north korea has cut off what it calls its last channel of communication with south korea. the military hotline allows cross border travel to a jointly run an industrial zone. the arab league has authorized its members to provide military support to opposition forces in syria. but some worry that will only make things worse. welcome to nhk world "newsline." communication between north and south korea has never really been easy.

according to leaders in pyongyang it's now nonexistent. they say they've shut down a key hotline for an industrial complex both sides control. they say that means all inter-korean communication has been cut off. state run media reports north korean officials informed their counterparts in the south, telephone and fax lines between military liaison offices on the western korean peninsula are being severed. both sides use the hotline to communicate as hundreds of workers travel back and forth to the kaesong industrial complex in the north. north korea has cut off another hotline earlier this month between liaison offices in the demilitarized zone. this latest statement from the military says there is now no channel of dialogue with south korea or the united states. a government official in seoul says this will hinder stable management of the industrial complex. he urged the north to

immediately reverse the decision. north korean authorities have made a spring of threats in recent days. if they change their attitude, they will be rewarded with humanitarian aide. they say the president wants to build trust by promoting dialogue and aid. he says if pak puts her principles to action, he'll pledge his support. mplts state television in china released video of a partially burned fishing boat, a chinese vessel allegedly attacks in waters near a group of disputed islands. chinese officials accuse the vietnamese of fabricating the

incident. broadcaster vtv showed what it called the charred remains of the ship's cabin. the crew was unharmed. vietnamese government authorities say the dispute happened about a week ago near the parasol islands in the south china sea. they say five shots were fired at the boat causing the cabin to quote fire. a navy official says "the chinese crew fired two warning flares into the air. they never hit the boat." this comes ahead of a summit of asean nations in april. they're expected to discuss the territorial disputes in the south china sea. other asean members have conflicted claims with china or each other over various islands. mplts myanmar marked on wednesday the 68th anniversary of its armed forces day with a

display of military might in the capital. the main opposition leader attended the annual parade for the first time since being released from years of house arrest. but her seeming move closer to the military may have implications for her popularity with the people of myanmar. nhk world's jun koyayashi reports. >> reporter: for more than half a century, myanmar's military regime cracked down on democratic freedom. the current commander in chief reaffirmed wednesday that the military is now fully behind democratic reforms being led by the government of president thein sein. >> translator: today, the army is actively collaborating with the stability and development program laid down by the government under the leadership of a president elected by the people.

we will work toward peace and development of the nation through democratic practices. >> reporter: opposition leader and nobel peace prize laureate aung san suu kyi was in the front row of dignitaries watching the parade. now a member of parliament, she said she's eager to build better working relations with the military. in spite of myanmar's return to civilian rule in 2011, the military is guaranteed one quarter of all parliamentary seats. meaning it still wields considerable influence. that means aung san suu kyi needs the military's cooperation if she is to push through her promised constitutional reforms after the general election due in 2015.

her appearance at the celebrations was widely broadcast on myanmar state television. to date, aung san suu kyi has seen huge support across myanmar, but the impact of her attending the parade, and effectively endorsing the military, remains to be seen. jun koyayashi, nhk world, naypyidaw. mplts aeon is going to turn daiei into a subsid dear. aeon hopes to supply more of its brand products in an ability to rehabilitate the supermarket chain. a tender bid in april will

increase a 20% stake in daeie. the top shareholder has agreed to sell most of its holdings amounted to 24% of daiei's total shares. daiei received government backed support in 2004 after the retailer accumulated massive debts. the restructuring failed to turn around daiei. aeon was in charge of marketing. okata says he's resolved to rebuilding daiei by re-establishing distribution and ties with aeon. mplts honda is eyeing emerging economies across africa. executives at the firm announced they will build a plant for affordable models in kenya.

it will be the company's second motorcycle factory in africa. honda executives say they will take a new approach to reduce costs by leasing a factory building. they say less equipment is needed than a typical honda plant as the new factory will focus on assembling parts shipped from china. executives say the nairobi facility will become a model for production platforms in emerging economies. honda aims to expand its market share in kenya. 140,000 motorcycles are sold each year in the country. chinese and indian makers account for 90% of the growing market. mplts a group of japanese companies have jointly developed a new electric car. they say it is one of the world's most efficient.

