doubling down. japanese prime minister noda takes a political gamble and moves ahead with plans to raise the country's consumption tax. you're watching "newsline." i'm yuko aotani. people in japan pay one of the lowestest consumption tax rates in the industrialized world. the government says that has to change. prime minister noda and his cabinet approved a bill that would double the tax to 10% by 2015. and noda says he is trying to dig his country out of debt and save its social security programs. and it's putting his job on the

line to do that. cabinet members approved the bill friday. it passed the legislation would increase the consumption tax in two stages. it would rise to 8% in april 2014 from the current 5% and then on to 10% in october 2015. the increase would be used mainly to fund social security measures. the bill also calls for cash handouts and tax waivers as a way to ease the burden on low-income earners. prime minister noda is expected to hold a press conference later friday to explain his decision. it's a controversial one. and not everyone in his ruling democratic party supports it. and the leader of the dpj's junior coalition partner, the people's new party, says he's leaving the coalition. nhk world's senior commentator joins us now to give his perspective on this story. how necessary is this extra tax revenue? >> well, prime minister noda says that he needs to reduce the

government spending deficit. but the extra tax still won't be enough to balance the budget. japan's fiscal standing is the worst among industrialized or developed nations. its debt is twice its gross domestic product. and it's facing rising social security costs, too. some economists are concerned that japan may face same fate as gra greece and italy. but they're facing criticism from opposition parties and even among members of his own democratic party. they insist that the prime minister noda has not done his homework yet. he promised to maintain fiscal discipline and to make social security more sustainable. and japanese voters also critical. they want noda to cut more wasteful government spending before raising taxes. >> so how will this pushback

affect noda's plans to pass this legislation. >> it's going to make things difficult. japanese diet is still divided. and the opposition control the upper house. the government needs to officials help in order to pass legislations. lawmakers expected to vote on the consumption tax hike bill in june. but some members of noda's own ruling democratic party could reject the legislation. and even if the bill makes it to the upper house, the main opposition leader of the democratic party say they will not cooperate with noda. the prime minister is trying to get them on side by promising to dissolve the lower house and -- election in exchange for passing the bill and enacting the bill. he knows that they think it's in a ready, in a position to regain power. >> then what happens if prime

minister noda can't get the bill passed then? >> prime minister noda staked his political career on passing the bill before the diet wraps up in june. if he loses the bet, he'll have to either resign. if he opts for an election, his party will almost certainly lose majority in the lower house. and it could even lose power. both prime minister and the ruling dpj are very unpopular now. but noda could still stick around even if he fails to get the bill enacted. but in that case, he would be branded as liar. and he will be surely replaced by someone else in the coming dpj leadership election in december. you know, japan has had a revolving door of prime ministers in recent years and now the country might have another one sooner or later. >> thank you masayo nakajima.

japan's self-defense forces have been ordered to shoot down any debris that threatens to crash in their country after a north korean rocket is launched next month. north korea has announced plans to launch a satellite, but japan and other countries believe it will be testing long-range ballistic missile. defense -- japan's defense minister issued the order on friday after meet with ministry and sdf officials. the plan was approved by the government's security council. the sdf will deploy pac-3 surface interceptor missiles set up in okinawa and in the tokyo metropolitan area. the sdf will also position aegis destroyers in waters around okinawa. the destroyers are fitted with sm-3 interceptors. north korea says it will launch a rocket carrying a satellite between april 12th and 16th. the rocket is expected to fly over japan's southern island

chain of sakashima southwest of okinawa's main island. japanese officials are asking chinese authorities to put more pressure on north korea to stop the planned rocket launch. the foreign ministries asian and aseanic bureau chief met with wu daewei. japanese officials are leaning on china because it's long been the north's closest ally. wu says his country is doing all it can to promote a nuclear-free korean peninsula and establish asta bility in the region. sugiyama says if the north proceeds with its plan it will break international rules. >> translator: if north korea goes ahead with the launch, it will be a clear violation of u.n. security council resolutions banning all testing of ballistic missiles. so we have been strongly urging

the north not to make such a violation. >> sugiyama says it will detail the efforts but declined to say whether they'd acknowledge the north's launch would violate u.n. security council resolutions. philippine president aquino has also urged north korea to cancel its planned rocket launch. he expressed grave concern that debris could land on his country. north korea has said the second stage of the rocket will fall into the pacific ocean around 130 kilometers northeast of luzon island in the philippines. >> where no one is exactly sure of the trajectory of the missile. similarly, the debris from the launch may potentially land in our territory -- not only in the korean peninsula but in our entire region. >> the president said the use of ballistic missile technology in any launch violates u.n.

