welcome to "newsline." i'm michio kijima in tokyo. prime minister yoshihiko noda told his cabinet to recycle the debris from last year's disaster. he said the rubble should be used to build a tsunami-resistant coastline. >> translator: i hope the debris will be used to we create forests along coastlines or hills to protect people from possible tsunami in the future. >> noda spoke on tuesday to a

new team of ministers. tasked with solving the debris problem. noda told the ministers to ask cement and papermakers to help with incineration. instead the government is preparing to ask local authorities to accept debris from disaster hit areas. after the meeting, industry minister edano said some cement and paper makers have already been cooperating but he will ask many other firms to follow suit. environment minister said creating anti-tsunami forest will help people remember the disaster and said the ministry will decide as soon as possible what kinds of materials are suitable for landfills. nhk survey suggests majority of people in japan would approve of debris being sent to incinerators in their neighborhoods. environment ministry officialsest nate debris of the earthquake and tsunami amount -- in the hardest areas prefectures.

one year later, workers have buried or burned only 6% of the total. government officials plan to dispose of debris at the facilities outside the region. nhk conducted a public opinion poll over the weekend. 57% of respondents said they would approve of their municipalities accepting the debris for disposal. 32% were undecided. nhk also asked about restarting nuclear plants which are now offline for inspections. only two out of 54 reactors are still running. 17% of the respondents supported the restart. 39% disapproved. 41% were undecided. health ministry officials in japan are looking at how they inspect what people are eating. they're reviewing guidelines for food inspections. the government plans to introduce tough new limits next month on radioactive cesium.

the revised standards will limit the amount of cesium in rice, vegetables and other food stuff to 100 becquerels per kilogram. that's one fifth the current limit. local governments are in charge of handling the spot inspections. municipalities that detect at least 50 becquerels in any of these items will be required to do the screening three times a week. the government temporarily banned the rice and vegetables over the last year in six prefectures in and around fukushima. test willing be mandatory in these areas regardless of levels of cesium found in food stuffs. people cope with disasters in different ways. some pick themselves up and get on with their lives, others lose hope. nhk has been conducting regular surveys of the survivors since

last year's earthquake. one indicator we are tracking is motivation levels. here's a trend we have seen for the past six months. 27% of survivors report higher motivation levels. 30% say their sense of purpose is fading. the data suggests the gap is widening between those who are getting back on their feet and those who are falling in to despair. >> one person who answered the survey is this woman. she said her motivation levels have risen in the last six months. she lost her mother in the tsunami. her younger brother and his wife also died. the loss of three close family members was a devastating blow. six months later, she rated the motivation at 60 with 100 being the predisaster level. but in the recent survey, she reported a score of 150. even higher than before the

quake. >> translator: when i finally accepted that my loved ones -- that i have to live my life for all of them. i have to keep fighting. >> reporter: one important step was her decision to open a small shop. just like the one she had before the tsunami. she sells groceries and every day items. little by little business has improved. >> translator: if i hadn't reopened the shop, i think i would definitely still be depressed. i keep moving forward every day. >> reporter: but many survivors are worried about the future. they use words like powerless and hopeless.

>> translator: the more time goes by, the more i can feel my motivation dropping. >> translator: i can't see what's ahead and i can't make any future plans. i don't know what's the best thing to do. i have no -- >> reporter: the farmer. all of his rice paddies and fields were damaged. but he wants to find a way to continue farming. three months after the disaster, the survey results show a motivation level of 90, quite high. this time around, however, he scored 50. his enthusiasm for life is draining away. start farming again. individual farms are not eligible for government subsidies. to qualify he needs to team up with other landowners. he got in touch with about 80

farmers he had worked with in the past to ask about their plants. their response was depressing. he found that one in four wanted to quit farming. >> translator: i was shocked. i hadn't expected so many to say they planned to quit farming their own land. >> reporter: endo told abe he wanted to quit. endo's home was completely destroyed by the tsunami and he lost all of his farming equipment. at the very least, it would take him two years to rehabilitate his fields. endo would be 68 by then and there is no one to take over the family business. >> translator: it would be very difficult to start from scratch when i'm nearly 70. it's not that i want to quit. but i feel i have no choice.

