welcome to "newsline." i'm michio kijima in tokyo. members of japan's forces are trying to come up with a strategy to deal with an upcoming rocket launch by north korea. sdf chief of staff general shigeru iwasaki is considering deploying troops to combat falling debris. north korean officials announced last week they will launch a rocket carrying a satellite between april 12th and 16th. the rocket is expected to fly

over japan's southern island chain of sakishima, southwest of okinawa's main island. they will are looking to intersect debris if fragments are on track to fall onto japanese territory. general iwasaki says north korea will fire the rocket from a site facing the yellow sea. and he notes the launch area is farther from japan than the one used in 2009. he says that makes it more difficult to respond. >> translator: if we have to shoot down or destroy a ballistic missile, we would do so with an aegis defense system vessel or with an antiaircraft artillery unit. we are including these options as we study how to respond. >> self-defense force officials say the aegis destroyers could be positioned off the sakishima islands, and that the patriot pact 3 surface to air missiles could be positioned on the islands.

south korea will work with other countries to persuade north korea to scrap the launch plan. south korean foreign ministers very he discussed the issue with china, japan, russia and the united states. >> translator: the nations share a common understanding that what north korea calls a satellite launch would violate u.n. security council resolutions. we will continue discussing the matter based on this understanding. >> the resolutions adopted two years ago ban any use of ballistic missile technology by north korea. the country says the launch is for the peaceful use of space. south korea strongly opposes the launch saying it is designed to develop technology for ballistic missiles that could carry nuclear weapons. u.n. secretary-general ban ki-moon also expressed grave concerns over north korea's launch plans. he says he'll discuss the issue with world leaders at the nuclear security summit in south korea next week. the two-day standoff in southern france appears to be over.

french media say the man accused of killing four people in a jewish school is dead. france's interior minister confirmed the news. french police, special forces stormed an apartment building thursday in toulouse. they tried capture the man. loud explosions and sustained gunfire were heard right after the raid. claude gueant was at the scene and said the suspect fought back, but was killed after injuring two police officers. the 23-year-old french national mohammed merah is suspected of killing three schoolchildren and a rabbi on monday at a jewish school in toulouse. he's also accused of two other shootings in southern france that left three french soldiers dead. the alleged killer reportedly hinted that the attacks were in retaliation for israel's occupation of the palestinian territories. average land prices in japan fell for the fourth year in a

row. it underscores the impact of the march 11th disaster on real estate prices in affected areas. the land ministry rethe results on thursday, it shows the prices in residential areas fell by 2.3% from a year ago, and in commercial areas by 3.1%. the survey included fukushima, iwate, and miyagi, three northeastern prefectures that were the worst hit by last year's disaster. but excluded were 17 locations around the damaged nuclear plant in fukushima. land prices fell at all locations in iwate and fukushima for both residential and commercial areas. one coastal district of kesennuma in miyagi was devastated by the tsunami. the land there saw an 18.3% decline in residential areas, the steepest drop in the nation. the land prices on a higher ground district in ishinomaki in the same prefecture shot up 60.7%, or the sharpest rise in the nation.

that's because the land is considered to be too distant from the coastline for tsunamis to reach. japan's trade balance in february moved into the black for first time in five months as the pace of declining exports slowed. car exports to the united states improved and the impact of supply chained caused by floods in thailand eased. the finance ministry said in the preliminary report on thursday the february trade balance posted a slight surplus of about $400 million. exports were down nearly 3% in yen terms to about $65 billion from a year earlier. this is the fifth straight month of year on year declines. shipments of iron, steel as well as plastics fell. exports of mineral fuels also saw large drop. at the same time, imports rose for two years and two months in a row. they were up more than 9% in february to about $65 billion. liquefied natural gas imports to supply thermal power plants rose

