Transcripts For LINKTV Newsline 20140423

At haneda airport. Now japanese leaders havent hosted a u. S. President as a state guest since bill clinton in 1996. Obama will dine this evening with Prime Minister shinzo abe. On thursday, hell attend a welcome ceremony at the imperial palace, where hell meet with the emperor and empress. After that, obama and abe will hold their summit. Theyll talk about a range of issues from trade to security to regional relations. Now abe and obama are expected to issue a joint statement. A draft says the decades old u. S. Japan Security Alliance will play an Important Role in maintaining Regional Peace and prosperity. Their discussions will also touch on north Koreas Nuclear development, chinas military expansion, as well as the situation in ukraine. Now president obama and Prime Minister abe will hold a press conference after their meeting. You can watch it live right here on newsline. Now, president obama and Prime Minister abe have plenty of ground to cover in a short amount of time. Nhk worlds Tomoko Kamata tells us what abe is hoping to get out of the summit. Reporter Prime Minister abe needs to make the most of president obamas visit. He wants to show that the japanu. S. Alliance remains strong, and is contributing to peace and stability in the asia pacific. Abe has watched chinese leaders send ship after ship to the East China Sea to back up their claim to the Senkaku Islands controlled by japan. The japanese government maintains the islands are an inherent part of japans territory in terms of history and international law. The Chinese Military is expanding its reach in the south china sea, too. Abe referred to the current state of things earlier this year. We must restrain military expansion in asia, which could otherwise go unchecked. Reporter then theres north korea. Authorities in pyongyang are pushing ahead with their nuclear and missile development. Theyve threatened to carry out another underground nuclear test. Prime minister abe will use the meeting with obama to confirm his country will continue to benefit from the protection afforded by the japan u. S. Security treaty. Leaders in washington hopes that the treaty will cover japan in the event of a clash with china over the Senkaku Islands. Translator id like to tell the world with president obama that we will not tolerate any attempt to use the threat of force to change the status quo, and that we will protect the rule of law. Reporter to do that, japanese Officials Say abe and obama will announce they plan to jointly support Southeast Asian nations in maintaining Marine Transport security. Some of those nations are locked in territorial disputes with china. Japanese and u. S. Government officials are now discussing how they should refer to those issues in their summit meeting. Tomoko kamata, nhk world, tokyo. As obama works to strengthen ties with his asian allies, tensions are on the rise with north korea. U. S. Leaders are warning pyongyang not to carry out another nuclear test. Theyre worried about increased activity at a Nuclear Test Site and they say theyre committed to defending their allies in the region. Now south Korean Defense Ministry Officials confirmed more activity around the site where the North Koreans carried out three Previous Nuclear tests. The spokesperson for the state Department Says u. S. Officials are monitoring the situation on the Korean Peninsula closely. We continue to urge north korea to refrain from actions that threaten Regional Peace and security, and to comply with its International Obligations and commitments. Psaki says u. S. Officials are coordinating with their allies in south korea and japan. U. S. Researchers have been looking through Satellite Photos of the nuclear site. President obama is scheduled to visit seoul on friday. Researchers say a test during his stay is possible. But unlikely, based on the limited images available. Now researchers at Johns Hopkins University Say the photos were taken over the last six weeks. They say the images Show Movement of boxes and what may be lumber near a tunnel. They say one shows a large vehicle traveling back and forth down a road leading to the tunnel. They say the images indicate the North Koreans have begun new operations. But the analysts say they dont see the same things they saw before tests at the site in 2009, and again last year. Ukrainian leaders have ordered Security Forces to renew their operations against prorussian militants in the east. Armed groups have been occupying government buildings in a push forreater regional powers. Theyre showing no signs of backing down, despite a fresh appeal from the united states. Nhk worlds craig dale has more. Reporter the cost of the crisis in ukraine is adding up. Hundreds gathered at a memorial for three prorussian activists. They say radical ukrainian activists killed the man last weekend in a shootout. Leaders in kiev accuse russian agents of being behind the violence. Prorussian groups have occupied government buildings in eastern cities since earlier this month. Theyve been calling for greater regional autonomy. Top diplomats from the u. S. , the eu, ukraine, and russia, struck an agreement last week to try to end the unrest. The separatists are supposed to put down their weapons and leave the buildings. But nothings changed. U. S. Vice President Joe Biden blamed russian leaders during a visit to kiev. We call on russia to stop supporting men hiding behind masks, in unmarked uniforms, sowing unrest in Eastern Ukraine. Ukraines interim Prime Minister Arseny Yatsenyuk says russia should not behave like gangsters. But officials in moscow consistently deny theyre behind the turmoil. Foreign minister Sergey Lavrov says its ukrainian leaders who arent honoring the agreement. And so with diplomacy bogged down, the possibility of further violence