from tokyo. this is nhk "newsline". i'm james tengan. japanese government officials are considering inviting several leaders of seven countries to a g7 meeting this year.

laos the current chair as well as indonesia and vietnam. leaders of chad as well as bangladesh, sri lanka and papua new guinea are on the list. the summit will focus on challenges facing the asia pacific region and the theme will be developments. a japanese high court has dismissed request to suspend operations at two nuclear reactors. residents in southwest japan made the application over safety concerns. a branch of the fukuoka high court handed down its decision on wednesday. a citizens group sought an injunction to halt the reactors of the sendai plant in kagoshima prefecture. a district court turned down their petition last year prompting them to file an appeal. the residents argue the plant operate orhas under estimated

the maximum strength of a possibitionsible seismic jolt. the regulator said the reactor meets the requirements. the residents voiced their disappointments. >> it reflected what experts at nuclear deregulation authority said. it's just a rehashing of the lower courts decision. >> officials with plant operator kyushu president-elect trick power welcomed the decision. they maintain the company will take all measures to ensure

safety. >> the government has a consistent stance on reactor restarts. we respect the decisions of regulators who enforce the world's toughest rules. >> yoshihide suga said all restarts should be considered with local residents. a suspension would mean no nuclear operations would not restart. >> reporter: in august, the number one reactor at the sendai plant was the first to go back online under new regulations. the number two reactor was restarted in october. but the move wasn't welcomed by all. the residents group has been seeking a temporary injunction of the restart for almost two years.

japan's nuclear reactors went offline one by one for regular inspections after the fukushima daiichi nuclear accident in 2011. and japanese officials introduced stricter rules for them to be switched back on. they require plant operators to create measures for more severe accidents. five reactors have already passed the screen. and by february, four of them have been switched on. two are at the sendai nuclear plant. two are at the takahama plant, and one at ikata is waiting to restart. [cheers and applause] >> reporter: but in takahama, a district court accepted a petition for residents and ordered the facility to stop operations. >> translator: we managed to convey to the court just how passionately we feel about this issue.

>> reporter: and another plant could face a similar fate. a group of lawyers said there are about 30 provisional injunctions and suits across japan. nhk conducted a survey about how people felt about restarting. 15% were in support. 44% opposed and 35% were undecided. they will focus on the safety of the nuclear plant itself. and observers say the number of court cases could increase as other operators start procedures to come back online. nhk world. emergency response crews are

searching for a plane that lost contact with a after flying over a mountainous area. it disappeared from radar about an hour after it took off from the base in kagoshima prefecture. six people were on board. the plane was scheduled to return to the base after checking airport facilities from the air. myanmar's parliament pass ad bill creating a powerful new position in the governmen for aung san suu kyi who has been barred from the presidency by the constitution. her party's majority was enough to override objection. the bill submitted by the national league of democracy. the military controls one in

four parliament seseats under t constitution. >> the draft runs counter to the consnstitution. we demanded more t time for therebyations and revisions before the vote but they approved it in a big rush. i don't think it will do any good for the future of myanmar. >> a civilian governmentt was inaugurated last week after decades of military domination. aung san suu kyi retains two cabinet positions, the foreign minister post and head of the president's office. her party won in victory over november's historic election. despite being barred she pledged to run the country anyway. becoming state counselor formalizes her influence over wide areas of government policy. the release of the so-called panama papers has created a political firestorm the world over, and china is no exception. information has been published linking a relative of chinese

president xi jinping to offshore companies. the icij published the results ofof its investigatition into documents leaked from a law firm in panama. the group says the massive data leak reveals how some of the world's rich and powerful used tax x havens to hide their cash. the group says xi's brother-in-law owns two shell companies in the british virgin islands. which is a tax haven. it says the companies were dormant by the time xi took office in 2013. chinese officials denied the allegations. >> translator: we won't comment on such groundless accusations. >> news mentioning xi's family involvement has been removed from websites in china. north korea's recent nuclear activity have some people worried but not for the usual

reasons. north korean defectors living there already have to deal with discrimination, and they're concerned that the regime's actions could make things worse for them. there is one organization trying to make people succeed in the south. nhk has the story of a man doing just that. >> reporter: north korean defectors are learning how to sound like south koreans. they speak the same language, but their accents and dialects differ. their goal is to fit in and not to be recognized as defectors. while they were able to flee north korea, life is the south isn't exactly easy. this man came to south korea ten years ago. hehe works in sales and notices he's at t a disadvantage. >> translator: when clients hear me speak, their attitudedechange

immediately. i cannot succeed. >> reporter: he escaped the country at the age of 12 with his brother. they had no idea where their parents had gone and were totally alone. when he arrived, park could hardly read and write and ended up lagging behind in school. that gave other students an excuse to bully him. >> translator: other students mocked me for studying with younger classmates. it hurt me and made me very angry. >> reporter: several years after graduating, park has found a way to try to overcome his challenges. every weekend food trucks at this park in southern seoul are bustling with customers. the vendors are selling street food. it's a start-up business by north korean defectors.

