i'm catherine kobayashi with the stories this hour. the japanese high court will decide on wednesday whether our not two reactors at a nuclear plant can continue operating. the plant in the southwestern part of the country has drawn safety concerns from a citizen group. the high court is to give its judgment on an appeal by a group of people who live near the sendai plant. the residents are seeking an injunction to halt the number one and number two reactors, because of perceived safety issues. a district court turned down the petition in april last year, prompting them to file the appeal. the residents argue the plant operator underestimated the maximum strength of seismic jolt that could hit the plant. an eruption could trigger a serious accident. the operator, electric power company, insists its earthquake measure measures are correct. a mega eruption is extremely low

>>> hello there, welcome to "newsline," it's catherine kobayashi in tokyo. >>> it's expected to be back up and running along the entire rule, it could reconnect northern and southern parts of the island after a break of almost two weeks because of deadly quakes in consume amemento. the line linking through kumamoto to, it normally takes trains less than an hour and a half to cover the nearly 260 kilometers. the entire line was shut down. it derailed an out-of-service train and damaged various parts of the line. by saturday service was up for two thirds of it. but one route remained suspended because of the derailed train. now, kyushu railway company says it has removed it and the test runs wednesday morning are confirmed safe, the first train will leave in the afternoon. service will not be completely normal, though, the trains will travel more slowly on some sections and stop at every station. there will also be fewer trips than usual. now, the quakes also damaged thousands of houses and others bum in the kumamoto area, and residents are busy cleans up, but they have to contend with a

i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. >>> residents in kumamoto are still coming to grip with the aftermath of disastrous earthquakes. thursday marks two weeks. meteorological officials are officials are worried about landslides. as of thursday. had had the region. the first was a magnitude 6.5 that hit the town. just over a day later, the magnitude 7.3 hit again, as well as a neighboring village. officials say 49 people were killed and one is still missing. 16 others have died since then, possibly because of the physical burden of evacuating. more than 36 those peoples are in shelters and thousands cut off from water supplies. some schools have started classes and lunch service for students. >> translator: it's nice to have lunch with my friends. i want to study hard again. >> teachers spoke to them about their health. city officials want to resume classes at all schools in the next couple of weeks. >>> japan's kyushu shinkansen bullet tran is now running its entire route and is raising some people's spirits. >> translator: people think the reopening there speed up recovery. it's encouragi

it is friday, april 8, i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. we begin with the business news. 17 month low against the yen. let's go to ai uchida. where is it now? >> the dollar/yen has recovered to the 108 mark. overnight in new york, it did dip below, and that's the level we haven't seen since october 2014. now, the greenback's latest slide began after policymakers are cautious about another rate rise. this prompted many investors to sell the u.s. currency, and that has impacted global markets. now we're going to get all the current levels from our very own ramin mellegard. good morning. tell us what you're seeing. >> good morning, to you. evident in the currency markets from what we've seen investors really piling into what they consider safer assets. let's go over the levels right now as well. the dollar fell below 108. now trading at 108.50 to .55. it was trading at 111 in early february. you can see the huge difference there. let's check out u.s. shares played out as well. the dow jones industrial average ended at 17,541. almost 1%, tech

it is wednesday, april 13th i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. voters heading to the polls in south korea to pick parliament in a general election. her ruling party's imagine suffered in the run up because of the division of members. all 300 seats in the national assembly are up for grabs. park's party has been criticized for internal feuding between the supporters and opponents and during the selection process. the party is expected to win a majority. the focus is on how many more seats it can add. the people's party, which split from the main opposition minju party is gaining momentum and on course to win more seats, keeping its promise to break up the two party system. vote counting will begin after the polling station closes at 6:00 p.m. local time. they're expect today be known around 10:00 p.m. chinese advicepre puerto ri prec dialogue with japan. the leader of the two countries had agreed to resume talks earlier this year. he met the friendship organization in beijing on tuesday. sources close to the delegation to the resumption of the jap

"newsline," it is thursday, april 7th, i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. the search is ramping up for an air self-defense force jet that went miss anything southwestern japan. the aircraft carrying six members lost, defense ministry officials say the plane dropped off the radar about 80 minutes after it took off from a base in con con. >> translator: we will continue to do everything we can to find the aircraft and the six people on board. >> on thursday morning, self-defense forces started conducting a large scale search. personnel has been dispatched. a defense ministry official said theres with a report that smoke was seen rising near the peak of a mountain about ten kilometers north of the base. they're trying to confirm whether the smoke has anything to do with the missing aircraft. >>> fall jaut from tout from th papers continues. several country have started inquire he is from the link of information from the rich and famous to off shore tax havens. in switzerland, governing body, uefa, they raided the offices in order to secure evidence. they're lo

i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. the ruling party in south korea set to lose the majority following the election. a big blow for the president remaining two years in office and the party's prospects for the 2017 presidential vote. kbs reported early thursday that expected to take 121 out of 300 seats in the parliament. that's down by 25 seats from its preelection strength. >> translator: there will be no >> they're on course to take the largest proportion of seats with 123. the opposition splinter party, the people's party, is expected to take 39. neither has the intention to form a coalition with senoi. >> i think the citizens voted on how bad the economic policies of the party's administration are. >> the ruling party was embroiled in a feud in a run-up. it would be the first time in 16 years the ruling party becomes a minority. it could affect the government's implementation of the agreement reach with japan in december on the issue of those referred to as comfort women, as handling of north korea. >>> officials f

