glad to have us with us on this edition of "newsline." it's wednesday, march 4th. i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu is warning american leaders they are negotiating a bad deal with iran. he says it would pave the way for the country to develop a nuclear bomb. analysts say u.s./israel y relations are worsening as talks between world powers and teheran reach a crucial final stage. netanyahu told a joint congress on tuesday that iran poses a grave threat to israel and global peace and he warned any agreement with iranian officials would include major concessions.

>> that deal will not prevent iran from developing nuclear weapons. it would all but guarantee that iran gets those weapons, lots of them. >> netanyahu addressed u.s. lawmakers at the invitation of republican house speaker john boehner. about 60 democrats boycotted the session. obama says netanyahu offered nothing new in his speech. >> the prime minister didn't offer any viable alternatives. >> he says sanctions and military action in iran can't bring about change. the two are not planning to hold face-to-face talks during netanyahu's stay in washington. obama says he doesn't meet with visiting foreign leaders before their elections. israelis will head to the polls in two weeks. supporters and dignitaries are paying their respects to boris nemtsov, a russian opposition leader shot dead in moscow last week.

he was a vocal critic of president vladimir putin. his funeral was held on tuesday. nemtsov's body was laid out in a coffin in the sakharov center. the center is named after the soviet era human rights activist andrei sakharov. mikhail kasyanov and other former prime minister mikhail kasyanov and other opposition leaders were among the mourners. also attending were liberal senior officials from putin's government and representatives of western nations opposed to the president's policy on ukraine. >> translator: nemtsov played an important role in promoting democracy in russia. i fully agreed with his criticisms of putin's policy on ukraine. >> some members of russia's opposition suspect the putin administration was involved in nemtsov's death. nemtsov was reportedly preparing to present proof of russia's military intervention in eastern ukraine. after his death, investigators seized his computer and

documents. government officials suggest the killing was aimed at laying blame on the administration. putin himself is said to have asked for briefings on the investigation into the shooting. people around the world are hearing the unfiltered voice of the man believed to be jihadi john for the first time. an audio recording has emerged and islamic state militant distance he's an extremist. the masked knife-wielding man has appeared in videos showing the purported killing of captives. a human rights group made the tape and released it publicly on tuesday in britain. the masked man is reported to be a british national who was born in kuwait and is in his mid-20s. he complained in the recording about interrogations by british intelligence authorities in 2009. the man says he was asked about his views on the september 11th attacks in the u.s. and also the 2005 bombings in london. >> i said innocent people

have been, have -- what do you think? i think this is extremism. >> he also said he was questioned about his trip to tanzania with friends and said he was suspected of trying to reach somalia to join islamic extremists. >> i said after what i just told you, after, you know i told you that what's happening is extremism, this and that they're still suggesting that i'm an extremist. i said, yeah, well trying to put words into my mouth saying no, you're doing this, this, this, and we'll keep a close eye on you mohammed. >> human rights officials say how british authorities treated the man may have contributed to his radicalization. iraqi military officials say their forces recaptured part of the northerncy of tikrit. the islamic group has controlled the city since last june. the militants see it as vital defensive of mo sul.

iraqi forces launched a major operation on monday to retake the city. about 20,000 troops including militia members are attacking from three directions. the air force is supporting them with air strikes. iraqi military officials say the troops now control parts of northern and southeastern tikrit. they say their forces are advancing into the city center. the officials say islamic state militants are using roadside bombs and rooftop snipers to try to stop the advance. north korea has eased measures that kept visitors out of the country. pyongyang closed its borders because of the ebola outbreak and imposed a three-week quarantine on diplomats and its own citizens from returning overseas. north korean authorities notified china on tuesday they'd start accepting foreign tourists again soon.

china's state-run xinhua news agency says the quarantine is still required for visitors from some west african countries. no ebola infections have been confirmed in the north. analysts say pyongyang hopes to revitalize trade and diplomatic activities damaged by the strict measures. north korea claims the ebola virus is a biological weapon developed by the united states. a top north korean diplomat has lashed out at criticism of his country's human rights record. foreign minister called on the u.n. to revoke a pair of resolutions on the issue. >> translator: hostile patriots and their followers are not helping the situation. they are prejudiced. >> ri was speaking at the u.n.

