A painful anniversary. U. S. Secretary of state john kerry is now visiting beijing as part of a fournation tour. Hes there to discuss north korea and other key issues with chinese leaders. Kerry flew to the Chinese Capital from south korea. He met with foreign minister wang yi after a meeting with president xi jinping. We hope that 2014 will be a year of concrete progress in defining relationships, managing our differences effectively, and finding a way to cooperate practically. Translator i hope both our countries can expand cooperation in various fields, resolve differences, and disputes properly, and fully implement a modern relationship between china and the u. S. Observers believe kerry is likely to have asked his chinese hosts to use their influence on north korea to keep the country from engaging in acts of provocation. Some analysts fear north korea could take such actions during upcoming joint military drills between the u. S. , and south korea. Officials with the japanese electric Power Company have applied for a government safety screening to restart a nuclear reactor. The facility in central japan is in a region that experts say could be hit by a mega quake. The Vice President of chubu electric Power Company filed the application with the Nuclear Regulation authority. He wants inspectors to examine Safety Measures for the number four reactor at hamaoka plant. The facility halted operations at the governments request following the Fukushima Nuclear accident nearly three years ago. Crews have been enhancing the disaster resistance of the site, including construction of a 22meter high sea wall to protect the facility from tsunami. Translator we will respond sincerely to any questions from authorities on Safety Measures. We will do our best to explain the safety of the plant. Power Companies Across japan have submitted safety screening applications for 17 reactors at 10 plants, all 48 commercial reactors in the country are currently offline. People in japan are pushing through strong winds, and trudging through a carpet of snow. A major snowstorm slammed into the Pacific Coast for the second time in a week. Many people had just finished digging out from a blizzard that hit parts of the country last weekend. Then on friday morning the snow began falling again. Its delayed some shinkansen bullet trains, forced airlines to cancel some domestic flights, and officials stopped traffic on some highways in western japan. The snow cut power for thousands of households in western and southern japan. Administrators have closed some schools for the day. A lot of snow here in tokyo and meteorologist robert speta has been following the action. Robert . Oh, yes, gene, a very similar setup that we did see last week. The system is a little bit weaker so were not seeing as much snowfall as we did see back on february the 8th. But, it is still going to be dropping some heavy snow over the next 12 hours out here. Similar track, as well, just off the Pacific Coastline moving off towards the northeast. You have all those winds coming onshore, wrapping around that cold air, as well. So this is just going to be bringing that heavy snowfall. There is one thing i want to keep in mind. Im going to talk more about it in a second though. See that warm front right there . Thats going to be the game changer going through the overnight hours. Lets take a look at how much snowfall has fallen at this time, in tokyo. Up to 4 centimeters right now. Yokohama about 10 centimete above that, though, a little bit heavier towards the south. Kofu in the Higher Elevations about 47 centimeters, as well. Now, thats about how much youre going to see in some of these Higher Elevations, up to 50 centimeters of total accumulation. Tokyo could still see additional snowfall before it starts to switch over to rain. Then off towards the north i know this says 20, but in the next 24 hours some of these areas could see about 40 centimeters of total snowfall. With all that said, remember that warm front i was talking about a second ago . Thats going to push overhead. All this is not snowfall. A lot of this down towards the south is rain. And take a look at this temperature graph. Right around freezing mark through the evening hours here, but then as we go in to about midnight to 3 00 a. M. , it switches over to rain, and thats because, look at that by Early Morning on saturday, up to 12 degrees in the tokyo area. So throughout the day on saturday dont expect the snow. It is going to be raining and some areas could see some fairly heavy rain. Robert, thanks. A major volcanic eruption in just java has prompted indonesian authorities to order the evacuation of nearly 200,000 residents. Mount kelud erupted twice in the space of about 40 minutes late thursday night. Evacuation orders were issued to People Living within a 10 kilometer radius of the crater. The massive eruptions sent ash and volcanic debris raining down over a wide area. Disaster Agency Officials said two people were killed when the roofs of their homes collapsed under the weight. Authorities have shut down airports in surabaya, the capital of east java province, and yogyakarta in central java close to the Borobudur TempleWorld Heritage site. Indonesia is home to many active volcanoes. Earlier this month, 17 people were killed when Mount Sinabung erupted in north sumatra. Were seeing some Economic Growth in europe. Ron madison from the biz team has been following the latest data. Thats right. A big day for investors. As far as data goes they had a lot to sift through both from europe, and china. The data out of europe really surprising to the upside, gene. Lets start there where the eurozone economy continues to show moderate growth in the last three months of 2013. Its Gross Domestic Product expanded for the Third Straight quarter, beating market expectations. European Union Statistics office announced that gdp grew 0. 