the ticking clock on climate change. negotiators rush to draft a framework to replace the kyoto protocol, but they're still far apart. welcome to "newsline." the minimum steeral meeting is underway at the u.n. climate change conference in durban, south africa. the focus of negotiations is now shifting to an attempt to create a new framework that might replace the kyoto protocol.

>> translator: the people of japan continue to be positive about tackling climate change and contributing to global actions. in the second day of the minimum steeral meeting it is stressed that we will not change the japanese efforts to global warming, but he also said that japan will not commit itself to the kyoto protocol after it expires in 2012. he purports setting up a new framework as soon as possible. then from the nation. >> right now we need extension of kyoto protocol for developing countries. they don't have enough time. >> it's very important to sign the protocol. without the protocol, i think

that it will be difficult to have a deal bringing about change. >> reporter: calls for continuing the protocol are stronger than ever. it's about how to continue. the european union has already said that it will commit to targets under the kyoto system even after 2012 if a new framework can be developed for launch by 2020 with the participation of other contributeors. >> we are actually still ready to commit to a second commitment period even when countries like japan, russia, and canada have said they are not. >> reporter: but while the e.u. wants to agree on when and what kind of framework will depress the protocol, others like china

and the united states are reluctant to discuss any future system. time is running up. ministers have started informal talks in a bid to open up more honest discussion and get compromise. negotiations will certainly continue until the very last moment of the conference. a ceremony has been held in hawaii to mark the 70th anniversary of japan's attack on pearl harbor on december 7th, 1941. about 3,000 people, including aging veterans and family members, observed a moment of silence at 7:55 a.m. on wednesday, the exact time the attack began. more than 2,300 people died in the attack. >> it is a friendship made possible by the battle that is you fought in northern japan and the u.s armed forces stood

side-by-side with the self-defense force within hours of an unprecedented crisis. >> later, u.s. servicemen who survived the attack were applauded as they stood up to acknowledge their names. >> you people know what it is to lose people in battle. i just really am overcome by everybody. >> this will be the last time the anniversary is marked by the survivors association as the number of veterans is dwindling and many are in declining health. relationships between american troops and people in okinawa have been uneasy for years. residents have hosted u.s. servicemen since the end of world war ii, but they've not always been the best of neighbors. now, a theater group is acting out an old story to give people a fresh perspective. nhk world has more.

♪ >> reporter: performers make last-minute adjustments. their play becomes a real life drama. june 30th, 1959, a u.s. fighter jet crashes into a village on okinawa. it skids into an elementary school, killing 11 children. six people who live nearby die. more than 200 others are hurt. this woman works with the play group. she remembers that day. >> after 14 years after world war ii okinawan people were so poor, but we -- they had a hope

with their children, but suddenly they lost their lives. >> reporter: the play also deals with the impact u.s. forces had on okinawa. they took over in 1945, then gave control back to japan 27 years later. but the base has stayed. okinawa accounts for less than 1% of japan's total land area, but about 70% of all u.s. military facilities in the country are concentrated here.

some bases are surrounded by densely populated urban areas. this air station is one of them. in 2004 a helicopter from the air base crashed into university. no one died, but the accident showed okinawans still face risks more than 50 years after the elementary crash. play group members feel it's important to tell the story of june 30th, 1959. they wrote the script to tell the story about the life of loved ones that were lost. >> translator: he died that day. he was so burned. only the string of his pants and a part of his socks were white.

the rest was all burned. >> translator: i will tell many people what you told me. >> translator: we parents never forget even if we try to. i really appreciate that young people like you try hard to tell others about my son. >> reporter: in november the play group took their show to tokyo for the first time. ♪ >> reporter: she sang about

parents who lost their children. the message hit home. >> translator: i feel close to the issue now. we better think about the okinawan issue seriously. >> translator: i think many people are still suffering. that makes me wonder who benefits from the u.s. military bases? >> translator: there were so many students. i'll be happy if one or two realize the reason why we came from okinawa and understand that life is precious. >> reporter: the members of the play group believe it's their responsibility to inform people about the reality of life in okinawa. they want to make sure the tragedy of 1959 is never forgotten. nor repeated.

the people in charge of olypmus say the company has set for an overhaul. the equipment maker is in turmoil after it was revealed it hid more than $1 billion in investment losses for years. the president says major reforms are in the works, and former top executives could even face legal action. >> translator: we take a serious view of the scathing criticism. we sincerely apologize for what happened. >> they spoke a day after an independent panel spoke saying senior management was rotten to the core. >> translator: we aren't stubbornly clinging to power. the board will step down once a number of pressing issues have been addressed. >> the olypmus board has signalled it will make way for a new management team following an extraordinary shareholders meeting that's scheduled for sometime after february. he also touched on the

