Campaign in new york sparked by the Islamic State insurgency is raising new fears and opening old wounds. Officials with japans space agency have confirmed their new asteroid probe has entered into orbit. The hayabusa2 has begun a sixyear mission that scientists hope will help solve some of the mysteries of the universe. Translator their words encouraged me a lot. I was moved, and i felt happy. We apologize for that technical error there. The h2a rocket took off from the Tanegashima Space Center in southwestern japan at 1 22 p. M. Local time. Officials say hayabusa2 reached its initial orbit in just under two hours. The probe is headed for an asteroid that may contain water and organic substances. The hayabusa2 is fitted with a device called an impacter. Its capable of shooting metal bullet at the asteroids surface at a speed of two kilometers per second. The impact will create an artificial crater to allow the probe to collect rock and sand. These materials could provide clues about how the solar system came into existence and the origins of life. Executives at a japanese maker of air bags say theyll comply with a u. S. Demand for a nationwide recall. Safety regulators in washington say a defect in takatas air bags has caused injuries and killed people. Takatas executives say theyll take other steps to address growing concerns about their products worldwide. Nhk world has more. Reporter officials with the national Highway Traffic Safety Administration last week ordered takata to expand their recall. Officials also ordered five carmakers, including mazda and honda, to recall models fitted with takata air bags. The automakers have already called in about 8 million cars, mainly in the southern u. S. U. S. Authorities say the problem is with the air bags inflater. They say the device can explode, spraying metal fragments inside cars. Authorities believe inflaters have caused several deaths, and serious injuries around the world. At a congressional hearing last month, senators criticized takata for being slow to take action. A senior takata executive acknowledged the companys response came late, and apologized for the problems. We are deeply sorry about each of the reported instances in which a takata air bag has not performed as designed, and the driver or passenger had suffered personal injuries or deaths. Reporter takata on wednesday announced a number of steps to address the issue. They have recruited three former u. S. Transport agent secretaries for a new Quality Assurance panel. The independent panel will be headed by samuel skinner, who also sat as white house chief of staff. Norman mineta and Rodney Slater will serve as special counsel. Upon members will audit and report on takatas manufacturing processes. Takata executives are dealing with recalls in other countries, too. Drivers in japan have returned more than 2. 5 million cars. Translator people hold japanese automakers in high regard, and trust their products. But im concerned that this could affect their reputation. Reporter takatas chairman issued a statement saying the company will increase production in asia, europe and mexico. Factories in those places will make more air bag replacement kits needed as part of the recalls. The company also said its working with outside scientists. They will evaluate takatas product and look into ruptures tied to the inflater. Takata says it is cooperating fully with government requests for information. It says it has collected more than 20 terabytes of data and produced more than 360,000 pages of documents in response to requests from u. S. Safety regulators. Nhk world. And we apologize for the technical error earlier on. Drivers are now happy with lower gas prices, and ron madison has more on this story. Ron . Yeah, i guess you could say pretty much everyone is happy when gas prices are lower. Here in japan, though, its been quite awhile since prices have gone up. Motorists here benefiting from a virtual freefall in crude oil prices. Theyve been paying less at the pump every week for five months now. Officials at the Oil Information center say on monday the average price per liter of regular gas was about 157 yen. Thats about 1. 32. Thats down one cent from the previous week. Crude Oil Producers are facing weaker demand from european markets, and competition from people who develop shell oil in the u. S. Even so, delegates from the organization of the Petroleum Exporting countries recently decided not to cut back their output to drive prices back up. Officials at the Oil Information centers say that decision will likely be reflected at the gas stand again next week. But they say the downward trend could eventually level out as the weaker yen pushes up import costs. Well car dealers in the u. S. Have been doing a booming business. Sales of new vehicles hit a 13year high for the month of november. The analysts at Research Firm autodata say carmakers in november sold more than 1. 3 million new vehicles. Thats up 4. 6 from the same month last year. It is the ninth straight month of rising new car sales. The analysts credit the economic recovery in the u. S. They also say lower gasoline prices pushed up sales of suv models. Chrysler saw the biggest jump by far, coming in higher, more than 20 there. General motors sold 6. 5 more vehicles than before. Ford, though, not faring quite as well. Its sales fell nearly 2 . Japanese carmaker toyota was also up around 3 . Honda feigned 4. 