hello there. glad to have you with us on this edition of "newsline." it's friday, april 12th. i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. north korean leaders seem to make daily threats and leaving them to wonder what's next. they say kim jung-un is showing off. he is using belligerent language to show them he's in control of his country. james clapper said he have thinks the north korean will use

that language for a long time. cia director was summoned to speak to the committee. he said intelligence analysts have found it difficult to jung kim's action because he's not been in power very long. u.s. secretary of state john kerry is headed to the region to lend his weight to diplomatic efforts. he wants to convince chinese leaders to use his leverage.

kerry wants to encourage them to take advantage of their influence. on sunday kerry will move onto tokyo. he'll meet with japanese foreign minister. foreign ministers from the group of eight nations have line ed up against north korea. they condemned the strongest terms of the the missile program. >> we made clear in the text that ministers supported the commitment to strengthen the courage regime and take significant missions in a further launch or nuclear test. >> they criticize the rhetoric. the talk will serve to only further isolate the country.

u.s. aviation experts say batteries on boeing 787 dreamliners could be a fire hazard if the design is still flawed. six experts spoke at a hearing in washington, d.c. investigators are looking into what caused fires on two dreamliner jets and whether they could have been prevented. some experts say lithium ion cells could cause a flaw in the design.

edge nears have redesigned the battery. they have added installation for the cell. west americans are filing for unemployment benefits. good morning. investors must be happy about that data. >> about 40,000 less filed. the dow closed ed at a new reco high of 14,865. that's a gain of .4 of a%. let's go to ramin. he's at the tokyo stock exchange. a bit of a boost from the weekly jobless claim figure but some concern in the tech sector to watch out for as well. >> you mentioned some record closing highs for the dow.

however, we did hear an industry report in the u.s. which said pc shipments globally plunged 14% in the first three months of 2013. we'll have to watch out for tech sector shares as well. let's look at the opening levels for april 12th, friday here in tokyo. both indexes trading lowing in the first few minutes of trading. let's remind viewers that the nikkei did close above 13,500 yet. despite talks among investors we have yet to see science igns of off. there's a bit more faith into japanese shares. we've seen the yen weaken even further falling and approaching that hundred yen level against the dollar. meanwhile the drop in pc sales

may be of concern especially we saw shares in the likes of hewlett-packard. >> ramin, with regard to the yen, we were approached that psychologically crucial 100 yen level a few times but each time backed off. where are we now? >> a couple of times this week we have come close to that. it will really break the way into breaking above 100 yen level. we have fallen short of that key resistance level but traders expect for that level to be broken soon. there's already a major shift out of yen and other assets by global investors. let's have a look at the

euro/yen as well. it keeps power ahead having already broken through the yen at one stage during overnight trading. we're going to keep track of fast retailing. the operator of the clothing store chain after asia's to retailer lifted its net profit forecast to run $920 million in overseas business was up drastically. shares were up 3.1% yesterday and been up nearly 60% year to date. also the bank of japan governor will be giving a speech later today. it's always interesting to hear what he has to say. back to you. >> thanks for that update. >> sales hit a record high in march. japanese passenger cars regained a 15% share of the auto market

for the first time in seven months, german makers have the largest share of japan's market along with south korean manufacturers. it gree grew more than 3 percentage points. among foreign makers in china, german firm vs t firms have the. japan and the united states are soon to reach an agreement in their preliminary. japan has already agreed to the

u.s. retaining tariffs it imposes on imported from japan for the time being. japan agreed to increase the number of u.s. vehicles it imports only through document screening from the current 2,000 to 5,000. in the insurance sector the u.s. has been expressing concerns over japan post groups business. negotiations are near closing with japan promising to secure fair competition in that field. japanese agriculture products will receive some consideration regarding tariffs. the two sides decided to continue negotiations. japan needs the approval of all 11 countries involved in the talks for its participation. with the u.s. approval japan will speed up negotiations with canada, australia and new zealand to get their investment.

