lee byung-kee is a former ambassador to japan. he was involved in negotiating last year's agreement for those referred to as comfort women. local media say lee is stepping down to take responsibility for the governing saenuri party's defeat in last month's general election. the former seoul mayor is taking on the post. observers are watching whether the change in staff will affect bilateral relations. >>> south korea, officials there are taking final steps to bring a new law into effect to deter corruption. but skeptics say it could hurt the economy by weighing on personal spending. the law would cover spending on public servants, media, and private school employees. lavish spending encourages bribery and other forms of corruption. it would cap spending on governments of about $40 and entertainment roughly $25. people who spend or receive more than those amounts will be subject to criminal punishment. some say the ceilings are unrealistically low. others say consumers might slash spending on gifts for major holidays. the chosun il

concerns, but japan and the u.s. will be tackling more than what's on that agenda. they'll meet ahead of the summit over contentious issue. crimes committed by military personnel in japan. prime minister abe is expected to discuss the main summit themes wednesday with his u.s. and british counterparts. he's also expected to seek action by u.s. president barack obama. he wants to discuss setting up preventive measures to stop misconduct by american military personnel and civilian employees. it involves the arrest of a former marine at a u.s. air base in the southern prefecture of okinawa. he's being connected with the disappearance of a woman who was later found dead. now people in okinawa are outraged. they say a bilateral agreement on the status of american military personnel called sofa, grants unfair privileges, and they're demanding concrete measures from both the u.s. and japanese governments. and nhk world's moshe kamota reports. >> reporter: they arrested an american civilian working at the u.s. base. they say

forces in japan. the incident could be a serious obstacle for the ongoing negotiation of where to relocate the futenma air base. it's also not the first time an attack on a citizen of okinawa has strained relations in the prefecture. nhk world has the details. >> reporter: a change of command ceremony was held on friday for u.s. marines stationed in okinawa. >> i know everybody here knows congress holds us accountable to be most ready when the nation is least ready. that's in our dna. it's what we do. to be most ready. >> reporter: the murder and the arrest of the base employee as the only suspect was not mentioned. but that shows how sensitive the case is to the u.s. forces. governor onaga opposes relocating the u.s. marine futenma air base within the prefecture. when he heard about the murder, he did not hide his outrage. >> translator: the fact this happened because of the presence of u.s. bases is extremely regrettable. >> reporter: the japanese government was quick to take action. foreign ministe

japan who are about to be forgotten, both in japan and in south korea. i think i am the only one who can do so. >> reporter: he was born in a city that's famous for its castle. but for him, in a way the castle is like home. his family used to live in one of many shacks built within the castle's compound. he says his family had very little money to live on in those days. the same is true for kim's family in the play. kim is running a restaurant in the korean community to feed his wife and four children. their lives are hard. they don't feel accepted either by japan or by their mother country. the family is eventually compelled to change their lives. the municipality forces them to abandon their home because they are living on state-owned land. chang wants to show that koreans in japan have been deeply affected by 20th century history. >> translator: how do we identify ourselves? that's a complicated issue facing koreans in japan. we are puzzled if we are asked which country we're from. my nationality is south korean, not japanese, but if i visit south kor

winds will be strong across western japan. gusty winds probably up to 110 kilometers expected across the kyushu area. heavy vafl expected. additional 150 millimeters in kyushu. rain is not good fuse. the rain will move into western and central japan as we go into wednesday. now it's going to be a wet and windy day, as i mentioned, on tuesday. and wednesday the rain should reach the tokyo area. sunny weather should return by thursday and it's going to be hot on thursday as well as friday. the average tvrm for this time of year is about 22 degrees. across china due to a developing low pressure system in france. heavy rain is falling. more heavy rain is anticipated for central portions of china and korean peninsula may see up to 200 millimeters of rainfall. flooding will be a concern. seoul will see a high of 16 degrees behind it beijing 27 degrees. and shanghai 20degree sand m cov the sn tuesday. let's go to noh americ we're eing qui a lot of precipitation across the southern portions of the united states. we have some pictures

