Provocations produce paralysis not progress. Protestors gathered near the u. S. Embassy in seoul. They demanded the u. S. Apologize for writing off japans past actions when the Korean Peninsula was under japanese colonial recall. Its a shocking comment that should never be repeated. It opened the wounds of the Korean People who experienced the pain of japanese em peerlism. They have also accused washington of taking japans side. They appear to be struggling ease the concerns by saying the u. S. Stance remains unchanged. Representatives from across china have begun their talks at the National Peoples congress. We go live from the great hall of the people in beijing, about 3,000 representatives have gathered here. Premier lee is to announce the governments plans for the year. Hes said to announce an annual growth target down half a percent from last year. Government leaders have included that target in their budget. Government leaders have increased spending on defense by 10. 1 bringing it to about 886. 9 billion or about 141. 4 billion. The Defense Budget has been posting a double didnt increase every year except for 2010 since 1989. Newsline will have announcements and live reports from beijing throughout the 11day congress. In other News Japanese government officials have launched a protest with their chinese counterparts over a website. Officials in beijing added english and japanese versions of their official position on a group of islands in the east china sea. The News Agency Reports that Chinas State Oceanic Administration launched the site in december and claims theyve been under the countrys jurisdiction for several centuries. The chief cabinet secretary says the japanese government launched a strong protest through its embassy in beijing. Translator the islands are an inherent part of japans history. China distorts the facts and reiterates its unilateral claim. Japan is demanding china take down the site. U. S. Federal agents have found a number of Chinese Women during a raid on socalled maternity hotels. They swooped down on dozens of location in california where pregnant foreigners give birth. The agents searched about 40 maternity hotels. Some were private residences. They suspect tour operators encouraged the women to conceal the true reason for their visit. Its not illegal to come to the u. S. And have your baby born as a u. S. Citizen, but it is illegal to lie about that during the visa application process. They believe the women paid 15,000 for a short stay. They say the trips are increasingly popular among wealthy chinese. Cnn reported that figures provided by staterun media in china highlight the growing demand. It said 10,000 Chinese Women went to the u. S. In 2012 to have a baby. Iraqi forces are trying to encircle Islamic State militants in the heart of their stronghold. Theyre engaged in a major offensive offensive. They report Government Forces are shutting down roads to counter the militants key supply lines. A news agency quotes an iraqi official saying theyre trying to surround them suffocate them and then pounce. They began the offensive on monday. Theyve taken control of some areas. Military leaders see the operation as a step toward retaking mosul, the militants largest stronghold in iraq. They are retaliating with roadside bombs and fire from rooftop snipers. Rescuers in a rebel held part of Eastern Ukraine are searching for survivors of a coal mine accident. An explosion killed at least 17 miners. They say 15 others are hurt and 15 are missing. The accident happened at a mine in donetsk. Its believed a methane gas fire caused the blast. They say theyre conducting their own rescue operations. Translator my son was supposed to retire next year. Everyone is angry because they say on tv that 32 people died. But nobody has told us anything. More than 100 people died in an accident at the mine in 2007. Observers say Safety Standards there are poor and they note a number of problems have been reported in the past. U. S. Federal reserve policymakers interviewed Business Leaders and academics to get a temperature of the economy and officials have found that people are feeling optimistic. Now from our business desk. Whats got people so excited . Much of the u. S. Economy relies on an active retail industry. And they felt shoppers were regaining their appetite to buy. It also found other pillars of the economy were strong too like manufacturing and employment. They concluded that Economic Activity continued to expand from january to midfebruary. The socalled beige book says Consumer Spending rose in most of the feds 12 districts. Manufacturing generally posted gains everywhere although growth rates varied across districts and sectors. A view emerged that the Aerospace Industry can expect a record year. Employment levels remain stable and continue to grow. Some districts reported growing wage pressure from difficulty in attracting and retaining truck drivers. The plunge in crude oil prices was impacting the oil industry. And the stronger dollar was hurting exports of farm products. Fed officials fed policymakers will hold a meeting later this month with the reports findings in mind and discuss when to raise the key Interest Rate which is currently near zero. U. S. Trade officials are vowing to move ahead with the Transpacific Partnership to forge the free trade deal within this year. The officials in the office of the u. S. Trade representative have release add report on the trade policy agenda for 2015. It stresses the Obama Administration will work to conclude tpp negotiations by yearend. The report also insists that a deal would be important for the u. S. And its position in the world. It says tpp is integ ral to the u. S. Rebalance to asia and would allow washington to set the rule of the road in an important region. The ruling democrats in congress arent so enthusiastic. They warned that opening the doors to a flood of lowpriced imports would threaten u. S. Workers jobs. It is putting a break on deliberations of a bill that would grabt the u. S. Administration clear cut negotiating powers. Lets check on markets. Tokyo share prices opened in the negative but they are gaining back some ground now. The nikkei trading higher by a little more than 2 10 . Some investors are taking profits following recent rallies. But many Foreign Investors are buying japanese stocks because they consider them undervalued. The euro fell against the dollar to the lowest level in more than 11 years. The euro now at 1. 