hello and welcome to "newsline." the year row has weakened sharply against the yen on the tokyo foreign exchange. it followed friday's downgrades of nine u.s. nations by a major u.s. credit rating agency. the euro reached an 11-year low. market participants say fears are rising that the european bailout fund could be next in

line for a downgrade. investors are unsure how much longer it will take for the euro zone to recover market trust. next we go to bangkok to find out what's going on in the region. pakistan's embattled government faces yet another political crisis after the country's top court suggested they would accuse the prime minister of contempt. the standoff comes on top of running tensions with the military that last week led him to fire his secretary of defense. the supreme court on monday opened proceedings against him saying he had ignored the order to pursue a corruption inquiry against the president. the court summoned him to appear before it on thursday to explain his refusal to reopen the case which dates back to the 1990s. the two men believe that looking into the case again could

destabilize the government. the latest crisis comes on top of tensions with the military after the president reportedly sent a memo to the united states asking for help to avert a possible military coup. turning to myanmar where political reforms continue to attract the interest of western countries. for the first time since myanmar gained independence from britain more than 60 years ago france has sent a government minister there on an official visit. french foreign minister on met with the president in the capital. he is the latest in a series of high ranking western politicians to visit the country. at a press conference following the meeting, he said he believes in myanmar's desire to continue demock raization. this comes days after the government signed a cease fire

with the largest group of ethnic rebel fighters. it also released more than 600 prisoners including as many as 500 political detainees. those steps were broadly welcomed. the united states immediately announced it would upgrade diplomatic relations with myanmar. >> we will continue to support them and their efforts and to encourage the government to take bold steps that build the kind of free and prosperous nation. >> despite those warm words the obama administration continues to ask for more. it wants myanmar to cut military ties with north korea including trade and missiles and all violence against minorities. a top state department official in charge of initial security and nonproliferation will travel to myanmar in the coming weeks for further discussions.

southeast asia is becoming an increasingly attractive destination for both companies and job seekers from japan. with their home economy in a protracted slump, japanese willing to relocate often have better luck in this part of the world. we met with one hopeful candidate in singapore as he tried to kick start his career. >> reporter: singapore's economy grew a record 14% in 2010. businesses from around the world have set up their asian headquarters in the city state. they include more than 1,000 companies from japan. many of these firms are hiring locally. this job agency says the number of openings at japanese affiliated firms has doubled in the past two years. that includes positions for new

graduates with no work experience. >> translator: anyone with university level qualifications can apply. even if they have no experience. >> reporter: the number of new graduates seeking jobs in singapore is also growing. this man is one of them. after graduating from university, he obtained a working holiday visa because he wanted to work in an asian country with a booming economy. he's been studying at a language school in singapore while searching for a job. singapore is becoming a popular place to work for japanese thanks to the abundance of job offers, the low crime rate and the fact that english is an official language. >> translator: i wanted to experience singapore's strong

economy firsthand. i decided to try working here because people speak english. >> reporter: he works for a japanese trading house that specializes in chemical products. many companies are look for staff who understand japanese business practices and can speak japanese. they have begun hiring more people locally to avoid the expense of transferring staff from japan. >> i'm positive i'm able to communicate with elder people and younger people. >> translator: we hope to find someone who speaks japanese and who preferably is japanese because many of our clients are in japan. >> reporter: young people think that going abroad will give them

more opportunities than japan where jobs scarce. >> translator: i think i was able to get my message across. i'll be waiting for a good outcome. >> reporter: the young are taking up the challenge of living in other parts of asia with booming economies. their numbers are increasing and the growth looks set to continue. >> and that wraps up our bulletin. >> thanks. with the world closely watching voters in taiwan's presidential election on saturday made an important choice. whether to elect a candidate who wants closer ties with mainland china. the incumbent president of the nationalist party or kmt beat the leader of the biggest opposition block the democratic

progressive party. during the campaign, ma had appealed for closer relations with mainland china. he says they will boost taiwan's economy. with ma as president for another four years, what will happen to relations between taipei and beijing? we'll speak to experts on cross strait relations from taiwan and china. first we have a reporter from the taipei studio. >> reporter: the burning issue in the campaign was how close taiwan should forge its relationship with mainland china. ma's re-election shows that a majority of votes want him to carry on deepening relations with china, a policy whichsoever has helped taiwan's economy grow. >> translator: i want ma to honor his campaign pledge. i hope to see taiwan continue its stable growth. >> reporter: at his post election news conference, ma said he was determined to seek even closer ties with mainland

