perched on the pacific rim, singapore has attracted investments by multinational corporations and builtself into one of the region's most successful economic tigers. the region of southeast asia and south pacific includes the continent countrya while several of this region's aeconomic tigersc we will see how australia's physical geographyrces, aus. has influenced its economy and explore its changingemograics. and stngthened its aits asian connecon,rope austraa seeksto make et of its location along the pacific m. australia is a dry land. two-thirds of the continentis et or semidesert. but is vast, arilandscape has lo been the foundation of australia's economy. while much of the enviroent is harsh, large areas of the interior are suitable for grazing cattle and sheep. ( cows mooing ) and beneath the ground are coal, iron, gold. trade in minerals and wool have long spurred aust. man: when you've got the quality of resources, the quality of agricultural lands that exist in australia, you are always going to compete well on worlmarkets. and austraa's early economic development in the 20th ce

the tokyo megalopolis stretches down miles of pacific rim coastline.orkers in tokyo and the surrounding area will continue to rely on the intricate and efficient web of public transit train routes to navigate this ever expanding mega-city. captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org

it's a pacific rim book prize in which books come from asia and all over the pacific rim. in the last 11 years it's been a prize we read so many books that have come from voices of new writers. i'm always amazed and they are writing different storers i wrote when i started. all the people have come through now. if you look at the list of indian and japanese authors and chinese authors it's now we are very much diverse. i think for a long time we weren't. i thank you for that question. if i keep going i will never get another question. [laughter]. >> thank you for samurai's garden. i read it had it first came out and it's wonderful to be rereminded. >> thank you. and thank you for coming. you know jump off, i was samurai's garden, i said it was an energizer bunny. danville shoes samurai's garden the end of last year. they had the danville theatre which is a nice theatre and they were doing roamioand juliette and there was me in the middle of a balcony. it was a nice audience when i walked in my brain was exat that timic, look at the people here. it's almost as good as last

. >>> nine pacific rim countries that make up the trans-pacific partnership are currenting holding tradeotiations in australia. the talks began on march 1st and include the united states, australia, new zealand and six other countries. some nations see the tpp as a way to counter the economic influence o china and, as nhk world reports from vietnam, there is a growing sense of urgency. >> vietnam is one of the countries taking part in the tpp negotiations. it also shares a border with china. china and asia launched a free trade agreement two years ago. within a year china had become vietnam's largest trading partner. vietnam's primary exports to china are commodities such as grains, meat and seafood. >> translator: our ek port to china are growing. that's because vietnamese products are cheaper. >> reporter: but vietnam now imports more from china than it exports. assembled or processed goods such as electronics and still made in china are filling the deficit. >> translator: there's a constant stream of household electrical appliances made in china. >> reporter: vietnam fears its economy

. >> nine pacific rim countries that make up the transpacific partnership are currently holding trade negotiations in australia. the talks began on march the 1st and include the united states, australia, new zealand and six other countries. some nations see the tpp as a way to counter the economic influence of china and as nhk world reports from vietnam, there is a growing sense of urgency. >> reporter: vietnam is one of the country's taking part in the tpp negotiations. it also shares a border with china. china and asean launched a free trade agreement two years ago. within that year, china had become vietnam's largest trading partner. vietnam's primary exports to china are commodities such as grains, meat and seafood. >> translator: our exports to china are growing. that's because vietnamese products are cheaper. >> reporter: but vietnam now imports more from china than it exports. a semiabled or processed goods such as consumer electronics still made in china are feeding the deficit. >> translator: there's a constant stream of household electrical appliances made in china. >> repor

and japan wanted to dominate all of the pacific rim. that doesn't exist today. there's an entirely different dynamics of what world war ii was about. we got in the war by accident. we got in the war when japan decided that they wanted to knock out all the ships that were going to embargo the oil that we were shipping and that they needed. and we got into war with germany by mistake because hitler made the biggest error that he made in world war ii. he declared war on america eight days after pearl harbor. i don't believe america would have ever declared war on germany. and england was a very last sphere of a democratic nation on the earth in 1941 when pearl harbor was bombed. and america didn't get in the war with europe until they declared war on us. so the scope and the dynamics of the world today are entirely different than what was going on then. >> unfortunately we've reached the end of our time with our distinguished panel this morning. if you'd please again join me in thank our veterans for their service to this country. [ applause ]

deal and will also allow nuclear inspectors back into its facilities christine hong professor of pacific rim studies at santa cruz university says north korea is willing to give up its nuclear ambitions for international credibility. north korea's nuclear ambitions have to be all some kind of historical context. and normalized. and it is easy. to you know risk. north. since too much need all the international currency ensuring the world community economically and. well it's time to attack is going on a world of business regimes here and we're trading markets around the world are negative is russia also doing for a decline of the opening trait what do you think well really it's hard to speculate of course but it looks more like most likely that way as you just said the russian markets will open on a negative note this will happen around forty minutes time what we're seeing right now is all of the global markets in the decline including asia the nikkei was the only index pretty much around the world we saw in positive territory the previous hours now down zero point one percent same down half