1 on levels against the dollar. The dollaryen pair that remaining in a tight range as yields on u. S. Bonds remain flat ahead of the key jobs data on friday. Looking at other markets, australian stocks are falling on news china cut its Economic Growth target to around 7 . China is australias biggest trade partner. And south koreas in the positive this morning. Up a tenth of a percent at 2,000. Japanese motorists have been paying more to fill up for three straight weeks now. Rebounding crude oil prices are fueling the rise. Officials at the Oil Information center say the average retail price of gasoline was 139. 3 yen, thats about 1. 16 per liter as of monday. Gas pump prices took an upward turn in midfebruary for the first time in seven months. Crude oil prices are on the rise among speculation u. S. Producers may curb output. They may pay slightly more next week. They did add forecasting the trend isnt easy. More for you in business next hour. Heres a check on markets. More and more jap please politicians are under scrutiny for how they fund their campaigns. Prime minister shinzo abe and the leader of the Opposition Party are the latest to face it. Lawmakers are now trying to clarify whats legal and whats not. One of abes officers accepted more than 18,000 in donations from five firms that have been awarded state subsidies. The political funds control law bans companies from making donations for one year after they learn theyve been awarded the subsidies. It also forbids politicians from accepting donations, but that applies only if they know of such funding. Theres another escape clause. Subsidies for nonprofit projects are considered legitimate exceptions. Abe says he was totally unaware of the companys situation. Translator i didnt know about the subsidies. And thats all i can say. Some of his cabinet ministers are in the same boat including the finance minister and top government spokesperson, suga. The allegations spread to the largest Opposition Party. The leader of the Democratic Party is accused of receiving more than 7,000 from two companies. His staff gave the same explanation as abes. They were unaware of the subsidies in one case and they say the other donation was a legal exception. Political funding experts say the laws vagueness promotes confusion. Translator most Japanese Companies receive subsidies in one form or another. The political funds law is not clear enough to allow parties involved to assist their individual situations. This teams to be the source of the confusion. They sat down to try to end the feud. Ldp representatives say they need to clarify whats legal and whats not. Democrats say they will further scrutinize the possible illegal cases and work with the ldp to prevent a recurrence. The amount of donations is not as significant as the price theyre now paying. The time they spent in the diet seriesing the issue and the loss of public confidence. Nhk world. A court in india has banned the broadcast of a documentary about a fatal gang rain in new delhi. It ruled remarks made by one of the rapist who blames the victim could cause public outcry and disorder. Government officials are looking how the film makers gained access to the man. The case sparked nationwide protests and international outrage. A Court Sentenced four of the attackers to death. One of them told a british documentary director that the victim was responsible for the rain arguing a decent girl wouldnt roam the city at night. The director maintains she obtained the necessary approvals and followed the rules when she care rid out the interview. But they say she didnt show authorities the unedited video. Translator this documentary has led to the shame of the entire country. The minister says the government is considering how to deal with broadcasts of the film outside the country. Indias daughter is set for worldwide release on march 8th International Womens day. Rich in nutrients and easy to consume, the moringa trees are so important to many filipinos. Almost every part is edible. A japanese woman who settled in the philippines wants to spread the miracle to new markets raising incomes for local farmers. Nhk world has the story. Laoag is a city about 500 kilometers north of manila. Its where this 29yearold woman lives and works growing a business for moringa trees. Translator people mainly eat these leaves by putting them in soup or salad or stir frying them. You can get nutrients similar to those of vegetables. Perfect. Traditional moringa soup recipes are handed down through the generations. Ingredients are so diverse they influence many local dishes. A tree can grow to 10 meters. More than 90 vitamins and other nutrients are locked inside. She start add company last april to develop moringa products starting with tea. She buys leaves from different farmers and processes them into tea. Theyre sent to japan to be packaged and sold. The lineup has grown to four products including cosmetic oil and powder to add to food. Farmers incomes are rising. She came to the philippines for the first time when she was a student. The happiness of the people even