bittersweet greeting. >> we welcome china's peaceful. >> barack obama calls on china's next leader to address an issue the country has long been criticized for neglecting. u.s. president barack obama welcomed china's leader in waiting. he greeted vice president xi jinping at the white house. xi is expected to become head of the ruling communist party this

fall. >> translator: i look forward to my in-depth discussion with you, president obama. >> obama told xi china must play fair with its trade partners around the world. >> we want to work with china to make sure everybody is working by the same rules of the road when it comes to the world economic system, and that includes ensuring that there is a balanced trade flow between not only the united states and china but around the world. >> obama urged xi to recognize the importance of human rights. he said increased responsibility goes hand in hand with power and prosperity. xi said he hopes his visit will deepen mutual understanding and lead to greater consensus. he said the countries should build a cooperative partnership based on mutual respect and interest, but he suggested the

two need to acknowledge their differences. u.s. leaders are extending an unprecedented level of hospitality to xi. vice president joe biden is accompanying him to most of his destinations. republican party leaders criticized the administration for being too soft on china. chinese officials are in talks with counterparts in pakistan's air force. they want to sell the pakistanis a mainstay fighter jet. the deputy chief of the air staff said that china delivered one surveillance aircraft last month. manufacturers will deliver three more this year. pakistan bought the aircraft to boost its defense capabilities. air force commanders are considering a proposal to buy fighter jets from china. pakistan's military has been deepening ties with china. generals have bought more chinese defense equipment and weapons in recent years.

america says that pakistan is seeking chinese support to upgrade the equipment as the country continues to have strained relations with the u.s. the largest aviation fair in asia. they've put their most up to date models of fighter jets and civilian aircraft on display in singapore. a record 900 companies and organizations from more than 50 companies are taking part in the air show. 65 airplanes are on view including the boeing 787, the airmaker's latest model. an unmanned drone is displayed for the first time from asia. military officials from the region are sharing information with representatives of aircraft manufacturers. india and other asian countries are buying more fighter planes in reaction to china's military buildup and territorial disputes in the south china sea.

lockheed martin's f-35 stealth fighter is still under development but that plane, too, is on show. u.s. military leaders shifted military resources toward the asia pacific. they're urging countries in the region to introduce the jet. china's defense minister says he hopes china and japan can cooperate on more defense exchanges. a groupf officers met in beijing from japan's self-defense force. the delegation of ten japanese officers is visiting china over the next week. they want to increase the number of exchanges with china this year. 2012 marks the 40th anniversary of the normalization of ties between the countries. there are various issues the two need to work on to strengthen their relationship. but he said problems will be solved gradually by buiing up mutual trust. relations became strained after an incident two years ago in the east china sea. a chinese fishing boat collided

with japanese control vessels near the disputed senkaku islands. board members at japan's central bank surprised markets on tuesday. they expanded easy money policy and set a clear inflation market. what is the central bank trying to do here? >> fight deflation by raising prices. with the announcement yesterday of additional monetarying easing, they made the stance clear. there are many challenges in getting those prices to rise. the bank of japan officials set a goal of 1% inflation at a policy meeting that ended on tuesday. the move demonstrates the boj's resolve in tackling deflation and could get prices s on an upward trend. if the past is any indication, the bank will face difficulty realizing its aims.

looking at the ten years through last year, consumer inflation topped the 1% level only in 2008. in the other years, cpi was either negative or stayed close to zero. in other parts of the world, eu eurozone countries are expected to postpone a decision on additional financial aid for greece. the debt-strapped nation has not met some requirements for a bailout. jean-claude juncker said the eurozone finance minister's meeting slated for wednesday is now canceled. a teleconference will be held instead. he said although the greek parliament approved new austerity measures, the governing parties have not handed in written pledges to implement them. juncker noted the greek government has not presented the details on this year's spending cuts. eurozone members will finalize the plan at a meeting next wepz at the earliest.

greece could default on its debts unless it receives aid by march toth, when the country is due to repay a huge volume of government bonds. toug posed by other eurozone members are generating frustration among the greeks. in the u.s., retail sales are up by just a little. january saw an increase, but the pace of growth has begun falling short of expectations. retailers posted combined sales of slightly above $400 billion last month. that's up .4% from december. it's still only half the growth rate predicted by observers. by category, key apartmedepartm and volume retailers saw a rise of 2%, restaurants 1.3% and electronic stores half a per stent. sales of cars and auto cars fell by 1.1%. focus is on whether the improved

sale figures suggest an upturn in consumer spending which is a key economic driver for the u.s. tokyo stocks are extending their gains this wednesday morning. the nikkei is currently up by over 90 points. a gain of 1% at 9,144. the broader topix also trading higher by 1%, currently at 794. automakers and others exports are getting a lift thanks to the weaker yen brought on by the bank of japan's extended credit easing. investors are largely shrugging off the eurozone's postponement of the decision on additional aid to greece. they seem optimistic that the debt-strapped country will receive a bailout sooner or later. on the tokyo foreign exchange, the dollar gained against the yen to more than a three-month high on wednesday morning. this followed the central bank's decision on tuesday to take additional monetary easing measures here in japan. the u.s. dollar currently trading against the japanese yen at 78.55-58.