we have a strategic location on the gloarks obviously, so close to russia, so close to pacific rim countries. and our strategic location, ultimately does help to secure our nation. alaska has a lot to offer. newt recognizes that and spoke to alaskans about it. and that bodes well for him and allows him to respect his position in this presidential campaign. but alternates a very small process nterms of numbers participating, up here in a closed caucus. it's a presidential preference poll that is taken. out of our entire population, only about 14,000 people are able to participate and you have to be registered as a republican to participate in the process up here in choosing the nominee. people like my husband, todd, who is an independent alaskan and independent patriotic american, he can't participate in the process because it is closed. >> it's also fascinating that when you take the state of alaska and you pit it on the lower 48, it's almost half the size of the lower 48 n. caucuses, they will be held all over the state and in remote areas and the organizational aspect is quite different fr

the administration announced a new focus on the pacific rim. working hard to ensure that the pivot to asia is not an empty one. the administration calls it a strategic pivot. i call it a head fake. a pair of it implies that you have some body weight behind a movement. the pivot implies that you have some body weight behind the movement. we will do our utmost to ensure the strategic shift is a viable and does not place our troops at unnecessary risk. there is no disagreement that it is a vital region. we should be worried about china when the just announced another double-digit increase in their defense spending. we spend about half of our base defense budget on personnel, investing in their health care, education, living allowances for our troops. china buys things that shoot and they can buy far more for their dollar that we can. we must do our utmost to reverse the defense cuts enshrine in the budget control act. to help in surepivot to asia is not hollow. that means reinvesting in modernization for our air force, navy. we will see to moderni

really predict where this thing might go and if it falls into any one of those countries in the asia pacific rimapan, south korea, the philippines, indonesia, it could cause casualties and damage on the ground. this could be a regional crisis nobody knows, john. >> barbara will be helping us track this in the days ahead if we watch to see if they carried through with the launch. barbara, thanks so much. >> sure. >> this just in to cnn. they condemned the half century old u.s. trade embargo of cuba. his remarks came after he met with the former leader, fidel castro. they spoke of the pope celebrated mass for a crowd of about 300,000 cubans. patrick was in havana tonight. the pope's message somewhat controversial. what was the reaction to it? >> absolutely. it really depended on what section of the cube ban population you belonged to. catholics that had a tough, tough road over the years and are finally seeing the light where they have greater renlus freedom. they felt it was a reaffirmation of their faith. for people in the cuban government, they said there is not going to be any political change

pacific. canadaprecitates in rim pack, and every single time that that has been -- that's the largest maritime exercise in the world. canada is one of only two countries that has been there every single time that rimpac has happened. to be operable with us, to cross deck with our ships and our submarines, to cross deck with our aircraft in terms of training, in terms of doctrine, in terms of operations in how we do it, if i could wave my magic wand, i think i would be pretty close to where we are today, which is closely cooperative, which is making sure that we do exercise together, making sure that our platforms are compatible, making sure that our -- both leadership officers, but also our total force, knows how each other operates by common education, common training and that we approach the pacific together as partners and not as two separate nations going into that region alone. yes, sir. >> thank you. my name is matthew eric. i'm a journalist within the united states. i was going to pose my question in regards to some of the military buildups that we've been seeing right now across the pa

to focus more on the pacific rim area, china is responding by spending more money on its military. that's something that bears watching, too. >> all right. >> the growth number, i was trying to do the number in my head. how does that compare? >> it's 2% for us. 0% for the eu and gas prices came out, they're up again, surprise, surprise. 0%, 2%. >> i'm sure she's talking. did you see me? >> i forgive you. i forgive you. >> since i've never done that in my life. thank you, appreciate it. >>> 16 minutes past the hour. time to check stories making news this morning. ten states and 437 critical delegates up for grabs on super tuesday tomorrow. a new nbc/"wall street journal" poll shows mitt romney gaining support from likely republican voters and conservatives. >>> and that fast-moving tornadoes that hit on friday killing 39 people in five states. the latest victim, this little girl. an indiana toddler who had become a symbol of hope, little angel. she survived after being thrown into a field 100 yards from her home. her whole family was wiped out. >>> israeli prime minister benjamin ne

