fearing the status quo. residents of okinawa worry a long disputed u.s. base might not be going anywhere. residents of one japanese city woke up to the news that 1300 u.s. marines may be headed to their town. japanese and u.s. officials have been trying to figure out how to redeploy american forces stationed in okinawa.

nhk learned that the americans sounded out their counterparts about transferring marines to an air station. american officials made the suggestion during review of the realignment of u.s. forces. the countries agreed in 2006 to keep about 10,000 marines in okinawa, transfer 8,000 to guam. residents are expected to be opposed to the idea. the city already hosts a marine corps air station and aircraft carrier unit from central japan will be moved. japan and the u.s. agreed in 2006 to relocate the futenma station. they haven't made much progress. now they want to separate the two issues. japanese government leaders say possible moves to ease the burden of hosting u.s. bases on

okinawa. now three quarters of forces are based in okinawa. he used to advise the japanese government on how to deal with t he says separating the location issue may mean the u.s. gave up on moving to the less populated city. >> translator: the u.s. is tired of waiting for the relocation plan to move ahead. it has decided to organize its military to deal with the strategic environment of the asia pacific region. and it has apparently decided to separate the relocation issue to minimize impact on the u.s., regardless ofolitical developments in japan. >> people in okinawa fear that would mean the air base would remain in futenma. asian leaders are scrambling

to work together as the crisis goes around the world. ai uchida has more. >> there's a heightened sense of urgency. the japanese finance minister plans a trip to china next week in aim to strengthen financial cooperation between the two countries. nhk learned he is slated to meet with china's advice premier and the finance minister during a two day visit starting next saturday. they're expected to talk about setting up taskforces to proceed on agreements reached last december. these include the purchase of chinese government bonds by japan and enabling direct trading of the two country's currencies. also likely on the agenda, how to respond to request by the international monetary fund. imf is calling on members to invest financial contributions by $500 billion in case europe's credit crisis worsens. the officials will likely consider establishing a lending

system among 13 asian countries, including china, south korea, and japan, using their foreign exchange reserves. that's in a bid to prevent europe's debt problems from spreading further to asia. these concerns are more immediate in europe. the ruling coalition parties in greece failed to agree on an austerity plan, a precondition for additional aid from the eu. a large number of greek government bonds will mature next month. a default seems inevitable unless they receive more aid from the european union. they were scheduled to meet monday to discuss whether to accept conditions. however, the meeting has been postponed to tuesday. labor unions plan to strike and stage protests on wage cuts that are included in the austerity plan. meanwhile, french president nicolas sarkozy and the german

chancellor stressed urgency of the situation. >> it is a matter of days. we need a conclusion. >> romania is getting caught in the storm. the prime minister has resigned after weeks of protests against austerity measures. he announced he was stepping down to ease political and social tension. romania imposed spending cuts as part of a deal for 20 billion euros in fiscal aid from the european union and other organizations. the government slashed public workers' wages and raised the sales tax from 19% to 24. public anger at the austerity measures triggered street protests. the romanian president asked the former foreign minister to try to form a new government. now let's check the markets. overnight the dow ended lower,

weighed down by concerns of greece's on-going debt deal. to see how stocks are opening in tokyo, let's go to ramin mellegard at the tokyo stock exchange. ramin, looks like profit taking after last friday's gains from strong u.s. jobs numbers. how are stocks kicking off this tuesday morning? >> good morning to you, ai. let's look at the opening levels shall we for nikkei and topix. marginally lower this tuesday morning. as you can see on the screen, the nikkei closed above 8900 yesterday for the first time since october last year. trading value also exceeded 1 trillion yen for the last five trading sessions. strong moves there. may trade in a range as on-going concerns about greece's latest debt package is weighing on global markets. and that may mean we might lose a little momentum which we're seeing in the first few minutes of trading. for the dow and nasdaq, u.s. markets lost a little ground

monday. it ended friday on a high not seen since prelehman crisis and solid job numbers. the big focus today is earnings. and with that, toyota, coming out with earnings after the closing bell today, and a lot of focus on manufacturers. we have seen a sharp drop in profits due to historic appreciation of yen and the automotive industry since the march 11th disaster hitting a lot of production snags from component makers and parts makers as well. let's have a look at some of the currency levels this tuesday morning. you can see they're pretty steady there, dollar yen and euro yen, still showing a little yen strength. ai? >> ramin, what about the big meeting on trade issues in washington between japan and the u.s.? >> that revolves around the

trans-pacific partnership, tpp, and japan's prime minister noda is making that one of his central issues, but may come into a lot of opposition from the opposition party and also from other sectors, both domestically and in the u.s. ai? >> and the opposition liberal democratic party is likely to raise concerns as well as the farming lobby in japan. >> some opposition from those fronts, but japan's prime minister noda is trying to push that forward, especially since south korea set up its own bilateral deal separately last year with the u.s. as well as europe, and that has helped or is likely to help boost auto and electronics sectors, which japan competes heavily with with south korea. we'll check on that. the focus on toyota earnings today and guidance and outlook. back to you, ai. >> thanks for that. ramin mellegard from the tokyo stock exchange. and let's also look at other markets that are open this hour.

