tengan. let's take a quick look at the hour's top stories. investigators are poring over recordings from a germanwings plane for clues about the co-pilot accused of causing the crash. japan's fisheries ministry is fighting back against efforts by okinawa's governors to derail work related to the relocation of a u.s. air base.

and people in singapore are looking back on successes of their greatest leader. and are looking ahead at an uncertain future. search parties continue to scour the site of the german wings plane crash in the french alps. investigators are also looking for clues about the co-pilot accused of deliberately flying the plane into the mountain. nhk world's tack few teruis who more. >> reporter: workers have been searching the site around the site of last tuesday's crash trying to gather as much evidence as possible. forensic experts are analyzing body parts found at the scene and have isolated strands of dna from 78 people. authorities said they'll compare these strands with dna samples from passengers' relatives to identify victims' remains. investigators working on the case have an equally difficult task. trying to determine what may

have led the co-pilot to deliberately crash the aircraft. they're hoping the plane's wreckage will provide some information. >> translator: on the site here we found bits of the jet stabilizers, obviously the fuselage, and at the moment we're looking for the second black box which is the fdr, or digital flight data recorder. >> reporter: officials have only retrieved the other black box, the voice recorder. the german newspaper published what it says is a portion of the cockpit recording, as well as a time line of the crash. the newspaper says the plane took off from barcelona just after 10:00 a.m. it said the pilot told the co-pilot andreas lubitz that he didn't have time to use the rest room before the departure. it said the plane reached a

cruising altitude of over 10,000 meters at 10:27. at that point, the pilot told lubitz to start preparations for landing. according to the newspaper, the co-pilot reportedly replied, hopefully. and we'll see. lubitz then suggests the pilot go to the toilet. the pilot apparently leaves. after that a sound like a door locking can be heard. at 10:29 the plane begins to descend. a few minutes later, the captain shouts at lubitz to open the door. passengers can be heard screaming in the background. at 10:35, someone can be heard trying to smash the door down with a metal object. the pilot yelled at lubitz to open the door. the co-pilot remains silent. the report says the recording ends with a crashing sound at 10:40.

german media have quoted investigators who said they found antidepressants at lubitz's home and reports say he recently received treatment for a detached retina. they said lubitz was scheduled to have a medical checkup in june, and doctors detected any vision problems he could have lost his flying license. people who live near lubitz have expressed surprise over the crash and details about his life. >> translator: he's a very ordinary guy. friendly quiet, doing exercise. >> reporter: investigators may never get a complete picture of what went wrong, but they keep pushing on determined to find out as much as they can. takafumi terui, nhk world. >> thanks takafumi for that

report. the pacific tsunami warning center says the threat of tsunami in the region has now largely passed. a tsunami alert was issued after an earthquake struck the new britain area of papua, new guinea. the 7.5 magnitude quake struck at 23:48 utc on sunday. nhk spoke to an employee at a hotel about her experience. >> the earthquake occurred. it last for about five minutes. we haven't faced any damage at the moment. the hotel is quite okay but except for other part of the island in town we haven't been to the town whether we have any damage. but otherwise, it was okay. but it just that the earthquake was quite a big one. we went out on our open space just to prevent in case of the building collapse and stuff like that. >> the center had warned that hazardous tsunami waves could

hit coastal areas, including the coast of papua, new guinea and the solomon islands. now people in singapore gathered to bid farewell to their founding father lee kwan yew. over three decades he led the country to an economic powerhouse. nhk world's mark ho reports from singapore. >> reporter: lee died last week at the age of 91. his coffin was carried from the parliament building to the national university of singapore. people braved heavy rain to watch the funeral procession along a 15 kilometer route. >> he did sacrifice a lot for us his whole life. lifelong sacrifices. lifelong commitments to make our country from a poor nation to

what we are do one of the richest nation in the world. >> because of him i have education and i'm able to speak english and chinese. i feel like i want to do something. >> reporter: world leaders, including japanese prime minister shinzo abe and indian prime minister narendra modi attended the ceremony. lee's eldest son delivered the eulogy. >> mr. lee once said that we intend to see that singapore is here 1,000 years from now, and that's your duty and mine. mr. lee has done his duty, and more. it remains our duty to continue his life's work to carry the torch forward, and keep the flame burning bright. >> reporter: singapore had few resources when it was expelled