is growing. A Ukrainian Military aircraft made an Emergency Landing near the city of slavyansk after it was hit by gunfire. Security forces have been ordered to resume their operation to evict militants from buildings. Across the border, Russian Troops are carrying out drills. Leaders in kiev and the west say president Vladimir Putin is looking for an excuse to grab more territory. He annexed the ukrainian republic of crimea last month after unrest there. Nato members are boosting their defenses in the region in response. Theyve deployed more ships, and u. S. Commanders are sending 600 troops. If theres a message to moscow, it is the same exact message. That we take our obligations very, very seriously on the continent of europe. Reporter Vice President biden says time is running out. We will not allow this become to an openended process. Reporter but prorussian activists in the east dont seem to be listening. Translator the u. S. Should not interfere with ukraines internal politics. Reporter the people here say theyre preparing to repel an attack by ukrainian forces. The situation is getting more complicated by the day. Craig dale, nhk world. South korean authorities are continuing to retrieve bodies from a sunken ferry. The sewol went down a week ago with 476 people on board. More than 300 of the passengers were high school students. Mourners are paying their respects to the victims at a special altar. Translator i feel sorry for the victims. Theyre so young. I cannot find the words. Translator i hope i will meet my friend again in my next life, and we will have good times together. Coast guard Officials Say 150 of those on board are confirmed dead. 152 are unaccounted for. Investigators are still trying to find out why the ship sank. They believe it may have lost balance after making some abrupt turns. They have been questioning seven crew members, including the captain. Theyre also looking into how the ferry operator managed its ships and cargo. Rescue workers are continuing their operations around the clock. They have completed a search of the starboard side. Divers entered the cafeteria on tuesday. But could not find anyone. Theyre now preparing to enter some of the large cabins where many of the students are believed to have been at the time of the accident. A senior official from soccers world governing body has voiced concern about brazils readiness to host the world cup finals. Fifa secretarygeneral jerome back says its a race against the clock with the opening match less than two months away. Now, bock visited sao paulo with former brazilian striker ron oldo. They inspected a stadium under construction and find workers still installing the seating. Theres not a single minute we can waste, not even days, not a single minute we can waste because there is still a lot of work to do. Matches are scheduled to take place in 12 stadiums. Three still arent finished. Valcke says hes particularly concerned about the sao paulo stadium being ready for fifa test match next month. Security is also a concern for the world cup organizers. A riot broke out in a Rio De Janeiro slum on tuesday evening, close to the popular beaches of copacabana. Police say one person was killed. The rioters believe the police were involved in the killing of a local man. The police have denied any connection to his death. Brazil has been hit by a spate of riots and violent demonstrations. People are demanding more government relief for the poor, and protesting police crackdowns. All right, lets get you caught up now with the latest in business. Time is tight for japanese and american negotiators struggling to come to an agreement on details of the Transpacific Partnership free trade deal. They want to find Common Ground before Prime Minister shinzo abe hosts a summit with president barack obama on thursday. Abe has voiced hope that the u. S. Will compromise in the ongoing bilateral talks. Abe was speaking at a session of the lower house agriculture and fisheries committee. The panel is calling for five key categories of Farm Products to be exempted from tariff removal. Abe said even in the final stage of negotiations, japanese delegates are taking the committees resolution seriously. Translator officials have been holding very tough negotiations. Its becoming clearer there are points on each side that are difficult to compromise on. Japan is already showing flexibility. So i hope the u. S. Will do likewise. Japans chief deputy negotiator is discussing a measure to protect farmers with acting deputy u. S. Trade representative wendy cutler. It would allow the japanese to temporarily raise tariffs on beef, pork and Dairy Products if imports surge. But overall the negotiators are not making as much progress as they had hoped. The japanese have offered to reduce tariffs on pork to less than a quarter of the current level. But the americans want to lower the levy closer to zero. Japans economic revitalization minister akira amari is meeting with u. S. Trade representative Michael Froman to try to make some progress before the summit. Investors in china are hoping some new numbers on manufacturing there point to more stability. Analysts at hsbc have put out their preliminary reading of Manufacturing Activities in april, and their index rose for the first time in six months. The flash purchasing Managers Index came in at 48. 3. Thats up from the 48 that was logged in march. A figure below 50 does indicate contraction while one above that indicates expansion. The index has been below 50 since january. All right on to the markets now. Investors in asia shrugging off the key economic figure out of china. The data was pretty much in line with what many economists had expected. And its providing little direction for markets across the region. As you can see here, asian equities ended fairly mixed this wednesday. The shanghai composite, one of those declining, down about a quarter percent, finished at 2,067. Investors sold shares ahead of a number of scheduled new listings. And theyre concerned now about Fund Outflows into the new issues. And in hong kong the hang seng index also with declines of about a percent, 22,509. Telecom shares dragged the index lower. Market headway china mobile saw sharp selling. Here in tokyo the nikkei average gaining about 1. 