this new program began last january. the ministry gives tips to truck operators in starting a business. and a major auto manufacturer lends them the trucks and offers the venue. park specializes in toasted sandwiches. his truck is in the only spot in the area that gets 50,000 visitors a year. he sells almost $10,000 worth of food a month. on weekdays, park studies business at college. he juggles that with his business. despite his past, friends feel he's no different from other south korean students. >> translator: he studies so

hard, and he's found what he wants to do. i rereally admire his efforts. >> reporter: and it is an effort. park works on his food truck operation by himself. he buys a load of groceries once a week and prepares in his apartment the night before. he says he feels happy to be achieving his dream of running his own business. >> translator: i'm feeling tense. i'm the first in this program to go into the food truck business. i operate only one food truck right now, but in the future, i'll have 50 or 100. i will succeed in this business. >> reporter: north koreans with professional backgrounds in medicine, military or technology also face difficultieses in the south. but while park started with nothing, he's now finding his own way forward. nhk world, seoul.

investors sent the yen too 17 month high against the dollar overnight. that took a toll on shares. gene otani has the details along with other business headlines. gene. >> thanks, james. share prices in tokyo edged lower as investors flocked to safety. for more we go to our business reporter at the tokyo stock exchange. >> reporter: the yen strengthened in new york trading. it sent shares in tokyo lower. the nikkei fell .11%. it's the longest losing streak since 2012. the topix ended lower. the dollar/yen compared to the lowest level since 2014.

prime minister shinzo abe said trade is flocking to the yen. countries should avoid arbitrary intervention to weaken their currencies but the yen retreated in tokyo trading hours so shares of companies posted mixed results. suzuki motor gained 3.5% while panasonic declined 3.2%. in in inpex is lower by .72%. so there's a lot of focus on investing here. investors will be watching the central bank of japan and u.s. they will be holding policy meetings in three weeks. in china.

shanghai composite down by a fracture shows. 3050 for the closing number. figures showing growth in service sector activity supported but many investors sold shares to lock in profits. let's look at taiwan. the taiex dropped by 1.67% to 8513. shares of hon hai sank more than 2% since a take over deal with sharp. hang seng agained by.15%. sidney regaining by half of a percent. investors are getting another clue on how china's economy is doing. the data shows the service sector is regaining some momentum. the services purchasing

manager's index rose to 52.2. that's up one point from february. a figure over 50 indicates business activity is growing. the sector has been helping to offset a slump in chinese manufacturing over the past year. but analysts note that employment in non-manufacturing fell for the first time in over two and a half years. they describe the economy as riding choppy waves. the key index reflecting the present state of japan's economy has fallen for the first time in two months. the cabinet office said the index stood at 110.3 for february. that's a 3.2 decline. it fell for the first time since april 2014 when the government raised the consumption tax. the couldofficials say decline be behind toyota's halt after an

explosion. reduced shipments for parts for smartphones. output fell as factories in japan closed for the lunar holiday. but they kept their basic assessment unchanged saying the economy pausing. officials at east japan railway company know their station names can be tricky from announce so they are trying to make their stations friendlier for foreigners. visitors to tokyo and nearby areas will see sign boards like this, here shinjuku is designated jy 17. 17 stops from station number one, tokyo station. major transit stations such as

shinjuku will be named sjk. new signs will show names in chinese as in korean along with, of course, english. the moves are among efforts to prepare for the 2020 tokyo olympics and paralympics. here's a lookk at some of te other stories we'rere lookiki a. the total value of purchases by japanese firms of foreign companies this year is only a third of what it was at the same time in 2015. they made 159 deals for the january to march value. the brokers say japanese firms are cautious about making large investments due to slow downs in emerging economies. hybrid vehicles are winning japanese hearts with toyota motor again taking top spot. toyota's hybrid compact car aqua

was the country's number one selling vehiclcle in 2015 for fourth straight year. industry officials said toyota sold 192,000 aquas for the year. honda came in second and toyota's prius was third. people are expected to travel during the coming spring holidays. it's predicted 24 million people will head for domestic and overseas destinations from late april to early may but travellers will spend less than last year. the earthquake and tsunami in japan five years ago shook up the way businesses approached disaster planning. in this next report we see what they are doing to make their distribution networks for resilient. >> reporter: eon is one of

