lots happening here in japan. elsewhere southwestern parts of the korean peninsula some snow accumulation as well as inland china which could accumulate about to about ten centimeters. here in the philippines 100 millimetres of rainfall has been reported in the past 24 hours in central philippines. and in the past few days, actually, the amount of the rainfall is as much as what we will see in a month. and so very high concern specially in the quake hit regions with further landslides is that concern. manila at 31 degrees. hong kong 16. i know that's chilly for you. seoul minus 2. that cold wave is kicking in in much of the northern eastern continental asia. tokyo we're looking at 7 degrees for the friday high. let's now head over to europe and the cold snap has been leaving more than 600 fatalities due to the very bad weather. let's take a look at some pictures coming out from zurich airport. 4 is in switzerland. heavy snow has caused delays on roads and cancellations of flights at airports. the weather led to ca

western japan. even here about two kilometers from the side a loud noise can be heard each time an explosive shell is launched. 220 members from the regimen are participating. these exercises will involve the use of small arms like machine guns. early in the morning a siren went off to alert those nearby that authorities were soon to begin. then searching of the areas was confirmed by personnel in helicopters. authorities started with the first artillery shell fired. the shells are being used for training. japanese self-defense force members are scheduled to -- >> as our military men we have great interest in learning and understanding the systems of our allies. so we are happy to share that information with them. >> reporter: meanwhile, local residents protesting the exercises are keeping a close watch over the nearby field. >> next we go to bangkok to find out what's going on in the region. >> discussions on expanding the transpacific participant nership or tpp accelerated on friday. japan held ta

a powerful winter storm has been hitting japan. and even though we're going to see it move away into thursday, what will remain is very intense wintry pattern. we know what that is, snow right along the sea of japan side of the country. let's see what some of the totals are now at, more than 4 meters in parts of aomori prefecture. up in hokkaido record break snowfall here as well. down towards the south, 2 1/2 meters, more than 2 1/2 in daisen, 153 centimeters there also. so we'll be looking at some extremely heavy snowfall this winter and not even really into february. the 1st of february, so a few weeks left to go of potentially heavy snowfall. now as you can see the next 24 hours shows more precipitation here, even coming across into the pacific side. we have been staying dry in tokyo. that will continue. the temperature will drop, though, into tomorrow, about 12 degrees today ahead of that system. tomorrow, down to about 6 once again. now, along with that heavy snowfall we have been experiencing some very strong winds. now, wav

and japan to change their agreement. the marines will be transferred first as details of the relocation are worked o ut. >> translator: i instructed the defense ministers to conduct sincere discussions with the u.s. to maintain the deterrence but eliminate the burden on the people of okinawa. >> japan and the u.s. remain committed to reducing the impact of u.s. forces on the people of okinawa. still, the two countries also made it clear the united states will keep about 10,000 marines in okinawa to maintain det deterren deterrence. what's behind the agreement? seems they have found it mutually beneficial to relocate. the obama administration has been under pressure from congress to cut spending. it wants swift congressional approval through cost cutting as well as faster realignment of marines in the asia pacific region. congress enacted defense authorization legislation at the end of last year, but it froze the budget requested by the administration to transfer 8,000 u.s. marines in okinawa to guam. japan believes a tra

and japan to change their agreement. the marines will be transferred first as details of the futenma relocation are worked out. >> translator: i instructed the foreign and defense ministers to conduct sincere discussions with the u.s. to maintain the deterrence, but alleviate the burden on the people of okinawa. >> as noda mentioned, japan and the u.s. remain committed to reducing the impact of u.s. forces on the people of okinawa. still, the two countries also made it clear the united states will keep about 10,000 marines in okinawa to maintain deterrence so what is behind the latest agreement? it appears that japan and the united states have found it mutually beneficial to separate the issues of transferring the u.s. marines and relocating the marine base in okinawa. the obama administration has been under pressure from congress to cut spending. it wants swift congressional approval of funding for the transfer through cost-cutting, as well as faster realignment of the marines in the asia-pacific region. congress enacte

in eastern japan. it will announce the results by the end of this month. >>> the head of a team of nuclear inspectors says they plan to visit iran again to further investigate its suspected nuclear arms program. the team led by herman makertz, deputy director general ended a three-day mission on tuesday and returned to the agency's headquarters in vienna. he said he had intensive discussions with the iranian side but declined to give details, including whether they visited nuclear facilities. he said there's a lot of work to be done and the team plans another trip in the very near future. the results of the mission are scheduled to be presented at a regular board meeting in march. >>> china has defended its drilling activities at a gas field in the east china sea. japan says the action contradicts an agreement to discuss joint development of the resource. nhk last week filmed flames on a drilling rig in a gas field. the gas field lies near the median line, separating the exclusive economic zones of jap

