U. S. Is restoring diplomatic ties with the caribbean country. Investors around the world taking a close look at japanese firms and they like what they see. They are buying up stocks in some of the big movers and pushing the nikkei to levels not seen in years. Ron madison has more from the business desk. You are right, buyers lifted the nikkei past the 19,000 mark for the first time in nearly 15 years. We did not stay over that. It did hit at the day at one point. The index soaring by 1. 5 . At the close, here you see what happened. The index was up 1. 4 . Nikkei finished below the 19,000 level. Many traders seeing positive signs in the Japan Economy. They are counting on firms to increase wages and that will give people the money to spend. And they are putting more money in domestic spots and the Bond Buying Program in the eurozone will direct more cash into stocks. Earlier, we spoke with the chief economist at the securities firm. He gave us the latest prices on stocks. The Earnings Growth is to be expected for 2015. We will see higher wage hikes than the year before. The fundamental improvements and it is continuing and expectations for wage hikes for example. It is increasing toward the next week and next week the march 18th the day that Many Companies announcing their wage hike results. The second reason is that the situation in the market. The European Central bank is now doing the monetary easing and also we are going to have the meeting next week. There is fed will raise rate during this year. The japanese yen is weakening against the dollar. And other currencies. That has increased liquidity. I think it is the effect that could be expected on the strength of the japanese stock prices. I think the prospects for the japanese stock market is bright along with the Earnings Growth. So i think if the stock prices adjust for a shortterm this month or next month, the nikkei average will reach over 20,000 yen toward the end of this year. He went on to say the Japan Economy is facing some significant risks. He says some stem from factors in International Markets and others from policy decisions at home. If the u. S. Cannot get out of the deflation expectations like the past with japan and they cannot raise Interest Rates during this year. Then the yen strengthens against the u. S. Dollar. That will have a negative effect on the Japan Economy. The bank of japans behavior on the monetary policy. Many people still expect the traditional easing. I dont think the bank of japan is really going to take action. Not action in april or early this year. If the bank of japan does not take such action the market could react negatively. Well there was more big news out of asia markets today. The bank of korea Board Members surprised investors by announcing they will cut their key rate to an alltime low. The decision triggered a rally on the kospi. It wasnt too long before the market was going the other way. They are finishing the day in the negative. 1,970. Positive jobs data from australia. That boosted the australian s p to 5,850. The underwheming performance on wall street. Shanghai up 1 . Hong kong rose. 75 . Japanese executives continue to feel upbeat about the economy. Business sentiment among Large Companies rose for the Third Straight quarter. The index was lower in the previous quarter. Officials at the finance ministry released the results of the survey. The index for large firms came in at just under two. Down from five. The index gauge is the difference with respondents who expect business to improve and those who see it worsening. Officials say the positive index is due to manufacturer appetite for investment. That boosted machinery and production line robots. Sentiment in the steel and Transportation Industries fell because of higher import material costs. Executives at hitachi are finding success in the overseas railway business. They struck a deal to provide cars to a dutch transportation firm. The order from the company is worth more than 575 million. Hitachi will build carriages and provide maintenance and inspection for ten years. It will go in service in scotland in the second half of 2017. They will manufacture railcars in japan and others at a factory built in england. They signed another deal to provide trains for the britain high speed rail system and they are acquiring the railcar and units in italy. The earthquake and tsunami that pummeled the region four years ago devastated local businesses. Processors and Key Industries were hit especially hard. Just about 90 of the small and medium size processors along the coast say sales are below predisaster levels. Some are fighting back on the global market. We have more. Reporter ishinomaki in the prefecture was hit by the tsunami of over eight meters. Houses and shops along the coast were swept away. Fish processing was almost wiped out in some parts. 40 of the Seafood Processors that stood on the coast are still closed. Even the plants that have struggled back on their feet are facing issues. The this processes seaweed ands ster oysters. This man was dismayed to find some predisaster customers started buying seafood from areas while his company was on its knees. Translator i dont think supermarkets can turn their backs on producers who helped them out while they could not get produce from us. Reporter the lack of japanese customers has forced his company to seek new Business Opportunities overseas. His Small Company has a limited line up of products and it doesnt have the brand power of the bigger rivals. So he has built up a Business Consortium with five business processors. By working together they can now sell his oysters and skal scallops and mackerel and yellow tail. Over 100 items in all. The shift did not come cheap. To be competitive