ncht north korean commanders appear to be backing away from a threat. u.s. and japanese officials say they removed two mobile missile launches from a site on the east coast. they say commanders moved the vehicles and a fuel tank there a month ago to prepare for a test launch. they have an estimated range between 2,500 and 4,000

kilometers. the north koreans were reacting to new united sanctions and joint drills between u.s. south korean missiles. south korean president park has agreed to work to resolve tensions with north korea. park is on her first overseas visit since taking office in february. she met on friday at the u.n. headquarters in new york. she hopes to have dialog with south korea. park has arrived in washington to meet u.s. president obama. the two leaders are expected to agree on a tougher system to defend against the north. south korean officials are refusing to cancel a military drill scheduled for august with the united states.

the officials of north korea demanded the drill be scrapped. south korean defense ministry spokesperson said the drill will continue as long as the south korea u.s. combined forces exists. they plan to stay on alert. and he noted that a u.s. aircraft carrier will come to south korea to take part in this year's exercise. analysts say leaders in seoul are using the threat of force to contain north korea's provocations. spokespersons for north korea's national defense commission said that the kaesong complex is on the brink of complete closure. workers from both north and south korea have been pulled out. the spokesperson said that the cancellation of the drill is a condition for resuming operations.

rebel forces in syria are facing allegations they've used chemical weapons in the country's civil war. a leading united nations investigator says opposition fighters have likely used sarin. it is banned under international law. carla deponte made the comment. her team took testimony from victims and medical staff. she said the evidence indicates opposition and not government forces used sarin gas. however, she added her commission has yet to make a final assess. the syrian government hasn't allowed a separate u.n. team to enter the country to investigate allegations of chemical weapons use. u.s. leaders said that they had confidence that president assad had used sarin gas on a small scale.

construction workers have putting up the 70 kilometer barbed wire fortification. israeli defense officials say the work will be completed within a few months. they're aiming to stop militants crossing over from syria's civil war. president bashar responded by threatening retaliation.

analyst blame the government and the military of computer based attacks against the u.s. . they levelled the charges for the first time in their annual report on china. they wrote there's a strong likelihood that chinese agents were directly involved in attacks on u.s. government computer systems. they discussed conventional weapons in their report. they wrote they are designed to target u.s. aircraft carriers. they suggested commanders in the people's liberation army have finished with their development of their missiles. the analysts made defending their home a priority.

chinese and indian officials have agreed to climb down from a three week military standoff. they said they will both withdraw troops from a disputed zone in the himalayas. diplomats came to an understanding. dozens of chinese soldiers crossed into cashmere. troops were deployed in response. it was said that soldiers were on a regular patrol. indian minister is to visit this month. some other people are hoping to keep friendly ties with china. >> automakers, many of them have their eyes on china but japanese are hoping ill feelings are on the wane in the biggest automarket.

chinese consume srs are buying more japanese cars. many kmchinese decided not to b japanese cars because of disputes over the islands. they go on on the say many buyers like the model that will was introduced in february. executives at toyota motor saw their april sales in china slump 6. 6.5%. that was a big improvement from march. turning to stock markets where the nikkei is trading above 14,000. that's after an extended holiday here in japan. we are playing a bit of catch up. u.s. markets ended mix with the dow jones industrial afternoon

down five points and the nasdaq up 14 points. ramin, the nikkei closed lower last week. how are tokyo stocks kicking off this tuesday? >> very positive start compared to last week when we ended on thursday. we're seeing both indexes here in japan trading well into the positive. let's have a look at the opening levels for the nikkei and the topix. it's a first time in four years.

topix up 2.6%. it's definitely an improvement following the upbeat u.s. economic data that we had on friday. that comes especially after some of the recent data in the u.s. such as gdp manufacturer and some of the consumer led data showing questionable growth up until we got that job's number. we're seeing a rebound of sorts. what also may help is the dollar is stronger against the yen. they may push exporters higher as well. i'll be tracking those today. >> after dipping to 97 yen levels when we left off on thursday looks like a bit of a rebound in the dollar. >> definitely. now we're at the 19 yen levels. in view. we backed off following a series of weak u.s. numbers. dollar/yen 99.25 to 30.

