so close yet so far. a promising chinese communist party official has been dismissed from his post. the move is likely linked to a scandal involving his aide. the chinese commons party has removed the top party from a city from his post. the official was widely expected to be named to a central post in the country's leadership transition this fall. there is now growing speculation

that he was fired over allegations of corruption involving his close aide. the decision is reported to replace him who was the megacity's municipal committee secretary. the a vice premier will assume the post. his close aide dismissed as head of the city's public security bureau on february 2nd. he later visited the u.s. consulate general. the incident triggered speculation that he plafb seeking asylum. he's been questioned on corruption charges. so what was behind the removal? >> reporter: he has been widely expected to be named to the communist party at the party convention later this year.

his aide was his right hand man. it was inevitable that he needed to take seem some time and responsibility over the scandal involving his aid. the dismissal came one day after the premier laid an attack on him without mentioning him by name after the closing op the national people's congress. it was the first public criticism over the can zal by a top chinese leader. many say another factor is a power struggle as the time approaches for changes in leadership. it is believed that the current chinese leadership consists mainly of two groups. one is the sons and daughters of influential kmuns party officials.

another group is known as the chinese youth league, which grooms future party leaders. the president came from the china youth league while the vice president who is widely expected to succeed him is -- he is also a princeling. there is speculation that the removal is used by the china youth league to prevent the princelings from gaining power. the kboind the scenes fighting is likely to continue. >> u.s. secretary of defense has urged u.s. service members in afghanistan not to be deterred. panetta was addressing multinational forces at a base on sunday. he called the shooting of 16

villagers by a soldier and last month's burning of a koran deeply troubling. panetta stressed that the coalition forces are facing challenges but they must never be deterred from their mission. >> whatever the events, whatever the incidents that we have to confront, never lose right of the mission that we're here to achieve. we will not allow individual incidents to undermine our resolve to that mission and to sticking to the strategy what we put in place. >> the secretary's visit appears to be aimed at keeping morale up amid rising tensions. just as the secretary was lapping at the airfield in afghanistan, a man drove a pickup truck on to a runway ramp and emerge from the vehicle on fire. u.s. defense department spokesman said the man sped on to the runway ramp and i merge

from the vehicle aflame. soldiers said the man has severe burns and is being detained. officials have identified the man as an afghan civilian and say the truck was stolen. authorities found in weapons in the vehicle. they suspect is incident could have been prompted by sunday's fatal shooting rampage. the march 11th disaster disrupted supplies in japan hindering operations in major industries. some japanese makers now plan to spread their risk by creating more resilient supply chains. we visited one company to see what it lurned from the disaster. >> reporter: fukushima city in

the northeast was hit by a series of tremors last march. this company suffered damage. it makes car parts and electronic devices. >> translator: this place was hit the hardest during the quake, the tremors were so bad. >> reporter: the production facilities were shaken. it had to suspend operations for one week. the damage came to millions of dollars. on this plant it makes mostly oil seals. these prevent lubricant from leaking in machines. oil seal the various for vital types of machinery, including cars, planes and ships. they have about 50% global market share for oil seals. if production stops it could be a huge impact not only inside

japan, but also world wide. the firm revamped the supply chains after the quake and forecast on raw materials. that's because the suppliers nearby were hit. production must have been suspended for much longer. >> translator: we must create supply chains that let us get raw materials from anywhere whatever happens. >> reporter: in an emergency regular suppliers may not be able to provide raw materials. so nok plans to kwersfy its sources. this will give it more choice of suppliers including ones overseas. another step is to spread production sites including those outside japan. nrk ok currently has ten overseas factories which many

make oil seal product for each country. after the disaster, the firm plans to make oil seals many in foreign countries including tie lan and indonesia. the company is reorganizing its production system. it can then switch to other places to -- this man from indonesia arrived in japan in may last year. the purpose of his visit was to learn how to use and maintain the latest production equipment used at fukushima. >> reporter: about ten workers come in turn for training at

puck she ma. the company is spreading production of its latest oil seals. >> translator: we aim to train employees from thailand, vietnam, china and indonesia so they can operate the state of the art systems. >> in the studio our reporter now joins us. nok has been spreading its network of production bases overseas and mainly in other parts of asia. why is the company so keen about risk diversification? >> reporter: nok started risk hedging efforts soon after the march 11th disaster, but last october the company suffered unexpected damage from the floods in thailand. they flooded out nok's local plant that makes electronic parts. the firm was hit -- that had made reduction a more pressing

