live from our studios here in tokyo, this is "newsline." i'm james tengan. we take a look at some of the stories we're following. off to jail. south korean prosecutors arrest former president park geun-hye on accusations of corruption.

looking for answers. police continue to investigate following the deadly avalanche in japan. south korea's ousted president is behind bars after she was arrested friday morning as part of the fallout from a corruption scandal. south korean media report prosecutors may indict park geun-hye early next month before the beginning of the country's presidential election campaign. earlier, miki omoto spoke with kim chan-ju, who has been covering the news at the detention center on the outskirts of seoul. >> reporter: park geun-hye is being held inside the detention facility behind me. it's the same facility that's holding at least two other people at the center of the corruption scandal. her long-time friend choi soon-sil and vice chairman of samsung electronics. the facility is heavily protected with riot police. when park was brought here this morning, a group of supporters were already camped out waiting for her. but now only members of the

media remain. police officers are here for possible contingencies as some of park's supporters are scheduled to hold a press conference this afternoon. >> can you run us through the arrest decision, chan ju? >> reporter: park is being investigated for 13 criminal allegations including bribery, extortion and abuse of power. a judge issued the arrest warrant over fears she would destroy evidence. in thursday's hearing, park had tried to plead the case that there was no risk she would do that, but the judge did not agree. park reportedly denied all charges at the hearing which lasted more than eight hours. she can be held here for 20 days, which means she could be here when the country's election campaign officially begins on april 17th. local media are reporting the prosecutors may indict her before then because they're concerned if she's still being

held, it could influence the election. >> you mentioned how some of park supporters took the news. how have others reacted? >> reporter: it's on the cover of every newspaper this morning and on every channel. it's what everyone is talking about. reaction is mixed, but most people support the court's decision. >> translator: park committed huge crimes and disrupted the country so it's natural she has been arrested. she has to reflect on her behavior in jail. >> translator: it's a pity for park but she had to be arrested because she has not been honest. >> translator: she shouldn't have been arrested. it's very sad. i don't believe she received any money. >> reporter: politicians have reacted as well. the largest opposition party says the decision is a fair one.

it also says it will allow people to learn the truth about the scandal. park's former party says it regrets the court's decision. >> it's quite a change for park in a short time. she moved out of a presidential mansion and now she's in a cell. >> reporter: that's right. life is very different for the former president. she'll have a new wardrobe. inmates have to go through a physical checkup before changing into a prison uniform. local media reports park will be given one small advantage. she's likely be given a slightly bigger solitary cell. that's where privilege stops. she will have to eat the same meals as everyone else and will follow the same daily routines. >> chan-ju, thanks. following park's arrest, stable bilateral ties with south korea are necessary for regional peace and stability. >> translator: south korea is an important neighbor with which japan shares a strategic interest. >> kishida referred to the 2015

bilateral agreement to settle the issue of those referred to as comfort women. >> translator: the agreement between japan and south korea was praised by the international community. both countries must take responsibility for implementing it. >> the foreign minister added japan will continue to ask this of the current and future south korean government. chief cabinet secretary yoshihide suga said the japanese government has not decided when to return its senior envoys to south korea. the government recalled the ambassador and a consul-general after a statue of a girl symbolizing the comfort women was installed in front of the consulate-general in busan. most of them were high

school students. >> reporter: relief for family members as the sewol ferry arrives in port. >> translator: now it's time for us to find our children. rather than crying and being sad and depressed, we should be finding our children. so now i'm going to find my child with my own hands. >> reporter: authorities raised the vessel from the sea floor last week. it was loaded on to a transport vessel and carried to shore. officials will now resume looking for nine people who are still missing. they will clean the inside of the ship and make sure it's safe enough to go in. the plan is to move the ferry out of the water and on to the shore.

