welcome to "newsline." iran is showing a mixture of bluster and conciliation in response to the threat of more western nations. the united states is planning to increase sanctions targeting oil, the mainstay of iran's finances. the aim is to halt iran's nuclear program which continues in defiance of a u.n. resolution. in protest iran has threatened

to close the strait of hormuz. >> in terms of any threats to the region, in terms of some of the behavior that they've conducted in the region that will also be prepared to respond militarily if we have to. >> the european union has agreed to join the u.s. sanctions. and foreign ministers are likely to agree to ban crude oil imports in a meeting on monday. iran is showing signs it's willing to resolve is issue through talks. it said it will accept inspectors after january 29th. >> we would like to have this negotiation. the date is not yet settled. but it will be soon. >> meanwhile chinese premier told reporters on wednesday that the strait of hormuz is an

important special channel and a normal passage of ships should be protected under any circumstances. he added that his country maintains normal trade with iran and this should be protected. maneuvering on both sides is expected to continue as the u.s. steps up the pressure and iran veers between a hard line and flexible. japan has asked the united states for an exemption from the sanctions. japan gets about 10% of its oil from iran. officials from the two nations held talks in tokyo on thursday. the treasury department assistant secretary took part in the meeting. governmental sources say japan made the request as oil imports from iran are on the decline and are expected to continue falling. the u.s. reportedly said that a drastic cut in oil imports from iran would be a condition for an exempt, but no specific numbers were mentioned. the two countries will continue discussing japan's request. the head of the petroleum

association of japan says japanese firms have no option but to reduce oil imports from iran in kpliengs with the u.s. sanctions. the association president made the remark on thursday after the u.s. asked for japan's cooperation in the sanctions. the u.s. imposes a bar on global financial institutions from having transactions with the iranian central bank. he says the japanese government's stance is not the point. he says if japanese banks stop doing business for iranian banks for fear of u.s. pressure, the japanese oil companies will not be able to settle their imports. >> translator: i expect japanese oil companies will have to reduce imports from iran and try to find other sources. >> he adds saudi arabia has idle production capacity that could cover for the lost exports from iran. so he does not expect global oil supplies to suddenly get tighter. members of the arab league are

trying to figure out what to do about syria. demonstrators have been protesting against the president for most of the past year. 5,000 people have been killed. we have some rare pictures of protesters on the run from security forces. >> reporter: the rally in syria. they're chanting -- even the face paint convey the same message asad must go. >> translator: if we don't take action, nothing will change. >> reporter: protesters gather at night to avoid security forces, but they often have to scatter.

we are showing the real situation in syria rarely makes it out of the country. a syrian human rights group took these images for nhk. it's trying to show the world what's happening here. >> translator: we want to show the syrian people's hope for freedom and the crimes against humanity committed in our country. >> syria's first anti-government demonstrations -- this is how authorities responded with

force. since then, the government's had the city under surveillance. these soldiers defected from the army because they are opposed to the way the asad regime is dealing with demonstrators. >> translator: we've created a new force called the free syrian army. >> reporter: they are planning to act as a resistant movement against the government. while some are fightsing others are fleeing. jordan is seeing an influx of refugees over the border it shares with syria. this facility belongs to a charity group. more than 1,000 families are believed to have escaped to jordan. >> translator: children couldn't sleep at night because of the sound of gunshots.

we were going crazy. >> reporter: this man lost his son in a crackdown. security forces arrested the boy during a rally last april. his family blames them for torturing the teen and then killing him. he had been beaten so badly they could barely recognize his body. >> translator: this is his x ray. we can clearly see his neck is broken as well as his teeth. >> translator: my dear son. i wasn't there when they tortured my son so terribly. >> reporter: president asad said

his government is -- but the people we spoke to say average citizens are the ones being punished by his repressive regime. >> next, we go to bangkok to find out what's going on in the region. >> we begin in pakistan where the prime minister made a highly unusual appearance in front of the country's supreme court on thursday. he was summoned to the chamber amid rising tensions between the government, the military and the judiciary. the court began contempt proceedings against him. it said the prime minister disaobeyed his order to re-open a fraud investigation. inside the courthouse he said in his opinion there was immunity from prosecution. he denied being in contempt, but stood firm against re-opening

the investigation. government ministers and supporters were out in force. their vow not to give in to pressure from the supreme court. his latest crisis comes on top of tensions for the military after the president reportedly sent a memo to the united states asking for help to avert a possible military coup. turning to indonesia now. the latest campaign to try and stop commuters from riding on the roofs of trains has come under fire. a human rights organization has criticized the nation's rail ways operator for putting lives at risk. the state owned rail company installed hanging balls of concrete near a railway station on the outskirts of jakarta. the balls are about the size of a grapefruit painted sill very and weigh about two kilograms. dangling them above the trains is supposed to deter people who ride illegally on the roofs. the practice nicknamed train

