ai uchida has all the details. >> reporter: cybercrimes are becoming increasingly sophisticated and global making it difficult for investigators in one country to deal with cases on their own. a u.s. subsidiary of sony was hacked last year and the twitter account of the u.s. central command was broken into this year by a group of people claiming to be militants from the islamic state group. interpol has opened a cybercrime center in singapore to bolster international policy efforts against international cybercrime. it brings together investigators and computer engineers from more than 50 countries including japan. the center will collect and analyze information onion line crime. its officer will help investigators from interpol strengthen monitoring of illegal arms and the drug trade on the so-called dark web. many engineers from private security companies are also cooperating. -- stresses the importance of the public/private cooperation. [ speaking foreign language ]. >>> a japanese national police agency official nobo ruchld a a nakatani heads the singapore center. he says cross border c

and ai uchida joins us from the business desk with some details. what's on the agenda? >> the delegates have a lot to discuss. they have greece they have the china-led asian infrastructure investment bank. on the first day they are expected to focus on the challenges facing the global economy. taro aso is at the table. nay will likely tell their colleagues that the impact of japan's consumption tax hike is fading and the domestic economy is on a recovery track. they are likely to take up greece's debt problem and dealing with reform to the international monetary fund. the united states is the imf's largest contributor and congress opposes reform. but china and other emerging nations want a stronger say in the fund's management. >>> most of the members will be a part of the china development bank. the heads of the leading international financial institutions have already come out with their remarks. world bank president said demand for infrastructure improvement is huge in developing countries. >> right now, we're still waiting to see exactly what the aiib will be doing,

ai uchida has more on that. ai, what are you seeing? >> we are hearing from the economy ministry officials. they have the industrial output for us. and this we call this a key indicator because japan is home to so many manufacturers and the latest data show that plant managers are seeing less activity in factory floors. officials say production in march was down by 0.3% from the previous month. this comes after a dip of 3.4% in february. still, the ministry officials say output is showing signs of growing at a moderate pace. they expect overall production to rise 2.1% in april and then fall 0.3% in may. >>> u.s. economic growth in the first three months of the year slowed more than expected. the downturn is attributed to weaker exports and lower business investment. the latest data from the commerce department shows the preliminary growth figure for gross domestic product is 0.2%, down sharply from the previous quarter's 2.2%. market expectations were about 1%. consumer spending increased 1.9%. that accounts for about 70% of gdp. the gr

ai uchida joins us. give us the details. >> they release every few months. the last one was out in january and they lowered the outlook for japan to 0.6%. now it says the economy will grow 1% in 2015. they predict the weaker yen will push up exports. and the imf produced it's latest outlook on tuesday saying the global economy will increase 2.5% this year. and they project the u.s. economy will grow 3.1% which was described as robust. still down .5% as it expects rapidly rising value of the dollar to reduce exports. for the japanese economy the iff says a boost will come from increase in wage and stock prices as well as the falling price of crude oil. however the imf notes japan has not reached its target of 2%. >> i think it is good news. clearly for the euro zone and japan it is going to help. being more competitive will eventually increase exports. what we've learned is that the process is a f but it typically happens -- >> they said monetary policies in japan and the euro zone will help improve their competitiveness and eventually increase their exports.

ai uchida joins us from the business desk to give us an update on how the talks are going. a busy week for those negotiating the tpp. >> officials from japan and the u.s. met in tokyo this week. as we covered here they were up all night on the second day as they poured over the details. and working level officials are now meeting in the u.s. to continue the conversation. they're expected to discuss outstanding issues including the term to protect patents for pharmaceutical products. the top working level officials kicked off their four day talks on thursday. the chief negotiator says he is happy to see deliberations are in full swing on a fast track bill to give president obama a greater authority in trade negotiations. >> translator: i hope discussions in the u.s. congress will have a positive effect on our meeting and that the negotiations overall will make progress. japan will do its utmost the make a contribution. >> the delegates will talk until sunday. the aim is to pave the way for an early conclusion of the deal at a following min sterile level meeting among all 12

ai uchida joins us from the business desk with more. >> officials do say that it's still going to be less expensive than other forms of energy but the safety standards will require large investments. people at the industry ministry say that the cost will be 8.5 cents per kilowatt hour in 2030. the officials cited the huge amounts of money needed to compensate the victims of the 2011 nuclear accident and decontaminate the environment. that is on top of the additional safety measures required by the government's regulatory standards. but nuclear power will still be cheaper than other energy sources including thermal power and solar power. the officials are trying to decide on the optimal mix of energy sources to meet future electricity needs. >>> officials at canon have downgraded their forecast for digital camera sales this year. they cite lower than expected sales in europe and asia in the first three months of the year. canon officials expect 2015 sales to reach 5.8 million units. that is down 9% from the previous forecast. and they expect the sales of small digital cameras to reach

ai uchida joins us from our business desk. you have all the details.hat's happening in the markets? >> there's quite a lot happening in the markets. a lot of it looks to be in favor of stocks catherine. both domestic and foreign investors seem to have a lot of confidence in the japanese economy. this positive sentiment has been pushing up stock prices and on wednesday the nikkei rose to the highest level in 15 years. there are, though still some uncertainties, and some analysts say stock prices are too high. and of course the u.s. markets will have an impact on tokyo. overnight we saw rebound on wall street after the release of the minutes from the u.s. federal reserve's latest meeting. the dow jones industrial average rising more than a tenth of a percent, ending above 17,900. tech-heavy nasdaq closing in at 4,950, up .8%. so let's see how investors here are reacting to all this. ramin mellegard standing by at the tokyo stock exchange. good morning, ramin. what are you seeing so far? >> very good morning. definitely some positive sentiment coming out

