the agenda is adopted. >> u.n. condemnation the security council criticizes north korea's launch of a satellite, using balstic missile technology. u.n. delegates issued some words of warning for leaders in pyongyang. the security council strongly condemned the launch last week of what the north koreans called a rocket. the projectile blew up minutes later over the yellow sea.

the u.n. statement underlines suspicions that the goal was to test a ballistic missile. nhk world's ouwidad franco joins us from new york. >> reporter: the 15-member body issued a strongly worded presidential statement. it condemned the country for violating u.n. resolutions banning ballistic missile launches. the statement threatened further action if the country launches another missile or conducts a nuclear test. u.s. ambassador susan rice the current council president, said the statement was adopted with unprecedented speed. >> the swift and unanimous adoption of this strong presidential statent shows that the international community is united in sending a clear message to north korea that such provocations are serious and

totally unacceptable. >> reporter: rice said the statement provides for new sanctions. these include freezing the assets of north korean companies. it also calls for stronger enforcement of existing sanctions. the presidential statement is a unanimous call from the 15 council members, including china. traditionally north korea's closest ally. ambassador rice noted that last week's launch attempt caused grave concern in the region. widad franco, nhk world, new york. china says the presidential statement reflects a basic understanding shared by the international community. china is north korea's closest ally and has been reluctant to condemn it. the foreign ministry spokesperson said dialogue is the only way to resolve issues. he said the agreement between the u.s. and north korea is important for a nuclear free

korean peninsula and for peace and stability. the pact was reached in february. the chinese government has implemented its call to implement the agreement, stipulates the north suspend its uranium enrichment program in exchange for food aid from the u.s. japan's ambassador to the u.n. praised the statement. he told reporters the statement takes into consideration the position that japan has been maintaining. >> translator: the japanese government supports the statement. we will continue to work closely with relevant countries to resolve north korea's nuclear and missile issues. >> officials in north korea say they will continue to develop their satellite technology.

they say the launch was the first of a five-year space program. the online version of the newspaper quoted the north korean committee of space technology. the probe pyongyang general association of korean residents in japan publishes the paper. the article said the launch was a boost to the economy by developing the space program. it said the committee has already begun developing the next satellite and the rocket to carry it. the united states says north korea has refused inspections of the country's nuclear facilities. the move comes in response to the u.s. cancellation of food aid for the north. a senior u.s. official told reporters that pyongyang informed the international atomic energy agency of its decision. the u.s. official criticized the country for the move calling it a complete reversal of their position. north korea reportedly told the iaea that inspections are off the table, now that the possibility of food aid has been

withdrawn. the u.s. government withdrew its offer of food shipments after north korea's launch last friday. the u.s. says the launch was in violation of an agreement between the two countries that was sealed in february. under the terms of the agreement, north korea pledged to suspend long range missile tests and accept iaea inspectors at its nuclear facilities in nyonbyong in exchange for 40,000 tons of food aid. meanwhile an official from north korea states the country is ready to implement the agreement. the state run korean central agency said the official voiced the north's willingness to accept international inspectors at its nuclear facilities. analysts say north korea apparently aims to shift responsibility for any breakdown of the agreement with the u.s. by claiming a continued wish to

implement the deal. japanese researchers warn the country's economic momentum could be sputtering. ai uchida from the business team joins me now the findings of the report. >> sputtering is right, so much so that japan may not be considered andvanced nation in the near future and that is according to a new study released by a japanese think tank. the 21st century public policy institute says even in the most optimistic case, the japanese economy will shrink to one-third the size of india's by 2050 assuming productivity keeps growing at a steady pace. the institute says japan's gdp may drop to 18th place in the world, lower than south korea's. now the most pessimistic case says gdp will plunge to 28th place by 2050. the institute has called on the government to take appropriate

measures. they include fiscal reform and tapping demand in emerging markets through free trade packets. >> translator: japanese people should be aware that if we do nothing, the country could really be brought to ruin. but if we tackle the problems head-on, the economyould regain itstrength. >> all right, well some good news out of the u.s. though u.s. retail sales in march rose much higher than analysts expected. rising gasoline prices didn't hold back americans from spending more on other goods. the commerce department monday said sales totalled more than $411 billion, up 0.8% from february. sales of construction materials saw a hefty increase of 3% clothing and auto-related goods

both grew by 0.9%. the figures could ease concerns of the outlook over the u.s. economy as consumer spending accounts for a large portion of the nation's gdp. and stocks ended mixed overnight in new york as the markets were digesting stronger and weaker numbers as well as persistent concerns on the debt situation in europe. the dow jones industrial average bounced back 6% andhe tech heavy nasdaq shed back 8%. ramin mellegard is at the tokyo stock exchange. good morning to you. the key consumer data coming to the aid of the markets but there is still hesitancy among investors. >> definitely. the retail sales number is always a closely watched piece of data which did show an increase but we had the manufacturing data for the new york region which did show a

