barack obama urges benjamin netanyahu to take a diplomat i can approach to iran. the u.s. and israel are linked by their history. their leaders have not enjoyed an easy relationship. now, u.s. president barack obama

and israeli prime minister netanyahu are at odds over iran. they met for three hours in the white house. israeli leaders don't believe u.s. sanctions against iran's nuclear program are working. they threatened to launch a preemptive military strike against iranian nuclear facilities. obama is trying to steer them towards another approach. >> when i say all options are on the table, i mean it. having said that, i know that both the prime minister and i prefer to resolve this diplomatically. we understand the costs of any military action. >> when it comes to israel's security, israel has the right, sovereign right to make its own decisions. i believe that's why you'll appreciate, mr. president, that israel must reserve the right to defend itself. >> officials in the obama administration say they'll continue to press israel to seek a diplomatic solution.

they say a strike by israel would have dangerous consequences in the middle east. the director general of the international atomic energy agency has expressed concern over iran's nuclear program. he says iran is still enriching uranium and started a fresh program at a new nuclear facility. he spoke at a board of governor's meeting at the agency's headquarters. he said iran is not fully cooperating with the iaea. he said it is impossible to determine the extent of iran's nuclear program. >> the agency is unable to provide critical assurance about the absence of nuclear material and activities in iran, therefore to conclude that all nuclear material in iran is in peaceful activities.

china's leadership is getting a shakeup this fall, and the power struggles are playing out at this year's national people's congress. attendees at the meeting discussed policies for the coming year. the president hue gin tau trying to secure their legacy. the country's international prominence is growing. people will closely watch the policies the congress has to address the nation's problems. we have this report from beijing. >> those problems you mentioned include corruption, economic disparity and pollution. all by-products of china's growing economy and they won't go away on their own. the focus of this congress is whether the present government will be able to come up with effective solutions. this is a great hall of the

people where the annual conference of the national people's congress is taking place. about 3,000 delegates from all over chiep have gathered here in beijing. the premier used a two hour speech the first day of the congress to outline policies for the coming year. he said china's leaders will put the brakes on their speedy economy and seek growth and stability. >> translator: the target for this year's economic growth is to increase gdp by 7.5%. we hope to make economic development more sustainable and efficient so as to achieve higher level, higher quality development over a longer period of time. >> chinese officials had kept it around 8% the past 7 years. when the change on the international credit crisis and

domestic problems like inflation, he also frankly addressed some of the other issues facing the government. >> translator: problems concerning land ex-propreagency, housing demolition, workplace safety, food and drug safety are still very serious, and the people are still very concerned about them. >> many chinese people are frustrated with corruption and local bureaucrats for neglecting their duties. the government seems to be trying to maintain social stability to assure a smooth power transition this fall, by placing priority on people over economic growth. this is not the only thing attracting public interest. the congress is also to speculate on the change that's expected at the communist party convention this fall. the nine member bureau standing

committee effectively controls china, a country that's been ruled by one political party since 1949. several members will likely be replaced by younger at this fall's convention. the vice president is expected to assume the post of general secretary. putting him on track to become president of china next year. vice premier will likely become h his premier. he is the secretary of the congress party committee. he is currently involved in controversy. we learned before congress opened one of his close aides is being investigated on corruption and other charges. ball seems to be show things are business as usual.

he is attending the meetings at the congress. some openers say the city's developments may have some impact on china leadership. the power struggle appears to be accelerating, and there's a lot of speculation in beijing. people in china and other countries are closely watching the congress to see what party leaders will do. two set themselves on fire in tibet. the government said monday that a 32-year-old mother of four children killed herself in front of a police station. in a separate incident, a 20-year-old student set herself on fire in another province.

the u.s. sponsored radio free asia says chinese market vendors threw stones at her burning body. human rights organizations say more than 20 tibetans have committed self i am ladies and gentlemen in the past year. they have protesting restrictions on religious and cultural activities. japan urged china to disclose more information about its defense policy. chief cabinet secretary made the following comments to reporters. >> translator: japan will continue to ask china to increase transparency of its overall defense policy through bilateral security dialogue and exchanges. >> they will boost defense spending 11.2%. the military budget grew by double digits except in 2010. the chinese premier wants the country to grow at a slower pace, and investors around the

world sold stocks after hearing this news monday. ai uchida joins us from the business desk. >> good morning to you. agency, european, even u.s. markets fell. the dow-jones industrial average fell for a second day in a row on that news about china. it is a brand new day. let's see how stocks are reacting to that in tokyo. for that, we go to ramin mellegard at the tokyo stock exchange. ramin, how is the nikkei looking this tuesday morning? >> good morning, ai. a lot of focus on china as you mentioned, lowering its growth estimate and a lot of focus on growth prospects for the world's second biggest economy, and also exposure for a lot of sectors for japan's economy as well. heavy industry and export sectors. let's look at how the nikkei and topix are kicking off this morning. both indexes are trading higher. we are back above 9700 level. we closed below that yesterday first time in a week.

