tv Newsline PBS February 3, 2012 7:00pm-7:30pm PST
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japanese electronics giant panasonic says it's expecting the biggest net loss in its history. totaling $10 billion for this fiscal year. that would also be a record annual loss for a japanese electronics manufacturer. panasonic reported on friday they posted a net loss of about $4 bnt 4 billion in the first nine months of the fiscal year ending in march. sales came to around $78 billion. that's a drop of about 10% from a year earlier when calculated in yen. panasonic's expected loss for
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the entire fiscal year is 86% more than the projection the company made in october. the deep red ink is attributed in part to a slowdown in overseas economies due to credit worries in europe. the company also cites flooding in thailand and poor sales in its core television and cell phone businesses. panasonic president says he feels heavy responsibility for his company posting such a huge loss. >> translator: our biggest task is to make panasonic profitable again in the coming years. to this end, all the staff should unite together and make all out efforts. >> he indicates he has no intention to step down from his post. this week other leading companies are also giving earnings forecasts that are lackluster at best one after another. sharp expects a record loss for fiscal year through march. it predicts the net loss will
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likely reach around $3.8 billion. the firm cited reduced profits from its television business due to the global economic slowdown and strong yen. sony says it will lose about $3 billion many the current fiscal year due also to poor sales of tvs in the u.s. and europe. the world's third largest in japan soul maker of dram chips is also suffering from the strong yen. the chip maker estimates the losses will come to about $1.6 billion for fiscal 2011. floods in thailand and the strong yen weighed heavily on the car maker mazda. its net loss for fiscal 2011 will likely reach over $1.3 billion. but honda motors will manage to avoid posting a red. it expects its operating profit the current business year will drop by about 65% from the previous year to $2.6 billion. for further insight into what's behind the poor earnings reports we spoke with a chief market
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economist. >> biggest reason the aggravation global economic situation including foreign exchange rates. so, yes, european debt crisis, say some losing momentum in the emerging economies, a stable u.s. economy and strong yen. those are the main culprit of the bad result, i think. >> but he's not so pessimistic about the outlook. he sees better external conditions helping japanese manufacturers later this year. >> power house is emerging economies and some improvement in germany or united states or overseas economy would be better in the latter half than first half.
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as for year late, i don't expect any further appreciation of yen later from the current level that is around the 76 yen per dollar. the conditions for exporting companies going to improve in the latter half that my forecast. >> that was chief market economist at a securities firm. u.s. employment data showed an improvement in january. u.s. labor department said on friday the jabless rate for january fell to 8.3% from the previous month's 8.5%. the figure was better than the market forecast. employers generated 243,000 jobs in the nonfarm sector which is sensitive to economic trends. greek government officials and private sector bondholders are pushing negotiatis for cutting greece's huge debt and the clock is ticking.
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if the talks break down, greece could fall into messy default. a greek government spokesperson said on thursday that the two sides need to reach an agreement at all costs by the end of this week. and the greek officials and representatives of private lenders prepare to get together again this weekend, some expect an accord within several days. the bondholders have agreed to write off half of the value of the government bonds they hold. both sides have been discussing specific measures that include switching the existing bonds with those with lower yields and the longer maturities. the two sides have not been able to agree on details. "newsline" is the place to turn to for the latest on japan post march 11th. we have two segments offering two unique perspectives on the fallout from the earthquake and tsunami. nuclear watch brings you insight and information on the impact of the fukushima daiichi crisis. and the road ahead examines japan's efforts to recover and
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rebuild. don't miss nuclear watch and the road ahead on "newsline." last year's march 11th earthquake stranded millions of people in tokyo. trains stopped running, cars clogged roads, commuters either walked home or found somewhere to sleep. city officials want to do better the next time disaster strikes, so they organized a special drill friday. 10,000 people took part. the drill played out at department stores, rail way stations and public facilities. the tokyo metropolitan government advises people to stay indoors following major earthquakes so during the exercise department store clerks led shoppers to safer areas inside the building. the city sent out messages via digital broadcast and twitter about available shelters and means of transportation. participants at a zral train station used their mobile phones to keep informed and compare
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information. >> translator: the drill taught me how to check information on my phone before making any decisions. >> translator: ten minutes have passed, but i still can't get an update. i wish information would come faster to avoid draining my phone's battery. >> authorities say one of the main challenges in the case of a major earthquake will be to provide shelter for everyone. u.s. navy ships in tokyo bay join a drill to transfer people from tokyo to another town. 48 local government officials posing as stranded commuters got on board a uss destroyer and other vessels in downtown tokyo. members of the u.s. navy in japan have disaster experience they participated in rescue operations after the march 1 19 quake and tsunami. during the disaster one japanese man saved the lives of many chinese workers. five of the survivors have returned to work again in japan.
