Emergency guidelines to People Living further away from power plants. We begin this hour with our series on chinas National Peoples congress. Chinas National PeoplesCongress Gets under way on thursday. The annual event sets the countrys direction for the coming year. President xi jinping is trying to cement his grip on power. But in his third year in office he faces major challenges dominated by the slowing economy. Xi calls this the new normal and says china must focus less on speedy growth and more on improving quality of life. Newsline continues with its threeday series titled xis new normal which explores the future course of the worlds second largest economy. The spokesperson for the chinas National Peoples congress made an announcement one day before the session. Fu ying says this years Defense Budget will rise by around 10 from last year. Nhk world reports. Reporter as to whether this years defense spending will top that of last year fu said specific figures will be released on thursday. Translator this years increase in the Defense Budget will be around 10 . Reporter except for 2010 chinas Defense Budget has posted a double digit increase every year since 1989. Xi jinping and his deputies have been working to enhance chinas naval and air capabilities in a bid to secure the countrys maritime interests, and key sea lanes. A u. S. National Security Agency reports that china has started building a large number of missile capable destroyers and other equipment with an eye to deploying them in the pacific, and indian oceans. It also says chinas accelerating the construction of military installations in the south china sea. Fu defended the substantial increase, saying the research and the design of military equipment has been mostly done with the help of other countries, and that china sometimes has to start from scratch. Translator chinas National Security policy is defensive in nature. We will continue on a path of peaceful development. But china does not intend to disclose a breakdown of its defense expenditures. Analysts believe the cost of research and development, as well as those of space exploration, are not included in the officially announced figures. Chinas lack of transparency is fuelling concerns among the international community. Nhk world, beijing. Let us now take you to beijing live. Our reporter Kunihiro Yamamoto is covering the event there. Kunihiro . Hi, gene. Another focus of attention, this is National Peoples congress is on measures to be announced to address the problem of serious air and water pollution. Fine particulate matter or p. M. 2. 5 is causing serious air pollution in china and public concern is mounting. A base around the theme of Environmental Protection opened in a Business District in central beijing three years ago. The cafe has devices such as face masks to prevent people from p. M. 2. 5. Its reporting brisk sales of its 3 masks. In the cafe the power of photographs has garnered a great deal of public of attention. The photos taken every day for the last two years show the skies over the main area of beijing. Its plain to see that the city has had more gray days than sunny ones. Translator the sky is always gray. Sometimes blue, but very rarely, i think. There arent enough days with good weather. Translator my heart aches to see these. What can i say about living in a city like this . Theres nothing i can do about it. Reporter it was a manager at an Investment Firm who provided the photographs used in the posters. Before leaving for work every morning, he uses his smartphone to take a picture a building 150 meters from his apartment. Each picture is exactly the same size and is taken from exactly the same angle. He put these photos on the internet with todays p. M. 2. 5 level. His postings have sparked a big response. He now has 120,000 followers who read his tweets every day. More than 30 Million People have accessed his account so far. Zo started doing this in january 2013, when beijing had two weeks of smog. He had difficulty breathing, and found it hard to go out. He thought he had to let people know how bad the situation was. Thats why he started taking the pictures from his window every morning. Translator beijings air pollution is really getting worse. We should step up pressure to raise awareness of the need for improvement. Greater investment and efforts are needed to improve the situation. Reporter an expert says that the administration of xi jinping has to give top priority to environmental concerns. Translator ordinary peoples lives have improved. But environmental pollution is tough to deal with and everyone is frustrated. Even people who arent vocal about politics arent happy with how environmental pollution is being handled. Reporter Chinese People are hoping the government will announce environmental measures. So kunihiro just how serious is beijings air pollution . The sky is clear here in beijing today, because strong winds have blown the smog away. China took extraordinary measures to keep the air smogfree during the asiapacific Economic Cooperation forum last november. Even after the event, the skies in beijing were clear. As long as the wind was Strong Enough to clear the air of smog. But, unfortunately, thats just a temporary fix. The causes of the citys pollution remain. Last year average levels of the mint airborne polluteant pm2. 