hello and welcome back to "newsline" i'm shery ahn. australian authorities have shifted the search area for the missing malaysia airlines jet. they're now focusing more than 1,000 kilometers to the northeast from where search teams have been concentrating their efforts over the past few days. the decision was based on revised analysis of radar data from before the jet went missing nearly three weeks ago. >> this continuing analysis indicates the plane was

traveling foster than was previously estimated, resulting in increased fuel usage, and reducing the possible distance it traveled south into the indian ocean. >> authorities are hoping to recover the plane's flight data and cockpit voice recorders to get crews about what happened to the aircraft. nhk world has a report from perth on how the authorities made the decision to switch their focus. >> reporter: they say it's not based on new data, rather they came up with it after careful analysis, and calculation of existing radar data before contact with the aircraft was lost between the south china sea, and australian marker. they say it's the most credible lead so far. the new search area has been shifted 1100 kilometers northeast of where they have been searching for the past few days. it's also about 700 kilometers closer to the australian coast.

it includes the likely crash point, and the area where the aircraft's debris may have drifted to. the weather has improved over the search area since yesterday, and visibility is better. since this morning, ten aircraft from six countries, including two from japan, have joined the search. six ships from australia and china have also been relocated to the new area. but the new search area is about 320,000 square kilometers. that's just a bit smaller than the whole of japan. another problem facing the searchers is that the water depth in the area is between 2,000 and 4,000 meters. the u.s. navy has sent tracking equipment in perth to with the search for the plane's black box flight recorders. but the sheer size of the search area, and the depth of the water, it's placing even more

pressure on the international team as it tries to locate the whereabouts of the missing plane. takeo nakajima, nhk world, perth. russian leaders are feeling more diplomatic heat for their decision to annex the ukrainian republic of crimea. the u.n. general assembly passed a resolution crafted to heap further criticism on them. western leaders are working on a number of fronts to contain russian president vladimir putin and support ukraine. more from nhk world's craig dale. >> reporter: one by one, delegates at the u.n. general assembly came together to send a message to russia. 100 nations, including the u.s. and japan, voted in favor of a resolution calling the referendum that triggered the annexation of crimea invalid. >> after two weeks of military occupation, an integral part of

ukraine has been forcibly annexed. >> reporter: the resolution is nonbinding and it doesn't mention russia. it urges an end to any action that would undermine ukraine's national unity. the russian ambassador to the u.n., and ten other delegates, stood in opposition. vitaly churkin says his country was just respecting the choice of crimeans who voted in favor of joining the russian federation. the u.n. resolution is the latest attempt to isolate russia for annexing the autonomous ukrainian republic. u.s. and european union leaders have imposed sanctions, and this week the u.s. state department took action to cut off the flow of defense items and services to russia. >> the sanctions that the united states and the european union have imposed will continue to grow, if russia doesn't change course. >> reporter: as western nations try to hurt russia, they're helping ukraine. the international monetary fund reached a multibillion dollar loan agreement that will unlock

further assistance to steer the country away from bankruptcy. >> this financial support amounts to $27 billion over the next three years. >> reporter: and in the u.s. -- >> the yeas are 98, the nays are 2 -- >> reporter: lawmakers passed a bill to provide aid and back a $1 billion loan guarantee. ukrainians know their economy is in trouble after months of political unrest. they blame russia for making things worse. at the same time, they're wondering how a presidential election in may will affect the current situation. former prime minister yulia tymoshenko announced she's planning to run. she spent more than two years in jail, and is an opponent of ousted president viktor yanukovych. one of her rivals may be pro-western politician vitaly plechenko. whoever becomes ukraine's new leader will face a new reality.

