ebara in new york. The Foreign Ministers of japan and south korea have met to discuss issues past and president. Fumeio kishida and byungse got together in new york. Translator we were able to talk frankly about how to improve the relationship between japan and south korea. Kishida referred to a number of rulings. He said the issue has already been settled under a bilateral treaty. Then urged japan to resolve of the issue of comfort women. Kishida explained the issue has been legally settled. He also asked a south korean foshl lift the ban on imports of marine products. The ban was implemented earlier this month among growing concerns among south korean consumers over the possible impact of radioactive water leaks from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. Representatives from iran and six world powers have met in new york. They are trying to jumpstart efforts to revive stalled negotiations over tehrans nuclear program. Iranian foreign minister Muhammad Zarif met with his counterparts at u. N. Headquarters. U. S. Secretary of state john kerry was there on behalf of the u. S. Which has no diplomatic ties to iran. The meeting provided a rare occasion for high level officials from the two countries to speak. We had a constructive meeting, and i think all of us were pleased that foreign minister zarif came and made a presentation to us. Im satisfied with this first step. Now we have to see whether we can match our positive words with serious deeds so that we can move forward. Many western government officials suspect iran is developing nuclear weapons. Tehran says its nuclear and uranium enrichment programs are only for peaceful purposes. Officials from Tokyo Electric Power company want to restart two nuclear reactors. The same kind that experience meltdowns at the Fukushima Daiichi plant. The reactors are part of the Nuclear Power plant in niigata in central japan. Tepco officials submitted an application. Rules that went into effect in july require that boiling water reactors like those at the plant have filtered vents. Such vents are designed to release pressure in reactor containment vessels during emergencies while limiting the emission of radioactive substances. Tepcos managing executive officer said niigatas governor has asked that the use of such vents be approved by the prefecture. He said he will relay that request to raegulatory agency officials. A team of 80 experts at the Regulatory Agency is screening application for six other plants with pressurized water reactors. This is the first Time Applications for boiling water reactors have been subject to such review. The head of the u. N. s Nuclear Watch dog is telling japan to follow International Standards tass monitors levels of radiation in sea water off the damaged nuclear plant. Yumio amano spoke about the leaks of contaminated water from Fukushima Daiichi. Translator it is not sufficient, even if japan says we have been monitoring levels of sea water radioactivity and we will release the data to the world. Its crucial for japan to conform in to the International Standards and cooperate with International Bodies from the planning stage. Amano said its not good for japan alone to monitor radiation because there are a variety of ways to do the tests. The iaea plans to do inspections again. They consider adding sea water analyst specialists to the team. China recently announced a plan to establish its first free trade zone. The Pilot Project will take place in the city of shanghai. It aims to increase Foreign Investment to help the country achieve its longterm economic objectives. A major port city that for decades has been the hub of commerce in Mainland China is hoping to increase its status on the international stage. Last month, the chinese justice unveiled the next step in his economic reform. A free trade zone in shanghai. It will cover some 29 square kilometers, combining four areas of the citys commercial business district. Restrictions on Financial Transactions and investment will be drastically eased in the zone. And all banks that operate in it will be able to set Interest Rates at their own discretion. Officials say the zone is meant to promote market liberalization in the financial and service sectors. The Pilot Project reflects a pivot in policy by chinas current leaders. 35 years ago, xiaoping opened up. And a series of reforms helped the economy boom. As cheap labor and Foreign Investment shifts to other countries in asia, in recent years, Economic Growth in china has slowed down. Leaders are hoping shanghais free trade zone will be just what the country needs to get things back on track. Some predict if implemented properly, shanghai has the potential to become a Major International hub for finance. Compete with hong kong and singapore in the years to come. Lets find out more on shanghais free trade zone. In beijing we have a professor from peking university. Professor, youve been recommendations on economic policies to the Chinese Government in the past. Is a free trade zone something you would have recommended yourself . Well, yes. Seven years ago, eight years ago we recommended a Similar Program in tianjian. Then we have this direct Exchange Channel with hong kong stocks. That special economic zone, or the free trade zone, which is what were talking about now is not working properly. So eventually, the hong kong direct Exchange Stocks with then was aborted. Nobody mentioned about that now. Instead, now we have a pilot sort of the shanghai free trade zone. We are looking forward to that kind of experiment. Were also looking for the details of the processing of that experiment. Whats the governments aim in establishing the free trade zone . How will it contribute to chens poli policy . Okay. A free trade zone necessarily involves Free Movement in commodities. Free movement of people. And then Free Movement of Financial Services, money, basically. So what were looking for is that for this shanghai free trade zone, whether theres enough financial rede regulations. Namely, we all have the other three