welcome to "newsline." it's monday, april 1st. i'm kathryn kobyashi in tokyo. north korean officials have issued a pointed warns about their nuclear program. they released the statement after kim jong un presided over a meeting of the worker's party. they called for building a stronger economy and nuclear arsenal.

state untv reported on kim's speech at a meeting. central committee of the worker's party, a top decision making body. members met for the first time in two and a half years. kim said his country is on the eve of war. he accused the united states of trying to topple his regime and dismantle north korea's nuclear stockpile. and he criticized u.s. forces for joint exercises with the south's military. security analysts say what the north korean are doing is testing technology for ballistic missiles. he also promised to build water reactors. kim says they need to focus more on agriculture and industry. north korea will hold the supreme people's assembly.

dell gats from around the country will meet on monday to adopt decisions on the national budget, new legislation and leadership personnel. experts say the north korean leadership appears to be trying to tighten its control over the country by reinforcing its military strength while improving people's living conditions. it says its forces are on stand by to launch missile attacks on u.s. and japan. north korea's ruling party newspaper issue offed a warning in a commentary in its sunday's editi edition. it said the rockets will have the power of small tactical nuclear bombs. it says it's capable of attacking places as well as okinawa, guam and the u.s.

mainland. the north has the ability to intercept any aircraft or cruise missile launched from japan. the japanese government plans to deploy high performance radar that can track north korean missiles. it has also tightened sanctions against the north in cooperation with the united states. there's been a minding of fences between egypt and iran. the two countries were connected by commercial flights for the first time since diplomatic talks were stopped. a plane went to tehran on saturday with diplomats and their families on boardment they're planning for direct commercial flights between tourist destinations in the two countries.

diplomatic talks were cut in 197 9 after they signed a peace treaty with israel. but with the election last year with mohamed morsi, iran has shown a willingness to mend bilateral relations. in early march, they agreed to promote tourism. they want to improve bilateral relations to ease the community because of the nuclear development program the japanese government is trying to keep precious metals out of trash heaps. it's starting a new system for recycling small appliances. the environment ministry says consumers dispose of 650,000 tons of appliances every year.

only a small number of local governments collect the metals. the government will offer financial help so that local governments can ease their growing waste burdens. the new system will recycle more than one hundred products, including cellular phones, microwave ovens and vacuum cleaners. metals are widely used in industry, but japan has to rely mostly on imports. the japanese ministry want does reuse the metals, but it's unclear how many local governments will participate. a survey conducted last year found that only 34% of them will join the initiative. chinese police have arrested a brother-in-law of imprisoned pro-democracy prisoner. supporters say beijing police detained his wife's brother in

late january. asoirkted press report that he was charged two weeks ago with with fraud over a real estate dispute. he is currently serves a 11 year sentence. he was awarded the nobel peace prize in 2010. since then his wife has been under house arrest. in december she met friends at her home and the meeting was made public on an internet video support. supporters suspect the reason for the arrest of her brother is to increase pressure on the family. he had previously been arrested and released last year. chinese authorities say two men in shanghai died of a strain of bird flu that has not been transmitted to humans before. national health commission officials say an 87 year old died on march 4th, and a 27 year old on march 10th. they both developed fever and pneumonia in february.

officials say the deadmen have the h 7 type. no one around the three people shows any symptoms of the disease. the officials are investigating the root of infection and the toxicity of the virus. they're also studying how con takous the flu is. the world health organization says the deaths in china are the first fatal cases of the h 7 n 9 strain of bird flu to be reported in the world. the who has not confirmed infection between humans. there is a low risk that it will spread further. they are work being with the chinese government to closely monitor the situation. now deaths from the h5n1 bird flu virus have been reported in

many parts of the world. chinese president xi jinping has returned home from his first overseas tour. he visited russia and three african nations. china has been an increasing aid and influence in african countries that develop natural resources. some chinese leaders are taking step to prove they're good partners. nhk reports. >> reporter: the city is home to china's largest wholesale market. they sell products ranging from clothing to general goods. many products are destined for export. a lot of africans travel here to buy goods. they come from sudan, ethiopia and other countries. this buyer specializes in jewelry. he buys rings and other

accessories and sells them across east africa. >> in the business, you don't save while making a little money. we are progressing. so when we come to china and buy things for our country people like it. and that's why we come leer to buy. >> reporter: trade between china and africa is soaring. the total value has multiplied 20 times. by last year, it had reached $200 billion. but the trade is clearly balanced in clinton's favor. 60% of goods chinese sell to africans are electric appliances and machinery. but 70% of what chinese buy from africans are raw tieshls like oil or iron ore.

