climate change talks. >> with sound leadership, nothing is impossible here. >> delegates from around the world are in south africa, searching for common ground on a deal to cut carbon emissions. welcome to "newsline," i'm michio kijima in tokyo. government representatives from different corners of the planet are in south africa right now. they're trying to confront a common enemy -- global climate

change. but first, they must confront their differences over international rules to cut greenhouse gas emissions. the u.n. conference on climate change is looking at what happens after the kyoto protocol expires. nhk world's susumu kajima is covering this for us in durban. >> reporter: the conference just kicked off. delegates have gathered here in durban for two weeks of negotiations. developed nations except the united states have binding targets between 2008-2012 for their c.o. 2 emissions. the problem is, there's no agreement on what to do after that. the host, south africas, are urging delegates to find common ground. >> for most people in the developing world and africa, climate change is a matter of life and death. given the urgency, parties,

states, should strive to find solutions here in durban. >> reporter: finding agreement maying discussed. developing countries blame industrialized nations for climate change. they want wealthy nations to commit to kyoto targets even after 2012. representatives of industrialized nations argue that developing countries should shoulder more responsibility. emissions in china, for example, have increased drastically over the last several years. and wealthier nations, including japan, canada and russia have already made it clear that they don't want to continue with the kyoto protocol. delegates from the european union say they can set their targets if negotiators agreeing on a new legally-binding framework. they hope to agree on a new

protocol to cover all major emitters by 2020. >> others need to tell us how are they going to come into this fight against climate change and when are they going to do that. and i think this is particularly in response to all the major economies who happen to be also the major emitters in this world. >> still, the united states and china, the biggest emitters in the world, have not shown any sign of accepting this proposal. countries have put off decision over the last two years, on what to do with the kyoto protocol. many environmentalists and others worry about greenhouse gas emissions from major economics after 2012. it's up to negotiators here to avoid another delay in combatting global warming. >> that was nhk world's susumu kajima, in durban, south africa. the man at the front line of

the fukushima daiichi nuclear power plant is stepping down for health reasons. the plant's manager is to be replaced on thursday. yoshida has been in charge of dealing with the crisis since the march 11th disaster damaged the plant's reactors, yoshida became the head of the plant last year in june. tepco said he's resigning to receive medical treatment. they declined to state the level of his exposure or the nature of his illness. in a statement issued on monday, yoshida expressed regret over leaving at a crucial time and apologized to all of those involved. he said he has to undergo treatment for a disease that was discovered in a health check-up. tepco said yoshida will be succeeded by his manager, takahashi. thousands of people have been working at the fukushima daiichi trying to control the plant. and get ready for cold shutdown.

thousands of others will be needed to clean up the mess the accident created. the process will take decades. the japanese aren't just relying on their own experts. they're trying to learn valuable lessons from people who have gone through similar nuclear crises. people gathered for a symposium on monday at the university of tokyo. japanese researchers were joined by american experts who studied the three mile island nuclear accident in the u.s. soon after it happened. >> processing and meeting all federal and state limits at the same time, that took a long time, about 15 years to get completed. >> experts say the task of cleaning up in fukushima daiichi accident will be even more difficult. radiation levels are high on site. and in the surrounding areas. >> we would take it very carefully, looking to make sure that there's 100% certainty of excellence in the actions taken.

and in schedule is secondary. >> people in fukushima are trying to move the process forward by getting informed. a group from the prefecture visited chernobyl at the beginning of november. mayor yuko endo of kawachi village went along. >> translator: the roof and wall collapsed and fell on the reactor. radiation is leaking even now, the chimney is installed for that reason. >> the place in belarus is about 30 miles from the abandoned chernobyl plant. about the same distance between fukushima daiichi and kawachi. they still face radiation 25 years after the chernobyl accident. this device is installed at the village school. it measures radiation levels in food. people bring in samples and take their own readings.

residents of komani still need to take steps to protect themselves from radiation exposure. the situation shocked mayor endo. despite the challenges people face living in komari, the village's population has returned to what it was before the 1986 accident. >> translator: local residents have provided with necessary information. 15 babies have been born in the village in the past nine months and the population is increasing. >> the mayor of kawachi hopes the decontamination of his village will encourage his citizens to come home. >> translator: people have been living in their village for 25 years, and they've raised children there as well. we need to take action for the villagers to return. i'm so determined to put into practice what we've learned

here. >> make yukiyo endo is now back in kawachi and has informed citizens of what he's learned in belarus, hoping to find solution does their village's problems. clash tweens police and anti-nuclear protests in germany have left 200 people injured. the protesters have attempted to stop a train carrying nuclear waste. thousands of people formed blockades at several points along the train's route. the train was carrying about 150 tons of nuclear waste that had been processed in france to a temporary storage facility in a northern city. this was the country's first shipment of nuclear waste since the government announced plans to abandon nuclear power by 2022. in response to the nuclear accident in furyk. fukushima. the police temporarily detained 1,000 protesters who had occupied the tracks.

