Saber rattling continues. Reasons between north korea and its neighbors are worsening following new sanctions, and there are no signs things will get better anytime soon. Turning negative. Japans preliminary Gross Domestic Product contracted for the first time in two quarters. North koreas rocket launch has authorities in northeast asia on alert, including u. S. Marines base the in okinawa. Some are at sea conducting training exercises, and nhk got access to one of them off the coast of okinawa. Reporter in an undisclosed location, we land on the ship. Its a base of operations for u. S. Marines at sea. The troops are with the 31st Marine Expeditionary unit. Amphibious assault is their specialty. When the conflict breaks out, theyre the first to be sent n 2,000 marines are conducting exercises on three battleships. One of the drills involves a rescue mission on the flight deck. The work is critical for the troops who could be sent into rescue situations at a moments notice. Helicopters, jets, and osprey aircraft with vertical takeoff capabilities are on stand by. Their power makes u. S. Marines unique among u. S. Forces. There you go. Reporter officials call this a routine mission, but the timing of this one happened to be just after the rocket launch by north korea. A time of raised tensions in the region. Really, its my job to maintain this force and be ready to respond if we are called to do so. It could be, you know, you mentioned, you know, tensions on the peninsula, but it could be anything. It could be elsewhere, and this is a vast area of responsibility. It is the largest of all the combatant commands. Reporter the Public Affairs officer tells us the unit will stay at sea for the near future. And asked if they will soon conduct a joint exercise with south korean troops, a clear signal of readiness for the north. Nhk world, somewhere off the coast of okinawa. Diplomatic relations between north korea and its neighbors are continuing to deteriorate. Our next story tells us how signs of progress made the last couple years have reversed in the wake of the launch. Reporter its been a week since the launch of what pyongyang calls a satellitecarrying rocket. Its neighbors, believing its actually a Ballistic Missile test have decided to take a tough approach. In response, north koreas lashing out. On the south korean side translator in order to stop more money from kaesong going to north koreas Missile Technology and to keep our firms from being accomplices, our government has decided to suspend all operations. Reporter to punish pyongyang, leaders in seoul closed the jointrun Industrial Park for the first time. The manufacturing zone south korean firms employ more than 50,000 workers from the north. But President Park geunhyes Administration Says pyongyang funneled 500 million from the hub to its missile program. The norths reaction to the closure . Translator the recent provocative measure is a declaration to the end of the last lifeline between the north and the south. And its a dangerous declaration of war that could bring the peninsula to the brink of confrontation. Reporter pyongyang then expelled all of the nearly 300 South Koreans from the complex, and it said it was seizing all of the assets left behind. Translator i couldnt bring my products with me. What will i do for a living from now on . Reporter in japan, the government decided to impose its own sanctions against pyongyang. Again, a sharp reaction from north korea. This time breaking a pledge to investigate the whereabouts of japanese nationals abducted in the 70s and 80s. Translator the comprehensive investigation based on the stockholm accord will be halted entirely, and the special committee in charge of the probe will be disbanded. The Abe Administration bears full responsibility for this serious outcome. Reporter relatives of the abductees couldnt hide their irritation. Translator japan should not be disturbed by north koreas announcements or fall into despair at its every move. Japan needs a proper strategy. Reporter each announcement of sanctions against north korea is met by saber rattling and a heightening of tensions. The big question, what will pyongyang do next . Japans top Government Spokesperson has criticized pyongyang for halting its investigation into the abductees. Chief cabinet secrary suga called the decision extremely regrettable and totally unacceptable. Translator we told north korea that japan has no plan to scrap the Bilateral Agreement reached in stockholm and have strongly demanded the country to return all abductees as soon as possible. Suga said the government will press them to resolve the issue. Japanese stocks shot up on monday. The nikkei rose more than 1,000 points. We go to gene otani from the business deck for mosk for more. Some investors picked up shares thinking they were bargains. Our business reporter, mai yoshida reports many analysts say this was due to a technical rebound. But shares rose for the first time in four sessions on monday. The nikkei jumped 7 . Thats about 1,000 points, thats the biggest oneday gain since september 9. Now the yens weakness helped equities. The dollars gain happen and bridgestone jumped over 11 . This is after getting an upgrade from goldman sachs. But what really boosted the markets were rallies in financial shares sold off sharply since the boj surprised the markets with its negative rate policy. Buybacks kicked in other financial stocks like broke rans. We actually saw nearly 97 of stocks lifted on tokyos main board end in the positive. So this means that investors were very busy buying back stocks. Im mayu yoshida reporting from the tokyo stock exchange. Moving on to other markets in the asia pacific region. China is back from its weeklong holiday. 2 2746 for the close. Hong kong shares rebounded from friday when prices sanction to a 3. 5 year low. The hang seng gaining and ending at 18,918. The financial and energyrelated shares gained. Japans economy shrank during the last quarter of 2015 as people bought fewer goods. Cabinet Office Officials say preliminary numbers show the economy contracted by 0. 