some think this means africans have become dependent on clinton ease goods. two years ago they opened the first market for goods made outside china. products are offered. they are sole at shops specializing in africa made goods. merchants from more than 20 african countries are represented here. they offer a variety of incentives for vendors. they enjoy free rent for three years and the city offers low interest loans. this woman runs one of the shops. she's from cameroon. she sells ornaments and music

instruments to european buyers. but the -- threatens her business. she decided to set up shop here in january of last year. a buyer from shanghai drops in. african products sell well in cities. as an increasing number of residents are well off. they often decorate their houses with african goods. >> translator: chinese people really like african products. >> i'm very happy for you, for chinese and fun for chinese. >> reporter: a market monitor says he's determined to invigorate the market even further. he feels this would give african products a greater chance of being bought by chinese.

>> translator: i'll try to make more chinese familiar with african products sold in the market. it'd be great if we could help correct the trade imbalance between china and africa. >> reporter: the chinese are taking steps to expand their interests over african nations. there are plans to build more vieblg trade relations have just began. nhk world, china.

nuclear experts have spent the past couple of years trying to understand what went wrong at fukushima daiichi. the march 2011 earthquake and tsunami triggered meltdowns. nhk has been investigating the chain of events. we looked at how crews used fire engines to inject water. and why their plan failed. >> reporter: workers at fukushima daiichi faced a station blackout on march 11, 2011. a loss of all backup power. reactor one was the first unity to meltdown. reactors three and two followed during our investigation, we learned that before the meltdown in reactor three, a battery

continued to power the unity's emergency cooling system. engineers with tokyo power company tried different way does pump water into the unity before the battery died. none worked. so they decided to use fire engines. they manipulated valves in the facility's extensive piping system to make the injection process more efficient. >> they wanted the water to run through a single route. they began injecting water into reactor three shortly after 9:00 on march 13th to try to prevent a meltdown. >> translator: water has been injected. the fuel rods are now safely covered with water. >> reporter: tepco engineers estimate crews injected more than 400 tons of water during

the day. they considered it enough to keep the nuclear fuel cool, but reactor three melted down any way, that same day. what went wrong? >> many pipes led to from reactor three. engineers injected water into the unity using the route shown in light blue. this caught our attention. the device converts steam that's usedba into water and sends it out. it usually holds very little water, but tepco disclosed later that a large amount of water was inside the condenser. we suspected some of that water was supposed to go into the

reactor. >> reporter: nhk world asked experts to help conduct a close examination of reactor three to check for possible leaks. we discovered a pump normally keeps water from get getting into the con against denser but the power outage at the plant kept the condenser from working. >> we have just found a leak on the way to the reactor. it was a blind spot. >> reporter: we wanted to find out how much water could enter the condenser instead of the reactor when the pump is off. so we went to the meteorological lab in italy to run a test. the facility is among the best in the world for simulating the temperature and high pressure conditions inside nuclear reactors. experts put together equipment to recreate the situation in

reactor three and to see where the injected water goes. right away, the water rushed toward the condenser. the results. experiment showed that only 45% of the injected water reached the reactor. and the rest leaked into the condenser. >> if we need to inject water into the reactor pressure vessel, we need to avoid any leakage in the line. this is an important topic and must be duly investigated. >> reporter: the experts estimate a meltdown could have been averted if 75% of the water had reached the reactor. >> the accident in puck she that

prompted utilities in japan to deply fire engines and water injection pumps at nuclear plants across the country. but our information shows that this is not enough to prevent a severe accident. there are still many questions about what happened at puck she ma daiichi. two years on. the search for answers and lessons continues. the islands of the seto inland sea in western japan are known for their mild climate and putful setting. but they're facing a range of problems, pop lakes that are ageing and declining, degradation and little economic growth. however, an art festival is starting to reenergize the area. nhk reports. >> reporter: a fun fair marks