germany has yet to identify a permanent storage site for the country's nuclear waste. curates have created a somber memorial in geneva. it educate visitors about the bombings on hiroshima and nagasaki. the son of the survivor on attack at nagasaki helped make the exhibition happen. his story is the first of two reports about people try doing rid the world of nuclear weapons. we report from geneva. >> reporter: this exhibition shows the devastation caused by nuclear weapons. it will be seen by representatives of countries all over the world. >> one, two, three. [ applause ] >> more than 20 items convey the

horrors of the atomic bomb. a photo of a woman burned in the attack on hiroshima. a damaged statue from a cathedral in nagasaki. this man's parents survived the bombing. those beginnings prompted him to make radiation his vocation. he used to work for the world health organization in geneva. so last year, the mayor of nagasaki asked him to deliver a letter to his former colleagues, requesting a permanent exhibit. >> translator: many people come to visit the u.n. from all over the world. the visitors, including children, are able to learn about hiroshima and nagasaki and the dangers of nuclear weapons. i feel that this exhibit has a similar effect, as actually visiting there. >> reporter: she took a leave of

absence after the march 11th earthquake to lecture at fukushima medical university. the professor educate people in the area about the dangers of radiation. he draw as line between the effects of the atomic bombs and those of the accident at fukushima. the atomic bombs released high levels of radiation, killing thousands of people instantly. survivors struggle with severe health problems. yamashida says the radiation from fukushima has been much lower. researchers still don't know the extent of health problems there. still, many parents worry about the long-term effects on their children.

>> over its mission of yradio phobia. thank you very much for your attention. >> he wants to help train radiation experts so that they can work in other countries. >> translator: how can we temper the power of science? i think that the nuclear accident in fukushima will help the cause to eradicate nuclear weapons. >> yamashida says he's committed to that cause. he wants to create an organization that connects communities in hiroshima and nagasaki with the one in fukushima. he hopes education will teach people to avoid the dangers. yamada, nhk world, geneva. next, we go to bangkok to find out what's going on in the region. >> pakistan has accused nato-led forces of premeditated action in

reference to saturday's deadly attack on pakistani military posts. a spokesman dismissed the position of nato secretary-general, that the strike was a tragic accident. afghanistan-based nato hoigs crossed the border and attacked pakistani military positions in the country's northwest on saturday. the assault killed 24 pakistani troops. a military spokesman said on monday that senior officials had quickly asked their nato counterparts to call a halt to the air strike. he said a nato ignored the plea and continued the attack for two hours. the spokesman said pakistan and afghanistan constantly share information on the locations of their border positions. he ratcheted up the criticism, saying that international forces knew the existence of the posts they assaulted. in cambodia, representatives from more than 150 countries are

discussing ways to remove land mines that support people affected by them. the convention is taking place in a country that has been one of the worst affected by land mines during decades of conflict. nhk world reports. >> reporter: the mission on the convention on the prohibition of anti-personnel mines opened in phnom penh on sunday, the convention launched in 1999 now has 158 national signatories. cambodian prime minister welcomed the delegates. he also pointed out his own contribution, after listening advocates of the land mine convention.

>> reporter: earlier in the day, participants visited a northern province. the area has been severely affected by land mines. here is the worst minefield area in cambodia. today the international organization came to watch how the operation of clearing land mines works. during the cold war, vast areas of cambodia were littered with land mines, made in countries include the united states, the former soviet union and china. but that tragic rerealty helped make cambodia an expert in mine removal technology. a conference on disarmament in

geneva spoke to reporters. >> translator: only a small portion of the minus in tes in country have been cleared. i hope the conference will help promote cooperation for eradicating the mines. >> more than 15,000 people worldwide are estimated killed or injured by land mines each year. but not all the world's military powers are members, notably the united states and china. delegates are expected to discuss how to encourage them to join their meetings, scheduled to last until friday. nhk world, phnom penh. afghanistan has named the next regions that will be handed over from nato control to

government forces. when the transition is complete, the security of about half the population will be in afghan hands. local forces are scheduled to take over security from international troops led by the united states, in stages through the end of 2014. three provinces and four cities were already handed over in the first stage that began in july. the provinces and cities named on sunday for the second phase include locations in the north and west of the country where security is relatively stable. but they also include three cities in helmand province in the south where the taliban is active. afghanistan has witnessed a series of attacks by the taliban in recent months. some observers are skeptical about whether the 300,000 members of the aifrg security forces are ready. a successful handover would be a

step towards a stable afghanistan that can survive independently. and that wraps up our bulletin, i'm pachari raksawong in bangkok. people in egypt are marking ballots on this monday. picking politician who is will serve in their country's parliament. they fought hard for this vote. many died and many were hurt in nationwide protests this year that ended three decades of rule by a former president, hosni mubarak. the vote is regarded as a key step in the country's move towards democracy. but protesters have taken to the streets again against the provisional military rulers. they say the military is slowing down democratization efforts and is reluctant to give up power. people are waiting to see what kind of impact the demonstrations will have on the elections. voting will be held in three stages in different regions until january. egypt's transition to democracy began back in january. here's a look at some of the key

events. nationwide demonstrations against mubarak's rule started on january 25th. organizers used twitter and facebook to spread the word. four days later, mubarak appeared on television and vowed to stay in power. the protests continued to grow into february, and military and security forces continued their violent crackdown. on february 4th, u.s. president, barack obama announced that he called mubarak and told him to resign. politicians in egypt began negotiations on a couple of days later. on february 11th, more than two weeks after protests began, mubarak agreed to step down. the egyptian military took power and promised a stable transition to civilian rule. some political change to tell but in yemen now. another country swept up in this year's arab spring uprising. the country's vice president has told its opposition leader to form a national reconciliation government.