possibility of legal action. >> translator: we're not able to say anything definite concerning executives that are supposed to prevent illegal activity, but the matter will be dealt with properly with the help of another investigative panel. >> that panel will be made up of lawyers. it will look into the question of executive liability. about 70 executives involved with the company from the late 1990s will be scrutinized. that includes former and current board members and auditors. >> translator: any executive who fails to speak about their own doing is also guilty. >> translator: i think the executives should have had a clear idea of what they were supposed to be doing. >> the president also made it clear olypmus will set up a panel of outside experts to call for management reform. they will also be tasked with strengthening the checking functions of the board and

auditors. in addition, olypmus will study best practices by inviting managers from outside and tying up with other companies in order to bolster its business. the investigative panel's report said former president wanted to make the investment losses at olypmus go away. it noted, he received a proposal from former auditor and former vice president to make up for the losses by inflating payments for corporate acquisition. he said he wanted to go ahead with the proposal and asked if it was possible to erase all the losses. tokyo police investigators, prosecutors, and members of japan's securities and exchange surveillance commission will question former and current executives to figure out how they managed the cover-up. the much awaited european union summit kicks off later today in brussels. we are joined from the business team with more on that. how are leaders prnk for it? >> catherine, great question. the two biggest euro zone

nations are really pushing for fiscal reform. french and -- physician kol consolidation, that is. french and german leaders have a joint solution. this comes ahead of the two-day e.u. meeting that gets underway later on thursday. nicolas sarkozy and german chancellor angela merkel documented their views based on their monday meeting. the recommendations were then presented to e.u. president herman van rumpi on thurgs. the two leaders stressed the importance of cooperation among european countries at the start of the document. they said all possible measures should be taken to insure stability of euro zone countries so that they can overcome the current crisis. the measures include automatic sanctions to be imposed on euro zone members when their budget deficits exceed predetermined levels. other matters include writing into law the goal of achieving a

balanced budget in each country's constitution and promoting fiscal union among member nations. france and germany are urge aing revision of the e.u. treaty based on these proposals and the focus is now on the outcome of the e.u. summit. let's now check on the markets. sources say investors are hoping that the euro zone will agree on a solution to its debt crisis. on that the dow jones industrial average ended higher for a third day in a row. let's see how things are kicking off here this thursday morning japan. for that we are going to go to ramine who is at the tokyo stock exchange. what can you tell us? >> good morning to you. as you said there, the dow actually reaching its highest levels since october. markets really focused on the e.u. leaders and any words from the summit meeting about how they're going to be tackling euro zone issues. they're going to be meeting, as you said, from thursday and friday, but also there's the european central bank policy meeting later today. that's also going to be a focus. markets are expecting a rate cut

there. let's have a look at how the nikkei and the topix are kicking off. let's not forget, the nikkei rose yesterday with gains largely in banking and export stocks. volume was also much higher than previous sessions. investors hoping that euro zone issues hanging over global markets can be dealt with this week. we'll see after friday. as such, the focus is clearly on the upcoming e.u. summit meeting and whether the leaders can come up with concrete and tough measures to deal with some of the issues. especially in light of the recent -- the s&p, standard & poor's, rating agency coming out and putting on credit warning 15 of the euro zone countries as well as the e.u. itself, which is triple-a rated and some major european banks, so that's going to be a major focus for the markets. now, you mentioned olypmus as well. we're going to keep track of how that stock traced today. let's not forget yesterday it was down 5.2%. it's been one of the most

volatile stocks on the tokyo stock exchange since that bookkeeping scandal broke out. >> and ramin, currency markets, of course, a major focus. in the midst of all the attention the e.u. summit is getting. >> yeah, definitely. let's have a look at some of the currency levels this thursday morning. the euro obviously very susceptible to any key moves regarding the e.u. summit meeting. actually holding relatively firm, although you can see there euro, yen 103, 104 to 06. dollar-yen 77.65-67. now, the euro and the e.u. summit will be a key focus, of course, but stock trading may actually be trading in a little bit of a narrow range ahead of that key european central bank policy meeting later today. for now back to you. >> all right. lots going on. thanks a lot. ramin from the tokyo stock exchange. now, in other news data just

in. japan's current account surplus in october fell for an eighth straight month. the finance ministry said in a preliminary report on thursday the current account balance fell 62.4% in yen terms from a year earlier to about $7.2 billion. trade balance turned to the red for the first time in two months. exports fell 2.7%, while imports rose 21.3%. the income surplus, however, grew 20.3%, helping the overall account balance stay in the positive. let's see where markets are trading once again.

>> that's the latest from business. now it's back to catherine. >> thanks very much. the operator of the mihama nuclear power plant has said it's shut down one of three reactors after a month-long leak of radioactive water. the electric power company says it began on wednesday night manually shutting down the number two reactor at the plant. the work was completed as of 4:00 a.m. on thursday. the utility says the radioactive water has been leaking from a valve in the pressure vessel into a collection tank since early november, and it feared the water would overflow. the company says all the leaked water has been collected into the tank within the reactor and that the leakage has caused no damage to the environment. the reactor was scheduled to be shut down on december 18th for a regular check.

the suspension means that 46 of the country's 54 reactors are currently off line following the fukushima nuclear accident on march 11th. japanese dari companies are tightening tests on their products after radioactive cesium was detected in powdered milk made by the major japanese food company. meiji announced that radioactive cesium was found in powdered milk for infants. the product was processed at a plant near tokyo in march after the nuclear accident in fukushima prefecture. the detected level is below the government safety limit, but meij decided replace 400,000 cans for free. the revelation has prompted other dari companies in japan to take action. morinaga milk plans to test its products more frequently and definitely on days when powdered milk is produced. meg milk snow brand will test samples of products made after the march disaster that are currently kept in storage.

