Search and rescue operations by an eu mission and they proposed to share the burden of dealing with incoming refugees. Finally give the idea of a new sense of urgency, a new sense of political will from the European Union side to tackle the issue of migration and the trafficking and smuggling of people across the mediterranean. But there are differences of opinion over the scale and range of the proposed measures. Italian authorities are continuing their search for survivors and bodies from saturdays deadly ship wreck in the mediterranean. A boat containing 700 people capsized off the coast of italy. Prosecutors say some rescued were from somalia, nigeria and jips. The boat left egypt and stopped at a port on route to italy. Troops from the United States and ukraine have joined in a joint training exercise. Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko says that his country epartnership with the United States has entered a new phase. U. S. Defendant Department Spokesperson steve warn denied the allegations. Warn said russian officials are fueling confusion by providing weapons to separatists in eastern ukraine. Sporadic fighting has continued between Government Troops and prorussian forces despite a ceasefire deal signed in february. The head of the Philippine Military expressed deep concern about chinas apparent activities to build runways on the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea. The philippines, china and several others are involved in a sovereignty dispute over the islands. General Gregorio Pio Catapang said china is carrying out construction on seven reefs of the islands. He said reclaimed areas at fiery cross and subi reefs are large enough for air strips. Satalite images suggest china is building a runway on fiery cross. The general said similar work is picking up speed. The reef is close to an island controlled by the philippines. It might create friction so i think we have to really know the intention of china, whats the purpose of this rec la make . Philippine Foreign Ministry representative said that the president will raise the issue at a summit of the association of Southeast Asian nations next week. China in turn warned the body from discussing the issue. Translator this South China Sea issue is not a matter between china and asean. We oppose any attempts to damage our ties with asean members by capitalizing on the territorial disputes. China says the issue should be discussed on a bilateral basis. Leaders in thailand have taken a step toward returning the country to democratic rule. They have begun debate on drafting a new constitution. The militaryled interim government plans to hold an election next year under the new document. They seized power in a coup last may. The draft constitution allows an unelected person to serve as Prime Minister. It would create a system that gives more power to smaller parties. Officials hope to finalize the draft by late july. But supporters of ousted Prime Minister criticize the document. They say allowing an unelected person to lead the country would be antidemocratic. South african authorities are cracking down on violence against foreigners. Police there have arrested more than 300 people in connection with the attacks. Authorities have recently seen xenophobic violence break out in the major cities of durban and johannesburg as well as other areas. Attackers have targeted immigrants from other african nations. Theyve also vandalized and looted shops owned by foreigners. A local newspaper has published photos of a fatal assault on a man from mozambique. The images have sparked shock across the country. The violence caused more than 5,000 people to seek refuge in government shelters. Some South Africans blame immigrants for high unemployment and crime rates. Trade negotiators from japan and the United States say theyre closer to an agreement on a free trade deal. Ai uchida joins us from the business desk. The second day of talks went all day and through the night. Turned out to be 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 didnt 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 washingtons demand that japan increase its rice imports and the timing of lifting u. S. Tariffs on Japanese Cars and auto parts. They also examined ways of dealing with disputes over auto trade. U. S. Officials are facing opposition at home over the tpp. Labor leaders are saying that the deal could seriously threaten american jobs. More than 1,000 members of labor unions and other groups gathered in front of the u. S. Trade representative offense. In the crowd was senator Bernie Sanders who is independent but part of a democratic caucus. Tpp will be a disaster for American Workers. Sanders said past free trade agreements have failed to live up to their promises of creating more jobs. Bipartisan lawmakers introduced a bill to give president barack obama Greater Authority in trade negotiations