that's expected to happen. jeong won heung, nhk world. the japanese government has designated the last friday of each month premium friday. march 31st is the second premium friday of the campaign. an event at tokyo national museum marks the occasion. people there are taking the time to enjoy sake and a movie. the last day of march is also the end of the japanese fiscal year. some people are saying they have too much work to do and can't leave early. tokyo based electric equipment firm is recommending its workers take a half day of paid leave on premium fridays. >> translator: i have two

daughters on spring vacation, so we'll go shopping and see a movie. >> translator: i have a deadline for checking paperwork. it's difficult to leave the office early at the end of the month. >> reporter: >> a survey of 2,000 workers suggests only 17% of them left work early on the last premium friday. one important reason they feel it's important to take care of their customers. the campaign will continue but its success will depend on how many more firms are willing to take the plunge. the maker of subaru brand cars have held a ceremony toy mark the changing of its company name. the brand's cars are sold in more than 90 countries. a plate bearing the new company name was unveiled in front of 600 employees at the ceremony in

tokyo. the firm decided on the change at a shareholder's meeting last june. it's an attempt to enhance its brand value. >> translator: changing the company name to subaru expresses our determination to make a new step starting today. >> the company started as nakajima airircraft and became fuji heavy industries. this year marks 100 years since its foundation. checking the markets, tokyo stocks fell lower as profit taking on the last day of fiscal 2016 w weighed on the index. giang nguyuyen has more from th tokyo stock exchange. >> shares opened higher but lost steam after media reports said u.s. president donald trump will sign an executive order to study the causes of u.s. trade deficit. let's take a look at the closing levels for this friday, march 31 of the.

the nikkei closed at 18,909. the broader topix fell nearly 1%. the nikkei posted another weekly loss of 1.8%, falling for the third week in the row and on the month it fell 1%. on to currencies. the dollar jumped on the heels of upward revision of fourth quarter gdp in the u.s.s., brok 112 yen for the first time in ten days, but retreated in the afternoon. looking at individual stocks, exports ended mixed after we saw a retreat of the dollar. tdk and car makers like mazda motor ended higher while nissa ended dodown. toshiba charged ahead on a report it has received a bid for its memory chip business from u.s. companies, amountiting to about $18 billion. i'm giang nguyen, reporting from the tokyo stock exchange n.

china, upbeat data on factory activity was released. pmi stood at 51.8. the better than expected data supported some gains there. shanghai composite added .4% to end at 3,222. the central bank tightened liquidity in the market. in seoul kospi finished at 2160. the rest of the country's former president park geun-hye seems to have little impact on the market. sydney was down half a percent. financials and property shares led the losses. japan's finance minister has weighed in on the financial crisis at toshiba. he says managers at the electronics firm need to move fast to get their business back

on track. toshiba's u.s. subsidiary, westinghouse, has filed for bankruptcy. it has to its losses from the subsidiary before moving on. he said it was inevitable that westinghouse would file for bankruptcy. >> translator: it's c car ta toshiba should rebuild its business in the long run, but it's difficult to see who is making the final decisions. >> aso added bringing everyone into discussions about the country's future cannot work in a crisis situation. westinghouse's filing for bankruptcy has cast a shadow over a couple of nuclear power plant projects currently under way in the united states. we take a look at what went wrong at the company. >> reporter: this is the nuclear plant in georgia, designed by westinghouse. construction is going on around the clock with 5,000 workers on

the site. but at this nearby convenience store, staff says they noticed a change. >> normally it's more busier ththan what it is right now. kind of slow. because last week they laid off around a couple more hundred people. it's steadily going on. >> reporter: richard goldbeck was a mid-levevel manager on th team. he was suddenly dismissed last month. >> they started with upppper management, went to middle management and probably reviewed everybody. they look to make cuts in personnel. >> reporter: goldbeck says some 450 workers were laid off around the same time he was. the layoffs were another sign of serious problems with the project. when toshiba bought westinghouse in 2006, nuclear power was undergoing a renaissance. westinghouse had a long history in the business and toshiba deferred to its expertise. construction of the plant