substantially with the high price of crude oil contributing to their rise. japan's overall trade balance last year was in deficit for the first time in 31 years. trade in january marked the largest monthly deficit on record. financeman indust ministry offi the surplus is small so they'll be keeping an eye on the oil prices and the yen's value against the dollar. the average pump price for a liter of gasoline in japan has hit its highest level in three years and five months due to rising crude oil prices and the depreciating yen. the oil information center says as of monday the retail price for a liter of gas averaged 155.6 yen, or about $1.87. that's up more than three cents from the previous week. it is the fifth consecutive weekly increase. the higher cost of oil imports because of the weakening japanese currency has pushed up pump prices by 14 cents per liter over the past month. the center says, however, the

retail gasoline prices have still not risen by as much as the pump has seen in crude oil prices. it predicts the gasoline prices will rise further as crude prices do not appear likely to come down anytime soon. and here are the latest market figures. time to check on some of the stories we gathered from broadcasters around asia. we begin tonight with this item sent by ctn cambodia.

myanmar's president arrived in cambodia in phnom penh on wednesday on the second leg of his three nation tour of southeast asia. he has already visited vietnam and leaves for laos on thursday. he's meeting on thursday with cambodian prime minister and aimed at strengthening economic and political ties. analysts say the president's tour of southeast asia sab effort to seek support for the country's democratization process and for the lifting of economic sanctions imposed by the international community. malaysia's economy is expected to grow by 4% to 5% this year, driven by sustained expansion in domestic demand despite global uncertainties. malaysia central bank governor released the bank's annual report in kuala lumpur on thursday. she said domestic demand and investment will continue to prop up the economy. the governor also cautioned that external factors such as the

greek debt crisis remain a challenge and can affect malaysia's economic growth. the mongolian parliament passed a tough anti-trafficking law this week that would help prevent mongol from falling victim to prostitution. the new law protects victims through counseling and financial aid and helps them reintegrate into society. the report shows that more than 350 young women have become victims of the trade and sent to china, macau, south korea and other asian countries since 2003. the government's new law comes in the wake of several other recent regulations including the setting up of a special unit to investigate cross border human trafficking. cartoonists and illustrators around the world joined hands to produce an art book full of messages to encourage japan as it tries to recover from last year's earthquake and tsunami.

the work was published in japan earlier this month at the initiative of a french comic writer. nhk world met him as he visited japan one year after the disaster. >> reporter: this is one of europe's leading writers of comic books. he's been a fan of japanese comics known as manga since he was a child. >> not so good. >> reporter: on march 11th, 2011, movan was in tokyo on business. >> translator: when i saw japanese next to me fainting or starting to cry, or even calling out for people in a panic, that's when i really understood we were witnessing a historic moment. >> reporter: morvan invited a

group of artists to produce for japan. about 2,700 works were sent to him over the next two months. >> translator: we shouldn't forget the disaster completely. but it is also important to get past the pain. i think looking at illustrations helps. it is something that can calm you. you pick up a book, sit down, take your time to look at it, and you're in a calmer place. >> reporter: the book includes illustrators from other countries in asia. this is the work of a japanese artist. it envisions fukushima 50 years from now. the people relying on wind power as an energy source. each picture is full of prayers for the victims' soulz and fs a the recovery of disaster-hit areas.

as part of a new project, morvan took up a temporary housing community in one of the regions affected by the tsunami. morvan thought french media focused too much on the nuclear accident instead of people's suffering. morvan is asking survivors to recount their experiences so he can write scenarios about them for the world to read. >> translator: i remember it all as if it happened yesterday. i also find myself wondering what i'm doing here. >> tlator: brownish water gushed forward. i didn't think my house would be swept away. but now it's all gone. i haven't been sleeping well since the disaster. the more i think about it, the more everything seems hopeless.

>> i would really like you to tell this kind of story. if it is okay, maybe we can translate. >> translator: please let them know that we would appreciate their help. >> reporter: morvan visited several areas in miyagi and fukushima prefecture over three days. many people he met asked him to convey their plight to the world. >> maybe all my life, i don't know yet, but i think there is something very interesting here we can talk about, about human beings, not about japan, of course, but about the life of humans, yes. >> reporter: one year on, morvan said he's determined to continue writing comics about the disaster to make sure the world remembers. nhk world.