>> and that's the latest from business. workers at fukushima daiichi are trying to cool the plant's

number two reactor. they are injecting water into the facility but the temperature remains high. spokes persons maintain it is in a state of cold shutdown. tokyo electric power company issues say a thermometer at the bottom of the reactor monday read above 73 degrees celsius. the temperature has risen more than 20 degrees in the past four days. spokespersons say two other thermometers stayed at 44 degrees. tepco has been injecting more than ten tons of water per hour into the reactor. spokespersons say the temperature rise indicates the flow of water may have changed direction after plumbing work was carried out, disrupting a cooling system. but they maintain radioactive zen in hasn't been detected in gases around the reactor, and that nuclear criticality is not taking place. they say workers will increase the amount of water injected into the reactor to see if it cools. now, the japanese government has

decided to review donation practices at power companies. utilities donate money to projects where their plants are located. they then pass on the expense to consumers. but utilities aren't obliged to disclose how much or to whom they donate. nhk asked officials in 44 prefectures and municipalities how they felt about the issue. local governments got $2.1 billion from 12 nuclear plant operators and two related agencies since the construction of nuclear plants began in the late 1960s. local authorities can decide highway to spend donated funds. they have invested the money into public works projects and events to promote local economies. in some cases, local governments actively solicited donations from operators of nuclear plants in their areas. in 2009, a prefecture asked for money to build a road in a city

that hosts a nuclear plant. >> something about nuclear power plants makes people think not in my backyard. so municipalities hosting plants should be rewarded in ways that are institutionalized. shuz u observing a never let rewards affect its safety standards. >> a specialist in corpo finance told nhk that including donations and utility charges is undesirable. >> translator: the cost should not have been passed on to electricity users in the first place. the central government must make the firms disclose the flow of money. >> a panel of experts with the

ministry of economy trade and industry has been reviewing the way power companies charge consumers. panel members said in a recent report that donations should not be included in user fees. the ministry hopes to decide on the report by the end of march. some fisheries can't shake off the effects of the stooum. first they acknowledge their plants stopped production. now they ran into a hitch that prevents them restarting operations. this is slowing recovery in the region where the long term economy depends on the seafood industry. >> the disaster last spring left its mark onnish in oh mackey. it took the lives of many residents and left the city in ruins. factories that process seafood so badly damaged, they couldn't operate. now the industry is trying to get back on its feet, but it's

proving difficult. this man owns a seafood processing company. he is building a new plant where the old one stood. he expects to get production rolling again in august. he offered jobs to his former employees, but many turned him down. a lot of them had found other jobs. >> translator: some now live with relatives in tokyo, others moved to sendai, the nearest big city. they found new jobs. at least half my former employees are not coming back to work for me. >> he's found it impossible to hire employees to replace the former ones. he is not alone. many other seafood companies in the devastated region face the same problem. this company started processing seafood again last october. at a factory that has not

suffered major damage. but the firm was only able to rehire seven former employees. half the number working there before the disaster. he owns the company. he asked local unemployment agency for seven workers. he waited by the phone, but after four months, no one had applied. >> i thought i would get at least a few calls, but there hasn't been a single one. i simply cannot start a business without workers. >> he says people have found higher paying jobs in the building industry, booming now that reconstruction has started. many people need higher paying jobs to make up for lost wages. >> i hear that construction jobs

are paying about $130 a day. the truth is that jobs in the seafood industry pay less. we pay about $80 a day. >> he again asks the agency for workers. this time, he offered higher wages, even though his business might lose money. >> i decided to raise the wage from $80 a day to $130. >> that's equal to the salary plant managers receive. >> translator: i would appreciate if you could find me one or two people. obviously you can't do anything at all without workers. all i want is to hire people.

and get the business running again. >> first, it was the earthquake and tsunami that stopped the plant's operations. now it's the rebuilding. unless the seafood companies find employees, it will take longer for this devastated city to recover. >> still a long way to go to see full recovery in japan's northeast. now let's go to bangkok to find out what's making headlines. indonesia says the economy grew 6.5% last year, accelerating as rising incomes give indonesians more money to spend. the country steadily is establishing itself as an economic powerhouse in southeast asia. the 6.5% rate of gdp growth in techb was 0.4, a percentage

point faster than indonesia recorded a year earlier. the statistics bureau said strong domestic demand upset fallout from the global economic slow down and european debt crisis. indonesia has a population of 240 million people whose average income is righting year after year. the bureau said foreign direct investment increased 20% in 2011 from a year earlier, hitting a record high of nearly $20 billion. the government expects the economy to accelerate further, reaching 6.7% in the current year. the bureau's acting chief says spreading wealth beyond the economic heartland is a priority.

