hello and welcome to "newsline." it's 11:00 a.m. in tokyo. i'm catherine kobayashi. kim jong-il and his heir apparent is visiting china, a key ally of the country. south korea government sources say he crossed the border aboard a train on friday morning and arrived in northeastern china. the sources say that the brother-in-law of kim jong-il is likely to be accompanying the

heir apparent. last september kim jong un was named the vice chairman of the ruling korean workers party, indicating that he was officially chosen as the successor to his father. observers had been expecting kim jong un's first solo visit to china. tepco will release its earnings report today. ai uchida from the business desk gives us the details. >> hi there, welcome to "newsline business." tokyo electric power company, or tepco, is expected to post an historic loss of around $15 billion in the fiscal year ended march. this is due to the huge cost of recovery efforts arising from the recent disaster. a source close to tepco says the company will allocate $5 billion to stabilize the troubled fukushima daiichi reactors. it also needs to earmark funds for future decommissioning of the reactors and restarting

suspended they were thermal power plants. the extraordinary loss brings the overall deficit to $14.7 billion, which is the largest in the company's 60-year-old history. tepco will have to go through another difficult year in fiscal 2011 as compensation for evacuees and affected businesses will increase. to raise cash, the firm plans to sell assets such as its resorts and sports facilities, as well as stock holdings of affiliate companies. it will also implement salary reductions for its workers and a 100% pay cut for eight top executives. chairman tsunehisa katsumata and president masataka shimizu say they will resign. however, some say they should continue working to address the situation until all the reactors are stabilized. the company announces its financial losses on friday. looking at tepco's credit

rating, moody's says it could make a drastic downgrade. that would depend on they're forced on cancel loans as the utility needs to pay a huge amount for compensation. the rating agency says if the government does not submit a bill that gives the framework to help tepco pay for damages, the power company could face financial difficulties. moody's also says if banks are asked to forgive the utilities debt, tepco may be seen as having a low credit standing. since the nuclear accident in march, moody's has downgraded tepco's rating three times. it's now at baaa-3. another downgrade would bring the firm's rating down to junk status. for now back to the main news with catherine. >> thanks very much, ai. at the crippled power plant, high radiation levels and humidity in reactor buildings are hampering efforts to stabilize the reactors. workers entered reactor buildings number two and three on wednesday to survey radiation

levels for the first time since the explosions at the plant. workers found radiation levels of 50 millisieverts and high heat which limited the work to 15 minutes. the pipe was to be used to inject nitrogen to prevent a hydrogen explosion. tepco will set up a cooling system to lower the temperature of a spent fuel pool which is believed to be causing the humidity. this will greatly improve the working conditions at the number two reactor. however, the company says the system won't become operational until the end of may at the earliest. as for the number three reactor building, tepco says they may have to find another way to inject nitrogen and also shield staff from high radioactivity.

these difficulties may affect the road map to stabilize the reactors. >> translator: we are very concerned about the high radiation levels measured inside the reactors. >> the japanese government will begin experiments in june to clean up farming soil contaminated by radioactive particles in areas around the crippled power plant. at the moment, rice growing is banned within a 30-kilometer radius of the nuclear facility. a high level of radioactive cesium was detected. one idea is to flood rice paddyes with water and then wash away the radioactive substances. another idea is to set up a drainage canal and equip it with a mineral called zeolite. the ministry will also test the effectiveness of sunflower and another plant which draws

radioactive substances into the stems. more than 90% of elementary and junior high schools in fukushima city have decided to disallow or limit outdoor activities in their school yards. the restrictions are designed to prevent students from being exposed to harmful radioactive particles found in contaminated topsoil. in fukushima prefecture in april, radiation levels at school grounds exceeded the government's safety limit of 3.8 microsieverts per hour. last year radiation fell to safe levels at all schools in the prefecture. however, nhk learned that as of thursday, 69 out of 72 public elementary and junior high schools in the area were still disallowing or limiting outdoor activities on their athletic fields. the schools say that they cannot judge whether radiation levels are really safe even though they have dropped. they also note that parents have requested their children not play outside for the time being.