even if japan refuses to cooperate. the problem is that russian authorities propose that joint development be carried out under russian law. if japan invests in the disputed islands under russian control, it means that japan is rejit miezing russian sovereignty and that puts japan in a difficult position. >> so the stand off continues. what lies ahead? and is there anywhere around this impasse? >> it will get harder and harder to discuss the issue if russia continues to boost its control over the islands. japan and russia have both said they want to create the right environment for a solution, but they are not even close. russia plans to beef up its military forces on the islands. moscow is concerned about china's naval expansion and the new u.s. defense strategy focussing on the asia pacific region. this arms build up could trigger tensions with a neighboring countries. so the international community needs to keep a close eye on russia's movements on the islands. >> time to check out some of the stories we gathered fro

bank of japan moved there causing investors to sell a little of the yen on concerns about japan's economy. let's have a look at the currency levels this morning. dollar yen and euro yen levels here. currently, the yen falling to more than a three month low at one point. dollar yen, 78.39-41. it was trading around 77 this time yesterday. euro yen, 102.88-93, trading around 101 levels this time yesterday as well. >> ramin, what's coming up as far as economic data investors may be watching for? >> a lot to focus on for the new york region. there's going to be a manufacturing index known as empire state index, that's a key focus. also industrial production coming out later today in the u.s. as well. >> so i guess we'll see if the numbers tally with recent positive data coming out from the u.s. >> exactly. and again, a little bit of a balancing act for investors, ai, with continuing concerns over greece and eurozone economies, especially following moody's downgrade of some eurozone countries, including spain, portugal, and that may weigh a little on sentiment. as you said there, recent data ou

in eastern japan. it will announce the results by the end of this month. >> bankers have come in for some heavy criticism in recent years. many people say greed in the finance industry is to blame for the world's economic problems. our next story puts a kinder face on the money game. it starts with the tsunami in march last year, a business in trouble and a group of investors willing to profit in some unusual ways. >> the business in distress is in eastern hokkaido. okudo is the company's president. he built it from scratch 20 years ago. >> the tsunami knocked out the plant's power unit and destroyed almost all of the machinery including the refrigerator. they had to get creative to keep his company going. >> this is the nozzle of a futon compressor. >> with this vacuum out of action, he made some adjustments to this home appliance. it's a clever work around, but no match for the proper machine. output fell sharply after the tsunami. >> translator: our production capacity is at 20th or a 30th of what i

he came to study in japan nine years ago. he says lawson's work culture was one reason he decided to work here. >> translator: i was very impressed by the fact that we all have the same opportunity. >> reporter: 20% to 30% of new recruits are foreigners. the managers say they need new ideas to deal with the fast changing world. one way to do that is to recruit from outside the traditional labor pool. >> translator: we don't care whether they're japanese or foreigners, we just hire a variety of people who have different ways of thinking and doing things. >> reporter: according to an nhk survey, 90% of leading companies are actively hiring foreigners. of those more than 40% say they are considering taking on more foreign employees in the future. food manufacturer sells products in 130 countries. throwing out the old rule book it has started grooming foreign staff to become executives. the company holds an executive trainee conference once a year. on this day, employees gathered from 13 different countries including thailand, vi

the last nuclear reactor in western japan hasoneoffline. the plant's operator shut it down for regular inspection. residents are worrying about a power crunch fu. fuel imports into japan are surging. only 2 of the 54 reactors are still runni. kansai electric power company said it completed the shutdown early tuesday for the number three reactor at the takahama nuclear plant in fukui prefecture. the last two will be shut down by late april. japan's nuclear safety commission will review the results of stress tests on two reactors at the nearby ohi plant during the day. the commission chairman says the results will not be enough to declare the reactors safe. >> translator: i think second stage tests with more detailed criteria are needed to accurately assess the risk of reactors. >> he said the initial tests only check equipment for maintaining safety at times of natural disasters. the nuclear industrial and safety agents endorsed the first stage findings at the ohi plant early last week. the government introduced the tests to ease public conc

