Gains for the countrys Infrastructure Companies by joining aiib a chinabacked International Development bank. The tunisian government has released a video showing the recent storming of a museum by police to free hostages held. In the assault last week the terrorists killed 21 people including three tourists from japan. The video begins with members of a special police unit getting ready for the mission as they approach the museum in the capital tunis. The antiterror unit then enters the building. The members are carrying automatic rifles and shields. The video shows the Police Officers gathering the hostages in a room before leading them safely out of the building. Government officials believe the group Ansar Al Sharia in tunisia may have been behind the attack. Members reportedly pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group last september. Tunisian interior minister says authorities have arrested 23 people in connection with the assault. He says theyre still searching for an algerian and other foreigners. The minister says the assailants are linked to a militant group based in syria, bordering algeria. U. S. Authorities have arrested an Army National Guard Soldier and his cousin on charges of conspiring to join Islamic State militants. The two are also suspected of planning an attack on a military facility in illinois. Justice Department Officials say the two men are Hassan Edmunds, a 22yearold member of the Illinois National guard, and 29yearold jonas edmunds. Both are u. S. Citizens. Fbi agents arrested Hassan Edmunds at an airport in chicago as he was attempting to fly to egypt. He allegedly planned to join Islamic State militants in syria and make use of his experience in the military reserves. U. S. Authorities believe more than 150 u. S. Citizens have traveled to syria or plan to do so to join the militants. Military from saudi arabia and other nations have carried out a series of air strikes against antigovernment shia rebels in yemen. Western countries including the u. S. And britain have expressed support for the attacks. But iran A Shia Muslim nation has strongly criticized them. The warplanes bombed yemens capital sanaa which is held by sanity government insurgents known as houthis. Local media say saudi arabia deployed 100 Fighter Aircraft for the airstrikes. The United Arab Emirates and three other gulf states provided 70 jets. 15 warplanes from three other countries, including jordan, also took part. With the support of this airstrikes, forces backing yemens president are said to have recaptured the Al Anad Air Base in southern yemen. Saudi arabias staterun News Agency Says president hadi arrived in saudi arabia on his way to egypt to attempt an Arab League Summit starting saturday. U. N. Spokesperson says the Security Council calls on all Member States to refrain from external interference and to support yemens political transition through negotiations. French and german officials are coordinating a deep investigation into the germanwings crash. They want to understand why the copilot intentionally planned the passenger plane into a mountain killing 150 on board. Nhk world reports. Reporter Andreas Lubitz was the german copilot of the flight. And according to officials at germanwings, and its parent company, lufthansa, he appeared flight worthy. And they say lubitz had passed cognitive and technical tests, as well as a Mental Health screening. Translator there were no concerns about his ability as a copilot and no signs indicating abnormal behavior. Reporter prosecutors have listened to the cockpit audio and this is how they believe the crash played out. The pilot left the cockpit, and lubitz took the controls. He then started the planes deadly descent into the alps. The copilot pressed the button on the flight Monitoring System to descend. That can only have been intentional. Reporter lubitz ignored air traffic controllers, and banging on the door. He also ignored an alarm that went off when the plane got close to the mountains. The prosecutors say lubitz must have been conscious, as he can be heard breathing. And the final moments passengers can be heard screaming. Officials say lubitz started Flight Training in 2008 but they say he was absent for a significant period of time and they did not say why, citing privacy reasons. German prosecutors searched lubitzs apartment for clues to his motive. Translator he loved sports. It was his dream to become a pilot since he was a small kid. Translator i cant believe that he would do such a thing, im speechless. Translator i heard that he suffered from depression five or six years ago, and he had to drop his Flight Training. Reporter the spokesperson for the French Interior Ministry Says family members of the victims are in shock and angry after learning the fate of their loved ones. The search continues at the crash site. The flight data recorder is what is most wanted. It holds another key to help unravel the mystery. Michio kijima, nhk world. British Prime Minister David Cameron and Opposition Party leader ed miliband have revealed their differences on the European Union and the economy. The two gave separate interviews on