surfing kills dozens every year. indonesia's national commission of human rights said the measure is a shortcut that shows the laziness of the bureaucracy and puts many lives at risk. hundreds of passengers across indonesia train surf every day. it's a way to avoid crowded carriage ors paying for a ticket. some people just do it for fun. past campaigns to deter the practice have ranged from hitting roof riders with poles and threatening them with dogs to appeals from religious leaders and even spraying them with paint. the explosion in the global population to more than seven billion people is deepening concerns about shortages of food and water. india is expected to surpass china within ten years to become the world's most populous country. with that in mind, india is deploying a state of the art system of irrigation to more efficiently secure its

resources. >> reporter: more than 200 million tons of food is consumed each year in india. by 2050 that will likely rise to 420 million tons. meeting the surging demand is a national priority. but india faces a serious shortage of water to irrigate its crops. farmers use ground water when they can't depend on rain. but overpumping in some areas has depleted wells and affected crops. now the indian government is promoting a technological solution to produce more food even with limited water. it's called micro irrigation. a system of pipes that efficiently distributes water

across the field. when farmers in dry areas pump water from the ground, a lot of it gets wasted. valuable soil and nutrients also get washed away. but with micro irrigation, the water is spread gradually into the soil. a bit like an intravenous drip. this method introduces water usage without washing away nutrient rich soil. micro irrigation is said to reduce the amount of water needed by more than 40%. not only that, crop yields can be boosted by as much as 200% with effective use of fertilizers. the technology has already been commercialized for the production of vegetables and

fruits. researchers are trying to work out how to apply it to growing rice. >> translator: it cost a lot to introduce the system, but it more than paid off with the increased output. we can also save water. >> reporter: micro irrigation has only been introduced across about 2% of india's farmland. the government wants to increase that 20 fold to avoid future shortages of food. for the past six years it's been subsidizing half the cost for farmers who introduce the system. for a nation set to become the world's most populous, new efforts to meet the growing appetite for food have begun to

take root. >> that's it from bangkok. thanks for joining. a chinese dissident writer who moved to the united states has had a press conference on wednesday that the international community must be more alert to human rights issues in china. speaking in washington, the writer criticized china for tightening its grip on free speech. >> translator: ever since he took office in 2004, i've been completely banned in china. i cannot publish any work, neither articles nor books. other people are barred from mentioning me in their public writing. >> he had been monitored by the chinese authorities since december 2010 for his support of a nobel prize laureate as well as his attacks on communist party rule. he says he has been severely beaten and chinese investigators warned them that they could break his han and bury him alive in half an hour if they were

given the order. he moved to the united states along with his family on january 11th. his relocation is believed to have come after an agreement between the u.s. and china. tens of thousands of people who used to live around japan's fukushima daiichi power plant are itching to return home. they've been in temporary housing for months now. the fact is they'll likely stay there for months more. their towns and villages need to be decontaminated. the government is trying to speed up the process. it says building a storage facility for waste is key. on this week's nuclear watch, we'll look at the hurdles standing in the way of that plan. >> reporter: workers and residents started the decontamination process in fukushima prefecture last year. they're removing soil in public spaces and routes children take

to school. but progress is still slow. the main reason municipalities can't secure sites to store the radioactive soil. the environment ministry estimates the amount of dirt could reach 28 million cubic meters. that would fill 11,000 olympic size pools. the central government is planning to build an intermediate facility to store the tainted soil. the site would operate for up to 30 years until a permanent location is found. last month the environment minister formally asked the eight municipalities to approve the plan. >> translator: i have come to ask your understanding in building an intermediate storage facility here. >> why does the government want to build this intermediate storage facility in this area? >> it is home to fukushima

daiichi. some 74,000 people lived in its municipalities before the march accidents. most of them were forced to leave. a large part of the region is still enveloped by the no entry zone. the environment minister said there are many places in the futaba region where the radiation dose is 100 times higher than the level set for acceptable annual exposure. he notes the con tom nation in those areas will be difficult. that's one reason the central government wants to build a storage facility there. but local authorities fear that will mean contaminated soil will stay in the region forever. >> translator: i have nothing to say. i feel frustrated in many ways. >> translator: we can't return home unless the area is