angie: what about japan? , you in the context of know japan is going to go through some challenging -- i mentioned earlier the low rate environment and the boj negatives. that will put enormous pressure on financials. some are reporting in the next few days. from an industrial perspective, still reasonably destructive. there is a pressure, downward stocks. on japanese from evaluation perspective, you see really interesting companies. angie: in the first quarter, it led your growth strategy in the region. that has got to have shifted somewhat to the downside, especially after the boj surprise of in action. ryan: from earnings perspective, possibly. but with business across the region, japan is a part of our strategy with the institution but also the individual wealth and retail side areas that is a part of the wealth already sitting in japan as opposed to wealth creation from this moment forward. angie: it all ties back to china. week,was a speech last kind of affirmed whether people like it or not, it is stil

japan's finance minister taro aso and bank of japan governor cru cure oda. >>> japan's citizens are using the extended spring breaks to spend time in home towns or resorts. traffic slowed to a crawl on expressways out of tokyo. railway leaders say many trains leaving the capital on tuesday morning were full. they say most domestic flights were fully booked on tuesday morning. some people were flying to the earthquake hit areas of kyushu to volunteer or help their relatives. >> translator: i have an elderly parent living there alone. so i am going back home to see them. >> authorities say the congestion is likely to be even worse on thursday as people head back home. >>> people in japan have a new option to care for their aging pets. elderly canines can live out their final days at nursing homes. nhk world has the story. >> reporter: these dogs are too weak to walk. cataracts have made this one blind. like some humans, they need constant attention. 11 elder dogs live in a canine nursing home in saga prefecture. the director came up with the idea when his dog died of old age. he wanted elde

and japan. the finance minister did talk about this saying that we did have a bilateral meeting with jack lew. they talked about how the recent moves in the recent moves in the yen have been one-sided and speculative. they did not address whether japan will intervene, but did talk about the friction on those views of intervention between the u.s. and japan. take a listen. there were no heated discussions between mr. lew and me. it is natural to caps on perspective and different interests. between u.s.rest and japan is the u.s. dollar is the reserve currency. did mention the yen during his press briefing with reporters, repeating his view that the yen's movement has not been overly volatile, but did say it is a high bar when it comes to disorderly conditions. was 2011 in japan after the devastating earthquake and tsunami when the g7 nations gave the ok for japan to intervene. it seems like we are still a ways away from that, but looking towards the leaders meeting this thursday, we expect to see

troops based in western japan. washington continues to stress that obama's trip to hiroshima is not an apology for the country's use of atomic bombs. a majority of americans say the bombings were justified. some argue it saved the lives of many u.s. service members by bringing an end to world war ii. countries pushing to ban nuclear weapons have ended a meeting in geneva without much progress. attention is now focused on u.s. president barack obama's historic visit to hiroshima. nhk world has more. >> i state clearly and with conviction america's commitment to seek the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons. >> reporter: it was during barack obama's first year in office that he made this commitment. and now, nearing the end of his term, those words are still resonating. >> i believe we can draw inspiration from president obama's celebrated and often quoted 2009 prague speech. we have to insist, yes, we can. >> reporter: a united nations working group held a second round of talks in geneva on the lega

some areas in western japan have seen. the rain is now shifting towards the eastern half of japan. tokyo will continue to see rain for the next couple of hohours. as i mentionene it's going to be beautiful as we go into tomorrow. it's going to be sunny and warm. the high could be 26 degrees. so quite warm for this time of year, staying quite warm into saturday and according to the japan meteorological agency, it's going to be abnormally warm from saturday into next week. so stay hydrated. we will expeperience a taste of susummer as we g go into next w. across the southern areas, it's the monsosoon season for asia. a deadlyy landslide killed 17 people. born yeah will see tororrential rainfall, p probably up to 100 millimeters for the next three days. more heavy rain pounding sri lanka. some areas have seen over 700 mimillimeters in rainfall. in 24 houours about 200 millimeters has fallen in the northern portion of the island. more heavy rain is anticipated. there's a slow moving low pressure system wii will contueue to cause heavy rainfall across sri lanka and the southern areas of

away in japan. some businesses think that's a shame. they are taking the concept of mottainai meaning too precious to waste and turning it into cas cash. >> reporter: this is tokyo's fish market, one of the largest in the world. the market handles about 1700 pounds of seafood a day. but whole sale struggles to sale some products. >> translator: if the customer next to you at a restaurant is eating this rock fish, wouldn't you think yours is kind of small? the small one is a tough sale. >> reporter: he's a restaurant owner that supported a business opening. he buys leftover seafood and serves it at discounted prices. >> i'll cook them up well. his restaurant makes his waste not, want not philosophy into a selling point but deciding the menu can be tricky. nobody knows what the raw ingredients are until the day starts. >> translator: i take a look at the ingredients and decide the best way to cook them by boiling or stir frying. >> reporter: the restaurant opens at 5:30 p.m. >> translator: today we ha

