6,000. Saudi foreign minister held a News Conference with u. S. Secretary of state john kerry in riyad. Translator the kingdom is thinking there could be a ceasefire for a period of five days in yemen. It would allow for the delivery of relief aid to the brothers in the country. If the houthis and their allies are committed to that. Aid workers say fighting and a lack of fuel is hampering the delivery of daily necessities. The rebels had been demanding saudi halt air strikes as a condition for a ceasefire but its they havent officially responded to the proposal. Britons have voted in what was billed as one of the closest general elections in their recent history. The emergence of french parties chipped away at the support of two Major Players but exit polls are projecting a win for Prime MinisterDavid Camerons conservative party. The bbc expects the main governing party will clinch 316 seats of the 650 in the house of commons, falling short of a majority. They estimate the main Opposition Labor Party will gain 239 seats and they say the junior Ruling Coalition partner, the liberal democrats will obtain ten seats. The bbc predict the proindependence Scottish Nationalist Party will increase its number of seats to 58. Vote counting will continue through the night. Preliminary results will be available as early as friday morning, local time. The eu has launched an expert panel to review the medical checkup system for airline pilots. This comes after an investigation showed the copilot who crashed the germanwings jet in march tried hazardous maneuvers on a previous flight. Experts believe copilot Andreas Lubitz in march deliberately crashed the plane into the french alps. The passenger jet was caring 150 people. It was traveling from barcelona to dusseldorf. French investigators on wednesday commented on the planes flight data. They said it showed lubitz tried dangerous settings several times during the trip from dusseldorf to barcelona. Thats the flight before the one that crashed. The expert panel put together by the European AviationSafety Authority will include medical professionals. The group will analyze the accidents cause to review the current system. The members will hear from European Airlines on their mental and physical checkup system for pilots. Theyll also learn about rules to enter the cockpit. Another japanese astronaut is ready for outer space. Passed the final test in preparation for a sixmonth mission on the International Space station. Later this month he will follow in the steps of and travel to the iss on board russias soyuz spacecraft. Yui has been undergoing training to learn how to operate the craft. Their final training was learning how the deal with a fire in the space station. They will travel to the iss on board a soyuz rocket. Speculation is rampant that the mission may be postponed due to the failed launch last month of an unmanned russian spacecraft. Russian officials told local media the results will be released on wednesday. Nasa is one step closer to shuttling astronauts to and from the International Space station. The u. S. Company space x held an emergency test of its passenger capsule. And we have ignition. The dragon passenger spacecraft blasted off from Cape Canaveral in florida. Parachutes opened at an altitude of 1. 2 kilometers and safely lowered the capsule into the atlanta. Atlantic. Nasa commissioned space x to build the dragon. 2017 is their target to begin shuttling astronauts back and forth to the international separation. Nasa says the test flight was a great step forward. A group of historians has issued a statement calling on japan to make an unbiassed accounting of history as a step toward promoting peace and friendship in asia. 187 noted scholars from countries including the United States and britain made the appeal in a statement titled open letter in support of historians in japan. The letter says that problems of historical interpretation pose a problem. One of the most divisive historical issues is that recording those referred to as comfort women. The group note at is the same time that denying what happened is unacceptable. Prime minister abe used the speech before the u. S. Congress to speak of the universal value of human rights. He also spoke of the importance of Human Security and of facing the suffering that japan caused other countries. The scholars say they applaud these sentiments and urge the Prime Minister to act boldly on all of them. The scholars conclude the letter by calling for as full an unbiassed an accounting of past wrongs as possible to promote peace and friendship in asia. This is the season when many Japanese Companies release their earnings reports for the year that ended in march. Lets go to ai uchida from the business desk. Lets get the numbers from you. What do the results look like so far . We are seeing a bit of a mixed picture. We are seeing the weaker yen boost the bottom lines at a lot of firms. But on the other hand Falling Crude oil prices pushed down profits for some oil companies. Lets take a look at nintendo. It is back in the black for the first time in four years. Nintendo Officials Say the firm posted an operating profit of 206 million the weaker yen boosted sales on the wii u video game console in the u. S. And europe. But sales fell 3. 