delegates from malaysia are already taking part in the negotiations. some people there aren't happy about it. they say freer trade could stop them from getting the medicines they need. >> reporter: i'm standing in front of the u.s. embassy. people living here are rallying against u.s. led tpp negotiations. through the tpp talks, 11 nations are on the panel to create over 650 million people who generate a third of the global gdp. the negotiations are held behind closed doors. the u.s. is reportedly demanding that the patent rights of drug

companies be strengthened by expanding the period and scope of their protection. o many are now worried that if the demand goes through they will no longer be able to buy generic drugs. those are typically about 90% cheaper than brand name equivalents after the patents expire. >> this agreement is unfair for the poor, but may good for the rich one. people are living in the slum. couldn't afford their daily life with the basic medicine. >> reporter: supporters have high hopes for the tpp, saying it will expand trade opportunities with the u.s. and other nations. but opponents are unhappy with it. claiming the pact as it stands favor only u.s. interests in key trade areas. nhk world

>> people look at the euro zone are concerned about the currency. headlines don't seem to stop. even though some want in. latvia is a coastal country of 2 million. it's located in the north. russia is on the east. it was formally part of the soviet union. i had the chance to speak with the prime minister. he was in tokyo and told us why he is trading in his lats for euros. >> thank you for your time. good morning. >> nice to see you. >> that's a question we're hearing quite often. it's a euro zone crisis so why join or why join now. it's important to understand the nature of the crisis because it's not euro as a currency

crisis. what they are seeing in the euro zone right now is financial and euro zone countries which were not following sound economical and fiscal policies. that's how they run into trouble. >> reporter: the people of latvia have run into trouble. the country was hit hard triggered by the financial crisis of lehman brothers. latvia achieved the highest growth rate in the eu last year. he's been prime minister since the sharp contraction. i asked him how he achieved an economic turn around in such a short time. >> i think one of the reasons was that we did bulk of our adjustment during the crisis. what some countries in southern

europe are doing are trying to kind of delay that adjustment. this strategy doesn't work. without doing the necessary adjustment the countries are not able to return to the financial stability. they're able to return to the economic growth or just getting deeper into recession making this adjustment more difficult. in our case we front loaded the adjustment. we did bulk of the adjustment in 2009 during the crisis. it helped us to restore financial stability and with financial stability we're able to return to economic growth. >> aren't you afraid of being exposed to these nations that are having so much fiscal trouble? >> of course we factored in our contributions which support

countries in difficulty and even if it effects contributions, the balance is still positive. >> is joining the euro zone a way to distance yourself from russia? >> no be probably it even would facilitate trade and tourism because i imagine russian tourists it's either to come with euros instead of coming which our currency and exchange it for lats, for example. >> reporter: in fact, he sees his country as not only a destination but a major transit hub as well. a message he's trying to get across to people in asia. >> some of the main emphasis points we were putting, one is providing this opportunity of our transit corridor and major ports and railway links with

russia. >> latvia will join the euro zone from january 1st, 2014. here in tokyo the nikkei is down half a percent. the dollar is 99.69. i'll leave you with a check on markets.

a japanese lower house committee has unanimously approved a bill to lift the current ban on internet political campaigns starting with the upper house election this summer. the committee endorsed the bill on thursday after making some revisions. the original version he was jointly submitted by the ruling liberal democratic party. its coalition partner and the japanese restoration party. the plan allows candidates and campaign staff to canvas voters during the campaign period through web pages and social media networks. however, to limits e-mail campaigns to candidates. it's expected to be approved at the lower house on friday and will then be sent to the upper house for enactment. it's likely to become law as early as the end of this month. people around the world

watched two years ago as the nuclear crisis unfolded in north eastern japan. the government restricted access to the area around fukushima so there's few fphotographic records. >> reporter: this was the scene on the coast of fukushima p prefecture some 90 minutes after the quake. large area was up in flames. the videos were shot from a police helicopter by a sergeant. straight off the earthquake he was ordered to fly toward the coast. >> translator: i could see houses were washed away. i hope the people had managed to

reach safety. >> reporter: the police are the first to report it. these are the radio records between the local police and the prefecturial police headquarters. >> an explosion was heard from the plant. wide smoke was observed. suddenly he heard a rumbling sound and felt the ground shake. >> translator: i could see smoke rising above those roofs over there and then fluffy particles of dust started dropping on me. it was very unsettling. >> reporter: two days later there was another explosion.