mostly dry across japan but gloomy weather across tokyo. that should be moving away as we go in to tomorrow and temperatures are going to be 26 degrees on tuesday. meanwhile seoul will see a high of 30 degrees on both wednesday as well as thursday. so watch out for heatstroke. all right here's the extended forecast. >>> people in thailand are mourning the death of an animal that symbolized their country's friendship with japan. hanako the elephant arrived in japan 67 years ago and died thursday in a tokyo zoo. about 40 people attended a ceremony for hanako at an elephant sanctuary. officials at the sanctuary said hanako inspired many japanese people to visit thailand. >> translator: hanako served as a bridge between janan and thailand >> the thai govevernnt gave hanako to japan in 1949, and she quickly became a star. many japanese people saw her as a symbol of peace after the turmoil of war. hanako was 69, japan's oldest elephant. >>> more updates at the top of ú genie: you are watching "france 24." time for 60 minutes live around the wor

japan's fiscal situation remains desire. the latest figures work out to $75,000 worth of debt per person in the country as of april 1st. japanese companies are releasing their earnings reports. two firms have announced yet losses. officials at major oil wholesaler said the group's net loss was about $330 million at the current exchange rate. the group sales fell to about $33 billion. lower crude prices pushed down retail prices of petroleum products. japan display was found by integrating. let's check on markets. tokyo stock prices have made a good start. the nasdaq gaining about 1.62% on the day. let's see how tokyo markets are. good morning, ramin. tell us what you're seeing at the open. >> good morning. extending the gains yesterday from japan as well as wall street. both indexes were up 1.25%. we did see the jump in oil prices. also prospects of debt relief in greece. data out of china yesterday. let's have a look at how the nikkei and topix are kicking off. that's largely backed by a weakening yen. japan finance ministe

we see this as japan and the 21st century wanting to be a we see thisactor -- as japan in the 21st century. image dow powerful an you think that was inside japan? >> according to my friends inside japan right now, it has really made an impact. it has connected to the japanese people in a way that no american president has done in living memory. that also part of building alliances and hedging against china got gone >> it is part of that but also part of what i call the reconciliation tour. articleng allies, like five treaty or the philippine alliance. in this case, reconciliation is the main thing. laura: thank you so much for joining us. now, to the ongoing race for the white house. after donald trump clinched the nomination, he took the fight to california. he wants tosaid build a wall to end illegal immigration, but the proposal is not going down well with everyone. trump'stuff of donald james, only his goals would be bigger and better, of course. most of the 2000-mile border is not wall, but this stretch divides california and mexico and seems to be working. >> it's like water. they ar

>> we still like japan. it all has the bad headlines at the moment, and suppose something like a disappointment. they did not get the support for the yen to depreciate, but i do believe we will see follow through with a budget of 1% of gdp to provide a stimulus to growth. i think the bank of japan will be forced to come to the table was some measures to put some downward pressure on the yen. both of the factors could bring a further rebound in japanese equities. rishaad: great seeing you. have a good one. the stories making headlines around the world. >> egypt is sending a submarine to search for the black box flight recorders and has warned against jumping to conclusions about what happened. says also nares remain open and nothing has been proved. the flight crashed into the sea on thursday from paris to cairo. the french air accident investigator says the plane sent automatically messages about smoke and the cabin moments before it lost contact. later todayexpected in the trial of a baltimore police office

let's get more on the japan story. they managed to sidestep a recession with the economy growing an annualized 1.7%. gains in government and consumer spending commentator for a slugging business investment. this comes following a revised 1.7% contraction in the previous quarter. enda curran joins us now with more from tokyo. good to have you. tell us more about what has been driving the growth. it has not been corporate spending. enda: good morning, indeed. no, it has not. it is a good headline for japan today. but when you look at the polling, like you mentioned, business spending is contracting. it is nowhere to be seen. forn's biggest companies all the cash on the balance sheet. they are not expanding, lifting wages at the pace you really need to get the economy off the ground here. so the business cut back side of things during the week, you look at spending, also off on the order. that is not a key component. but do not forget the back drop here is the big debate over whether to hike sales tax. and government spen