security council resolutions. the philippines says diplomatic relations with north korea but has condemned pyongyang for its past nuclear tests and missile launches. arab league representatives are throwing th support behind blueprint to end the silence in syria. special envoy kofi annan designed the six-point plan which calls for a cease-fire and a withdrawal of heavy weapons and troops from population centers. among other things. arab league leaders held their summit in baghdad. the meeting was meant to show the world the region is united. but divisions still remain. nhk world yujiro futori reports. >> arab league leaders arrived at the presidential palace. however, former summit regulars such as egyptian presidents hosni mubarak and libyan leader moammar gadhafi were conspicuously absent. in their place, new leaders attended the summit who

inherited the reins of government as a result of democratic movements during the past year. topping the agenda was how to deal with the syria where the government continues to crack down on opposition forces. a wide rift has emerged between nations pushing for democracy and those fearing protest movements. >> translator: the arab league should take a firm response to the government clamp down on ordinary syrians. >> translator: the arab league should explore ways to resolve the syrian situation without foreign intervention. >> reporter: after seven hours of debate, the leaders expressed their commitment to help settle the unrest in syria. however, they failed to agree on

concrete steps to cope with this situation. the summit in baghdad was meant to give the impression that the arab world is recovering and being reunited. however, the leaders failed to produce circumstantial result and create a road map for civilization. yujiro futori, nhk world, baghdad. bashar al assad says he'll work to implement the u.n.-backed peace plan. it's the first time that his comments on the plan have been reported. the syrian state-run news agency quoted assad as saying that his country will spare no effort to ensure the success of the peace proposal. assad also reiterated a session that anti-government forces are terrorists who are receiving arms and financial assistance from foreign countries. he said their acts must be stopped. fighting continued on thursday in syria. government troops attacked anti-government forces in homs

and other cities. a local human rights group says at least 50 people have been killed in the last two days. for most chinese born to poor farming families, the odds of getting a college education are just about zero. unless something is done, they'll miss out on all the benefits of china's advancing economy. but in this report, we see that something is being done for some young chinese. nhk world kengo komoto has this story. >> reporter: she's the eldest daughter in a farming family. when she was a small child, her father lost his eyesight. her elder brother left home to work in the city after

graduating from junior high. between helping with the family and household chores, susu managed to finish senior high. about two years ago, her mother became ill and died. since then, the family has found it harder to make ends meet. susu wanted to study at university to become a doctor. she passed the entrance exam for the university she most wanted to attend. but susu wasn't able to pursue her studies. >> translator: my family would have had to borrow money for my tuition. i didn't want them to do that. >> translator: i blame myself for not making it possible for my daughter's study at university. >> reporter: more than 5 million residents of guizhou province live in poverty.

the region has the lowest per capita gdp in all of china. last year, a private college opened in a mountain community. it is about 50 kilometers south of the province's central city. 200 students from all over are enrolled in the college's three-year program. many of these students are having trouble with the cost of living. they can't afford three meals a day, but why can they study at college? that's because they have free tuition. sengui founded the college. he's been involved in teaching i.t. for over 30 years. an i.t. business group in taiwan funds the college. it screened applicants on the basis of their academic records.

