pockets. a couple of hours ago maritime police officers started pumping air in to the sunken ship to make sure that there is enough oxygen to breathe.

>> how are the families of the missing coping? >> well, they're getting more desperate with each passing hour. family members here all look so tired from spending sleepless nights -- sleepless nights here at the gym. some have been taking out their frustration on authorities. they say the rescue effort has been too slow. they're also angry with the captain. investigators are trying to determine if he broke the navigational law by leaving the ship before all of the passengers did. the relatives of the missing are expected to stay here throughout the weekend as they await updates. >> thank you very much. anna jung in jindo. senior officials from china and the united states have spent the week discussing how to

respond to north korea's threat to conduct a nuclear test. they say they've narrowed their differences but couldn't agree on how to proceed. china's wu taiwei chairs the six party talks on the nuclear program. he's met three times this week with the official representative for north korean policy glenn davies. they talked about whether to resume the six party talks that have been suspended for more than five years. wu said they remained at odds over whether to restart the talks. authorities in pyongyang last month fired two ballistic missiles toward the sea of japan and they said they may conduct a new type of nuclear test. japan, the u.s., and south korea have taken a tough stance. they want the u.n. security council to introduce stronger sanctions if there is a nuclear test.

but wu is said the u.s. should open the idea of dialogue with north korea. members of the u.n. security council have begun discussing human rights violations in north korea. a man representing families of japanese nationales abducted by north korean agents was in attendance. he said time is running out for the abductees and their relatives. teruaki masamoto joined north korean defectors in new york. his older sister was abducted more than 30 years ago. officials from russia and china stayed away. the countries are considered north korean allies. the u.n. human rights council says the abductions and camps for political prisoners are crimes against humanity. members last month called on the security council to start procedures to punish those responsible. the leading u.n. investigator into the human rights abuses said the security council must act at once.

>> doing nothing is not an option. if ever there is a call for action at the highest level on human rights, this really is it. masamoto said he hopes the council will put pressure on the leaders in pyongyang. the japanese government says north korean agents abducted at least 17 japanese people in the 1970s and '80s. ukrainians will spend the coming days watching to see if an international agreement will help end the unrest in their country. 12 people from the u.s., russia, ukraine and european union put together a plan to address the crisis. pro-russian activists are occupying government buildings in the east. ukrainian forces have been poised to move in. nhk world's craig dale has details.

>> security forces in eastern ukraine are staying on alert. these officers set up a checkpoint on a main road. we're looking for guns and other weapons says this colonel. they're trying to cut off supplies to pro-russian activists who are camped out at government buildings in a bid for greater regional autonomy. if a multinational agreement takes hold the nearly two week long occupations could come to an end. top diplomat from the u.s., the eu, ukraine, and russia, met in geneva. they crafted a deal designed to de-escalate the situation. >> all sides must refrain from the use of violence, intimidation, or provocative actions. >> under the agreement illegally armed groups must be disarmed, and pro-russian activists must vacate illegally occupied buildings and other areas. a team from the organization for security and cooperation in europe will monitor those steps.

the agreement also calls on ukraine's interim leaders to hold broad national dialogue as they work to reform the constitution. >> translator: we have no doubts that the constitution will be reformed. that's what the united states, which has influence over the ukrainian interim government, has promised. >> reporter: leaders in kiev and the west blame officials in moscow for sending agents and supplies to fuel the separatist unrest. they say president vladimir putin is looking for an excuse to dispatch troops into ukraine and annex more territory as he did last month in crimea. the russians deny that. one of the latest confrontations in this crisis turned deadly. pro-russian activists stormed the military base. ukrainian forces fought back, killing three activists and wounding 13 others. it's a sign implementing the geneva agreement won't be easy.

ukraine's interim prime minister says he doesn't have exaggerated expectations and dance trust the russians. president obama is also skeptical. >> my hope is that we actually do see follow-through offer the next several days. but i don't think given past performance that we can count on that. >> reporter: but the diplomats who crafted the agreement say if there's no progress -- >> then, we will have no choice but to impose further costs on russia. >> reporter: the occupations continue for now but the opposition to them appears to be growing. ukrainians held demonstrations in two eastern cities. they say they want peace and they want their country to stay united. whether it does depends on people within their borders and beyond. craig dale, nhk world. >> nhk world's spoken with a

specialist on russian affairs to try and find out what lies ahead for the people of ukraine. >> you are an expert on eu and russian relations. it says he welcomes the agreement but warned that the russian government may not be able to fully control the so-called pro-russians. >> translator: when i saw footage of armed people, they were all dressed differently. that means groups with different local interests may be involved. neither russia nor western countries can control such people. russian government officials know that, so it may not be so easy for them to withdraw their military from along the border. >> hasumi also says the leaders in moscow don't want to annex

eastern ukraine as they did with crimea. >> translator: pacically the russian government wants the ukrainians to introduce a federal system in the eastern part of the country. that would give people there more autonomy, and safeguard the local russians human rights. the russian government also wants to maintain economical and political influence over the rougen. >> but he says rapid disarmament may lead to unwilling interference by russia. >> translator: it might bring chaos to the region. as a result, russia may have to take military action to stabilize the area. this would be very bad for the international community. not only that it would be a big blow for russia itself, because it would take the situation to a point of no return. it's a big risk. >> the professor emphasizes the importance of coordination by the international community.

