pressuring pyongyang. north yeen leaders press ahead with their plan to launch a rocket as scheduled. a rocket stan on a launch pad inorthoreat this hour ready to go. space agency officials say they'll send a satellite into orbit some time between thursday and monday. government officials in the u.s.

and else where are urging them to cancel the launch. north korean officials invited about 60 international journalists to check out the launch pad. the sight is pyongnan-pukdo in the northwestern part of the country. it is marked with the north korean flag d the name milky way three in korean. officials show journalists what they say is a satellite they plan to launch. the device is covered with solar panels and equipped with cameras and antennas. the north korean official responsible for the launch facility said everything has been prepared. he says crews could load the satellite, fuel up the rocket and launch it at any time. he also said the leaders have an even bigger goal in mind. they want to put larger satellites into orbit in the future including a geostationary communication satellite. >> translator: we have already set out a concrete program.

it could pass over japan. it could also fly over other countries. >> ske hd hideaki kenada to provide an analysis. he's a retired vice admiral from japan's maritime self-defense force and expert on ballistic missiles. >> they are new rockets which they say will carry the satellite into space. when i look at that and also i compare with the old rocket which was tried to launch the satellite, but failed in april of 2009. i can observe two things different. the one thing is they have new ones and the full nozzle. which means a very strong power. they gave the strong power to

the rockets or missiles and the other e is in the bottom. you may see the control wing. the control wing, they don't have. they didn't have in 2009 but now they have. which is some very, very precise control of the rocket. would be available. this is a very precise and stable and reliable thing. their effort is madeo do so which means that they have lessons learned from the failure of the launch the taepodong 2 missile in 2009. after that they made an effort to improve the missile or

rockets to launch the satellite. we can say not only that, but every parts of the missiles or rockets or space issue in the world said, think, that the satellite rocket this time would be the equivalent firing physical long range control. >> that was hideaki kenada a retired self-defense force vice miral. >> we are continuing to urge all of the countries that may have influence on the dprk most notably china, to continue to use that influence to make clear

that they also disapprove of this and think it would be a bad idea and we'll just further ice lite the dprk. >> nuland said china is one of the countries that would benefit from a nuclear-free korean peninsula. japan's foreign minister hopes he and his counterparts and the group of eight nations can come up with a coordinated response to what's happening in north korea. koichiro gemba will meet with members wednesday and thursday. he planned to ask them to issue an emergency statement condemning them for violating council resolutions. he's expected to call for a tough stance including the adoption of new resolutions. japan plans to re-test its early warning system on tuesday ahead of north korea's rocket launch.

japan's fire and disaster management agency last week tested the so-called j-alert system in 26 municipalities of okinawa prefecture, but the tests failed in seven locations including the prefectural capital nasa for tuesday's testthe ime minister will send dummy data twice. j-alert is designed to activate public address systems and issues alerts about natural disasters and other emergencies. countries along thes course of north korea's rocket are on high alert. falling debris is expected to hit about 130 kilometers off the northeast coast of luzon island in the philippines. the interior ministry has ordered almost all local island governments to coordinate with the military and police. local media are intensifying their coverage amid fears that rocket parts may fall on philippine territory.

taiwan is also making preparations. the rocket is likely to pass over the eastern coast of the island. the defense ministry has ordered troopso protect citizens and be onhe lookout for debris. defense minister kao fauchu told parliament that he'll consider coordinating with the united states to monitor the rocket and track its orbit. people in japan's northeast are focused on overcoming the challenges of the 2011 disaster. but it won't be easy. they have to rebuild homes, businesses, entire communities. we'll show you their struggles and their successes on "the road ahead," every wednesday at 1:00

p.m. japan time here on "newsline." the janeseoverent ys the safety plan for the ohi nuclear power plant basically conforms to the new safety standards for reactors. its cabinet of prime minister satoshi yoshida will make a final decision later this week on whether to allow the two reactors at ohi to resume. they're offline now for safety checks. noda convened a meeting on monday with four cabinet members including industry minister yukio edano. the operator of the facility submitted the plan earlier in the day. >> translator: although i have decided that the number three and four reactors at the ohi plant basically conform to the government's new safety standards, we will discuss it further because this is a very important issue. >> the plan involves installing vents in 2015.