>> reporter: area back on its feet. he can't do it alone and this realization has made him feel helpless and unmotivated. >> translator: i don't know what to do now or what i should do because i can't figure that out, i'm having a very difficult time. >> unexpert told us this is a crucial time for survivors. one year after a disaster, depression can set in, even for those who initially showed determination to move on with their lives. and the expert says these people will need more community support, and of course, government assistance. a reactor in a south korea nuclear power plant had no electricity for more than ten minutes last month. the nuclear safety and security commission said on tuesday that the accident took place at the number 1 reactor at the plant.

the institute said electricity was lost for 12 minutes on february 9th when the plant was undergoing regular inspection. an emergency diesel generator also failed. the commission said the reactor was halted but a storage pool for spent fuel and facilities to cool the reactors were operating. the plant's operator did not file a report about the outage until monday. more than one month after the incident. the governor of the bank of japan wants to defeat deflation, saying that's a main way to light a fire under the country's cooling economy. the bank of japan decided to boost the availability and size of loans. the decision came as a regular two-day meeting. the amount of loans available through the central bank's

facility will increase by 2 trillion yen. that brings a total amount of fund to $67 billion. the boj decided to extend the debt application of new loans for two years until the end of march of 2014 and left the key interest rate unchanged at around 0% to 0.1%. the bank said it wants to see the effects of the drastic expansion of the asset purchase program it decided to set in motion at the policy meeting last month. boj governor says monitoring easing and funding for growth sectors to boost japan's economic growth will be essential for beating deflation. >> translator: the goal of overcoming deflation will be achieved from the financial side. >> khan also pointed out risks.

>> translator: regarding risks to the economic outlook, the european debt problem continues to be a huge risk. and we're still concerned about rising crude oil prices. >> for analysis on the boj announcement today, we spoke with chief economist at jp morgan security japan. we asked him what sort of impact the decision will have following the easing measures the bank took last month. >> today, at the boj announced the expansion and extension of the bank lending facility to promote the growth. and the boj didn't mention other expansion of the asset program or change the inflation target. basically, this is in line with our expectation and no surprise.

and but the message from the boj was not so straightforward today so there's some disappointment but in my view that it is too soon to be disapointed because what the boj said today is very simple. monetary easing is not enough to get japan out of inflation. a rising growth rate is also needed so in this sense, the boj's policy was -- should contribute to promote the growth by expanding the bank lending facilities. and the we expect that in the april board meeting when the boj publishes the outlook report the boj ease monetary policy again by expanding and extending the program and probably boj will also erase inflation target from

the current 1% to 1% to 2%. if that is the case, then the boj's message will be clear. so let's focus on the boj's april meeting. >> that was chief economist at jp morgan securities japan. the united states, japan and the european unions say they'll file complaints against china with the world trade organization. they are saying they're restricting exports of rare earth metals. the u.s. is asking china to revise the export investigations but little changes. china produces more than 90% of the rare earths, used in high-tech products. the u.s. is preparing to resume its own production. the three parties plan to investigate with japan with the wto procedures. if they cannot solve the issue through the talks, they'll request consultation.

china's foreign ministry spokesperson defended the government's position. he said china's policy to control rare earth exports is aiming to protect the environment. >> translator: it's true that china is taking measures to restrict exports of rare earth metals but they're consistent with the wto rules. the accusation that china has an effective monopoly on the rare earth market is totally groundless. u.s. internet firm yahoo! is suing facebook over a patent dispute. yahoo! claims the world's largest social networking site as infringed ten of the patents regarding online advertising and privacy protection. representatives for yahoo! filed a lawsuit on monday with the federal court in california.

the company says much of facebook's growth was made possible by an unauthorized use of yahoo!'s innovation. yahoo! is seeking damages but has yet disclosed how much. the company is under new management and trying to turn itself around. it's loss significant market share to google is its bread and butter search engine business. meanwhile, facebook is poised to go public in possibly the largest initial offering in an i.t. firm. a facebook spokesperson said the company is disappointed that yahoo! a long-time business partner, has resorted to litigation jarks jap naez bank is buying a california based bank. union bank corporation, a u.s. subsidiary of the bank of tokyo agreed to acquire the california-based bank pacific bank corp. pacific capital has 47 branches in california. its focus is on providing loans

to small-sized companies and individuals. the japanese bank hopes to strengthen its u.s. business as the economy shows signs of recovery. and here are the latest market figures. japanese girl with a serious condition has won a gold medal at the gymnastics junior championships in bangkok,

thailand. japan won the title with the personal best of 54.1 points. it was her first appearance at an international event. she suffers from scoliosis. she wears a brace to protect her spine and removes it to perform gymnastics. she took gold in the women's individual all around event with a flawless performance. >> the japanese team won the all

around team event with 162.7 points. nearly six points ahead of south korea. north korea's chief nuclear envoy says his country will soon accept inspectors. the move comes after a sweeping agreement with the united states. late last month he told washington they will suspend uranium activities in exchange for u.s. food aid. >> translator: we will allow iaea inspectors in the country in the near future. we are taking concrete measures to fulfill agreement with the u.s. >> reporter: ri spoke after attending an international conference in new york. he said the event made it possible for north korean and u.s. representatives to hold detailed discussions on bilateral issues. ri said the end of hostile relations between the two countries will serve as the basis for resolving their outstanding problems. south korea's chief nuclear envoy also attended the conference. he did not meet with his counterpart from the north.

