♪ hello there. welcome to "newsline it's wednesday february 13th. i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. north korea on tuesday defied u.n. resolutions to conduct a nuclear test. members of the security council held an emergency meeting to discuss their response. our u.n. correspondent mik miki ebara is on the line. what were the reactions from the security council members to the north korean nuclear test? >> reporter: the members were united in their condemnation of the test. south korean foreign minister kim sung an presided over the emergency session that lasted for an hour and a half and issued a press statement.

>> the members of the security council strongly condemned this test, which is a grave violation of the security council resolution. >> reporter: the u.s. ambassador to the u.n., susan rice, echoed the strong criticism. >> the actions of north korea are a threat to regional peace and security, international peace and security, and they are not acceptable. they will not be tolerated. and they will be met with north korea's increasing isolation and pressure under united nations sanctions. >> reporter: the security council was quick to condemn the test. it also responded quickly in december when north korea successfully launched a long-range missile. the test could bring north korea closer to developing a nuclear warhead that is small enough to be mounted on a missile. critics point out that the security council members feel that the threat of north korea's

program is becoming more rea than ever before. >> so miki, what's next? will the security council adopt tougher sanctions against north korea? >> reporter: well, the u.s., along with south korea, australia, and european members are all for tougher sanctions. these may include tightening the noose on north korea's financial institutions and weapons trading. it is not clear how china, the north's only major ally, will react to the proposed tougher measures, as china has resisted these in the past. recently, beijing seems to be increasingly frustrated with north korea's new leader. when north korea launched a long-range missile in december, china initially opposed the idea of sanctioning in north korea, but china ended up supporting the move after negotiating with the u.s. some diplomats point out that china decided that compromising with the u.s. would benefit the

country more in the long run instead of defending north korea. u.n. secretary-general ban ki moon said today that the nuclear test is a direct challenge to the security council, and it is absolutely essential that the council act and speak with one voice. we will have to see what happens in the process of consultations among members, especially between the u.s. and china, which hold the keys to the negotiations. >> thanks very much. miki ebara in new york. now, north korean leaders seem to be ignoring warnings -- authorities in pyongyang have threatened to carry out more tests. >> translator: we have to take second and third actions if the u.s. maintains its hostile attitude and complicates the situation. >> officials with the foreign ministry said the test was in their words only the first response. they said they exercised maximum

restraint. they said north korea will retaliate if officials from other countries start inspecting north korean ships or impose a maritime blockade. some analysts say leaders in pyonang want to engage in direct talks with u.s. officials. they suggest the north koreans may be waiting to hear what u.s. president barack obama has to say in his state of the union address. analysts from an international monitoring agency were ready. officials with the comprehensive nuclear test ban treaty organization say this test was bigger than the one they tracked four years ago. >> the magnitude of the event, because of the logarithmic scale of increase, is twice as big as it was in 2009. >> the analysts said they measured a seiic event with a magnitude of 4.9 in northeastern north korea. monitors at 23 sites around the world, including australia and antarctica picked up the tremor.

the analysts said the event showed what they called clear explosion-like characteristics. they said they're checking to see whether any radioactive substances were released. opposition forces in syria are claiming another victory. they say they've seized a military air base and its arsenal. rebels say they've taken control of the al jarrah air base near the northern city of aleppo. they say they've captured fighter jets and a large number of weapons. they say some of the planes appear to be in working order. rebels seized syria's largest dam on monday. they've been launching attacks on aleppo's international airport. government troops have responded with air strikes on aleppo and the capital damascus. opposition activists say more than 50 people died in the latest fighting. a man has attacked people in the u.s. pacific territory of guam with a knife. local police say he killed two people and he wounded at least 12 other people, 11 of them japanese. the man reportedly slammed his