ai uchida joins us from the business desk. the bank is off to a good start?> a lot of countries have come on board but a few heavyweights have decided not to apply to join the aiib. japan and the u.s. declined the offer. they say the bank's governance lacks transparency. the u.s. treasury department will seek cooperation with the aiib. a senior department official told the media that treasury secretary jack lew will make the country's stance clear at a series of meetings in washington. the group of 20 finance ministers and central bank governors opens thursday. the officials said it's clear that advancements in infrastructure are necessary in asia. and they want to work closely through joint financing. the u.s. is set to monitor the bank's management from the outside. >>> analysts at standard and poor's have cut their rating on greece's government bond by one notch. s&p analysts downgraded the rating from single b minus to triple c plus which means debt payments could fall behind. analysts say they expect greece's debt and other financial commitments could be

ai uchida joins us from the business desk. the second day of talks went all day and through the night. >> turned out toe a marathon. the first one on sunday lasted a couple of hours but the one on monday the second day of meetings, the negotiators sat down in the morning and didn't leave the table until well past midnight. despite all that akira aomori emerged without an agreement. >> translator: the two countries have come much closer to an agreement but differences still remain over agricultural issues such as rice as well as cars. we still have to make efforts to reach a deal. >> minister amari and i have completed two long days of negotiations on the tpp this meeting follows a week of discussions at the working level. due to these efforts the gap between the two sides has been substantially narrowed but continued work is needed to ultimately resolve the outstanding issues. >> the two sides focused on washington's demand that japan increase its rice imports and the timing of lifting u.s. tariffs on japanese cars and auto pa

ai uchida joins us from the business desk with news on the trade balance. ai good morning. what can you tell us? >> good morning, catherine. you and i have been talking about trade deficits every single month for just about three years, catherine. now a lot of that had to do with the need for japan to import energy since nuclear power has not been an option following the fukushima accident but oil prices have plunged recently making those imports significantly less expensive and officials have just announced a trade surplus for march. it is the first time for the balance to swing into the black since june 2012. the finance ministry officials say the preliminary trade balance for last month came in at around $1.9 billion in the positive. the figure is the first surplus in 33 months. exports expanded 8.5% in yen terms from a year ago. imports shrank 14.5%. all nuclear power plants have been offline following the 2011 fukushima accident. import costs had been rising due to the need to for liquefied natural gas for thermal power generators, but the cheaper oil prices have helpe

ai uchida joins us now from the business desk with more on the japanese car giant.ou have all the details. what can you tell us? >> back in 2013 executives actually imposed a three-year freeze on constructing new factories. the reason they said was that they wanted to focus on improving productivity at existing plants. now that they are expecting record earnings they have decided to go ahead and build new facilities. and executives say the factories will be in china and in mexico. they say demand in china and the u.s. will grow in the coming years. they say the two new plants will boost output capacity to satisfy the increased appetite. toyota plans to produce compact cars at the chinese plant for local drivers. in mexico the corolla passenger car will be rolling off production lines and throughout north america. the toyota officials want production to get under way in three to four years' time. they say they have come up with ways to cut construction costs for new plants by 40% compared with the cost back in 2008 when the global financial crisis occurred. toyota ex

let's get ai uchida in to join us from the business desk. give us more details on what they spoke about. >> we are getting information from diplomatic sources on both sides and the aiib the asian infrastructure investment bank is led by china. officials from 57 countries have said they want to join the aiib but that doesn't include japan. xi expressed hope that would change. the leaders talked for about half an hour. xi shares the view that financial systems should be strengthened to meet the growing demand for infrastructure in asia. but abe has concerns over the aiib's management among other things. he expressed readiness to hold working-level talks. xi reports that the aiib has gained international support and he is convinced that japan will approve of the bank. >>> ministers from japan and the u.s. wrapped up their latest round of the transpacific partnership free trade talks without reaching a deal. they have started negotiates to increase imports of rice with the u.s. and other members of the tpp. during the three-day talks that ended

ai uchida joins us from our business desk. everybody's waiting for that 20,000 key level. how close are we this morning? >> at the open the nikkei was just about 11 points away from that level. so everyone holding their breath for that 20,000 level. we have been watching the index tease investors for several weeks now as it inched closer and closer to that key level. analysts say investors bought shares on hopes for stronger corporate earnings and signs the jaf knees economy is coming out of the woods. let's get all the details from our market man, ramin mellegard. what are you seeing at the open? >> it's all getting pretty exciting as we're approaching that 20,000 level, ai. we'll see if we hit that this morning. let's not forget the nikkei's been up around 500 points since monday and it all bodes pretty well as we head into corporate earnings season here in japan. so let's have a look at the exact opening levels shall we for april 10th friday here in tokyo. 19,987 up .25%. topix trading higher as well. the nikkei has been boosted by foreign investors looking to snap up s

ai uchida joins us now from the business desk. good morning.ell us what's going on in the markets. >> good morning, catherine. the unimpressive jobs data out of the u.s. last week that worked to push up and down the markets. investors took it as a clue that the fed won't be raising rates for a while longer but a weaker labor market is a warning for the rest of the economy and that worked to push the dollar down. but overnight on wall street investors seemed to con trailt on the possible timing of a rate hike and markets rallied. let's see how markets here are starting the day. ramin mellegard joins us for that from the tokyo stock exchange. good morning, ramin. what are you seeing so far? >> very good morning to you, ai. indeed u.s. markets look to have shrugged off the disappointing u.s. jobs numbers. we saw the dow jones industrial average and the nasdaq up by about 2/3 of a percent. tokyo share prices also ended monday lower but not such a steep decline and we're definitely seeing markets sidestepping some of that negative sentiment and they