10 , 14,456. The overnight advance on wall street encouraged some investors to buy back bargain stocks. Trading volume, though, did remain pretty low. The number of foreign travelers to japan in march hit a record high. Behind the development is the weaker yen, and also eased visa requirements for visitors from some Southeast Asian nations. Officials at the Japan National Tourism Organization estimate 1. 05 Million People visited japan last month. Thats up more than 22 from a year before. And marks a yearonyear rise for the 14th straight month. Travelers from Mainland China rose 80 . Followed by those from malaysia and vietnam. Haneda airport has recently started handling more international flights, and it does have easier access than narita airport to downtown tokyo. The tourism Officials Say they hope this will encourage more people to visit japan. Japans finance ministry has kept its assessment of the domestic economy unchanged, stating that the overall economy continues to pick up. Officials from the ministrys 11 bureaus across the country reported on Regional Economic trends from january through early april. They kept the assessment unchanged because corporate output was recovering, and the labor situation was improving. Many officials said demand for autos and electronic goods fell after the consumption tax hike this month. But the decline was within their expectations. They also noted that corporate production on those items did not drop sharply. On the labor market, the officials noted more jobs were available in manufacturing, as well as the medical, welfare and construction sectors. Ministry officials expect the recovery trend to continue. But theyre still cautious about the impact of the tax hike on consumer spending, and the risk of a slowdown in overseas economies. Well, many businesses and consumers throw away food thats still good enough to eat. Every year people in japan get rid of as much as 8 million tons of it, in fact. But now government officials and Industry Experts are finding ways to encourage them to waste less. Reporter in april a quiet change took place on supermarket shelves. The Expiration Dates for instant noodles were pushed back. Over 5 billion portions of instant noodles are eaten each year in japan. Products should be eaten before the Expiration Date to ensure the best taste. The date for cup noodles has been extended by one month to six months. For instant noodles in bags, its gone up two months to eight months. The dates are determined by food preservation tests, Distribution System factors, and household storage conditions. But the original Expiration Dates for instant noodles were determined 38 years ago. Theyve remained the same, despite rapid progress in hygiene control at manufacturing plants, and improvements to packaging materials. Translator we frequently debated if we could extend the Expiration Dates. But we often received inquiries or complaints. So we hesitated to take action. Reporter officials at the Convenience Foods Industry Association are conducting technical studies to see if food can remain on shelves even longer. Translator the former Expiration Dates were a little too strict. So we reviewed and relaxed them. We believe this will help reduce food waste in japan. Reporter another major cause of processed food waste is the socalled onethird rule. Its unique to japan. The shelf life of a processed food product is divided evenly between wholesalers, retailers, and consumers. Retailers can refuse products that are more than onethird of the way toward their Expiration Date. Retailers establish their own sellby dates. Many items rejected for this reason go in to the trash. That could amount to about 300 million worth of such products each year. A major driver of this phenomenon is the Strong Demand among japanese consumers for an ample selection of ultrafresh food. Translator i always check the Expiration Date. Translator i like places where i have a wide range of choices. Reporter whalesalers maintain large inventories to meet this demand. Its a risk they have to take, even if it means eventually throwing a lot of food away. Last year the Agriculture Ministry asked the beverage and Confectionery Industry to try a onehalf rule with retailers buying products that are halfway to their respective Expiration Dates. This could reduce processed food waste by 85 million a year. But the sellby dates havent changed so retailers now have less time in which to sell products. That could place a bigger burden on retailers. Some might have to offer big discounts to move older merchandise. In response the government will introduce a new Customer Loyalty program by the end of the year. Under the system, consumers earn points for buying products nearing their sellby dates. They can Exchange Points for benefits. Translator japanese consumers are often too concerned about food freshness. Thats one barrier. We hope consumers will understand the need to take action and share this awareness, and change their behavior. Reporter the government and the Food Industry are trying to fix a mounting problem. Theyre hoping consumers will join the effort to ensure that more food goes in to shopping baskets, and less goes in to trash baskets. Okay. That is going to do it for biz this hour. Lets get a check now of the markets. And heres our top story once again. U. S. President barack obama has arrived in japan. The