challenge. the company is very concerned that it will suffer a reduction in its global market share. that is its rivals have been building better supply chains and production shifting. to survive the more intense competition. >> what are some of the challenges facing japanese companies in their risk hedging efforts? >> reporter: there is a a concern that setting up more bases overseas could produce leakage of japan's know how. japan firms have focused on making high value products at local plants. making such items overseas needs technology transfer this may be

a leak. companies in emerging economies will believed to be keen to get japanese technologies specially those of leading makers so the challenge is not just about how to hedge risks, but also how to avoid technology leaks. so some japanese companies protect their technologies through the patent system and let only key managers act a sesz databases containing trade secrets. the deal will remove tariffs on 94% of south korean exports. these include cars and consumer electronics to the u.s. over the next five years.

south korea says it expects the fta to boost its gross domestic product by 5.7%. the south korean president is optimistic about the ray cord. >> translator: if the agreement goes well, it will have a positive impact. >> the supermarket held a special sale event marking the launch of the fta. it offered u.s. wines at prices about 35% chaerp than before. about 1,000 members of allegation organizations gathered in seoul on wednesday to demand a halt to the launch of the trade deal. opposition to the fta continues to south korea due to concerns over possible damage to sales of domestic farm products. the south korean government is planning to subsidize farmers with about $20 billion and emphasizes that the fta will bring benefits to the country.

>> translator: the agreement will be very useful not only for expanding the share of our country's products in the u.s. market, but also for boosting the south korea comprehensive and strategic alliance. >> meanwhile u.s. trade representative ron king said in a statement that it's a landmark deal. he said south korea's doors are wide open for exports and the fta will bring benefits to both nations. the office of the trade representative says the fta will help create some 70,000 new jobs for americans. the office says a deal would remove tariffs on u.s. exports to south korea. they include nearly 2/3 of farm products. a free trade deal between south

korea and the u.s. came into effect at midnight oon thursday after nearly six years of talks. the agreement has triggered all kinds of debates between these who support it and oppose it. >> translator: i believe manufacturing industries such as cars, luxury apparel and textile willefit the most from the fta. in the u.s. market, south korean makers are competing against their chinese and japanese counterparts. but south korean products don't necessarily have significant advantage. so if the fta lowers tariffs by 2% to 3%. south korean goods will be able to compete that much more than their asian rivals in the u.s. market. >> reporter: meanwhile the fta

will likely deal a heavy blow to south korea's agriculture second torque-cattle farmers will likely suffer a huge loss. the big challenge is how to support south korean farmers as the economic situation continues to be difficult. >> translator: the south korean government plans to offer subsidies to vulnerable agriculture sectors. the aim is to cover losses due to more u.s. imports. the question is whether such stains can make south korea's agriculture competitive globally in the long-term. another issue is whether soit korea can transform its farming industry to an export oriented one with a wide range of products rather than depending on rice or grains. more discussion is needed to resolve these questions. >> reporter: but kim is not too

optimistic about the benefits that the fta could bring to south korea. >> translator: the global economic climate in 2012 is quite different from 2006 when fta negotiations started between the two nation. for one, many countries have become more protective of their domestic industries. so it's better to lower expectations of what benefits bilateral fta will bring to south korea. >> china says the current world trade accident rules are unfair as they were set by the united states and the european countries. spokesperson for the chinese commerce ministry attacked the trade body. his remarks come as the u.s., the eu and japan prepare to file a complain with china over rare

earth minerals. >> translator: the export restrictions are legitimate aimed at protecting china's natural resources and the environment. they can play with the rules. >> chan said china must seek fairness. pto judgments have dealt china a series of defeats as it has grown into the world east largest exporting nation. nec is asking labor unions to accept a monthly pay cut. the japanese electronics maker propose that wages be reduced for 4% for nine months. the proposal is the latest of planned cost kwuting measures. they include slashing 10,000 jobs in the group. nec has been hit hard by the strong yen and flooding in thailand. i projects a loss of over $1 billion for the net business year ending this month. here are the latest market

figures. >> a japanese kor on thursday acquitted a man who had once been sentenced to death. the man was found guilty of murdering two people. he has denied the charges. a secret at the crime scene turned the decision around. on thursday the court handed down the not guilty verdict citing the lack of evidence that the 54-year-old prison guard was at the crime scene. he was charged with killing his daughter-in-law and her baby son

and setting their residence on fire in 2002. his dan was found on a cigarette butt among 72 such butts left in an ashtray on the stairway. but no direct evidence was found at the scene. he was sentenced to life imprisonment in his first trial and to death by a higher court. but the supreme court scrapped the rulings and sent the case back for a retile. it is said the cigarette butt was discolored indicating that it may have been left there long before the killings took place. it is the first time in four decades that the supreme court has scrapped the death sentence and sent it to the lower court. the operator of the plant at the center of japan's nuclear crisis was released videos of the core.