in poverty inspired her. Translator the philippines changed my outlook on life from negative to positive. Im determined to repay that, even if it takes a lifetime. This family is farmers and also her business partners. Their income has grown and stabilized. Theyre refurbishing their kitchen and installing a gas stove. Soon, the new floor will be finished. The next investment will be in the children. All three of them could now go to high school. Translator there used to be few jobs in the area and i had to go to manila away from my family, to earn money. Now, we can live together thanks to the moringa trees. Translator we believe she is a gift given to us from god. Translator thanks to everyone here making high quality products our sales in japan are brisk. I cannot think of any other work id like to do except this one. Closely connected to the philippines. I want to boost production even further so we can give more people jobs. She dreams of spreading the benefits of moringa far and wide, until the seeds of prosperity are growing all across the philippines. Nhk world. It is time now to get a check of the weather. People across much of the u. S. , even those in the south, are getting hit with Severe Weather conditions. Heres the details. With the calendar marking march, people are expecting things to warm up and expecting flowers to bloom. But no were actually seeing Winter Weather gripping parts of the united states. In fact, a lot of the locations are still seeing some snowfall. You can see the stationary boundary and the gradients really close to each other. Severe weather is happening even in texas and mississippi and louisiana down towards western virginia. Actually along that front going to be seeing winter precipitation down towards texas. Even central areas could see freezing rain and mixed precipitation. West virginia about 30 centimeters of snowfall. And even big cities such as new york and washington d. C. Possibly up to about 20 centimeters. Thats definitely going to be hindering the traffic and commuters in the morning hours. The rain on thursday will then change its form to snow on your excuse me. Rain on wednesday will turn its form to snow on thursday. So thats what were looking at right now. And the temperatures people are expecting it to warm up. But no. Temperatures are actually going to be falling into double digits on the negative area. Minus 12 for the morning lows in boston. And new york reaching minus 10 degrees as well. Really frigid temperatures will be gripping you again. And houston looking at just 4 degrees for the high. Not a lot of people dont actually own stoves and heaters in your homes. So do bundle up, especially overnight on thursday hours. Jet stream, 24 degrees. Summerlike temperatures out there. Across europe, we have a clash of air masses with the low pressure system that is still bringing unstable conditions. We may even see tornadic activities and flooding and hail as well. But the rest of the area looking quite fine especially the west. Paris at 11 degrees and madrid at 13 degrees. Across asia High Pressure system is predominant across the western areas. Thats actually providing favorable condition for radiation l cooling. Minus 30 degrees was observed in northeast china. Moisture is brought in and the Northern Edge of it bringing snowfall. Here across japan, another round of blizzard conditions. Thats going to taper off thursday afternoon. Additional snowfall could top as much as 35 centimeters. And the waves will be very high. Tokyo at 14 degrees, but thats actually going to be on a falling trend. Excuse me, 5 degrees on saturday. Those of you who are coming to japan to enjoy the cherry blossom, this is going to be your forecast schedule. Ill leave you now for extended forecast. Just a reminder to the viewers just joining us. Police in seoul are investigating an attack on the u. S. Ambassador to south korea. Mark lippert was slashed by a man with a sharp object as he was preparing to give a lecture in the capital. He went to hospital with injuries to his face and arms. The attacker appears to be in his 50s. They say he slashed lippert several times before being arrested. The News Agency Says the suspect told police hes opposed a joint u. S. South korea military exercise which started monday. It reported the same man attacked the then japanese ambassador in 2010 by throwing a stone. He was not hurt. A court found the man guilty and gave him a suspended sentence. U. S. State Department Spokesperson says the ambassador is not seriously hurt. White house Officials Say president obama spoke to him by phone and wished him a speedy recovery. Lippert is a close aide to obama. He began the posting last october. Also in the news this hour, representatives from across china have begun their talks at the National Peoples congress. About 3,000 representatives have gathered at the great hall of the people in beijing. The premier is laying out the governments plan for the year. He is set to announce an annual growth target of about 7 down half a percent from last year. Government leaders included that target in their budget. Hes expected to give more details. Government leaders have increased spending on defense by 10. 1 to about 886. 9 billion or about 141. 4 billion. The Defense Budget has been posting a double digit increase every year except for 2010 since 1989. Premier lee is also expected to address such problems as pollution and corruption. Newsline will have live reports and announcements from beijing throughout the 11day congress. Stay with us for all of your news in may 2014 thailands military took power in a coup. It was led by Army Commander prayut chanocha. Appointed as the interim prime minister, prayut is seeking to restore a civilian government. In thailand the conflict persisted for a