car into a shop in the busy tourist district of tumon. then he started attacking people. hospital officials say the two dead were japanese women. they say the wounded include an 8-month-old baby and a 3-year-old child. fire officials say three people died. police say they've detained a 21-year-old american resident of guam. japanese exporters and stock investors have seen the decline of the yen and have cheered it on, but today they're seeing a different picture. ai uchida too has been following the yen for us. so what can you tell us? >> well, catherine, group of seven leaders, nations have been just talking about currencies, and actually, they've even released a statement. and since then we've actually seen the yen higher against the dollar. this wednesday morning too on the tokyo stock -- on the tokyo foreign exchange that is the trend we are seeing. participants are buying the yeg on speculation that tuesday's statement by group of seven

financial authorities will keep the japanese currency slide in check. now, the dollar is currently fetching 93.29-32 yen while the euro/yen that's at 125.49-52. many investors took the statement to mean that the investors are concerned about the yen's major tumble against other currencies. let's see how this is affecting tokyo share prices. they are slightly down this wednesday. the key nikkei index now stands at 11,329. that is a loss of about 1/3 of a percent from tuesday's close. analysts say that some investors are selli export-related issues to lock in profits as the yen gains ground against the dollar. but others are buying shares as they expect the trend in the weaker yen will continue. now to other markets in the asia pacific. south korea's kospi trading higher by over 1/3 of a percent. 1,952. let's see what's going on in australia. the benchmark index is trading higher by .9%, right above that

5,000 mark. now, japanese business to business prices in january were down compared to a year earlier. that marks a tenth straight month of declines. bank of japan officials say the corporate goods price index stood at 100.7 last month against a reference value of 100 set for 2010. the figure slipped 0.2% from the same month last year. the price of iron and steel tumbled by 8.9%. information and telecom equipment prices fell 6.6%. the nuclear crisis in fukushima is still having an impact on japanese exporters. officials at the agriculture ministry say shipments of farm and fisheries products in 2012 fell for the second straight year. many nations continue to restrict food imports from japan because of the nuclear disaster. ministry officials say exporters shipped about $4.8 billion worth

of produce, seafood, and processed items last year. that's down .3% from 2011 in yen terms. it also marks a drop of more than 8% from 2010. 45 countries and territories are still restricting food imports from japan. south korea and hong kong decreased their imports of japanese seafood by more than 10%. but exports started showing improvements in april compared with the same month in 2011. ministry officials say they'll try and turn the situation around by attending overseas trade shows and industry conferences. and japanese electronics maker pioneer has announced that it will eliminate 800 jobs. managers told labor unions that they plan to slash about 500 jobs from the regular payroll of 8,000 workers. they also intend to let some 300 non-regular workers go.

in addition, the monthly pay of management-level workers will be reduced by 10% beginning in april. the company's negotiating wage cuts for other workers with the unions. the firm is expecting to post its first net loss in three years, totaling more than $42 million in this current fiscal year that ends march. earlier it had projected a profit of over $10 million. and that is the latest in business. here's a check on regional markets. ♪ ♪

♪ thousands of people waiting to go home. disposal.ebris waiting for vast tracts of land are waiting to be restored. overcoming the challenges of japan's 2011 disaster won't be easy. but step by step, people are moving forward. find out how on the road ahead, every wednesday at 1:00 p.m. japan time. right here on "newsline." japanese prime minister shinzo abe came into office promising to turn the economy

around. a new nhk poll suggests members of the public like what he has to say. nhk pollsters interviewed more than 1,000 people over the weekend. 64% said they approve of abe's cabinet. the same rating as a month ago. compare that to the support of former prime minister yoshihiko noda's cabinet just before he left office. surveys put their rating at just 20%. pollsters asked the people what the government should put the most effort into. about 1/3 shows economic stimulus. 13% chose reforms to social security. the interviewers also asked about an incident last month in the east china sea. japanese officials say a chinese naval vessel locked their weapons radar on one of their destroyers. the pollsters asked whether people felt the risk of an accidental collision between the two sides was increasing. 31% said they felt strongly that the risk was rising. almost half said they felt an increase to a certain degree. the pollsters asked how japan