later this month, fukushima city is planning to begin the removal of contaminated topsoil at some schools. u.s. president barack obama has promised increased economic assistance to countries in the middle east and north africa to support their transition to democracy. >> thank you. at a time when the people of the middle east and north africa are casting off the burdens of the past, the drive for a lasting peace that ends the conflict and resolves all claims is more urgent than ever. so in the months ahead, america must use all our influence to encourage reform in the region. our message is simple. if you take the risks that reform entails, you'll have the full support of the united

states. >> obama gave a speech about u.s. policy for the region in washington on thursday. it was his first such address in two years. he said the u.s. will provide up to $2 billion in aid to egypt which is undergoing the process of transition to a democratic government. the aid includes debt relief measures and new loans. obama criticized the leaders of libya and syria for trying to maintain their political systems by suppressing people who are demanding democracy. however, he did not refer to saudi arabia, a u.s. ally that maintains an autocratic government under the royal family. on the middle east peace process, obama called on the palestinians to abandon violence under the unified leadership of fatah and the islamic fundamentalist group hamas. he also asked israel to freeze settlement activities in the occupied territories. a u.s. court has granted bail to the former head of the international monetary fund. this comes after dominique

strauss-kahn was formally indicted on charges of sexually assaulting a hotel worker. 62-year-old strauss-kahn was indicted by a grand jury in new york on thursday. he was arrested on charges of attempted rape and imprisonment of a 32-year-old housekeeper at a new york hotel last saturday. at the hearing, the judge ruled that strauss-kahn be released on a $1 million cash bail on condition that he be kept under round-the-clock surveillance in manhattan. he's expected to be released on friday. strauss-kahn has submitted his resignation from the post of managing director to the imf but pleaded not guilty to the charges. he remained silent throughout thursday's hearing. japan's toshiba has announced it will acquire a swiss firm that provides energy management solutions for utilities.

through the takeover, toshiba aims to boost its presence in a new generation of the smart grid. toshiba said on thursday that it has agreed to buy all shares of the company for $2.3 billion. the swiss-based firm is a leading global maker of cutting-edge meters generally called smart meters which is a key component of the smart grid. the meters provide electricity consumption data to help power saving at homes. they also keep track of electricity supply to utility firms by solar power generated at households. observers say toshiba's rivals are likely to follow suit as the global market embraces the smart grid technology. also, following the march 11th disaster, japanese businesses and households are becoming more conscious of energy saving. separately, japan's pharmaceutical says it will acquire a drugmaker based again in switzerland. the deal is worth 9.6 billion

euros, that's about $13.6 billion. >> translator: i believe that our firm will grow strongly by easing nikomed's powerful business base. >> takeda, the largest drugmaker in japan, said the deal marks the thifrd biggest purchase by japanese company. it sold products including medication for lung ailments in europe, russia and emerging countries across central and south america. takeda plans to expand sales in those growing markets through the acquisition as sales of its main products are on the decline due to the expiration of patents. in the pharmaceutical sector, drugmakers from around the world have been moving into emerging markets that offer hypo terriig potential for expansion. the rival is expected to pick up steam. tokyo stocks are moving within a narrow range friday morning. investors are sidelined as

uncertainties surround the corporate outlook. the nikkei index closed the morning session at 9,648, that's down 28 points, a loss of a little over a quarter of a percent. some export-related stocks were bought following the overnight rise in new york shares while utilities dropped due to concerns over a worse outlook. all eyes are on tepco which will release its earnings report later in the day. on the tokyo foreign exchange, the dollar is moving within a narrow range against the yen friday morning. the greenback is currently trading between 81.60 to 65 yen. the euro now stands between 116.78 to 83 yen. sources say that market players sold the dollar in overseas markets as they were cautious about prospects for the u.s. economy. this was in reaction to the release of poor economic data. however, in tokyo, exporters are buying the dollar as funds to be used for settlement. here's a look at the latest

long-term interest rates. the yield on the benchmark ten-year jp kneapanese governme bond is down nearly two basis points. and looking at other asian markets, hong kong's hang seng is in positive territory, a gain of just about 0 shanghai's key index for major blue chips also up. shenzhen is so far flat this friday morning. while the market focus in asia was on the impact of the march 11th disaster, concerns about national debts in the euro zone once again came into the spotlight. our business reporter spoke with a professor at a university on his views for the european economy. >> the euro zone's finance ministers met this week to discuss the rejn's debt problems. how do you personally see the region's debt situation right now? >> i think a main focal point is, of course, greece.