started in 2013. it was supposed to take three years, but it's only 30% done. safety standards havee changed since the fukushima daiichi nuclear accidentt in 2011. westinghouse extendedd the completion datate another four years. the slowdown is partly dueue to the modular c construction meth. the plant is built in sections at factories in other states and assembled at the site. this is meaeant to save time an cut costs, but in this case there was a shortage of workers with the right skills. as onene state official said, t completed modules were below standard. >> they did not meet thehe standards of excellence that either totoshiba o or westingho or the company expected, or tht the nrc would approve. and so they had to be redone. and they were redone on site. >> reporter: complicating the

delay were the terms of the contract. when westinghouse signed the deal in 2008, it agreed to cap construcuction costs. any additional expense would be boborn by westinghououse. theeinancial b burden on westinghouse and toshiba multiplied when construction took longer and costs mounted. one expert says management should have seen it coming. >> my guess is it was corporate arrogance, that they believed, well, we design this had new design and we'll be able to build this plant really quickly and cheap, relatively cheap. and they weren't, and they were wrong. and now toshiba, as the owner of westinghouse, is bearing the pain. and i think that's fair. >> reporter: westinghouse says the plants will be built. having filed for bankruptcy protection, it is now looking for investors to help it

refinance. that frees toshiba from a loss making business but not from a mountain of debt. nana yamada, nhk world. the u.s. department of commerce is planning to propose anti-dumping on japan, south korea and other countries. this will be the first time the administration of president donald trump slaps punitive duties on japanese products. department officials made the decision on thursday. they say producers there are dumping imports of carbon and alloy steel plates in the united states. tariffs will go ahead if the u.s. international trade commission concludes that the products are harming the u.s. market. wilbur ross says a healthy steel industry is critical to the u.s. economy but it is under assault from foreign producers who dump their exports. he stresses that the u.s. will

have more tariffs. look for nhk world and business wrap for more. that's a look at business news. i'm going to leave you with the markets.

japanese police raided the high school of the teacher who led a mountaineering training when an avalanche struck, killing eight people. theyeyre investitigating whethe there was negligence o on behal of t the teacher. the police searched the high school on friday morning. the seven high school students and teacher who died also belonged to the school. the avalanche struck near a ski resort north of tokyo on monday. about 60 students and teachers from multiple high schools were taking part in the mountain climbing exercise. when an avalanche advisory was issued, the teachers cancelled a planned climb. instead, they had students practice wading through heavy snow. no one was carrying a radio beacon, which is used to help rescuers locate those buried under the snow. the japan sports agency is also investigating. it's looking to see if schools are taking adequate safety measures for winter climbing activities. >> translator: we'll obtain more information through this investigation. and based on experts' advice,

take steps to ensure this doesn't happen again. officials in osaka have investigated private moritomo gakuen over the land deal. an elementary school was being built on a pilot of land owned by the state purchased for a price far below the stated value. it has made headlines because of listenings to prime minister abe and his wife. three different construction estimates. they also looked into government subsidies provided to the kindergarten. the israeli government is approving the construction of a

new settlement in the west bank. it's the first development by israel in the occupied zone in more than two decades. the move is likely to trigger strong protests from palestinians. israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu and key cabinet members made the decision thursday. israel hasn't approved a new settlement there since the 1990s, but it has approved outposts and built more houses in existing settlements. many countries deem the settlements illegal under international law, something israel disputes. u.s. president donald trump urged netanyahu to hold off on settlements. trump sent an envoy there in march ton an apparent effort to resume stalled peace talks. malaysia and north korea have finally reached a deal over the decisive issue of what to do

with the body of kim jong-nam. nine malaysians held in north korea have been allowed to return home. they had been stuck in the north after relations between the two countries had deteriorated. >> when they imposed the travel ban which prevented from leaving,g, we were very concern, especially since we had committed no wrong. >> now that the autopsy prococe has been completed and the body hass been retururned to the democratic people republic of korea, as per the family's reques request. >> chinese officials say what appeared to be the body and three north koreans returned together. laysian pce sayefore they

