. . back at the table. north korea agrees to return to talks about the nuclear program for the first time since the death of kim jong-il. the united states is wadingack

into the waters with north korea. now the obama administration has announced that envoys will meet next week for the first time in four months. the delegates from the two sides are scheduled to meet on february 23rd in beijing. these will be the first such talks since kim jong-un took over in december. representatives last met in october in geneva. the u.s. department spokesperson said the u.s. side wants to see if north korea is ready to take concrete steps toward denuclearization. the u.s. envoy will visit seoul and tokyo in the days following the talks. glenn davies will report on what he learns. trade in china and north korea hit a record high last year. a 62% jump from the previous year reflects the north

increasing dependence on china. there was $5.6 billion worth of trade between the countries. north korea leaders have been inviting foreign investment. they are aiming to boost the country's infrastructure and agriculture sectors. north korea has become isolated and seen little economic progress. the country has been forced to rely on china, a long-time ally. a ratings agency has downgraded countries under scoring the financial crisis. the business team has the latest. ai. >> s&p has done the same thing and now moody's has downgraded italy and spain. it dropped italy, portugal and slovakia and malta and slashed

spain by two notches. countries with the highest were spared downgrades. it lowered for france and austria from stable to negative. these two nations could face a rating cut. it listed britain to negative. it is bringing continued issue over the economic reforms. it made the decision after standard & poor's 500 downgraded nine eurozone countries, including france last month. separately, the eu welcomed greece's approach of the austerity measures. >> yesterday, the greek

parliament served a crucial step forward. >> eu monetary affairs commissioner said the decision reflects the resolve of the greek people to tackle their fiscal problems. greek parties must now make a pledge in writing to actually execute the austerity plan:. the eurozone nations are ready to hold another finance minister meeting on wednesday to finalize the bailout package once greece satisfies all of the conditions. among the news surrounding the eurozone the euro is lower against the dollar and yen. euro dollar at the middle row is currently at 1.3169 to 3171. euro yen is at 102.07 to 12. investors are selling the euro taking the cue from moody's.

the downside is limited as greece's approval is keeping the market relatively calm. shared prices changed little on tuesday morning as investors keep a watchful eye on debt problems. they are on the sidelines before the finance minister meeting to discuss the greek bailout deal. the nikkei at 8,983. the topix is at 781. here is the long-term interest rates. this is the yield on the bench mark ten-year japanese bond. barack obama has unveiled a fiscal plan for 2013 that includes cuts in military spending and higher taxes for the rich. that's because 2012 will likely leave the country with the second highest definite on record.

-- deficit on record. >> recovery is speeding up. the last thing we can afford to do right now is go back to the policies that got us into the mess in the first place. the budget that we're releasing today is a reflection of shared responsibility. >> he added proposal calls for a more even distribution of the tax burden among the population. obama predicts the deficit will top $1.3 trillion through september. that is the fourth time in a row that america's annual deficit exceeds $1 trillion. this comes as a delay in economic recovery which is dampening tax revenue. the tax revenue will shrink to $9 billion in october. he will be unable to deliver on the promise of cutting the budget in half with his fours

years in office. japanese equipment maker olympus says they are impacted on the scandal. the firm's earnings forecast was released which ends on march 31st. >> translator: we're trying to minimize the negative impact of the march disaster and strong yen. we are trying to bring back the fiscal 2012 as nearly the previous year. >> annual sales are predicted to be about $11 billion. that's up 1% from the previous year. annual net loss is forecast to be $416 million. the president says the loss

cover up scandal had a limited effect on scales like endoscopes. he says they will establish a new management team by mid-march. >> translator: for us to strengthen the company, capital and business tie ups with other firms are needed in some areas. in terms of the direction of overall operations we'll hand over the baton to the new management. >> and here is ansis an update on where the markets are trading at this hour.