and the problem broke out in october 2009, so less than two years ago. and greece borrowed money by as much as 110 billion euro in may last year. i think greece has not been able to reduce government debt promised in the agreement when they borrowed money from other members of the union. and the government has not been reduced as planned. in particular, last year i think the government debt as a percentage of gdp exceeded 10%. so there is a need for greece to reduce government debt farther. but, of course, it's difficult. and it's also obvious that the other members of the union will have to help greece to borrow

more money or to reduce repayment obligations. is it easy for other members to lend more money? i don't think it's easy. >> by the end of june, the federal reserve will wind up its $600 billion quantitative easing measure also known as qe2 aimed at stimulating the economy. on the fed's action, he had this to say. >> i think ending of qe2 in the united states won't have much impact on europe because as you may know, the current bonds of the eu or the euro as a region is quite small. the euro is not dependent on chapter flow from outside.

so qe2 may cause a reduction of chapter out of the united states to other regions. that impact is not going to be felt by european countries much. so i think the most impact will be felt by emerging economies, in particular, latin america. >> the euro is strengthening against the dollar recently. how is the euro likely to trade against the dollar in the longer term? >> for the time being, i bet that the euro is going to weaken because, you know, people talk about the possibility that the euro is going to be broken up to two groups. it's quite feasible and possible. but i don't think this kind of break-up is going to be realized

opinion a year or two. so in the long run, there's a real possibility that the euro as a single currency is not going to be maintained. imagine when you try to hold the euro denominated assets. you don't feel safe. i think the euro is likely to weaken against other currencies. if i have to say e direction last markefiguret was s going to do i

fomen si studes toreei brgsn nete

scolshlo vioreef buinhione,lar:here a t nghe ew e uninwe sstp.or

th 9th o kayhi nt alo

fovial iaid yai

ildr. hello there. urweheupdate then for eastern asia. still looking a little cloudy ro t north, the northeast in china. lookunttd across the korean peninsula and tho ou s to mo ie northern end of japan. a couple showers to watch

r. but elsewhere across the region, looking very sunny and warm de. now, for china, central and southern portions williay ay o low-pressure system star me in from the west bringing significant rain in the comingy okg treiaras upwards of 100 millimeters. that could certainly be enough to cause flooding problems. and that will continue to re fuheea or e weekend. more showers aoss indochina and aloheastern india as well as bangladesh looking at more heavy serehuerorms have been really impacting the region. and it looks like it will remain very, very unsettled over the next couple of days. looking up millimeters here as well. so low-lying areas will be vy vulnerable to flooding and landslides. temperatures look like this today. 33 grs in bangkok. 29 in hong kg.

sunny in shanghai, warming up to 34 degrees. ieo. and looking very chilly, eight degrees with somslt te on now, for the u.s., looking at a up oheron again up in the northeastern corner and th over towards the west, we're looking at this very large low-pressure syem at wll maintain its intensity, bringing wispadrepition. again, that will continue to move very slowly towards the rtas anast esso, it's going to be bringing that frontal line into central and sthn portions of the u.s. we could potentially see a round av rn as well as severe storms down in the south. an you notice that all that is going to be headed into the miisppvaey x not good news as river levels continue to remain very hgh indeed. now, temperaturewise looking like this. 32 degrees inhoto od. 30 in mexico city with heavy rain. looking cloudy in nw rk ty 23 degrees. and very warm once again up in nnegt .

now, let's take a look at europe finally. we're looking at wet and nd conditions again across the northern tier of the continent, especially for noay e northern end of the uk as well as much of ireland he coenngith some showers. it will stay dry across england anwales. for central and eastern europe, starting to see some more ows developing here as well. it is very warm here. that's going to help to pruce those sporadic afternoon showers. wah t rhey thunderstorms and isolated heavy rain across poland,ermany, also into france. the weather conditionsimovg ro spain and portugal after ongoing rain. still a couple of showers to watch out for towards the coast. me21 degrees today. 27 in vienna with sunny spells. 26 in kiev. and we're looking at 23 in berlin wh ou ie all right. i shall now leave you with your city-by-city forecast.

our lead story, kim jong-il and his son, the heir apparent, is visiting china, a key ally of the country. south korea government sources say he crossed the border aboard a train on friday morning and arrived in northeastern china. the sources say that the brother-in-law of kim jong-il is likely to be accompanying the heir apre. lasteptember kim jong un was named the vice chairman of the central military commission of the ruling korean workers party, indicating that he was fial cseashe successor to his father. observers had been expecting kim jong 's fst solo visit to china. and that wraps up this edition of "newsline." i'm catherine kobayashi in

too. we'll be back at the top of the next hour. do stay with us.