exports from japan while imports from china soared. the japan trade organization said last year's trade deficit with china stood at $22 billion. that's almost six times larger than in 2010. exports to china rose 8.3% to over $161 billion. however, the pace of growth slowed sharply compared with the increase of 36% in 2010. the march 11th disaster and strong yen caused a fall in exports of vehicles, food and semi conductors. imports increased 20% to over $183 billion. smart phones produced in china are rapidly growing in popularity in japan. another factor is a surge in the import of dry batteries, electric fans and other energy efficient products. they say it is likely the trade deficit with china will increase further. the organization says japan's exports will remain sluggish because of a slow down in the chinese economy. it adds that imports will continue to grow steeply as japanese firms continue to increase production and ship items to japan. let's look at other asian markets. >> that's the latest in business. back to catherine. >

factories, mostly in eastern japan. about 60% of the milk factories mainly in the tohoku regions, participated in the survey. the association said the amount of radioactive cesium in milk before shipping was below the lowest detectable amount, ten becquerels per kilogram, at all of the factories they have checked. next we go to bangkok to find out what's going on in the region. >> reporter: india has reported its slowest gdp growth in almost three years as efforts to tackle inflation cool business activity. it may increase pressure on the government to do more to improve the country's economic performance. nhk reports from new delhi. >> reporter: the indian government said on wednesday that the country's gross domestic product expanded by 6.1% in october to december. that's 0.8% points lower than the previous quarter. india was one of the first countries to recover from the global financial crisis of 2008. the central bank raised the interest rates several times to counter spiraling inflation. loans became more expensiv

. >>> the people who work at japan's cabinet office released their growth rate from last year. >> japan's economy sled down the first time in two years. overall gross domestic product for 2011 contracted 0.9%. the cabinet office said the nation's gdp sh rank 2.3% for the october to december period, in real terms, this marks the first contraction in two quarters. this is a decline of 0.6% from the previous quarter. the drop is attributed to weak overseas demand, a strong yen, and disruptions to supply chains from floods in thailand. some economists also noted that delay in post quake reconstruction demand had weighed down on the economy. >>> let's see how the markets are doing after the numbers. on wall street, stocks ended lower friday as investors mulled over greece's debt deal as catherine told us. ramin mellegard is at the stock exchange. how are stocks moving? >> markets are hanging on every bit of news out of greece with the new austerity plan. we saw market reaction already in the u.s. as you mentioned with the dow ending in the negative. and also some moves in the currency markets.

japan while imports from china soared.he japan external trade organization said that last year's trade deficit with china stood at $22 billion. that is almost six times larger than 2010. exports to china rose 8.3% to $161 billion. however, the pace of growth slowed sharply when compared with an increase of 36% in 2010. the march 11th disaster and strong yen caused a fa in exports of vehicles, foods and semiconductors. impa amports from china increas 20% to $183 billion. smartphones produced in china are growing in popularity in japan. another factor is the surge in the import of dry batteries and fans and other efficient products. it is highly likely that the trade deficit with china will increase further. the organization says the exports will remain sluggish because of the slowdown in the chinese economy. it adds the imports will grow steeply as japanese firms continue to increase production in china and ship items back to japan. let's look at asian markets here and elsewhere. >> that's the latest in business. back to ca

but a different story for northern japan. a development is coming through bringing blizzard conditions. western hokkaido could be more snow and strong winds of 70 kilometers per hour. as t system moves away things will get clearer by tonight here. and then we also have the showers moving into the southern tip of the korean peninsula and western japan. southeastern china will see showers develop over the course of today and down toward tropical depression hovering over the south china sea and scattered showers will continue in southern vietnam and it will stay largely wet across the philippines but heavy rain will ease today. temperaturewise we're looking at 30 degrees in manila and 3 in bangkok with a chance of thunder showers and up toward the north, warming up to 7 in seoul and 11 in tokyo. heading to the americas, a pacific storm will be moving into british columbia and the pacific northwest and that will bring coastal rain, mountain snow and strong winds. we have another system to watch out for in the central plains. nort

once again, stormy conditions are in the forecast in japan. the southeastern corner of china will see rain in the next 24 hours. towards southeast asia, a tropical depression over the south china sea. bringing on and off showers in vietnam and strong winds as well. as for the philippines, it is largely wet and thundershowers develop. today's highs still looking like this. getting up to 17 degrees in taipei. seoul, 5 degrees, 9 degrees in tokyo with plenty of sunshine. moving to the americas. a new pacific storm moving to british columbia and pacific northwest, bringing coastal rain and mountains on monday. then we have an active low pressure system sitting over the central rockies as it moves eastward. snow will change over to a wintry mix monday. and that will impact the central plains. we also have thundershowers and also mountain snow in the southeastern corner of the u.s. that will move out to sea monday. temperatures are looking like this. we're expecting 14 degrees in atlanta, 9 degrees in washington, d.c. and across the great lakes regi