5 far exceeded chinas environmental safety standards. So what is the government doing to tackle the problem . President xi jinpings administration often uses the term the new normal. That means china is no longer simply prioritizing Economic Growth above all else. The government is trying to spread this philosophy across the country. But that policy shift could backfire when it comes to old school companies, particularly staterun firms. Theyre worried that tougher environmental regulations will put a dent in their profits. But if nothing is done public discontent will grow and that might stir up criticism of the government. So the Xi Administration will likely use the National Peoples congress as a bully pulpit to change the national mindset. I also expect a pledge of ecofriendly measures. Kunihiro, thanks. On thursday the National Peoples congress will finally open. We will have an analysis of chinas slowing economy and the governments work report. The number of japanese politicians facing questions over political donations has grown. Now the Prime Minister and the leader of the Largest Opposition Party are caught up in the issue. As nhk world reports, theyre now trying to clarify whats legal, and whats not. Reporter one of abes officers accepted more than 18,000 in donations from five firms that had 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. Reporter some of his cabinet ministers are in the same boat including finance minister taro aso, and top Government Spokesperson yoshihide suga. The allegations spread to the Largest Opposition Party. The leader of the Democratic Party katzo okada 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 expert says 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 in individual situations. This seems to be the source of the confusion. Reporter senior officials of both parties 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 they will work with the ldp to prevent a recurrence. The amount of donations is not as significant as another price theyre now paying. The time they spent in the diet discussing the issue, and the loss of public confidence. Nhk world. Authorities in japan want to expand emergency protocol to People Living even further away from nuclear plants. Theyre concerned the guidelines they have in place dont go far enough. Municipalities are required to prepare evacuation plans for People Living up to 30 kilometers from a plant. But officials of the Nuclear Regulation authority have approved Draft Guidelines that would affect residents outside that zone. They say those people should stay indoors if theres any chance of a largescale fallout. Experts found radioactive materials traveled further than 30 kilometers from the fukushima plant after the accident four years ago. Authorities would decide which areas are at risk by checking radioactivity levels at the site of the accident and monitoring weather patterns. They would also measure the amount of contaminants in the air over the surrounding region. And they would lift the emergency order only after their readings show its safe. Regulators will finalize the guidelines after taking Public Comments for 30 days. Students in fukushima are trying to see past the challenges of the present, and envision a promising future. Some had their studies interrupted nearly four years ago when an earthquake and tsunami triggered a nuclear accident. The prefecture ran five high schools near the Fukushima Daiichi plant but the massive radioactive fallout forced all of them to close. Classes have continued on a temporary basis elsewhere. This has forced some of the students to live apart from their families. Now these evacuee students have graduated. Nk shows us what lifes been like for them. Reporter this is the temporary home of the senior high school. Its a regional building sits five kilometers from Fukushima Daiichi. But students and teachers have been coming to this University Facility 40 kilometers away. 49 children attend classes here. A quarter of the old student body. 17 of them are seniors. Including tatsie endo. Hes lived nearby for the past few years. Translator my first expectation was that our lives would go back to normal soon. But it was dashed. I was disappointed. Reporter endo calls this apartment home. Fukushima prefecture offers the accommodations to students who live away from their families. Its hard at first. Translator i wanted to go back to my hometown when i moved in. But i decided to change my perspective and focus on learning verse things from this place. Reporter most of the students need time to adjust. But they soon get used to taking care of themselves. And they meet friends. Nakamura has been teaching this group since freshman year. Translator the students dont talk openly about their hardships, or about the nuclear accident. But they must have various things to consider after the disaster displaced them from their hometowns. They must have gradually gotten over their concerns. Reporter now, the 17 seniors are preparing for whats next. They graduated on march 1st. Translator keeping the