6 . Nissan did see a decline, though of more than 3 . Well, executives of some Japanese Companies cant export their products to china and other lucrative markets. The reason for this, people in those markets have already registered trademarks for japanese place names, brands and products. Those operators hope to force the japanese firms to buy the marks, again, in their country or to simply block their competition. Now, officials worldwide are gathering in tokyo to tackle these socalled badfaith trademark filings. Patent officials from japan, china, south korea, united states, and the eu, are taking part. They want to stop people from registering distinctive signs or brand names that belong to other companies. Officials at japans Patent Office say theyll call on their counterparts to set up a screening system so weed out these bad faith applicants. Japanese luxury tile makers are all too familiar with the problem. They tried to register their brand name imabari towel only to find chinese firms had beaten them to it. They reported the matter to a Chinese Authority who ruled in their favor. But the authority has yet to say if imabari city itself can use the name in china. Officials at Budget AirlineJetstar Japan see a big opportunity overseas. Theyll launch their First International flights next year between osaka and hong kong. An official said starting in february the carrier will operate three roundtrip flights a week out of can sigh international airport. Executives recently raised nearly 60 million in capital in a bid to rebuild Jetstar Japans finances. Theyve been running the firm in the red ever since they launched three years ago. Translator were hoping International Flights will turn the business around. That will increase efficiency, so well get more value from our planes and equipment. Jetstar and other Companies Already operate International Flights to and from japan. Time to get a check of the markets now. Investors are holding off from any big moves while they wait for the European Central bank policymakers to meet on thursday. Major benchmarks in the region are looking pretty mixed. In fact, almost all of them are down. Frankfurt is flat on the upside while london and paris are both down about 0. 2 . Now Energy Shares in london are lower, after a sharp rally the previous session. Asian markets also seeing a mixed performance today. The weaker yen helped tokyos nikkei to extend its gains for a fourth session and close at its highest point in more than seven years. Shanghais benchmark index briefly touched a new threeyear high after china released positive data for Service Sector activity. Moving on to currencies now the dollar is gaining ground as the outlook for the u. S. Economy improves. Against the yen its still at its highest level in more than seven years. Right now at 119. 41. Now the euro has slipped to its lowest level against the dollar in more than two years now at 1. 2334. Investors are speculating that the European Central bank may be prepared to unleash more monetary easing. The euro is also edging lower against the yen. Now at 147. 29. Traders are waiting to see private sector jobs data out of the u. S. Later on in the day. Theyll also be taking a close look at official jobs numbers that get released on friday. And that is going to do it for biz tonight. Lets get a recap of the markets. As the u. S. Leads the Coalition Forces in the fight against Islamic State militants, authorities in new york are stepping up vigilance. Many people in the city lived through the september 11th terror attacks. Now some are concerned about a possible recurrence and that it may create tension between different communities. Nhk world reports. Reporter news about the Islamic State militant group is constantly being carried in the u. S. And its been casting a shadow on some new yorkers who remember their horrific experiences of the september 11th terrorist attacks, 13 years ago. I think, im not talking about days or weeks, but months away, something very significant could happen. Regarding isis. I am aware, im, you know, i keep my eyes open, i avoid dangerous but you know, its everything. Anything is bound to happen. Reporter authorities are stepping up vigilance against terrorism. This is something we have to encourage a deeper connection between all our people and our police force in particular to get these leads out so we can do something about it. Reporter some privately funded advertisements on public buses and subway stations are calling on people to beware of jihadists. They appear to be intended to incite hostility against muslim people. And many here are critical of that. Im not sure im not sure what its about. I just i think it probably goes toward promoting hatred. Reporter the ads were paid for by a group headed by political activist pamela gellar. Shes known for her strong criticism of islam. Particularly now, when the threat is bigger and the denial is bigger, and were doing this so that we might implement effective counterterrorism measures. Reporter Staff Members of the new york city Public Transportation authority face a dilemma. They need to abide by the constitution that upholds freedom of speech by law. And they also need revenue from advertisements. They refused some ads of gellars groups, but the group has sued the authority, saying their rights have been violated. We are not in a position to be able to decline to post this ad or that ad because we may disagree with the content of the ad, or we may feel that the ad could be controversial. Reporter the hostile mood worries the muslim community. More than 700,000 of them call new york city home. Imam Abdel Khamenei has been teaching