the same Television Program on thursday. Both are hopeful that a general election scheduled for may 7th. Cameron stressed the importance of a referendum on whether britain should leave the eu one of the promises he has made to voters. Do we want to be part of the ever closer union . Maybe the euro zone countries with their own currency maybe they need to do that. We dont. He says that the eu is trying to become too much of a state rather than an organization and is trying to get too much power. He said britain needs a new arrangement with the eu. Labor party leader miliband strongly opposed camerons view on the matter. I think leaving the eu is a disaster for our country. Because i think the trade we get from being in the eu. Cameron pointed to his economic track record for the past five years, claiming that his government created 2 million jobs and scores of new businesses. Miliband countered by saying many workers are stuck with low wages and job insecurity and that young people are burdened by a lack of opportunity. An opinion poll conducted after the interviews aired showed more people preferred cameron. But Camerons Conservative Party and milibands labor party are neck and neck in their bids for voter support. Now lets go on to Business News with ron madison. So talks on the aiib seem to be heating up. Yeah they certainly are. Even though dozens of countries are on board for this the first and the third biggest economies are still not on board just yet. Government leaders in south korea, though, say that the country will take part in a new International Development bank proposed by china. They say it will increase Business Opportunities for south korean firms. More than 30 countries have now announced their intention to join the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank or aiib. A senior Government Official said south Korean Companies have solid experience in building infrastructure. He said the government will participate in talks as a Founding Member and will reflect its national interests. He suggested that south korea would seek a stake in the bank at a level that allows it to influence operations. So far 35 countries have said they will take part in the bank. They include major european nations such as britain, france and germany. China says nations that announce their participation by the end of this month will be able to join talks on a concrete framework for the bank. Government leaders in the United States and japan maintain a cautious stance about joining. Were not considering joining any new institution at the moment. But, we of course you know have a stake and stress the importance of the aiib meeting the Current International high standards. Translator the banks board that rebs member nations should examine and approve each case to establish their governance. Ensuring debt sustainability is also important. Aso says the government will remain cautious until these issues can be clarified. He indicated that officials will continue to communicate closely with the u. S. Well policymakers in south korea are taking steps to boost their economy. They have cut their key Interest Rate to a record low and theyre hoping that membership in the aiib will help domestic firms win fluk your contracts overseas. Earlier, ai uchida spoke with professor sook about these moves. Thank you for your time professor. What do you think about south koreas decision to join the aiib . Well think its a good decision. Korea has been looking to Infrastructure Construction exports as one of its major export industries. But with these multilateral banks, sometimes its very difficult for your company to get financing if your country is not a member of these banks. So joining the aiib will give opportunities to these banks to to these companies to get financing. Also korea has been reluctant to join the aiib because of the governance problems, whether china would have too much power. But because the European Countries joined i think they felt that governance problems will not be as big an issue. So given that problem going away, because of the europeans, there was really not a reason for korea not to join the aiib. I see. And i also wanted to ask you, professor, about recent monetary moves, policymakers at the bank of korea, theyve been working to stimulate the economy, and they surprised markets by cutting the base rate to record low, 1. 75 . Do you think this was the right decision . Yes. But in retrospect i think everybody got the rate cut as a surprise. We werent really expecting it. But because korea was in an economic slowdown, and the signals have been getting worse, a lot of Research Organizations have been revising korean downwards so that was one of the factors. Also, a lot of other major countries have been dropping their Interest Rates or starting their qe program. And so there was not as much a problem with capital outflow, and also we wanted to maintain the Exchange Rate for the won at the status quo, since Interest Rate falls would have made korean won less competitive in the global markets. And are you expecting another rate cut, professor, from the central bank any time soon . Well the big question here is the United States. I think if the fed chiefs as promised not to raise the rates until september or beyond then i think theres a good possibility that the bank of korea will consider another 0. 