human rights council, his remarks were apparently aimed at the united states and japan. he denounced the resolutions adopted last year. one was passed by the general assembly. it recommends referring north korea to the international criminal court for its human rights situation. the other was approved by the council, it was based on a report that says abuses by authorities amount to crimes against humanity. ri said the report is based on what he describes as baseless accounts by defectors. he called the resolutions deceptions, and demanded that they be revoked swiftly. it is time now for the latest in business news. the japanese yen is weak but more and more exporters are shifting production away from japan. ai uchida joins us from our business desk with all the details. >> catherine, it seems more and more manufacturers are zeroing in their, to their customers overseas. government officials asked around and they found that some

managers feel they can better indicator to who they're selling to keeping their factories close to their customers. while a weaker yen has traditionally been seen as an advantage, we're learning managers are planning to expand their production overseas. the cabinet office conducted the survey of over 2,400 listed firms, about 40% responded. it shows overseas production will account for more than 22% of japan's total output in the business year through march. that's up 5.8 points from five years ago. the ratio's expected to rise to 26% in another five years' time. the respondents say they expect growing demand from the countries where their factories are located and their neighboring nations. the companies believe the exchange rate won't change in a year's time forecasting on average 119.5 yen to the dollar. the ukrainian central bank is planning to make another drastic move in a bid to prop up its plunging currency and put a

lid on runaway inflation. it will hike its key interest rate by more than ten percentage points to 30%. policymakers at the national bank of ukraine say the new rate hike the new rate takes effect on wednesday. just last month, the officials raised the interest rate from 14% to 19.5%, that plus the latest hike will more than double the rate in a matter of a month. the ukrainian currency the furibniya lost about 40% of its value against the dollar over the past month. the depreciation came as pro-russian insurgents fought government troops in eastern ukraine and has heightened worries over ballooning public debt. inflation is dragging down economic activity and a number of commercial banks have failed. the country's fourth largest institution went bankrupt earlier this week. central bank governor says the move is aimed at putting the

brakes an acceleration. but some worry the drastic tightening could trigger more business failures and throw large numbers of ukrainians out of work. time for a check on markets. tokyo stock prices did open lower, following overnight declines on wall street. many investors are selling their shares to take profits from recent gains. the benchmark nikkei now trading lower by 0.99%. major exporters like makers of cars and electronics are lower on a slightly stronger yen than yesterday. let's turn to currencies. traders are buying the yen as they see it as a safe asset. some are worried, a bit worried about the geopolitical risks after netanyahu's strong words against iran. dollar/yen in the mid 119 levels. the euro is trading in a tight range against the dollar. the many market players are waiting to see the outcome of the european central bank's policy meeting on thursday. we've just had some data on australia's economy, fourth quarter gdp growth was up 2.5%

from a year ago and that is in line with market expectations. after the release of those figures the australian dollar did gain a touch, yesterday the currency rose nearly 1% after the central bank maintains its key interest rate. share prices in australia now, let's see what's happening, trading lower, down a little more than 0.4%. we are seeing negative moves over in south korea as well. the kospi at 1999 just down just about 0.1%. executives at japan's top steelmaker are feeling the heat from global competition. the officials at nippon steel and sumitomo metal corporation say they will suspend one of their blast services in a mission to boost profitable. the executives say the facility in southwestern japan will go offline around the end of march, 2019, that will follow the suspension of another furnace near tokyo in a year from now.

company president kosei shindo says the moves are part of an effort to improve efficiency. the steelmaker is trying to streamline its domestic steelmaking and strengthen its overseas production. more for you next hour in business. here's another check on markets.