should deal with china. the majority said that the government should focus more on improving relations. ronger stance. should take a a limited express train has derailed at a crossing in western japan. at least 15 people were injured. the asanyo railway express collided with a truck near a station in the city of takasago. the first and second cars went off the tracks, but the train kept going for another 170 meters. then it crashed into a station platform. the train's driver is said to be in serious condition. the truck driver and 13 passengers on the train were slight injud. the decision to drop wrestling from the 2020 olympics could disappoint many countries. it's one of the oldest sports on the olympic program. the final decision will be made at the international olympic committee general assembly in september. the ioc executive board made the

proposal at their meeting in lausanne, switzerland. the ioc is considering excluding one sport from the games. it may add a sport from among baseball, softball, karate, and others. ioc members are proposing there be 25 core sports. >> the view of the executive board and the members of the executive board, this was the best program for the olympic games in 2020. it is not a case of what's wrong with wrestling. it is what's right with the 25 core sports. >> adams said the decision was made by secret ballot. popularity, ratio of women to men, and other factors were taken into consideration. in japan the sport has many fans. japanese wrestlers have won 62 olympic medals. 28 of them gold. the japan wrestling fedatn president tomiaki fukuda said he was very surprised to learn of the ioc decision. he said it's not clear why the committee wants to exclude

wrestling. southeast asia's biggest wind power plant is open for business. economies in the region are growing, as is the demand for electricity. japanese and thai companies are workg meet that demand, with the new facility in northeastern thailand. the partners held a ceremony on tuesday to mark the start of operations. nhk world's khemmapat has more. >> reporter: the power plant is located in the konrachasi province 260 kilometers northeast of the thai capital bangkok. the electric power company cooperated with two thai corporations on the project, which cost$360 million.

90 windmills are installed on the 37 square-kilometer facility. they generate a combined 180 megawatts of electricity. that is the highest output of a wind power plant in southeast asia. it's the first full-scale wind farm in thailand. prime minister shinawatra attended the opening ceremony to place the introduction of renewable energy. >> translator: the government is ready to support the investment and related policies that lead to sustainable energy sources. >> reporter: thailand's electricity city generating authority will buy electricity generated at the facility in a move to increase the use of green power. they agreed to pay shubu electric a higher rate than electricity from non-renewable sources.

this agreement means a stable source of income for the japanese company. >> translator: in the future we want to expand investment in overseas projects. we want to make use of those earnings in domestic projects in japan. >> reporter: following the accident at fukushima daiichi nuclear power plant in march 2011, all nuclear plants in japan except for one are offline. so japanese utility companies are looking overseas as a way to secu stability in the future. thailand aims to remain a key manufacturing base within asean, securing a stable electric supply is more important than ever before. the government has high hopes for renewable energy, know-how, and technology from partners such as japan. khemmapat rog juan chic uh in

thailand. pakistan's auto market has long been dom nauted by companies from japan. established sales networks have kept rivals firmly in the rearview mirror. but now an ambitious newcomer is starting to close the gap. nhk world reports from islamabad. >> reporter: on the streets of pakistan, one thing has been constant. old or new, most vehicles here are japanese brands. pakistanis love japanese cars. so much so that nearly 100% of automobiles traded in the domestic market are japanese. some vehicles are even decorated with the names of japanese companies. most drivers don't read japanese. but that's not the point.

the decorations look cool. >> translator: you can show off your car as a japanese car. and it looks cool with stickers on. >> reporter: but the domination of japanese brands is under threat. this motor show took place in the southern city of karachi last month. most exhibitors were the familiar names from japan. but this year for the first time they shared the space with rivals from china. china's leading auto maker, first automobile works, had the largest booth. pakistani consumers could see its sport utility vehicles and other aumobiles. >> translator: this model is better than existing cars.