25 rate cut sometime the second and third quarter. But, if the United States raises its rate earlier or gets indications that it will raise its rates earlier, then i think the bank of korea will have some a lot of thinking to do on whether they will want to lower the rates further. All right. Lets get a check of the markets now. Tokyo stocks fell nearly 1 after a pretty volatile trading session. It closed at 19,285 down just about 1 . It was actually the lowest as well, in nearly two weeks. The nikkei snapping its six weeks of gains. Some investors sold shares to book profits. Others, though were buying betting on the strength of japans economy. The shanghai composite extended its gains ending at a sevenyear high. It rose a quarter percent, 3,691. The index posted gains for four weeks in a row. Momentum really picked up as many are hoping for further stimulus by the government. In south korea shares in steel and metal rose but the overall kospi index ended almost flat down over 0. 1 2,019. Electronics shares were sold following losses on the nasdaq in new york. Other asian markets are mixed. Sydney rebounded from yesterdays sharp fall finishing up 0. 7 . Ng kong ended the day pretty much flat. Well japanese officials have released a batch of key economic data. Lets get you started with the Consumer Price index. That is our leading gauge of inflation. Officials say prices for daily goods and Services Rose in february for the 21st month in a row. But it was at a slower pace than the previous month. Officials at the internal Affairs Ministry say cpi was up 2 from a year earlier. But they estimate without the hike in the consumption tax last april the index would have been flat. The pace of growth strong 0. 2 Percentage Points from january. Cheaper crude oil pushed down the price of gasoline and heating oil. Cpi did not factor in fresh food. Those prices do tend to be a bit volatile. During that time consumers kept a pretty tight grip on their purse strings. Officials say Household Spending in february was down 2. 9 in yen terms from a year ago. That figure marks the 11th straight month of declines. Spending in february last year was supported by a buying spree ahead of the tax hike. The Officials Say households with two or more members spent an average of about 2,230 last month. They held back on items including personal computers and home appliances. The Employment Situation did show some improvement in february. More people were working while employers had more jobs on offer. The ministry Officials Say the Unemployment Rate was 3. 5 , down 0. 1 percentage point from the previous month. They say the number of people with jobs rose by 390,000 from a year earlier to more than 63 million. The number of unemployed was down by 60,000 for a total of more than 2. 2 million. Officials at the Labor Ministry say the ratio of job offers to people looking for work rose. That was just slightly from january to 1. 15. That means there were 115 positions for every 100 job seekers. Well japans government is trying to introduce more Flexible Work practices. Employees of ministries and agencies will start working one or two hours earlier this summer to reduce the need to stay late. Prime minister shinzo abe said in february he would launch a National Campaign to start the workday earlier during the summer. He said this would allow workers to get home earlier, and spend some time with family and friends. Government employees usually start work at 8 30 or 9 00 a. M. Under the new guidelines no meetings will start after 4 00 p. M. And workers will be encouraged to go home at the designated time. All right. With that i am going to sign off from the biz desk. Thank you all very much as usual ill leave you with the markets. Government officials in china have been trying to find ways to curb the problem of air pollution. They want to create urban areas that dont damage the environment. Officials in one southwestern city are doing just that by developing and promoting ecofriendly vehicles. Nhk world reports. Reporter a major maker of cars in america has set up a base in chendu province. It provides after care to meet the growing demand it has also set up 50 charging stations around the city. Translator there are many charging stations. Its very convenient. Reporter this manufacturer was recently given a crucial boost. The Chinese Government is encouraging consumers to buy electric vehicles by offering subsidies of up to 10,000 off the total cost. Translator Many Companies in the field of alternative energy have set up in chengdu, and theyre growing steadily. You could say the Business Conditions are ideal for us. Reporter like many cities around china, the pollution from car emissions is a major problem. So five years ago, Central Government made chengdu a model city for promoting electric vehicles. Translator by cutting prices, and making it more convenient to use electric vehicles in the city we can help to boost their popularity. This will lead to more people using clean energy which will improve the environmental conditions here. Reporter the city also has 300 electric buses. Thats 3 of the total. The aim is to raise that number to 30 . 