former democratic party leader ichiro ozawa faced charged of falseifying political reports. ha quital clears him to use his political weight once again. here's nhk world at the tokyo district court. she joins us with the latest. misato? >> reporter: ozawa had said since the beginning that he was not guilty of these charges. it seems that the judges agreed with what he had to say. the presiding judge said a busy politician such as ozawa could not know what his assistants were doing with every financial report. prosecutors accused him of conspiring with his aides to falsify accounting records for 400 million yen, about $5 million. ozawa said he was never notified about the reports and never gave his approval. the judge seemed to believe that those arguments, he said ozawa's aides were intentionally involved in a cover-up. ozawa bowed slitly toward the judges when the presiding judge handed down the ruling. this marks the end of the trial that began half a year ago. we will have to wait and see what ozawa does next. yuko, back to you. >> thank you very much, misato. >>> ichiro

ichiro ozawa is a household name here in japan, a career politician, and a force to be reckoned with. however, a political funding scandal sidelined him, sent him to court, and could have sent him to jame. but three judges ruled ozawa is not guilty and now could be preparing to shake-up his ruling democratic party. prosecutors accused ozawa of conspiring with his aides to falsify accounting records for about $5 million. the group that manages the funds he raised used money in 2004 to buy land in tokyo. he has denied any conspiracy from the start. the presiding judge acknowledged that one of ozawa's former aides falsified the reports, he said he believed the aide thought the discovery of the assets would hurt his boss' political activities. the three judges informed ozawa of the report and approved him of falsifying the document, but they could not determine whether there has been any conspiracy. ozawa says the verdict shows the court's good sense and fairness. the court-appointed lawyers serving as prosecutors in the trial are considering whether or not to appeal to a higher court. ic

a bad throw and could have been an inning ending double play and ichiro capitalizes.i double and mariners win it. a's lose two of three in seattle. the sharks are back home from st. louis and tied in their western conference quarter final match up. game two and a little chipy at the end of the contest. the blues gave the shark dashes dash i think they got the best of them.e did what thee supposed to do. when guys are scraping away, he has no issues issues with this style of playoff hockey. >> i think they are engaged. when they are involved like that, they are showing the teammates they are there to play. they are competitive people and those competitive juices come out. when those top players are involved, it has to be. >> vancouver down 0-2 to the kings. hen dribbing -- hendrick saw dean, but he would return. brown continues to haunt the canucks. he scores on the rebound. they have a commanding 3-0 lead. the final round of the rbc heritage. he finishes 16 strokes back and it drops him out of the number one ranking giving it back to mcilroy. five birdies yesterday an

but gel mile weeks, bad throw on what could have been an inning-ending double play and ichiro capitalized. mariners win it 5-3. a's lose 2-3 in seattle. >> the sharks return home from st. louis tied with the blues in the western con conference qualify. san jose did what they were supposed to do, win one on the road, and when guys like little joe pavelski are scrapping away, coach mccellline has no issue with that style of hockey. >> when they're edge -- edge -- engaged like that, they're showing they're competitive people, and when those top players are involved like that, everybody else has to follow. >> mike: like joe said last night, it's fun. coming up at 6:00. we tee it up, hit the ice, and talk about how athletes refuse to admit their injured because their careers are so short-lived. brian wilson. >> alan: in his mind he knows he is coming back. >> mike: in his mind. he has had two tommy john surgery. >> ama: known for their loyalty and this dog stayed alongside a ring ring hello, progresso. it fits! fantastic! ring ring] progresso. they fit! awesome thk you ring, ring [ man ] pro-g

and who else, ichiro capitalizes, with an rbi double. mariners win 5-3. a's lose 2-3 in seattle. >> the sharks return home died -- tied with the blue and host the blues monday night at the tank. the predators and red wings playing game three in detroit. webber booed everytime he touched a puck because of a dirty hit in game one. then franzen scores what he thinks is the game-tying goal at the horn but the refs say tying expired. she predators win 3-2, and lead the series 2-1. >> in the east, things escalate between the fliers and the pentagon wind. the penguins are dominated. briere with the three on two with a goal. flyers shocked the penguins, 8-4, they can sweep the series on wednesday night. >>> teeing it off, final round of the heritage, not a good weekend for luke don navmentd 16 stroappedz back, out of the number one ranking, giving it back to rory mcilroy, and karl peterson, who used to own the front nine of the tournament, three more birdies on the first five hole. shoots a 69 to win the tournament by five strokes over zack johnson. >> more from