the japanese prime minister and the leader of the biggest opposition party are in hot water over corporate donations to their political organizations. fund reports show three companies donated a total of about $6,000 to a local ldp chapter headed by prime minister shinzo abe. the three firms received government subsidies. the reports also show a democratic party local chapter headed by cats suia okada received donations from a holding company of a narm got public money. japan's political funds control law and principle bans companies from making political donations within a year of being awarded government subsidies. the government's top spokesperson says abe will deal with concerns about the donations. >> translator: prime minister abe has confirmed that his local chapter received the donations. but he says he was not aware that the firms received

subsidies. abe says he will give priority to looking into the matter. >> officials at the company say the donations weren't illegal. they say the government subsidies they received were for non-profit projects. dpj secretary-general yukia edano defends the donations to the party by okada. >> translator: the donations were not illegal. the subsidized project was not-for-profit. >> ldp chapters headed by agriculture minister yoshias hayashi and executive minister akira amaki were also said to have accepted money. nishikawa left his post last week he came under fire after a political body he headed received a donation from a firm that received public money. environment minister and justice minister yokokamikawa are under

fire for receiving similar donations. meanwhile education minister shimomura admitted to accepting a donation from someone indicted for tax evasion. he said he didn't receive 100,000 yen or about $830 from the donor in 2009. the person was indicted for tax evasion the following year but the minister admitted to reporters on tuesday that he did get the money. he has admitted to the error and said his staff failed to thoroughly screen the person who was a first-time donor. shimomura apologized later in the session and said he returned the money. the director of a japanese hospital has admitted medical negligence in patient deaths. eight people died between 2010 and 2014 following lap rowelapr on scopic surgery. the director faulted staff.

>> translator: we didn't offer significant explanations to the patients and didn't obtain their informed consent to the operation. >> gunma university issue issued a report from an investigative team including outside experts. it says the doctor who performed the operations failed to carefully study whether laparoscopic surgery was appropriate. they continued the operations without fully examining what caused the deaths and only allowed a limited number of staff to handle the cases without hearing opinions from other doctors. an expert panel with the health ministry plans to conduct a probe based on the report. chinese president xi jinping has made it his mission to crack down on rampant corruption among bureaucrats and senior members

of the communist party. and it's inspiring a growing number of citizens to join the fight. one journalist is working to publicize poor behavior in high places. nhk world's kunihiro yamamoto reports. >> reporter: a 45-year-old freelance journalist who runs a website that keeps tabs on corrupt bureaucrats. since 2006 ju has acted on tip-offs and his own investigations to expose more than 100 corrupt bureaucrats on the website called people's supervision network. about one-third of them have been charged or removed from office. it's a sign that the website has drawn the attention of some powerful officials. >> translator: there's no system in place to allow the public to accuse officials of corruption. that's why i listen to people and do research on my own, to

expose corruption online. >> reporter: the man seen here frolicking with a young woman is fang yue. when he was deputy director of the state archives administration, fung is believed to have spent about $500,000 on the woman, a former tv announcer, in just four years. fung was released five videos after zhu posted the videos on his site. but dealing in the scandalous behavior of government officials is a risky business. zhu constantly changes the ip address of the website to keep from being shut down. he also alternates cell phones and fax machines to guard against wiretapping by the authorities. zhu says he has been threatened and beaten by police and the local government officials he has exposed. he monitors the entrance to his apartment with security cameras.

but he also says he feels the central government has started to look favorably upon his activities now that president xi jinping is in power. >> translator: now there is much less pressure from the government. when the authorities investigated my activities, they had very nice things to say. they told me my accusations of corruption are lawful and that they support what i'm doing. >> reporter: on this day, he's meeting an informant hiding out in a condominium in beijing.