>> reporter: at the g twenty meeting last week, the delegates approved financial help to ukraine, organized by the imf. i welcome that but the question is whether the imf can succeed on its own. i think it needs to set up a broader framework to let more countries such as china play a bigger role. china is ukraine's third largest trade partner so we can't underestimate its influence. >> hasumi says what people in eastern ukraine want most is to get back to their normal life. he says that will only happen if the international community works as one. nhk world.

let's get you caught up now with the very latest in business. senior officials from japan and the united states are making last-ditch efforts to narrow differences and trade talks. they're working hard to achieve a breakthrough in the transpacific partnership negotiation. but they haven't yet been able to strike a deal. japan's economic revitalization minister akira amari met u.s. trade representative michael froman in washington. they continued their discussions from early morning to late in the night. amari says they're still facing serious challenges. >> translator: we have been discussing for hours in an effort to reach a deal. we've talked in-depth, but we're not there yet. >> it's been a long day. we've had very serious negotiations. tough negotiations. we will continue to work to try and resolve the remaining differences. >> u.s. negotiators have

accepted that japan won't eliminate tariffs on beef and pork, along with rice, wheat and sugar. but they're pushing their counterparts hard to reduce tariffs on beef and pork. in fact they want japan to cut duties on pork to nearly zero. amari and froman are hoping to move negotiations forward before president obama visits japan next week. the representatives agreed to resume talks in the coming hours. prime minister abe and u.s. vice president joe biden also discussed the trade talks over the phone. they spoke for about 20 minutes. the leaders reaffirmed the importance of speeding up the negotiations before a bilateral summit next week. let's get a check of the markets now. investors in asia refraining from active trading. many markets across the region were shut for the start of the eastern holidays. here's how major bourses finished out this friday. trading volume as you can imagine there, pretty thin across the region today. tokyo and seoul did manage to end their sessions higher. shanghai, though, was down for a second consecutive day. the nikkei average gaining 0.7% to 14,516. that recovers a level that we

haven't seen since april 8th. still many stayed on the sidelines today before bellwether companies are set to release earnings starting next week. the shanghai composite with a slight decline there, 2,097. shares of real estate firms came under pressure after data showed that the average increase in home prices for china's 70 cities slowed in march from a year earlier. and in taiwan the thai index finishing at 8,966. major chipmaker tsmc jumped after the firm posted better than expected profit for the first quarter. during the trading session the taiex broke above the key 9,000 level. first time that's happened in nearly three years. south korean officials have been pretty busy negotiating free trade agreements with many countries. they signed their first deal ten years ago with chile. since then they've inked agreements with 50 countries, and they're working on deals with six more.

now we asked a professor at catholic university in seoul why south korea's been pursuing all these trade deals. >> well, i think the korean people, and the korean government, are convinced that ftas are unavailable and also very beneficial to korea. as well known, korea doesn't have that much natural resources so in order for korea to get the fuel and food and it needs to survive it has to import. and in order to import we have to export and fta has been a tool for korea to try to integrate itself further with the global economy. now, if you look at the exports for the last few years the korean exports in intermediate goods have been rising very quickly. i think that shows that koreans saw a very successful in using these ftas to fit in to the global economy. the impact on the farmers hasn't been felt that much yet. the most sensitive agriculture

ral goods have been -- the negotiations have made that the most sensitive goods are liberalized 10 to 20 years after the implementation of the agreement. so a lot of the most sensitive goods haven't been really liberalized yet and rice has been excluded from liberalization so rice market will not affected. also, i think even the formers realize that the korean agricultural sector has to shrink, because the farmers are getting colder, and people -- and the manufacturing is so important to korean exports. president park geun-hye has promised that within three years korea would sign ftas with countries which comprise 70% of the global economy and we've so far signed agreements with countries which formalize 60% of the gdp already. if we're successful in signing an fta with china that will

fulfill president park's goal. prime minister is abe is hoping to cut corporate taxes and spur economic growth but its finance minister taro aso remains pretty cautious. >> translator: lowering the corporate taxes means a drop in government revenue, and an increase in budget deficit. what we need to do is find alternative sources of revenue to make up for the shortfall. >> aso noted that members of a government tax panel are now trying to find what the consequences of a tax cut would be and also what they should do about other taxes. abe wants to reduce corporate taxes, boost japan's competitiveness and invite more foreign investment. the corporate taxes now stand at around 35%. they are considered high by global standards. more and more people in japan are shopping online suppose days. and that's prompted government officials to broaden the scope of their survey on personal spending.