8 in yen terms to 4. 6 billion. Thats because sales of the 3ds game console were lower than expected. Lower crude prices have caused edemitsu kosan to post its first net loss in ten years. The net loss was close to 1. 2 pull. Officials say plunging crude prices pushed down the value of the oil reserves by more than 1 billion. Problems with overseas Oil Development problems caused the firm to post an extraordinary loss. Now that oil prices have stabilized they expect a net profit of 470 million for the current fiscal year. Lets see how the earnings will effect markets here especially after a rebound in u. S. Share prices after the encouraging numbers on weekly jobless claim. The dow jones and nasdaq closed up. 5 . We go to Ramin Mellegard at the tokyo stock exchange. What are you seeing so far this morning . Caution really definitely the main word or the keyword for a lot of investors today after we saw equity bond and a lot of other assets reserving from the day before. Oil prices also. And really investors waiting for the u. S. Jobs data as well. A note of caution playing through the markets. Lets look at how the nikkei and the topix are playing through this friday may 8th here in tokyo. Both are in the positive. Were not seeing massive moves just yet. The nikkei ended at its lowest level in a month. And investors despite the gains an wall street may decide to continue on a note of caution. We saw a dip in crude oil price and the transport sector in the u. S. Was one of the top performers. Ill be watching out for related shares here today. In currencies we saw the dollar pop higher against the euro and the yen. Where are they trading now . We saw action from the data dollar gained on the weekly jobless claims which showed a reversal in the private sector jobs data and that puts more focus on the main jobs data later today. Against the yen, the dollar rose more than 0. 6 after the jobless claims data and that was 265,000. Much stronger than expectations. Against the euro the u. S. Currency rebounded 1 from a tenweek low. And the british pound jumped around 1 against the dollar after polls closed in the uk. Some analysts saying that the investors were relieved as they thought Political Uncertainty was averted. We will see the reaction and results later on. We touched on earnings as well here in japan of course the latest numbers from nintendo which we touched on after announcing the first annual profit in four years and its going to bring some of its most popular characters such as mario to universal theme parks. And in march it announced an agreement with mobile phone mobile game provider dena of japan to enhance its presence in the smartphone sector of the market. In the asian markets we have seen volatility and down trends for shanghai composite. But well see how those trade today and how it relates to japanese shares. Thanks a lot for that update. Managers in japans Construction Industry have a problem. A shortage of workers. Work continues to rebuild from the 2011 earthquake and ordered were flooding in ahead of the Tokyo Olympics in 2020. Now nhk worlds chie tanaka reports on some hightech solutions. Reporter a new hotel is going up in tokyo and the construction crew is hard at work, the kind of work that puts bodies to the test. This is hard on my back. Reporter at construction sites, sometimes jobs are physically too demanding. The number of construction workers in japan peaked in 1997 at 4. 5 million. At last count, it was down almost 1 million. Managers at the Company Building the hotel say they have a solution. Workers will strap on this device, invented by a storm up firm. It takes the heavy out of heavy lifting. Im about to lift something that is more than half of my weight with this support suit. Lets give a try. Its heavy but not as hard as i thought. Feels like someone is pushing up my lower back. And it all works automatically. A brain signal sent to move the body is picked up by sensors on the skin. The device uses this data to support the user in bending and using the lower back. According to its maker, the robotic suit can make a heavy object feel up to 40 lighter. Translator if we can alleviate the burden of carrying heavy stuff, workers can concentrate on areas that need their expertise. Reporter as he says skilled work is also an industry requirement. This worker is inspecting the condition of wall tiles on an apartment building. These inspections are mandatory. Tangibled tiles can peel off the wall posing a hazard to pedestrians. The 2011 earthquake created even more demand for tile checks. The damage is often hidden. Changes in temperature and humidity cause the tiles and the material underneath them to expand or shrink. Over times, gaps can emerge and the tiles can drop off. The inspectors main tool is a welltrained ear. This one sounds