>> more business for you next hour. now it's back to catherine. thanks. the operator of the fukushima daiichi says the faulty thermometer is to blame for the rising temperature in the number two reactor. the thermometer shows it increasing to 80 degrees. tokyo electric power company spokesperson says they think the thermometer is broken. two others show the temperature of 33 degrees. workers test the thermometer in question. the electronics reacted in a similar way when the cable is broken. >> translator: a cable inside the thermometer is probably cut resulting in a false reading. but since the actual temperature is below 80 degrees, we think the conditions are okay. >> workers will conduct further

tests. tepco has received billions in public funds since the march 11th disaster. now the government is demanding more say in how tepco runs the business. there was an warning issued saying the crippled plant will not recve more money unless they get adequate voting rights in return. on monday, the government will not otherwise accept the business reviveal plan. tepco needs a large amount of public funds for compensation for nuclear disaster victims and generation. >> translator: as long as i'm in charge, we will not ask for it unless we get rights for our

amount of investments. >> after the meeting, endo's comments cannot be taken lightly, but he added he is opposed to the government's control. >> translator: the creativity of the private sector is indispensable. i think this is also important for a power company. >> tepco says meanwhile it has been losing more money than it thought. the company says it expects a net loss of $9 billion for the fiscal year that ends next month. that's about $1.2 billion more than the utility projected in november. tepco's electricity sales have been falling while the company is suffering special losses because of its effort to dismantle the damaged nuclear power plant. "newsline" is the place to turn to for the latest on japan post march 11th. we have two seeingment segments.

"nuclear watch" which has the impact on the fukushima daiichi crisis. and "the road ahead." don't miss "nuclear watch" and "the road ahead." the head of the u.s. fleet says iran is still building up its naval force near the strait of hormuz. the vice admiral spoke to reporters in bahrain on sunday. he said the high-speed boats are capable of carrying out suicide bombings. >> some of the small boats have been outfitted with a large warhead that could be used as a suicide explosive device. >> he said the u.s. navy is ready to confront any hostile action. iran has been threatening to close the strait of hormuz since december. it is due to the economic sanctions imposed by the west

over the nuclear program. the strait leads to the persian gulf. it is one of the most important delivery routes for oil. the wife of an israeli agent and others were injured in a suspected terrorist attack. the woman was in a vehicle and the two others were in a car nearby nearby. a motorcyclist was placing a device on the car when it stopped in traffic. the blast occurred near the prime minister's residence. the area is home to many politicians and is under heavy security. israel's prime minister benjamin netanyahu says this is an exporter of terror. iran has denied involvement. the israeli foreign minister

said they found a bomb on a car on wednesday. they are taking precautions. the afghan government has condemned the international forces operating in the country. it says they have killed 15 civilians, incding chilen in rent weeks. a government team investigating civilian casualties held a news conference in kabul. it said french troops were responsible for the deaths of eight children last week. the officials said u.s. air strikes caused the deaths of seven people including one child, in the eastern province of kunar. they condemned the international forces. they showed photographs of the children and said it is unforgettable to kill children. >> translator: we cannot allow

international forces in the country if they continue to kill the people with air strikes. >> the united nations says 3,021 civilians were killed in afghanistan through combat or terrorism in 2011. it says 187 of them were killed in air strikes by international troops. syria has rejected a proposal by the arab league to set up a joint arab peacekeeping to end the conflict. the state run media reported it was dismissed as hostile. the arab league adopted the plan on sunday. its foreign ministers met to discuss the situation in syria. the league plans to propose to the united nations to send a joint peacekeeping force. it offered political and economic assistae to opposition forcesn syria.

meanwhile, in moscow the russian foreign minister told reporters that a peacekeeping mission could be difficult under the present circumstances. such a mission would only be possible if the syrian government and opponents reach a cease-fire agreement. al qaeda's top leader stated they support opposition forces raising concerns that interference by islamists will further exacerbate turmoil in the country. the video was posted on sunday and called for the overthrow of syria's president for the sake of freedom and justice. last friday bomb attacks on the security service buildings took place. the government suggested that the islamic extremists were responsible. but opposition forces say the country's pro democracy movement has nothing to do with

extremists and criticized the government for trying to use the attacks to justify the oppression of oppition forces. now let's take a look at the latest in sumo with hiro morita. >> welcome to the sports report. i'm hiro morita. right now, professional sumo has 75 in 49 stables. many weigh more and stand like mountains. of course, they did not start out that way. we visited the stable to find out how these mountains are made. a day in the sumo starts early in the morning. it is only 7:00. they have their loin cloth wrapped around their waist and ready to work out. six belong to the stable.