from malaysia and became independent in 1965. even its water was imported. lee launched a program of nation building. he introduced tax breaks to attract investment from japan and the west. and he set about raising educational standards to ensure a well-trained workforce. he attracted foreign investments, and turned singapore into an industrial nation. japanese companies in the 1980s helped build one of asia's largest petro chemical complexes in the island nation. but lee's critics said his policies were too authoritarian. lee believed that some restrictions on human rights and freedom of speech were necessary to maintain stability. that made him a target for criticism. but he never abandoned his belief that western style democracy would not work in asia.

lee hsien loong, 63 is the country's third prime minister. the younger lee is following in his father's policy footsteps. but at the moment it's not clear who will succeed him as the country's leader. this year marks 50 years since singapore became independent. the country has achieved remarkable economic growth. but it faces challenges. there's a widening income gap, higher prices and growing demographic challenges. foreigners now make up nearly 40% of the population. singapore's unlikely success is a key part of its history. it remains to be seen who will lead the country through the challenges it will face over the next decades. mark ho, nhk world, singapore. prime minister shinzo abe tried to open a door to diplomacy after the state funeral. he told south korea's president

he would like to see her participate in a trilateral summit with china. abe spoke at a diet committee meeting about a brief conversation he had with park geun-hye in singapore. >> translator: i told the president park that thanks to her leadership the foreign ministers of japan, south korea, and china, were able to hold a meeting in seoul in march. i told her i hoped we could eventually move from lower level meetings to the summit level. >> the early march meeting in seoul was the first time foreign ministers from the three countries met in nearly three years. japan's relations with china and south korea have soured over diplomatic and territorial issues. japanese officials have been trying to pave the way for a summit. the battle over a plan to move an american military base in okinawa to a new site within the prefecture is escalating.

the governor of okinawa vocally opposed the plan. last week he told workers to stop all activities on the new site. the central government officials have stepped in to get the project back on track. >> translator: i have temporarily suspended the okinawa governor's instructions to halt all work on the coast of haneko. >> fisheries ministry officials announced the decision on monday. they say they'll continue to discuss whether to invalidate the governor's instructions. japanese government officials want to move the u.s. futenma air station to reclaimed sites in the prefectures ahanoko district. okinawa governor takashi onaga told the defense industry's regional bureau to suspend reclamation work within a week. onaga said if they didn't cooperate he might revoke a drilling permit. the defense bureau asked fisheries ministry to override

onaga's instructions. officials at the ministry say a delay in reclamation work could affect the entire relocation plan. they say it could jeopardize the trust between japan and the united states. japan's top government spokesperson says the government will continue work at henoko following the decision. >> translator: i believe the fisheries minister who is in charge of laws related to protecting fisheries resources made a fair and just decision to suspend the governor's instructions. >> onaga says he'll carefully examine the ministry's decision and hold a news conference to announce his response. yahoo's deletion of information on the internet has become a hot topic. lawsuits have been filed by some who don't want their information on the world wide web. now a popular search engine in japan is taking its own action. gene otani joins us with more on this. gene? >> james, we are talking about yahoo japan.

and they announced new standards for deleting search results. that's in response to the growing global debate over the so-called right to be forgotten. campaigners want search engines to delete confidential data. yahoo commissioned a panel of experts to discuss the rules. yahoo japan says requests to delete search results will be judged based on who is making them. it says will consider strongly the need to protect privacy and information such as in cases involving sexual images. it will decide deletions on a case-by-case basis. entire search results will be removed if they are judged as risk to life and safety. yahoo says it will delete information on people under 20 on bullying cases and some records of crimes such as outdated entries on minor offenses. but the company promises to be less accommodating if the requests come from people in public positions, corporate