normal. Theres no space underneath. But this sound suggests there is a gap. And theres a risk of the tile falling off the wall. Reporter a Major Construction firm developed this machine. It checks the tiles one by one and at high speed. A hammer taps on the wall as it glides along. A microphone in the robot picks up the sound and the onboard computer identifies damaged tiles. Tiles displayed in white are risky ones. The system also generates a Detailed Analysis showing different degrees of damage. Translator as you can see, robots can do the job fast and create an inspection report accurately and efficiently. We think there is a great merit. Reporter Construction Managers say the tight labor market is not a temporary issue. That means the new muscle on the building site is here to stay. Chie tanaka, nhk world. And that is the latest in Business News for this hour. Ill leave you with a check on markets. Officials at the Japan Meteorological Agency have raised the warning level for a volcano near tokyo. Mount hakone is a popular tourist destination. Seismic activity has been increasing, and thats hitting local businesses hard. Nhk worlds Keiko Yamamoto has the details. Reporter officials at the Meteorological Agency say theyve recorded many earthquakes near the surface of the mountain in the past two weeks. Translator the pressure of gas from underneath has become slightly stronger. Reporter the officials have raised the alert level for the volcano from one to two. A level two warning says people shouldnt approach the crater. Translator based on the level of seismic activity and the movement of the crust, we dont expect a major eruption. I dont believe local hot spring facilities will be affected. Reporter Officials Say a minor eruption could take place in the mountains of owakudani valley. Authorities banned entry to hiking trails within three kilometers of the valley. That came at a bad time for people who wanted to spend their spring holidays in the area. A roadway leading to the area is out of service. Today, we wanted to go up the top of the mountain. We are a little bit disappointed. Reporter local businesses are feeling the effects. This shop owner says the number of people visiting his store this past weekend was down about 70 . Translator this is causing us a lot of trouble. We cant do anything without visitors. Reporter local authorities are trying to minimize the impact on tourists. They stress that the size of the nogo area is limited. Workers have checked hotels and inns in the area to make sure they are safe. But an expert says the earthquakes could continue for more than a month. Keiko yamamoto, nhk world, tokyo. A georgian sumo star is looking to defy the odds at the upcoming may grand tournament in tokyo. He has been battling a serious leg injury outside the ring, but he has been fighting hard to show fans he is back to championship form. Nhk worlds hiro morita has that story. Reporter is from georgia in the caucuses. He is 192 centimeters tall and weighs in at 167 kilograms. His build and a strong pair of legs give him considerable power in the ring. He has experience in judo and in sambo, a martial arts form developed in russia. He won second place at the junior world sumo championships in 2005. Made his debut in the world of professional sumo in 2006. He achieved a promotion to the highest division in just over two years, among the fastest promotions in sumo history. In the 2011 may tournament, he was in the championship race until the final day. In the end, he lost to a yokozuna grand champion. In the 2013 july tournament, he ruptured a ligament in his right knee. The injury forced him to miss four straight tournaments. His ranking fell from the top division to the third highest makashita. The setback came as a shock to the wrestler and his fans. Translator i even thought about quitting sumo. I talked to my stablemaster and he said, are you kidding . You have to stay in sumo for another ten years. When i think back, im glad i followed his advice and had an operation to fix my knee. At the 2014 march tournament, he returned to sumo with style. Tochinoshin went on to win four tournaments in a row as he made his way up the divisions. He returned to the makinochi division in november 2014. The georgian won 11 of 15 bouts and received the fighting spirit prize. His win in this years march tournament was his first against a yokozuna. Tochinoshin continues to produce results, despite having been away from the sport for some time. His success to down to the fundamentals, practice and a lot of focus. Translator my attitude changed because my ranking went so low. In general, im a bit vulnerable mentally, when i feel defeated, i become like this. I think that ive become stronger mentally because of this experience. His goal in the upcoming tournament is to return to whipping form and keep moving up the rankings. His fans hope his neversaydie attitude will give him more good results. I aim to put up a good fight in the next tournament and beyond. Im thankful for the support people have