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the chinese group arrived on friday at an airport near tokyo. the five survivors are among 20 chinese trainees who are working at a fish processing company when the tsunami hit the town. company executive evacuated the 20 to higher ground but was later swept away and died. his selfless act of courage drew praise from the chinese premier. >> translator: i want to visit his grave and see the tsunami hit areas. i also want to meet the people who helped me at that difficult time. >> the trainees are set to begin work at a sea urchin processing company. the program had 6,000 participants leave the country following the disaster. most of them have not returned. japan's nuclear and industrial safety agency will begin a new series of inspections at the fukushima daiichi nuclear power plant on
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monday. officials say they want to determine if the plant can safely remain in a state known as code shutdown. inspection teams are to check equipment in a contingency preparations by examining manuals and interviewing workers over a three-week period. the equipment includes a reactor cooling system that recycles decontaminated water from the facility. another element is a nitrogen injection system used to pro vengs explosions. the tests are the first safety tests required by law since the onset of the nuclear crisis. the government declared in december na the furd nuclear power plant had achieved a state of cold shutdown. the temperatures have stabilized below 100 degrees celsius and the release of radioactive substances has been contained. the flooding left farmland along the coast full of salt and unusable. in this week's road ahead we look at efforts to help a group
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of farmers grow new crops on their land. >> reporter: 1/3 of all the farmland was flooded with sea water. until last year this man grew lettuce and also arranged shipments for neighbors crops to a fast food chain. >> translator: there used to be trees over here, but they're all gone now. >> reporter: his fields are only 700 meters from the coast. the salt has made them unusable. he also lost his home and his younger brother a fireman died helping people to safety. >> translator: my fields were covered with cars and wreckage. i was really worried because i knew it would be a long time before i could start farming
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again. >> reporter: he was at a loss, but about a month after the tsunami, he received an offer through a business partner to help set up a tomato farm. the idea came from a major restaurant chain based near tokyo as a way to help the disaster area. this restaurant chain serves italian food, and it uses lots of tomatoes. its 900 restaurants around the country use 1,000 tons of tomatoes every year. it has its own distribution network sources tomatoes from all over japan. the company has a farm where it develops new strains of tomatoes.
