preparing for the launch. japan fires up a nationwide emergency warning system as north korea gets ready to send a rocket into the sky. people responsible for sending out disaster warnings in japan are going to test one of their main tools, the so-called j alert system. fire and disaster management agency worker also run drills in the country's southernmost prefecture, okinawa. j alert transmits crucial information in times of crisis. it's designed to automatically

kick-start municipal public radio systems across japan to warn of major natural disasters or other emergencies. fire and disaster management agencies spokespeople say j alert will be used if the north goes ahead with its rocket launch which is expected to happen between april 12th and 16th. agency workers will test the system in 26 municipalities in okinawa to make sure it functions properly. they're going to run two rounds of drills. they'll send out dummy data and audio information. then they'll check to make sure the transmission is received. agency spokespeople say j alert will be used immediately after the launch and if the rocket passes through japan's air space. for self-defense forces on the ground in okinawa, it's not if, but when. they're under strict orders, shoot down any possible debris from the rocket that could land on japanese territory. north korea says it's only sending a satellite into space but many believe it will be

testing a long-range missile. the rocket is expected to pass over the southernmost part of okinawa. units equipped with the pac-3 interceptor missile system arrived wednesday in naha city and miyako island. another will arrive on ishigaki island thursday to complete the deployment. ground self-defense force units have been dispatched to guard the system and undertake rescue and relief operations in case of injuries from any falling rocket debris. about 40 troops were transferred from western japan to naha on wednesday. another 400 troops will be deployed to the southwestern islands off ishigaki and miyako. the defense ministry is sending three aegis equipped destroyers to the east china sea and the sea of japan. japan's defense ministry is apparently using north korea's planned rocket launch to boost the country's defense capabilities in okinawa.

the ministry's latest report on defense policy guidelines cites china as a major source of concern for the region and the international community. china has stepped up military activities in the east china sea in recent months. an nhk reporter says the ministry is attempting to ease frictions with local communities by showing its eagerness to protect local residents in order to pave the way for a further defense build-up. a u.s. media report says the american military is taking its own measures to deal with north korea's launch. cnn says the u.s. navy has sent its most advanced radar system to the region. >> we along with our partners in the region are monitor developments very closely. >> the cnn report says the navy moved the advanced radar system from a base in hawaii, but defense officials have not given any details on how u.s. forces

will be deployed to prepare for the launch. we wanted to dig deeper into this story so we asked defense and security expert chiak chiaki akimoto for insight. >> the u.s. international officials is a long range ballistic missile, the modified version of taepodong 2. it's 25 to 30 meters long, and an estimated range of 7,000 kilometers. now we should focus on the location of the launch site. it is a new facility on north korea's western coast, so-called tongchang-ri. many countries launch rockets eastward to take advantage of the earth's rotational speed, so they also have launch site on their east coast, so-called musudan-ri. what they plan to launch from the west means that the flight will be mostly over the sea. if they launch rocket on a southeasterly trajectory, it will fly over international waters and avoid the air spaces of foreign countries.

this may be why they have chosen this western launch site. the north has apparently designed the rocket in such a way that the first stage booster will fall off the western coast of south korea and from the second stage 3,000 kilometers away from the launch site. the launch will demonstrate how far north korea has developed its missile technologies over the past three years, to assess their capability. north korea apparently believes that perfecting the long-range ballistic missile that can carry a nuclear warhead and hit the middle of the united states will put the nation on par with the united states. and that's why north korea is in a hurry to develop the taepodong 2. they also undertook a test in 2006 in which the rocket

exploded and fell to the sea of japan soon after launching. three years ago, north korea succeeded in launching a rocket that accurately flew a distance of 3,000 kilometers to a spot in the sea in the area of the midway islands. the launch proved that north korea has made a considerable progress in the development of precision guidance system. if north korea deploys taepodong 2 in the near future, the u.s. mainland will be within the range of the north korean missile. that means the threat of the north korean missile is expanding from east asia around japan, to the whole asia-pacific region. there is also a possibility that the pyongyang missile technology could be provided to the middle eastern nation, where several countries have close relations with north korea. it means, in other words, missile technologies developed by north korea is becoming a global threat. >> all right, chiaki akimoto from the royal united services

institute uk. japan's foreign minister says the country will call on the u.n. security council to take action if north korea goes ahead with its planned rocket launch. koichiro gemba made the comment to reporters in a news conference on wednesday. >> translator: if north korea launches a missile, it would be in clear violation of security council resolutions. in that case, japan will work with the council members to draw up a response. >> gemba also said japan will urge the united states and other council members to take action, including adopting a new resolution. japan is not a council member. spanish authorities are selling government debt but investors aren't buying. ai uchida from the business desk joins me with the details. ai, tell us what's behind the hesitation? >> the new austerity measures

