. welcome to nhk "newsline." it is 9:00 a.m. in tokyo. u.s. donald trump has signed an executive order overturning key measures introduced by his predecessor on environment change. >> i am taking historic steps to lift the restrictions on american energy to reverse government intrusion and to cancel job killing regulations. >> it will target the clean

power plant which restricts carbon emissions from coal fired plants. it also bans restrictions on coal mining on u.s. land. if the u.s. eases the environmental regulations it will be more difficult to achieve goals in the paris agreement. he says the administration is still considering whether it will withdraw from the paris agreement. britain will give notice wednesday on its intention to leave the european union. it's expected to be the toughest in the region's history. a letter will be sent to donald tusk to start the brexit process. tusk will send guidelines within 48 hours of sending the level.

the country is the first major economy that's chosen to withdraw from the bloc. but eu officials are expected to take a tough stance to prevent other members from following in britain's footsteps. the negotiations could begin as early as may. they'll concluded within two years. nhk has learned malaysia and north korea are close to settling an ongoing dispute resulting from the killing of the half brother of korea's leader. it has yet to be finalized, malaysia says, due to the north koreans. pongs yo pyongyang has denied their role.

nhk's sources say negotiators say they will allow north koreans to leave the country. in response, pyongyang would allow nine stranded malaysians to return home. former south korean president will attend a hearing on thursday that will decide whether she to be arrested. she's expected to be indicted. the prosecutors asked the court to issue an arrest warrant on monday saying she could destroy evidence if she is not in custody. let's take you to business stories. it is a big week for struggling japanese electronic firm toshiba. let's find out why. what can you tell us? >> good morning. as we've reported here toshiba

needs to turn around their finances. they're looking to look at their u.s. subsidiary u.s. westinghouse. they're planning to file for bankruptcy production. toshiba bought westinghouse in2006. they won orders for four reactors in the u.s. two years later. but the safety standards ballooned making the project unprofitable. so now toshiba expects to post a loss of $6 million. toshiba executives announced they'd removed westinghouse from their consolidated financial statements to keep a lid on further losses. westinghouse will go under court management once it filed for bankruptcy protection. that will allow toshiba to pull out of the u.s. nuclear business and focus more on turning around its operations back home. toshiba executives are planning

to hold a news conference. they'll be giving more details and explaining their restructuring plans. let's check on markets. u.s. stocks edged higher. the dow jones industrial average snapping eight straight days of losses. the dow closed higher. the nasdaq ended up good morning. >> good morning to you. that rally in the stocks should come as a relief here. also we sawst dollar going above a key level. that should help key exporters as well. let's look at the opening levels and what we can see for wednesday, march 29. a bit of a mix ed. the broader tonics in the

negative. we'll see how that progresses throughout the day but the nikkei was able to recover losses on tuesday. it closed up 1.1% climbing off a six-week low. we're seeing a continuation of that today. shares of toshiba, a big focus. they'll continue to be in the spotlight with the news about its u.s. subsidiary westinghouse. we'll keep track of that. toshiba accepts bids for its memory chip business until its memory chip business until today, wednesday we'll monitor that as well. overall, the data in the u.s., solid, actually. and that boosted global market sentiment and consumer confidence in march sored to in. u.s. house prices showed home prices hit a 31-month high

providing further evidence of a stronger u.s. economy. higher prices in crude rose as much as 2% on tuesday. west texas intermediate you're looking there. after severe disruption in libyan oil supplies. this may help boost commodity and >> it's workds let's have a look at the pairing yen. it was trading at the lower 110 levels in recent fashion. so that is a bit of a boost. it dropped to four week lows against the yen in previous sessions this week. the dollar's off higher against the euro. they're selling safer assets like the yen.