visit is part of a fournation tour that will also take him to south korea. And he comes at a time of heightened regional tensions. Air force one touched down wednesday at tokyos haneda airport. Japanese leaders havent hosted a u. S. President as a state guest since bill clinton in 1996. Obama will dine this evening with Prime Minister shinzo abe. On thursday, hell attend a welcome ceremony at the imperial palace where hell meet with the emperor and empress. After that, obama and abe will hold their summit. Hell talk about a range of issues from trade to security to regional relations. Now abe and obama are expected to issue a joint statement, a draft says the decadesold u. S. Japan Security Alliance will play an Important Role in maintaining regional piece and prosperity. Their discussions will also touch on north Koreas Nuclear development, chinas military expansion, as well as the situation in ukraine. Now president obama and Prime Minister abe will hold a press conference after their meeting. You can watch it live right here on newsline. Bolivia is seeing massive floods the last couple of days. Our meteorologist robert speta joins me now. Robert, i hear parts of my hometown of santa cruz is under water. My family is still there. Should i be worried . Shery, you probably shouldnt be. Now the conditions over the next several days, they will be improving out here. This is following some very heavy rainfall the last several days. Some areas in to the city have seen upwards about 300 millimeters of rainfall. You can see here based on satellite imagery, just along the eastern slopes of the andes, some of where those showers did occur out here and that is upwards about 200 to 300, and did cause that very severe flooding here on tuesday. We actually have some video coming out of here, where that heavy rainfall did come down. Most of this in the period of about 90 minutes. All this water being seen flowing out there in the streets, and the canals. Now it wasnt just the heavy rainfall that is being flamed for this flooding. Of course, that had a lot to do with it. But also recent construction work is being blamed for clogging up some of these drains and causing those rivers to flood into the roadways. Now, homes have also been affected. But thankfully, no deaths have been reported out of here. And also were looking at improving conditions over the next several days. The storm system has been causing this, really triggered it, is clear down here into the south atlantic, and along the tail end of a cold front that was stretching off that. Thats where we saw all these rain showers and those thunderstorms really erupting over much of bolivia. Over the next 72 hours, though, that cloud cover is going to taper off. Partly cloudy skies here by thursday and friday. Temperatures there in to the 30s. Lets change gears, though. I do want to go in to the Northern Hemisphere now and what were talking about out here is a different type of severe weather. Not so much the flooding but the threat of damaging winds and tornadoes. We have a storm system out of the northern rockies, and this is bringing some snowfall out here, believe it or not, some late winter snow, or early spring snow, whatever you want to call it. Higher elevations, five centimeters could be seen in the rockies, cascades as much as 15 centimeters. Thats going to track its way off towards the east, dragging in that cold air with that snowfall. Out ahead of it some very warm air and theres that threat of tornadoes. Thus far this season, believe it or not, its been actually pretty quiet across the americas. In the u. S. , only 108 tornadoes have been reported thus far. I know that sounds like a lot, 108 tornadoes. But compare it up with other years, 915 in 2011. Now, thats not to say that more cant occur. Were just starting to get into the peak what we call tornado season. That typically is in to the month of may. You can see upwards of possibly 250 to 280 tornadoes on average, even over there towards june. Next 24 hours, we could see some tornadoes. As that storm system does push off here towards the east, not just that but also large hail and damaging winds is going to be a big potential. And then behind it, that threat of wildfires could even occur out there towards parts of arizona, and in to new mexico. Now, lets take a look on the eastern seaboards. Storm system pushing off there towards the east. Behind it much cooler temperatures if you are there in new york city, washington, d. C. , and over towards toronto. Rain will be tapering off throughout the day today, giving way to sunny skies and more seasonable temperatures. Over towards eastern asia i do want to quickly touch on a low pressure area. Its moving onshore in central portions of the philippines. Going to bring some scattered showers with it. Theres a threat of localized flooding. Nothing too severe. If anything it is going to be bringing some cooler temperatures out here. Its been baking the last several days. High pressure dominating japan and korea bringing fair conditions in with that. Although behind it a new low is developing. It will bring some showers there in southeastern china. Before i go i want to leave you with the threeday forecast in southwestern china and the indochina peninsula. Some of you pushing the 40s. Stay cool and hydrated out here. Heres the extended forecast. Thats all for me today. Gene otani will be here at the top of the hour with more updates. Thanks for watching. A7guc hello to my and welcome to live from paris on france 34. Here are your headlines. Brutally tortured bodies, the grim discovery in Eastern Ukraine has prompted ukraine to restart operations against separatist. Negotiations have reached a new love that russia will protect it with rush of warning that it will protect its interests. Hasgilberto rodrigues leal been killed and f