3 between october and december from the previous quarter. Now thats before latvia joined the 17nation bloc in january. Germanys gdp rose 0. 4 while france reported 0. 3 growth. The Statistics Office also released trade data for december. It says the trade surplus came to 13. 9 billion euros. That was down 18 from the previous month. All right. To china where the inflation rate stayed relatively stable in january. The figure was above the market consensus but remained at the same level as in the previous month. Some analysts say price stability could be a sign that the countrys economy is slowing down. Officials at the National Bureau of statistics said the Consumer Price index in january rose by 2. 5 from the same month last year. The index had exceeded 3 until november but its been below that level for two months in a row. Thats due mainly to the slower pace of increase in food prices. Meanwhile the Producer Price index in january fell 1. 6 from last year. As compared to a 1. 4 drop in the previous month. Lets get a check of the markets now. European equities are set to make weekly gains. Theyre drawing strength from the upbeat growth data out of the eurozone. Heres how the major indices are doing at this hour. Gains across the board. London is up by just a tenth of a percent while frankfurt is gaining 0. 6 . Paris cac 40 is up 0. 4 . Market sentiment also being lifted by the announcement that the italian Prime Minister says hell resign. Investors are hopeful that a main candidate will be able to press ahead with reforms needed for the country. Now most asian equities rallied as chinas inflation data was welcomed in the markets. The shanghai composite climbed 0. 8 . Tokyos nikkei bucking the regional trend. It fell sharply for a second straight day. And in mumbai the sensex index rose 0. 8 , 20,366. Investors getting a bit of relief after indias latest data showed Inflationary Pressure eased up a bit in january. The wholesale price index fell to an eightmonth low just over 5 . Heres the picture in currencies, euro dollar at 1. 3695. The euro jumped to a threeweek high against the dollar. Soon after germanys gdp numbers came out. Meanwhile, dollar yen being quoted at 101. 82. Thats little change from the levels in late asian trading. Now in terms of the british pound, it keeps rising. Its approaching, in fact, threeyear high against the dollar. Traders believe that the bank of england may become the first Major Central Bank to raise the key rate, the b. O. E. Upgraded this years growth forecast on wednesday. Well, many investors have had a rough start to the year. The markets have really been on quite a ride. The former president of the World Bank Says investors are still seeing the results of the global downturn, and the reforms that it brought about. We sat down with Robert Zoellick to talk about the markets, trade, and the risk to recovery. Concerns in emerging markets have surfaced recently. Were seeing volatility in markets, currencies. How do you characterize the Global Economy today . Were seeing the intersection of two trends. One, is in the aftermath of the Great Recession were still five or six years into recovery pattern. And were dealing with some of the issues of remedies for the Great Recession, so, some of the monetary policies and others, whether you deal with tapering in the United States, or eventually the third arrow, Structural Reforms in japan, on the monetary policies. But at the same time, you have the need for Structural Reforms. And those are a longerterm. One way from a market perspective you could describe this is i think people are now reassessing risk. Last year the markets rose with expansion of monetary policy, you had a big increase in equity prices in japan, and in the United States. Now people know thats going to slow, so theyre evaluating the risk characters of countries, sectors and companies. Are you worried . By and large i think what were seeing is in the World Economy as a whole is that youre seeing a rereturn to more normal conditions. The United States is having a broadbased, modest recovery. But one of the question marks is, what is the normal that theyre returning to . Its clearly not the normal of 2007, before the financial crisis. Youre a lifelong advocate of free trade. Do you think thats a reality for east asia one day . Well, i think if you look at any region of the world that has benefited enormously from open trade, its been east asia. I mean this has been the model of exportled growth. It started with japan, korea, taiwan, china, vietnam, and others. But the International System is changing. You can no longer rely on the United States or europe to be the ultimate consumer