markets just taken a little step back after substantial gains we have seen so far this year. china's lowering of growth estimate sent some indexes low. we saw a slip in stocks with heavy exposure to china's growth in japan, such as construction machinery and also the steel companies as well. we keep track of those sectors as well. on a positive note for retail sector, we were keeping track of retailing. they're going to increase overseas stores and sales and expects further, bigger portion of sales to come from its overseas operations, even than domestic operations. we'll keep track of that sector as well. switching to currency markets, yen holding a little firm this week ahead of a couple key events in europe. we have european central bank

and also agree bond swap deal that will be a focus. let's look at the currency levels, you can see what we're looking at. 81.56-58. euro yen, 107.83-89. we remain in that weakening trend for the yen so far we've seen the last couple weeks. ai? >> what else can we expect as far as economic data? >> still a lot on the plate. economic data has been one of the biggest drivers for the stock markets here, especially out of the u.s. for japan, revised gdp data, for china, consumer price index data, and in the u.s., all important jobs numbers on friday. but just before that, we're going to have a private sector or adp data as well for private sector unemployment, and also the weekly jobless claims numbers. but the big friday, the u.s.

jobs numbers. back to you, ai. >> we will keep our eyes peeled for that. thanks a lot, ramin. ramin mellegard from the tokyo stock exchange. japan and vietnam are enhancing their ties. japan's top business group is visiting southeast agency nation this wiek. the two sides talking about continued cooperation in infrastructure development, including construction of nuclear power plants. japan business federation chairman met the vee knap east minister. he is touring southeast asia through saturday. the vietnamese minister called for assistance, stressing progress in infrastructure for the nation's economic expansion. he said mutual cooperation was necessary to create a favorable business environment and to promote continued growth for asian economies. he also called on vietnam to

help japan join the trans-pacific partnership trade talks. vietnam is one of nine nations discussing the free trade initiative. the vietnam minister expressed support and said the two countries are in dispensable partners for economic development in the asia pacific region. one of japan's biggest mobile phone carriers is getting into the solar power business. soft bank says they will build four solar energy plants as it branches into renewable energy ventures. construction of two plants starts next month. one in kyoto, the other near tokyo. the company aims to start operations in july and sell the energy to power companies. soft bank says its station in kyoto will generate enough electricity annually to support 1,000 households. the guma will be able to power 640 households. they're scheduled to build two other plants in tokushima

prefecture. western japan is not yet decided. it is expected those facilities together will be able to power over 1500 households. south korea's kospi just opened. let's look at those levels. more news next hour. back to catherine. >> thanks very much, ai. nhk found at least five starved to death in the evacuation zone around the fukushima daiichi nuclear plant. police and medical authorities

examined the bodies. they say the victims appear to have been stranded. >> translator: if the nuclear accident had not occurred, some of these people might have been rescued. they had no means to ask for help. we have to learn from these cases about how to manage that kind of situation. >> the government issued an evacuation order one day after the nuclear accident but some residents were left behind. one of the five was a man in his 70s. he was found dead in late march on the second floor of his home. the tsunamiy had damaged the first floor. he lived about five kilometers from the plant. another was a woman in her 60s. she was found dead last april in her home. she lived alone and had trouble walking.

now to our series lessons of march 11th, one year on. we're looking back on last year's magnitude 9 earthquake that triggered a tsunami and nuclear crisis. more than 15,000 people died. about 3300 others are still missing. we're bringing you reports this week from the hardest-hit prefectures, iwate, miyagi, and fukushima. nearly 300 people remain unaccounted for in miyagi. one man there has struggled since his son disappeared. he has come to a difficult decision. nhk world has his story. >> on a cold day in february, he asked if he was there. >> there was a bathroom here. and my son's house was over

there. >> a house that sheltered generations of his family. now just a foundation. but he was much more on that day. his son. the march 11 tsunami, he was with a man from local governments at the control center the water started to crack the three story building. the officials ran to the roof.