overseas his Company Invested hundreds of thousands of dollars in the new refrigeration system. The new system freezes food instantly. It protects the taste of the food by not destroying the food in the freezing process. So his products keep the flavor. With its expanded product line up and new refrigeration system in place, the consortium has launched abroad. In february he met with officials from a taiwanese food import company. He brought with him six processed products including oysters and salmon. He says the frozen oysters stay fresh even after six months. The Technology Gives him the competitive edge. Translator i tasted his oysters today and they are really good. Im sure this is going to be a very popular and essential item in our restaurant. Translator we have the processing technique to preserve the natural flavor of the food. I hope to take advantage of the technology to enjoy the foods in all seasons. Reporter he and his partners are exporting to five regions and countries, including hong kong and singapore. They are aiming to double the consortium exports. Keiko aso, nhk world, ishinomaki. That will wrap it up for business hour. Lets get you a check of the markets. Delegates from around the world are heading to northeast japan that was hit hard by the 2011 earthquake and nominationtsunami. They are taking part of a summit in sendai. Reporter United Nations secretarygeneral ban kimoon is among the delegates who will attend the conference. He spoke about the expectations before heading to japan. Im confident that the resilience of the japan people will inspire participants to agree on the outcome for disaster risk reduction. Reporter ban will join thousands from around the world to reduce disaster risk. The original one was adopted ten years ago at the conference in the western city of kobe. An earthquake in 1995 devastated the area and killed more than 6,000 people. In 2005 u. N. Officials urged countries around the world to learn from kobes experience. They called on Conference Participants to build better infrastructure and educate people on disaster mitigation. Following the meeting, some developing nations have increased preparedness. They have conducted drills and built disasterproof communities. The top u. N. Official for disaster planning says the participants in the conference in sendai have a lot to learn about the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in japan. They will be able to meet communities and people so they get much closer to the reality of the catastrophic events and the aftermath. Reporter u. N. Officials say they hope discussions will be more concrete because the conference is taking place where a disaster actually happened. Participants will adopt an agreement before they wrap up the fiveday meeting. Moshe komada, nhk world. Tanzanian police are investigating a highway collision with a bus and container truck that killed at least 41 people. The bus was carrying more than 60 passengers when the accident occurred on wednesday in iringa in the south of the country. It was bound for the largest city. At least 41 People Killed and 23 injured. Reuters reports that a container fell from the truck. The truck appeared to veered into the lane to avoid a dip in the road. Traffic accidents are common in tanzania where many of the roads are in bad condition. Now u. S. Leaders are again using the weapon of economic sanctions in the fight to help defend ukraines sovereignty. They imposed sanctions on the prorussian separatists who denies the ceasefire. The u. S. Treasury department has frozen the assets of eight separatists and Russian Organization that recruits fighters for the separatists. It has done the same to three aides of viktor yanukovych. The sanctions target a russian bank that began operating in crimea after president Vladimir Putin annexed the region. U. S. Firms are barred from doing business with the region. An additional 75 million in assistance has been provided to the ukrainian government. The package includes unmanned drown drones and communications environment. Vice President Joe Biden went over details with Petro Poroshenko in kiev. They say the rebels carried out attacks of the port of the industrial industry of maruapol. It is estimated between 400 and 500 russians have died in the fighting. Victoria nuland says a ceasefire is needed with a complete withdrawal of the weapons from the frontline. A Police Demonstration in the city of ferguson has turned violent. Two Police Officers have been shot. Protesters gathered outside the Police Department following the resignation of the embattled chief. We saw the muzzle fire from the gun. Police say the two officers are conscious and being treated at a hospital. The police chief had agreed to resign after a federal report alleged widespread racial bias in his department. The city of ferguson and police chief jackson agreed to resign from the city. The chiefs resignation is effective march 19th 2015. Unrest started last summer and a white Police Officer shot an unarmed teenager michael brown. The Justice Department decided last week that the officer would not face federal charges, but the department criticized fergusons Law Enforcement authority for racial discrimination. Chinas top Prosecutor Says over 5,000 Civil Servants were investigated for corruption last year. He says this is the 7 increase from the previous year. Ming was reporting to the congress. He said prosecutors investigated more than 3,600 cases of bribery. The number is up by 42 . He noted that a former member of the communist Party Standard committee was one of 28 officials investigated. We will focus the investigations on sections where there is concentration of power, money and resources. The report is likely aimed as stressing