of all those goods. This is one reason why countries such as china are trying to shift to more domestic demand. And while youll see more trade within the region, and this also presents opportunities, because the countries of asean, for example, are now at higher income levels, youre creating middle classes that create additional opportunities. So, i see trade as not only a good thing in and of itself, but its also a method by which countries can use the International System to push their own internal reforms. How do you think territorial disputes in east asia have affected business in the region . Well, i think theyve added to a degree of worry. I think that one of the things that helped this region grow over the past 50, 60 years was security stability. You know have a rising china. People are uncertain about how china will see its own interests, and if it expands its military, what role it will play. China also has an interest in stability. China also has an interest in open sea lanes. For the case of the United States and japan i think this means going back to things like the tpp, if you can connect economic commonality of interest with security interests youll have a stronger system. One of the things thats characterized east Asian Development is not trying to come up with a regional bloc. Its had what people have described as open regionalism. Its recognized its interests with north america, south america, through apec. The middle east with europe. And i think thats healthy for the global system, and i think its healthy for east asia. All right well japanese ecommerce joint rakuten is expanding its global reach. Its buying free call and messaging application provider viber media for 900 million. Rakutens ceo says his company will acquire all outstanding shares in the cyprusbased company. Viber provides a Smartphone Application that allows its users to make free calls and Text Messages worldwide. It has some 280 million users in more than 190 countries. And is rapidly gaining popularity, especially in emerging markets. The deal will allow rakuten to use vibers Large Customer base to expand its Global Services to include Online Shopping and financial services. Trade mensters from twelve countries will gather in singapore next week for Transpacific Partnership free trade talks. Ahead of the meeting japans minister in charge of the tpp talks says he will seek to narrow differences with the United States. Akira amari will visit washington for three days beginning on saturday. Hell be meeting u. S. Trade representative michael proman. Translator the countrys participating in the tpp talks must reach some kind of agreement in the next ministerial meeting. The key is, whether japan and the u. S. Can find Common Ground on pending issues before the meeting. Japan and the u. S. Remain at odds over tariffs on five key Farm Products including rice and wheat. Amari said the two countries need to compromise while maintaining their respective government positions. Okay. Thats going to do it for biz tonight. Ill leave you with the markets. Delegates from more than 140 countries have gathered in mexico to discuss nuclear arms. They plan to talk about how the weapons affect people around the world. The Second International conference on the humanitarian impact of Nuclear Weapons opened in the city of nayarit. Survivors or relatives of victims of the hiroshima bombing spoke on the opening day. Translator everyone should listen to the survivors pleas not to repeat the mistakes of the past. We ask people everywhere to take the first step to create a nuclearfree world. Delegates from austria spoke of japans complicated position on the issues. He said any country under a Nuclear Umbrella will have difficulty speaking about the weapons. But he said the country has a unique perspective to contribute. Well, i think the development of japan, of course, is extremely important, being the only country that has been affected directly by Nuclear Weapons. Last october, japan signed a u. N. Statement saying Nuclear Weapons should not be used under any circumstances. The countrys leaders had previously avoided signing the document because it went against their reliance on the u. S. Nuclear umbrella. And residents of the Marshall Islands are also committed to telling others about the dangers of Nuclear Weapons. Theyve spent decades dealing with the aftermath of atomic and Hydrogen Bomb tests. And their president says all those who have experienced the tragedy of Nuclear Bombs should unite to tell the world how inhumane the weapons are. Nhk worlds Mitsuko Nishikawa reports. Reporter People Living on the Marshall Islands have seen firsthand what Nuclear Weapons can do. U. S. Scientists conducted 67 atomic and hydrogen tests there in the 1940s and 50s. And residents of the Pacific Islands are still dealing with the aftereffects. More than half a century later our people are still haunted by the painful events. Reporter this year, marshall islanders are marking the 60th anniversary of the most devastating test. U. S. Forces tested a Hydrogen Bomb in the bikini atoll. The device was 1,000 times more powerful than the one dropped on hiroshima. The islands were under u. S. Rule, but the government gave no warning to those living near the test site. The u. S. Says mor