i've traveled from japan. thank you very much for giving me this opportunity to speak in front of the audience. i'm turning 39 years old this year but certainly i have no memory whatsoever of my mother. i've never talked to her, i have no memories of talker her. when she was 22 years old, she spent busy days raising myself and my elder sister, 3 years older than i, only by yourself. and my sister was 3 years old and 1-year-old when she was suddenly abducted by north korean agent. i have only one photo to prove my family ties with her. when i was just 1 years old i was violently separated from my mother and that situation still continues. in september 2002, the japan/north korea summit meeting and north korea admitted for the first time they had be a dabduc mother but north korea explained she was killed in a traffic accident. when i heard the news, i was sh shocked. there are no words to explain how i felt then. i just remember i could not stop crying. but the news was untrue. the news that that she was dead w

of people inside japan. on the one hand, they don't want nuclear weapons. the threat of war is always there and everybody in the pacific remembers exactly what happened 70 and 80 years ago. and on the other hand, they need the might of the united states. the friendship. they use the might of the united states and its nuclear deterrent to prevent conflag race in -- conflagration in the area. you know, we didn't enter the war -- second world war until the war in europe had already been going only for two years. >> right. >> and the war in the pacific had been going on for ten years before we ever entered it. so our participation in all of that, we were dragged kicking and screaming into the war and the aftermath is exactly what the worst of all possible things. it's interesting to listen to the president express what his personal desires are, of a world free of nuclear weapons and countries who are nice to one another. but the reality right now for not just japan, but all the countries in asia is a very strong

where does japan stand now? its finance minister again saying that one side - speculated movement in the dollar-yen rate is " extremely concerning, a warning that he will be watching currency movements very closely." that he will take action as they may be necessary. timehis is not the first that japan, japanese policymakers have warned about positively acting against these currency movements. but it is worth mentioning that it is the first time they are saying this when the japanese yen is at such levels. it hasn't been at this level in more than a year. it is at an 18 month high after refrain from further monetary easing, going against market expectations. now we are seeing the japanese currency gaining strength. in the past year, it has gained 10% against the dollar. also, we are seeing a dollar weakness is also adding to the yen's gains, because with the fed just frustrating dollar bulls by reiterating it is in no rush to increase interest rates, -- angie: we have that weak gdp, too. sheri: now we see the pr

than $2.8 trillion for japan. those nete reason why foreign assets have come off slightly and china is because they had to sell around $500 billion of their fx reserves to shore up the yuan post-august imposed january. capital outflows, those have destabilized to some degree, but around a trillion dollars for outflows for china towards the end of last year. policy makers taking steps to rein those in. there is a consensus that china will overtake japan as the world's number one creditor in the not-too-distant future, and there is a change now. the private sector and state owned enterprises are the ones snapping up foreign assets, u.k., australia, and the u.s.. rishaad: thank you very much indeed for that. let's get to a major victory for google. some of the other stories as well. rosalind: it has taken six years, but google has won a $9 billion court case over the use of oracle java programming language. oracle claims google needed a license. jurors rejected the argument and concluded that google made a fair use o

they're controlled by japan. and the government maintains they are an inherent part of japan's territory. the leaders stress countries should not take unilateral actions that they say could increase tensions. >> so, they're trying to limit china's growing maritime activity. what about beijing's influence with many countries in the region? >> japan invited countries outside of the g7 to join so-called outreach sessions, including vietnam, laos and the indonesia. those asian nations have strong economic ties with china so this was perhaps a sign of japan's efforts to try to increase its own sway. the leaders discussed how asian countries can prosper and drive global economic growth, and in his closing press conference, abe stressed the need to promote high quality infrastructure in emerging economies. >> thank you. now let's go back to the economy. our reporter daisuke azuma has analysis on that. is the japanese government satisfied with the summit declaration? >> prime minister shinzo abe wanted the g7 leaders to