the euro now stands against the yen at 103.03-08. sources say the boj's move to clearly set a 1% price target and apply additional monetary easing surprised market players. investors have been selling the yen since the announcement. and here's a look at the latest long term interest rates. the yield on the benchmark 10 year japanese government bond is down by one basis point. last year's floods in thailand are going to cost japan's top three non life insurers their third largest payout in history. ms&ad insurance group is expected to pay $3 billion. toki, marines holdings $1 president 4 billion. nksj holdings $1.3 billion. the total of $5.7 billion for the tai floods will be the third largest bayout ever following the disaster in march last march

and typhoon in 1991. the huge payment is likely to send ms&ad and nksj into the red by $1.3 billion for the current fiscal year through march. let's take a look at market figures once again. >> euro/yen back above 103 this wednesday morning. we'll see where trading takes us the rest of the day. the russian military plans to build more outposts on a

group of four disputed islands off northern japan in an apparent move to tighten control over the rege. russia's state run news agency says the military will construct two outpost next year on two islands, kunashiri. the agency quoted the chief of the staff as having said that five outposts already exist on the islands. he also disclosed plans to repair a military air field on the island and replace some tanks with lightweight armored vehicles that are more convenient for snowy roads. russia has been building roads, ports, and other infrastructure on the islands and upgrading equipment for 3,500 personnel stationed there. a territorial dispute between japan and russia has been simmering for decades. the two sides have been engaged in negotiations over small

islands off japan's northern prefecture of hokkaido. a solution is hard to come by. now russia has asked other countries to participate in economic activities on the islands. >> reporter: the four islands are close to japan's northern prefecture of hokkaido. they are surrounded by rich fishing grounds. soviet forces took control of the islands soon after the end of world war ii. japan renounced control of the kuril islands and part of shikotan in the 1951 san francisco peace treaty, but tokyo insists there is no agreement to surrender the four disputed islands. russia has moved to strengthen its territorial claim in recent years. in 0 2010, psi medvedevecam ad o

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pae e qut.acon tuesday to remov thadee dme more than a kilometer upstream and then drained of water. of the 108 students in the school, 70 died in the disaster. four of them are still listed as miing, along with more than 40 other civilians. >> translator: we hope to find even a small clue of the missing people to return to their long >> the search will continue for ab u.s. secretary o ste hiarclinton says she will attend the first o friends of syria. a broad international coalition againstheyrn government.

the meeting will take place in tunisia ek >> we stand with the syrian people and we are looking for an lion told reporters on monday that the u.s. is coidinho best to support democratization in syria, along with the arab league, europe, and turkey. all of them agree president bashar al a sul sp clinton said the u.s. is increasing its funding of the red cross d gssotroups operating in syria. the arab league has oped asking the u.n. security council to send a joint teamf ab u.n. peace keepers to syria. clinton said gaining consensus r ch a plan would be difficult. security fce in bahrain have suppressed mass protests on the first aivsa of an anti-government uprising. iausmsook to the streets in more than 35 districts of t

land nation on tuesday and tried to occupy pearl sar i the capital of manama. the square has been a symbol of e aron protest. police and troops fired tear gas and rubber ble to restrain the protesters. human rhtgrpsayt as 20 people were detained and many others including women and childrener wounded. shia muslims make up about 70% bahrain's population. they're protesting the rule by a minority sunni royal family. bahrain is home to the u. navy's fifth fleet. the u.s. has refrained from intervening in the rest to matain friendly ties with baais veme. time to check on some of the stories we've gathed fm broadcasters around asia. we begin with this item sent by tdm macau. police inac raided an upscale hotel in the city after receiving a tip that a crimina ngas operating a fake casino. 16 men and women were arrested. all except one are from mainland

in mo tn 2 million worth of fake casino chips were also reved. police say the group rented rooms at expensive hotels and tued ioambling dens, targeting customers from the mainland. gambrs were drugged with tranquilizers. mereai t he lost hundreds of thousands of dollars. malaysia's state-owned oil company has discovered twoaj ga deposits off the eastern state in theouth china sea. it made the finds lt steer and november. the first well was discovered after drilling to a depth of 3,200 meters. it contains about 5 trillion cubic feet of gas. the other well was found about 17 kilometers away at a dthf about 3,800 meters. indications are that it contains about 450 billion cubic feet of gas. theomnyla to conduct drilling 30 more wells in 2012.