decontaminated. then we have to accept a facility to store radioactive waste. it's a grave issue. >> some municipalities are opposed to having their storage facility in their backyard. they have to take it somewhere. where can the negotiations go from here? >> the prime minister noda held face-to-face meetings earlier this month with the head of local municipalities. he asked them to back the plan. officials from fukushima prefecture and the eight municipalities started talking about how they should handle the matter. futaba town council held talks tuesday. the citizens are struggling with the idea. >> translator: if you build the facility in toke owe people there wouldn't accept it. it's only possible in futaba. but we are against the idea because it means the facility will be near our homes. then again, we can't send

contaminated waste from our town somewhere else. >> the environment ministry hopes to secure a site for building the intermediate storage facility by the end of march 2013. spokesperson say efforts to explain the necessity of this plan will continue. but it may take time before the ministry gets approval from local municipalities and residents. >> thank you. "newsline" is the place to turn to for the latest on japan post march 1 19. 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." murray johnson is up next

with sumo. it is day 12 of the new year grand sumo tournament. let me say for the most part it was a day of good sumo. two of the them at the top of the sport pulled the kind of sumo that won't bring fans to the arena. some good bouts first. he attacks low and forces high not allowing his favorite left hand grip. he maintains that constant attack and pushes him out. he could be a top ranker in a short time. the next future chance at ozeki. he needs a win. he has a solid grip, but looks light as he's driven to the

edge. kotoshogiku endures a stomach push that can't seal the deal. he goes to plan b and moves to seven wins and needing eight. sumo is a contact sport, but from what we saw today two ozeki have a different idea. let me also say it is the job of each opponent to watch the foe closely and many blame those that don't. back to the action. baruto leads the tourney as undeneated. kisenosato has lost the last six in a row to baruto. baruto moves kisenosato aside. i can't understand baruto here as he's beaten him head on in the past. maybe baruto chose a desperate move to keep his perfect record. hakuho finds himself in an unusual situation chasing someone. harumafuji prides himself in doing the kind of sumo fans will

want to see. hakuho lunges and harumafuji sidesteps from the rear. i wonder if that's the kind of sumo harumafuji thinks the fans will enjoy. now we'll have a look at the changes in the leader board. baruto remains the sole leader in undefeated. hakuho is the closest chasing with two losses. if baruto wins on day 13 and hakuho loses it will be baruto's title. i've been commenting on sumo for 16 years. in my opinion today was not a golden day in sumo's history. now let's hope the action is head on on day 13. rachel ferguson is up next with weather. hello there. we're finally getting some moisture in the pacific side of

japan. not just rain, but also the potential for snow. in fact, here in the country's capital tokyo, we're like toy to see five to 10 centimeters of snow in parts of western tokyo. here where the office is probably just a few snowflakes and nothing really piling up to speak of. however, we will see that turning over to rain saturday into sunday when the temperatures come up. that will be most welcome moisture after a very, very dry spell. now back in here behind in the continent you can see lots of widespread showers as well. towards the north this is going to be snow, too. you could also see about five to 10 centimeters to have white stuff. it's because we have a strong high pressure up here to the north. that's bringing in some really frigid arctic air which is gradually going to be descending down towards eastern china. shanghai you could even see a little bit of snow by sunday when your temperature drops down to 4 degrees.

we will gradually see that cold moving down towards the south and the east further down forwards the south no problem hong kong at 20 and 21 in taipei. in north america our big storm system in the pacific northwest. this one is still bringing very heavy rain. if we take a look at the accumulation in the next 24 hours you can see anything up to or exceeding 100 millimeters just around the border here between oregon and northern california. that's certainly enough to cause some issues with flash flooding. not only that, but in addition to these flooding rains gusts up to 110 kilometres per hour. so another round of really, really strong wind coming in which will bring those waves up. as we head inland it's going to be turning over to snow. in fact, there might be a short break, but by the time we head into the weekend, saturday, sunday, you'll see another round

of storms coming in bringing similar conditions. as for the eastern and northern locations here we've got a low pressure system dashing across the great lakes and bringing with it a really frigid spell. minus 7 in chicago for the high. your low is about minus 17. factor in the windchill it will feel a lot colder than that. minus 22 in winnipeg. you can see all the affected areas in the midwest back towards vancouver just up to freezing point for the high. as we head into europe, great big system here is just pushing across much of the skand knavian peninsula as well as the british isles down towards central europe. it's going to be rain and warm in the west. that's going to cause problems with gusts of 70 kilometres per hour with rain over the alpine region. that spells avalanche danger. so that's going to be an issue. as that system progresses down

so the southeast we'll see a change in the conditions. high pressure will remain over the iberian peninsula keeping things nice and clear here. temperatures 8 in london and 11 in paris. not too bad in vienna. out towards the east minus 5 in moscow. warm in kiev up to the freezing point for the high. a much warmer figure than we've seen in athens 15. i'll leave you with your extended forecast.

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

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