base to japan. more than 70% of u.s. military facilities in the country are in japan. >>> nhk has learned that chinese authorities have indicted a japanese man on unknown charges. he is one of four japanese arrested in china on suspicion of spying. sources says the man in his early 50s was indicted recently. officials have not specified the charges. he was taken into custody in may last year near a military facility. he was sustained suspected of violating legislation. they detained three others separately. one was held near the border with north korea and beijing and the other in shanghai. chinese authorities have been cracking down on cases of espionage since the introduction of an anti spying law in november of 2014. >>> japanese firms have been working on winning export orders amid rising global demand for infrastructure projects such as rail ways and energy. now the government is willing to step up their efforts to help them. we're joined from the business desk. how does the government plan to assist the japanese fi

japan's meagency is wanting residents to remain alert. an additional 20 are believed to have died due to after effects from the quakes. such as physical fatigue from the evacuation. authorities say more than 10,000 people are still living in shelters but there are some who still are sleeping in cars or tents. the japanese government is earmarking funds to help people affected by the eitharthquakes. the house passed a sup men tarry budget bill to set aside over $7 billion for reconstruction on monday. the money will be used to build temporary housing to pay the rent of evacuees and help rebuild roads and bridges. the upper house is expected to approve the bill on tuesday. >>> an earthquake shook region including tokyo on monday at 9:23 p.m. local time. one person has been injured by the tremor. jap japan's meteorology agency says a quake occurred north of tokyo at a depth of around 42 kilometers. an intensity of five on the japanese scale was recorded in the city. the nearby nuclear plant has been offline and no abnormalities have been rep

in japan. the president getting set to leave after laying a wreath at the peace park. we noticed ambassador kennedy, as well. he visited hiroshima about 18 months ago. an extraordinary speech by both leaders. there is ambassador kennedy. to --esident will move this is eastern standard time -- 1:00 p.m. this afternoon to ontorage, alaska, and then to a late-night arrival in washington. we go to london for the bloomberg business flash. >> shares of philips lighting jumped in their trading debut today. they raised $839 million in an ipo of the world's largest general lighting business. they decided to list the company in amsterdam. axis says the sale of its u.k. lighting businesses will generate a lot of income. the decision to sell came after a strategic review. hedge funds and banks are hoping to cash in on the uncertainty of the brexit vote hours before the results are known. the need for information is huge because there will not be an official exit poll and it is unclear how soon early result

japan is taking full advantage. range of events showcasing japanese culture and technology has been put on for visitors and the media. they share a core theme of sustainability. >> the vehicles are particularly interest in the battle against global warming. international media and researchers also get to try out the eco friendly next generation cars. these new electric cars are designed to have more mobility. they are very small and easy to control and they can move almost as quickly as regular gasoline speed of 80 kilometers per hour. it can be charged at home and has a range of about 100 kilometers. japan is waiting the development of small electric vehicles as corporation is aging households are shrinking. >> it's very smooth. it's linear. it's a great reassuring technique. >> they visited a popular tourist spot. the region is well known for its farms. they met local female divers who have a long tradition of working with nature. >> translator: it was great to have them visit today. we feel encouraged to work eve

it is more apparent in the bank of japan. everything but the kitchen sink, these records to the point where at some point this year there was a question on whether they were running out of bonds to buy. the purchasing package, that was cut into negative rates. not a lot of it was sticking. on your bloomberg. it really shows how this 2% -- it is out of achievement. and white line, fresh food the consumption tax, it really was a big headwinds for achieving inflation in japan. the white line falling into deflationary territory in the first couple of months of the year. the bank of japan says, this is really the impact of falling energy prices, oil prices weighing down the inflation. that is kind of accurate. having said that, even stripping out the energy prices, there is still a flat level when it comes to inflation. just above 1%. it is still very far away from the 2% target. and what is worrying, if you look at this going back to the inflation rates, this tells us over the next 10 years the investors do not see much hope for

it's been warm and dry across japan. highs in 29. tokyo saw warm weather because high pressure is controlling the situation, with clear skies. we'll see this continue through the weekend. when we go into the first part of next week we'll see the chance for rain in the korean peninsula and into japan. the heavier rainfall still taking place over into portions of china. we'll see rainfall and possibly flooding concerns to the weekend. all across the eastern side of china except for shanghai looking for wet weather. 27 in shanghai, 23 in tokyo under partly cloudy skies. the forecast for north america. we've been monitoring this frontal passage that has been making its way all across the united states as we went through this week. as we go forward in time it is still going to create an instability, looking at the possibility of seeing some thunderstorms along the carolina coast and toward the south. some of them may be strong. another low pressure system is dropping in from the north and will bring a chance of severe thunderstorms as wel