japan and the u.s. agreed in 2006 to relocate the futenma station. they haven't made much progress. now they want to separate the two issues. japanese government leaders say possible moves to ease the burden of hosting u.s. bases on okinawa. now three quarters of forces are based in okinawa. he used to advise the japanese government on how to deal with t he says separating the location issue may mean the u.s. gave up on moving to the less populated city. >> translator: the u.s. is tired of waiting for the relocation plan to move ahead. it has decided to organize its military to deal with the strategic environment of the asia pacific region. and it has apparently decided to separate the relocation issue to minimize impact on the u.s., regardless ofolitical developments in japan. >> people in okinawa fear that would mean the air base would remain in futenma. >>> asian leaders are scrambling to work together as the crisis goes around the world. ai uchida has more. >> there's a heightened sense of urgency.

japan and the u.s. agreed in 2006 to relocate the futenma station and return five stations to japan at the same time. but they haven't made much progress. now they want to separate the two issues. japanese government leaders say possible moves to ease the burden of hosting u.s. bases on okinawa. now three quarters of forces are based in okinawa. he used to advise the japanese government on how to deal with t he says separating the location issue may mean the u.s. gave up on moving to the less populated city. >> translator: the u.s. is tired of waiting for the relocation plan to move ahead. it has decided to organize its military to deal with the strategic environment of the asia pacific region. and it has apparently decided to separate the relocation issue to minimize impact on the u.s., regardless of political developments in japan. >> people in okinawa fear that would mean the air base would remain in futenma. >>> asian leaders are scrambling to work together as the crisis goes around the world. ai uc

one soh where japan is going to experience the chilly rain. up toward the north, a very potent storm system is bringing another half meterf sw some parts of hokkaido. that will be accompanied by very strong winds. we'll also see winds up to about 83 kilometers an hour. that will be blowing and drifting about that snow. also the waves could reach 4 to 6 meters forhe northwestern coast. pretty intense system up there to the north. wever, if we check out what's happening on the mainland continent, things are looking fairly dry across much of the north. mongolia, northeastern china he, d the korean peninsula. precipitation, eastern china. toward the north, it will be turning over to snow. temperatures will be falling over theext couple of days here. however, from shanghai and south, it will be falling in the form of rain, i should say. re hvy rai alsoor parts of the philippines. seeing heavy rain. it's been ongoing for the last several days. there will be a risk of flooding and also landslides. warm day in taipei. 26 degrees. 6 in shanghai. we'll

japan provides guide book for the school teachers. in indonesia there was a notebook used in checking the health of mothers and children. in uh-huh began da it helps locals grow rice that withstands the arid climate. these are the few examples of how japan changes the way it gives aid to countries. japan's economy shrank for the first time in two years. the earthquake and tsunami knocked recovery off the past. the cabinet office said the nation's gross domestic product fell 0.6%. that translates to 2.3%. as a result, if overall gdp growth for all of last year came to negative 0.9%. a credit crisis in europe doctoringed down japan and other economies around the world. public investment in japan tumbled 4%. corporate capital spending edged up 0.3%. a poll shows the approval rate for nodda's cabinet has edged upward. a growing proportion of the nation's citizens are claiming they don't support any particular party. results from the poll conducted over the weekend show that 31% support noda's cabinet. the disapproval rate fell marginally

. >>> japan and australia have held their first meeting in -- japan should join the talks on the transpacific partnership free trade agreement. government officials from the two countries met on tuesday. australian officials say they welcome the start of japan's consultations for joining the talks. they stopped short of expressing support for japan actually participating in the free trade negotiations. the principal of the agreement is that all goods are tariff free including farm products. the two sides agreed to continue discussion on. six out of nine countries in the negotiations have so far expressed support for japan's participation. denmark's trade minister has expressed willingness to start full negotiations with japan for a free trade agreement by the time japan-european union summit is held at the end of may. denmark chairs the eu until june. she has met japan's trade minister to discuss procedures for talks on the proposed economic partnership agreement. japan and the ex-u have been discussing specific areas for trade liberalization and deregulation before entering full epa talks. s