but the tsunami swallowed the structure whole. >> translator: he was honest, sincere, and modest. >> he call called courageous as well. he wasn't even supposed to be at the center. he would have been in the hills, conducting survey when the quake hit. he descended immediately and went to the control center. he wanted to help any way he could. >> translator: he probably felt responsible as a town official, but he shouldn't have run

towards the tsunami. >> they searched daily for information on the whereabouts of the missing of the march 11th. >> translator: i read the inquiries of about 5,000 people. soon i was overwhelmed, felt helpless, and finally gave up. >> he gave up, but still hope to find him. however, days and months passed with no news. he made difficult decision to hold a funeral. he wanted to honor his son ahead of the first anniversary of his disappearance. they have this in place of his

ashes. >> translator: how depressing. to honor my son, i have to have a funeral without his ashes. i feel if i don't, my son can't rest in peace. >> so he said good-bye to his son, but he is still waiting for closure. >> translator: i am hoping dna tests identify my son soon. i am expecting that will happen. i cannot bear to think my son's body is lying somewhere unattended. >> they will continue to do what they have done for months now.

and perhaps reflect on all they lost one year ago. people in the northeast are trying to move on. all right. in other news, thousands of people took to the streets in moscow to protest vladimir putin's victory in sunday's election. about 20,000 protesters rallied at a square near the center of the capital. opposition leader and another protest leader expressed their discontent. they allege that the voting was rigged. they say the result could be putin ruling russia for a long time. he was denied registration in the race. one demonstrator said putin is trying to monopolize power and the company will degenerate if this doesn't stop. more protests are planned for saturday.

the police have detained a few for public disorder. meanwhile, about 10,000 putin supporters staged their own rallies closer to the kremlin where the president's office is located. it's a rainy morning in tokyo, but surprisingly warm. we have the world weather forecast. >> catherine, we are experiencing quite a warm morning. the expected high is around 18 degrees today, which feels like mid april. speaking of rain, we have a long frontal line still with us, producing widespread showers to much of japan. most of the rains should be gone by this afternoon, but thunder showers in southern islands will continue into wednesday, and snow in hokkaido will continue into tonight. meanwhile, we have another low

pressure system moving across northern china, producing snow conditions here as well as the northern half of the korean peninsula and rain in south korea. that will move to sea and head towards northern japan. down towards the south, showers are developing in southern china, up to 100 millimeters. temperatures are looking like this. warming up to 24 degrees in hong kong, with a chance of thundershowers. 29 in taipei, with light rain, cooling down to 6 degrees in seoul, and 18 degrees in tokyo. warm conditions will continue into tomorrow. now moving on to the americas. it is nice and quiet across most of the u.s., but in between these high pressure areas, very strong warm and dry winds are blowing, and that's raising risk of wildfires, particularly in western portions of the central and southern plains. up to the north, a low pressure system is moving along the u.s. canada border, spreading rain,

mountain snow and strong winds. as the cold front comes, cooler, wet weather is in the forecast in california. so highs are expected to be only 14 degrees on tuesday here, but to the east, lots of warm air, getting up to 26 in houston, 21 degrees in denver, which is about 10 degrees higher than average, and coming in at 13 degrees in chicago on your tuesday. now, heading over to europe, we have very large and stubborn high pressure system over the scandinavian peninsula, producing dry conditions to the west. outside of the high pressure area there are a lot of things going on. we have a couple of low pressure systems in the eastern mediterranean countries, producing heavy rain and thunderstorms inch of italy as well as rain and snow in the southern balkan peninsula and turkey. things will get dryer here.

italy will see heavy rain into tuesday. heavy rain in eastern france is gradually or rapidly subsiding, but the risk of flooding will remain into tuesday afternoon. staying dry across the british isles, weather is on its way to impact northern half of the british isles. winds picking up as well. temperatures are as follows. 8 degrees for london and paris, 6 degrees in vienna, with plenty of sunshine. still minus 5 in moscow, minus 3 in kiev, and across the south, lots of double digits in the mediterranean countries. here is the extended forecast.

our lead story this hour, barack obama urged benjamin netanyahu to respond calmly to iran. the two leaders met at the white house monday. there had been growing concerns in the united states that israel may launch a preemptive military

strike against iran's nuclear facilities. israel has threatened to mount such an attack. it doesn't believe economic sanctions are enough to stop iran from developing nuclear weapons. >> when i say all options are on the table, i mean it. having said that, i know both the prime minister and i prefer to resolve this diplomatically. we understand the costs of any military action. >> when it comes to israel's security, israel has the right, the sovereign right to make its own decisions. i believe that's why you appreciate, mr. president, that israel must reserve the right to defend itself. >> observers say the u.s. will continue to press israel to seek a diplomatic solution. it fears a strike could cause confusion in the middle east. 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