over prime minister naoto kan's statement marking the 100th anniversary of japan's annexation of korea. and criticism of the official apology is not only coming from opposition parties. the statement approved by the cabinet on tuesday expresses deep remorse over japan's colonial rule of the korean peninsula from 1910 to 1945.

it also promises to hand over a set of historical archives on court protocol during the korean dynasty. supporters of the statement including yukio edano, the secretary-general of the ruling democratic party, as well as the leaders of the opposition nuko meto and social democratic parties. edano said it sends a positive message on japan and south korea's future-oriented ties that would lead to stability in east asia. but critics from the ruling democratic party say issuing a statement each time a new cabinet takes office goes too far. they say japan must change its self-depreciating attitude, claiming that it undermines its national interest. former prime minister shinzo abe of the opposition liberal democratic party says the statement will likely spark fresh debate on war compensation to south korean individuals and leave a lasting scar. ldp leader tanigaki said the

statement must be discussed in the diet. the world health organization says the new h1n1 influenza pandemic is now over after assessing the global situation at a meeting of international experts on tuesday. the highest alert has been in place since june last year. >> the world is no long er in influnsa pan demache letter. we are now moving into post-pandemic period. >> the decision came while no widespread infections of the flu virus have been reported, even from the southern hemisphere, which is now in winter. w.h.o. director general margaret chan says the decision does not mean that the h1n1 virus has gone away. she says the virus will take on the behavior of a seasonal influenza virus and continue to circulate for some years to come. the w.h.o. says about 18,500 people in 214 nations and territories have died since the h1n1 outbreak began in april

2009. japan's food self-sufficiency rate in fiscal 2009 fell 1 percentage point from the previous year to 40%. it's the first drop in three years. the agriculture ministry announced the rate, which is based on calorie intake. the drop is attributed to a decrease in domestic rice consumption. lower prices for imported wheat and an increase in consumption of wheat-related products are said to be one of the causes. bad weather affecting domestic wheat and beet production has also been a factor. japan's food self-sufficiency is one of the lowest in developed countries. the government set a goal to boost the rate to 50% over the next ten years in march. in april the agriculture ministry announced a system to supplement the incomes of individual rice farmers. it says it will expand the program to include farmers who grow products other than rice. it also plans to increase rice

consumption by introducing various related products, including rice powder. nhk has learned that nearly half of 75 centenarians whose whereabouts are unknown were living with their family members until they disappeared. an nhk survey shows at least 75 people aged 100 or older in 19 prefectures were missing as of tuesday. of these sent they'rians, 35, or almost half, were found to have lived with their families until they went missing, while 21 of them lived by themselves. one family explained that its elderly member left home suddenly and has not been in contact since. another family said it had not reported the disappearance more than four decades ago to the municipality, fearing it would create complications if the person returned home.

the professor pointed out that many communities depend on volunteer workers to take care of their elderly residents but the system has its limits in dealing with complex family problems. the u.s. transportation department says it has yet to find anything other than sticky pedals as the cause of sudden unintended acceleration in toyota motor vehicles. the department released on tuesday a preliminary report on its investigation into the cause of sudden acceleration in toyota cars. the problem is behind the japanese automaker's massive recall on various models of cars

and trucks. the report gives an analysis of on-board data recorders in 58 vehicles in which sudden acceleration was claimed. it says in 35 cases the recorders did not show that the brakes were applied. in 14 cases there were indications that the brakes were depressed only partially or too late. the remaining cases either had no data or only partial data. the department says it has no evidence to support the idea that a malfunction in the electronic throttle control system caused sudden acceleration. u.s. federal reserve policy makers have decided to prop up the economy by buying treasuries to maintain the amount of funds in the market. the federal open market committee made a downward revision on the country's economic situation on tuesday, acknowledging that the pace of recovery in output and employment has slowed down in recent months. the committee also recognized that the housing market has been sluggish and loans from

financial institutions have dwindled. the fed also decided to keep its key interest rate close to zero for now. to further prop up the economy the central bank said it will reinvest the proceeds from expiring mortgage-backed securities into long-term treasuries. >> by taking this step signalin a little bit concerned about the outlook. now is not the time to be shrinking its balance sheet. and it's put down a place marker in case it wants to do something which is more fully fledged quantitative easing from this point. share prices plunged in tokyo on wednesday morning following a rise of the yen against the dollar. now let's take a look at those figures. the nikkei ended the morning session at 9,333. that's down 217 points, about 2%. a stronger yen prompted investors to sell export-related issues such as electric machinery and automobiles.

market sources say that investors are concerned about the future of the u.s. economy after the fed revised downward its economic view overnight. a vending machine that provides free emergency drinks has been set up at a condominium in osaka, western japan. the machine can store up to 500 bottles or cans and run for two days on a battery. drinks become free simply by changing the machine's settings. these machines have been developed by beverage makers and installed mainly in public faciliti facilities. this time the makers and an association of property owners have been working in collaboration to start setting up the machines at privately rented housings. they plan to introduce the machines across the country.

and now let's take a look at the extended weather forecast for selected cities around the world. ♪ ♪

and that wraps up this edition of "newsline." i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. thanks very much for joining us. we'll be back at the top of the next hour. j