potent challenge. world leaders discover managing nuclear materials may be harder than they believed. you're watching "newsline." i'm yuko aotani. world leaders trying to find common ground on an issue that spreads well beyond borders. they started day two of the nuclear security summit in seoul. representatives of 53 countries calling for international cooperation to prevent nuclear materials from falling into the wrong hands. u.s. president barack obama

and japanese prime minister noda are among those taking part in the discussions. lee myung-bak opened the meeting saying terrorism has no borders. he has damage from nuclear terrorism will not be limited to one country. the leaders are believed to be looking at the mechanisms for reinforcing how they manage nuclear materials. they want to ensure those substances don't get into the hands of terrorists. they'll also discuss how to prevent attacks on nuclear plants and how best to manage them in light of the fukushima disaster. they'll release a communique later in the day and president lee is expected to speak about what they've accomplished. the summit delegates also addressed north korea's plan to launch a rocket next month. they hope to convince the country to abandon its plan. nhk world's yoji ito has more from seoul. >> reporter: the leaders were turning up the pressure on north korea on monday. u.s. president obama took the strongest stance. he said there will be no -- for

provocations. south korean president lee myung-bak has called for more pressure on north korea. both countries are urging china and russia to use their influence to stop the launch. russia has urged the north korea to exercise self-restraint. china says it's making similar efforts. but north korea is likely to press on with the launch. if new leady kim jong-un is seen giving to external pressure, he'll risk losing the support of the military. how will china react to the launch? the country's opposed any attempt to destabilize the korean peninsula. if china continued to send economic and political assistance to its neighbor, the north may be able to weather the storm. the key will be how much

countries like japan, the u.s. and south korea can get china to back their position. japan's defense minister has ordered the self-defense forces to prepare to intercept debris from the rocket. leaders in pyongyang say the rocket will carry a satellite into space. it is scheduled to lift off some time between april 12th and 16th. part of the device is expected to fly over a chain of islands southwest of okinawa. japanese leaders view the rocket as a long-range ballistic missile. defense minister has ordered the self-defense forces to be prepared to shoot down any debris that seems likely to fall on japanese territory. >> translator: i hope that the defense ministry and sdf will be fully prepared for the launch soon in order to protect japan and its people.

>> the sdf will prepare to deploy pac-3 surface to air missiles toward several target areas. they include okinawa and islands to the southwest and the tokyo metropolitan area. the sdf will also deplea aegis destroyers equipped with sm-3 interceptor missiles in waters off okinawa. over 5 million tibetans live in the tibet alautonomous region and other parts of china. tensions increasing due to tibetans in these areas setting themselves on fire. tibet's government in exile says 12 people set fire to themselves last year. already this year, the number is at 17. they pror testing the chinese government's suppression of religious freedoms. demonstrators have also fought with police resulting in casualties.

china's government claims the dalai lama controls the tibetan government in exile and that its purpose is to separate tibet from china. in response, their government in exile says the chinese have cracked down harshly. it says the only way to protest is self-immolation. the incidents have sparked demonstrations against the chinese government around the world. the chinese media do not report much on the events in tibet live. foreign journalists aren't allowed to report freely on them either. but nhk world managed to file this report from an area where self-immolations have taken place. >> reporter: a lot of tibetans live in the northwestern province of chinghai. atty in tibetan temple, pilgrims and monks follow their routine.

on the surface, everything seems peaceful. but cameras taking in everything. and police cars on patrol also reveal the tension in the area. when asked about the self-immolations, locals keep their opinions to themselves. >> translator: i don't know much about that. >> translator: i'm not supposed to talk about that. >> reporter: but close look inside may offer clues about what some tibetans are feeling. deep inside the precinct, a likeness of the dalai lama adorns the altar. we asked a monk for an explanation. he agreed on condition that we kept his identity a secret. he described how the chinese

sometimes use intimidation on tibetans. >> translator: police officers aim their rifles at us when we're walking in central lasao in the tibet autonomous region. >> reporter: all anti-government protesters get arrested. the authorities refuse to tell even family members where they are detaining the prisoners. >> reporter: the monk raised the issue of tibetans setting fire to themselves.

he said it is the only way they can protest. >> translator: for us, happiness is not about money or possessions. it's spiritual. we are happy if we have religious freedom to train ourselves and worship freely. we are given neither freedom of religion nor speech. most ways of protesting against the government are not available to us here. self-immolation is the only way we can express how we feel. we have no other option but to set ourselves on fire to make an appeal to others. for our message to reach people around the world, all we can do is set ourselves on fire.