this man says he once oversaw thousands of employees as chairman of a business group in northern shang dong province but he said he was betrayed and ousted by his close aide, the president. he says he has records of bribes the president paid to local government officials to change the company's registration. he's ready to come forward to expose the collusion between the company and corrupt bureaucrats. the evidence that the former chairman handed to him implicates more than 100 people including powerful local members of the communist party. it details how much each received in payoffs and when. >> translator: corruption is rampant in the region where i live. central government only turns a blind eye to it. this incident must be exposed to

the public. we must left everybody know about it. >> translator: the anti-corruption campaign shouldn't end just with the arrests of some people. if so, the public will think only political rivals have been purged. you if president xi jinping only aims to remove his political enemies and build up his allies the anti-corruption campaign will lead to nothing. >> reporter: experts say the anti-corruption campaign is part of an uphill struggle to strengthen president xi's power base, but zhu says the government should nevertheless press ahead with the campaign to thoroughly root out corruption. kunihio yamamoto, nhk world, beijing. security officials from around the world are in singapore for an exhibition showcasing the latest

counterterrorism and security technologies. about 180 companies are exhibiting products and services at global security asia. items on display include firearms used by the u.s. and european special forces closed circuit tvs and security systems for key facilities. the organizer say the risk of attacks by islamic state militants or their sympathizers is raising interest in computer systems that can analyze online information to detect security threats. exhibitors with a swiss firm say its system analyzes data exchanged on twitter, facebook and other social media. they say it can track certain groups or individuals and detect signs of unrest. counterterrorism experts will also hold discussions on how to deal with threats by islamic state militants. it is time now for a check of the weather. people in parts of southern california were surprised by a sudden hailstorm.

mai shoji explains in world weather. >> hi there. instability caused a rare sight across los angeles yesterday. surfers out in california actually took to the grass. fast moving storm dumped up to one centimeter of hail across los angeles. waterspout was also sighted off of coast of the area. some winter gripping the area but temperatures are actually quite warm around the 20s. we're continuing across california and the rain will be tapering off but winter is still gripping parts of the united states and freezing rain will be troublesome for people traveling across the eastern half of the con continent. sagging cold front and the moisture pulling in from the gulf of mexico is making it

freezing rain covering much of texas into the deep south and mid-atlantic. the ground level is quite cold so the freezing temperatures are actually making the rain turn to freezing rain before it hits the ground and the icy road conditions making for treacherous road conditions. to the north of that still cold air mass is covering much of these areas so the winter precipitation will still be piling up as much as 30 centimeters in the darker shaded area. we're looking at the snow on thursday in new york and washington, d.c. but for the time being, the precipitation is rain, and denver looking at some snow again in the forecast minus 7 degrees of the white stuff will be piling up. los angeles as i mentioned, 21 degrees with plenty of sunshine today. now across here into europe a potent storm is still creating some unstable conditions across the mid section and the british isles as well. this cold front is bringing some gusty conditions especially in

and around germany and the low countries. about 85 kilometers per hour gusts will be likely in parts of northern germany, accompanied with eight centimeters of snow on the ground so blizzard-like conditions will certainly lower visibility to about near zero and tornadic activity cannot be ruled out in northern uk. the gusts will be very strong too, and some large hail could be of potential as well. we're looking at these numbers here london at 9 degrees. that area is going to be escaping from the precipitation, but same digits at paris, however, thunderstorms will be in the forecast. now across japan, again, blizzard-like conditions will be hampering people across hokkaido. this low pressure system has a history of bringing about 40 millimeters in an hour sudden burst of showers across the izu islands, wakayama prefeckeur and kanto region. that's going to be pulling away so bright sunshine will be back to parts of japan but the

northern locations are going to get very wintry back again up to 40 centimeters of snowfall combined with gusts over 100 kilometers per hour. in iwate prefecture reports of over 17 accidents already this morning and the pile-up of a snowfall accumulation was about 11 centimeters in just three hours. tokyo looking at nice conditions 19 degrees and falling down on saturday not really looking forward to that on our saturday with some green. i'll leave you now your extended forecast.

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

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>> hello, and welcome to "global 3000," your weekly update on the global issues behind the headlines. here's what we have coming up for you over the next half-hour. cubans respond to changes in relations with the u.s.. a new anti-terror law in saudi

arabia has human rights activists worried, and a national park in brazil wants to protect an endangered species. as europe fears the cold war revival of the ukraine, the united states is easing sanctions against cuba. president barack obama justified this spectacular shift in po