left officials took statements from them. the two countries have been att odds since the half brother of kim jong-un was killed last month. the north's desire to repair ties with malaysia. the southeast country is an important base for pyongyang's. north korea accuses the u.s. and malaysia of making up a false story. t the presidents o o chien and the u.s. will meet for the first time. xi jinping will visit a r resor in florida own bid donald trump for two days starting ththursda. on the first night, the president and the first lady will host a dinnener for xi and his wife. . >> the president looks forward to meeting with president xi and exchanging views on each other's respective priorities and to chart a way forward on a

bilateral between our two countries. >> urging xi to stop north korea. it has f fired ballistic missil and is preparing for another nuclear test. china is a long-time ally of the isolated nation. trump is also likely to bring up beijing's reclamation projects in the disputed south china sea that has led to increased regional tensions. the two leaders are also expected to discuss trade and currency issues. unseasonal, blistering heat is affecting parts of india, as jonathan oh tells us in world weather. jonathan? >> hello. yes, we are definitely dealing with temperatures slightly above what wee typicallyly s see this of year. we talk about india, yes, we talk about very w warm

temperatures, hot temperatures, especially as we get closer and closer toward summer. but even for current standards, it's still a little bit warmer than what we're supposed to see this time of year. the video at first, you may think, only looks like sun. notice how people have to wrap themselves up to try to protect themselves from the heat because of thehe intense heatt wave tha has swept much of india the last few daysys. unfortrtunately bececause of th heat, already five peoplee have dieded so far due to heat strok. this hotot weather is expxpecte continue for the next few days, with t tperaturess hitting clos to 40 degrees as we go into saturday and sunday. and for those of you who are familiar with the pattern of india, we usually don't talk ababout rain until we get aroun june or so, typically, whenn we see t souththwest monsoon. until that time period. unless there's an unstable pattern that takes place, relatively going to be dry and it's going to be pretty warm

here. hot by some standards. 40 degrees into kanpur into saturday, and even into the capital and chenna ofi into the 30s. in japan we're talking about clouds and rain as a low pressure system is moving through the area, skirting south of the country itself along the pacific side. nevertheless, bringing plenty of moisture into the western areas of kyushu. now we' seeing clouds and rain starting to move into the central areas of japan.n. we're going to need those umbrellas for the overnight hours and even a portion of saturday, looking at that wet weather taking place and cool temperatures to boot in tokyo. we're talking about nine degrees for the high on saturday. and then we see temperatures moving back into the mid teens starting on sunday and going to work, we should see temperatures starting to warm up.

osaka getting dry and warmer as well. in north america, unstable weather for both ends of the united states. the rockies dealing with blizzard concerns into wyoming and we are looking at some strong winds wrapping around a low pressure area out of the rockies. be on the lookout for that. that will lead to the possibility of severe weather chances again for the central plains. be on the lookout for that. the other low pressure system that's had a track of causing severe weather continues to bring the threat for instability into the carolinas and into the midatlantic states. as this system continues to move north and east be on the lookout for very wet weather and thunderstorms as well, stretching from toronto, all the way down into miami. we're looking at rain and extending back to the west in chicago, oklahoma city and denver with raiain and snow int the rockies for friday. as you wrap things up with a look at europe, we are looking at relatively calmer conditions for the central areas of the continent. we do have a low pressure area that i is moving to the british isles, extended cold front will

bring rain and thunderstorms as we go throughout the day friday. paris, madrid, unstable weather to lisbon. another area of rain into warsaw as we go through friday. hope you have a good day wherever you are. here is your extended outlook.x molly: welcome to the "france

newsroom. i am molly hall. the european union outlines its negotiating plan for brexit. lays out donald trump his priorities for the remaining european countries. rex tillerson is an brussels. he is pushing nato allies to increase defense spending. park geun-hye is