>> reporter: the monk also made it clear that many tibetans aren't seeking independence. >> translator: we aren't seeking independence. we are fed up with our constrained life. we are suppressed no matter where we go. >> reporter: the chinese government has described tibetan issue as a core interest. it shows no signs of compromising. even amid mounting criticism from the international community. the government has been trying to hinder frustration by imflifg economy and providing education. but the measures have fallen short as so many tibetans put faith ahead of the material world. makoto oda, nhk world, chinghai province, china.

japan's ruling democratic party is trying to reach an agreement on a planned consumption tax hike. but some members remain strongly opposed. party unity is being put to the test. the dpj wants to double the sales tax rate to 10% by 2015. policy chief maehara said a meeting on tuesday will aim to wrap up preliminary discussions. >> translator: we've been working hard on the issue with prime minister noda. and we'll be incorporating your opinions in order to achieve good results. >> his comment came overnight after seven days of party debate. members discussed a $4.8 billion subsidy for low-income households. the subsidy is meant to ease the burden on a higher tax. but party executives and those opposing the bill were unable to

narrow their differences. one controversial issue is the timing. there's no agreement on how to set the specific economic condition for introducing the tax hike. maehara posed numeric targets but will ensure they propose measures to boost the economy. prime minister noda wants to get a cabinet agreement by friday and get the bill passed during the current diet session. the head of the u.s. central bank says more needs to be don create jobs. he says that will require keeping credit-easing measures in place. federal reserve chairman ben bernanke spoke to a group of economists. bernanke welcomed the decline in the u.s. jobless rate but said unemployment at 8.3% remains far from a normal level. >> moreover, we cannot yet be sure the recent pace of improvement in the labor market will be sustained. conditions remain far from normal as shown, for example, by the high level of long-term unemployment and the fact that

jobs and hours worked remain well below pre-crisis peaks. >> the fed chief said having many people out of work for extended periods could lead to structural problems for the whole economy. he said they'll have more difficulty finding jobs the longer they are unemployed. germany says it may be willing to stomp out more cash for europe's bailout fund. eurozone ministers are meeting later this week. germany's softer stance means they may be able to reach a deal on boosting rescue loans. german chanceler angela merkel on monday signalled a willingness to extend the bailout fund. she suggested raising it by 200 billion euros to 700 billion. eurozone nations are set up the european financial stability facility as a temporary measure two years ago. they planned to set up a permanent rescue fund in july called the european stability mechanism. merkel said it might be possible to run the two funds in parallel

for a couple of years. germany, the biggest donor, has long opposed steing up the bail out fund. many germans are unhappy about shouldering most of the cost of rescuing weaker european partners. and italy is one of those partners. but prime minister mont si trying to convince investors it's now a safe bet. debt has risen to 120% of gdp, but monti had a plan when he took over from silvio berlusconi four months ago. the yield on italian ten-year government bonds rose above 7% just before he took office. those levels would make it difficult for any country to rebuild its finances. so monti got to work with its cabinet to restructure. the yield is now at 5%. monti is making his first official visit to japan. we met with him to ask him about what else he plans to do to get italy back on track. >> monti spent years teaching economics at university and later became a member of the

european commission. he entered the prime minister's office with a mission, to overhaul italy's stagnant economy. >> when this government came to office in italy, we had a twofold objective. number one, to put our own house in order in italy through a very stringent program of budgetary consolidation. and number two, but deeply related was to contribute for italy no longer being a potential source of problems for the eurozone but transforming into an actor for solution of the crisis. and i think we have made good progress in both respects. >> monti set a goal to balance the budget by 2013.