and will it cripple japan's nuclear program? (speaking japanese) >> pretty soon japan will have essentially no reactors operating. >> narrator: the aftershocks of the meltdown are reverberating around the world. >> the germans are very much afraid of nuclear power. they don't want it. they hate it. >> shut down before the meltdown! >> indian point is right here. >> miles o'brien: right on the fault line. >> narrator: correspondent miles o'brien investigates if america is prepared for a nuclear disaster. >> the likelihood of a fukushima accident happening here is very, very low, but we know it's not impossible. >> narrator: tonight on frontline, "nuclear aftershocks." >> if it can happen to japan, it can happen anywhere. >> frontline is made possible by contributions to your pbs station om viewers like you. thank you. and by the corporation for public broadcasting. major funding is provided by the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation committed to building a more just, verdant, and peaceful world. and by reva and david lo

to customers in japan. >> reporter: toyota exports a large proportion of the cars it produces in japan. increasing domestic sales will reduce foreign exchange rates. the plan is off to a good start. the company received more than ten times the number of orders it had expected in the first month after the prius c was introduced. toyota has set an ambitious target for 2012. it plans to sell more than 9.5 million cars worldwide. that will be a company record. the company expects have the sales to come from emermging economies where the expansion of the middle class has boosted demand for automobiles. last month toyota decided to increase production capacity at a plant in thailand. the factory will be a center for exports to southeast asia in the mideast. but the competition is already heating up. european, u.s., and south korean auto makers are dominant in china and other emerging markets. an expect says foreign rivals can turn their country's relatively weak currencies into a competitive advantage. >> japanese seem to be losing market share to the germans in. the mid size section japanes

let's look at the opening levels this monday morning here in japan. the nikkei well up over 100 points in the first few minutes of trading as you see, topix up 10 points. stocks in japan have been trading on positive sentiment out of the u.s. economy so far, but a couple of factors may hold back some momentum. one, the continuing concerns as you mention about greece and weaker eurozone countries, and also some earnings that we have had out of japan, especially if you look at the outlook and guidance from some of those companies. but let's look at currencies as well this monday morning. the yen may still be supported there because of continuing concerns over greece, means investors may keep money in safer assets such as the yen. you can see the dollar yen at the top of the page, euro yen, 100.44-49. again, we have seen further concerns over greece. we will see how it plays into the euro yen. >> ramin, we should still keep an eye out for key earnings reports due out, as well as economic data from asia. >> indeed. we have inflation data out of china. a l

traders in japan having a great month even. as for wednesday morning, tokyo stocks are extending their gains. they're trading at levels last seen in august last year. the nikkei is currently as 9,000837, a gain of 1.2%. the broader topics higher by 1% at 846. investors are taking their cue from an upbeat outlook for a u.s. economic recovery. south korea also had a positive open this wednesday morning. kospi currently up 1.2% at 2,00028. tokyo and south korean key indexes are following the overovernight surgeon the new york stock exchange. the dow jones on tuesday closed above the 13,000 mark for the first time since may 2008. investors placed buy orders on the back of positive consumer confidence data. the doij industrial average finished at 13,0005. that's a gain of 23 points from monday's close. the dow has recently been on the rise on expectations that the u.s. economy is heading for recovery. >>> higher share prices are supported by improvements in job and housing markets, as well as strong performances by i.t.-related firm

japan like the rest of the world will be following closely. we have a report from london. >> reporter: 60 years on the throne. the date of her ak session is also the anniversary of her father, king george vith. there were no major celebrations. instead, she visited a local school. queen elizabeth ii came to the throne in 1952. only one previous british monarch reigned longer than her, queen victoria whose name is synonymous with the hey day of the british empire. at 85, queen elizabeth is the oldest ruler in british history. with her health still strong, there has been no let up in a busy schedule of royal duties. there's a growing mood of jubilation in britain. ahead of festivities in june. many mow men tows are already on sale, including photo books of the queen and newly minted medallions. >> proud that she's lived that long. i'm quite happy about it. >> i like the queen. i think she does a lot for the country. i like the monarchy as well. i support it definitely. >> hello. >> terry hut is a major fan of the royal family. he lives outside c

he came to study in japan nine years ago. he says lawson's work culture was one reason he decided to work here. >> translator: i was very impressed by the fact that we all have the same opportunity. >> reporter: 20% to 30% of new recruits are foreigners. the managers say they need new ideas to deal with the fast changing world. one way to do that is to recruit from outside the traditional labor pool. >> translator: we don't care whether they're japanese or foreigners, we just hire a variety of people who have different ways of thinking and doing things. >> reporter: according to an nhk survey, 90% of leading companies are actively hiring foreigners. of those more than 40% say they are considering taking on more foreign employees in the future. food manufacturer sells products in 130 countries. throwing out the old rule book it has started grooming foreign staff to become executives. the company holds an executive trainee conference once a year. on this day, employees gathered from 13 different countries including thailand, vi