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 die eiichi crisis and the road ahead examines japan's efforts to recover and rebuild. don't miss nuclear watch and the road ahead on newsline. russia's governing party has come under increasing criticism following sunday's lower house election. the vote allowed vlad peer putin's united russia party to stay in power, but video clips and blogs have appeared on the internet that suggest there may have been fraud. ever since suns sunday's election a growing number of clips and messages have been upload odd to the internet that point to fraudulent activities. one official in charge of a polling station appears to be

scribbling on ballots. when confronted about it, the official orders his accusers to get out. another video shows bundles of ballots bearing suspicious looking check marks in favor of the governing party. a message on a blog says it's unnatural that the governing party gained more than 90% of the votes at some moscow polling stations. president dmitri medicine yesterday he have says an investigation must be carried out. but he said such video clips do not necessarily serve as decisive evidence. he suggested that the opposition block may have fabricated the algts alleged fraud. rallies are scheduled to be held in moscow on saturday against the alleged election irregularities. syria's president al assad has denied ordering a bloody crackdown on protesters and blamed the violence on security force members. assad made the claim on wednesday in an exclusive

interview with u.s. abc news in damascus. >> i did my best to protect the people. do not feel guilty when you feel your best. you feel sorry for the life that has been lost, but you don't feel guilty when you don't kill people. >> assad said he had never ordered his forces to kill citizens adding that every brutal reaction was by an individual, not by an institution. the u.n. says the death toll from the violence in syria has topped 4,000. the u.n. human rights council has adopted a resolution condemning the assad administration for its crackdown on dissidents. meebl, u.s. secretary of state hillary clinton on tuesday met syrian opposition figures and praised their struggle to bring democracy to the country. the secretary told them that a democratic transition means more than simply removing the assad regime. >> it means setting syria on the path of the rule of law and

protecting the universal rights of all citizens. >> last month arab nations and turkey joined the united states and other countries in imposing economic sanctions on syria. many tokyo commuters are carrying their umbrellas. let's go to the global weather forecast. welcome to your weather update. let's take a look at what's happening across east asia. a developing low pressure system is approaching japan bringing wet weather to the western half of the nation. especially across the southern islands as well. thunderstorms, heavy rain, as well as gusty winds are also possible here, and rain will also spread to the tokyo area by this afternoon. up towards the north, the northwestern flank of japan is still looking at a mix of rain and snow, and snow could intensify all over the region

starting tonight. across the korean peninsula, a wintry mix will develop over the eastern portions, and as for china, showers will gradually taper off across the southeast corner of the country, but taiwan will remain wet all day. down towards the south, the central, and southern portions of the philippines are remaining wet. thunderstorms are also possible here, and that will develop, in effect, on friday, and out west vietnam, cambodia, as well as southern thailand are still dealing with ongoing rain. temperature-wise, very cold air continues to sag southward pushing down temperatures. minus 20 degrees and zero degrees in beijing, and tokyo will be coming up 10 degrees. heading over to the americas. the eastern seaboard is still struggling with wintry weather. a long frontal line is producing very heavy snow across the central and northern appalachians, and heavy cold

precipitation to the northeast states. the system is moving very quickly to the north, so things are getting dryer across the eastern u.s., but eastern canada will remain stormy throughout thursday. we're expecting more than 45 centimeters of snow and winds could exceed 100 kilometers per hour. meanwhile, snow will develop over the great lakes, but overall it will stay largely dryer across most of the u.s. and canada. temperatures are looking like this. very cold in winnipeg. minus 15 degrees, and minus three in denver, which is about ten degrees lower than average, and the east coast, we are looking at a significant drop. six degrees in new york, and seven degrees expected in washington d.c. finally, let's go over to europe. it's wet and windy again across most of the european countries. a new powerful low pressure system is sweeping into the british isles bringing heavy snow and high wind.

gusts could top 140 kilometers per hour. the stormy conditions will move eastward and could affect the southern scandinavian peninsula as well as the northern sections of germany, the low countries, as well as france by late thursday. as for continental europe, light showers will gradually ease across eastern europe, but the rest of the region will continue to see very wet -- very wet -- sorry. very windy conditions throughout thursday. temperatures are looking like this. we're expecting 6 degrees in berlin, and 5 in vienna, but warming up to 12 degrees in london. all right. i will leave you now with your extended forecast.

that's all for this edition of "newsline." do stay with us. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com