14 charging stations for the buses have been set up around the city and there are plans to install many more. This Research Institute based in chengdu is developing its own electric motors with backing from the Central Government. Last december it unveiled a new type of city bus. Using small size motors means they can make the interior of the bus more spacious, important factor for commuter bus. This bus runs on new, smaller motors that frees up more space inside for passengers. It can carry an extra 12 people. By changing the alignment of the magnets, the new motors are thinner and more compact. Chengdu has about 20 manufacturers, so all of the components can be sold locally. The first of the new buses will go into operation next month with a total of 500 buses due to be built in the first year. Translator china is lagging on existing technologies. Thats not an issue with electric vehicles. Well never catch up with the advanced nations in producing conventional vehicles. But we will have a chance with new technologies. Thats why were putting all our efforts into this new field. Reporter the Chinese Government is promoting the use of electric vehicles. Not just to reduce air pollution, but also to develop cuttingedge new technologies. Nhk world, chengdu. Its time now for World Weather with our meteorologist sayaka mori. Sayaka, an intense spring storm is hammering parts of the United States with heavy rain and a threat of Severe Weather. Give us the details. Yes, miki. The Severe Weather season has just begun across the United States. We have several reports of tornadoes in arkansas and oklahoma on wednesday. I want to take you to Oklahoma City to show you the damage. Residents in the greater Oklahoma City area are picking up the pieces after a tornado ripped through the area. Multiple twisters hit oklahoma and arkansas carrykilling at least one person and injuring several others. The roofs of several homes were ripped off. Damage was also reported in tulsa and northwest arkansas. Well the Severe Weathermaker has pushed away from these regions, so clear weather has returned. However, instead the eastern seaboard of the United States is seeing heavy rainfall and also a risk of thunderstorms. As you can see a line of front affecting the eastern seaboard. And rain will likely continue in to your friday. But behind it getting dry and colder air is coming in from the north. So temperatures will drop significantly. Take a look. Your high in atlanta on thursday with 23 degrees. That could change to 14 degrees on friday. Washington, d. C. Was like may on thursday with like 24 degrees but drop to single digit on saturday. Mid winterlike conditions will come back within the next couple of days. Very different story is happening over the opposite side of the United States. Your highs are going to be mid summerlike, over 30 degrees on friday in los angeles. Staying quite warm as we go into the next couple of days. Now, across the southern hemisphere, very unusual event is happening, especially in northern chile. The desert is known for one of the driest places in the world but this area sees extremely heavy rainfall. About 24 millimeters of rain fell in just 24 hours starting wednesday morning. Severe floods in chile have resulted in significant damage to numerous communities in northern portions of the country. At least seven people have been confirmed dead at this time. But over a dozen are still missing. The downpours in the region are highly unusual, and some of the heaviest in 80 years. Well good news is that rain has eased over northern chile, but as you can see rain is still continuing over many parts of brazil, and also peru where deadly mudslides occurred and also flooding is still continuing over many locations of these countries. So watch out for more heavy rainfall. Now across asia sandstorm is happening over the desert areas in mongolia and northwestern corner of china. So the sand will likely cover the beijing area on saturday. South korea on your sunday and western japan by your monday. So visibility will drop. Meanwhile we have a rainmaker over here and that will provide widespread rainfall across japan as we go in to the weekend. But until then sunny and much warmer than average temperatures will continue in japan. Tokyo at 20 degrees for the high on saturday. Thats more like midapril. And sapporo 15 degrees for the high with sunny conditions. Many areas in hokkaido have record high temperatures for march on friday. Heres the extended forecast around the globe. Thats all for our newsline for this hour im Miki Yamamoto in tokyo. Thanks for watching. The plane. Yemens president flees to saudi arabia as a second wave of bombings around the capital and further south. The British Electoral campaign in full swing. David cameron and ed miliband share the stage on national television. The two men running neck and neck in the polls
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