a business run by kao university professor and 26 other firms have teamed up for the project. electronics and housing makers are among them. a highly efficient motor is embedded into each of the four wheels. also, a carbon fiber body minimizes the weight. the developers say power consumption is 20% less than other electric vehicles now on the market. they can go from 0 to 100 kilometers per hour in just 4 seconds. the battery can be recharged at households and runs about 320 kilometers per charge. a new recharging system has also been developed. users who recharge at home can choose the power source such as wind and solar among the registered suppliers. the malaysian government is said to be showing a strong interest in the technology. a venture firm in tokyo is eyeing the emerging economies in southeast asia. it has unveiled a new three wheel electric vehicle mainly for taxis in that region. terra motors developed the six seater vehicle. it's about three meters long. behind the driver's seat are

passenger seats lined at both sides. company executives say the car can run 50 kilometers on a two-hour charge. it has a maximum speed of 50 kilometers per hour. they plan to make the vehicles in the philippines and sell the car later this year for about $6,300. the venture firm hopes to meet the country's expected demand for three-wheel electric taxis. the philippine government plans to introduce 100,000 such vehicles by 2016 to help reduce air pollution. terra motors advance into the markets will likely fuel competition with chinese rivals. here are the latest market figures.

cypriots will be able to visit banks on thursday for the first time in two weeks. some of the institutions are reopening a few days after the country secured a bailout from the european union. cyprus is the latest eurozone member to need a cash infusion. portugal got one a couple of years ago. the country's foreign minister gave us his take on this week's events. paolo portes says what happened in cyprus couldn't happen elsewhere in europe. >> the situation on cyprus, which is a very little state, is unique and specific.

>> still he says the eu needs to speed up economic integration in order to prevent a recurrence of the credit crisis. >> we need to have a fiscal union because it's not possible to have one single currency and 27 different economic policies. we want to have a bank union, and if we would have today a bank union, you wouldn't have crisis like cyprus. >> portas says government leaders in portugal have completed two-thirds of their fiscal reconstruction efforts. they've set a goal of reducing the annual budget deficit to 2.5% or less of gross domestic product by the year 2015. mplts the arab league that is authorized its members to

provide military support to syrian opposition forces. the decision is raising concern that more weapons moving into syria will intensify the fighting. the league approved a proposal by ka tar's leader to fill the empty chair. the league suspended syria's membership two years ago to protest president asad. he said there is a ne

mplts the united nations has chosen a swedish scientist to lead its investigation into allegations of chemical weapons use in syria. he is an expert in disarmament and international security. okai selstrom is an expert in disarmament and international security. selstrom has worked as a u.n. inspector before. he helped search for weapons of mass destruction in iraq. the syrian government and opposition forces have accused each other of using chemical weapons. members of assad's administration say opposition forces launched a chemical attack last week near the northern city of aleppo. opposition forces say the assad administration launched two chemical attacks. one in aleppo and another near damascus. they say government forces used chemical weapons in december in the central city of homs. officials from france and britain have asked the u.n. to investigate the allegations. u.n. spokesperson martin nasarke says selstrom will not be conducting a criminal investigation.

>> it's a technical mission aimed at ascertaining whether chemical weapons were used. and not by whom. >> nesarke did not say what action the u.n. might take if he finds evidence of chemical weapons use. u.s. president barack obama has made history with his pick for director of the secret service. he appointed julia pierson as the first woman to head the agency in its nearly 150-year history. pierson began her career as a police officer in florida. she's been with the secret service for three decades. she's protected presidents and investigated cyber crimes. her appointment marks a shift for the male-dominated agency, which has been tainted by a series scandals. more than ten agents assigned to protect obama last year in colombia were accused of hiring

prostitutes. in 2009, a couple attended a state dinner despite not having invitations. secret service representatives admitted proper procedures had not been followed. a midmorning earthquake rattled buildings in central taiwan. the magnitude 6.1 tremor killed one person and hurt more than 80 others. people across the island felt the jolt. the central weather bureau reported the epicenter of the quake was in nanto county. emergency officials said a 72-year-old woman died when a building collapsed. 86 others were injured. mostly by falling objects. the quake shook schools, prompting evacuations, and it damaged residential buildings. a magnitude 7.6 quake hit the same part of taiwan in 1999. it killed more than 2,400 people. mplts there's no shortage of

overseas businesses lining up for a piece of the tea industry to revive flagging sales at home. ♪ >> reporter: this trade fair in singapore is exhibiting tea and coffee from around the world. booths are lined up to introduce coffee, black tea, and oolong tea from different countries. among them is a booth exhibiting japanese tea. noboki is a sixth generation president of a tea wholesaler that was established 130 years ago. he's taking part in the trade fair to try to develop markets in rapidly growing economies in southeast asia.

mori is serving a type of tea which most people in japan would consider a quality brew. most first-time drinkers overseas find japanese tea a little bitter. and compare it to fermented teas such as black tea and chinese tea. people think japanese tea lacks flavor. >> translator: japanese tea has a weaker aroma than other kinds of tea. i have to concede that chinese tea and black tea smell better to most people overseas. >> reporter: keen to push the virtues of his products, mori

met with an importer who was interested in japanese tea. genuine japanese tea comes in a wide variety of flavors. so mori decided to create original blends according to the preference of each customer. observing customers' reactions, he blends together tea leaves of different sweetness, aroma, and bitterness. mori uses over 100 kinds of tea leaves every day, in his quest for the right kind of flavor. >> this is a profile that i think singaporeans will like. >> translator: i think i got the right balance. but i think i can make it even better. >> reporter: this importer decided to continue discussing business with mori. how can he sell the appeal of japanese tea to more people? >> welcome, welcome. thank you. thank you for coming. all right.

