auditing the auditors. olympus launches another lawsuit as it tries to find out what happened to its lost millions. scandal tainted olympus corporation has filed a lawsuit against five current or former auditors. the japanese optical equipment maker blames the men for their role in a cover up. olympus announced on tuesday it is demanding the auditors pay up to one billion yen or about $13 million in comp siegs.

a panel of outside lawyers received a report earlier in the day saying the three current and two former auditors share responsibility. the panel says they caused losses of about $110 million. earlier this month olympus sued the former president and 18 other current and former executives. these officials transferred the losses to overseas funds and tried to cover them up through corporation acquisitions. lawyers in that suit are seeking damages of about $46 million. meanwhile an olympus shareholder has filed a lawsuit against the optical equipment maker. the shareholders say the company has not done enough to make clear who was responsible for the accounting cover up scandal. the shareholder from western japan filed a lawsuit with the tokyo district court on tuesday. he is seeking some $17 million in damages and 13 others for making the company lose credibility. the plaintiff charges that the company failed to launch an

immediate investigation when former president michael wolford pointed out accounting irregularities in october. he says olympus aggravated damage to the company through its unjust dismissal in an effort to cover up the scandal. >> translator: we aim to expose in court why and how woodford was dismissed. europe's way out of its credit whoas took a bleak turn with standard and poors downgrading the european bailout fund. s&p is the same company that cut the ratings of nine euro zone nations on friday. the rating was lowered by one notch from the highest to aa plus. the funds are intended to assist euro seven member countries that

are unable to procure financing by themselves. france and austria are backing the funds. s&p last friday stripped these two countries of their prized aaa ratings and downgraded seven other nations including spain, italy and portugal. the one notch rating cuts for france and austria led to lowest reliability of the debts prompts rating agencies to downgrade the fund. meanwhile they released a statement on the s&p downgrade of the bailout fund. he stressed the downgrade will not reduce the lending capacity of 440 billion euros. the statement says the fund will continue to be backed by unconditional and irrevocable guarantees by member states. other ratings agencies and fits ratings maintain the topnotch rating. now here in japan finance minister says there will be no

change in his government's policy to help out euro zone nations through esfs bond purchases. >> translator: we don't think confidence in these bonds will waiver. japan has been buying them constantly. and our stance will not change. >> on the possibility of japan's market intervention to halt the yen's sharp rise against the euro, assume yi said he wants to monitor currency fluxs carefully. the operator of the crippled fukushima daiichi power plant is boosting electricity rates for its corporate clients. tokyo electric power company says the rate wills go up an average 17% beginning in april due to rising costs for power generation. tepco president said on tuesday that the hikes will affect about 240,000 business users with contracts for 50 kill watts or more each. the company's fuel costs are

expected to climb by about $10 billion this fiscal year. that's because utility has shut down some nuclear plants for checkups after the fukushima accident last march. tepco said higher energy bills run avoidable because it's not clear when the operation of these nuclear plants will resume. the economic gap between north and south korea has widened. a new survie shows that south korea's gdp is more than 40 times larger than the north's. the report released on tuesday by the statistical office said the country's gdp for 2010 was just over $900 billion. the north was about $21 billion. the report said north korea's economy shrank in 2009 and 2010. the survey has a per capita

income in the north was just over $1,000 in 2010. that's less than 1/19 of the south. north korea's trade volume was around 5% of the south. 60% of the north's trade was with china. the report shows kim jong un faces a difficult task of rebuilding his country's collapsed economy to confirm the success of power from kim jong il. italy's coast guard said a number of people missing in last week's luxury liner accident has risen to 29. the ship carrying more than 4,200 passengers and crew members ran into a reef and capsized off tuscany on friday. 25 passengers and four crew members remain missing. authorities had previously put the figure at 16 people.

rescue workers continue the search for passengers. but operations are being hindered by rough seas. the vessel is lying on its side in shallow waters, but could slip deeper into the sea. japan is today marking the 17th anniversary of the great earthquake. that quake devastated the port city of kobe and surrounding areas in 1995. more than 6,400 people died. survivors are sharing their experiences with people affected by last year's disaster in northeastern japan. people who lost families and friends gathered at a park in kobe city before daybreak. they arranged candles in the shapes of the numbers one and 17 the date of the disaster. a moment of silence was held at 5:46 a.m. the exact time the earthquake struck. >> translator: it's been 17 years. it seems to short and at the

same time so long. >> translator: i wonder why only i survived. i always imagine what it would be like if my husband didn't die. >> rebuilding in the most heavily damaged areas of kobe ended last year. more than 1/3 of kobe's current population has never experienced a major earthquake. older residents are passing on what they learn from the 1995 disaster to younger generations. events in memory to have 1995 earthquake are being held throughout the day. at noon people prayed in silence at the disaster prevention center. participants included officials from several prefectures. some of the personal tragedies are long lasting. people lose their families and friends then they find themselves on their own. 950 people who lived in houses built for survivors have died