. >> reporter: ichiro ozawa has been known as the master puppeteer of politics. now it is ozawa's own political career that hangs in the balance. it has attracted a lot of attention since okds last year. officials said around 2,000 will take part in a lottery for one of the 46 gallery seats available to the public. >> translator: i'm interested in tracking the money. >> translator: i want to see a big-name politician like him standing in the dark. >> reporter: ozawa will come through the back door. it is extremely rare in japan for such a powerful politician to be seen standing in the dark. the decision is about to begin at 10:00 a.m. back to the skud owe. >> thank you. >>> militants have killed at least 12 people in the philippines. the government suspects the communists are to blame. the philippine military says the attacks struck an army convoy in ifugao province. died in an exchange of gun fire. it's not known if any of the militants were hit. the military says the guerrillas appear to be from the new people's army, the military army of the philippines commun

ichiro suzuki at the plate. two on. doubles to right. chone figgins scores.ustin acley goes to third. 4-3, mariners back on top. 5-3, two on for the a's. strikes off for the 15th time this season. mariners win, 5- 3. diane, back to you. we'll see you again in about an hour. >> thank you, damon. >>> when we come back, he's the size of shaquille o'neal and he walks on four legs. a family evbelimie cop ng u.xtneee so believe comingp ne.xt never in my lifetime did i think i could walk 60 miles in 3 days. if my mom can fight and beat breast cancer, i can walk 60 miles. (woman) the fund-raising was the easiest part. people were very giving. complete strangers wanting to help. i knew someday i was gonna do this walk. if i can do this, you definitely can do this. we can do this. we can all do this together. (man) register today for the... and receive $25 off your registration fee. because everyone deserves a lifetime. >>> the world's tallest dog or longest, depending on how you look at it made quite an impression on the "today" show this morning. >> he's a big guy. i

. >> and ichiro ozawa has failed to unseat last year so there's a strong chance he could try again with the current prime minister. >> he could potentially try again. even if he fails, he remains a significant figure. japanese politics is more about factions, about groups within parties, then the ideology of the parties themselves and mr. ozawa is believed to hold under his sway, in his faction, about 10 members of the governing party. it gives him immense clout. it's the reason why he's been called offer the years the destroyer because he's been able to bring down leaders and break up parties. he's been called the shadow showgun as well because of his power behind the throne, his back room deal making and now he could be in a position to unleash that power again. >> roland burke in tokyo with the latest there. thank you very much. david cameron has said figures showing the u.k. is back in recession a very, very disappointing. in the first three months of the year, the economy shrank by .2%. fall in construction outfits and stagnant services are some of the main factors behind britain e

. >> clayton: we understand that ichiro is your favorite player, a signed ball from him to you and the seattle mariner and jerseys from seattle mariners and look at the name on the back! >> wonderful. >> alisyn: thanks for joining us! >> texting out a new job, while still collecting unemployment. i kid you not. it's the labor department's new bridge to work program and somebody here says stop creating the costly bridges to nowhere and start getting out of the free market's way to create jobs. hi, everyone, i'm brenda buttner, this is bulls and bears. let's get right to it. bulls and bears this week, gary b smith, tobin smith. jonas max ferris along with scott martin and jehmu green. and let workers collect benefits? >> you know, brenda, it's just another in a long line of goofy government programs, trying to get the economy started. and first of all, whenever i hear that people get money and companies get money in this case, for hiring temporary workers, the first thing i think of is fraud. you know, if this goes through, we can come back a year from now and we can start to count how m