he took off again in his helicopter. >> translator: the explosion at the number three reactor came so soon after the other. i was so worried. >> reporter: >> reporter: photos showed the extent of the damage in the worst hit area. more than 80,000 people had to be evacuated from around the plant. 1,600 people lost their lives in the disaster. the police were quick to enter the zones searching for missing people. the search teams had to enter areas with high levels of radiati radiation. he said he was prepared to die. >> translator: to my family, will i ever see your faces again? >> reporter: keeping his worries to himself, he helped people to

evacuate their homes. >> translator: i'm doing all i can to save people's lives, and i'll never give up. >> reporter: two years later he's still doing all he can to help those uprooted by the disaster. >> translator: when i actually meet people in this situation it makes me want to do more for them. >> reporter: the helicopter pilot, one of his strongest memories was this scene. he had to rescue an elderly couple who were stranded in their home. >> translator: deep down i still worry i could have helped more people. i feel we must do more to improve our search methods and other skills. >> reporter: in all the fukushima police took 30,000 photographs and ten hours of

video footage after the quake and tsunami. these records will help them prepare for future disasters. illustrations for the book the little prince have been turned into relief for the visually impaired. it's made of synthetic resin on thursday. the worldwide best seller was first published in the united states. the stories have captured people's hearts. officials at the foundation say anyone who has received a moderate amount of training can comprehend images by touching the reliefs. >> it will be very important to share it and make it accessible for the blind. >> the foundation plans to

publish braille versions with paper relief illustrations. people in eastern areas of the united states are dealing with stormy conditions. >> that's right. the eastern part of the u.s. has been experiencing hazardous conditions. eight tornadoes have touched down in the deep south. one people was dead due to a tornado in mississippi and heavy snow is still lingering in the north. here's the setup on thursday. heavy snow is likely to continue in and around the great lakes area. more than 10 centimeters likely for wide area. 30 centimeters possible in the central part of the great lakes and then freezing rain is on the cards for you in places like new york, massachusetts and ontario. freezing rain is quite dangerous because once it hits surfaces it will create an icy glaze on roads and power lines making for dangerous driving conditions and scattered power outages.

and then the rain as well as risk of severe weather. as we go into friday, the area of severe weather will be confined to the carolinas and heavy rain will be shift towards the eastern seaboard buff heavy snow will continue around the great lakes region into friday. out toward the east still in the warmer side of washington, d.c. we may see rain continuing into friday morning but after that clear skies into the weekend with a high of 26 degrees on friday. looks like people on the other side of the globe enjoyed a different sport on their cold

weather. the north pole marathon took place on tuesday in a chilling temperature of minus 28 degrees celsius. 46 competitors pit themselves against the extreme element pps the event is run on arctic sea ice. a schoolteacher and runner was first in 3:49. the majority of the competitors finished but some took over ten hours. it's not as cold add the north pole but a cooler air mass is blanketing the peninsula. towards the south rain is still likely to occur in the south western corner of china.

scorching hot in bangkok. 36 degrees and towards the north cooler than average in seoul as well as tokyo. severe weather is occurring in parts of western continent. gusts of 85 kilometers in southern germany. temperatures are in the double digits. spring has finally arrived in parts of europe. here is the extended forecast.

and that's all for this edition of "newsline." i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. thanks for joining us.

maybe you have some energy- saving appliances, like an energy star-rated washer and dryer. but what about your tv? chances are it's on more than your

washer, dryer, and kitchen appliances combined. did you know that if half of us in the u.s. replaced our regular tvs with an energy star model, the change would be like shutting down a power plant? you can find the energy star on everything from standard to high def to the largest flat-screen your heart desires. ow that makes sense.