japan is also reaching out to indonesia. last december saw the first meeting of the foreign and defense ministers of the two countries. japanese self-defense force personal visited an advanced service belonging to the indonesian navy. japan offers to help the force develop the nautical charts it needs to deploy submarines. >> translator: depending on what the indonesian navy wants, we will consider helping them develop new skills. >> reporter: china is also offering generous support in the form of software. >> reporter: beijing has helped arrange chinese language lessons in the hope of making indonesian officers more sympathetic toward china. the country provided more than 30 state-of-the-art computers and other equipment for use in language studies. >> translator: i hope to be stationed as an officer in china some day. these study materials are a great help. >> reporter: clearly, as all sides clammer for attention, competition between the u.s., japan and china, to secure better defense cooperation with indonesia is sure to

atomic bombings in japan. he said the japanese government thinks it's important to work with the united states to create a world where nuclear weapons will never be used. >>> today's eye on asia starts in afghanistan. a police officer in the country opened fire on his colleagues on thursday killing eight of them. these so-called insider attacks in which soldiers or police turn on their associates happen often in the country. they are considered a major threat to afghan forces and the nato troops engaged in training and advising them. the shooting happened at a checkpoint in the volatile southern province of zabul. the attacker fled after the incident. a spokesman for the taliban insurgency group later said he is now with us. in a similar incident earlier this month, two romanian soldiers were killed by an afghan policeman in the southern city of kandahar. >>> women are fighting a new kind of freedom in indonesia which has the world's largest muslim population. islamic teaching requires women to cover their hai

led down by the sharp losses we're seeing in japan. the yen has strengthened past 107 the biggest two-day gain against the dollar since 2008 and weighing on the earnings outlook for exporters. the finance minister taro aso has said the government will intervene if the currency continues to rise. air bag maker takeda is plunging again falling as much as 16% in tokyo after the nikkei said u.s. regulators plan to push for an expansion of recalls that are already the biggest in automotive history. reports of recalls will widen to all vehicles fitted with air bags with the moisture absorbing substance in order to stop deterioration. that would affect more than 100 million vehicles worldwide. halliburton and baker hughes have called off their planned $28 billion merger. the proposed union between the second and third largest oil service firm, that stiff antitrust resistance in both the u.s. and europe. the u.s. attorney general loretta lynch has called the termination a victory saying it shows that no merger is too big or too complex to chal

let's talk about japan. a story coming out of the terminal saying, never before has the boj done so much and gotten so little. exports falling, inflation far from 2%.have they run out of policy tools ? guest: we have learned from the centralthat bank cannot solve the country's structure problems. taken by time -- it can buy time, and they have been biding time for so long, so much for shinzo abe to realize it. but he is taking the wrong policies. it is going to put an additional burden on the fiscal. about 5% additional budget , with the excuse of the natural disaster. but they are not announcing anything that is worthy. even if they pushed towards consumption, it is not real. labor productivity in japan is as low as ever. reforms, andthose i don't think shinzo abe is ready. yvonne: thank you. i appreciate your insight. rubbish., rewards from indonesia came up with a novel cash from credit. special report, coming up next. ♪ the city in eastern indonesia produces 800 tons of rubbish every day. most ends up

over japan. japanese bonds up 23%. of these bond markets are getting out of control, a real jolt on rates, and this whole house of cards, excuse the pun, could come under pressure. >> yes. it is certainly true that we have had a lot of reflation and growth, and the price level is starting to come back up in japan. then bond markets will look expensive starting with japan. i think the underlying issue here is that we have a number of persistent overhangs that are imposing deflationary pressure on the world. not have a lot of debt, just in the developed world but also in emerging markets and especially in japan. in the case of japan, we had a significant demographic headwind, a country that is not only a labor force with the population of aging that is shrinking, but it is quite unusual where nominal gdp has been shrinking and real gdp has been rising. the number of people is falling. is a difficult and unusual set of circumstances, and in this world we may flip around and say japan is expensive, or the u.s. is cheap. we

