the agenda is adopted. >> u.n. condemnation, the security council criticizes north korea's launch of a satellite, using ballistic missile technology. u.n. delegates issued some words of warning for leaders in pyongyang. the security council strongly condemned the launch last week of what the north koreans called a rocket. the projectile blew up minutes later over the yellow sea. the u.n. statement underlines suspicions that the goalthe lau friday. the i amendment ended in failure when the projectile broke up over the sea.

nhk world reports from new york. >> reporter: the council met monday to discuss north korea's launch attempt. the 15-member body issued a strongly worded presidential statement. it condemned the country for investigate i investigating u.n. resolutions for missile launches. the statement threatened further action if they launch another or conduct another test. u.s. ambassador susan right, the current council president, said the statement was adopted with speed. >> the swift and unanimous adoption of this strong presidential statement shows that the international community is united in sending a clear message to north korea that such provocations are serious and totally unacceptable. >> reporter: rice said the statement provides for new sanctions. using freezing the assets of north korean companies.

it also calls for stronger enforcement of existing sanctions. the presidential statement is a unanimous call from the 15 council members including china. traditionally north korea's closest ally. ambassador rice noted last week's launch attempt caused grave concern in the nation. nhk world, new york. japan's ambassador to the u.n. praised the statement. today reporters were told the statement takes into consideration the position that japan has been maintaining. >> translator: the japanese government strongly supports and welcomes the statement. we will continue to work closely with relevant countries to resolve north korea's nuclear and missile issues.

north korea says it will continue to develop its satellite technology. it said the rocket launch on friday is the first of a five-year space program. the online version quoted the comments by the north korean committee of space technology on monday. the pro-pyongyang general association of korean residents in japan produces the publication. it said the rocket launch was to boost north korea's economy by developing its space program. it added that the committee has already begun developing the next satellite and the rocket to carry it on grander scale. the united states says north korea has refused inspections of the country's nuclear facilities. the move comes in response to the u.s. cancelation of food aid for the north. a senior u.s. official told reporters that pyongyang has

informed the international atomic energy agency of its decision. the u.s. official criticized the country for the move calling it a complete reversal of their position. north korea reportedly told the iaea that inspections are off the table now that the possibility of food aid has been withdrawn. the u.s. government withdrew its offer of food shipments after the launch last friday. the u.s. says the launch was in violation of an agreement between the two countries sealed in february. under the terms of the agreement, north korea pledged to suspend long-range missile tests and accept iaea inspectors at its nuclear facilities in exchange for 240,000 tons of food aid. meanwhile, an official from north korea said the country remains committed to implementing the february agreement. the official was speaking at a recent international arms reduction conference. the state run korean central

news agency reported the comments saying the official voiced the north's willingness to accept international inspectors at its nuclear facilities. analysts say north korea apparently aims to shift responsibility for any breakdown of the agreement with the u.s. by claiming a cont leader came , we started crumbling and stumbling. so, you know, this is -- we have to wait and see whether north korea can maintain this level of transparency in the future and if they can, it shows they are pretty confident of kim jong-un's regime's stability, but if not, maybe they have some concerns. this new ballistic missile which appeared in this military parade is smaller than the typedong 2 missile. if this is a new missile, north korea has never tested this

missile and without tests you can't have a credible military capability. so i don't think this is such a big threat as for now. however, i'm concerned about the possible launch of, you know, short-range or medium-range missile in the coming days and weeks because north korea in february, accord with the u.s., they promised not to launch long-range missiles, but they didn't promise not to launch a short-range or a medium-range missiles. and also they might try to conduct another satellite launch so that's my concern. also if north korea, i mean, the united states refuses to talk to the north koreans when they, you know, propose talks, north korea might decide to go ahead and conduct another nuclear test. >> all right. there from japan's national graduate institute for policy

studies. now, onto other stories we're covering. the taliban launched what they call a spring offensive against targets in kabul and other places across afghanistan on sunday. explosions and gunfire shook the capital the following morning as afghan. led forces overpowered the insurge insurgents. nhk has more from kabul. >> reporter: taliban militants simultaneously attacked the parliament building, nato headquarters and several foreign embassies on sunday with rockets and cans. officials with afghan's interior ministry said they moved on targets in provinces of nagrahara and logar. on the following guy, fire