i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. thanks for joining us. >> greetings from berlin and welcome to our highlights edition, which shapes up this time around with the following top stories. austrian eva walkner is one of the world's best freeriders. instaminiseries are an up and short and sweet coming way to , use video on the internet. digital innovations revolutionize the tourism industry. >> and we start off with a female athlete with guts to spare, eva walkner of austria. she is both a sports journalist and a professional freerider, which means she spends most of her time skiing off-piste, and

i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. u.s. president obama is planning to increase america's military presence in syria. he says he's deploying more u.s. troops to the country to maintain momentum against islamic state militants. >> and we continue to make progress. pushing isil back from territory that it controlled. so given the success, i've approved the deployment of up to 250 additional u.s. personnel in syria, including special forces to keep up this momentum. >> obama made the announcement in hannover, germany. he urged european states to step up the fight against isil. >>> the bid for japan to win a contract with australia for a submarine fleet has failed. they are planning for 12 new subs to go into service after the year 2030. the contract is worth at least $38 billion. sources close to the matter say australian ministers told their japanese counterparts that japan was not chosen by phone on monday. japanese officials pitched the deal as a potential step towards strengthening cooperation with australia as china incre

i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. thanks for joining us. xxxx óxóoóx announcer: "euromaxx highlights ." here is your host. >> welcome to the program from our studios here by the brandenburg gate. thanks for tuning in. let's get this show on the road with a look at our topics. detailed designs. the creations of british fashion label teatum jones. painful play. a berlin exhibition shows videogames with a twist. and musical meeting. italian pianist marino formenti and his experimental performances. the international woolmark prize is of great significance to young designers around the world -- world. back in the 50's when the award was first established, it went

i'm catherine kobayashi. >>> a renewed push is being made for nuclear disarmament. they met in hiroshima, the first city destroyed by an atomic bomb. japan's delegate is prepared to mediate between nuclear and nonnuclear countries. foreign minister fumio said he will be in the negotiations. >> translator: they must act to foster the cooperation needed to achieve concrete, practical results. japan fits the requirements as the only nation to have experienced atomic bomb igs. >> the g-7 foreign ministers saw reminders of the 1945 bombing in hiroshima's peace memorial park monday. they include the u.s., britain and france who possess nuclear weapons. they issued a declaration that focuses on nuclear disarmament and nonproliferation. many nonnuclear weapons states are calling for a ban on nuclear arms. but nuclear powers oppose the idea. >>> the plan to move a u.s. marine base in japan's okinawa prefecture would set in motion exactly 20 years ago. but the question of where it should be relocated is still fiercely debated by the prefecture and the central government in to

"newsline," it is thursday, april 7th, i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. the search is ramping up for an air self-defense force jet that went miss anything southwestern japan. the aircraft carrying six members lost, defense ministry officials say the plane dropped off the radar about 80 minutes after it took off from a base in con con. >> translator: we will continue to do everything we can to find the aircraft and the six people on board. >> on thursda

i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. >>> residents in kumamoto are still coming to grip with the aftermathes. thursday marks two weeks. meteorological officials are officials are worried about landslides. as of thursday. had had the region. the first was a magnitude 6.5 that hit the town. just over a day later, the magnitude 7.3 hit again, as well as a neighboring village. officials say 49 people were

i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. the ruling party in south korea set to lose the majority following the election. a big blow for the president remaining two years in office and the party's prospects for the 2017 presidential vote. kbs reported early thursday that expected to take 121 out of 300 seats in the parliament. that's down by 25 seats from its preelection strength. >> translator: there will be no

i'm catherine kobayashi. >>> a renewed push is being made for nuclear disarmament.in hiroshima, the first city destroyed by an atomic bomb. japan's delegate is prepared to mediate between nuclear and nonnuclear countries. foreign minister fumio said he will be in the negotiations. >> translator: they must act to foster the cooperation needed to achieve concrete, practical

i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. world leaders from more than 50 countries are in washington for a summit dedicated to preventing the use of nuclear weapons. before it kicked off, u.s. president obama met with asian leaders. he met with shinzo abe, and south korean president for the first time in two years. >> we agreed during this meeting that tri lateral in northeast asia, deterring the north korean nuclear threat and the potential of nuclear. >> they agreed to jointly deal with the islamic state militants. obama held talks with china's president. for more, we go to washington, covering the talks. he joins us live. shuhe, what did the talks come up with? >> reporter: yes, the three leaders agreed to enhance security and defense ties, prime minister abe called the nuclear development a threat to the international community. >> translator: to cope with such threats, we agree to strengthen tri lateral corporation in every field, this is extremely meaningful. >> reporter: president obama said the three countries will c

i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo with the stories at this hour. >>> u.s.ary bases around japan host fighter jet training programs that have residents complaining about noise. the governments of the two countries have responded with a plan to move some of the training elsewhere. the plan calls for about ten training sessions to be relocated during the fiscal year that started this month. the sessions will be moved to a u.s. base in guam and six bases of the japanese self-defense forces. the aim is to reduce aircraft noise for people living near three bases, the kadena base in

i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. u.s.t obama is planning to increase america's military presence in syria. he says he's deploying more u.s. troops to the country to maintain momentum against islamic state militants. >> and we continue to make progress. pushing isil back from territory that it controlled. so given the success, i've approved the deployment of up to 250 additional u.s. personnel in syria, including special forces to keep up this momentum. >> obama