or japan goes nuclear? you talked about arm trade, but you did not mention anything about nuclear arsenal, so that is number one. number two, some people say the donecentury is going to be by india rather than china. can you comment on that a little? bob: jonathan, you want to start? jonathan: yes. at this stage, what i know about vietnam's explicit defense -- again, not a very transparent regime, when it comes to -- there arening very few products, the name brand products that vietnam has an interest or kimberly of operating, it it is experienced operating soviet and russian weaponry, i do not see that changing. vietnam is a small country with a big strategic problem. the united states is happy to help in the ways it can. i suspect a lot of this is designed for what i think is a benign thing for the region. control, and communications. sharing of information. water space management. these are crowded waters. having the ability to work together and talk to each other will be important. that is this -- that

japan and the united states are on the same page. they believe effffectiveness wod boost the e economy for massive monetary easing may be reaching its limits and that more public spending may be needed but the european counterparts are not excited about the idea. tokyo and washington do think differently on the issue of exchange rates. japan is concerned about the yen's recent rise against the dollar, but the u.s. defines it as orderly and wants to let the situation play out. overall, japan wants to show leadership at this meeting to find common ground and officials are boosting efforts in the hopes it ends with more agreement than not. >> taking a look at the markets. investors upbeat about the pause in the yen's recent rally. many were focused on the meeting in japan and the group of 7 finance leaders. for details we go to phoebe amoroso at the tokyo stock exchange. >> the minutes of the federal reserve april meeting were released on wednesday and were very much on investors' minds. let's look at the closing levels on this friday,

. >>> the leadsers of japan and russia have made some progress in their ongoing talks. japanese prime minister shinzo abe says he's agreed with russian president vladimir putin on adopting a new approach for negotiations on a peace treaty and the future of four russian-held islands claimed by japan. abe held talks with putin on friday, in the southern russian resort of sochi. their meeting at the president's official residence in the city's suburbs lasted about three hours and included a dinner. abe later told reporters he got a sense that he'll be able to break the impasse on peace treaty negotiations, including the issue of the northern territories. he added he believes president putin shares the same perspective. the countries didn't sign a peace treaty after world war ii. >>> the northern territories are four russian-controlled islands, japan's government maintains they're a part of its territory. it says the islands were illegally occupied after world war ii. >> translator: i think i have to advance the negotiations based on new ideas. i told president putin that w

what was the reaction in japan to this historic visit? >> hi, al. the majority of people here in hiroshima really welcomed president obama's visit. this is something city miserable and the mayor has been having for since the 1980s. they wrote letters to every single president since ronald reagan. the former hiroshima mayor met with president obama in 2010 at the white house when obama said he would be willing to come here and six years later the moment was finally realized. so the majority of people welcome the visit. there were a handful of protesters here, probably in the minority as far as public opinion goes. people with signs were saying the world need to do away with nuclear weapons which was the message of probst and a handful of sign saying they protested the president's visit in large part because some people here do feel the united states owes japan an apology. president obama, of course, didn't give an apology. it's a very sensitive situation geopolitically here considering japan's own wartime policies specifically against china and south

recalls in japan. suzuki posted a higher operating profit. the chairman of suzuki said his company is rechecking the accuracy of fuel efficiency data for a wide range of data. he recalled to the call for greater transparency. >>> the japanese government plans to spend more than $7 billion to help people in kumamoto recover from the recent earthquakes. the draft supplementary budget for the fiscal year includes funding for temporary housing, financial aid for individuals and a reserve fund to pay for roads and bridges. the government plans to submit the draft budget to the diet later this week. >>> more japanese managers are encouraging their staff to embrace healthy habits but small business owners rarely have cafeterias to serve their teams nutritious meals. this next report shows they're coming up with other ways to ensure workers get the fuel they need to stay focused. >> reporter: an i.t. firm in tokyo. stomachs are starting to growl. it's time to stock up the food corner with boiled eggs and chees

his grandparents came from japan. he began taking sumo lessons at the age of 17 and was immediately hooked. making full use of his huge body and immense strength, he finished third in the world junior championships in 2004. shortly afterwards he decided to join japanese professional sumo. >> coming to japan had always been my dream. i came here to do what i love. i faced tough adversities. >> reporter: he had a hard time learning the japanese language and learning the culture. thanks to his japanese grandmother who cooked the meals for him back in brazil, he had no problem eating the food. he's gained more than 50 kilograms over the decade. when the tournaments are on, his family in brazil wakes up at 5:00 a.m. >> translator: i'm proud of my son. i hope he keeps doing well. >> translator: the support i receive from my family really encourages me. it gives me power. >> reporter: his stable master has been watching over him since he arrived in japan. >> translator: i praise him. i hope he keeps doing his style of sumo.