er erik sogaard and ichiro higgins will score. top eight. a's down a pair.ard and cespedes nothing doing leads the majors in strikeouts or the american league in strikeouts. 5-3, mariners are victorious. and the sharks and blues game three tomorrow. the series is tied at one apiece. should be a lot of fun. >> thanks a lot, scott. >>> coming up next the reason why you have a few extra days to file your taxes this year is eemancipation day. the holiday does not refer to the emaipation proclamation. we'll show you what is it all about. oo >>> in april of 1862, washington, d.c. was ahead of the curve on an issue that would lead the country to civil war and to the freedom of millions of enslaved africans. monday is the 150th anniversary of emancipation day. and some observed early. >> a small gathering or discussion of d.c.'s emancipation day. why here? this is part of the circle of fences surrounding d.c. during the civil war. >> they came into the forts and helped build some of them and set up camps around the area. >> reporter: and d.c. slaves were freed nine

ichiro -- scoring figgins, they win today 5-3. oakland just 4-6 overall. 2-a against seattle this season. at least they don't play them again until june. they play the angels next. senate twins get swept at home by texas for the first time since 99. hamilton feeling fine. he sends this pitch into the nose bleed section of target field. his 4th homer of the year. he leads the american league with 16 hits, rangers rain. they are 8-2 overall. >>> the sharks are back home ready to resume their slug fest with the blues tomorrow night. the best of seven playoff is all tied at one. last night they won it 3-0 and may have won the punch count as well. several fights broke out but the biggest was when the game was over. blues have won five of six meetings at the season but the sharks head coach didn't like what he saw in this final battle royal. >> the suck repugn, the blow to the head, the broken nose, what do you think i thought of it? it's everything we are trying to get rid of. the rest of it in the corner, the men that looked -- that's

. >> he plays for the mariners, ichiro. >> not the yankees. >> you know who else is a mariner, kevin kostner in "water world." what have we learn ?ed thursday's opening day, nobody seems to care. but either way i predict this season is going to be a grand slam. >> i love that the gentleman with the glasses, he asked to come on "red eye." is he still around? >> parts are, and i blame the -- see the problem with you, greg, is you love them too much. you love them too much. >> can we find -- where was baseball invented some. >> it evolved. it was like grounders or something like that, and then it was -- there is a reference to baseball going as far back as 1790. but it not abner doubled who is a civil war buff. >> bill, how will your beloved blue socks look as far as what quadrant that team occupies. >> the chicago white sox were picked to finish dead last by "sports illustrated." but i refuse to believe that "sports illustrated" exists. >> and you follow baseball, but like most women, do you look at it oddly? >> i follow the yankees slightly. >> not on tv show. you just follow them aro

bottom of the inning, take advantage of wake and there's the hit machine, ichiro suzuki slashes thiscore chone figgins. another 1 and they win it 5-3. >>> oakland is 4-6 overall, 2-5 against seattle this season. at least they don't face them again until june 25th and the a's head to anaheim to play the much more appealing angels for the next four days. >>> rachel robinson was at yankees stadium tonight to honor the 66th anniversary of her husband breaking the color barrier. three-run shot part of the angels victory. >>> the sharks and blues play game 3 of their playoff series tomorrow night in san jose. the sharks say the fighting and sticking up for your teammates is all part of the game. last night the bruins evened the series with a 3-1 victory and may have won the punch count as well. the biggest skirmish was when the game blues have won five of six meetings overall, but sharks head coach didn't like what he saw in that final so-called battle royale. >> the instigator, the sucker punch, the blow to the head, the broken nose, what do you think i thought of it? it's everything we'r

. >> clayton: we understand that ichiro is your favorite player, a signed ball from him to you and theck! >> wonderful. >> alisyn: thanks for joining us! >> texting out a new job, while still collecting