forces in japan. the two countries have decided to transfer 4,700 marines from okinawa to guam as a temporary measure pending a full scale relocation of the air station. and u.s. state department spokesperson says a reduction in defense spending is behind the move. >> for some time we have also concurrently been working through the new defense posture as a result of the budget cuts as we seek to settle all of the okinawa issues, we nonetheless concluded that we could move forward with some aspects of the relocation. >> she also stressed the u.s. still plans to move the marine corp. station to a less densely populated coastal district. she added the u.s. plans to maintain some 10,000 marines in okinawa. on the realignment of american troops in japan, u.s. ambassador told an audience in washington that the sentiment of the people in okinawa was an influence on policy. >> we have a continuing obligation to reduce the impact of our bases in japan. and there is sensitivity particularly in okinawa. the u.s.

foreign tourists have shunned japan since the earthquake. the number of south korean visitors was down 35% in january from a year earlier. many say they're still concerned about radiation. still, people from china and southeast asia are returning. the south korean government hopes the new office will contribute to reconstruction of tohoku. >>> "newsline" is the place to turn to for the latest on japan post-march 11th. we have two segments offering two unique perspectives on the fallout from the earthquake and tsunami. "nuclear watch" brings you insight and information on the impact of the fukushima daiichi crisis. and "the road ahead" examines japan's efforts to recover and rebuild. don't miss "nuclear watch" and "the road ahead" on "newsline." >>> investors in asia have traded tentatively over the last few days. let's see where tokyo stocks are at this morning. ai uchida joins me for that. >> about the only boost we saw was right after the euro zone finalized the bailout package for greece, but that was temporary. on wednesday morning tradi

he wants to repay the people of western japan by playing music. he visited a monument in kobe for the 1995 quake. he made a renewed pledge to work with his friends to pass on memories of both disasters. >> translator: i believe human bonds and friendship survived both disasters. >> reporter: the concert was held at a department store in osaka. >> translator: received great support after the march disaster after people in western japan know what the survivors are facing. i hope you will enjoy our concert. >> reporter: the sound created from the salvaged debris is touching the hearts of the audiences. >> translator: the concert reminded me of the disasters in western and northeastern japan. and i cried. i believe long-term support is necessary. i'll try to remember last year's disaster by putting myself in the survivors' shoes. >> reporter: to hand down the memories of the disaster he will continue to strike the chords of his new guitar. >> more news in brief from around the world. a new report warns that up to 4.7 million people in south sudan coul

february 7th is northern territories day in japan. japan and russia signed a treaty on the day in 1885 that recognizes the islands as japanese territory. >>> vladimir putin served as president for eight years then prime minister for the last four 37 political analysts say they expect putin to win, but nationwide protests over suspected corruption underscore some deep dissatisfaction. >> reporter: during a recent rally, temperatures hovered at minus 20 degrees celsius in central moscow during the day. people braved the cold. white balloons in hand, a symbol of their hopes for a fair election. in the crowd was beljito. he was one of the organizers of the demonstration. beljito's involvement in the process began after he witnessed people being arrested for openly opposinghe government. he also said the government conceals unflattering news through its control of mainstream media. >> translator: the economy may have improved, but we are losing more and more. no place if had the prosperous country of russia. >> reporter: he says his distru

i don't think this is a good basis for coming to japan town. i hope you will deny the application. >> [unintelligible] speaking about this issue, clearly this permit is a violation of the special use district. we have had other vendors in the special use district such as starbucks on the night because of the unfair competition that they would have. i know that what happened at the pharmacy business, it just couldn't compete against the chains. the are not here today because they fear that the owner might retaliate against them if they did. i urge you to please support the district and denied a permit. -- deny the permit. thank you. >> good evening, commissioners. i have been sticking it out with you since 12:30 and you have been doing a great job. issues the my colleagues have brought up, we have been working on the plan for quite a long time. we are almost there, and in addition to some of the details that we mentioned, the last planning commission meeting, we were talking about menus. we brought copies of the menu, bento boxes, and they are p

frontline"inside japan's nuclear meltdown" is available on dvd. to order, visit shoppbs.org or call 1-800-play-pbs. frontline is also available for frontline is also available for download on itunes. turn to pbs... for stories that define the american experience. it was wild and out of control the flash apparently official revealing our strengths... it shall be called the hoover dam our struggles. he said it is madness beyond measure putting you into history... and taking you to the moment. we have a liftoff these are our stories. it's felt experience our american experience. only on pbs. >> susie: i'm susie gharib with a "nightly business report" news brief. 13,000 is finally back. after trying for days, the dow did it, closing above the psychologically important number for the first time in four years. the dow gained 23 points to close at 13,005, the s&p 500 was up 4.5 points, and the nasdaq added 20. helping the nasdaq higher: apple and speculation about the launch of a new ipad. the tech giant invited journalists to an ipad event next week. an