the start of the international art festival. it's taking place on 12 islands in the seto inland sea. artists and architects have created works reflecting the landscape, history and lifestyle of each island. one of the smaller islands is yoshima. in the past, it was used to kwarn teen people with hansen's disease, better known as leprosy. there are still 83 former patients living on the island. people with leprosy have suffered prejudice since ancient times. in japan, for more than a century, until as late as the 1990s, many patients were seg re greated from the mainland and sent to oshima. a group of artists has drawn on the island's history in creating their work. known yew key takahashi is the

leader. he's been visiting the island for the past three years, talk being to the residents, he has learned about their suffering. his aim was to create a work to reflect the island's past and express hope for the future. he found inspiration in a boat that he came across on a beach, half buried in the sand. during times of segregation, one of the few pleasures of the residents was to go out fishing in small boats. takahashi placed the boat in one of the houses where the residents will to live, suspended as if afloat, it seems

ready to set sail no the future. >> translator: i'd like people to look at this work from the viewpoint of the patients. we can't share their experience. but this artwork can help us feel and imagine what they went through. >> reporter: the festival is drawing people from all around japan and from many other countries. on oshima they are discovering art with a very specific context. >> translator: looking at this boat, it's nothing special in itself, but seeing it here in this context, it makes me realize that this was home for the people who lived here. >> translator: life for the people here must have been so tough. i can't imagine. >> reporter: a spot of the project, a cafe has been set up.

it's an installation that gives residents a chance to interact. >> translator: i don't know anything about the disease. this has been an eye-opener for me. >> reporter: this art festival is a great opportunity for us. i want to come here again. >> translator: our lives have been really tough. but now these young people treat us with respect and friendship. that makes us very happy. >> reporter: art transcends time and space. this festival creates new conversations and brings together people of all ages, from entirely different worlds.

nhk world, oshima island. the tri annual runs until september. other arts are springing up in other parts of japan. tokyo residents are enjoying sunny skies. will this nice wetter last? >> well, the dry weather will not last long. changing weather is one of the main features of spring. we're expecting rain to come back across tprifk coast. the system is now producing a mixture of rain and snow across northeastern china. 10 centimeters likely into this

evening. the system will affect korea today and japan tomorrow. out towards the south scattered rain for much of the philippines, many heavy rain because of a low pressure system sitting east of the island. out toward the west scattered rain and across the indochina peninsula. heavy rain, thunderstorms and also a risk of hail, unfortunately, the rain is not going anywhere. here's the expected rainfall forecast for the next 72 hours. rain is not going to move away. so the risk of floods and landslides will remain extremely high. as we move towards the latter part of the week more intense a rain is in store for you. 25 in chongqing. towards the mortgage much warmer than seasonal. 13 degrees on monday. in north america on your easter weekend, lots of things are

going on across the east. heavy snow for ontario and quebec. mixture of snow for the mid atlantic region. we have lots of reports of hail and damaging winds in texas and louisiana. the risk of severe weather will last into monday evening. out west you've been on the dry side across the southwest but turning wet, heavy rainshowers for the coastal areas and heavy snow for the mountains. snow could move into the central hours within the next 24 hours. going down to the teens in los angeles but warming up to 18 degrees in seattle. much improvement across the eastern seaboard but tomorrow's going to be a chilly day once again. new york city we're expecting the high reaching only 8 degrees on tuesday. all right. finally in europe then, if you were with us last week we showed

some video in the iberian peninsula and we've seen drenching rain here. but dry weather across germany. let's go to some video from germany. while most people send eels ter eating with family, these villagers test their strength outdoors at the annual egg throwing competition. injure plans woke up to another day of unsiegeably cold weather on easter sunday but plenty of people turned out for the contest. they lined up to get the painted hashed boiled eggs. the egg is not allowed to break on impact. this tradition goes back more than eight years. so, again, dry weather across germany, so nice condition to kline up the mess. but towards the east, a mixture of rain and snow across eastern europe. here are your expected highs. very chilly. double digits for you in paris on monday. here's your extended forecast.

we apologize for the technical difficulty we had in some of the pictures of the weather forecast there. that concludes this edition of

"newsline." i'm kathryn kobyashi in tokyo. thanks for joining us.