last week. But the opposition from labor leaders and some democratic lawmakers is casting a shadow over the measure. At the white house, press secretary josh ernst suggested that the deal would be good for the u. S. To play a role in the world economy. We are at risk of the Chinese Government using the influence that theyre granted by their large economy to come in and write rules that put American Workers and american businesses a at disadvantage. Barack obama and japanese Prime Minister shinzo abe are hoping to confirm progress on the negotiations at their summit next week. Japanese government officials sustain their view that the economy is on a moderate recovery path. The monthly report for april is unchanged from march. The officials see an improvement in japans corporate sector. They say Industrial Production continues to recover despite a blip in Electronics Parts chipments. Production license were idle during the Lunar New Year holiday. The Officials SayConsumer Sentiment is also improving on the back of pay raises but people have yet to increase their spending. Translator overall, i expect personal spending will remain solid. Nishimura said that some sectors are showing weakness. He also pointed to an increase in the number of people finding work. Now lets check on markets. Share prices in the u. S. And europe rebounded on chinas latest stimulus measures. The Dow Jones Industrial average rose 1. 2 . Strong earnings reports from some companies boosted investor sentiment. And the nasdaq gained 1. 3 . Ramin mellegard joins us from the tokyo stock market. What are you seein morning . Yeah, we are seeing the positive momentum carrying through from the u. S. And a stronger dollar should be a good guide for exporters. Lets look at the opening levels for tuesday, april 21st and both indexes are higher the nikkei rupp are up but. 5 . It came off lows after stimulus measures by china. However investors are keeping an eye on developments surrounding greece ahead of a meeting on friday. The earnings season is in full swing in the u. S. And weve had a mix red action there. Morgan stanley with profits that have been the best since the lehman crisis. But also ibm coming out and showing a 12th Straight Loss in its Quarterly Earnings and this week were going to see quite a few Earnings Results from google, microsoft, amazon and general motors. And well have earnings here in japan too. What can you tell us about that . One of the major names, cannon will be coming out with numbers. Investors want to see if printer sales can offset losses from the camera division. And many will be watching for earnings from caterpillar as rivals try to get market share in emerging economies and as the Chinaled Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank looks to gain a foothold across asia alongside already established Asia Development bank. A lot of focus there for Construction Machinery makers as well. And as you well know currency levels can sway corporate earnings levels in the u. S. And japan. Where are the key pairs now . That has dictated a lot of sentiment. Right now, 119. 3133. Analysts are expecting more of a result from euro slide this week on concerns about greece. The euro is expected to be guided by a series of indicators including manufacturing pmi and surveys from germany. Well keep track of asian stocks. Some concerns about overheating we did see shanghais composite and the hang seng losing ground. The Trading Volume for shanghai was around 184 billion, ten times that of the first section of the tokyo stock exchange. Also well see if there is any reaction to the ongoing tpp talks. Thats all for me. Back to you. Sounds good. Well be back with more of your headlines next hour. Heres a check on some of your other markets. Train engineers in japan have their eyes on the world speed record. They hope to exceed 600 Kilometers Per Hour. The train operated by the Central Japan Railway company uses Magnetic Levitation Technology to obtain high speeds. The team will make the attempt on tuesday on a 42. 8 kilometer test track in yamanashi prefecture. An earlier test run reached 590 Kilometers Per Hour surpassing the previous world record by nine kilometers. Company officials are planning to launch maglev service between tokyo and nagoya in 2027. The trains will travel at speeds of up to 500 Kilometers Per Hour. The engineers will use tuesdays test to determine the safety of the train at speeds faster than 500 Kilometers Per Hour. Japanese space scientists plan to send a probe to the surface of the moon. They hope to launch it around 2018. If successful, japan would be the fourth country to accomplish the feat. An official of the Japan AerospaceExploration Agency announced the plan at a Government Panel meeting. Translator we will use ultra Precise Landing Technology for the probe which is named s. L. I. M. S. L. I. M. Stands for smart lander for investigating the