it's low-priced, too. >> reporter: prices for japanese cars have been rising sharply in recent years because of unfavorable exchange rates. first automobile works believes it has a chance to make inroads into pakistan, and its main weapon is price. >> we're planning to do a low price for pakistani. very good friendship. so my company wants more vehicle to come to pakistan. >> reporter: trucks are some of first automobile works' best-sellers in pakistan. low prices are helping them grab market share from japanese firms. the chinese company employs pakistanis who used to work for japanese automakers. it wants to use their know-how

to improve production. first automobile works aims to expand its market share in passenger cars too. >> before you can go to the country you can say oh, made in america, made in japanese. but you go to other country now, you can see so much things are made in china. this is the change. this is a change. so pakistan also need to change. >> reporter: japanese automakers rely on brand image and sales networks to protect their market position. >> translator: we'll further strengthen our line-up and sales network and also work to cut costs. we'll do our best not to allow newcomers to catch up. >> reporter: pakistan has a population of 180 million. and its car market is expected

to keep growing. will japan be able to protect its market share or will china take a bigger piece of the pay? competition looks set to accelerate. nhk world, islamabad. emergent economic powers still struggle with poverty. emboldened citizens still demanding democracy. the threat of violence. the push for peace. the shadow of conflict. get news and insight on south and southeast asia, every weekday live from bangkok. only on nhk "newsline." time now to get a check on the weather. many residents of central japan are getting a break from wintery weather conditions. meteorologist sayaka mori gives us the latest in world weather. >> hi there. we saw some sleet in metro tokyo, but that had stopped as a low pressure zone pulled away from the country.

so the sun has come up. plenty of sunshine for us. meanwhile, on the northwestern side of the country it's a different story. stronger winds and heavy snow showers are ongoing because of sea effect snow but that should be also tapering off by the dusk today. out toward the west looking dry for much of the korean peninsula. northern china toward mongolia. but because of ample moisture flowing in from the south china sea rain is occurring in the southern parts of china including shanghai as well as hong kong. scattered showers for the philippines. but dry for much of the indo-china peninsula. temperatures will be rising to 34 degrees in bangkok, 18 degrees in hong kong. a couple of degrees higher than yesterday. 11 degrees for us and 2 degrees in seoul on wednesday. all right. in north america severe weather is still erupting across the deep south, particularly in the southern areas. the risks of severe thunderstorm, hail, and damaging winds will continue throughout your tuesday. but as the system moving in from

toward the east, conditions will be looking up across the lower mississippi river valley. on the eastern side of the deep south will remain quite stormy into your wednesday. so flooding risk is getting even higher. some of the precipitation wil also reach the mid-atlantic region including washington, d.c. out toward the northwest snow showers for the northern rockies up to eight centimeter is likely into your wednesday morning. highs not too bad in many locations. minus 3 degrees in winnipeg. that's about 5. actually much warmer than seasonal. meanwhile, 4 degrees in new york city. and 8 degrees in washington, d.c. you may be -- you could be seeing some snow showers from your wednesday night. all right. in europe rotating clouds are still affecting the central parts of europe. underneath it there's a lot going on. severe thunderstorms to the south and snow to the north. and because of heavy rain and thunderstorms and strong winds, flooding is occurring in some

places including venice. let's take a look at some video from this area. heavier rains and snow continue to batter northern italy on monday. icy waters flooded st. mark's square in venice. the nonstop rainfall caused sea levels to rise about 1.4 meters above normal. ice chunks floated along the top of waterways. tourists donned rubber boots to have a look at the exceptional weather. it's a very serious situation out there. now, the system is going to sit over here. because this one is cut off from the jet stream. so it has to stay here for over the same area. snow showers will linger for the mountains, and thundershowers will linger for the south. out toward the west nasty weather is coming back across the british isles. rain could turn to snow in some places such as manchester. and here your high's only 3 degrees in london and 4 degrees paris. meanwhile, 0 degrees for stockholm and warsaw as well as

kiev and below freezing. moscow, minus 1 degree. and to the south double digits for you across the mediterranean countries. that's it for now. and here's your extended forecast. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

♪ and that wraps up this edition of "newsline." i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. thanks for joining us.