considerable dip in april compared to march. let's have a look at the effects for the nikkei and the topix as they kick off this tuesday morning and a little bit of a mixed picture is there as well the nikkei down and the topix slightly higher. the nikkei did end yesterday down 1.7% 11th closer day out of 14 trading sessions so we're definitely on a down trend so far, major exporters have been hurt recently by the rising yen and we've seen that gaining on the back ofontiing concerns anafe havens switches from slightly riskier assets continuing on concerns about spanish sovereign debt as well as growth concerns in china. now china's decision yesterday to increase the band of its trading, of its currency against the dollar was welcomed by japan because japan agreed to buy

chinese government bonds and china's hoping really there that will boost the yuan as gbal currency. the jen continuing to hold strong against the dollar but against the euro strengthened to a fresh two-month high. investors becoming risk averse before spanish bond yields broke above the 6% which is the highest level in several months so some concerns there over the strength of the yen as well, ai. >> okay, maramin, what can you tell us about stocks in the tech sector? >> some movement there. obviously apple was the big news heavily weighted on thes nasdaq, of coue, one of t biggest market capitalized companies in the whole world and we did see trading in apple so far down around 9% in the last five trading sessions. google also down about 3% so that's been weighing on the

nasdaq, also gives a little bit of concern on upcoming earnings as we already heard from google last week and it said out of its earnings its revenue in fact was in line or below expectations, so a little bit of concerns there already. now let's not forget this week we'll have intel and microso and investors are really going to be interested, ai to see whether these recent pullbacks are going to continue if we look at economic data as well as earnings or if trading is going to move higher from the lows that we're seeing right now. that's going to be abinterestingn interesting aspect. >> ramin thank you for the update. that was ramin mellegard from the tokyo stock exchange. i will be back next hour with more business stories but i'll leave you now a look at some other market fures.

moving on to other stories we're covering on "newsline" the taliban launched what they called a spring offensive in afghan sunday. explosions and gunfire shook the capital the following morning as afghan led forces overpowered the insurgents. nhl's shamullah has more. >> reporter: taliban militants simultaneously attacked the parliament building, nato headquarters and several foreign embassies on sunday with rockets and guns. officials with afghan's interior ministry said the taliban also

moved on targets in the provinces of nangarhar, baktiar and logar. on the following day, firefights and explosions broke the silence around parliament as darkness turned to dawn. the u.s., german and british embassies and afghan government buildings took direct fire. the japanese embassy was also hit. the interior minister said on monday that 36 insurgents were killed during the attack in kabul, and three other cities. he said one other insurgent arrested in nangarhar province worried that the hakani network, a taliban faction, launched the offensive. he said three civilians and eight members of the afghan

security forces were killed in a confrontation which lasted 18 hours. a taliban spokesperson told nhk that they targeted the country's embassies in retaliation for the recent burning of the koran by u.s. personnel and the killings of women and children by a u.s. soldier. this explanation was followed by a warning of more attacks to come. most of the international coalition forces now in the country are planning to pull out of afghanistan by 2014, but the deteriorating security situation may affect that timetable. shamsullah nhk world, reporting

from kabul. afghan president hamid karzai has blamed the nato-led international force,s for failg to prevent the taliban attacks. karzai said an intelligence failure allowed the insurgents to enter the capital kabul. he said nato should have detected the taliban's movements. 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." people forced to evacuate after the fukushima daiichi accident can now visit part of the no-go zone, but they still face challenges as they try to resume life in their hometowns. the central government lifted

entry restrictions for the 20 kilometer evacuation zone covering kawauchi village and tamura city this month. the government added minamisoma city to the list. residents can visit most of the city but not to high radiation areas deemed unsafe for extended periods of time. overnight stays are not yet allowed. resident yoshikazu takeuchi went to his home with his wife and his mother. after the evacuation, takeuchi ran his construction materials store at a different location in the city. he says he hopes to re-open the store at its original location now that the entry ban has been lifted. >> translator: reconstruction has finally started. i hope we can work together so that people can return to the city and live there again. >> much more work has to be done around the damaged nuclear power plant before residents can return to the city to live. full-fledged efforts to clean up

debris, decontaminate, and restore infrastructure have yet to begin. >> translator: we will tell the central government that it's responsible for the lack of infrastructure and for providing compensation for damages from the nuclear accident. this documentary shows what lifeas been like for people in fukushima ever since the nuclear emergency. the film "ordinary life" is the work of a cameraman from sapporo in northern japan. nhk world's toru shimokoshi has more. >> reporter: about 400 people turned out for the premiere in late march.