moon. The probe is designed to use Image Recognition technology to identify geographical features so that it can land at the right place. Jaxa officials plan to launch s. L. I. M. On an epsilon rocket. They say the mission would help establish technology for resource exploration. The moon is the nearest celestial body to earth. Its 380,000 kilometers away. The former soviet union landed its unmanned probe, luna 9 on the moon in 1966. In 1969, apollo 11 of the United States landed on the moon carrying three astronauts. Thats one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind. Decades later chinas landed and put a rover on the moon. Engineers at the Fukushima DaiichiNuclear Plant say theyre learning more about what caused one of their robotic cameras to get stuck. It sent it inside a reactor vessel earlier this month to get a better look at the damage there and they say a newly released video is shedding light about what went wrong. This 60centimeter snakeshaped robot was designed to navigate around obstacles amid strong radioactive. But it stopped just seconds into the video. Video footage shows the robot tilting to the right. Officials say theyve given up on recovering the device. Crews sent a second robot to retrieve the first machine. But the second robot suffered a malfunction. The camera stopped working due to radiation exposure. So they decided to abandon both of them. Officials say the footage they retrieved before the initial device started working is helpful. It shows no major damage to a part of the containment vessel close to the bottom. Melted nuclear fuel fell to the bottom of the vessel in the 2011 accident. The operator says it will analyze the footage and other data with the aim of eventually removing the fuel. Japanese Department Stores are known for customer service. Now a Tokyo Department store is taking things up a notch with the debut of aiko the robot greeter. [ speaking Foreign Language ]. Aiko wears a kimono and works alongside a human employee at a ground floor information kiosk. It even bows to customers. Toshiba built the lifelike machine. Its surface is covered with silicone that looks like human skin. Translator a clerk told me its a robot. That surprised me. Toshiba officials are working on similar robots for banks and Tourist Information centers. Now to a story about newlyweds divided by war, then death. It began about 70 years ago during world war ii. A japanese man went off to fight in burma but never returned. His widow spent her life trying to find out what happened to him. So she decided to take one last journey to where he rests. Nhk worlds miki ebara joined her. Reporter this remote village is where spent time with her husband but only for two weeks. For her, myanmar is a special place. Translator myanmar has become my second home. I want to go there again and again. Reporter was her husband. Chiyoko was only 16 when the two married in 1943. Two weeks after their marriage yuriyo was called to go to war. Chiyoko remembers his last words. Translator on the morning of his departure i said to him, i will be a bit more grown up when you come back. He said no, no. You dont need to. Please stay just as you are. Reporter the Imperial Japanese army fought the allied forces in its burmaindia campaign and suffered catastrophic losses. More than 130,000 japanese lives were lost in myanmar alone. News of her husbands death reached chiyoko two years after the war ended. His remains never came home. She never remarried nor had any children. She always dreamt of going to myanmar one day to search for yuriyos last footsteps. Since 1976 shes visited the country more than 15 times. Chiyoko is turning 89 this year. [ speaking Foreign Language ]. She decided that this will be her last trip. Mandalay hill was the site of a fierce battle between the japanese and the british army in march 1945. Chiyoko was determined to climb up to the hill top to visit a memorial. They held a traditional ceremony for their loved ones. Despite the long climb, chiyoko looked happy and content. Translator once i set my foot on the soil of myanmar, i feel as if i were in my husbands arms. Im so happy. Reporter she walked on dirt roads and imagined what yuriyo went through. Reporter tens of thousands of japanese soldiers perished while they were retreating from north of the country back down toward south along this river. Many died from starvation drowned or from tropical diseases. Over the years, chiyoko learned that yuriyo got sick from malaria while leading his team back to the south. Yuriyo died at a Field Hospital in a town called mezza in september 1944. Reporter words from my love yuriyosan. I was truly very happy that i got to marry you. When i see you next will i be able to stay by your side . I want to inhale as much air of myanmar as i can and i feel as if you are protecting me. I will go back to japan. Goodbye for now. Reporter chiyoko and others brought