>> the first version of his book was published in france last year. part of the proceeds from sales in japan and abroad will be donated to disaster-hit areas. the u.n. security council endorsed a blueprint to stop the violence in syria. former secretary-general kofi annan drew up a plan that calls for a cease-fire. russia and chinese delegates approved the outline after months of disagreement. but this does not mean the deal is done. nhk world's widad franco reports from new york. >> reporter: it has been over a year since assad's government began a fierce crackdown on pro-democracy protesters. the security council adopted a unanimous statement on the issue on wednesday. >> the security council expresses its full support for the efforts of the envoy. >> reporter: the statement urges assad's government for a limited cease-fire to allow humanitarian

relief activities. it also demands that it halts the use of heavy weapons. the united states and european countries have sought a legally binding resolution, but russia and china have twice vetoed such moves. russia endorsed the statement this time because it refrains from directly calling on assad to step down. >> we're very pleased that the security council has finally chosen to take a pragmatic look at this situation in syria. >> i think it's a product of a concern in russia about being isolated in the world community. an earlier vote on the general assembly was quite lopsided in criticism of the assad regime. but fundamentally i don't see great change in russia's concern. >> reporter: the move comes as a violent crackdown on civilians continues.

troops have seized anti-government strongholds in central and northern syria. the security council has managed to show a unified position over the crisis, but the compromise means the council has failed to adopt stronger measures that would be more effective in stopping the violence. the adoption of this statement has made evident the inability of the international community to act effectively on the situation in syria. widad franco, nhk world, new york. >> many u.n. delegates say the russians have consistently stood in the way of fog progress on syria until now. but the russians say they don't want to see another bombing campaign like the one last year in libya. hideo yama has more from moscow. >> reporter: members of the security council have come up with draft resolution on syria twice before, and russia vetoed them both times.

syrian government and opposition forces show little sign they will let up in their fight. so this time russian delegates decided to go along. russian leaders say they can't continue to support president assad after the international community continues to attack him. the foreign minister criticized assad earlier this week for making many mistakes that have aggravated the crisis. russia appears to be making a concession to western powers after they accepted the results of vladimir putin's victory in the presidential election earlier this month. observers say russia hopes to use its influence with assad to get him to stop the violence. reporting from moscow.

government soldiers have staged a coup in the west african country of mali. the rebel troop now control the presidential palace in and a state run broadcaster. the soldiers attacked the tv station and palace in the capital of bamako. they exchanged heavy fire with forces loyal to the president overnight. early on thursday, the soldiers issued a statement on state tv. they said they had taken control of the presidential palace, suspended the constitution and ended the rule of president amadou toumani toure. >> translator: we promise to hand power back to a democratically elected president as soon as the country is reunified. >> some reports say president toure has fled the palace to another location. the soldiers have been angry about the government's handling of a separatist insurgency in the northern part of the country. they say the government has sent

them inadequate weapons to face the uprising led by an ethnic tuareg nomad group. the insurgents have been joined by young tuareg men who used to fight as merse nairies for late libyan leader moammar al gadhafi. drivers are often told they need to clean up their act to trade gas-powered cars for greener varieties. some have been turning to hybrid and electric vehicles. and now hydrogen fuel sale powered cars. the upside, hydrogen vehicles only emit water vapor. but there is a downside few people know about. nhk world riina nakano explains. >> reporter: i'm at a hydrogen fuel station in tokyo. here is how it works. you pump hydrogen into the car. when you do that, it combines with oxygen. a combination creates electricity and then runs the motor of the car. the problem isn't the car itself, the problem is the most common way to create that hydrogen actually results in the

co2 byproduct. instead of releasing that into the atmosphere, scientists in chiba prefecture found an interesting way to trap it and recycle it. one man's trash is another man's treasure. out here, co2 is considered trash. blamed for causing global warming. but in here carbon dioxide emissions are considered treasure. a valuable food source for these tomato plants. >> translator: we need a lot of co2 to help grow our plants. i think it is great this project lets us re-use something that had essentially been thrown out. >> reporter: some farmers have used co2 gas to give plants a boost. but the technique hasn't caught on.