>> reporter: mori met six chefs in singapore. after the chefs tasted different kinds of japanese tea, they showed interest in using it as a food ingredient. highlighting the bitterness from the tea leaves. one of the chefs came up with a recipe to mix leaves with mango. and add that to sauteed scallops. the scent of tea, sweet fruit and salty seafood mixed together turned out to be a winning combination. >> translator: i want people to know that japanese tea isn't just for drinking, and that there are other possibilities. it might be a challenge, but i think this could be a great opportunity to popularize japanese tea. >> reporter: beyond just drinking it, mori believes using tea as a fine food ingredient might just help people across

asia learn to love japanese tea. mark ho, nhk world, singapore. emerging economic powers still struggling with poverty. emboldened citizens still demanding democracy. the threat of violence. the push for peace. the shadow of conflict. get news and insight on south and southeast asia every weekday live from bangkok, only on nhk world "newsline." mplts we're going to be seeing much fairer weather work into the picture here from the west. you can see it on the satellite picture. all this clear sky cover. as that drifts off towards the east you're still going to be seeing some fair weather. some lingering clouds across tokyo here going through your thursday and friday. we are going to be seeing warmer

weather. this frontal area is pushing through. out ahead of that that's going to bring in warm temperatures from the south. tokyo, you're going to get up near the 20-degree mark nearing friday. as that front pushes by, that will usher in much colder air. things will be cooling off across much of the region. and it is going to be quite a foul weekend in store. meanwhile though in southeastern china, we're also looking at pretty unsettled weather. this morning there in macao outside of hong kong, you saw 127 millimeters reported of rainfall on the ground in the next 24 hours the same area could see 50 to 100 millimeters on top of what you saw earlier in the week, too. there is a risk of some flooding here because the ground is already saturated. that rain cannot soak quite in and that's going to be piling up. something to watch for the next 24 to 48 hours. teatures at least on the warm side. hong kong, 24 for your high. bank cook, absolutely

sizzling -- 38. beijing at 1. tokyo, that warm-up starting to push in place on your thursday, 19 here for your high. now over towards the americas, things are very, very coal here in fact. actually we're seeing high pressure pull in from the north and what that's doing is dropping down the temperatures. clear weather at least and actually dry. so dry that we actually have fire weather warnings in effect across portions of florida. but this is going to be causing very cold overnight temperatures. it is going to be warming up through the next several days during the afternoon and evening hours but once you get back through the overnight it is clear skies, all the heat gets lost an temperatures start to drop below freezing. we're even still seeing snow showers lingering across portions of the appalachians here. chicago, a high of 6. through the end of the week, it will warm up into the teens. the problem with that is that we just had our most recent snowstorm all the way from the plains extending out through new england. what this had is going to be doing this warm-up throughout

week, melting all that off and there is the risk of significant snow melt causing flooding. that's going to be the threat in the coming days. across the uk, you're still seeing snow showers push onshore following the most recent series of events. farmers out here still having a hard time. actually report of feed having to be airlifted in scotland because the roads are all cut off and farmers couldn't feed their livestock here. once that snow starts to taper off cold temperatures are still going to be lingering. across the mediterranean, this area of lp has been bringing rain and thunderstorms. good news, that will weaken off going into thursday and friday. this one here on the other hand will bring rain showers across turkey, towards the ukraine as it pushes off towards the east. good news is that of after it pushes by things are going to warm up. that's what you want here in kiev. you are still shoveling out from the last snowstorm. by the weekend temperatures are going to be pushing near the double-digit marks.

unfortunately out there towards the north things will be warming up but still well below the normal average for this time of year. that's a look at your world weather. here's your extended forecast.

actors in japan who performed the centuries old theatrical art of kabuki are famous for their ability to grimace and frown but many of them were all smiles on wednesday. they attended a ceremony and parade celebrating the opening of the new kabukiza theater in tokyo. the 29 story building is located in the ginza district. it replaces a structured crews tore down on the same spot three years ago. about 100 actors and staff

gathered on the theaters new stage to take part in the opening ceremony.'s new stage to take part in the opening ceremony. earlier the actors paraded through ginza, more than 30,000 fans stood in the rain to cheer and snap photos. masters of this form of classical dance drama delighted the crowds. >> translator: it was great. it was worth waiting for in the cold. >> translator: they're so handsome. i'm glad i came. >> the operator of the new theater says the kabuki parade is the largest the ginza district has ever seen. the inaugural show is scheduled for next tuesday.

that's "newsline" for this hour. i'm gene otani in tokyo. from all of us here at nhk world, thanks for joining us. .