>> translator: i'm afraid that people will discriminate against me because i lived in fukushima. i'm also worried that i'll have to live differently than other people. >> reporter: cameraman taizo yoshida interviewed people for his documentary. he described how they cope with radiation. >> translator: we might be able to return home in ten years. >> translator: we won't be alive then. we'll be dead in a few years. >> reporter: yoshida arrived in fukushima a month after the disaster. while working as a volunteer, he shot the film. >> translator: people in fukushima have to go throughout

their daily routine protecting themselves from radiation. that is their ordinary life now. i think it's hard to put all their feelings into words and approach them sincerely, they'll give me good answers. >> reporter: the threat of radiation has affect the people's lives. this woman is measuring radiation levels outside her home. yoshida fernlgs sflirlgtsz to proing tect their children. >> reporter: hidei suzuki is one

of the mothers who appears in the film. her son, a college student lives outside fukushima. >> tnslator: en thoh there's less than a 1% chance of radiation, it could still affect my son, so i keep saying to him, for your mother's sake don't come back to fukushima. the last time i saw him was new year's day, 2011. >> reporter: suzuki attended the premiere. she asked the group to stay interested in the people affected by the nuclear incident. >> translator: we have to think about the generation of the futures that follow us. it's our responsibility. i hope that people will continue

to hold onto the memories of the ordeal in fuk she ma. >> translator: people who live far from fukushima don kno at it's like to deal with rardiation every day. through this film you can listen to thes redentsz and think about them. >> yo she zha hopes to screen the film in canada and the u.s. this summer and he'll keep filming in fukushima in preparation for a sequel. let's go to sayaka mori for the world weather forecast. >> good morning, catherine. it's staying dry in tokyo but we're expecting thundershowers this afternoon. it could become heavy because a low-pressure system will be moving into the eastern half of japan.

it's a compact system but strong enough to create thunderstorms, hail, and gusty winds. but as you can see, showers should be gone quite quickly, so it's going to be very short-lived. but it's going to be very heavy, again, so a good idea to take umbrella. so things will get drier by tonight. but it's a different story for southeastern portion of china. heavy rain is stl going on. over the next 72 hours, more

than 100 millimeters is on the cards. some locations may be seeing more than 120 millimeters. it's been raining over the past several days. the ground is already very well-saturated. so the risks of landslides and flooding are extremely high here. as for the highs, getting up to 26 degrees in hong kong and 21 in shanghai. look at this 20 degrees in bator. 28 degrees in beijing. tokyo looking at a seasonal 18 degrees. again, thundershowers are expected from this afternoon. now, moving onto the americas. a couple of systems which have history of producing more than 130 tornadoes are now moving across the eastern half of the u.s. and canada, producing a wintry mix across ontario and quebec. and heavy thundershowers from the great lakes all the way down through texas. on tuesday, the heavy rain, heavy thundershowers should remain in much of the deep south region. there will be a slight risk of severe thunderstorms, large hail, damaging winds, and even tornadoes in south carolina as well as georgia from tomorrow, i should say tuesday. out toward the west, the pacific northwest will once again hit by a chain of low-pressure systems, with heavy showers along the coast and heavy mountain snow. as for the highs, getting up to 13 degrees in seattle and 21 degrees in denver. and out toward the east, exceptional warmth is still

continuing. reaching 24 inashington, d.c., and 26 degrees in new york. now, moving onto europe. unstable weather is still continuing across much of italy and much of the balkan peninsula. this low is weakening but still producing a wintry mix in baltic states, finland and parts of the scandinavian peninsula. out toward the west, a low-pressure system is moving into much of the british isles producing thunderstorms, hail, and gusty winds. ansome of the precipitatio will be moving into the western continent in the next 24 hours. temperatures are looking like this. it's on the chilly side in london, with 13 degrees and 11 degrees in paris and 17 degrees in rome. out toward the east, a little bit on the warmer side in moscow with 12 degrees and 15 degrees expected in kiev. all right. that's all for me now. and here's your extended forecast.

our lead stories this hour.

the united nations security council condemned north korea's launch of what u.n. officials called a satellite using ballistic missile technology. all 15 members of the council approved the declaration. the online version coded the comments by the north korean committee of states technology update.

the probe pyongyang general association of korean residents in japan publishes the paper. the article said the launch was a boost to the economy by developing the space program. it said the committee has already begun developing the next satellite and the rocket to carry it. china says the presidential statement reflects a basic understanding shared by the international community. china is north korea's closest ally and has been reluctant to condemn it. the foreign ministry spokesperson said dialogue is the only way to resolve issues. he said the agreement between the u.s. and north korea is important for a nuclear free korean peninsula and for peace and stability. the pact was reached in february. the chinese government has reiterated its call to implement the agreement, stipulates the north suspend its uranium enrichment program in exchange for food aid from the u.s. that wraps up 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 next hour. we'll see you then.