alone. now some aid workers are trying to prevent similar incidents from the disaster last march. >> reporter: 61-year-old is the leader of a nonprofit organization assisting survivors of the 1995 earthquake. he visits this housing unit built for elderly survivors to see how they're keeping. last june a male resident of the unit died without anyone noticing. the man was in his 60s living alone. his body was discovered more than a week after he had died. nearly two decades after the earthquake, solitary deaths still occur in the prefecture every month. he says that the bonds between survivors and the people around them are wearing thin. >> translator: the buildings and

the infrastructure of the area have been rebuilt. but many of the residents who experience the earthquake 17 years ago still face difficulties. >> reporter: he is trying to solve the problem with an old fashioned idea that is novel in this context. this man, 81, lives alone in a housing unit for survivors. he says that he's getting fewer visits from volunteers and feels isolated. >> translator: i thought about jumping to my death so many times. humans are not meant to hi all alone. we need someone. >> reporter: he suggested having pen pals. exchanging letters with a number of high school students. he and his main pen pal have

been exchanging letters for five years. >> translator: i'm busy with university entrance exams. your warm thoughts will be with me. >> reporter: he looks upon the young people who send him letters as he wants grandchildren and looks forward to hearing about important events in their lives. his longest standing pen pal has even come to pay him a visit. >> translator: the letters are a treasure to me. i read letters from high school students and children when i get frustrated. i feel so much better after reading them. >> reporter: 20 elderly survivors have taken the advice and now exchange letters with high school students.

>> translator: i visit the homes of elderly survivors, but i can only visit so many people in a day. letters can reach a greater number of people. exchanging letters with someone can play the same role as that of visits. >> reporter: he is now working to support survivors of the march disaster in northeastern japan by applying lessons learned from the 1995 earthquake. he stresses the importance of encouraging contact between survivors and people in the community around them. whether it be in the form of letters, phone calls or other means including visits. >> translator: i want you to try to find people who can chat with survivors living alone. listen to them and share their

suffering. i'm not sure how much good that will do, but let's keep trying. >> reporter: he is determined to keep supporting survivors in both regions. his challenge continues. next we go to bangkok to find out what's going on in the region. we begin today's bulletin in vietnam, one of many asian countries preparing to celebrate the new year. people are returning to their hometowns and that includes former refugees who fled the country during the vietnam war. the government has made a point of welcoming them back this year with a high profile event. it reflects officials desire to reconcile with expay ree yachts amid a short act of skilled workers. >> state run television covered

the welcome home event on monday as its lead story on the evening news. the government sponsored spring in homeland 2012 party took place ahead of next week's lunar new year in vietnam. many people fled the country during the vietnam war especially from south vietnam in the final days of the conflict in the 1970s. about 2.7 million vietnamese now live overseas. officials used to treat them with suspicion because of connections with proreform groups. but that attitude has changed in recent years. the government even invited children living overseas back to vietnam to see firsthand how the country is developing. former refugees are now viewed as what the country needs to

further business reforms. the president played drums to welcome the expats home. the government will likely continue to send messengers of conciliation to vietnamese around the world to urge them to return and to support the nation's economic development. and now to afghanistan where it's been more than a decade since the overthrow of the taliban. the strict rule of the islamic militants included a ban on movies, but these days film is grabbing the hearts and the minds of young afghans. some of them are even using the medium to send their own message to the world. >> reporter: thisictional film

is the work of an afghan director. it tells the story of a father from the country side. he sends his only son away to a religious school, but the boy disappears. while searching the father suffers to learn that his son was brainwashed to become a suicide bomber. this animation is called shelter. it's about a gentle young boy who creates a friendship with a bird. these movies were shown at a film festival in kabul. a local film association collaborated with human rights organizations in october to show 50 films including 32 by local directors. the festival wasn't only for narrative films. 25-year-old created a

documentary. the documentary follows a female prosecutor. the film starts when a young woman with scars all over her body visits this prosecutor's office. >> reporter: in afghanistan girls are often forced to marry at a very young age. women are sometimes beaten at home. the female prosecutor claims these acts are violations of human rights. the camera captures every step of her life even the moment when

her life is in danger. a bomb explodes outside her house. the prosecutor and her family were all safe. but the attack was set to be the work of groups that oppose the advancement of women. she has frequently witnessed scenes of women being oppressed even after the fall of the taliban. through her film, she hopes to spotlight strong women fighting through their suffering and hardship. >> translator: i was deeply moved and encouraged by this woman who continued on with her work even if it was putting her life at risk. i want the world to know that women in afghanistan have the power to be active members in

society. >> reporter: began tan is still a conflict zone. through these films young people are facing their past and present and trying to create a new future for their country. >> that wraps up our bulletin. murray johnson is up next with sumo. day ten of the new year grand sumo tournament. boy, do we have a feast of action to show you, so let's get to it. kotooshu is fighting the top rankers for the first time. a thrusting battle begins as both men seem to be trying not to make a mistake. he works his way inside and tries to press, but the