the video shows workers entering the basement of the number two and number three reactor buildings. one of them tried opening the door to the suppression chamber at number three, but he couldn't. he tried to kick it open. tepco officials believe a lie dro general explosion mangled the door. the images are blurrily. this video shows the number two reck ars to. workers were able to open the door in that building and measure radiation. workers detected levels up to 160 per hour. the reading means crews can only stay there for 20 minutes. then their exposure reaches the government's permissible limit. tepco officials say they'll consider sending a robot instead to conduct inspections in order to decommission the plant's disabled reactors.

time to check on some of the stories we've gathered from broadcasters around asia. iran aircraft carried 40 tons of humanitarian aid for syrians on thursday. the aid includes food, tents, blankets and an ambulance for serious cities. about ,500 people have lost their lives since an uprising erupted last year. the korean cultural center opened wednesday in thailand's northeast. it features kak democratic materials, full churl exhibitions. the opening comes at a time when trade and corporate ties with flourishing. at the opening university fishes

let the korean delegation on a tour of the facilities. hong kong's ocean park on wednesday unveiled a new section that recreates the territory as it appeared decades ago. the section features rick shaws, street games, trams, a double derek bus reminiscent of what it looked like in the 1950s. an ocean park official said the new edition will help people appreciate the history. park authorities plan to unveil a polar adventure attraction and add an all season water park and ice indicating rink sometime in the future. ballooning enthusiasts are up and away at the international hot air balloon feese yes ta that opened on thursday. participants from 15 countries are flying balloons. the balloons are in novel shapes including a birthday cake, a

tree trunk ark kiwi and a cat. flying competitions start every morning. the rivalries give way to pleasure rides in the evening. on saturday the festival finishes with a sin kronized celebration are where the balloons light up the skies. let's get a check of the weather from mai. >> thank you. so we have these monsoonal troughs hammering the northern coast of australia. in addition we have a tropical cyclone that is now moving at the speed of 6 kilometres per hour in a northeast direction. but looks like it's going to be moving towards the coastal areas by the weekend. and water is really warm it's about 29 degrees. this feels and energizes the system and it will be intensifying into a category three, which is a severe tropical cyclone. it will further intensify into a category four as it approached the coastal areas and possibly

making landfall by -- during the day saturday, i should say in local time in and around the coastal yars of western australia probably near -- this is already bringing high waves in the coastal areas directly affecting the area with rough sea conditions as well. as you can see the path that it will be taking and in towards inland western australia dumping heavy rain. we're talking about in the next couple of days 200 millimeters or even more on a very saturated land. the ground moisture is very high. we recollected watch out for flooding and landslides. we'll cope you updated with this. back to the bigger picture in japan. in tokyo a sunny day. looks like a sunny and dry calm weather as this high pressure will be cresting overhead in much of the country. until by friday afternoon things are are going to get wet with

this front will be stretching towards western japan and south korea. and then by saturday, this will be moving into eastern japan as well. it's a wet weekend for us. another storm system out towards the north from mongolia moving into northeastern china and southwestern russia. dumping some snow and ushering cold air. we're talking about accumulation in china. by saturday looks like japan will be underneath a big blue blob. in central china things are going to be tapering off, the showers will increase in and around shanghai. flooding should be another concern there. tokyo 11 with some sunny spells.

had hadding over to the america's now, the pacific northwest is going to be hammered with some windy as well as rainy heavy downpours and wet snow conditions. gusts up to 120 miles per hour and also wet snow piling up in the cascades as much as 90 centimeters from this storm system. the heavy rain we're talking about 180 millimeters in the next 24 hours in northern california, oregon, in the coastal areas. these ongoing heavy rain could trigger flooding. the snow melt is going to be exacerbated with this system. that's going to be happening in the pacific northwest. out towards the east we may have some severe thunderstorms in and around kentucky and tennessee. if it does, the primary threats will be large hail as well as gusty conditions. the cooler air invading new england area.

new york going down to 21 -- from 21 to 13. well above average right there and washington, d.c. a pair of 28 very warm. here's your extended forecast.

>> that's our broadcast for this hour on "newsline." thank you for watching. bye-bye.