now scientists are experimenting with the co2 that is emitted when hydrogen is created. it is a first in japan. chiba university researchers have slightly increased co2 levels in here from the normal 4 parts per million. the result, tomatoes so dense, they need special supporters to protect the vines from snapping. >> translator: if we add co2, we can expect a much larger harvest and a great improvement in the quality of our tomatoes. >> reporter: that's one benefit. the other is helping grow technology many hope will encourage drivers to steer away from gas powered vehicles. take a look at these co2 infused tomatoes. they're actually sold in local supermarkets in chiba prefectures and consumers who try it say it not only looks and

tastes gas as regular tomatoes, some say they're much better. joining me now is the man whose company is responsible for providing chiba university with the co2. thank you for joining us. >> you're welcome. >> reporter: thank you. we saw how co2 from the creation of hydrogen helps grow the tomatoes. anything else? >> okay. we consider that the captured co2 from the hydrogen station could be used for a variety of vegetables and fruits such as strawberries, not only tomatoes and the captured co2 will be used in industrial fields such as dry ice. >> reporter: all right, sounds good. mass marketing of this technology seems to be far out in the future. what will happen when the cars do become mainstream? >> the proper addition of this car was started in 2015. in the future, this system, we have introduced today, is not simply taken as environmentally friendly system but also as a

system that has helped industry fuels. >> reporter: thank you so much for joining us. >> pleasure. >> reporter: currently there are 16 hydrogen pump stations in japan, but by 2015, industry officials hope that number will increase to about 100. the plan is to build these greenhouses next to these fuel pumping stations so that they can cut transportation costs between the gardens and the pumps. in tokyo, i'm rina nakano, nhk world. let's get a check of the weather from mai shoji. ma it was pretty warm in tokyo today. should we expect the same tomorrow? >> you're right. we had a very warm day. in fact, tokyo experienced the warmest day of this year today. the temperature rose up to about 17 degrees for the high. well, tomorrow looks like a very different story altogether here in tokyo as well as much of japan will be covered with wet

weather. and things could actually get very heavy in the pacific side, especially you can see very small area of pink popping up, that means heavy rain which is about 120 millimeters to 150 millimeters, just in the span of 24 hours. that will be moving all the way up towards the north from the west side. so much of the country will be experiencing wet weather and some thunderstorm activity in areas as well as hails and gusts accompanied from this rain band. and it is going to be mainly rain. so it is just going to uproot the risk of avalanche, also flooding and mud slides as well as landslides. the korean peninsula will be covered with some wet weather too. and the temperatures are going to be significantly dropping. we'll take a look at those temperatures a little later on. we have a low pressure system that will be moving across northeastern china and that would actually gradually move towards northern japan, bringing some snowy activity towards the weekend.

things are going to be, meanwhile, tapering off here in central china and this rain will be exiting the southern coast. high pressure will be building in and cresting overhead. this high pressure system will be bringing some yellow sand. it will be active in beijing by friday morning, descending to shanghai by saturday morning. in the philippines, scattered showers and thundery activities will be persisting for the next couple of days. as you can see, tokyo just reaching up to nine degrees for the friday high. seoul, seven degrees, looking at ulan batur at 2 degrees. all right, let's head over to the americas now, we're experiencing some significant flooding situation in texas. looks like that's going to continue for a little while longer. this nearly stationary event is going to take place in a similar area. it is inching eastward very slowly, but impacting the area

all the way up from illinois down to the gulf states with some heavy rain patches as well as severe weather. and we're not going to be able to rule out chances of tornadoes. hails, gusts as well. this will be moving very slowly towards the eastern areas and surging some cold air. the temperatures will be dropping a little bit. it is going to be much warmer than what we usually see in late march. in the pacific northwest, things will be tapering off, but coastal flooding is still a lot a bit of a concern. new york at 24 degrees. temperaturewise, well above average. also in washington, d.c. at 26 degrees for the thursday high. heading over to europe, the upper low disturbance, that is going to be bringing some unstable weather across much of the pyrenees and western france. and out towards the east, western russia will be targeted with some snowy activity as well as mixed precipitation. but out towards the central

continental europe, we're looking at most temperatures in double digits except for moscow at 1 degree. lisbon at 24. here is the extended forecast. 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.