it's japan's sole maker of d ram chips. in terms of global supply it comes third to south korea's samsung electronics. the company's real trouble began after the global economic crisis nearly four years. its financial health began to deteriorate rapidly. it had been operating under a government backed rehabilitation plan. that gave it access to a large amount of public funds and commercial loans. it had also been seeking to team up be rivals and receive rescue funds from clients. the company is saddled with debts totaling $5.6 billion. that's the biggest amount of liabilities in the history of japan's manufacturing industry. the president of the company apologized for his company's desion to seek banuptcy protection. >> translator: the price of d ram chips has plunged to 1/3 of what it was a year ago. the yen's unprecedented strength and last year's floods in thailand also affected the company. the environment surrounding this has deteriorated rapidly over the past three years. >> the bankruptcy filing is seen as marking an

japan is one of the biggest oil importers. that also effected its trade deficit numbers a couple weeks ago. so a lot of focus there on what is happening in the oil industry. but also the semi-conductor following the elpida story. we'll keep track of all of those. back to you. >> ramin mellegard from the tokyo stock exchange. now let's look at some other asian markets that are open this hour. >> more updates next hour. >>> let's go to bangkok to find out what's making headlines. >>> in afghanistan, days of chaos and outrage following the burning of the koran by u.s. soldiers escalated in one day when a car bomb exploded near an american military base. the taliban has claimed responsibility for the deadly blast. nhk world has this report from kabul. >> reporter: the explosion occurred in jalalabad and in the eastern province early monday morning. a car bomb went off near the gate of a u.s. military base. local government officials say at least nine people were killed, including afghan soldiers. another 12 were injured. the talib

nice stuff from kyung lah there in japan.let's take a quick look at the leading indices and see how they're performing nearly two hours into the day's trading session. we're tracking the gains we saw before in particular in asia, which is now closed, but closing up to the tune of 1.5% to 2%. greece remains the word in the back of many investors' minds as you can see there. a bit of cautiousness ahead of the political leaders meeting today. hopefully, they'll be able to hammer out the terms of the much needed second bailout for the country. >>> in asia, nina, we saw pretty decent gains today. greece again very much in focus. waiting for news on that. in japan, the automakers pushed higher. we had decent guidance from toyota in particular. sony has been downgraded to bbb-plus by s&p, not a good one for that particular one. and here in hong kong, a big boost for property stocks. beijing said it would help first time home buyers. >>> let's just update you with news coming in over the course of the show. this just into us now. the

it's japan's sole maker of d ram chips. in terms of global supply it comes third to south korea's samsung electronics. the company's real trouble began after the global economic crisis nearly four years. its financial health began to deteriorate rapidly. it had been operating under a government backed rehabilitation plan. that gave it access to a large amount of public funds and commercial loans. it had also been seeking to team up be rivals and receive rescue funds from clients. the company is saddled with debts totaling $5.6 billion. that's the biggest amount of liabilities in the history of japan's manufacturing industry. the president of the company apologized for his company's decision to seek bankruptcy protection. >> translator: the price of d ram chips has plunged to 1/3 of what it was a year ago. the yen's unprecedented strength and last year's floods in thailand also affected the company. the environment surrounding this has deteriorated rapidly over the past three years. >> the bankruptcy filing is seen as markin

let's begin with japan. heavy snow has been pounding the western side of the nation. 51 fatalities have been already reported because of snow related accidents. however, more snow is expected. we have a very active low pressure system move into northern japan, and that's going to bring 20 to 70 centimeters of fresh snowfall and gusty winds as well as thunderstorms, eastern tornados not out of the question. waves could reach 6 meters along the coast. after the system passes through, more frigid air will come in. that will bring another round of heavy snow, so those conditions could certainly raise the risks of avalanches as well as damage to crops. however, the tokyo area will stay dry again. as we pull back, a large high pressure system is in place, bringing dry conditions to most of china and the korean peninsula. but it looks like showers will develop in the central section of china in the next 24 hours. today's highs are looking like this. a cold wave blanketing much of the northern sections, expecting mi

frontline"inside japan's nuclear meltdown" is available on dvd. to order, visit shoppbs.org or call 1-800-play-pbs. frontline is also available for frontline is also available for download on itunes. turn to pbs... for stories that define the american experience. it was wild and out of control the flash apparently official revealing our strengths... it shall be called the hoover dam our struggles. he said it is madness beyond measure putting you into history... and taking you to the moment. we have a liftoff these are our stories. it's felt experience our american experience. only on pbs.