21-year-old digs in, briefly. the ozeki asserts his superiority and moves the rank and filer back and out. kotooshu makes his intention known straight away with a strong outside grip. he can follow through, but settles on a patient approach to walk him backwards and over the rice barrier. baruto wins here, he'll remain unbeaten after ten days. baruto slaps and gets the outside grip and pulls a slick over arm throw to win in a blink. he looks very good.

a shift and down he goes. not the most exciting sumo, but a win. well, we kept the best for last. hakuho was undefeated after nine days with a win he'll maintain a shir of the lead with baruto. these two first fought in september 2007. hakuho has never lost with 20 straight. the thrust and pulls him off balance and gets a strong outside grip to keep hakuho on a merry go round moving forward with the devil inside grip is the tippy toe sumo and it's an upset. he hands him his first loss. something he has dreamed about has finally come true, beating hakuho. now here's the picture at the

top after ten days. baruto finds himself in a rare position leading with no losses. hakuho and kisenosato have one loss each. we also have four with two losses who are well and truly in the title race. day 11 is a terrific slate of bouts and we'll be back to bring you the action and results. >> thanks, mury. rachel ferguson is up next with weather. hello again. after a quiet start to the week, we're going to start to see things getting wet across the continent here. we're looking at parts ofson up to eastern china. seeing those showers developing probably just moderate rain, nothing too heavy. that is slowly going to make its way across to japan. friday into saturday going to see some significant rainfall coming in to the southern half

of the country and significant not only because it will be certainly on the moderate side we haven't had any rain in tokyo since the 15th of december. over a month now it's been very, very dry. finally we'll see some showers coming in. up towards the north it stays dry and very cold in fact. temperatures are going to be dipping down across places some heavy snow coming your way wednesday and into thursday. that temperature's going to drop further to minus 23. that is the high. very bitter cold. tokyo looking for 9 tomorrow. 18 in taipei. 20 in hong kong. and 33 in bong dock. probably with some early morning fog to deal with. north america most of you across the belly of the united states and down into mexico going to be seeing fairly dry conditions. we have a couple of storms to talk about. one is up here across the inter

mountain west. this one is bringing significant snowfall. almost a meter about 90 centimeters of snow is possible in the next couple of days up in the mountains. and gusts could get up to 100 kilometres per hour. so you can work that out. we're looking at blowing snow, reduced visibility. snow brift drifts as well. out here toward the east around the low pressure this is mostly going to be snow and then down along the front very, very stormy. mississippi as well as alabama, you could be seeing severe thunderstorms today. this is the outlook if you want to look at it easier there. severe weather down here towards the gulf. lots of rain and then heavy snow extending across parts of northern new england back in across the great lakes and of course up here in the mountains of the northwest as well. temperatures are diving down. winnipeg reb last week your high was 3 degrees way above average. now it's way below average minus 21 for the high and 1 in

vancouver as well as seattle. as we head into europe we're going to see rain intensifying particularly across scotland in the uk. winds picking up as well. wednesday much of the british isles will be seeing some moderate rain coming in. ahead of that pretty settled here across much of the continent out towards the southeast we do have a lingering system bringing snow to parts of turkey and in around the black sea as well as southwestern russia. temperatures are now getting to average. it's been a very warm season but around minus 7 is what it should be in moscow this time of year. all of the blues moving down across the low countries as well as eastern france. then temperatures are actually picking up a little bit further west. london up to 13. 11 in paris. here's your extended forecast.

once again the top story at this hour. scandal tainted olympus corpse has filed a lawsuit against five current and former auditors. the japanese optical equipment maker blames the men for their role in a cover up. olympus announced on tuesday that it's demanding the auditors pay up to 1 billion yen or $13 million in compensation. a panel of outside lawyers reported earlier in the day saying the three current and two former auditors share responsibility. the panel says they cost losses of about $110 million. earlier this month olympus sued the former president and 18 other current and former executives. these officials transferred the losses to overseas funds and tried to cover them up through corporate acquisitions. lawyers in that suit are seeking damages of about $46 million.

that's our broadcast for this hour on "newsline." we'll be back with more news in half an hour. thank you for watching. bye-bye. . .