pieces of paper, each had a name of the 300 soldiers from their region who died in myanmar. Chiyoko wanted to tell each one of them that they will never be forgotten. Miki ebara, nhk world, central myanmar. It is time now for a check of the weather with meteorologist robert speta. Robert, good morning. People in eastern parts of the u. S. Are dealing with Severe Weather. Well, were looking at at least more Severe Weather across the eastern portions of the u. S. And extending out toward canada now. Heading through the rest of your monday night into tuesday morning. By tuesday afternoon, things should start to clear up. Lets talk about what already has happened out here because this storm has really been bringing several reports of tornadoes, actually over a dozen to be exact. We also have been seeing hail reported out here and really damaging straightline winds. Thats been one of the biggest problems with this. I want to show you this photo here. This is coming out of the atlanta area where it almost looks like snow on the ground, but that is the hail that was piling up in one of these stronger thunderstorms. Lets go to some video we have coming out of atlanta where we did see some damaging winds here. It toppled a tree onto a womans home. Actually she did die. A schoolteacher out there. Powerful winds knocked down trees and power lines across other parts of the state. Farther north into ohio, a woman also died after a tree collapsed on her car. So it just goes to show when were talking about these severe thunderstorms out here, and even though youre not seeing the hail or tornadoes in your area, if you are put under a severe thunderstorm watch or warning, you do want to take them very seriously. And it does result in sometimes unfortunately some catastrophic incidents. But what were still looking at through the rest of your monday night is this storm continuing to track off toward the northeast. Its still going to be bringing that threat of some Severe Weather, even the risk of tornadoes around the washington, d. C. , area over toward baltimore. Weve been seeing tornado warnings already issued in this area. I think the bigger issue is going to be the hail or damaging winds. As that moves along, though, by tuesday, a few thunderstorms are going to be behind it. Into the north, youre going to look at travel problems across ontario to quebec. Some areas could see as much as 20 to 25 centimeters of rainfall. Back toward the west on the other side of the continent, precipitation kicking up into the pacific northwest. Seattle, showers in your area. Unfortunately, that is not making its way farther down to the south into los angeles. Only a high of 21. Some hazy conditions there in your forecast on your tuesday. But youre not going to be seeing any rainfall. Lets see whats going on in europe now. Actually, sunny skies dominating western europe. That really has been the case now for several days, and if you suffer from hay fever, unfortunately, this is going to be a problem for you out here. You might have the sniffles. The pollen really starting to kick up. On the other side of the continent, still have those thunderstorms kicking up there into southeastern portions of europe, even over toward western russia. Some snowfall back there toward the north. Temperatures look like this. Warsaw with a high of 14. Berlin up to 20. Paris getting up to 23 there. Some sunny skies on your tuesday. Talk about sunny skies. The heat is continuing to dominate the indochina peninsula over through india and into the philippines here. This is kind of the summertime for this area of the world. And the main governing thing behind the weather out here and the tropics is cloud cover. Youre not really seeing it. You have the itc down toward the south and the westerlies in the north so that makes for warming temperatures. Some of you high 30s to low 40s out here. You want to stay cool. Combined with the heat index, over toward the philippines, its pushing into the 40s as well. Now, i want to wrap things up here into northeast asia. Lets end on a good note. We had storms in japan on monday. Things are improving. High pressure coming in now and temperatures are going it be rising up with some Clear Conditions later on this week. Ill leave you now with your extended outlook. That wraps up this edition of newsline. Im Catherine Kobayashi in tokyo. Stay with us. Well be back at the top of the hour. Our highlights of the past week which includes these and other stories. Brave new world. A famous Frankfurt Museum revamps its digital profile. Saving the world. Why bicycles from Sustainable Materials are all the rage. Surreal world. The spectacular images of photographer pierre winther. It was in 1815 that Johann Friedrich stadel a frankfurt banker and merchant made a key stipulation in his will. His considerable Art Collection was to be housed in a museum that was open to all citizens of frankfurt