china. >> translator: i would try to deepen the trust across the strait over the next four years. i also do my best to keep the peace between the two sides. >> reporter: but not all tie wa these share -- they fear it could lead to unification with china. >> translator: taiwan will have plenty of talks with mainland china over political issues. i worry that we may wake up one morning and see china's national flag waving over us. that could happen. >> reporter: it was voters like these who supported ma's strongest opponent. votes for ma were down about seven percentage points from four years ago. we spoke with a expert in cross strait affairs about ma's

beijing policy during his second term. how do you view the result of this election? >> i think it's very close race. of course, the results surprised some of them because there is a 6% difference between ma and tsai. there's still some medium voters. they decided to protest the government for being unable to deliver a satisfactory policy for them. whether the kmt government and the beijing government could reach a consensus so there are people wondering or people having doubt over whether there's a consensus that protects taiwan's sovereignty. i think ma will in my view probably intensify his moves to negotiate with beijing regarding taiwan's sovereignty. >> reporter: ma's statement last october on relations with china

stirred up controversy. he said he does not exclude the possibility of political dialogue with the mainland that would include a peace accord. in his next term, ma will have to perform a tough balancing act in steering a course with china. now to beijing. china has welcomed the re-election of taiwan these president. we talk about the direction the chinese side hopes relations will take. >> reporter: most people in china seem to welcome -- as a result of the development of economic ties under -- >> translator: i support ma's re-election because he's enhancing peace across the taiwan strait. >> translator: everyone hopes that things will develop peacefully. unification is best for the

chinese people over the long term. >> reporter: a chinese government spokesperson said, beijing is ready to work with all parties in taiwan with the aim of reaching the next stage in the development of relations. i asked a chinese expert in national relations whether beijing is likely to push for political dialogue. >> at some point during his second term the political dialogues will be launched one way or the other because this is the eventual idea. it's the obligation of any responsible voting party or leaders from both sides of the taiwan strait. >> reporter: as for the role of the united states, he cautioned against outside parties intervening in cross trade issues. >> peaceful sustainability of

the economic, cultural, educational as well as political relations across taiwan strait will be beneficial to both sides. both to the united states and china. >> reporter: beijing views ma as a leader who shares the china policy and someone with whom they can have constructive dialogue. china is expected to use close economic ties to bind taiwan ever closer to the mainland with the goal of eventual unification. >> thanks. we looked at the outcome of taiwan's presidential election and the future of the relationship between china and taiwan. in other news, a group of tokyo electric power shareholders plans to file a lawsuit against a number of the utilities current and former executives as early as late january over the fukushima daiichi nuclear crisis. last november 42 shareholders asked the company's auditors to file a lawsuit against 60 people

who have held executive posts. the shareholders believe that the executives were negligent and are seeking a total of 5.5 trillion yen or more than $70 billion in compensation. on monday tepco notified the shareholders in writing that it will not cooperate in taking legal action against the executives. the utility argues that the scale of the march tsunami was unforeseeable so the executives cannot be responsible for the nuclear disaster. a lawyer representing the shareholders criticized tepco auditors for claiming the tsunami could not be predicted and for expressing no remorse. people in japan get used to bracing themselves for earthquakes. it's rare that a week goes by without any tremors. we focused a lot over the past year on efforts to rebuild after the disaster last march. but survivors of a quake in 1995 are still trying to recover. more than 6,000 people died in

the great earthquake or the kobe rt quake as some called it. tuesday is the 17th anniversary. we have a two-part series on the challenges of coming back from disasters in our first story. we look in on those still waiting to go home. >> reporter: this man and his wife left their hometown after the great earthquake. they are still living here in another prefecture. the earthquake destroyed their home. the couple applied to move into a temporary housing unit but again and again they failed to draw a winning lot. a municipal government official

urged the couple to move. they decided to move planning to stay temporarily. >> translator: i kept getting disappointed. i came home depressed once again after failing to win in the lottery. a government official suggested moving out, staying there temporarily and coming back. >> reporter: public housing built for survivors opened two years after the disaster. but most of the survivors who moved out did not even receive application forms. the government was unaware of disaster survivors who moved to other prefectures. the couple hasn't found a new home and they don't have new friends. she suffered a stroke and she

has diabetes. she can no longer walk on her own. the couple have used up their savings and they're afraid they will never be able to return to their hometown. >> translator: i wanted to go home. i wanted to go home. it's tomorro tormenting that i back there. i've endured boxing conditions in a place that is foreign to me. >> reporter: a nonprofit organization in osaka has been supporting people like them. many in the organization have been responding to survivors' inquiries, but they wish they could do more. the organization's newsletter prints comments from survivors who moved out of the town.