bond markets on yields, treasury notes rose. investors risk -- quick look at asian markets. the kospi and sidney indexes are also trading higher. back to you. >> all right. we'll check base with you in a couple of hours. now, the japanese central bank, officials there say they are going to check whether loans to build rental housing has become excessive. officials are planning on-site inspections at lenders. construction of rentedal housing is growing fast on the back of low interest rates. it's also a way for wealthy people to reduce their inheritance tax payments. officials say they'll check if there's a growing risk of late payments on housing loans. also they want to find out if

risk management policies are in place. they cite a situation with monthly rentsz heading lower. are april is the time for annual wage negotiations here in japan. the government has been telling corporate executives to raise salaries to give people more money to spends. many of the large companies have decided their pay hikes will be smaller. and small and medium size firms are also feeling the pinch. >> reporter: he's still undecided. he's president of an industrial robot manufacturer. he hasn't given his employees a pay raise for the past three years, so he thinks he should do it this year but he has reservations. the rising cost of materials is one of the main issues. stainless steel and aluminum prices are up.

>>. >> translator: this product now costs about 800 more dollars to make but we can't expect our occurs to pay that much more. >> reporter: he says the larger customers are stepping up the pressure. he acknowledges that his people work hard but he thinks a significant rise in wages is not in the cards. >> translator: our sales are up. the profits are flat. higher pay resulting in higher labor costs would be tough on the company. >> reporter: the owner of this traditional sweet shop does not intend to raise wages this year. the business is healthy but it can't boost sales to pay for the higher wages because it doesn't have enough workers to do that.

there are also lines at stores like ak sacka. they have a hard time finding people who want to work there. >> translator: some department stores have been inviting us to set up shot but there's just not enough people. >> saito ak nomgs that raising prices would help him hire more workers. it's a dilemma. >> translator: i can't hike wages. >> reporter: companies need to find ways to improve efficiency to make wage hikes possible. >> translator: companies need to increase capital spending and invest in technology to improve

productivity and solve labor shortage. the government needs to come up with measures to help them do this. >> reporter: the results of which knows for small and midsize companies will be out next week. if wage rises fail to pick up the pace, this will be a signal that government measures are needed. nhk world, tokyo. >> and that is the latest for you in business for this hour. more next hour. here's a check on markets.

. a south sudanese delegation was in jimmy for a visit to an office in heiroshima. the group found inspiration in the city's history. >> reporter: the variation including the government and members of civic groups involved in education. they came from a country where u.s. peacekeeping forces are trying to aid stability. the south sudanese economy is struggling. food is in short supply. education is not easy to obtain. the hiroshima office of the u.n. institute for planning and

research invited the group to japan. the program was designed to support nation building. >> the program, as you know, this is to become a leader in your field. >> reporter: she said -- >> translator: i want equality education for the children. >> reporter: only 40% of children in south sue dan with able to go to elementary school. >> translator: and then like this bottled water, water may be for collection there and then he sell the empty bottle. >> reporter: lady reported on

problems facing her school. >> security issues, lack of water, need for wood for construction. >> reporter: kuma moat avenue advised considering the situation when considering solutions. hiroshima is the first to experience in moving beyond the decision. she wobders how it is ever to build after world war ii. she and some of her colleagues visited the peace memorial museum. there they encountered inspirati inspiration. if hiroshima could find its way, so could her country. >> translator: seeing everything inside there that happens and then them looking out here, how hiroshima is looking now.

>> reporter: at the end of if program, encourage jmtd. >> please remember, this is not the end of your journey. your journey just began. >> she's planning to use her skills to bring a good education to as many children as possible. >> if hiroshima happened, able to rebuild themselves. >> reporter: difficulties facing south sudan won't be cured overnight but the example of near sheema gives home. nhk world.

. the new president of east timor, after winning independence in 2002, the country went through a period of violence which led to the deployment of u.n. peacekeepers until 2012. here's the report. >> reporter: people in east timor got their first shopping mall five years ago. they can go to the mall to get the latest smart phones, see a movie or have a hamburger. the mall is targeted as more segme segment.

