now i want to take you to southern hokkaido to show you the situation.his is itashi southern part of hokkaido, 124 kilometer per hour winds were reported this morning. many flights have been canceled and numerous highways have been closed because of snow. and a vehicle overturned because of extremely strong winds. meanwhile, i want to show you some pictures coming out of fukushima, then. in fukushima at least 50 vehicles were stranded this morning. and here about 35 centimeters of snow fell over the course of just 24 hours. and snow will continue because a low pressure system will continue to sit here. blowing snow will continue in hokkaido and across the sea of japan side of the country. very strong winds and high waves, nearly 10 meters likely on top of that additional 80 centimeters of snowfall for the hokuriku region. 50 in hokkaido and 60 for the tohoku region. very blustery conditions, snowy conditions into your thursday. dry weather continues across the korean peninsula. but we have a tropical depression that just formed over the southern -- over

aspiring governors registered in the prefectures of hokkaido nara tokushima and oita. voters head to the polls on april 12. candidates for the ruling coalition and main opposition are battling it out in hoekkaido and oito prefectures. they will elect 41 prefecture assemblies. the nationwide elections take place once every four years. voters in smaller municipalities will choose members on april 26. >>> it's time for world weather with our meteorologist sayaka mori. several tornados ripped through parts of the central united states. what's the latest >> the slow start to the tornado season in the united states but things are changing in fact, at least seven reports of tornados we had on wednesday. take a look at some video coming out of oklahoma to show you the damage done by a couple of tornados. electric flashes were visible from the air in moore, oklahoma as transformers exploded due to the powerful winds of a tornado ripping through the city. another tornado tore through sand springs near tulsa, damaging close to 60 buildings, so far one person has been killed and s

and in terms of snowfall an additional snow is likely to fall over hokkaido in the next 24 hours and extremely heavy know for this time of year for this region could see up to 40 centimeters of snow. conditions will improve in sendai and fukushima on wednesday. but things will stay chilly as well as windy. now further down towards the southern hemisphere if you remember three weeks ago, two strong systems, tropical cyclones, hit northern australia, and again, two systems are hovering near the coast of australia. one is now located to the north of western australia. this one is a tropical low at this moment. but will likely intensify a tropical cyclone, category 2 system, and then make it to the coast by your friday. and then across the flip side of the continent we have another tropical low and this one will likely intensify, category 2 system but it will whoever the area above the waters. however it is expected to dump extremely heavy rainfall for the northeast coast of queensland into the next several days. probably as much as 400 millimeters of rain could fall. so flooding is goin

it is moving across much of northern portions of honshu over there toward hokkaido.ake a look at the wind reports and the rainfall reports over the past 24 hours because it really shows how intense this storm system is. some areas have been seeing wind gusts as high as 120 kilometers per hour. we've also been seeing that heavy rainfall 147 millimeters. in the past 24 hours out here. as we continue to look ahead through wednesday we're still going to be seeing this storm system intensify. so areas especially along western portions of hokkaido over there toward northwestern honshu we could be seeing wind gusts as high as 144 kilometers per hour along with heavy snowfall around 70 centimeters in total, and especially in some of the higher elevations along the sea of japan coastline. i do want to define along the sea of japan coastline. i know a lot of people heading out to memorials on wednesday, you have the four-year anniversary of the march 11th earthquake, and it does look like you could still be seeing some passing flurries if you are out here in eastern portions o

many areas in hokkaido have record high temperatures for march on friday. here's the extended forecast around the globe. >>> that's all for our "newsline" for this hour i'm miki yamamoto in tokyo. thanks for watching. the plane. yemen's president flees to saudi arabia as a second wave of bombings around the capital and further south. the british electoral campaign in full swing. david cameron and ed miliband share the stage on national television. the two men running neck and neck in the polls.

now across japan, again, blizzard-like conditions will be hampering people across hokkaido. this low pressure system has a history of bringing about 40 millimeters in an hour sudden burst of showers across the izu islands, wakayama prefeckeur and kanto region. that's going to be pulling away so bright sunshine will be back to parts of japan but the northern locations are going to get very wintry back again up to 40 centimeters of snowfall combined with gusts over 100 kilometers per hour. in iwate prefecture reports of over 17 accidents already this morning and the pile-up of a snowfall accumulation was about 11 centimeters in just three hours. tokyo looking at nice conditions 19 degrees and falling down on saturday not really looking forward to that on our saturday with some green. i'll leave you now your extended forecast. >>> that is all for this edition of "newsline." i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. thanks for joining us. xnóx >> hello, and welcome to "global 3000," your weekly update on the global issues behind the headlines. here's what we have coming up for you over

we're talking about winter storm conditions over hokkaido down towards the hokuriku region. this is a very big winter storm. and it's going to stay here for awhile. so an additional 40 centimeters of snow could fall in to tomorrow morning, and more snow afterwards, with gusts of nearly 110 kilometers per hour. the combination will cause very low visibility so traveling is extremely dangerous. and also waves are going to be up to six meters so coastal flooding is highly likely. but very different story over the southern half of the country. due to the recent warm-up. cherry blossoms are starting to bloom. we have some fixtures coming out of the tokyo area. cherry blossoms are starting to bloom in tokyo today. this is three days earlier than normal. but two days later compared to last year. jna declares the start of the cherry blossom season for tokyo when five buds blossom on a tree in yasukuni shrine. the peak will be next tuesday in tokyo and we associate cherry blossom with spring so definitely we are very waiting for this warm season. now, take a look at this cherry bloss

of the fukushima prefecture and gusts of about 100 kilometers per hour reported in the top end of hokkaido. the low pressure system is actually starting to pull away from japan so the peak is over but heavy snow and strong winds will likely continue at least into wednesday morning. an additional 60 centimeters of snow mainly for the hokuriku region but very stronger gusts and visibility will be very low and also thunderstorms could happen, as well as snow across northern parts of japan. the conditions will improve on wednesday so that's good news. and across the southern half of the country, dry weather continues, and because of the warm-up, actually cherry blossoms are blooming in several places including tokyo. in tokyo, the peak will be next tuesday. so let's look forward to that. and i think the flowers will come out in sapporo by march 1st. and i think early blooming is likely to occur across many parts of south korea. now dry weather continues over south korea, dry weather advisory is in place so watch out when you use fire. the rain is increasing over the eastern areas of taiwan the