they would filter the radioactive materials from the steam released to reduce the pressure in the containment vessels. the operator of the ohi nuear wer plant trying to prove that its facility does not pose a threat to the public. executives of kansai electric power company want to restart two reactors. the company's president makoto yagi handed the paperwork to industry minister yukio edano. >> translator: i believe it is important for operators to raise safety benchmarks yourselves. >> translator: we'll carry out the plan so we can further improve safety. >> the utility plans to construct an earthquake resistant building in 2015. it says the office will serve as a response center to deal with nuclear accidents. the government says it has come up with an estimate that might affect its decision on whether to restart the ohi facility.

it says keeping all of the firm's reactors offline could result in a nearly 20% power shortage this summer in areas served by the utility including major cities such as osaka, kobe and kyoto. the government says a shortage of up to 19.6% is possible if the firm's reactors stay offline and temperatures reach the sweltering levels of the summer of 2010. the government projects a shortage of up to 17.2% if this summer's temperatures stay within the average range of the past five years. but it says the shortage could drop to 7.6%, that's if factories operate on weekends instead of week days and households use less power. the government plans to decide whether to restart the ohi reactors after considering the estimate and the utility's new safety standards. wall street stockbrokers got back to work following the long easter weekend but their outlook isn't very sunny. ai uchida from the business desk

joins us now the latest. why the pes sichl? >> catherine i think it was those jobs numbers coming out last friday coming in way below expectations and so investors on the dow jones industrial average decided to sell. in fact the dow fell to its lowest close in one month. let's see how tokyo traders are starting off their day. we're going to go to ramin mellegard who is at the tokyo stock exchange for the latest. so rami good morning to you. quite a pullback in several markets so far this april. how is the nikkei reacting? >> reporter: very good morning to you, ai. let's have a look at the opening levels here for the nikkei and the topix this tuesday morning and just having a look at the main indexes right now you can see a little bit of a bounce back actually both indexes trading a little bit higher, let's not foreget the nikkei has been down by 5% in april but still up around 13% so far on the year. of coue recent concerns about both the u.s. jobs data growth

concerns in china, as well as eurozone debt problems have rattled the markets a little bit, and if we close lower today, it will be the sixth day in a row. however, looks like we're going to be in the positive so far in the first few minutes. now the weak u.s. jobs data also puts it back into the question whether the federal reserve will step in and take any extra stimulus measures to boost the u.s. economy. we'll know more after the market's reaions toed chairman bernanke's speech which just wrapped up recently today. here also we're going to get the results of the two-day bank of japan meeting which wraps up today and again the focus is on any further monetary policy moves and also any extra asset buying from its asset buying program. now the stronger yen also putting currency traders in a bit of a twist, following

february the goal of 1% inflation whiched many investorto think the yens on a weaning path and the trade deficit numbers out of japan. recently with concerns about some economic data out of the u.s., also growth concerns in china as well as eurozone debt especially with the spanish bond auction last week that's also throwing into question whether the yen can weaken further. let's have a look at the currency levels this tuesday morning and looking at the dollar/yen and euro/yen still holding pretty strong as far as the yen's concerned, 85.81.75- and euro/yen 107-13-18. some of the concerns regarding the recent strengthening of the yen has put a little bit of pressure on the exporters. ai. >> all right ramin. >> so basically just to follow up on that we still have concerns about some of the stock

moves but coming up further economic data as well as some of the earnings in the u.s. but for now, a little bit of a bounce for the nikkei and the topix. backo you. >> a right, ramin thksor that update. ramin mellegard from the tokyo stock exchange. toyota began producing cars in cairo, egypt, this is the firm's first vehicle to be made in the middle east. the japanese automaker rolled out the sports utility vehicle during a ceremony on monday. toyota motor will make 3,000 of the suvs a year through a joint venture with an egyptian state run company and u.s. automaker chrysler. suvs are suitable for driving in the desert and toyota plans to target affluent customers in the rapidly growing egyptian market. >> translator: egypt's market has the highest potential in north africa. hopefully this model will boost