religious tolerance to those who come to his mosque. With our differences were supposed to accept each other. I may have my opinion but i do have to respect you, and you have also to respect me. Reporter many here say theyre still haunted by the 9 11 terrorist attacks. They worry that the threat of 9 Islamic State can cause segregation and increase the risk of violence. Widad franco, nhk world, new york. Ukraines parliament has voted too approve a new cabinet to lead the country out of its economic hardship. President Petro Poroshenko has picked a team that includes three foreigners, and observers say thats a sign hell pursue a prowestern policy. Ukraines parliament approved all the lineup proposed by poroshenko and the ruling coalition. Prime minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk will retain his post. Georgias Alexander Tash villi was named Health Minister and the new finance minister is a u. S. National with state department experience. Ukraines conflict with russia has hit its economy hard. The International Monetary fund has offered an aid package but ukraines leaders have to carry out Economic Reforms to secure it. The president of kenya is calling on everyone in his country to help fight terrorism, even as some citizens raise more questions about his ability to do that. Islamist fighters with the Al Shabab Group killed at least 36 workers at a quarry in the northeast. The massacre happened on the outskirts of mandera, a town near somalia where the militants are based. The gunmen reportedly singled out nonmuslims before they shot them. Alhabab claimed responsibility and said the attack was in response to military operations by kenyan troops in somalia. President kenyatta has shaken up his Top Security Team in the wake of the murders. And hes refusing to back down in the face of the insurgency. We will not flinch or relent in the war against terrorism in our country, and our region. We shall continue to inflict painful casualties on these territories until we secure our country and region. Some kenyans, though, arent convinced. They have doubts about the governments operation to stop extremists. Hundreds of civilians and Security Officers have died in terrorist attacks since the early 2,000s. Al Shabab Militants killed more than 60 people last year at a Shopping Mall in the capital nairobi. And 28 people died this month in a bus attack in northeastern kenya. Lawmakers in france have added their voices to a wave of support for the palestinian cause. They voted to urge the french government to officially recognize palestine as a state. The lower House Resolution is nonbinding. It says the leaders should recognize palestine as part of a push for a definitive resolution of the conflict with israel. The british and spanish parliaments have recently passed similar resolutions. Sweden officially recognized Palestinian Statehood in october. A Senior Palestinian official welcomed the result of the french vote. The official said its likely to push the government to recognize Palestinian Statehood, and to promote peace with israel. Last week israeli Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu said its a big mistake for European Countries to recognize palestine. He said it encourages palestinians to harden their positions, and make them less likely to compromise. Peace talks have been frozen since april. More than 2,000 palestinians have died since then in fighting in gaza. Emperor akihito and Empress Michiko visited hiroshima to meet people whose homes were destroyed or damaged by landslides in august. 74 people in the citys yagi district died in the disaster. The couple bowed their heads in prayer. The emperor and empress offered words of encouragement to residents who lost loved ones or who were injured. Translator their words encouraged me a lot. I was moved, and i felt happy. Now, i can get on with my life. The emperor and empress thanked firefighters and others who helped in rescue and reconstruction efforts. The couple on thursday will pay their respects at hiroshimas atomic bombing memorial and meet elderly survivors. About 300 passengers aboard a train in northern japan had a long delay in their journey. They were stranded after a blackout in the middle of a heavy snowstorm. Power was los on a Rapid Service train wednesday morning on a line that links the cities of yamagata and sendai. The blackout occurred after a tree fell on an overhead cable. Heavy snow has been falling in the area since tuesday. The passengers were trapped in the train for about eight hours. East Japan RailwayCompany Officials say their staff used snow plows to bring heating pads and food to the passengers. The train resumed operation after workers removed trees blocking the path. Translator it was very cold. Translator i was forced to sit for several hours. I had no idea how to spend the time. Officials say the company is determined to analyze the cause, and to implement necessary measures to prevent it from happening again. An intensifying typhoon is drifting towards the philippines. Our meteorologist sayaka mori joins us for the latest. Yes, gene, typhoon will likely affect the southern half of the philippines over the weekend. Youre already seeing some stormy conditions. This one will head toward palau and the center will likely hit the east coast on your saturday. Wind gusts could be up to 220 Kilometers Per Hour under such conditions structural damage could happen, and if you remember last year, typhoon haiyan hit this area. So i know many people are still living in temporary shelters