130 kilometers per hour likely, because these two lows will merge into one big system and eastern hokkaido, you'll see blowing snow condition even blizzard conditions could happen. addition of 50 centimeters of snow could fall. and this area has much more than average snowfall so far this winter. so additional snow will definitely rate the concern of -- concern about avalanches and also structural damage. this winter still exists in the north but spring has already come across western japan. you can see these flowers are already in full bloom. now temperatures in tokyo reached 13 degrees on tuesday but we still have cold weather alerts posted for south korea, northeastern china. only 1 for the high in seoul, about 10 degrees lower compared to what it should be during this time of year. now it has been very cold across the eastern united states. so far this winter. and it was the coldest february on record for places like chicago, cleveland, and it was the snowiest february for boston. but some people enjoyed the combination of snow and cold weather. when it snows, anything that resembles a

. >> actually, if you are there into yamagata prefecture and much of hokkaido as well a little fartherthe north not seeing clearing skies today. actually some snowfall being expected across much of this area. you're also looking at some fairly high wands. actually, parts of ohio have been seeing gusts. well over 100 kilometers per hour. also been seeing some snowfall recorded around 38 centimeters in the halftime 24 hours. you can take a look at the satellite image, you really can see it. just that big swirl dominating much of northern japan. and wrapping in around the western periphery of that swirl we are seeing those winds kick up around 126 kilometers per hour. still possible. i do want to remind you, most of this is concentrated in northern japan and along the sea of japan coastline. especially in the higher elevations. that's where you're going to be seeing the snowfall. good news as we look ahead through the forecast, high pressure's coming in from the west. already creating some clear conditions across northeastern portions of china, through the korean peninsula and this is goi

low pressure system leaving the korean peninsula, will bring possibilities of some snowfall into hokkaidond northern portions of japan as we go into wednesday. thunderstorms are possible into the pacific side of japan because of this low pressure system. the tail end of the cold front will bring some rain and thunderstorms for the southeastern portions of china, and a weak low developing over into chongqing will bring rain on wednesday with a high of 11 degrees. wrapping things up with a look at europe. we are looking at a couple areas of severe weather possibilities into the northern portions of the british isles. and also the northern portions of europe with severe wind gusts, tornadoes, large thunderstorms, all part of the possibility as we go throughout tuesday. look at the snow stockholm, rain thunderstorms possible, even into portions of berlin and paris as we go throughout the day. hope you have a good day wherever you are. here's your extended outlook. >>> that's "newsline" for this hour. i'm gene otani in tokyo. ÷ ♪ last respects to boris nemtsov, the russian opposition leader wh

last month he visited hokkaido to share his experiences. nuclear accident forced him to destroy all his milk cows. >> i was standing there in my empty cow shed wondering what i could do. how i could support my family. >> dairy farmers in itate were not allowed to ship their milk because of the nuclear fallout. they had no choice but to get rid of their cows into which they had poured so much work and love. one tragy was feeding off another. had it not been for the nuclear plant. that's how this message written on the wall begins. the message was left by a colleague of hasegawa's who committed suicide three months after the disaster. it was then that hasegawa decided to start his speaking campaign in japan and abroad to let people know about the dire situation in fukushima. >> translator: i thought to myself this is absolutely unacceptable. period. i have to tell everybody about this. that's how i got started. >> reporter: hasegawa is concerned that the public may be losing interest in the tragic events of four years ago and in the fact that

china's budget carrier spring airlines has launched services connecting shanghai and hokkaido, japan's northernmost prefecture. >> translator: i hope direct flights are launched to all cities in japan because that would save travel time. >> china's latest international schedule sees the largest increase in flights to kansai airport in osaka, western schaapen. and central japan also seeing a rise. >> translator: our company is introducing many flights to japan's regions to meet changing demand. >> the official said repeat travelers to japan often choose to visit regional cities. >>> japanese companies are aiming to grab a bigger share of the growing indonesian market. they're trying to appeal to the tastes of young trend conscious consumers to boost their brand image. >> reporter: 250 million people live in indonesia, and about one-third are aged under 20. some of them are tuning in to a japanese tv channel launched about a year ago. >> pop pop with japan. >> reporter: it is aired on the country's largest pay tv station. >> waku japan. >> reporter: the channel runs programs such as japa

a leak from a hook i don't hokkaido factory was discovered. evacuations but were taking place.how does nitric acid get into a milk factory? reporter: one of the pipes leak. and then it came out. .t might affect the brand wh absolutely, food and quality. very important in japan here it thank you guys. that is the verdict from south exchange. in one hour. looking at the next hour, the show has earnings growth closing in the u.s.. are there better opportunities elsewhere? also we are counting down opens up japan and korea. this stimulating talk. it more action expected as china's slowdown has gone too far. that slowdown is having a wider effect. full-year profit falling 28%. a final farewell. singapore says goodbye to leak lee kuan yew. i'm angie lau coming to you live from our asian headquarters. we are wrapping up the month. two days to go till the end of march. we have australia. it is extending losses this morning, 1.21% down. aussie dollar trading lower. japan is just opening. 225 -- nikkei 235 is opening higher. against the19.25 u.s. dollar. it shows that japanese manufactur