>> translator: if we can develop those areas, things will get better. >> even so, there are clouds on the horizon. one is workers having labor rights. rallies calling for pay increases are more frequent. how that keeps foreign firms investing in indonesia may effect the future direction of the country's economy. next, two cambodia, where a final judgment on crimes committed by the ka mere rouge was handed down for the first time friday. the u.n. backed tribunal issued a life sentence to the former chief of a prison. our reporter met one man for whom the ruling was especially poignant. >> reporter: the landmark ruling by the tribunal supreme court has special significance. he was one of a small number of

people who walk out of the genocide prison alive. >> this is the prison, once commanded by the defendant. it is now a public museum, a memory to the genocide, attracting many visitors every day. this is one of two former prisoners still alive today. he works as a guide at the museum, informing visitors about the genocide. he testified several times at the ka mere rouge tribunal.

he was imprisoned two years on charges of espionage. he says he was tortured every day. >> a prison guard kicked and pressed me against a wall. my head swelled up. he was an activist. he was kept alive because he had skills to paint portraits of the prime minister. but his wife was killed in the prison, their children died of illness. he is committed to drawing as long as his health allows him to hold a brush, to keep alive the memory of the genocide. >> translator: i have trouble seeing. i am hard of hearing, and i have lost my teeth. the physical scars and damage will never allow me to forget the tragedy as long as i live.

>> he believes friday's ruling was reflection of testimonies by him and all the witnesses, but he says the book has yet to be closed on cambodia's genocidal past. that will wrap up our bulletin. people here in tokyo are enjoying a warm spell. problem is for commuters, it is pouring. let's go to the weather picture for here and elsewhere. >> hello. time for your weather update. let's begin with japan. we can see active clouds covering much of the nation. underneath them, we are looking at a lot of precipitation, particularly along the pacific side. an additional 80 to 100

millimeters are possible. and thunderstorms, gusty winds and high waves a major concern as well. this afternoon, most of the precipitation will move out to sea. on the back side of japan, the precipitation is rain rather than snow, because temperatures are on the rise. however, the combination of rising temperatures and melting snow could raise the risk of avalanche, and from tonight, colder air will fly in. that will bring in another round of heavy snow as well as windy conditions. as for the korean peninsula, the southwestern corner will start to see snow to this afternoon. as we pull back, showers in the southeastern corner of china and much of taiwan will dissipate today, and down towards the philippines yesterday, a major earthquake occurred in the central philippines, but looks like rain will be moving into this area. that could hamper the rescue

efforts. here are the highs expected today. 26 degrees in tie pay, 16 in shanghai. minus 6 here. tokyo coming in at 17 degrees. and temperatures plummet this evening. heading to the americas, it is fairly quiet, but things are going to change in california. a pacific system is moving into this area and bringing torrential rain starting late tonight. the sierras may see more than 20 centimeters of snow in one day. in the southern tip of florida, we will see thunder thundershowers through tuesday. here are highs expected on tuesday. the eastern seaboard still on the warmer side. 13 degrees expected in d.c. and 17 in atlanta. finally let's go over to europe.

a very strong and very large siberian high pressure system is still blanketing much of the continent, bringing biting cold conditions. unfortunately it is going to stay here awhile, so cold conditions continue throughout the week. and we have a very active low pressure system in the eastern mediterranean, and it is continuously bringing in thundershowers as well as snow, and gusty winds. as you can see, the lines are close together, meaning fierce winds are blowing in the balkan peninsula and italy. in bulgaria, winds reached 140 kilometers per hour, but unfortunately those stormy conditions will persist here throughout tuesday. here are the highs expected on tuesday. minus 2 in paris. minus 8 in berlin. and only minus 13 in kiev. again, the cool conditions continue throughout the week. here is the extended forecast.

our lead story this hour, residents of one japanese city woke up to the news that 1300 u.s. marines may be headed to their town. japanese and u.s. officials have been trying to figure out how to redeploy american forces stationed in okinawa. nhk has learned that the americans sounded out their

japanese counterparts about possibly transferring marines to an air station in the city of iwakuni. american officials made the suggestion during review of alignment of u.s. forces. the countries agreed in 2006 to keep about 10,000 marines in okinawa, and transfer 8,000 to guam. residents of iwakuni are expected to be opposed to the idea. they already host a marine corps air station and aircraft carrier unit from central japan will be moved to iwakuni. japan and the u.s. agreed in 2006 to relow case the futenma station and return five facilities to japan at the same time. but they haven't made much progress on futenma. now the u.s. officials want to separate the two issues. japanese government leaders say possible moves could ease the burden of hosting u.s. bases on okinawa. that's all for this edition

of "newsline." i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. tokyo. thanks for joining us. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com