toyota's growth. >> toyota believes egypt can become a production hub for the region. that's because egypt aims to sign a free trade agreement with europe and other middle eastern nations in the future. sha likelyosted rerd losses in the business year that just ended. this comes as the firm's earnings for its main television business tumbled more than the firm it expected. the major japanese electronicsmaker says its losses for the fiscal year through march are now revised to about $4.6 billion. that is much larger than the firm's previous forecast in february, sharp said the loss would be just around $3.5 million. to turn around its operations sharp decided to reorganize a subsidiary which operates a liquid crystal panel factory in western japan. in march, sharp reached an agreement to sell nearly half the subsidiary shares to a

taiwanese maker. the deal would make hunhai the largest in the industry. the company says the alliances will speed up the process to boost its finances. and let's get an update of the latest market figures. and that is the latest in business ne. ck tcatherine. thas very much, ai. tuesday marks the

u.n.-brokered deadline for a cease-fire in syria. but the government shows no sign of ending its violent crackdown. government forces are tacking the northern city of idlib. syrian activists say more than 130 people have been killed in the country in the last two days. the assad administration promised last week to withdraw troops from populated areas and stop using heavy artillery. but it made aew demand on sunday. it now wants written guaranties that the insurgents will end their violence before it proceeds with the withdrawal. the conflict is spreading to neighboring countries. syrian forces on monday fired across the border into a refugee camp in turkey. at least four people including two refugees, were injured. syrians are taking shelter in turkey to avoid attacks by assad's troops. in lebanon a local cameraman was

shot to death by syrian forces while filming the border area. on wednesday, south korea will hold particle ttachment area elections one of the key campaign issues this time is the growing gap between the major corporations and smaller companies. the disparity is especially acute when it comes to hiring new employees. nhk world's anna jeong reports. >> reporter: hyundai motor is the fifth largest in the world. electronics giant samsung reported record sales last year of over $130 billion. on its own it accounted for 15% of south korea's gdp. when large companies hold job fairs, they're always packed with applicants. many many of the people speak good english, almost as well as their own language scoring over

90% in international proficiency tests. in south korea, the top corporations comprise just 0.1% of allmpanies, but they earn more than half of all corporate profit. that's why they attract the most talented people. >> translator: everyone wants to work at a large corporation. they pay performance related bonuses. >> at the same time the south korean government has been signing free trade agreements. this national policy has helped to boost the bottom lines of the major corporations. they boost the economy by stimulating exports. the beneficiaries are the large corporations. but it's a very different story for smaller companies. in the suburbs of seoul, small

business owners gather outside an employment center in the early morning. they've come here to hire foreign workers. twice a year job fairs are held around the country for companies hoping to hire foreign workers. the workers are allocated on a first come first serve basis, so many company owners line up overnight. but no matter how long they wait, there are rarely enough workers available. >> translator: we wanted five people, but we were told we could only hire three. we need workers but there aren't any. >> reporter: kim yung ho owns a wood processing company on the outskirts of seoul. his company has beentruggling in the face of fierce domestic competition. >> translator: large corporations and small businesses should grow in tandem.

it seems only large businesses are operating at ate profit. small companies like ours aren't attract workers. >> reporter: at his factory, filipino employees do the most important part of wood processing. . until five years ago he had no employees from abroad but now foreigners make up a quarter of his entire staff. under the current law workers from outside south korea c only stay at a company for four years and ten months. at kim's factory, all the foreign worker also have to return home this autumn. >> translator: i've trained them but soon they'll be heading home. it's a big loss for my company. i don't want to run a factory anymore. >> reporter: there is a growing risk of depo larization in south korean society. >> translator: when governments favor large corporations over small, it creates disparity. this will lead to social problems. we need large and small businesses to flourish together.