they all live eat and sleep under the same roof. training starts with shiko. the exercise for strengthening the lower body. sumo developed as a ritual. it has additional meaning of crushing the evil from the ground. this continues over the course of an hour. presiding over it all is the master of the stable. i asked him to take me through the basics. how about this? >> translator: cometely wrg. you just moved your right foot. that's no good. if you move that foot you can't shift your weight to the other one. what you need to do is completely shift your weight to the left foot first, lift

yourself with the left foot and then bring it down. >> next suriashi or shuffling. it is slow. it is to stay low and keeping the force on the ground to strengthen the lower body. here is the moushiai. the winner remains in the ring to take on others. some go through more than 30 bouts a day. the training session lasts more than three hours without a break. then this is the first person from the african continent to make a go of it as a japanese sumo. next month, he makes his debut. the matawari adds flexibility in

the hip joint so he can keep his center of gravity low. for him, this is a most challenging task of all. the work is not restricted to workouts in the ring. they have chores to toned in the stables. he is responsible for cleaning the bathroom. the sumo comes as a culture shock. he has high hopes of making his way to the very top. >> translator: nobody likes house cleaning. at home, your mother might wash your clothes and cook your meals for you. once you are in a sumo stable

you have to do everything yourself. it is good training for mental maturity. >> the training regimen includes eating right. that's different than regular folks. on the day we visited, they consumed a stew of chicken and ten kinds of vegetables .. it's called chanko-nabe. the meal of choice for sumo. they flavor it with soy sauce and sake. >> translator: it means parent and child. the stable master is our parent now. he eats with us. we call it that. >> they eat twice a day. taking in big quantities of meat

and vegetables helps them bulk up. once their stomachs are full the time comes for another critical part of the regimen. napping is very important for sumo so they can rest their body, get stronger and bigger. so i think it is time for me to go and leave them alone. >> the nap lasts for three hours. then they go about their house keeping work and chores. how they spend the rest of the day is up to them. whever they choose the whole cycle starts all over again early the next morning. that's all for sports. hiro thank you. some parts of europe have been experiencing a cold snap, but things will let up. rachel ferguson will have the weather.

>> i will start off with video coming across from various locations from spain where temperatures dropped to minus 15 degrees in many places. lots of car accidents occurred due to the snowy roads. we go to serbia where the highs are below the freezing mark. this is the river which is completely frozen over. people were able to cross the river by foot there. indeed temperatures will be improving. if we pull back i'll show you the temperature chart for today. it shows you out to the west. we are looking for 8 in london. 7 in paris. 14 in lisbon. these figures will continue to improve over the course of the week. even up to 2 degrees in berlin. out to the east, still seeing some frigid cold. minus 19 in moscow.

if we fast forward to friday i'll show you what the jet stream is doing. it is moving all the way to the east allowing warmer air to come up to the west. definitely seeing an improvement here. the darker shades of blue showing the frigid air. as we head into russia temperatures willmprove as well. certainly some good news after a very very long chilly spell. as we head into eastern asia. looking unsettled across japan for the next couple of days. we have one low pressure system here from west into eastern japan. that's going to move out tonight. we have another round of moisture on the way in time for wednesday. more showers will be scattered across much of the southern half of the country. as for the north, the system developing over the sea of japan across from china. that will be a potent system bringing strong winds and high waves for the coast.

back into china, showers developing through the course of the day. could get heavy at times to the north turning to snow. generally it will be mostly rain. rain showers also across the philippines. some of this getting heavy, particularly for the southern eastern coast. as a lot of the areas have already had a lot of rain, the ground is saturated. that could lead to the risk of flooding and further landslides. we have 8 degrees in shanghai. 9 in tokyo. these temperatures will come down over the next couple of days as cooler air filters in from the north. a scorching day for you in bangkok at 34. into north america we go. we have widespread snow across the west. a low system here moving into the four corners. we have rain to the south here over the gulf states. actually widespread snow across much of the east. i' let younow what isoing

on here. it is easier to see. wide spread snow and a wintry mix changing over to snow for parts inland of the mid-atlantic. staying fairly dry as we head to the coast. here are the temperatures. 8 in new york city. 9 in d.c. back up into the double digits in oklahoma city after a chilly day on monday. we have zero in denver. 17 for you in l.a. a pair of 7s in vancouver and seattle. here is your extended forecast.

our lead story this hour the united states has announced that the envoy will meet with north korea officials next week. the delegates are scheduled to meet on february 23rd in beijing. glenn davis will represent the u.s. these will be the first such talks since kim jong-un took over in december. representatives last met in october in geneva. u.s. state department spokesperson said the u.s. side wants to see if north korea is ready to take concrete steps to

denuclearization. it will visit seoul and tokyo following the talks. glenn davies will report. that wraps it up for "newsline." i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. thanks for joining us.