are in place in spain but actually investors aren't convinced that they are strict enough. in fact, they became concerned once again over debt worries in europe. this caused spain's government bond yields to shoot up once again. the yields on the ten-year bond rose to 5.7% at one point on wednesday. the spanish bond market was heavily sold following a disappointing auction of new bond issues. late last year, spain's bond yield climbed to nearly 7%, that's a level that makes it difficult for the country to rehabilitate its finances on its own. but the yield dropped in early march to the upper 4% level. now last month, spain lowered its target for cutting its budget deficit. that's because credit worries are affecting the economy. this rekindled market concerns about the country's ability to regain fiscal health. european central bank officials are aware of these concerns, so they decided to leave its key interest rate at a

record low 1% in an attempt to ease debt worries and support the eurozone economy. this marks the fourth straight month that the central bank has kept the rate unchanged. >> okay, downside risk to the economic outlook prevail. they relate in particular to a renewed intensification of tensions in euro area debt markets and their potential spillover to the euro area real economy. >> europe is taking measures to tackle its credit problems. in december and february the central bank extended loans to european commercial banks. all together they amounted to over 1 trillion euros or about $1.3 trillion. last week the 17 eurozone nations agreed to expand the bailout fund. now renewed concerns over eurozone debts, u.s. stocks

tumbled. the dow jones industrial average fell 0.9% to 13,074, marking the second largest drop this year of 124 points now to see how stocks are kicking off here in japan, rami the tokyo stock exchange. ramin, good morning. negative news out of europe but jobs data in the u.s. is still showing signs of improvement. >> yeah, definitely, ai. it could be a seen area know which leads investors just to take a little bit of a step back. you mentioned the spanish bond auction there and that again highlighting the faltering debt issues in the eurozone economies. on the flipside we had the adp private sector jobs report out of the u.s. yesterday which did show a steady improvement, showing gains around 200,000 jobs, but let's see how the effects of all of that is playing into the stock markets here, the nikkei and the topix again continuing lower, let's not forget yesterday the nikkei

had its biggest drop of the year so far, breaking below that key 10,000 level for the first time since march 13th. again that's a crucial psychological level. we'll see if we can get back above that. a lot of news from the spanish bond auction filtering through the markets and also concerns about growth in china and how that's filtering through into emerging markets as well. and for that, we're going to continue to monitor china related stocks as well. let's not forget the markets are also poised for the all-important jobs data in the u.s. later on. we need to keep a close eye on commodity markets as well. we did see gold dropping 3%, west texas intermediate crude oil prices also dropping 2%. china markets are back after a public holiday yesterday so we're also going to keep track of how the hang seng and shanghai composite trade and also any china-related japanese stocks as well so quite a lot of

focus there across many sectors this morning. ai? >> now, ramin, turning to currencies, the yen looks to have gained amidst all this market turmoil. >> yeah, definitely and having a look at the currency levels, dollar/yen and the euro/yen in times of a little bit of market volatility, the yen has gained and that's really a shift of funds from riskier assets into relative safer assets which the yen tends to be, despite the overall shift of yen weakness that we've seen over the past few months. let's not forget that. but the spanish bond auction also led the euro to sell off a little bit, and we've seen that weaker against the yen as well. but also really coming up and setting up the markets for the jobs data on friday is weekly jobless claims later today in the u.s., so coupled with the adp private sector jobs report that we had yesterday, it sets up the markets pretty well for the main unemployment numbers

out of the u.s. tomorrow. back to you. >> all right, ramin, thanks a lot for that update, ramin mellegard from the tokyo stock exchange. well as ramin told us, tokyo stocks are down. let's take a look at how other markets are reacting. that is the latest in business for this hour. back to catherine now. >> thanks very much, ai. u.s. secretary of state hillary clinton says her country will lift some sanctions and relax investment restrictions against myanmar. sunday's polls saw pro-democracy leader aung san suu kyi gain her first seat in the lower house. her national league of democracy

party won a landslide victory. at a news conference on wednesday, clinton praised the bielections and myanmar's leadership. >> the results of the april 1st parliamentary bielections represents a dramatic demonstration of popular will that brings a new generation of reformers into government. this is an important step. >> clinton said the u.s. will name an ambassador to myanmar and to begin steps to ease a ban on financial services. she added that a longstanding visa ban will also be relaxed for the country's senior government officials and lawmakers. but clinton said organizations and people that block the reforms remain subject to sanctions. myanmar's president, thein sein said he is ready to work with the party of aung san suu kyi. thein sein spoke wednesday with

nhk in his first interview since the election. nhk world's khinmono reports. >> reporter: it took over after the autocratic rule by the country's military leaders. the national league for democracy led by aung san suu kyi won a landslide victory in sunday's bielections. thein sein said it was progress towards democracy.

