hello and welcome to nhk "newsline." i'm keikichi hanada in tokyo with the latest at this hour. officials in beijing say they've confirmed the first case of the h7n9 bird flu in the chinese capital. the announcement comes despite efforts to contain an outbreak of the virus in shanghai and surrounding areas in eastern china. beijing health authorities say a 7-year-old girl fell ill on thursday with a high fever and cough. her infection was confirmed on saturday. reports say she's now being treated in hospital and is in stable condition. her parents sell live poultry

for a living but have shown no symptoms of infection. no one else who has come into contact with the girl has become infected. chinese health officials are trying to determine the source of the infection. they say they'll step up measures to prevent the virus from spreading. meanwhile officials in shanghai say a man whose wife died of avian flu earlier this month has become infected. it's the first case of infection within a family, but officials say there's not enough evidence to judge whether the man caught the virus from his wife. 49 people in china have been confirmed to be infected. 11 of them have died. officials of japan's health ministry say they've found a way to protect people against the deadly flu virus. after conducting a series of tests, the researchers concluded that anti-viral drugs have proved effective against the h7n9 virus.

samples of the bird flu virus arrived at the health ministry from china on wednesday. researchers with the national institute of infectious diseases tested four drugs, including tamiflu and relenza. they say they have confirmed that all of the drugs are effective in containing the virus. ministry officials say the state and municipalities have enough anti-viral drugs for more than 63 million people, covering nearly half of the population of japan. u.s. secretary of state john kerry has discussed the crisis on the korean peninsula with china's leaders. kerry is hoping china will use its influence to ease rising tensions following a series of provocations by north korea. kerry met chinese president xi jinping on saturday afternoon. >> translator: your visit will help maintain the momentum of

development in the relationship between our two countries. >> i hope this can be even a further definition of the model relationship which you have often talked about. >> kerry told the president the world is going through a critical time with some very challenging issues in iran, syria, and the middle east. he said the chal ledges include the problems on the korean peninsula. kerry also met with chinese foreign minister wang yi. wang says it is a crucial juncture, very significant. they agreed to create a long-term road map to expand ties between the two countries. kerry is believed to have asked for a tougher stance toward pyongyang. there are no reports yet on how chinese leaders responded, but the xinhua news agency said wang called for peace, dialogue, and denuclearization of the korean peninsula. china accounts for 70% of

north korea's trade and meets much of its need for oil. at senior u.s. congressman says it's time china gets tough with it's ali, going so far as to suspend oil supplies to pyongyang. mike rogers chairs the house intelligence committee. in an interview with nhk, he said china should be doing more to ease the crisis on the korean peninsula. >> i would argue if you really want to start bringing the north korean regime to its knees to realign with the rest of the international community, one of the ways to do that is to stop that black market flow of fuel coming across the border. >> rogers said china has so far not been a good mediator. he said it should begin to exert its influence over pyongyang. he said china must understand that a nuclear armed korean peninsula is not in beijing's best interests.

about 40 people were injured after a plane carrying more than 100 passengers and crew crashed while laning in indonesia. the accident occurred off the coast of bali. reuters news agency says the crash happened on saturday afternoon at denpasar international airport. reuters quote adlaien air spokesperson as saying the boeing 737 was preparing to land when it suddenly crashed into the open. the spoke person says the plane was flying from bandung, the capital of west java province to bali. local media report that some of the passengers were taken to hospital with head wounds and broken bones but there were no casualties. the cause of the accident is not yet known.

the retrial of egyptian president hosni mubarak has started badly. the presiding judge has abruptly excused himself and referred the trial to another court. mubarak was sentenced to life last june for conspiring to kill protesters during the 2011 revolt that toppled him. prosecutors and defense lawyers both demanded the retrial which was approved in january. the new trial opened in the capital cairo on saturday. appearing in court for the first time in ten months, mubarak smiled and waved from a cage. the 84-year-old who is reportedly too ill to stand trial until now. at the start of the hearing, crowds in the public galley shouted at the judge and officials accusing them of wanting to treat mubarak lylely. the judge abruptly announced he was referring the case to another court. outside the courthouse, skirmishes erupted between mubarak supporters and those demanding the death penalty. the court is now expected to

appoint a new judge. aung san suu kyi has arrived in japan for her first visit in 27 years. myanmar's opposition leader called on her come patriots living in japan to help develop their country's economy and help promote democracy. she was warmly welcomed at the meeting in tokyo attended by 1,800 people, including some who fled myanmar during military rule. >> translator: myanmar isn't totally democratic yet. we have to promote democracy. >> she called on experts to use what they have learned in japan to help rebuild their homeland. >> translator: i think myanmar people need to work together to cooperate in changing our country. >> aung san suu kyi said unloument m employment in myanmar is a major problem and

many young people lack jobs. she asked japan to invest in the country to ensure its growth. japan's top olympic hopeful has hinted that she may soon hang up her skates for good. figure skater mao asada is considering retiring after the next winter olympic games. asada spoke with reporters after performing at the isu world team trophy in tokyo. referring to the next olympics in the russian city of sochi, asada said the greatest stage is waiting and she will work hard to give her best performance as the climax of her career. she then suggested she intends to retire from competition after the 2014 olympics. >> the 22-year-old asada is known for hir signature triple axle jump. she has won the world championship twice and a silver medal at the vancouver winter olympics.

up next, the world weather forecast. and that concludes this edition of "newsline." i'm keikichi haneda. on be456 ever our team, thank you for staying with us.