one voice after another expressed the grief and suffering of the survivors. >> translator: i knew what i should have done for them, but i couldn't. if i could have done so, the survivors who moved out of the town wouldn't have to cry so much and feel so sad. that's the thing i regret most. >> reporter: she and her colleagues are determined that things will be different this time. they will not let the kind of tragedy that occurred after the earthquake be repeated after last march's disaster. they are working to locate people who fled from the region and they are trying to build a

network linking them together. >> translator: it will be great if survooirs can feel they aren't alone. and if we can get their voices to be heard by the governments of the stricken regions and other institutions. >> reporter: for survivors still unable to return to their hometowns, full recovery is still elusive. >> building those networks is crucial in preventing people from falling through the cracks. in the aftermath of the kobe earthquake some survivors died without anyone noticing. we're looking into that issue in part two of our series. we'll show you what people are doing to create links between quake survivors in kobe and japan's northeast. now here with the latest action

in sumo. we're into the second week of the new year's sumo tournament. hakuho entered day nine action with a spotless record along with ozeki ranked grapler baruto. let's see if the two leaders were able to avoid any upsets. for the sixth consecutive tournament hack hoe enters with a perfect record of eight wins. his opponent is hoping to snap his 15 bout losing streak. hakuho hits his opponent with tremendous force and keeps the little man at bay. he takes the match by sending him away with a simple push. hakuho's record is still perfect after nine days. baruto is on the right track so far in his quest for the first top divisional title. an up and comer lost to him on the previous day but gave him a run for his money.

baruto tries to stop the high energy charge. he has little trouble pushing him away. baruto remains unbeaten. kotooshu is one of the men trailing by one match. he faced harufafuji in the ring. his nice move to the left made kotooshu lose his balance. he gets his second defeat. the other man with a one loss record. they have met in battle ten times in the past and split the wins right down the middle. well there isn't much to comment on here. he makes easy work by moving him back and out in a hurry.

now here's a picture of the top after nine days. hakuho and baruto are still both without a single loss and they lead the championship race. kisenosato is nipping at the heels of the leaders with eight wins and one loss. hakuho and baruto may have been perfect up to this point, things will be a lot more difficult from now on as they will be navigating through the toughest part of their schedule. make sure to catch all the results here on "newsline." we make way for rachel ferguson to tell us what's happening in world weather. held loyal again time to get you caught up with the world's weather events. in eastern asia, the beginning of the week looks quiet. high pressure is bringing

seasonally cool and dry conditions across china and mongolia. we will see showers developing in the west and pushing down toward the south and southeast later on in the week. down here toward the south it is getting a lot clearer. we've been seeing that very, very active northeast monsoon really causing some trouble for the philippines and eastern indochina over the next several weeks. it is more calm. we do have thunderstorms but they're going to be scattered in nature and nothing too heavy. japan getting a bit of a break from the heavy snow in the northwest that we usually see this time of year. it's cleared up for the moment. instead we're getting a few showers for the pacific edge. that quickly pulls away by tuesday morning and will be left with clear, dry and sunny conditions. temperatures are set up like this 8 degrees in tokyo. 5 in seoul and 2 in beijing. spot on in shanghai.

and the low 30s in the tropics. as we head into north america, we have one storm system just moving across the rockies, the four corners here getting some snow from that. it's also accompanied by strong winds and much cooler air. your overnight lows are going to be plummeting monday into tuesday. denver for example, minus 12 is your forecast low. if you take into consideration the windchill it's going to feel cooler than that. out in the pacific northeast v northwest yet another system coming in on its heel heels. this one bringing 30 to 60 centimeters of snow for the eastern slopes of the cascades and also there will be strong wind with this one, too. low lying areas only about five centimeters or so of snow. up in the mountains where it's coming down it's going to be windy as well and that will impair visibility. up towards the east a dry day on monday. you can see what happens when high pressure moves out offshore. something else is developing right here.

i'll bring you into the picture. in canada mostly snow and also towards the midwest into the plains snow as well. the rest of it rain for most of the east turning over to that wintry mix that we see as we head up towards new england. ahead of the system coming in we'll see that rush of warmer air that will pick up the temperatures new york ci 1 degree for the high on monday. up to 9:00 on tuesday. it will be cooling down as that system passes. behind the system it will be really bringing the temperatures down. the mid midwest, great lakes region you'll be seeing temperatures drop. let's go to europe next. things are very clear here for the british isles much of the continent, too, seeing high pressure in place. it's cool and it's dry. there is a system coming that will bring your warmer air but also the rain with it. that will be turning over wet and warmer for maybe wednesday into thursday for the western continent and the british isles. stays very unstable here across much of the mediterranean. we've got a low pressure system

bringing thunderstorms to parts of southern spain. however it's starting to clear up. that snow in the mountain inland areas is starting to clear up. getting a cool blast in the east. these are average temperatures we don't usually see that this season so far. we'll be seeing things warming up towards the end of the week. here's your extended forecast.

thanks for watching this edition of "newsline." stay tuned to more here on nhk world. . .