any hope of getting crimea back is fading. russian mapmakers are already modifying their country's borders. russian troops are firmly in control of the republic. and ukrainian troops are continuing their withdrawal. craig dale, nhk world. the u.n. security council has condemned north korea for launching two missiles earlier this week. a representative says the group is debating how to respond. north korea fired two ballistic missiles into the sea of japan on wednesday. the security council then held an urgent closed-door meeting. sylvia lucas is luxembourg's ambassador to the u.n. she's serving as this month's security council president. >> the security council condemns this launch as violation of security council resolutions. >> south korea's u.n. ambassador oh joon urged north korea to refrain from provocative actions and resume dialogue with the

south. north korea conducted its third nuclear test in february of last year. afterward the council unanimously adopted a resolution to step up sanctions against pyongyang. china is traditionally regarded as an ally of north korea but china's representative supported the resolution. let's now get the latest business stories from ron madison. all right. well people in japan are getting out their wallets and going on a spending spree. they're racing to beat a consumption tax hike that takes effect in april, and their splurge has lifted retail sales for february to its third highest level. economy ministry officials say sales by supermarkets, car zealers and other retailers neared $107 billion. that's up 3.6% in yen terms from a year earlier. the officials say consumers have mostly been buying up big ticket items like cars, home appliances, furniture and jewelry. but they say shoppers are now stocking up on daily necessities such as tissue paper, and detergents, as well. political leaders here in japan are worried that retail sales

will decline after the consumption tax goes up next week. prime minister shinzo abe has instructed his cabinet ministers to implement the fiscal 2014 budget as soon as possible. he's trying to minimize the negative impact of the tax hike. abe says his administration's top priority is to avoid downside risks to the economy, and ensure sustainable growth. economic revitalization minister said a drop in domestic demand is expected after the tax rises. he says the government should take appropriate countermeasures, at least during the first six months of the new fiscal year. >> translator: it's crucial to set a virtuous cycle in motion, including wage hikes. people across the country should feel the effects of our economic recovery. >> amari also expressed his strong hope that wage increases will spread among small and midsize firms. and help put the economy on a stable recovery track.

let's get a check of the markets now. most asian bourses have finished out this week on a positive note. fund managers across asia bought shares as the quarter end is approaching. but trading in many markets was pretty choppy as market players were generally struggling to find the next trading cue. here in tokyo the nikkei average rose by about half a percent today, 14,696. that was helped on by investor demand. but the index was weighed down by a cautious mood, ahead of the consumption tax increase from april 1. in hong kong the hang seng index closed up more than 1%, 22,065. financial shares pushed up the index after major chinese banks posted upbeat earnings results, industrial and commercial bank of china was one of them. banking shares also in demand in sydney today. the s&p/asx was up 0.3%, 5,366. investors bought high-yielding shares like banks amid a recent

rebound in the australian dollar. the incoming head of south korea's central bank says he is on a mission to restore market confidence. he will take over at the bank on april 1st, and asked research fellow at the korea institute of finance what impact this appointment will have. >> obviouslyly many people thought that the new governor would be some ex-government official. but actually mr. li was appointed as the new governor, and he is an ex-bok official which means i think that the president herself actually wanted more stability within the bank, and also a person that has a strong knowledge of the economy, and also a good grasp of central bank itself. so i think overall he was very welcomed by the market, and also among the financial experts, and overall it was a very good choice by the president.

the other question that you mentioned was that he also not only is concerned about the inflation itself, but also about the overall growth of the economy. because like you mentioned, he was pointing out concerns of the widening gap between the rich and the poor. and this widening gap actually hurts the overall economic growth and especially the potential growth of the economy. so many people have pointed out this fact, it was not just governor lee who pointed out this, and the main signal that he was trying to send to the market is that, okay, i'm not going to not only concerned about inflation itself but the overall growth of the economy, as well. basically central bank officials are very conservative people so even though he tries to attempt

any changes and both within the bank, and also outside the bank, i think he will do it in a very gradual, and very cautious way, and therefore he will try to minimize the impact of the very large impact to the market. >> all right. japanese government officials are taking major steps now to boost business opportunities for companies in and outside japan. they plan to designate tokyo and its neighboring areas as one of the nation's first special zones and ease investment restrictions. officials say what they call national strategic special zones will provide the world's most fizz friendly environment. tokyo zone covers an area that includes the narita airport. officials are hoping to turn the area into an international business hub. another strategic zone includes osaka, kyoto and kobe in western japan. this zone will be established to