leaders or celebrities. it says such information is generally considered highly public. the new standards will be implemented from tuesday. executives at honda motor have unveiled their first convertible mini car in 19 years. the s-660 is a two seater equipped with a six speed manual transmission. the first ever in a mini vehicle. drivers can also enjoy a powerful cruise because of the turbo charged engine. the s-660 will go on the market starting thursday, selling for between $16,000 and $18,000. 26-year-old ryo mukumoto headed the engineering team that produced the convertible. >> we put a lot of fashion into building this sports-type model with people of our generation in mind. >> automakers around the world are developing a new range of sports cars on the back of the improving japanese economy. german automaker bmw will unveil

its convertible next month followed by mazda in june. japanese factories made fewer goods in february. officials at the economy ministry say industrial output fell for the first time in three months. one of the main reasons was the chinese new year holiday. ministry officials say production was down by 3.4% from the previous month. this comes after a jump of 3.7% for january. production of large equipment for chemical plants fell. output of small lcd panels for export also tumbled, as production lines in china for smartphones and other goods were idle during the holiday. even so the officials maintain their assessment that japan's industrial output is showing signs of increase at a moderate pace. they also say they expect an increase in orders for large equipment after the new fiscal year starts in april. chinese airlines are boosting the number of flights to japan to handle the big surge in tourists.

over 100 more services per week connect cities in mainland china to japan compared to last october. china's budget carrier spring airlines has launched services connecting shanghai and hokkaido, japan's northernmost prefecture. >> translator: i hope direct flights are launched to all cities in japan because that would save travel time. >> china's latest international schedule sees the largest increase in flights to kansai airport in osaka, western schaapen. and central japan also seeing a rise. >> translator: our company is introducing many flights to japan's regions to meet changing demand. >> the official said repeat travelers to japan often choose to visit regional cities. japanese companies are aiming to grab a bigger share of the growing indonesian market. they're trying to appeal to the tastes of young trend conscious

consumers to boost their brand image. >> reporter: 250 million people live in indonesia, and about one-third are aged under 20. some of them are tuning in to a japanese tv channel launched about a year ago. >> pop pop with japan. >> reporter: it is aired on the country's largest pay tv station. >> waku japan. >> reporter: the channel runs programs such as japanese dramas and variety shows 24 hours a day. the channel also features live sports events. japanese electronics firm panasonic is the spons irof the japanese soccer team that's regularly featured on the channel. the company is hoping to promote itself by associating with the team's popularity.

>> translator: indonesia is very important for us in the asian market. we want to use sports to ground our brand image. ♪ >> reporter: other japanese companies are turning to japan's pop culture to enhance the image of their products. jkt-48 is an indonesian idol group. the group is a japanese creation and is part of the wider brand centered on a japanese idol group. japanese confectionery maker uses jkt-48 as part of its image strategy. >> translator: we have the same target customers. jkt-48 conveys the message that it is a japanese brand, too. >> reporter: one of their popular snacks in japan is called pocky. it was launched in indonesia in 1980 but sales never took off.

the company had focused on quality, but it still failed to stand out amongst similar products from china and south korea. ♪ >> reporter: so the maker decided to work on other areas than just quality. it began to create a better brand image for its product to distinguish it from its competitors. ♪ pocky soon captured the hearts of many teenagers. the strategy was a success. >> translator: i see idols eating the snack in commercials. so it makes me want to eat it, too. >> reporter: the firm is also trying out other strategies to boost its image. a promotional team jumped out of what the firm called a pocky wagon. they give samples of the snack to people across the country.

>> translator: i saw it on tv. pocky looks cool because jkt-48 eat it. >> translator: so we're also cool! >> reporter: the firm increased its sales tenfold in only two years. >> translator: we need to harness the fun image of japanese culture to make an impact. >> reporter: japan's rich pop culture is helping japanese firms appeal to trend conscious young indonesians. and more firms are likely to zoom in on this opportunity. checking the markets, tokyo stocks have rebounded after two straight days of losses. the benchmark nikkei average finished up 0.65% at 19,411. investors bought shares of retailers and food companies on expectations of better corporate earnings. on to the chinese market the