it also considered the family's financial status. susu applied here and was admitted. last year, nearly 90% of the students, including susu, did not have to pay tuition. she lives in a dormitory and the college pays part of her living expenses. >> translator: we must help these people free themselves from poverty. providing a good education and job opportunities is an effective way of doing that. >> diana, number two. rule number two. >> the college puts a high priority on teaching english. about 30 volunteers have come from countries like the u.s. and britain to teach english. >> it's true they don't have a lot of money, but these students are very rich in their hearts

and there thein their minds. they have a desire to do more and to try to be more. >> reporter: i.t. firms also play a hand in helping the students get ahead. before now, the students had never had access to i.t. now they each have a laptop computer leased by the college. susu is studying hotel management. the college is tying up with major hotels and i.t. firms ready to employ graduates. it's a good incentive for susu to achieve her goals. >> translator: i'm really happy. getting higher education on such a beautiful campus. it's like i'm dreaming. i'm determined to study even

harder to please my blind father. >> translator: our students have good characters and work hard. they are controlling their destiny. they can turn things around. i hope they'll be able to use what they learn here to land jobs and become respected members of society. >> reporter: it ensures that students in this out of the way part of china won't be left out of the country's expanding economy. >> kengo joins us from beijing. what kind of education does the college focus on? >> well, yuko, the college specializes in vocational training. in doing so, the institution ignores the critics who say colleges and universities should provide a scholastic education. sun wei insists the biggest priority is helping graduates become employed so they can escape poverty.

he puts great value in teaching students to behave well and gain society's respect. for example, the curriculum includes an activity that the college calls labor. four times a week, the students must do chores like cleaning. this is to teach them that they can't make any gains without labor. the college is one of the few in china to include manual labor in its program. the college plans to accept 1,000 students this year, a fivefold increase from last year. sun wei and his colleagues will keep educating young chinese. they don't want young people to be denied a college education because they are poor. >> thank you kengo okamoto in beijing.

some japanese economic indicators for february came out on friday. let's start with how the job market is looking. the unemployment rate improved slightly. the internal affairs ministry says the adjusted job rate today at 4.5%. that's down 0.1% from january. the number of people without jobs was about 2.9 million while people with jobs stood at over 62 million. separately, the labor ministry says job availability also improved. it marks the ninth straight month of increases. 75 positions were available for every 100 job seekers. the labor ministry went on to say the overall job market is showing signs of improvement but it says a mismatch between supply and demand remains in the disaster hit northeast. japanese's industrial output in february fell by 1.2% from the previous month. that's a fall for the first time in three months. the industry ministry said on

friday that the seasonally adjusted output index for factories and mines stood at 94.1. that's a reference value of 100 set for 2005. this was due to lower production of aughtos and digital products. the ministry released its forecast at the same time. it says the index will rise in march and the upward trend will continue. the production activities expected to rise ch and 0.7% in april. meanwhile, consumer prices rose in february posting the first rise in five months. the internal affairs ministry said the consumer price indix was up 0.1% from a year ago. an increase in the price of televisions pushed the index up. this is the first increase since 2006. rises in energy costs were also a factor that pushed up the index. the index does not reflect volatile fresh food prices.

they expect the world economy to improve in the first half of this year. but expresses caution about the high prices of crude oil. the oecd released its latest interim economic assessment on thursday. it says europe's outlook remains weak due to its debt problems but the u.s. economy will likely show strong growth. on the global economy overall it forecasts an improvement compared to the second half of last year. on japan, the oecd revised upward its previous prediction made in november as the yen has retreated from record highs shown recently. the oecd estimates the japanese economy has likely grown 3.4% in annual terms in the first three months of this year. but for the april to june period it says growth will slow to 1.4%. meanwhile, the report warns rising prices of oil could push up the prices levels across the oecd by a quarter of a percent. high oil prices could drive down global economic growth by up to

0.2% this year and next. recently we've seen positive economic data and rising stock prices in the u.s. americans encouraged by those numbers, but many others have doubts about whether this momentum is sustainable. our business reporter spoke with one of the leading economists in the u.s. to get his perspective. >> nice to meet you. >> nice to meet you. >> glenn hubbard served as chairman of council of economic advisers under president george w. bush. he's now the dean of columbia business school. he's skeptical about where the economy is headed. >> in normal times you'd say, well, that's not so bad. but it's terrible coming off of a very deep recession. and then if i add to that the enormous uncertainty that's being created in public policy, in oil prices, in events around the world, i'm very worried about growth prospects. >> hubbard says oil prices in