ri says seoul has not shown the will to buy agreements during two inter-korean summits held in 2000 and 2007. senior u.s. officials apparently have asked for china's help in keeping the u.s./north korea agreement on track. china chairs party talks on the north's nuclear program and has close relations with the country. u.s. assistant secretary of state curt campbell met with china's vice foreign minister cui tiankai in annapolis, maryland. the state department said they discussed renewing the cooperation on the issues including those involving north korea. nhk's washington correspondent says campbell appears to have asked for china's help in monitoring north korea's implementation of the agreement. u.s. defense secretary says an american soldier could face the death penalty. the soldier is suspected of

gunning down 16 civians, most of them children, on sunday in the southern providence of kandahar. the u.s. military is holding him for questioning. panetta on monday said the goal is to try the case within the u.s. military justice and said the death penalty is a possibility. the shooting took place weeks after copies of the quo ran were burned. a u.s. public opinion poll shows 60% of respondents show the war in afghanistan was not worth fighting. time to check the stories we've gathered from around asia. we begin tonight with this item sent by thailand. economists at a thai university raised their forecast for the country's economic growth this year. they have been expecting growth of 4.7%. they're now expecting 5.9%. they say the thai economy benefited from measures of last year's flooding.

economists say they expect exports to grow 10.3% this year and consumering spending to grow 4.4% and nearly 20 million tourists to visit thailand this year. and bring $25 billion in revenue. my laze yeah sent a team of monitoring to the philippines. it says the team will remain in the area. the team will monitor cease fire between the philippines government and the liberation front. the front has been fighting for independence since the 1970s. the group flew out from an air base in malaysia on monday and will replace a 20-member group stationed there since march 2011. malaysia is monitoring the peace agreements between the philippines and the islamic group since 2004. southern sri lanka says it will reprice 13 baby elephants

in to the wild later this month. they rehabilitate the orphans. some will wear collars containing transmitters to track their behavior. the facility was set up in 1995 and is already rehabilitated more than 60 elephants. all right. let's get a check of the weather from mai shoji. >> thank you. gnaw. one is a tropical cyclone called lua with a name now and it is a stationary one and looks like it will be just in around this area over the water. just in between the islands at the moment and 48 hours it will be directly hitting the coastal areas but will definitely continue to keep an eye on this. the one here is tropical low and looks like it's intensifying in

to a tropical cyclone, as well. and then later on wednesday, it will be approaching the northwestern coast of new territory here and looks like it will be possibly making landfall later that day, that day, too, as and as it does, it will be moving in towards the inland here. and decreasing the intensity rapidly after it makes landfall but already dangerous storm here. high winds and heavy rain. as you can see, very bright pink passing through the areas so definitely something that could trigger landslide, mudslides and flooding conditions in 0 the next 48 hours. let's head over to the americas. we have a couple of things to talk about here, as well. stormy week ahead of us for this whole week now. we're talking about very strong hurricane-force winds over the water here and that's already affecting the coastal areas with high waves up to about 9 meters

high and gusts up to about 120 i can almost ters per hour already inland and sustained winds possibly up to 80 kilometers were hour and dumps of snow possible in the cascades, as much as 30 centimeters and both combined can bring you blowing snow and dangerous for driving conditions and here in around northern california area, especially, heavy rain to target the areas and talking about as much as 100 millimeters in to tuesday. out towards the east, freezing rain will be affecting great lakes region in towards new england and talking about the temperatures here in new york. for example, record challenging 22 degrees on tuesday. 21 on tuesday and then wednesday 21 degrees yet again. we had a record breaking temperature on monday that was 21 so those are all record challenging here and chicago at 26 degrees there for wednesday. oklahoma city already reaching very summer-like temperature

there. so very, very warm in the eastern coast and that's going to continue for the next couple of days. all right. heading over to europe now. well, things are going to be messy in around the western norway. in the scandinavian peninsula and the storm skirting across the snow to be found in turkey. and then, here ushering cold air so temperatures are going to be dropping in the east yet again but out towards the central portions and the west looking very clear and fine and talk about the drought condition here in the iberian peninsula. fire in several different areas of spain on monday and firefighters believe that the fire could be stabilize today but here in a village located, two fires burned about 500 acres. this year has been one of the driest winters in spain and if rain doesn't fall -- forest fire here in lisbon.

temperaturewise, 25 degrees and still very cold out to the east. here's your extended forecast.

japanese engineers have tested prototypes of robots designed to explore the moon's surface. seven robots went on a test run on tuesday on a sand dune in central japan. the beach's sand and rocks closely resemble the surface of the moon. a water scouting robot developed by the tokyo institute of technology navigated a steep slope smoothly and another robot was designed to build a radiation shield around the lunar base but clogged with sand and failed to function properly. the government panel has proposed building a lunar base after 2020 but the costly plan has yet to win approval. that's our broadcast for this hour on "newsline." we'll be back with more news in half an hour. i'm michio kijima in tokyo,

thank you for watching. bye-bye.