fights and explosions broke the silence around parliaments. as darkness turned to dawn. the u.s., german and british embassies and afghan government buildings took direct fire. the japanese embassy was also hit. interior minster said on monday that the insurgents were killed during the attack in kabul and three other cities. he said one other insurgent arrested in nagahar province and worried that the network, a taliban faction, launched the offenses. three civilians and eight members of the afghan security forces were killed. in confrontation which lasted. 18 hours. a taliban spokesperson said that

they targeted the country's embassies in retaliation for the recent burning of the koran by u.s. personnel and the killings of women and children by a u.s. soldier. this explanation was followed by a warning of more attacks to come. most of the international coalition forces now in the country are planning to pull out of afghanistan by 2014, but the deteriorating security situation may affect that timetable. nhk world, reporting from kabul. spain's national bond yield has risen to more than 6% over concerns about grim prospects for fiscal reform.

investors sold spain's sovereign t debt on the european bond market on monday sending the yield of the country's ten year bonds to 6.1% at one point. the figure has been rising since november, when it rose to nearly 7% after a temporary lull. the level would make it very difficult for spain to carry out fiscal reconstruction on its own. the yield on italy's ten year bonds also rose on monday to around 5.6%. the chinese currency remained within its previous tailly trading range on shanghai's foreign exchange market on monday, the first session after china's central bank allowed the yuan to move in a wider range. at one point during the day, the dollar fell to 6.3250 yuan. trading ended with the u.s. currency standing at 6.3150. that 6.3150 yuan. the trading range, 0.46% from

the central bank's reference rate within the old range of 0.5%. sources say traders are waiting to see how the expanded 1% ban will affect the currency. they added the yuan could fluctuate more as trading picks up in coming days. now, let's take a look at the market figures. a norwegian man who confe confessed to killing 77 people last july pleaded not guilty on

monday to criminal charges. he claims he was acting in self-defense. breivik admits shooting 69 people at a political camp and detonated a car bomb that killed eight people in central oslo. on the first day of his trial, the 33-year-old told the oslo court he intended to deal a blow to the pro immigration governing party. he claims he wanted to protect europe from being overwhelmed by muslims. initial psychiatric tests declared him insane but he was reexamined and found fit to stand trial. the focus is now on whether the accused is mentally competent and responsible for his acts. people in japan's northeast are focused on overcoming the challenges of the 2011 disaster, but it won't be easy. they have to rebuild homes, businesses, entire communities. we'll show you their struggles and their successes on "the road ahead" every wednesday at 1:00

p.m. japan time here on "newsline." people forced to evacuate after the fukushima daiichi accident can now visit part of the no-go zone, but they still face challenges as they try to resume life in their hometowns. the central government lifted entry restrictions for the 20 kilometer evacuation zone covering kawauchi village and tamura city this month. the government added minamisoma city to the list. residents can visit most of the city but not to high radiation areas deemed unsafe for extended periods of time. overnight stays are not yet allowed. r this resident went to his home with his wife and mother. after the evacuation, he ran his construction materials store at a different location in the city. he says he hopes to re-open the store at its original location now that the entry ban has been lifted.

>> translator: reconstruction has finally started. i hope we can work together so that people can return to the city and live there again. >> much more work has to be done around the damaged nuclear power plant before residents can return to the city to live. full-fledged efforts to clean up debris, deaccontaminatedecontam restore infrastructure have yet to begin. >> translator: we will tell the central government that it's responsible for the lack of infrastructure and for providing compensation for damages from the nuclear accident. japanese food manufacturers are finding ways to expand their markets overseas. one company wants to attract

muslim customers. it's found a way to make its products reach their standards. nhk world has the story. >> reporter: this company buys and sells fish. 80 people are employed here. a declining catch and a shri shrinking domestic market have been encouraging the company to tap new markets. >> translator: it's a market left untouched and unknown to us. that's why it's worth entering. >> reporter: chinese-style dumplings have become one of the focuses for the company. they usually contain pork. the company has developed pork-free dumplings. ground fish meat is used

instead. japanese seaweed are kneaded into the skin to add flavor. >> translator: there used to be no wall here. it used to be a passage. >> reporter: a wall has been built to segregate the fish meat dumpling production space from the rest of the company to prevent contamination. the company's efforts are moving forward. last october, its pork-free dumplings were certified. the head of the company was in singapore to showcase and sell his dumplings in 2012 at a trade fair for products from all over the world. >> i like it. >> where can we find this? i want to buy.