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it wants to draw on this know how to help farmers in the disaster area. >> translator: we're hoping we can develop this area into a major new tomato producing region. >> reporter: he and ten other local farmers began by putting up greenhouses. though not aware of the special requirements for the greenhouses, society took them longer than planned. but he is optimistic. >> translator: i feel this is the only way we can make the initial step toward getting back into farming. >> reporter: it took them four months longer than they planned. finally the first tomato saplings reached them. in place of soil, they use rock
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beds, a material that holds the water well. the young plants are fed with nutrient rich hydroponic liquid. this technique means they don't have to use their salt logged soil. by carefully adjusting the temperature, the growing season can be extended and they can produce three times as many tomatoes compared to growing them outdoors. he's planning on learning a lot about growing tomatoes and is hoping to turn the town into a new tomato producing area. >> translator: there will many farmers here who won't be able to use their land for the next two or three years. before we lose this valuable workforce, we want to give them a chance to work as farmers
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again. >> he expects to ship his first tomatoes in april. officials say it will take at least two more years for the salt to be leached out of the farmland. even then the farmers will need new equipment to replace what they lost in the tsunami. having those expenses covered by a major company will be a huge help for them in getting back on their feet. next we go to bangkok to find out what's going on in the region. >> the first final ruling has been announced for the worst human rights abuse by a state against its citizens in southeast asia's recent history. the u.n. backed tribunal in cambodia has ruled that the former khmer rouge prison chief should spend the rest of his life behind bars. >> reporter: the united nations and the cambodian government set up the special tribunal to bring to light the horrors of the crimes committed by the khmer
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rouge. the final judgment against the former chief of the prison of the khmer rouge is life imprisonment. the court handed down its first final verdict on friday. it rejected an appeal. the former prison chief was convicted of war crimes and crimes against humanity. in the late 1970s, the regime killed at least 1.7 million people or 1/5 of the cambodian population through mass murder and forced labor. he was commander of the prison known as s 21 where more than 12,000 people were tortured to
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death. the bereaved relatives have mixed feelings about the final verdict more than 30 years after the regime's collapse. the tribunal planned to complete all the trials within three years. but it took six years for the court to finalize the sentence. >> translator: i'm satisfied with the life sentence. it's what he deserves. >> translator: i'm happy that the maximum sentence was given, but the horror of those terrifying years still haunts me. >> reporter: for khmer rouge leaders still on trial, many cambodians want the tribunal to speed up the process due to the advanced age of the defendants. >> a top u.s. official thinks
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it's too early to lift the economic sanctions on myanmar. u.s. assistant secretary of state for human rights says myanmar has not made enough progress with democratization. >> hundreds of political prisoners are still being held and the number of laws used to arrest and detain them remain on the books. >> poser says myanmar needs to make greater efforts for democratization before restrictions on trade and investment can be lifted. the u.s. recently decided to upgrade diplomatic ties after myanmar released 651 inmates including political prisoners. the u.s. is urging myanmar to allow local and international monitors to supervisor the by-elections scheduled for april 1st. prodemocracy leader kyi has filed her candidacy and is widely expected to win a seat. the philippine military says 15
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militants have been killed in an air raid on the southern island of holo. the dead reportedly include leaders of grouped linked to al qaeda. >> reporter: the military says at least 15 people died in thursday's u.s.-backed strike on an islamic militant camp. it says the dead include leaders of the philippine-based militant group in the southeast asian terror network. a malaysian leader was reportedly among those killed. the united states had put a price of $5 million on his head for training others to make bombs. a military commander in the region says the groups have suffered significant damage. but the military hasn't revealed how the deaths of the leaders
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were confirmed. he has been on the wing since its leader died five years ago. observers say the group has split into several factions so time will be needed to estimate the impact of the leaders' deaths. >> and that wraps up our bulletin. a newspaper reports that defense secretary leon panetta believes israel is likely to attack iran in the spring to prevent the tri from building a nuclear weapon. the latest edition of "the washington post" says that panetta believes israel may attack iran in april, may or june. israel fears that iran will have stored enough enriched uranium to deep underground facilities to make a weapon very soon. the report indicates israel told the u.s. government that fighting may be limited in length and scale waged for about