. >> translator: i come here to get my hair done, eating in restaurants. >> reporter: there's very little development in other secretary obvious. national resources account for # 90% of income. but the benefits go to only a handful of people. more than 40% of cities in timor make 90 cents a day or less, making poverty a major issue. those suffering from the wealth disparity is this man. toil >> translator: this is from the time under indonesian rule. >> reporter: he used to work as a postman. he lost his job. he's now 58 jeers oyears old an

been looking for a job more than 15 years but with little success. his family's only income is what his wife makes doing laundry. that is far from enough to pay the bills and feed their eight children. >> translator: i want the new president to help poor people, widows and young people to find jobs. >> reporter: the natural resources seconder will soon take a hit. the gas wells will be depleted in six years that makes it you are gent to move away from independence on natural resources. the new president has vowed to help build a new industry. the candidate had a secured investment of the former president.

[ speaking foreign language ] >> translator: i pledge to promote agriculture and tourism. >> reporter: they're at the crucial juncture. the new president will need to find a way to create new jobs with while reducing dependency on natural resources. nhk world, eastity moore. >> high school students hit by a deadly avalanche monday were not carrying radio beacons. a rescuer say they are essential and teachers didn't understand the risks they were taking by holding winter climbing training. they were hit by the avalanche during a training session near a

ski resort north of tokyo. some were killed and 40 were injured. beacons transmit signals. >> no one had a beacon and they took students up a snowy mountain. it's the worse you can do. >> reporter: the teachers dropped the original plan to climb a mountain, deciding to have the students practice wading through deep snow up a slope. police are investigating the case on suspicion of professional negligence resulting in injury or death. officials have spotted a special type of cell taken from someone other than the patient. the researchers used nobel prize

winning technology using ips cells which can turn into various kinds of body tissues. a man in his sixths who surs from macular degeneration was operated on. they used his own tissue. this time the cells were taken from people with a rare immune type that's less likely to be rejected. it costs a francisco ction of ty it used to costs. >> translator: doctors can use it to treat patients. >> reporter: they plan to treat more people over the next 12 months. people in queensland, australia are dealing with the aftermath of a powerful cyclone.

>> the cyclone has been downraided to a low pressure area. you can see still carrying in plenty of moisture towards the south. where it rolled over was at hamilton island. i'll show you some video. absolutely incredible. you can see the power of the storm. they saw winds up to 263 kilometers per hour. about 51,000 people lost power. still no indication on injuries but definitely as news comes in, do expect more across this area. also in mackay flooding was seen. one location north actually saw rainfall up to about 640 millimeters as of tuesday. still more rain occurring on

wednesday and that means rising river levels. already several rivers have burst their banks across mackay and the area. still an ongoing situation. as we have the low pulling across the ranges, the moisture gets pulled in off the coral sea. the wind's not so much an issue. the river flooding is a big threat. just last week we had flooding towards the south near brings ban and areas of new south wales. saturated grounds combined with the increasing rainfall could increase the threat of flooding as well. ongoing situation. definitely keep an eye on this despite the fact that it's no longer at the cyclone intensity. across the americas, severe action kicking up again.

an area of low pressure bringing in forms across western texas and oklahoma. some deaths being reported there. new mexico towards colorado, about 20 to 30 centimeters of snow. this cold front, and ahead of it the thunderstorms flaring up with warmer temperatures. not only on wednesday where thunderstorm and tornado threat is there, less of a tornadic effect by thursday. you still have to get through wednesday. if you have travel plans in this area be prepared. meanwhile towards the pacific, heavy showers in parts of vancouver and seattle. high elevations will be looking at some snowfall. here across japan we're actually looking at clearer conditions, at least in -- hokkaido, heavy

snow, maybe some thunderstorms flaring up. back down towards the southwest, kyus kyushu will feel the impact. tokyo up to about 14 with pharmaceutics. here's your extended outlook.

. and that wraps up this edition of nhk "newsline."

thanks for being with us. xnóx

>>"euromaxx highlights," andhere is your host, megan lee. >>hi, everyone, and welcome toanother edition of "euromaxx highlights," with the best picksof the week. here's a look at what's comingup - raw emotions. finland launches an emojicampaign. smooth operators. the fine at of flirting.haute cuisine. an austrian delicacy served highup in the alps. trends, as we know, come and goas fast as the wind. especially when it comes todigitial technology. so that's why it's our job tokeep you informed. well, the latest trend intexting comes from finland.