he was scheduled to meet with managers from the british oil firm bp. bp leads the gas development project. some officials have questioned whether someone leaked information about the meeting to the militants. friends and relatives of the victims are expressing their sadness and their anger. more from nhk world's keiko abe. >> reporter: rokura fuchida ran building sites around the world. he was 64 years old and retired. then his former bosses asked him to lead one more project in algeria. he wrote about it on facebook before he left. >> translator: i'm working all over the world to see the twinkling, starlit sky. next i will see the stars from the desert in algeria. >> reporter: his brother, mitsunobu, heard about the hostage taking, then waited day after day for a call from rokuro. it never came. >> translator: rokuro was kind and a good brother. i just want to hug him. that's the only thing i want to do. >> reporter: fumihiro ito worked in algeria. he had spent years developing energy resources. he led a project to develop gas fields in sahara desert.

sources with ties to jgc says he was at the site to meet executives from the british oil firm bp which leads the gas development project. the militants said they took him and hundreds of others hostage to pressure france to end its military campaign against islamist forces in neighboring mali. algerian soldiers surrounded the plant soon after the attack. their operation continued for a number of days. at least 37 foreign nationals died during the course of the crisis. a japanese government plane carrying seven survivors and the bodies of nine is now on its way back to tokyo. government representatives say they will repatriate the body of the tenth victim as soon as possible. >>> air self defense force pilots in japan have been more active since the territorial dispute with china heated up. fighter jets were scrambled a record number of times to intercept chinese aircraft approaching japanese airspace most near the senkaku islands. japan controls the territory. china and taiwan claim it. defense ministery spokespersons say 160 scramble missions were ordered against chinese planes during

firms. my book discusses decision making and costly mistakes such as the bp gulf oil spill, fatalities at the massey mining company and hospital medical errors. failures at nonfinancial firms show the same patterns of overbearing or distracted ceos or others such as doctors who make poor decisions without obtaining feedback. cultures that emphasize production without adequate consideration of risk and inept regulators. ceos of large, complex financial institutions need feedback from capable sources. my suggestion here is to apply constructive dialogue to relations between large, complex financial institutions and their supervisors. while regulators may not have the expertise available to large, complex financial institutions, they're in a position to ask simple questions such as about the amount of capital that a firm has allocated to back potentially risky activities or whether the firm or is lowering standards to meet aggressive goals for growth, or the question someone should have asked about chase's london office while it was making large profits and before it took its $5.8 billion loss t

>>> other stories we're watching, first bp paid a massive fine for its role in the 2010 gulf oil spill, and now transocean appears to be following suit. the firmthe deepwater ocean rig will pay $1.4 billion to the government and plead guilty to violating the clean water act. bp, you'll probably remember, paid $4.5 billion back in november. >>> and a remarkable comeback for the auto industry. 2012 was the best year for carmakers since the recession, with the biggest sales jump in three decades. initial figures show ford, gm, chrysler, and toyota all meeting or beating their sales forecast. consumers drove off with $14.5 million new vehicles last year and more than $15 million are expected to move this year, quite a comeback. >>> and starbucks, probably no surprise at this point, is expanding. where this time? in asia. the seattle-based company has announced plans to open its first store in vietnam next month. that follows the company's debut in india just a few months ago. starbucks has more than 3,000 stores across asia and vietnam will be the 62nd country in the world where you can get a venti, half cap, skinny latte, or whatever you prefer.