>> only here. >> oh, okay. >> reporter: by the second day, the gyota sold out. after returning home, he discussed with his staff ways to make the packaging for the dumplings more appealing. he showed examples of packages often used in the market. >> translator: you can tell right away what's inside. the photo on the package shows the product. >> reporter: in the end, the company decided to call its gyota japanese food with a big photo of the product on the package. >> translator: we'll be able to make inroads into the islamic market through mutual exchanges if we respect what the

certificate stands for and strictly control our production process. >> nice to see japanese cuisine appreciated all over the world. all right. it's a chilly walk to work this morning. let's now go to sayaka mori for the world weather forecast. sayaka, what can we expect today? >> good morning, catherine. it's staying dry in tokyo but we're expecting thundershowers this afternoon. it could become heavy because a low-pressure system will be moving into the eastern half of japan. it's a compact system but strong enough to create thunderstorms, hail, and gusty winds. but as you can see, showers should be gone quite quickly, so it's going to be very short-lived. but it's going to be very heavy, again, so a good idea to take umbrella. so things will get drier by tonight. but it's a different story for southeastern portion of china. heavy rain is still going on.

over the next 72 hours, more than 100 millimeters is on the cards. some locations may be seeing more than 120 millimeters. it's been raining over the past several days. the ground is already very well-saturated. so the risks of landslides and flooding are extremely high here. as for the highs, getting up to 26 degrees in hong kong and 21 in shanghai. look at this 20 degrees in bator. 28 degrees in beijing. tokyo looking at a seasonal 18 degrees. again, thundershowers are expected from this afternoon. now, moving onto the americas. a couple of systems which have history of producing more than 130 tornadoes are now moving across the eastern half of the u.s. and canada, producing a wintry mix across ontario and quebec. and heavy thundershowers from the great lakes all the way down through texas.

on tuesday, the heavy rain, heavy thundershowers should remain in much of the deep south region. there will be a slight risk of severe thunderstorms, large hail, damaging winds, and even tornadoes in south carolina as well as georgia from tomorrow, i should say tuesday. out toward the west, the pacific northwest will once again hit by a chain of low-pressure systems, with heavy showers along the coast and heavy mountain snow. as for the highs, getting up to 13 degrees in seattle and 21 degrees in denver. and out toward the east, exception exceptional wam is still continuing. reaching 24 in washington, d.c., and 26 degrees in new york. now, moving onto europe. unstable weather is still continuing across much of italy and much of the balkan peninsula. this low is weakening but still producing a wintry mix in baltic

states, finland and the scandinavian peninsula. out toward the west, a low-pressure system is moving into much of the british isles producing thunderstorms, hail, and gusty winds. and some of the precipitation will be moving into the western continent in the next 24 hours. temperatures are looking like this. it's on the chilly side in london, with 13 degrees and 11 degrees in paris and 17 degrees in rome. out toward the east, a little bit on the warmer side in moscow with 12 degrees and 15 degrees expected in kiev. all right. that's all for me now. and here's your extended forecast.

our lead stories this hour. the united nations security council condemned north korea's launch of what u.n. officials called a satellite using ballistic missile technology. all 15 members of the council approved the declaration. the statement called the launch a serious violation of u.n. resolutions. u.s. ambassador susan rice, the current council president, said the speed of the response was a warning to pyongyang. >> the swift and unanimous adoption of this strong presidential statement shows that the international community is united in sending a clear message to north korea that such provocations are serious and totally unacceptable. >> the statement warns of further action if north korea conducts anotheraunch or a nuclear test. north korea says it will continue to develop its

satellite technology. it said the rocket launch on friday is the first of a five-year space program. the online version quoted the comments by the north korean committee of space technology on monday. the pro-pyongyang general association of korean residents in japan produces the publication. it said the rocket launch was to boost north korea's economy by developing its space program. it added that the committee has already begun developing the next satellite and the rocket to carry it on grander scale. that wraps up this edition of "newsline." i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. thanks for joining us.