okinawa prefecture, following the collision incidents in september last year. >> translator: china wants to investigate the seabed and natural resources in the east china sea, partly for military purposes. by entering the zone many times, they are aiming to protect their interests in the east china sea. >> the boats have appeared 14 times so far, and one of them intruded into japanese maritime territory in august for the first time. >>> european leaders agreed on stricter figures. >> europe was the first to react to the fact and ended higher. the dow-jones closed the week on a high note, too, boosted by moves by eu leaders pushing with fiscal reforms. the nikkei kicked off a new week, so let's see how things are kicking off. for that, we go to ramin mellegard at the tokyo stock exchange. ramin, good morning. we're seeing positive buys from europe. how are markets reacting to that, and what's in store for japan this week. >> very good morning to you. lots of stories this week. let's have a look at the opening levels this monday morning for the nikkei and topix. markets are reacting positively. nikkei up over 100 points. eu leaders are likely waiting to see

september a chinese trawler collided with two japanese patrol ships off japan's senkaku islands in the east china sea. relations between the two countries soured. >>> japan looks set to adopt the f-35 as its next generation fighter jet. the aircraft is being jointly developed by the united states and eight other countries. senior defense ministry officials on wednesday put forward their proposal to adopt the f-35. the plan won approval from the government and the ruling party officials. the ministry says its working team gave the f-35 higher marks on performance and other factors than two competitors, boeing's fa-18 and the euro fighter developed by four european countries. the ministry also considered which of the planes would allow japanese companies the greatest involvement in manufacturing and maintenance. the f-35 selection will become official at a national security conference attended by prime minister yoshihiko noda scheduled for later this week. >>> time to check some of the stories we've gathered from broadcasters around asia. we begin with this item sent by rtm malaysia. the malaysian gove

september a chinese trawler collided with two japanese patrol ships off japan's senkaku islands in the east china searelations between the two countries soured. >>> japan looks set to adopt the f-35 as its next generation fighter jet. the aircraft is being jointly developed by the united states and eight other countries. senior defense ministry officials on wednesday put forward their proposal to adopt the f-35. the plan won approval from the government and ruling party officials. the ministry says its working team gave the f-35 higher marks on performance and other factors than two competitors, boeing's fa-18 and the eurofighter developed by four european countries. the ministry also considered which of the planes would allow japanese companies the greatest involvement in manufacturing and maintenance. the f-35 selection will become official at a national security conference attended by prime minister yoshihiko noda scheduled for later this week. >>> next we go to patchari raksawong in bangkok to find out what's making headlines in the region. >> pakistani prime minister yus avenue raza gilani is se

a lot of moisture over towards the east in the south china sea. if you remember early, we showed you a live shot coming out of hong kong. it was beautiful out there. we have this big ridge of high pressure. this is setting up what is triggering these strong waves across parts of thailand. so, again, one more day for bad weather across this region. we also continue to follow parts of the philippines. of course, they're cleaning up. we do know the death toll now is reportedly 1,400 people. let me correct that for you. do know that we just got updated information. looks like it was reduced from 1,453 down to 1,249. this is following that tropical storm washi that made land fall ton the 15th and the 16th down to southern parts of the philippines. see for yourself, a lot of rain has been moving through the area. we'll continue to see scattered showers and thunderstorms. that will continue to hamper the rescue effort as we go through the next couple days. that's where we're going to see rainfall. leaving with the story coming out of antarctica. this is

shifting to the east pakistan with the future of fresh ties with china sea u.s. relationships from one crisis to the next with the strains heightened by the covert american grade killed osama bin laden and last month's drone attack that left twenty four pakistani soldiers dead. and some celebrate a few commiserate it's the twentieth anniversary of the fall of the soviet union and opinion is still split about whether breaking up the country was the best choice for his people it ended the cold war and paved the way for democracy but sparked a series of bloody regional conflicts and economic downturn so. next we take you to the wilds of the siberian mountains for the next half hour enjoy. eastern cyan is one of siberia's least explored areas. it's the geographical center of asia the mountain ridge of east and cyan stretches for one thousand kilometers from east to west. secluded need the russian mongolian border south siberia is nature remains pristine and untouched by man. or tourists who braving the nature of the plan is to run snowmobiles for hundreds of kilomete