the results of the Anticorruption Campaign under the leadership of xi jinping. It underscores the fact that corruption in china is a serious problem. Business leaders in japan are learning what they can about breaking into the cuban market. They want to boost trade now that washington and havana are negotiating restoring diplomatic ties. We have our report. Reporter representatives of japanese terms and manufacturers gathered on wednesday in tokyo. About 170 of them took part in the seminar on investing in cuba. The Vice President on cuba council on ministers was there. Translator we are making efforts to overhaul our economic model and bring in Foreign Investment and we are promoteing the special Development Zone which should serve as a critical bridge between north and south america. Reporter the special Development Zone is around marealport. West of havana. Cuban leaders started to develop it two years ago to boost economy. The officials told about a new investment law offered last year for foreign firms. The cuban economy has been struggling under a u. S. Economic embargo that has been in place for more than 50 years. Japanese participants in the investment seminar saw the thaw in u. S. And cuba relations is optimistic. Translator it is brighter. We had to be cautious in the past. Translator i think this could open up new opportunities to appeal to the japanese public. Reporter japanese trade with cuba has been limited because of the u. S. Embargo. The japanese exports there last year amounted to 34 million. Some companies have been able to make inroads. This tokyobased trading firm has been providing medical industries to the cuban sector. The president spends half of the year in cuba. He has met the former president fidel castro. He says this will open new doors for japanese firms. Translator exporters find it impossible to export high tech devices because they contain technology from the u. S. And other places that are subject to sanctions. Lifting the ban should be positive for both cuba and japan. Reporter still, kobayashi says there are hurdles to do business in cuba. Translator in cuba, foreign firms cannot hire directly. They have to hire from a state run agency. Training is essential in any business. Will that work when all of the staff is outsourced . Reporter cuba is an untested area for many business leaders. They will keep an eye on the business and make a move when time is right. Now lets go to world weather. A handful of tropical systems are churning over the pacific ocean. Some of them are likely to cause flooding. Here is our meteorologist saika mori. Four cyclones are churning over the pacific. Three of them are in the southern pacific. From november to april is your Tropical Storm season for the south. Take a look at this. We have a Tropical Storm in the northern hemisphere. It is heading to the south and two more near northern australia. I want to talk about this one. This is bringing winds with a category two system. It is likely to increase to a category three and it will make landfall in australia by friday morning local time and move along the coast as we go into the weekend. It will produce destructive waves and strong winds across western australia. Then the flip side of australia, we have nathan. Nathan is a category two. It is expected to move forward the west. It will make a uturn to the east. It will not make landfall. It is near the coast. It will provide ongoing heavy rainfall and stormy conditions for the next several days. This area was hit by Tropical Storm maria three weeks ago. People are recovering from the damage from the storm. Across the east we have another system. This is very strong system. This is pam. Pam is now a category four system. It is moving away from the solomon islands. It is expected to move close to the area in the next 24 hours and move to the southeast. That means it is expected to effect new zealand by early next week as the next tropical cyclone. A lot of things happening across the southern hemisphere. Across the northern hemisphere. Another tropical system. This is bobby. This is the third Tropical Storm. It is expected to intensify and affect guam by the weekend. Across hawaii, we have blizzard warnings posted for the Higher Elevations of the big island. This was the picture coming out of the area. Freezing fog and blowing snow will continue into thursday evening. Very different story across the iberian peninsula. Weather has been gorgeous. People were enjoying sun bathing. Look at the video coming out of eastern spain. Some people took advantage of summerlike weather in spain wednesday by spending some time on the beach. People enjoyed sunny weather with temperatures pushing past 25 degrees celsius. Warm conditions like this typically dont take place until late may. Normal highs are in the upper teens this time of year. The maylike conditions will continue into thursday but changes coming. We have a cold front moving in as the system moves in temperatures will go down by the weekend. That temperatures are as follows on thursday. 22 in madrid with sunny conditions. Double digits in london as well as paris and across the east. Still warmer than normal. Kiev at 8 degrees for the high. 6 degrees with abundant sunshine in moscow. All right. That is the for for now. Here is the extended forecast. Thats all for this edition of newsline. Im reporting from tokyo. We will be back at the top of the hour. Thanks for wat ng a protest. Living in darkness. 83 of syria has been left in the dark after four years of suffering. Greeces finance minister says his country has a small cash flow problem. They need to find billions to meet its debts. Welcome back to the france 24 newsroom. Two pol
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