we're well into the 99 levels. the euro 129.73 to 77. it dipped a bit on monday. currency were a little quiet giving the fact that london was actually closed for public holiday on monday even after key pmi data showed a contraction but at a slower pace. very quickly, i also have to add, you did mention autos. the fact that toyota and nissan are going to be coming out with earnings this week. that's a big focus. we'll keep track of that. toyota on wednesday, in fact. back to you. >> sounds good. thanks a lot for that.

japan is looking to boost exports of farm produce. agriculture minister met his indonesian counterpart. he suggested setting up a forum between the officials. he intended to hold working level discussions with japan to consider the proposal. after the meeting he visited an upscale super market in jakarta that carries japanese produce.

economists, politicians and pundits have tossed down the benefits and drawbacks of abenomics. now the secretary general of the organization for economic corporation and development has weighed in. >> what is your current assessment of the japanese economy? >> there's a newfound sense of purpose, enthusiasm and hope which i had not seen many years here. in japan there was a deflation of the expectations. now i think there is some inflation. what you have in japan this year, perhaps, is loose monetary

policy and accommodative fiscal policy. this is okay for one year but then you really have to move into the area of consolidation. it's a question of credibility. we also have to remember 220% debt of gdp. >> how concerned should we be? >> it's by far the highest. it's more than double the average. it's so high that it's like going to mt. everest without oxygen on your own. >> what do you mean by that? >> it's difficult to breathe at the top of mt. everest if you do not have a special oxygen tank. you can but you do not function

naturally. the same thing happens when you have such a very high debt to gdp. it's a constraint. what you can do with inflation and the highest growth, it will affect tremendously what you can do. this is why we supported the increase to go from 5 to 10%. i would say go to 15%. >> what should japan do beyond

abenomics? sglg >> reform, reform, reform. this is not one time. it's a state of mind. it should always be present. >> in which area? >> education. innovation. competition, the tax system, the health system, the university system and flexibility in the labor market. there are many things that have to be done. i can only tell you it's never too late to do the right thing. >> let's take a quick look at the global economic scene this week. first the composite economic indices will come out. in thursday it rose half a point. the bank of england will hold a

policy meeting on the say day. now at its previous meeting it decided to keep its monetary policy unchange. the key interest rate remains at a record low. japan's current account data for march are due out on friday. in february the balance swung into the black for the first time in four months. also on friday the g-7 central finance ministers and governors will get together in the uk. they are expected to discuss measures to promote economic growth and financial consolidation. that's the latest in business for this hour. i'll leave you with a check on markets.

energy officials are hoping to access 100 years' worth of natural gas on japan's doorstep. they plan to start test drilling for methane hydrate in the sea of japan. natural resources and energy agency personnel managed a world's first in march. they were able to extract a gas sample from the seabed. methane hydrate is a kind of natural gas locked in ice-like crystal deposits on the ocean floor. the officials said they'll start work off the coast of niigata prefecture in the coming months. researchers will be trying to work out how much gas is down there. they said the reserves could potentially supply japan's natural gas consumption for 100 years. officials hope to start commercializing the methane hydrate in five years. and next let's take a brief look at the market figures.

senior environmental officials from japan, china and south korea plan to work together to deal with the problem that knows no borders. they've agreed to launch a new framework to help them cooperate on tackling air pollution. japanese environment minister adopted a joint statement with his south korean counterpart and chinese minister. they met for two days in the south wherein japanese city. their talks focused on how to deal with fine particulate matter, an air pollutant known as pm 2.5. they discussed cooperation including research and pollution monitoring. the countries could take a step forward in tackling air pollution. china's leader says he believes the nations will be able to promote cooperation. discussions among experts will needed to determine how to proceed on environmental issues.

they hope their discussions on the environment may lead to greater understanding in other areas. people around the world have picked up their cameras to show the challenge of life in north

eastern japan. but two years on, fewer are visiting areas hit by the disaster. one photographer with a strong bond to fukushima keeps looking through his viewfinder to help those in his second home. nhk world has his story. >> reporter: he lost his favorite spot in fukushima to the tsunami. he's worked in japan for almost 15 years, taking commercial and artistic photos. he used to spend time shooting in this part of iwaki city. but what was here before has disappeared. >> the last time i was here was a year ago, and really nothing, nothing much has changed. >> reporter: goodrich's wife grew up in fukushima. they take their daughter there to visit her grandmother. he fears with time people from elsewhere will forget what happened here.