the number of seats won by the nld accounts for less than 10% of all the seats in parliament. after the elections, aung san suu kyi called on the ruling party to cooperate for more democratization. in the interview, president thein sein responded positively to this call for the first time ever. the toughest challenge for myanmar is to boost its economy,

one of the worst in southeast asia, and to do that, it has to get economic sanctions lifted by western countries. the president expressed hope that the recent bielections will help achieve that. known for its rich natural resources and abundant labor, myanmar is often called the last frontier in southeast asia. many countries are paying attention to its economic potential. president thein sein is expected

to visit japan later this month. he expressed hope for japanese investment and economic assistance. president thein sein's government will likely need to bargain with the nld. the party wants to win the next general election in three years' time. observers will be watching for signs of the cooperative relationship with the nld that president has stressed. khimimomo myint, nhk world, phnom penh. ean leaders are acting in unison to support me yab march.

at a summit meeting that ended in cambodia on wednesday, the leaders welcomed the outcome of the bielections. they also called on western nations to lift economic sanctions. nhk world's pinh chanda reports. >> reporter: asean leaders seemed cheerful at the closing ceremony. prime minister hun sen of cambodia chaired the summit. he issued a statement saying the bielections in myanmar on sunday were just and fair. he called it a big step forward in the country's democratization. hun sen called on european countries and the united states to reward myanmar for its progress. myanmar has recently chaired the regional bloc in 2014. they agreed to come together and support the bid.

asean summits regularly take place at the same time as the east asian summit, it's likely that the u.s. president may find himself invited to myanmar. that would be a meaningful opportunity for myanmar to show its return to the international community. for years, myanmar's lack of democratization was a lingering problem for asean. the success of the bielection is an opportunity for asean to further its goal of an economic community by 2015. phin chanda, nhk world, phnom penh. the trial has begun in turkey of two former military leaders who toppled the government in a september 1980 cous. the trial began in ankara wednesday. one of the defendants, 90-year-old kenan evran, served

as military chief of staff. he served as president for seven years. some 500,000 activists were allegedly detained during those years and many were tortured to death. the detentions lasted until the handover of power to a civilian government. under ev have ran's government, military officers interviewed in politics. the government also amended the constitution to ban the prosecution of cous leaders. that role remained in effect until prime ministerered began removed it in 2010. evran's defense counsel called the trial invalid during the opening session. the trial is seen as a step toward ending the military's longstanding interference in politics. erdogan's government wants to shake off that past along with its planned entry into the european union.

it seems the temperatures are rising by the day. sayaka mori joins us with the weather forecast. >> good morning. yes, sunny weather will likely continue into next monday and it's going to be a very warm day in tokyo. 19 degrees for the high, but because of the daytime heating, there is a chance of thundershowers late this afternoon, but it won't last long, maybe about a couple of hours. to the north a windy storm has moved out to sea so winds are starting to die down across much of northern japan. tomorrow, cold air was sweeping into northern japan so rain in hokoriku may change over to snow and snow will develop in the hokkaido and tohoku region, and that cold air is going to affect the rest of japan over the weekend. so in tokyo the high is expected to be only 12 degrees on saturday. meanwhile, southeastern china

will see showers intensifying up to 100 millimeters is possible in the next 24 hours, and more rain will be coming down over the weekend. the ground is already saturated so the risks of flooding and landslides are very high. as for the indo china peninsula the combination of the remnants of a tropical storm and daytime heating will help thunderstorms develop so very unstable weather here. getting up to 34 degrees for the daytime high in bangkok, similarly wet in manila with 33, so coming up ten degrees under cloudy skies. now, heading over to the americas, unstable conditions are still ongoing across much of the southeastern portions of the u.s. this low is producing active weather in the mid-atlantic region, but that will move out to sea by thursday. more of a concern is going to be southern texas and the lower mississippi valley, the threat of severe thunderstorms, large hail, damaging winds, will likely continue into, over wednesday night, and as many of you know, a lot of tornadoes touched down in this area, damaging a lot of buildings and

homes, and on thursday, the threat will move into the lower portions of the deep south. meanwhile, another low pressure system moves across the northwestern corner of the u.s. and western canada producing wet and windy conditions. snow warnings have been posted for much of alberta, up to 15 centimeters is expected by thursday morning. as for the high in the single digits in vancouver and seattle but to the south, heat is still hanging on, reaching 32 degrees in miami. now moving on to europe, unstableonditions are still continuing across much of the southern half of the contint. s anus winds are possible all day owar clear,crs chf systemasngow--asng moscow with only st.

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