bank of japan will be wrapping up a two day meeting. a lot of focus on the on-going policy meeting about how implementation to tackle deflation, so that will be a focus, and also coming up in the u.s., we're going to get retail sales in the u.s. to get a check on consumer spending in the world's biggest economy. for now, the nikkei and topix, marginally lower this tuesday. back to you. >> ramin, thanks for that. ramin mellegard from the tokyo stock exchange. let's also look at other market figures. >> that's the latest from business. >>> tokyo electric power company says a faulty thermometer is likely to blame for the rising temperature at the fukushima daiichi power plant. one of the thermometers inside the number two reactor started to show high readings late last month. temperature exceeded 80 degrees celsius, the critical level sunday. it rose to 94.9 degrees at noon monday. the utility says it thinks the thermometer is broken. two other instruments in the reactor showed the temperature dropped to about 33 degrees. >> translator: a

we're all one team. >> reporter: japan and u.s. are sticking to their plan to relocate the futenma base to nago city. okinawa is demanding a move outside the prefecture. it's unclear how these differences can be bridged. >> rachel ferguson is up next with weather. >>> held ehlo again time to get you all caught up and look at the weather. in the east asian continent things are quite. some showers down to the south and east of china. as for japan we're going to be seeing a lot of wet weather into saturday. most of it will be taking aim at the pacific edge of the country. and rainshowers will turn over to snow as they hit the frigid temperatures over the north. it is going to move fairly quickly. 9 degrees in tokyo. 6 in seoul. that figure is going to come down by a few degrees into sunday probably down to 3. taipei and hong kong both looking for 17 for the high. you'll be seeing some showers. into north america we go. much of the u.s. and central canada will have nice, clear, calm conditions will lots of sunshine. there is a new stor

japan's ministry said it is the first time the airplane has flown near japan. russia's defense ministry said their planes flew over the pacific north of the peligo, but did not interfere with the air space. >>> let's go to sayaka mori with the world's weather picture. >> hello. time now for your weather update. let's begin with east asia. thundershowers will raise the risk of flooding and land slides. it will be a great concern in the central country because the major earthquake hit this area on monday. meanwhile, a wintry mix will linger in southern china and snowshowers will linger in the interior areas. heavy snow across japan. an additional 20 centimeters is expected widely and 60 centimeters into saturday morning. more than 80 fatalities have been reported. ongoing snow could raise the risk of avalanches. it is a different story for the pacific side. it will stay largely dry. highs will be rising through 8 degrees in tokyo. still cooler than average. 3 in beijing with sunshine and 8 degrees in chengeng. heading over to the americas. a series of low pressur

it prompted concerns on part of the japan town community. supervise mirkarimi authored a special use district that is in effect there now. the the new owners decided to participate in the japan town better neighborhoods plan. after that process, but after a number of years and when the draft came to the commission had and was sent back for additional work, 3-d dropped out of the picture weather for economic reasons or anything else. the unfortunate thing is that their property is crucial to the future of japan town and to not have landlord participation is extremely disturbing to me. and to have that the landlord fully knowledgeable about the city's process and what it takes and to not have worked a little bit more closely with the community and with this particular gentleman who proposed his business there seems to me to be an little bit on a businesslike. that is directed towards a landlord. in any case, i think that this complicates matters immensely that we have this kind of situation existing. >> i am in agreement with the other commiss

with that we'll wrap up our bulletin. >> japan and new zealand have continued talks for japan to join the tpp. officials met for three hours on thursday. sources close to the talks say new zealand praised japan for consulting with nations that are negotiating details of the tpp. but new zealand has reportedly stopped short of supporting japan's formal participation. it's said the tp sprks a high level partnership pact designed to eliminate tariffs on all items including farm produce. new zealand is the last of nine nations involved in the tpp that japan has consulted with. of the nine, new zealand, the united states and australia withheld their outright support for japan to join the tpp talks. a state-backed bank is to lend to two japanese companies from a loan facility that supports business expansion abroad. the facility was created by the government to encourage firms to take advantage of the strong yen in their overseas merger and acquisition deals. japan bank says it will loan $ 00 million to toshiba to help it buy a swiss smart power meter maker. the bank says some of the loan w