serve as a base for promoting business and research in advanced medicine. microsoft's ceo has unveiled a new version of the company's popular office software for its rival apple's ipad. the application includes word processing, as well as spread sheets. >> vision is pretty straightforward. it is to make sure that the 1 billion office users and growing can have access to the high fidelity office experience on every device they love to use. >> the ceo made the announcement in san francisco. microsoft is hoping to increase crofts by strengthening the new service. it enables ipad users to retrieve data from any computer using cloud technology. users in 135 countries and regions can download the application from apple's app store. european union's trade chief has partially defused a major dispute with officials in china. carl degut says the eu has dropped an investigation into

climbs that chinese firms breached world trade rules. they were accusing the company of selling their telecom equipment in the marketplace for less than the cost of production. >> we have decided to drop the tell he will come case. let me be very clear about it. >> eu officials believe their firms were losing out because they couldn't compete with cheap chinese imports. degut said the dumping was not the problem. he said the eu would continue to look at whether chinese firms received illegal subsidies. but he said it would resolve the issue through negotiations with the chinese government. degut's decision comes ahead of chinese president xi jinping's first visit to the eu headquarters in brussels. it also follows decisions by chinese officials last week to end their investigations into imports of eu wine. all right that is going to do it for biz this hour. here's a check of the markets.

experts with the world health organization say india is now officially polio free. they say there have been no new cases for three years. the organization's director for southeast asia praised india's leaders for their efforts to eradicate the disease.

>> the successful completion of the long journey in this region to eradicate polio, it also marks one of the biggest public health achievements. >> the w.h.o. says 80% of the world's population now lives in a polio-free region. but health workers are still battling the disease in some parts of the world. the w.h.o. says polio replains endemic in pakistan, afghanistan, and nigeria. the organization has set a target of 2018 to make the entire world polio free. prosecutors in tokyo have asked a court to impose a fine on the former governor. naoki inose is suspected of violating the public office's election law by failing to report a loan for his election campaign. the prosecutors say inose received half a million dollars from a medical group before an

election two years ago. inose initially said it was a personal loan but he later agreed to regard the money as a loan for his campaign. the acknowledgment came after the former head and his son said that the loan was meant for use in the election campaign. inose corrected his campaign finance records on friday. prosecutors have decided not to seek a full trial considering that he has resigned as governor. inose could face a fine of up to $5,000. japanese government officials have designated areas that need to bolster their preparations for possible major earthquakes and tsunami. prime minister shinzo abe made the designations based on advice from the government council on disaster prevention. the move is aimed at being ready in the event of major quakes. they're focusing on the possibilities of one hitting underneath tokyo, and the other along the nankai trough off central and western japan.

>> translator: these earthquakes could have serious effect on the country's society and economy. they could impact the capital's key functions, and tsunami could cause widespread damage. the government will make a unified and speedy effort to implement anti-disaster measures. >> a total of 310 municipalities in tokyo, and nine neighboring prefectures were designated as areas that need to take urgent anti-disaster steps. 707 municipalities spanning nearly 30 prefectures were named as areas that should strengthen preparations for a nankai trough quake. officials say the regions could be hit by a tremor of intensity of six minus or more. a japanese intensity scale runs from zero to seven. they say almost 140 municipalities could be inundated within 30 minutes after a nankai quake. the communities have been

designated as areas eligible for greater state support to help prepare for tsunami. farmers in japan's northern prefecture of hokkaido are facing a big problem. global warming, and the disappearance of predators have resulted in too many deer, which are threatening the farmers' livelihoods. nhk world's kurando tago explains. >> reporter: the northern japanese island of hokkaido is known as a treasure chest of wildlife animals, suches bares and eagles. a local farmers in the area are suffering. they say one species of animal is eating too much of their spinach and other crops. and they blame deer. >> translator: it's frustrating. i think we need to cut down on the deer population significantly.