>> reporter: for the major corporations exports and profits are up and they can hire top talent. for smaller companies, business is becoming a struggle and there aren't enough foreign workers. it's a problem that is unlikely to be resolved in the short tem term. anna jung, nhk world, seoul. it's time to goo rachel feusonor theorld wther focast. >> certainly is a beautiful day here in tokyo. we're looking for 19 degrees and lots of sunshine. that is something to look forward to. however, wednesday will be a bit different. we already see showers starting to move into western japan this afternoon in kyushu, and it will spread across much of the southern half of japan into wednesday. bringing strong winds along with that heavy rain. so storm conditions, high waves at either coast as well, and where that heavy snow is piled

up, particularly along the northeastern coast, there is the potential for flooding to occur. also alanches becae of the snow melt. strong, warm southerly winds accompanied by the heavy rain. so it's not just going to just be japan impacted by this system coming over from eastern china. it will develop over the yellow sea and also bring heavy downpours across the korean peninsula. heavy rain also for parts of bangladesh as well as northeastern india and myanmar, this has been a lingering system, bringing more than 100 millimeters of rain in some places in the last 24 hours. the good news is it's starting to weaken off. however, a additional rainfall would be most unwelcome and could lead to a flooding and landslides. we're going to take a look at temperatures next which are looking springlike. 23 degrees in chongqing. much of the region seeing temperatures in the low 20s. cooler in tokyo at 19. still very pleasant. 18 in seoul. cooler in ulan bator. we're seeing some frigid air coming down from the

arctic. we'll see temperatures in the mid 30s for manila as well as bangkok. into north america, still seeing heavy rain for the northwestern coast. now, california is going to be seeing a lot of that heavy rain. the system sitting offshore. we'll see that into tomorrow as well. severe weather is expected across parts of the southern plains. in fact, the arklatex is going to be hit by some heavy rain in places, thunder and gusts and also potential for large hail. also this system will continue on into our wednesday as the front just lingers in that same area. up toward the northeast, it's going to be a bit of a different story. more like wintertime here. ntry mix for much of new england. turning over to snow for southeastern portions of canada. so cooler air coming down even toward the upper midwest. 9 degrees in chicago. 5 or 6 degrees cooler than yesterday. and these slightly cooler temperatures will be with you through toward the end of week.

up in toward the northwest, though, seattle 18 degrees. warming up nicely here. winnipeg, just 2 degrees for the high. all right. into europe, very large low-pressure system is dominating much of western and northern europe. today from scandinavia down through germy. in fact, we have a front starting to push through the iberian peninsula. along the front is where we'll see the heaviest of the rain and the strongest gusts. could see also some snow once again for scotland. east of that, lisbon is looking settled. in the southeast, very stormy conditions, heavy rain for much of turkey here and could lead to flooding issues on our tuesday. temperatures are warming up a little bit. especially in central locations. we're now into the mid teens in berlin as well as vienna. 15 in rome. 14 in paris which is just about on average. a little bit cooler in madrid and lisbon as the showers move in. i'll leave you now with your extended forecast.

a "titanic" memorial cruise has set sail from england. it's to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the fateful 1912 voyage of the iconic liner. some of the passengers are descendants the titanic's doomed maiden outing. the cruise started from south

hampton on sunday with 1,309 passengers on board. this is the identical number to that carried by the "titanic." the ship left from the same port as the original voyage and will follow a similar route ending in new york. some passengers wore period clothing. the ship's restaurant will serve the same dishes as the original cruise. a live band will add to the mood with music of the era. the passengers include relatives of the more than 2,200 peoe on board the "titanic." >> my grandfather sailed on "titanic" as a first-class steward, survived rowing lifeboat 13. one of the things i'm particularly looking forward to is sailing into new york and see the statue of liberty. >> the trip will include a visit to the location where the ship sank between april 14th and 15th, after colliding with an iceberg. a memorial service will be held at the spot. and that's all for this

edition of "newsline." i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. do stay with us. we'll be back with more of your updates at the top of the hour.