. >>> throughout the pacific rim, people are observing the anniversary of the japanese earthquake and devastateed by the disaster as residents prayed. the sound served as a reminder of the emergency sirens what warned people to evacuate last march 11th. in tokyo japan's prime minister bowed and placed flowers at a national memorial. the country held a moment of silence, the moment when that earthquake hit. >> and i feel the grieving families pain and i can not express my sorrow enough. >> more than 19,000 people died in the disaster. 325,000 survivors are still living in temporary housing. because of damage and fears of a meltdown, only two of japan's 54 nuclear reactors are now running. >>> san francisco will hold a community vigil for japanese disaster victims today. that interfaith service will be in japantown from 2:00 do 4:00 p.m. there is going to be a moment silence at 2:46 pacific time. the title of that even is a community remembrance, our hearts to japan. >>> good morning to you. a gloomy start to the day. look at this shot, just a blanket of clouds overhead. we have rain on

have the forces to stay strong in critical regions the administration announced a new focus on the pacific rim. i am also working hard to ensure that the hitherto asia is not an empty one. now the administration calls it a strategic pivot. i call it a -- a pipit implies that you have some body weight behind a movement. though the administration says we are shifting to asia, they are actually reducing the number of ships and planes we have available to respond to crises anywhere. we will do our must to ensure the strategic shift is viable and does not place our troops and unnecessary risk. there is no disagreement that it's a vital region. we should be worried about china when they just announced another double-digit increase in their defense spending. we spend about half of our base defense budget on personnel, investing in their health care, education, living allowances for our troops. china buys things they shoot and they can buy far more of that for their dollar then we can. so we must do our a must to reverse the defense cuts in the budget control act to help ensure that hitherto asia is n

it's to do a demonstration at the rim of the pacific exercise in july off the coast of hawaii. using surface ships and aircraft off our carrier there. but the whole point of this is to establish a competitive industry and the navy will not be buying commercial quantities of biofuels or anything else that is not commercially competitive in price. but it takes a little while to get there and one of the things the navy can bring is a market for these fuels. of. >> but the figure that i have heard, i thought it was a quote from you that eventually you'll need 330 million gallons a year of alternative fuels to meet your goal of 50%. is that correct? >> yes, sir. >> so you'd be talking about 660 million gallons. you apply your $10 to that. this is a huge amount. >> i'm not going to apply the $10 to that because when we get to that level, it will have to be the alternative fuel will have to be competitively priced with the fossil fuel that is being blended with. >> okay. not to get into that right now, but for the record i want you to send me what you just now said and show the docume

it's 450,000 gallons of biofuel that we bought to do a demonstration at the rim of the pacific exercisen july off the coast of hawaii, using surface ships and aircraft off our carrier there. but the whole point of this is to establish a competitive industry and the navy will not be buying commercial quantity of biofuels or anything else that is not commercially competitive in price. but it takes a little while to get and there one of the things the navy can bring is a market for these fuels. >> but the federal government that i heard, i thought it was a quote from you, you'll need 330 million gallons a year of alternative fuels to meet your goal of 50%. is that correct >> yes, sir. >> that would be 50%. you're talking 660 million gallons. you apply your $10 -- >> i'll apply $10 to that. when we get to that level it will have to be the alternative fuel left to be competitively priced with fossil fuel that success blended with. >> okay. not to get into that right now but for the record i want to you send me what you just now said and send me the documentation. that's not the way i read it

have the forces to stay strong in critical regions the administration announced a new focus on the pacific rim. i am also working hard to ensure that the pivot to asia is not an empty one. now the administration calls it a strategic pivot. i call it eight -- a pivot implies that you have some body weight behind the movement. though the administration says we are shifting to asia, they are actually reducing the number of ships and planes we have available to respond to crises anywhere. we will do our utmost to ensure the strategic shift is viable and does not place our troops at unnecessary risk. there is no disagreement that it's a vital region. we should be worried about china, when they just announced another double-digit increase in their defense spending. we spend about half of our base defense budget on personnel, investing in health care, education, living allowances for our troops. china buys things they shoot and they can buy far more of them for the dollar then we can. so we must do our at most a reverse the defense cuts in the budget control act. to help ensure the pivot to asia is n

the administration announced a new focus on the pacific rim. i am also working hard to ensure that the pivot to asia is not an empty one. the administration calls it a strategic pivot. i call it a head fake. a pair of it implies that you have some body weight behind a movement. -- the pivot implies that you have some body weight behind the movement. we will do our utmost to ensure the strategic shift is a viable and does not place our troops at unnecessary risk. there is no disagreement that it is a vital region. we should be worried about china when the just announced another double-digit increase in their defense spending. we spend about half of our base defense budget on personnel, investing in their health care, education, living allowances for our troops. china buys things that shoot and they can buy far more for their dollar that we can. we must do our utmost to reverse the defense cuts enshrine in the budget control act. to help in surepivot to asia is not hollow. that means reinvesting in modernization for our air force, navy. we will s