>> reporter: the government of hokkaido says the population of deer has doubled over the last decade to around 590,000. the amount of tajs from them in the agriculture and forestry sectors has skyrocketed to $63 million a year. three years ago the local government turns to the self-defense forces and hunters to stage a pest control campaign. based on the information radioed in from the sdf chop egg flying above, hunters on the ground corner the animals and kill them. but the government is still getting more reports of damage. experts cite several reasons for the ballooning deer population. first, people hunted their main natural predators, wolves. , to extinction a century ago. second, deforestation, due to land development, has helped

them find food easily. and lastly the number of hunters is dwindling due to the asian population. professor kaji is an expert on wildlife management. he says milder winters due to global warming are also spurring the population growth. >> by end of summers, the males, and young deer use the deposit, and it's very, very hard to overcome winters. >> reporter: the professor believes warmer temperatures have helped spike the population of deer not only in japan, but also in parts of europe and north america. >> so most effective factors might be having a change due to

birth activity, but if combined with climate change, all of the northern area in the wild -- >> reporter: deer are said to be highly fertile and can eat a wide variety of food. global warming is not only affecting wildlife ecosystems, but also causing new problems. kurando tago, nhk world. let's now bring in our meteorologist say ack yeah mori for a check of the weather. sayaka parts of the eastern united states seeing severe weather. how bad are conditions there? >> well, shery a total of seven tornadoes have been reported in missouri and in iowa. and hail has been observed in missouri. very severe conditions are happening over the area from the

gulf coast up into the midwest. this is the severe weathermaker, which is unleashing -- which is a potential for producing more tornadoes, golf ball sized hail, as well as damaging wind gusts. this is fuelled by ample warm air from the south crashing with cooler air from the north. this system will likely head towards the east. the southern areas will see quite heavy rainfall into the next 24 hours or so. the risk of a flooding is getting higher and higher. northern areas will see some mixture of rain and snow that is over the western parts of eastern parts of the great lakes region as well as the eastern cana canada. and a new system will form so that will provide more wet conditions into the weekend. now, in the middle of the u.s., no precipitation, but the risk of a wildfire is growing day by day. and a new system coming in from the pacific once again, so wet and windy conditions will likely continue at least in to early next week. about 300 millimeters of rain is likely for the coastal areas,

and even tornadoes can happen with that. snow is possible for the mountainous areas as well. temperatures are not too bad over the coastal areas. 14 degrees for you in seattle, and 22 degrees in los angeles, with bright sunshine. and across the eastern u.s., finally get being back to the double digits in washington, d.c., 15 degrees. 12 for you in new york city with rainy weather on the last day of the business week. all right. across europe, then, we are still looking at very bad conditions over the eastern parts of the mediterranean. and, in fact, we have a report of a 380 millimeters of rain over the southern parts of greece. well it looks like very unsettled conditions likely continue, at least in to saturday. so the risk of flooding and landslides are getting quite higher day by day. across the north, quite settled, but heavy rainfall for the localized areas will continue for the british isles and the western parts of the iberian peninsula into the weekend. temperatures are going to be as follows. very mild for many areas.

for example, vienna, 16 degrees for you. 14 in berlin. now temperatures in the central and western parts of europe will be gradually warming up, even further, into early next week. all right. finally, over asia, quite a beautiful weather across much of japan, as well as the korean peninsula. but things will change within the next couple of days. we have a heavy rainmaker of the southern areas of china, producing heavy thundershowers, especially for the yangtze river valley. that rainy weather will likely shift towards the korean peninsula, as well as western japan by tomorrow evening and some of the rain will affect the tokyo area by your sunday. so if you are planning to have a cherry blossom viewing over the weekend, probably saturday is the best time. because it's going to be sunny and quite warm, about 23 degrees for the daytime hours. sendai, 22 on your saturday, but temperatures will sharply going down in to teens on your sunday. all right. here's the extended forecast around the globe.

that's all for this hour on "newsline." i'm shery ahn.

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>> a major shift in the hunt for the missing malaysia airlines plane. the search has been redirected to an area 1000 kilometers northeast of the current location. the move is made -- based on new data that shows the plane traveled faster and would have run out of fuel quicker than originally thought. floatingrs now say the objects previously thought to be possible