memories of these past three years in our hearts well look ahead, and move on. Feeling proud as the graduates of futaba shoyo. We could not return to our original school building. But we believe it will be filled with the smiles of future students. Reporter these students believe the changes they face will only better prepare them for adulthood. Translator i want to be a teacher. If possible i want to return to my hometown to make children smile. Translator we the graduates, will face various problems. But each of us will be able to overcome them, given what we have been through. Reporter endo says he wants to follow in his fathers foot steps, and become an auto engineer. Translator its like my school days ended in an instant. Im very happy to have many memories at this school. Reporter endo and many of his friends share a similar vision. They say they hope the skills they acquire down the road will help them rebuild Fukushima Prefecture one day. Nhk world, iwaki. Next wednesday marks the fourth anniversary of the march 11th disaster. Newsline will have coverage including live reports from disasterhit areas. A japanese food chain with restaurants also expanding in asia say it will boost wages. Ron madison has the latest on this story. Ron . Yeah thats right, gene. Executives at the skylark Family Restaurant chain say they fully accept Union Demands for a wage hike. The agreement grants workers a monthly raise nearly double the amount that they won last year. Annual Wage Negotiations are now in full swing in japan. Skylarks labor union was demanding an average raise of about 88 per month for regular employees. Now the wage hike includes a base pay increase, as well as a raise based on seniority and length of service. Sources say skylark officials told Union Leaders they would grant the request amount. It is 1. 8 times higher than the raise agreed to last year. The chain is apparently keen to attract more workers through better wages amid the serious labor shortage within japans food service industry. Many japanese employers will announce their responses to Union Demands on march 18th. Japanese Customs Officials reported a Record Number of cases in which fake brand goods and other counterfeit products were confiscated last year. They blamed the rise on growing online sales. Finance Ministry Officials say there were more than 32,000 cases of confiscated goods nationwide. Thats up 14 from a year earlier. And it is the highest since recordkeeping on this began in 1987. The Officials Say more than 90 of the cases involved items sent from china. The estimated value of the genuine goods is 150 million. Most of the fakes were hand bags purses and smartphone cases, bearing brand logos. There were also imitation uniforms of Japans National football team. Demand for the shirts rose around the time of last years world cup finals in brazil. Well University Graduates in japan are enjoying a little time off before entering the workforce in april. But new entrants at clothing giant fast retailing are already taking the plunge. The owner of the uniqlo chain hosted its new recruits at a welcoming ceremony in tokyo. The firm has doubled the number of new hires this year to about 900 people. More than 500 attended the ceremony including recruits from china and russia. Translator its important to keep trying to succeed. Even if you fail many times. Keep challenging yourself, and never give up. He urged the new employees to join him in overcoming national and cultural boundaries to change the world for the better through clothing. The new crop of employees will be assigned to Uniqlo Stores this week. All right lets get a check of the markets now. Investors appear to be staying pretty cautious before the release of u. S. Jobs data and a meeting of the European Central bank. Main indexes in europe are looking like this. Were seeing a fairly mixed bag with the majors there. London is down by 0. 3 as is frankfurt. Paris is seeing very slight gains at this hour. Earlier most major benchmarks in the Asia Pacific Region ended the day lower. In tokyo investors continued to book profits in the wake of the nikkeis 15year highs. The index closed down at a oneweek low. In india, shares there rallied after the Central Banks surprise announcement of a rate cut. The bench mark sensex briefly hit 30,000 for the first time ever. It did end up finishing the day lower, though on profit taking. Moving on to currencies now, traders are holding their positions ahead of u. S. Private sector jobs figures which are due out later today. Weve got dollar yen at 119. 66. Now the focus is also on thursdays European Central bank policy meeting. So euro dollar is now trading at roughly 1. 1117. Market players are pretty much waiting on details about the banks bond buying program. All right. That is going to wrap it up for biz tonight. Lets get a check of the markets. Some snow sleet, and even possible freezing rain are headed into the Southern Plains of the united states. Our meteorologist jonathan oh is here with the latest. Jonathan . Gene yeah. What a mess in that scenario, as we look at some more Winter Weather coming in to places like texas, and oklahoma. We are in march. This is the meteorological time base