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five days on limited targets. "the washington post" says the u.s. government is discussing how to deal with the israeli plan. the u.s. secretary of defense told reporters he had no comment on the report. an article in last sunday's "the new york times" also said israel is very likely to attack iran before the end of the year. during the latest talks with the u.s., japan maintained its request that japanese banks be exempt from penalties related to new sanctions against iran. japanese delegates met with u.s. officials in washington following the jaary talks in tokyo. the japanese side again requested exemptions for its banks citing reduced crude oil imports from iran. u.s. officials explained about implementation of the sanctions. after the meeting a japanese delegate said the talks were held in cooperative manner and deepened mutual understanding. the u.s. state department said the two governments will hold constructive talks on new
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sanctions against iran in another meeting to follow soon. japanese foreign minister began by refraining by clarifying details of the latest proposal. >> translator: it's important for the international community to coordinate efforts and share its concerns about iran's nuclear development. we had detailed discussions on the key issues including application of the exemptions. the talks have significantly progressed. >> he said the two nations are very close to reaching a consensus. japan's health organization says the seasonal flu is spreading rapidly. in some areas the infection rate is the highest in ten years. the national institute of infectious diseases say that more than 1.7 million people sought treatment for flu symptoms last week. the figure was up 620,000 from a
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week earlier. school children aged 14 or younger accounted for a large number of infections typically spread within classrooms. the number of elderly patients aged 60 or older reached 110,000 up 40% from a year earlier. nhk has found that eight flu patients in their 80s and 90s at six hospitals and extended care homes suffered complications and died. health officials warned that fatalities among elderly tend to rise when seasonal type a flu spreads widely like this winter. >> translator: elderly people are more prone to catch the flu. sometimes their health will then worsen and they will develop knpneumoni pneumonia. a few may not ror and die. we urge staff at group care homes to try hard to prevent infections. >> the institute forecasts the number of flu patients will increase further before the winter is over. rachel ferguson is up next with weather.
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let's take a look and see what the weekend has in store in terms of weather. if we flick forward to japan things are looking a little better now across much of the country. we're back to our usual wintry pattern which means the snow's going to be found along the northwestern coast. the pacific edge and also the west now looking dry and will be getting a little bit warmer, too. so high pressure is moving in to help to push out all that arctic air. very, very cold today across much of the country as we head into the weekend temperatures will be recovering even into tuesday we'll see tokyo's high getting up to 13 degrees, which is what we usually see around mid march. now also places like the korean peninsula, northern china, beijing, temperatures are improving over the weekend, but they will be falling once again at the top of the week. things are looking very dry here.
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just a few showers towards the south. nothing too heavy. there is some heavier rain coming down for parts of the central philippines. quite a few areas picking up more than 100 millimeters of rain in the last 24 hours and that wet weather will be fairly heavy as we head into the weekend, too. so shanghai look at 8. finally above freezing in beijing at 3. a little bit better into sunday and then these will drop away tomorrow. tokyo hitting the double figures at 10. into north america we go. we're looking at a very strong winter system moving across the plains at the moment. colorado into nebraska as well as kansas heavy snow for you. to the south of the system is going to be thunderstorms. now if we take a look this is actually going to be heading very slowly toward the east. the snow will remain heavy as it heads into the midwest. the severe weather storms, hail and also the strong gusts will actually weaken off as they push further in towards arkansas. elsewhere is looking pretty
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good. temperatures are widely still above average if we take a look and see minus 1 in denver a little bit better that's what we usually see around this time of year. icago 7 way above average. 1 for winnipeg, you're usually well below 0 for your high. 7 in new york city. europe is in the grips of some very frigid weather indeed over the past couple of days. in terms of precipitation a few snow showers to the north is really this big system over the central mediterranean that's going to be the problem. a very potent snow maker blizzard like conditions for parts of the central balkans as well as italy. this systemoupled with the frigid air is going to be causing problems. let's take a look at what's happening with the jet stream. sagging all the way down across the iberian peninsula. allowing all of that frigid arctic air to spill in. if we take a look into what happens on sday there is going
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to be an improvement in the southeast. some warmer air managing to come up here. temperatures aren't going to be above average. they'll be getting back to normal here in the southeast. conversely to the southwest the temperatures dipping down. northernfrica experiencing temperatures well below seasonal averages. in algiers down to 6. i'll leave you with your extended forecast.
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as we've been reporting u.s. employment shows an improvement in january. the u.s. labor department said on friday the jobless rate for january fell from 8.3 from 8 .5%. employers generated 243,000 jobs in the nonfarm sector which is sensitive to economic trends. that's our broadcast for this hour on "newsline."
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