movements. Commodities, movement, people. But now with Interest Rate deregulation within free trade zone if that is ever exercised successfully and probably we can expend it to the rest of china, namely domestically, well have a fullscale free trade zone or deregulation of the Interest Rate or Financial Service in general. Supervising agencies are against financial liberalization. Why is that . Fd how do you think premier lee will get around that . Thats a good question. Supervising agencies, they notice that in china, domestically, theres still an Interest Rate regulatory things. And especially in the security exchanges. So what if what happens if they have an Interest Rate, deregulation within the free trade zone and Interest Rate regulated outside the free trade zone. Thats going to create a big arbitrage opportunity. And how your going to prevent that arbitrage opportunity from happening, especially you have Commodity Movement and people Free Movements within free trade zone and that kind of worries our basically supervising agencies that were thinking of. One last question. Do you think the pilot free trade zone will serve its purpose . What point should we keep our eye on . The pilot free zone we should emphasize, theres always a pilot free zone but they are determined to have this full change in terms of processing trade and then bring back to domestically having reform institutions. So his eyes are basically on the financial side. So i think we should keep an eye on what is going to be allowed to do within the free trade zones. What kind of banking activities are allowed. Without that, theres really no free trade zone and thats without we need to Pay Attention is whether other activities are allowed. Whether the Free Internet exchanges are allowed or even schools, textbooks. And all others, this minute activities that we need to keep an eye on. Thank you very much there. Prime minister shinzo abe is preparing to announce a consumption tax hike next week. Officials are hoping to avoid an economic slowdown by offering cuts to businesses worth 16 billion. Government officials are finalizing details of the economic package for the end of the month. They are offering cuts to firms for emerging capital investment. Corporate reorganization and higher wages. Thats expected to total 7 billion and they intend to scrap a tax imposed after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami to help rebuild affected areas one year earlier than planned. Officials are reviewing a tax on automobiles bought by companies. Theyll be making a formal announcement next week. Prime minister shinzo abe is seeing further signs that japan may be emerging from deflation. Consumers fed higher prices in august for the third month running. Internal Affair Ministry officials said the Consumer Price index was up 0. 8 over last year. Thats the fastest rise in almost five years. The index does not include volatile fresh food prices. Consumers mostly paid more for energy due to Rising Crude Oil prices and a weaker yen. Drivers paid about 13 more than gasoline. Electricity bills go up nearly 9 and they paid 5 more for household gas. Retailers also hiked prices for durable leisure goods like computers, tvs and stereos by 0. 1 . Thats the first increase since 1992. Now cinema goers have seen a driverless vehicle in Science Fiction movies. But people in japan could soon see one on public roads. Nissan technicians are preparing to test a new selfdrive car. Experts at the japanese automaker have developed cameras and sensors to judge systems like a real person. The experts want to check if the car can safely overtake other vehicles. They want to know how it handles traffic. Theyll see if the car can apply its brakes when it approaches a jam. Nissan officials have already sorted out a license plate for the prototype. They plan to start stefts by the end of the year and hope to put the car on sale in 2020. Researchers with the United Nations say more than 6,000 languages are spoken around the world. But they warn half are in danger of disappearing by the end of the century. One of those is a language of japans indigenous ainu. Originally from the island of hokkaido. The government took over their land in the late 19th century and banned them from practicing traditional rituals and speaking their language. But the ainu fought to keep their heritage alive. Theyve had to work especially hard to preserve their language. It has no written form and only a halfful of people speak it. Some in the community have turned to Indigenous People overseas for help. Yoshiko nakata explains. Reporter maki is an ethnic ainu from hokkaido. She teaches basic ainu words and expressions to children in her community. But, still, she feels shes not doing enough to preserve her culture. Translator when i was a little girl, my grandmother would speak to me in ainu. She took me to traditional ceremonies and taught me the songs and dances. I realize now that she wanted to pass on those things to me. I was so stupid not to have realized it at the time. Reporter she and other ainu visited new zealand this year to learn from the maori peoe. An ethnic minority with a similar history. British colonizers settled in new zealand in the 19th century and forced maoris to live like westerners. The language almost disappeared, but Indigenous Leaders came up with a method of preserving it. Like ainu, maori has no written form. The method involves immersing students in the language. Instead of books or papers or pens, teachers use colored rods. Students learn words by forming shapes with the rods or describing their properties. Reporter the method was really a breakthrough for me. I realized i have to do everything i can to keep the ainu language alive. Reporter back in japan, she is hosting an expert in the preservation of the maori language. Members two of ethnic minorities written in each others words as a show of respect. We can all Work Together to help each other. What else can we do in this world. Reporter they decided to set up a series of workshops. Reporter students build