particular could derail growth. >> high oil prices pose a continued risk to consumer spending. they act like a tax on consumers. and we know consumer spending has already been weak in response to weaknesses in housing prices which are big determinant of consumer spending. >> against the back drop of improving economic conditions, speculation of further monetary easing has abated. should we not expect more easing steps by the fed? >> well, i think fed officials, including chairman bernanke have been only guardedly optimistic about the economy's outlook. you certainly see that in the chairman's speeches, in the fed's promise to keep interest rates low for essentially the next two-plus years. so i wouldn't rule out additional action by the fed. >> hubbard says easing monetary policy comes at a cost. he warns americans face the risk of inflation. >> well, certainly the policy has been helpful for the economy but its a question of degree and

the risks are mounting. the rusk include future inflation, the threat to the profitability of the entire financial services industry, the harm to savers that's being done from extremely low levels of interest rates, and the fed, of course, is understanding all of these threats. personally, i think the threats are more severe than the fed believes. >> and hubbard says the fed is being asked to do too much, that it's carrying too much of the load. he says the obama administration needs to rethink its fiscal policy. there's a tropical storm in southeast asia. let's go to rachel ferguson to get the details on that. >> hi there. yes, we're looking at our first tropical storm of the season. it is just east of vietnam down towards the south. this massive cloud here. now it is intensifying at the moment. 72 kilometer an hour winds with gusts over 100 kilometers an hour. it's moving slowly. that's not a good thing when talking about these kinds of

systems because it means the heavy rain they produce will be falling over pretty much the same area for a prolonged period of time. so if we have a look at the next 72 hours, you can just see this yellow creeping in to the southeastern coast of vietnam. that's going to be upwards of 300 millimeters of rain. very, very heavy rain. and even after it makes landfall, which is expected to do in the early hours of sunday morning, actually a stronger system, as a severe tropical storm it probably will be still producing very heavy amounts of rain for some time after making landfall. so very heavy rain and likelihood of flooding potentially. mudslides and landslides as well. heavy rain has also been impacting parts of southeastern and eastern china. this is going to start to wind up as the system pulls away. the rain's got to go somewhere. into saturday it's going to be pushing across much of japan. up towards the north, however, rather than rain storms it's going to be snow. winter storm moving across northeastern china. and coming in towards hokkaido.

heavy snow forecast on sunday. let's go now to north america where we're also going to be seeing some snow. but i think the focus is going to be on the very heavy amounts of rain moving in toward the northwestern coast. anywhere you're seeing in the red here widely over 100 millimeters of rain is expected. but in some areas, you're going to be seeing more than 250, maybe even 270 millimeters are rain just in a 48-hour period. moderate to major flooding is definitely a possibility, particularly for parts of southern oregon down in toward northern california. we also have some severe storms to talk about today. just around the small low. this system has a history of bringing large hail and also tornadoes. it's moving today just south of the great lakes. so this is the hot spot today. expect strong gusts and those thunderstorms as well as the potential for tornadoes. and again, large hail. temperatures are going to be above average still across quite a wide area. denver, 25 degrees for your high today. 28 in oklahoma city as well as

in houston, texas, and miami. atlanta, 24 for you. slightly cooler towards the north. 14 in chicago. just 4 in toronto and 9 in seattle as well as in vancouver. all right. lastly, we go to europe. europe is still going to be pretty much the same as it has been most of the week. however, the -- we're starting to see some cooler and wetter conditions dropping into central europe. so keeping it dry towards the west, but pretty unstable out towards the eastern and central portions of the continent. the heaviest rain will be targeting northern parts of turkey. also some rain moving into iberia from the south which is definitely a very good thing. we've had extended drought conditions here. however, some of the storms could be a little bit on the severe side with heavy rain coming down on dry land. the potential for possibly flash flooding here. temperatures are set up like this. still above average out to the west but pretty much on target for this time of year elsewhere across the continent.

i'll leave you now with your extended forecast. and that's all for now on this edition of "newsline."

i'm yuko aotani in tokyo. thanks for watching.