the biggest decline is in japan. the united states might be expanding the recall to all airbags in the united states. nippon electric is down because of earnings. for this current fiscal year. a very abrupt change. about the nab business confidence survey. very strong australian dollar. ins is what is happening anticipation of the central bank decision tomorrow. rishaad: let's have a look at these shares. it did post slightly weaker than expected. about 5% down. let's go over to sydney and joined paul allen. paul: it was amiss although a very narrow one. now up to 10.5%. it was bad debt that really hit westpac this time around. that is the highest figure in six years. four main impairments. they declined to name who the foreword. and $252he bank million. -- part of some broader malaise. we don't see a broad-based deterioration in credit. if anything, it is the opposite. companies are using low interest rates to pay down debt. paul: he's saying it is just a pocket of stress. rishaad: market may not share brian's optim

sunny skies really dominated most of japan today. we have a big area of high pressure, it has moved in. clear conditions out there, temperatures definitely on the rise, feeling summer-like for a lot of you across much of the area. something that is kind of contributing to the warmer temperatures, this area of low pressure back toward theest. out ahead of it we have the southerly winds coming in. that is bringing some precipitation across northeastern china, but this is one other thing i want to know. a tight pressure gradient, and out of mongolia over towards western china, you have the gobbi desert, the winds kicked up and it's bringing yellow sand. i'll show you some video coming out of this area. definitely a significant reduced visibility here in northwestern china on wednesday. traffic actually halted in some areas, as visibility dropped to less than 50 meters. that is just absolutely incredible. the air is just getting filled with the sand out here. definitely poor air quality. i feel bad for a lot of workers outside who just h

we are live in japan. and grand central brexit. the billionaire businessman says he would be devastated if +++ prevails. and when push comes to shove people realize there would be an enormous damage, to both europe and great britain, should britain walk away. ♪ a warm welcome to countdown. i am an edward. just past 6:00 in london. manus will be joining us from dubai. let us talk about what is happening in oil and stocks, a chart next to me that really encapsulates the relationship between these two asset classes, if you go back to the middle of last year. they have moved very much in synchrony. and of the oil price tending to move in lockstep, or least in the same step. oil prices over $50 a barrel or the first time in six months. a one-weeks hitting high. but i should say that old has actually snapped its six-day losing streak. not all good in the overnight trading environment. let's talk about the risk radar. we have to feature the price of oil because we have gone on the brent price over $60, up high 7/10 of a percent. theda,

. , saying is isjoke a metaphor for japan bashing. more going to be about money laundering, tax evasion. we also heard from the bank of japan governor kuroda avoiding the fx policy issue altogether. bojid reiterate about the and said he will take action if he continues to see risk to that 2% inflation goal. those factors would include fx. take a listen. i have spoken to policy makers of other countries and they understand our negative rate policy. the positive affect is starting to be seen, and it will take some time for the effect to be obvious. we are ready to take any actions it necessary at any time. thene: we also heard from finance minister about this possible delay in the sales tax. he reiterated claims that would not happen and less there's going to be some type of crisis. thatnor kuroda maintaining negative interest rates are working and will have a positive impact on the economy. right, taiwan, the first female president will be sworn in later. we should get some images coming through here as well. this is something watch cl

hon high will be the only producer left in japan. >>> government officials in japan have released a batch of economic data this morning, and the figures show a mixed picture. first a look at household spending. following a decline of more than 5% in march, consumers continue to be frugal. government officials say spending by all house holds with two or more members w were down 0.4% from a year ago. average household spending was 2980,000 yen, or $2700. officials say spending on cars and clothes declined. meanwhile, managers at japanese companies saw more activity on their factory floors. industrial output was up 0.3%. that's the second straight month of increase. production of chemicals and electrical machinery increased compared to a month earlier. production of summer cosmetics rose. government officials say the impact of the earthquakes and the southwestern part of the country helped to limit it. there were more jobs than people to fill them. ratio of job offers to people lookinfofor work stood at 1.34 in april meaning there were 134 openings for every 100 job seekers, the highest leve