vocabulary by listening to and speaking words over and over until they can form simple phrases. On this day, scholars and researchers join in. Translator its an easy way to remember. Translator i tried studying ainu before but didnt quite get it. This method helped me finally enjoy learning. Reporter participants also join a class for children. She speaks about the challenges shared by the ainu. She says its important to keep the language alive within a community to pass it on to future generations. Translator we understand what it is to be a priest. We understand what it is not to be able to speak ones own languages. Its so important to be able to name ones world. Translator we ainu must take the lead in restoring our language so that one day when my daughter becomes a mother, she can speak it to her children and then her children to their children. And on and on. Reporter she says shes committed to protecting her language. She considers it her purpose in life. Yoshiko nakata, nhk world, hokkaido. Were seeing beautiful blue skies and lots of sunshine here in tokyo. Time to check on the weather. Now heres sayaka mori. Skies are Crystal Clear and temperatures seasonably mild across tokyo and the rest of japan. Definitely nice weather to go out. The nice weather will likely continue into the weekend in many places. Dry weather for the Korean Peninsula at this moment, but over the weekend, we are expecting some showers. The low pressure system is expected to move into the peninsula. Were expecting heavy rain as well as thunderstorms going into sunday. Some showers for southwestern parts of china today. Especially Yunan Province and more heavy rain once again for the south china sea. We have a tropical depression which could become a Tropical Storm within the next few hours. Its actual lly in the southwes monsoon. Heavy rain will be affecting the philippines. More than 150 millimeters of rain is likely on already saturated ground so flooding and lanslides will be an ongoing risk here. And the counterclockwise circulation is hitting the land causing heavy rainfall for eastern parts of vietnam as well. And a new system near cambodia providing lots of rain across this area as well as parts of laos. Across the americas, i want to focus on the northwest because this is the time of the year when a pacific storm system moves in from the west. This system is going to be very significant one. Enough to cause drenching rain. Flooding rains and very strong winds. Were forecasting more than 200 millimeters of rain to fall in some locations into the weekend. So floods is going to be a very big concern. Also traffic disturbances could happen into the weekend. Now we have the former pacific system over this area which is causing some showers from the four corners up into manitoba and back behind it, winter storm conditions once again for the mountains over the rockies. About 40 centimeters of snow is still likely across this location into your friday. Meanwhile, looking quite dry across the east. Very gorgeous conditions. And this was the fixture on thursday across new jersey. Nice conditions out there. You can see beautiful morning glow. Really gorgeous weather will be prevailing across the east into the weekend. Temperatures will be nice and mild. 22 in new york city. 23 in toronto. But the back side of the continent, very chilly for this time of year. Only 14 in seattle with Rainy Weather on the last day of the business week. Okay. Finally, in europe then, lots of things are happening across this location. We have a strong low pressure system approaching the iberian peninsula. Its actually affecting the western part with severe weather, even hundreds and possible throughout your friday. Meanwhile, we are seeing some warm air across the south over the central parts of the mediterranean and cooling the north in between that showers from the Balkan Peninsula up into the alpine region. And once again, scattered cold showers in the northwest. The temperatures are going to be quite low once again across the east. Moscow only 6 degrees. 11 for warsaw, but temperatures will be steadily warming up as we go into the south. 29 degrees in madrid. And across munich, where oktoberfest is taking place, nice comfortable conditions into the weekend. Heres the extended forecast. And thats all for now on this edition of newsline. Im yuko aotani. Thank you very much for joining us. Tavis good evening. From los angeles, i am tavis smiley. Tonight, the conclusion of our conversation with linda ronstadt. Voice has been silenced due to parkinsons, a loss that she feels every day. She just published a memoir called simple dreams. We are glad you have joined us, coming up, right now. And by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Linda ronstadts impressive career has taken her from the small stage atoubadourd broadway. She has written a book about her life and musical journey, simple dreams. And it informed her collaboration with artists from dolly parton to willie nelson. Andone of her great friends heroes, Smokey Robinson. Tavis how great songwriter is Smokey Robinson . A terrible crush on him like every other female on the planet. I was so nervous, i thought i was going to drop dead. In that gin singing a song he wrote with him. My god. My friends and i play the top five this are the top five that, moki is about as good as it gets. He sings in the same tradition that Aaron Neville does. It goes back to the french creole thing in louisiana. Byy were very influenced french baroque opera. Really loud and belting like caruso, they would go in the falsetto and saying a lot of embellishments. Thats why he loves doo wop. He is one of the best and the last of the great doowop singers. He is much more related to french baroque opera. Belters like wilson pickett. But those guys sang in the beautiful falsetto and made it a beautiful thing. To ask yous going this question last night but we ran out of time because there was so much to get to and i can do justice to everything in this book. But every time i talk to you, i am always struc