japan's biggest retailers. five years ago the company found itself struggling to get water and other items to survivors of the disaster. one way executives have responded is by introducing a new system to keep better track of inventory. if there's a big earthquake staff can search for a neededed product and find out how much inventory spriupplierers and wh. >> we have a role to play in times of disaster to act as a lifeline so life returns quickly to normal. >> reporter: suppliers see benefits in using the system. kao manufacturer disposable diapers and other essential household products. five years ago it struggled to keep track of stock. shipments fell behind. >> we couldn't make deliveries no matter how much we wanted to. we wanted toto deliver g goods

people in need as wickly as possible by collaborating with retailers. we're providing information to make that possible. >> reporter: damaged and blocked roads presented another challenge. some companies are taking steps to secure deliver routes even in time of trouble. >> let's suppose there was a disaster. >> reporter: this is a major convenience store operator launched this system. it received gps data from 5200 delivery trucks. any truck stuck for 30 minutes appears in red. >> the red trucks are stuck for some reason. there could be a traffic jam or perhaps a collapsed bridge that's preventing the driver from moving. we c can find out withth this system. >> reporter: cameras mounted on the vehicles provide more detail. the system pulls together data

from a variety of sources. it indicates passable roads in green. it should help restore logistic networks for quickly than before. they set up emergency fuel reserves to guard against shortages. >> the tanks are underground and hold 400 kiloliters of gasoline. that's enough for ten days. >> reporter: distribution networks play a vital role in getting people goods they need for daily life. japanese businesses are taking steps to keep those networks running even when disaster strikes. >> andnd that's itt for busines news. i'll leave with you with markets.

>> you're watching nhk "newsline" live from our studios here in tokyo. it's time for weather. rain has been pelting southeast china. >> yes, drenching rains have been hitting southeastern portions of china. over the last 2424 hours, one province had much, mucuch more rain than normal for april. more heavy rain is anticipated. an additional 120 millimeters is expected as well as thunderstorms. some of the rain will move into the south of south korea and western japan by tonight. and then that could mo intnto central japan including tokyo on thursday.

it's going to be a stormy day across manany portions of japan. heavy rain and thunderstorms expected a winds a are goingng be quite strong. so that coululd blow away some cherry bloss petals s unfortunately, and stormy weather r will affect hokkaido we go into friday. but temperatures will not be too bad. actually quite warm. 20 degrees for the high in tokyo and quite warm in seoul and pleasant weather in beijing with a high of 24. down towards the south, it's the highest time of the year in bangkok, 37 for the high. so stay high -- hydrated. multiple systems have bebeen hitting the area causing drenching rainfall. over the past five days or so, over 500 millimeters has fallen in nadi. ththat's about three times more than the amount of rainfall for april. flash floods already taking place. more rain is expected. because there's a tropical cyclone moving into the area. the name is zena. it will pass into the area by

thursday morning. destructive winds and heavy rain are expected across this area for the next couple of days. now thousands of people have been evacuated. and a nationwide curfew is in place, and many flights have been canceled to f fiji. now more rain is expected. that will raise e the potentiaif flooding, but as we go into saturday sunny weather should come back. now across australia, a cold front is moving through the south bringing showers. the system will move into new south wales. the wind direction will change from the north to the south, that means cool southerly winds will move in, and d temperature will be cool. now today was very hot in sydney. the high was 34 degrees. it was more like midsummer, but with the front swinging through, the temperature could drop to 23 degrees.

about ten degrees difference in just one day. so what a change in for you. across north america, it's been quite chilly and snowy across the northeast. this is the image coming out of nasa. and more snow e expecd d to cover across the northeastern united states ininto portions o canada, and winds are going to be quite strong as well. temperatures are going to be warming up slightly on wednesday, though, 7 degrees for the high in new york city and 14 degrees in washington, d.c. and across the opposite side of the continent, i can't believe it's going to be 30 degrees for the high in l.a. and very warm as well. 20 degrees for the high with sunny weather on your wednesesd. that's it for me now. here's your extended forecast.

and with that we conclude this hour's nhk "newsline". be sure to watch "newsroom tokyo" at the top of the hour. for all of us on the show

♪ >> this is "france 24," live around the world. these are the headlines. ted cruz wins big in the wisconsin republican primary, trouncing donald trump. donald trump crashes to defeat as bernie sanders wins again. the prime minister of iceland steps aside. the first egg name casualty of the panama papers leaks. at the hea