4 in real terms from the previous quarr. Thatorks out to an annualized figure of minus 1. 4 . Private consumption was one of the biggest tag tors. It sh rungs by 0. 8 . An unusually warm winter slowed sales. Housing investment fell to a negative. Figure was down 1. 2 . Public investment was also down 2. 7 . But Corporate Capital investment was up 1. 4 . For 2015 as a whole, japans gdp registered positive growth of 0. 4 in real terms. Prime minister shinzo abe blamed unusually warm weather for the limited growth. He says things are improving. Translator i think japans economic fundamentals are good and are not changing for the worse. I believe the economy is recovering motd rattly. Helped by improving working conditions and government support. Abe added that the government is closely monitoring the effect of changes in the Global Economy in china and other emerging economies. The sluggish Consumer Spending and slower exports are weighing on the economy and Japanese Companies are trying to deal with a tougher business environment. Nhk explains. Shoppers at the tokyo supermarket are waiting for it to open on a sunday morning. People here are lined up to buy discounted items and bargains. The shop owner says these lines get longer week by week. He holds bargain sales every sunday to attract more shoppers. He slashed the price of a carton of eggs to under a dollar. More than ten times as many shoppers as usual jam the store. 200 cartons of eggs sold out in half an hour. The more bargain items he sells the greater his losses. Translator bargain priced goods alone are selling well, but not others. Reporter he uses sales of fresh tomatoes to measure trends. They cost 1 more a pack than ordinary tomatoes due to their sweet flor, but tir sales are slowing down in recent months. Consumers are spending less as stock prices tumble and wage growth slows. He is also cutting back. He stopped using costly ad fl flyers and now relies on apps and facebook pages. He says he has tried everything in the book. Translator when narrowing e profit margin from the usual 20 to 10 . We even sell some products at a loss. Its tough. Im worried. If things go on like this, i wonder how long we can keep o business afloat. Reporter Large Businesses are also beginning to suffer. Many have posted record profits for the past two years with the support of Government Policies and monetary stimulus. But now, they are seeing a gloomier picture. Steel is one of the hardesthit sectors. Industry leader nippon steel and sumitomo have revised downward its outlook for the current fiscal year by about 20 . Translator were being hit from every direction. Reporter the company cited chinas slow down. It has pushed down prices of some products by more than 40 . Businesses in both the u. S. And japan are cutting back on steel procurement. Corporate investment has recently been lower than expected. And thats not all. The steelmaker has focussed 121 yen to the dollar in compiling business reports, but the yen is strengthening rapidly. Translator Foreign Exchange rates are very difficult now to predict. Reporter and an expert says current volatility will hurt the economy even more. Translator if the rate remains at 110 to 115 yen to the dollar, that could make businesses put off capital investment. Then the japanese economy would need more time to shake itself out of its lull. Reporter greater efforts are apparently needed to keep stock of the japanese economy as global uncertainties continue to grow. Nhk world. The latest data from china show the worlds second largest economy continues to showdown. Exports and imports for january both fell far more than analysts expected. Chinas Customs Authority said exports were down 11. 2 from a year earlie theountry sold less clothes, shoes and liquid crystal displays overseas. Imports were down nearly 19 , led by lower purchases of steel materials, plastics and auto parts. Heres a look at some of the other new the headlines that were following. Visitors from china spent their new year Holiday Shopping in japan, but managers at Major Department stores say they bought less per customer. Dutyfree purchases at five stores rose more than 50 during the period. Sales at eight stores were nearly flat. Managers say sales of reasonablypriced cosmetics and food expanded, but expensive jewelry and brandname bags sold less. Workers at toyota motor in japan are back on assembly lines. The company had stopped domestic infrastructure production for section days after an accident left them short of parts. They say they will extend hours to make up for the loss in output. Thailands gdp grew 2. 8 from a year slightly slower tha quarter earlier. Thats an improvement of 0. 8 on the Previous Year when political protests paralyzed the government. And thats it for business news. Ill leave you with the markets. U. S. President obama is getting ready to host the leaders of Southeast Asian nations. One of the bigger issues, chinas move to boost its influence. Nhk has the details. Reporter leaders from the association of Southeast Asian nations are in california for the start of the summit on monday. U. S. Efforts to strengthen ties with asean members are seen as a way of keeping check over chinas increased influence in the region. First, theres the territorial issue. China and some Southeast Asian nations are at odds over competing claims in the south china safe. Chinas construction of artificial islands in the region is seen by the u. S. And other countries as an attempt to increase its military presence. The u. S. Has ordered its naval vessels to sail close to the islands in the south china sea, directly showing its discontent to beijing. China is vying to expand their presence in southeast asia. It is now working on strengthening ties with nations that have maintained a neutral stance. Translator relations between china and the nations militaries are moving towards deeper cooperation. Reporter last year, china and malaysia held a major joint military drill. China is also buying its way to closer ties. Chinese premier li keqiang visited malaysia. He