they'll try to find out what consumers are buying via the internet, and how much. internal affairs minister says the ministry will ask for details about online shopping in its monthly survey on household spending, beginning next january. officials are adding questions on 22 items. they include food, household appliances, and online settlements of hotel bills and airfares. the survey will also cover the costs for downloading music, movies, and also e-books. the current survey asks consumers only about their total amount of online shopping. the data shows that the total jumped more than five-fold over just about ten years. all right that is going to do it for biz this hour. here's a check of the markets.

japanese officials are giving the country's whaling fleet permission to continue their work. the whalers will carry out their research in the north pacific ocean but they will reduce the number of catches. the officials have already counseled this year's expedition in the antarctic ocean. it was in line with a ruling by the international court of justice. but that decision did not cover the northwest pacific ocean. government officials plan to bring about more research methods that don't require catching whales. but they will also consider reducing the number of animals involved from 380 to 210. research whaling will begin along the coast of northern japan next week. now, let's take a look at the

world weather forecast with jonathan oh. >> hello we begin in the americas where it is april, and it is the easter holiday weekend. but some places are still looking like the middle of winter, and we go to michigan to show you these pictures. look at this, white conditions with the snow falling over the area, and covering cars, and on the roadways and the sidewalks, as well. and we see the pictures, even in residential areas where cars are covered in the white stuff. it looks like, though, the snow will be departing from the area. we do have a few features to talk about on this map. that low pressure system that was responsible for the snow in the great lakes area is pushing toward the north and east. meanwhile, this low down toward the gulf of mexico is continuing to intensify moving toward the northeast very slowly. so, as you go through friday, jacksonville and for the northern portions of florida, you may be seeing up to 100 millimeters of rain fall during the next 24 hours, and then as it continues to move toward the carolinas by the weekend it

looks like it's going to be a little bit wet in your area. high pressure dominating the desert southwest. meanwhile, another low pressure system controlling the weather into the pacific northwest of the united states. but it is starting to dry itself out. so it looks like that while it is going to be pushing eastward, just scattered showers expected along the rockies. but look at the precipitation into the deep south. that's going to continue to affect the forecast as we go into the weekend. speaking of the easter holiday weekend. take a look. we are going to see a big area of cold weather for a good portion of the united states. but that will change as we go in to the weekend. a warming trend will be in effect. so in atlanta, you will see a high of 23 coming up on monday, and even in to minneapolis, and d.c., you will see a high of 22 as you go in to the beginning of the next work week. let's take a look at the forecast in europe. the snow in the scandinavian countries is departing but the cold front is bringing rain and cloud cover in to parts of germany, and in to france, as well.

and it looks like this particular system, the one near the balkan peninsula, the cutoff low will continue to bring rain and precipitation into the area. by the way, romania saw wind gusts up to 70 to 80 kilometers per hour. so this system is still packing quite a punch but it looks like that's going to eventually, eventually rain itself out. it's taking a little bit of time. meanwhile the cold front will continue to push rain southward into the northern portions of italy, as we head into the weekend. and the weekend forecast looking great here, as well. for some portions of the area. london you should see a great start to the weekend but seeing some rain by sunday, and for rome you will see wall-to-wall rain with a high of 19 by monday, and some thunderstorms. and moscow also seeing a mix of sun and clouds but drier, high of 20 coming up by the beginning of the next work week. let's look at the forecast in asia. we do have a stationary front that's affecting the yangtze river basin. it is extending all the way into japan. by the way the western portions of japan saw rain totals of around 70 millimeters during a

24-hour period. and this will be a sustained weather pattern expected for those two areas. meanwhile, fog continues to become a problem for the korean peninsula, heading into the weekend with fog warnings still in place. temperatures topping off at 24 in chongqing, 28 in hong kong. manila, while the system that was responsible for a lot of rain is mainly dissipating, still seeing some rain and thunderstorms with a high of 33 degrees. that's a look at your forecast. hope you have a good day wherever you are. here's your extended forecast.

people on earth have long scanned the skies in search of planets that could support life. now, scientists at the u.s. space agency have spotted an earth-size planet that may feature a key necessity, surface water in liquid form.

the nasa astronomers discovered a planet and dubbed it kepler-186f. it's about 500 light years from earth, in a constellation cygnus. the planet is about 10% larger than earth. the astronomers say the orbit around its sun falls within the habitable zone in which liquid water might fall on the surface of an orbiting planet. >> this is one of the big milestones that we've been looking for in our -- in our attempts to find out if there are places just like home, and if there's life out there. >> the planet's host star is smaller and cooler than the sun, and not as bright. nasa researchers say they will keep looking for planets that are more similar to earth. and that concludes this edition of "newsline."

i'm keikichi hanada, on behalf of our team thank you for staying with us. gg99ññwççñmw

>> it is 1:00 in the french capital. you are watching "live from paris." prosecutors seek an arrest ward for the capsized south korean ferry. families are demanding answers as grief turns to anger. we get an update from our correspondent. a deal is reached over ukraine's escalating tensions. cautiousama remains they will hold up their part of the bargain. the world loses a literary giant. gabriel garcia marquez passes away at 87. his stories of love and longing helped put magical realism on the map.