he won parliamentary approval for his austerity package only a month after he took office. the package was worth 30 billion euros, about $39 billion. it included property tax hikes, pension reform and measures to promote competition among pharmacists, lawyers and others. he also wants to make it easier for companies to lay off workers during a downturn. labor unions and other groups hit the streets in protest. monti asked them for their understanding. he said everyone had to share the burden. >> first, we had to convince people that italy could not continue like that. and so that sacrifices were needed in the interest of more solid country and of future growth. but secondly, these sacrifices had to be balanced so that each category in the society was

called to contribute. >> reporter: recent opinion polls suggest his cabinet's approval rating reminds around 60%, despite the tough measures. previous governments have not enjoyed such support. italians share a distrust of their politicians and party politics. they've been swayed by the fact that monti passed over career politicians in choosing his cabinet, in favor of those who understand economics. >> the advantage of somebody who does not seek election is that there is total freedom from any constraint. and so my colleague and i in the government spoke the language of truth so probably it was possible for a nonpolitical government to go deeper and wider in the reform efforts. >> monti is expected to discuss

an economic partnership agreement between the eu and japan during his visit. he says japan needs to take further steps to remove trade barriers. >> i believe that in some respects, there are still hidden obstacles to fully fledged competition. and removing these obstacles would be, i believe, in the interest of the dynamism of the japanese economy and also in the interest of a greater strength of the exchanges between japan and the european union and hopefully would be conducive to positive free trade agreements between these two important parts of the world. >> monti will meet on wednesday with prime minister yoshihi

yoshihiko noda. they are expected to share strategies to promote growth. the operator of the fukushima daiichi power plant is fighting decommissioning damaged reactors could be much harder than expected. spokespersons for tokyo electric power company say the water used to cool one of them isower than. tepco workers inserted an industrial endoscope into the number two reactor. they performed a similar operation in january. this time they found the water was 60 centimeters deep. workers have been injecting nearly nine tons of water per hour into the reactor. melted fuel fell to the bottom of the containment vessel, and they need to cool it. the depth indicates the water continues to leak into the reactor building through suppression chambers under the vessel. the spokespersons say the water

is still cooling the fuel. the water temperature remains at around 48 degrees celsius. the workers may need to do more work than they had planned. they may have to repair the vessel so it can be filled with water. tepco's spokespersons say 80 liters of contaminated water from a storage tank have leaked into the ocean. the water contained radioactive strontium. plant workers identified a leak in a pipe on monday morning. they worked for 20 minutes to plug it. the spokesperson says some 120 tons of water escaped. they say 80 liters flowed into the ocean through the plant's sewer system. workers measured radioactivity near the sewer's outlet. they found 250 becquerels of strontium per liter of sea water. the workers are building a safety barrier along the ocean to contain such leaks. they dealt with a similar incident in december. japanese scientists will

soon begin drilling deep into the sea bed of northeastern japan. their goal is to discover the physical mechanisms behind the earthquake last march. researchers from the japan agency for marine earth science and technology or jamstec are leading the project. they'll be joined by scientists from kyoto university. the team will set off a board a deep sea drilling vessel on sunday to study an area 220 kilometers off the coast. the earthquake moved a tectonic plate in the area by 50 meters. >> translator: we want to study why the plate moved so much and triggered a big tsunami. >> scientists will lower the ship's drill 7,000 meters below the surface. then they'll dig 1,000 meters into the japan trench. and the team will collect rock samples from the sea bed. they'll also measure temperatures to estimate the energy generated by sliding plates.