shanghai composite hit a seven-year high. the index jumped 2.6% closing at 3,786. infrastructure related shares such as construction and real estate did well. that follows the unveiling of a plan by beijing on saturday to build a so-called new silk road linking asia to europe and africa. over in the philippines, the pse index hit 8,000 for the first time ever. investors have been cheered by a central bank decision last week to keep its key rate unchanged. but toward the close of trading the rally lost steam. the index ended at 7,899 up a quarter of one percent. most other markets in the region ended higher. hong kong hang seng index ended up by 1.51%. seoul's kospi gaining by 0.51%. but sydney bucked the trend and fell 1.25%. energy sector shares were lower as crude oil prices fell. japanese workers in their

late 50s often suffer pay cuts unless they're promoted to executive positions. some companies are trying to keep these experienced employees motivated by offering incentives. the group says workers aged 45 and up will be eligible for a raise if they improve their skills and performance. the company's encouraging older workers to become certified financial advisers and to train internally for services on inheritance finances. employees will get points for achievements and at some point their monthly pay will be hiked by 30% from their late 50s. other companies are taking similar measures. toyota motor will offer extra pay for senior factory employees who train younger workers. and that's it for business news. i'm going to hand it back to you, james. >> okay gene. looking forward to your follow-up on jkt-48. nuclear regulators have begun examining a power plant in

southwestern japan to see if it can return online under new regulations introduced after 2011 fukushima accident. officials with the nuclear regulation authority started inspections of facilities at the number one reactor of the sendai plant on monday. two reactors at the plant became the first to clear the new, tougher regulations last year. currently all commercial reactors in the country are offline. the officials will check whether facilities and equipment installed to improve safety will function properly. the regulators are focusing on about 500 of the new items that are designed to withstand a severe nuclear accident. >> translator: we plan to not only check the facility's technical standards, but also ensure the operator's quality management. >> the plant's pop rater kyushu electric power plant to start

loading fuel into the reactor in june for a restart in early july. now time now for our meteorologist jonathan oh to fill us in on what's happening in world weather. >> we're talking about the strong storms and it looks like we're going to see even more powerful activity as we continue on throughout the next day or so. because we have a cold front that is sweeping through the central portions of the country. and as that continues to push toward the east we're going to see the strong storms taking place in the central portions of europe. and because of that we are looking at the possibility of some severe weather. gusts up to 160 kilometers per hour. especially down toward the alps where we're going to see that with snow up to 140 centimeters possible and some isolated tornadoes also in the picture. the moisture continues to push toward the east and then we'll have another swing of moisture moving into northwestern portions of europe. down to the south, some rain as we continue on in to monday. look athens with a high of 19. 12 in vienna. 11 in berlin.

and 14 in paris. now i want to take you down towards the southwestern portions of the pacific. at least in terms of the relative picture toward east asia. we have a typhoon moving toward the west. it is currently a strong typhoon expected to become even stronger as we continue on throughout the next couple of days. but as we go into wednesday, we're going to see a resistance coming in from the west and because this is going to try to tear the storm apart. it's going to have a little bit of a difficult time trying to get to the philippines. we will watch the system. potentially a very strong typhoon as we go into the next 24 hours. now, i want to take you over to tibet, where we're talking about a late spring -- or a late winter early spring storm. let's take a look at some video coming out of the region. where visibility was pretty heavily affected by this. up to 30 centimeters of snow fell on sunday with a snow drift in the area the depth reaching as high as 70 centimeters in some places. significant storm, low visibility causing some

dangerous driving conditions, we will see the snow starting to push toward the east but we will still see that affecting that region before it pushes toward places like chongqing during the next couple of days. now as you wrap things up with a look at what's happening in north america. we have a low pressure system that's pushing toward the east with a core front attached to this particular system. it is going to bring some rain and possibly some severe storms down toward places like the deep south. look out for that possibility. meanwhile back toward the west we're going to see dry conditions, we're going to see these temperatures starting to move up as well as high pressure moves up the area. because of the dry conditions looking for possibility of some pretty high fire danger concerns. we're talking about problems in denver places like oklahoma city with a high of 23. 14 over into chicago. again, rain to atlanta, also to d.c. with a high of 16 degrees. so make sure that you have the umbrella handy as we continue on throughout the day. hope you have a good day

wherever you are. here's your extended outlook. okay. don't forget to tune in to our

brand-new show newsroom tokyo, which makes its debut at 8:00 p.m. japan time. i'm james tengan in tokyo. bye for now.

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