mohammed basinda will launch the new government within two weeks. and voters will take a successor for the president ali abdullah saleh. he agreed to end his three decades in power. and syria is another country that became caught up in the arab spring. its leader, president bashar al assad refused to step down and now the arab league is imposing economic sanctions on the government because of its violent crackdown on protesters. the organization made the decision on sunday in an emergency meeting in the egyptiegyp egyptian capital, cairo. the country will ban syrian officials from visits and not allow syrian air flights to land in their airports. the arab league said it will lift sanctions immediately if syria accepts a monetary mission. the country's security force

killed more than 50 people over the weekend. relations between iran and britain are getting further apart. iran's parliament has passed a bill to expel the british ambassador to the country. lawmakers retaliated for new economic sanctions. britain and the united states imposed on iran over its nuclear program. the bill will significantly limit financial interactions with britain. iran's guardian council will have to approve the bill before it becomes law. parliament speaker warns britain that this is only the beginning. the sanctions imposed by britain and the u.s. require all british financial institutions to cut ties with iranian banks. the iranian move is seen as an attempt to stop further sanctions over its nuclear program. "newsline" is the place to turn to for the latest on japan post march 11th. we have two segments, offering two unique perspectives on the fallout from the earthquake and tsunami. "nuclear watch" brings you

insight and information on the impact of the fukushima daiichi crisis. and "the road ahead" examines japan's efforts to recover and rebuild. don't miss "nuclear watch" and "the road ahead" on "newsline." mai shoji is up next with weather. hello there and welcome back. let's talk about weather now. starting off with asia, the low pressure system, a small one just passed through hokkaido. it will be passing through hokkaido in the next 24. in higher elevations we nay see snow, as well as northern portion of hokkaido. but the temperatures actually a little bit warmer than normal average. so the snow will probably turn into rain in most areas. rest of japan looking very calm, we may see some sunny intervals. mostly overcast, though. with some few showers, could be possible from this system, just

along the pacific side of kanto region. now in the korean peninsula, we may see some sleet and snow with the rain coming in from china, from central china and into eastern china. this whole rain band will then be moving towards japan in the midweek. the ongoing showers here in the philippines as well as eastern indochina peninsula. this is finally tapering off. we may see some few scattered showers to come in the next couple of days. ulan bator looking at very cold weather. minus 12 is our tuesday high, but the low will be minus 23. chongqing at 19, still holding on to the upper teens and tokyo at 16 degrees. and heading over to the americas, we've got a very potent winter storm, so that's going to be a windy system as well as some storm to accumulate up to about 15 centimeters in and around manitoba. blowing snow could be possible, reduced visibility.

so driving could be dangerous around those areas. we're talking about this system. this system is pulling in cold air behind it. so just around this area, we may even see some wintry accumulations in higher elevations. the rain could turn to snow overnight tonight. but this is where we're going to be seeing very significant rainfall in the next 24 hours. just in the very short span of 24 hours. we may see this popping up, 17 millimeters in georgia and the carolinas. but we may even see up to about 100 millimeters in some areas, southerly wind is pulling in towards the system and bringing very heavy rain there. so flash flooding could be possible just around the area. washington you see at 20 degrees. 15 in houston. lower than average, but it's going to be sunny. and los angeles here at 27 degrees. very warm for you there in winnipeg at 3. heading over to europe, we've got a very clear jet stream going on here.

we've got this isobar very narrow. it's going to be windy and wet just around norway and the northern british isles, uk, ireland, specifically talking about some heavy local rain to be possible. and windy conditions also will be continuing for the next couple of days. but other side of the jet stream, looking very calm and dry. and lots of sun, too. western russia we may see some few snowshowers, but that system is heading out towards the east. very quickly. temperaturewise, shaping up like this. in paris, 11, vetera vienna, an at 16 degrees, here's your extended forecast.

unesco has honored japan for two expressions of its heritage. the united nations organization added two japanese traditions to its list of intangible cultural heritage. this ritual in hiroshima prefecture. farmers ask the rice god each year for a good harvest. villagers use colorful cattle to plow paddies. colorfully-dressed girls plant rice seedlings and sing to music of flutes and drums. another cultural ritual is a purification ritual that dates back nearly 400 years. dancers wear masks depicting old men. japan has 20 events on unesco's list.

that's our broadcast for this hour on "newsline," i'm michio kijima in tokyo. thank you for watching. bye-bye.