people across thaildav celebrated valentine's day. a large number of couples flocked to a district office in bangkok to register their marriages. r e rs time, the office also hosted a traditional wedding ceremony. t a northern city held a mass wedding for 14 couples. the ceremony was followed by a parade of the newlyweds. the vice president called on all ties to love each other, not only on valentine's day, but every day. we got a break from the rain in tokyo. the skies are still looking gloomy. rachel ferguson joins us with the world weather forecast. >> hi there, yes. it is certainly very gloomy. i suppose we have to be grateful for the fact that the rain has opped. very chilly, indeed, yesterday. we're caught rightown

twn two systems. one soh where japan is going to experience the chilly rain. up toward the north, a very potent storm system is bringing another half meterf sw some parts of hokkaido. that will be accompanied by very strong winds. we'll also see winds up to about 83 kilometers an hour. that will be blowing and drifting about that snow. also the waves could reach 4 to 6 meters forhe northwestern coast. pretty intense system up there to the north. wever, if we check out what's happening on the mainland continent, things are looking fairly dry across much of the north. mongolia, northeastern china he, d the korean peninsula. precipitation, eastern china. toward the north, it will be turning over to snow. temperatures will be falling over theext couple of days here. however, from shanghai and south, it will be falling in the form of rain, i should say. re hvy rai alsoor parts of the philippines.

seeing heavy rain. it's been ongoing for the last several days. there will be a risk of flooding and also landslides. warm day in taipei. 26 degrees. 6 in shanghai. we'll see that figure fall. the same for beijing and seoul. tokyo, 11 degrees and cloudy today. into north america we go. our pacific system going to be descending toward southern california with rain and could also bring another 20 se centimeters of snow to the mountains of utah over the next 24 hours. what we'll see toward the east, though, is widespread thunderstorms. if we take a look at what is going on here, this is the severe area to really watch out for. so anywhere from western alabama right through in toward texas, we could see damaging winds and large haili inaccompanying thos thunderstorms. the atlantic coast, staying dry. temperatures will be better today. 11 degrees in new york city for your wednesday high. at the moment, it is going to be very cold. overnight tuesday into wednesday could see a little bit of snow

before a small system moves out offshore. 16 degrees in oklahoma city. that's a great improvement over the last couple of days. you'll also see 16 in los angeles with clouds and 9 degrees in seattle for you. okay. as we head on into europe, out toward the west, temperatures are continuing to improve here. we have a large high pressure system sitting off the atlantic coast. that will be keeping things a little bit blustery bust mot mo dry for the british isles and into the iberian peninsula. we run into this system, a low sitting to the south of scandinavia. this will be bringing very windy conditions and also a mix of rain and snow. the snow, of course, in the upper elevations. that will include the austrian alps. you could see 40 centimeters of snow with gusts up to 95 kilometers per hour. definitely enough to impair visibility there. as the system descends to the southeast over the next 24 to 48 hours, it will be turning the precipitation over to snow. it's much cooler here. i want to show you video coming out of romania showing you what

the situation looks like down here. eastern europe has been impacted by record-breaking cold since the end of january. 79 fatalities have occurred in romania, alone. about 4.5 meters of snow accumulating in isolated areas. schools have been closed and lots of snow-related accidents have been reported as well. if we i'll show you what's happening with temperatures today. out toward the east, still subzero temperatures. improving in places like moscow. however, temperatures will be fall in ankara, down to 3 degrees. out toward the west, hitting double figures in london. we'll see these temperatures improou a little bit more over the next couple of days. here's your extended forecast.

ouread story this hour. u.s. president barack obama has welcomed chinese vice president xi jinping at the white house. obama pressed him on trade and human rights issues. xi is expected to become head of the ruling communist party this fall. >> translator: i look forward to my in-depth discussion with you, president obama. >> obama told xi that china must play fair with its trade partners around the world. >> we want to work with china to make sure that everybody is working by the same rules of the road when it comes to the world economic system, and that includes ensuring there is a

balanced trade flow between not only the united states and china, but around the world. >> obama urged xi to recognize the importance of human rights. he said increased responsibility goes hand in hand with power and prosperity. xi says he hopes his visit will deepen mutual understanding and lead to greater consensus. he said the countries should build a cooperative partnership based on mutual respect and interest but he suggested the two need to acknowledge their differences. the administration is extending an unprecedented level of hospitality to xi. vice president joe biden is accompanying him to most of his destinations. republican party leaders have criticized the administration for being too soft on china. that's all for this edition of "newsline." i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. do stay with us.

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