>> if i can come here and take a few pretty pictures this weekend and i put them up on my be with sight, on my blog and mention fukushima and say that i'm still coming here, maybe that in a tiny way just keeps people aware that the normal life is kind of going on here. >> reporter: goodrich and others wondered what else they could do. >> hi, welcome. >> reporter: his friend runs a gallery in tokyo. she launched a website where photographers can submit their pictures. they send the proceeds to support recovery project. >> i want people around the world to come visit. i want people to come back. a lot of people left. >> reporter: professional and amateur photographers from around the world have submitted

about 2,000 pictures. good rich's photos are among the most popular. >> we sold this one this morning. very, very exciting. >> that's always nice. >> i think it creates a really great amount of awareness for what's happening up north. >> reporter: goodrich isn't done. he wants to return to fukushima to take even more photos. he wants to make sure people far from here and even those close by understand.

>> especially with pictures, because they're powerful. and people have a story to tell. i think that story just needs to be kept being told. because the story doesn't end, does it? i mean, every day is a part of the story of the people who were affected by this disaster. >> reporter: goodrich says he hopes his pictures will serve as a reminder of the past and a record of how things can change. nhk world, iwaki fukushima. time now to get a check on the weather. a sunny warm morning here in japan. >> many people in japan enjoyed a national holiday. however, people in the north saw the late season heavy snow. i want to show you the scene coming out of southern hokkaido.

it's may, but still like winter. residents haven't seen snow settle on the ground for eight years. but they saw 3 centimeters of snow pile up. another location observed 12 centimeters of the white stuff. the lingering low pressure system stationed north of hokkaido is pulling in cold air sending temperatures plummeting about 5 degrees colder than average. rain is expected in parts of the northern japan as well. but for the western half of japan, looking dry. plenty of sunshine for you. similar situation for the korean peninsula. but rain is coming down for southeastern china once again. heaviest rain is going to be found here. 100 millimeters likely into the next 24 hours.

the heavy rain will move into the northeast into tomorrow. meanwhile, we can see another point showing up in bangladesh. this is where we've seen heavy rain. heavy rain will continue here throughout the day and wet weather their continue throughout the next several days. scattered rain for the indochina peninsula. extremely hot in beijing where they have 30 degrees. warm in seoul with 25. and tokyo cooling down to 18 degrees. that's about 7 degrees colder than what we saw on monday. okay. north america, a slow moving system is drifting toward the north over the eastern u.s. underneath it, heavy rain. heavy rain is coming down in virginia. an additional 80 millimeter is likely, which is quite a lot for this region. so we have flood warnings and watches posted in this area. this system is expected to move towards the north. as it does so, warm air will flow in from the south and that will help temperatures rise. for example in d.c. your high on friday could be 27 degrees, extremely hot there. and wet and windy for the

western continent. tornados cannot be ruled out in the southern plains on wednesday. en is the degrees in washington, d.c. temperature also go up into the end of the workweek. all right. finally in europe then, we have a tornado touchdown in northern italy last friday. injuring several people and damages hundreds of houses. unfortunately, severe weather in central europe will continue throughout the day. meanwhile, it's turning wet across the western continent. rain is not going to be welcome, particularly for people in france. this area has been dealing with excessive floods. towards the north, looking try for the southern half of the

british isles and temperatures are on the warmer side. 22 degrees in london. but today is the last day of the warm weather. it will go down to 16 degrees on wednesday. here's your extended forecast. that's all for this edition of "newsline." do join us again.

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