offered and i hope i can live up to their expectations. He d hiro morita reporting for us there. Its time now for a check of the weather with meteorologist robert speta. Yes, what we have been looking at actually, over the past actually several days now is this frontal area, which has just been sitting in place and it has been bringing the damaging winds, large hail coming out of this as well and of course, the threat of tornadoes. There has been numerous tornadoes already reported. Some of them quite destructive. You can see here on the satellite picture, we still have more supercells, really starting to set up here on your thursday evening. And what i want to show you is actually first this photo, out of central oklahoma, wednesday. And what you see here, this isnt a tornado, but it is the base of a supercell and you have what we call a wall cloud right here. Now, that is that cyclonic circulation the center of this storm system and what descends out of this is often a tornado. So, if you see this, youre likely under a tornado warning. You get tort need keys this do come down, they cause the damage. Go to the video we have coming out of the Oklahoma City area, because take a look at. This we had this series of tornadoes that ripped through this area. One person was killed. Several were injured. The one casualty actually was from a woman who sought safety in her storm shelter, which is underground, unfortunately, came with heavy rain and water came into her shelter. Tonight tornados flattened homes and caused severe flooding as well. More Severe Weather in the forecast. Cold front continuing to push through. These areas in the darker red, thats your highest threat of that large hail and these damaging winds, but still, that chance of a supercell continuing to spawn as we go through your friday. As that front pushes off there toward the east, the other big thing is behind it, we have cooler temperatures diving in, especially for southern portions of canada, through the great lakes region. Going to be looking at temperatures, chicago, 27 dropping down to 13. I dont think the eastern seaboards will see a big temperature change, but still unsettled weather setting up in washington, d. C. Temperatures into the high 20s but thunderstorms basically expected every day there. Now as we look into the southwestern u. S. , i do want to mention into the california, nevada area, you need the rain. Severe drought in place. Good news, theres rain in the forecast. Now, its not as much as youre seeing back here toward the east, but nonetheless, it is going to help out at least a little bit here. Los angeles, san diego, you have those showers in the forecast, at least on your friday before tapering off heading into saturday and sunday. Do want to mention here in the tropics across eastern asia, we are currently continuing to track typhoon noel, moving off to the west northwest. Good news, it has slightly decreased its intensity, this is still expected to reintensify, move off here to the northwest, making landfall saturday night into sunday there into eastern portions of luzon. Big problem with this. Damaging winds likely, enough to cause light debris to fly around, high surf and even the threat of storm surge and also that threat of some heavy rainfall. Once this pushes overhead, you will see the localized Flooding Risk there. Southeastern china, heavy rain out there for you. This is the start of that rainy season front that could switch over there toward the east and pack parts of western japan, we go ahead through your weekend. Tokyo at least, 26 and partly cloudy skies here on your friday. I will leave you now with your extended outlook. That wraps up this edition of newsline. Im Catherine Kobayashi in tokyo. Thanks for staying with us. Steves the dramatic rock of cashel is one of irelands most evocative sites. This was the seat of ancient irish kings for seven centuries. St. Patrick baptized king aengus here in about 450 a. D. In around 1100 an irish king gave cashel to the church, and it grew to become the ecclesiastical capital of all ireland. 800 years ago, this Monastic Community was just a chapel and a round tower standing high on this bluff. It looked out then as it does today over the plain of tipperary, called the golden vale because its rich soil makes it irelands best farmland. On this historic rock, you stroll among these ruins in the footsteps of st. Patrick, and wandering through my favorite celtic cross graveyard, i feel the soul of ireland. Stacey thunder voiceover on this edition of native report, we watch master quilt maker Gwen Westerman construct a beautiful star quilt we learn about mni sota makoce, the land of the dakota. With the Beautiful People of the red lakes celebration. And we take a look back at our very first story from season one of native report. We also learn something new about Indian Country and hear from our elders on this native report. Narrator production of native report is made possible by grants from the Shakopee MdewakantonSioux Community and the blandin foundation