the researchers say the deepwater survey will be the first of its kind. titanic director james cameron has resurfaced after venturing solo to the deepest known area of the world's oceans. members of the group backing cameron's expedition say he reached the sea floor about 320 kilometers southwest of guam. the director descended more than 10,000 meters in just over 2 1/2 hours. he travelled in a submersible that he helped to design. group members say it's the first time in 52 years that a manned vehicle has reached the deepest point of the mariana trench. cameron spent three hours at the site. he shot 3d footage and collected sediment samples. those samples will be used to research deepsea ecosystems and for geological surveys. and rachel ferguson is up next with weather. >> hi there. yes, we are going to be talking about what's happening as we see

thunderstorms moving in across northern japan. we had a small low pressure system coming in across from china, and it is going to be spreading some strong winds as well as precipitation. this time, though, rain, rather than the snow we were seeing yesterday across the north and into wednesday. it will be moving across towards the pacific edge. might even see some of that coming in towards tokyo. a warmer day tomorrow as well with temperatures coming up by a couple of degrees. now out across central china, you can see those showers moving in. they are going to be spreading and intensifying, turning over to snow towards the north. at the moment, beijing is actually above average. around 20 degrees for the high on tuesday. but there's going to be a shot of cold air coming in and it will be bringing those temperatures down as well as turning the precipitation over to snow. things clearing out for much of indochina. if you can just see this very small pink dot here forming and heading towards southern vietnam, this is a low-pressure system that looks likely to become a tropical depression in the next 24 hours.

we'll keep an eye on that one. also heavy rain continuing to target the central philippines. as we head into north america now, a big system once again targeting the northwest. now this one is going to be bring something heavy rain at the coast. and also significant mountain snow. that could be reducing visibility. the snow will be buffeted about by winds up 80 kilometers an hour. that could impair driving conditions certainly. across the u.s./canada border just here we've got thunderstorms continuing. actually going to be a lot of wintry mix and potentially some freezing rain right along this purple band where you see just north of the great lakes. so some of that could be a little bit nasty. here's where our severe thunderstorms are going to be today in the mid-mississippi valley. and then it's dry, warm and very windy here in the central plains. and that's going to mean fire danger. here are your temperatures then. 27 in oklahoma city. 21 in denver. 22 in chicago. as this system passes, that's going to come right down into

thursday. you are back down into the single digits. already feeling very chilly in the northeast here. 9 in new york city. 3 in toronto and 13 degrees in d.c. a far cry from those 20s -- high 20s you were seeing just last week. and up in the pacific northwest, seattle and vancouver, a little bit chilly today. as we head on into europe, it's the same pattern we were seeing yesterday. the jet stream is arcing right up here towards scandinavia and then dipping down towards the east. so all the precipitation is going to be relegated towards the north and the east. warm and dry here to the west. summer-like temperatures for many of you. and then cool and wet out towards the east. here are your temperatures then. hanging around the freezing point in moscow. so a little bit chilly here. in fact, temperatures are going to be falling as a system heads down towards turkey. so 10 degrees in ankara today. almost 10 degrees cooler than yesterday. but then central locations, 18 in berlin. 19 in vienna. summer-like temperatures. we're even getting into the 20s

in paris and madrid. 18 degrees in london. and i know some places in scotland have been enjoying sunny weather in the low 20s as well. so do enjoy it, if it's you, and i'll leave you with your extended forecast.

now the top news once again. representatives of 53 countries

are meeting on their second day of the nuclear security summit in seoul. they are calling for international cooperation to prevent nuclear materials from falling into the wrong hands. u.s. president barack obama and japanese prime minister noda are among those taking part in the discussions. south korean president lee myung-bak opened the meeting noting that terrorism has no borders. he said damage from nuclear terrorism will not be limited to one country. the leaders are believed to be looking at the mechanisms for reinforcing how they manage nuclear materials. they want to ensure those substances don't get into the hands of terrorists. they'll also discuss how to prevent attacks on nuclear plants and how best to manage them in light of the fukushima disaster. they'll release a communique later in the day. and president lee is expected to speak about what they've accomplished. and that's all for now on this edition of "newsline. "i'm yuko aotani in tokyo.

thanks very much for watching.