the 1970s when china and taiwan raised questions of sovereignty. that's around the time they petroleum rights in the east chinese sea were discussed. >>> kim jong-un reportedly issued his first military order just before his father's death was announced. south korean officials say kim jong-un said to stop exercises and return to their bases short before noon on december 19th. the north korea military was conducting annual drills on that day. around 8:30 a.m. two short-range missiles were launched to the sea of japan from a base on north korea's eastern coast. the military canceled another test launch scheduled for the afternoon and soldiers returned to their bases after kim jong-un's order was issued. south korea military officials concluded there was no connection between the missile launch in the morning and the late north korean leader's death. kim jong-un was appointed four-star general in december september 2010. south korean government officials viewed his order as a concrete sign he has complete control over the military, an indication he's poised to firmly become the military's top commander. >>> south korea's top nuclear envoy is visiting

the 1970s when china and taiwan raised questions of sovereignty. that's around the time they petroleum rights in the east chinese sea were discussed. >>> kim jong un, the heir of the late korean leader, kim jong il, reportedly issued his first military order just before his father's death was announced. south korean officials say kim jong-un said to stop exercises and return to their bases short before noon on december 19th. the north korea military was conducting annual drills on that day. around 8:30 a.m. two short-range missiles were launched to the sea of japan from a base on north korea's eastern coast. the military canceled another test launch scheduled for the afternoon and soldiers returned to their bases after kim jong-un's order was issued. south korea military officials concluded there was no connection between the missile launch in the morning and the late north korean leader's death. kim jong-un was appointed four-star general in december september 2010. south korean government officials view kim's order as a concrete sn he has complete control over the military, an indication he's poised to firmly become the military's top commander.

the middle east has got to this new bloody chapter of some of our sea tripoli. stone has its eyes on the east for future partnerships the president having helped the country's friendship with china and so after a rocky year with america where times have been all but destroyed from the right to kill osama bin laden without informing us not about the last month's deadly drone attack auntie's should have explains. the top ranking diplomat from the hu jintao administration has said that this visit is very important mark sixty years of diplomatic ties between china and pakistan and he's hoping that this trip will bring that relationship to a new level to an all time high the leaders from both the countries talk about security regions in the area and obviously all of this comes just one month after the nato military strike on a pockets than afghan checkpoint that actually killed twenty four pakistani soldiers all relations between pakistan and the united states as a result of that incident or i don't know all time low so many analysts are saying that this meeting could be a sign that pakistan is actually shifting towards depending more on china as opposed to the united states beijing

the global weather forecast. >> hello, welcome back to your weather update. let's take a look at what's happening across east asia. a high pressure system is bringing cold northerly winds to china, the korean peninsula and japan, bringing sea and rain-snow across the western half of japan, particularly wet and windy in the tohoku area. blowing snow conditions are occurring here. we're expecting as much as 30 centimeters of snow by saturday morning and strong winds are creating high waves along the coast. across the korean peninsula, a wintry mix should taper off across the eastern portions on saturday. as for china, rain and mountain snow will develop over the inland area. down towards the south, heavy rain will continue in vietnam and southern thailand throughout the day, that is raising the risks of flooding as well as landslides. temperature wise, expecting 8 degrees in tokyo, some showers are still lingering but that should taper off by this afternoon and zero degrees in seoul and one degree in beijing. across the south, 33 in bangkok and 17 degrees in hong kong. heading over to europe, a powerful winter storm has been battering northern europe. as you can see the isobars are close together, meaning that extremely fier

the east sea. >>> instability in the region, of course, a major worry. our stan grant is watching it all live in beijing with reaction there. stan, good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning, alina. chinae, very close relationship with north korea. this is a relationship that's being described as close as lips and teeth. goes back to the korean war when chinese fighters fought alongside north korean forces. many say that china exerts the most influence over north korea than any other country on earth. that said it has not always been smooth sailing in his relationship. the nuclear tests in 2006, and 2009, put strains on the ties between china and north korea, some analysts saying they spit in the eye of china. china, always blocked sanctions. actually agreed after the nuclear tests nthat said, they'e been able to gring north korea to the table for the six-party talks. provides the bulk of fuel, food and trade to north korea and is absolutely crucial in this moment of uncertainty that china works to create more stability in that region, and that's is what a statement said today. expressed grief. sent its condolences described kim jong-il as a great leader of socialism saying it's import