pledged bigucks for the construction port facilities. The Chinese Government is spendi nearly 10 million on the project. China is expected to surpass singapore as the top investor in malaysia for the first time. Malaysia is in central of this south asia region. So if china manage to pull up together with malaysia, definitely, it will be a very good steppingstone for china. Reporter in 2011, obama announced a pivot to asia policy. Its meant to focus the country more on the regions politics and security issues. So the asean summit will be a key time to counter moves made by china and continue with the policy. Nhk world. Authorities in australia have seized illegal stimulants worth about 900 million u. S. Were here to laud the joint operation that has result the in the largest seizure of liquid methamphetamine in australias history. This is also one of the largest drug seizures in our countrys history. Investigators say they coiscated morehan 700 liters of liquid methamphetamine hidden in boxes of bra inserts and art supplies. The goods had been sent from hong kong. Police arrested four chinese nationals, three of wm are from hong kong. Amphetamine smugglers have targeted australia in recent years. Investigators say they will uncover trade routes in cooperation with their chinese counterparts. Officials at one of japans Largest International airports are taking precautions against the spread of the zika virus. Japans Health Ministry designated the mosquito borne virus as an Infectious Disease earlier this month. Now thermal scanners will check the temperatures of travelers and those with a fever will be required to be tested at an airport clinic. Passengers that report Health Problems at immigration will also be required to have a health check and any zika cases must be reported to Public Health officials. Translator i want passengers to drop by our quarantine station when they have concerns about their health. Quarantine officials are suggesting travelers heading to affected regions wear long sleeves and use inspect repellant, and theyre advising pregnant women to take extra caution. We have some news for japan especially for the warmer months. Speaking for people in the u. S. , they are probably yearning for warmer temperatures. I think were dealing with not only the cold, frigid conditions but freezing conditions and the potential for Winter Weather. This is mething at we had to look over not just for the lt feways but what happedor thweekends se of that snow blew through pourtions of pennsylvania. This is just dramatic video that gives you that understanding of what has been taking place. Because of the strong wind gusts and the, its a minimal amount of snow. Were not talking about a lot of snow. Just a little bit of snow and gusts up to 60 Miles Per Hour caused very Poor Visibility really quickly. 40 people we taken t hospitals. And we are also seeing reports that several people died because of the collisions. Wind chill advisories were in effect. Now were seeing a Winter Weather advisory coming into the picture. Its just gng t be a mess. Please, this took place during the weekend. Were looking at some more in terms of the Winter Weather situation as we go into the next w days. Especially the concern is the possibility of freezg rain. Look at the temperatures on sunday. These are record lows set in boston and in new york city. Down to negative 22. 8 degrees in boston. Shattering the old record lows. We do have a few areas of low pressure, in fact pushing to the east High Pressure was the instigator of that really cold air. But now these areas of low pressure system will introduce moisture into the picture. Thats where were going to see more problems. Freezing rain extending from new england into portions of northern portions of south carolina. Flash flooding concerns in the mountains, and down to the south, severe thunderstorms. Its a real mixed bag of really nasty weather as you go throughout the day on monday. Mid Atlantic States need to look out for the Winter Weather conditions. Snow accumulation of anywhere from 7 to 15 centimeters. The freeziing rain concern is also in place. Well see a quick bump up on tuesday because of the surge of warm air. But well get slammed back to single digit temperatures as we go through wednesday. And you can see the cold air extending as far south as atlanta. Back to the west, much hotder conditions, look at this high of 31 in los angeles. Youre dealing with heat on monday. In japan we saw very warm air in place. And now were seeing the cold air, the winter pressure pattern coming back into the picture, so were dealing once again with seaeffect snow to the northern portions of the country. Back to the west, much drier looking and sun eye conditions from beijing to shanghai, and down to taipei, a high of 9 degrees. Now rapidly, a look at europe. We have a trough. You may notice the clouds moving to the north and east, that is what we call a trough. Southerly flow on the eastern side, thats going to push up temperatures. And then single digit highs from london, paris, down to madrid. All the way into moscow, as we go throughout the day on monday. Hope you have a good day wherever you are. Heres your extended outlook. Koga in western japan is famous for its ninja tradition. Officials there are trying to boost tourism by dressing up as the secret agents who worked for feudal warlords. One city official came to work on his bicycle in full ninja regalia. He said his costume is a breath of fresh air in the office. Translator if you come here, youll learn a lot about ninjas. We welcome visitors. The nearby city of iga also has a strong ninja tradition. The two cities designated february 22nd as ninja day. Visitors to japan, you might want to put the cities of uququd this is france 24. These are the headlines. Airstrikes in Northern Syria leave over 20 civilians dead. Those strikes hit a school and two hospitals, including one fact by doctors without borders. Ehud olmert becomes the first former israeli head of state to serve jail time. And
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