possibilities for change. >> i think political uncertainty is always bad for investment. >> the man who predicted the burst of japan's bubble says the economy will come back, if the country can reform its politics. iranian leaders suggest they

may be open to talks in the wake of more sanctions. the united states is planning more sanctioning. targeting oil, the mainstay of iran's finances. the mainstay is to halt iran's nuclear program which continues in defiance of a u.n. resolution. iran is threatening to close the strait of hormuz in protest. the united states has responded by deploying two aircraft carriers to waters near the persian gulf. >> in terms of any threats to the region, in terms of some of the behavior they have conducted in the region, that we'll always be prepared to respond if we have to. >> the european union has agreed to join the sanctions. foreign ministers are expected to ban crude oil imports in a meeting on monday. iranian leaders say they're willing to resolve the issue through talks. they say they'll september nuclear inspectors later this

month. they're showing a positive attitude toward resuming negotiations with six countries on the nuclear program. talks have been stalled for a year. 's foreign minister says he is willing to negotiate. >> we would like to have this negotiation. the date is not yet certain. but it will be soon. chinese premier says the strait of hormuz is an important channel, and the protection of ships should be protected. under any circumstance. he says china maintains a normal oil trade with iran and this should be protected. the u.s. sanctions are scheduled to go into effect in march. japanese government officials say they'll speed up efforts to prepare for the boycott. japanese and u.s. government officials discussed the sanctions during two days of talks in tokyo.

u.s. officials responded by saying a significant reduction in crude oil would be a necessary condition. the japanese government will try to clarify before the march deadline how much it needs to cut iranian oil imports. ai, an american automaker is back at number one. >> that's right, catherine, coming from a car maker that bounced back quickly from bankruptcy just recently. u.s. automaker general motors is back as the world's top seller of new cars for the first time in four years. gm announced thursday that it sold more than 9 million units worldwide last year. that's up 7.6% from 2010. gm has steadily recovered since it went bankrupt in 2009 and has become the top automaker in the world once again. germany's volkswagen earlier

said global sales increased 14% from the previous year to over 8 million units in 2011. and japan's toyota motors said late last year new car sales are expected to be just below 8 million units for the year. toyota was the world's leading automaker for the past three years, but it will fall to third place due to the impact of the march disaster in japan and the floods in thailand. new home building in u.s. a key cater of economic trends was released thursday. the index for december fell 4.1% from the previous month. this shows there's still a mixed picture for the american housing market. the commerce department says december housing starts stood at an annualized 657,000 units. by region, new construction of homes rose 54.8% in the midwest,

but marked a sharp decline of 41.2% in the northeast. the figure also fell 17.6% in the west and 3% in the south. building permits an indicator of future construction fell 0.1%. the u.s. stock market gained on the back of positive jobs related data and smooth eurozone bond auctions. to see how stocks here are opening in tokyo, we go to ramin mellegard at the tokyo stock exchange. ramin, how are things looking this friday? >> a pretty positive start this friday, ai. as you mention, weekly jobless claims coming out better than market consensus. and we have ibm, intel, we saw positive trading in those shares as well. the focus for japanese markets will likely be on high tech shares. we will follow that through the day. let's look at the opening levels

and you'll see what i am talking about. nikkei up over 100 points. now above 8,700. they extended gains a third day in a row. now above 8700. positive momentum there. a lot of sentiment has been coming from strong data out of the u.s. as well as successful bond auctions this week in eurozone countries. we had portugal and germany earlier, and just yesterday spain and france coming out with pretty smooth bond auctions, so that's helped some of the positive sentiment, and also it helped the euro. let's look at some of the currency levels, you can see what i am talking about there as well. if you focus on the euro yen at 99.87-92. monday, we were trading 97.04. you can see the euro has gained considerably over the last few days. so a bit of confidence coming

back for the euro, easing concerns about france downgrading the aaa rating friday. still, whether greece continues debt repayments is a major concern for markets, and that may peg back some revival in the euro. >> ramin, you mentioned tech earnings going well in the u.s. with intel and ibm jumping. some are having problems with kwourt quarter earnings. >> checking some of the results. sony said they had a net loss, citing intense competition, flooding in thailand. shares up 1% yesterday, but down around 50% for 2011. hand set shipments fell year upon year, and joint venture with sony eric son due to end, so sony can focus on integrating electronics, laptops, tablets. we will focus on sony related

stocks because of the slightly weaker yen and see how things open monday with developments in europe and the u.s. back to you, ai. >> ramin, thanks for that update. ramin mellegard from the tokyo stock exchange. i will be back exclusive interview featuring a best selling author on the japanese economy. "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 insight and information on the fukushima daiichi process. and "the road ahead". the first camera to be inserted into one of the nuclear reactors yielded disappointment on thursday with visibility marred by steam and radiation.

plant operator tepco used an industrial endoscope to peer in the number two reactor where nuclear fuel has melted down. the radiation resistant endoscope was inserted about two meters into the vessel to shoot images in various directions and shot seven pictures in the containment structure. although some images showed internal plumbing, they were unclear. many white spots obscured the pictures, apparently caused by the effects of radiation or steam from the radioactive water. the camera failed to register the surface of the contaminated cooling pool or any other details of the reactor's inner structure. >> translator: as far as we can tell from these pictures, there doesn't seem to be any major damage. i expected to see how the water is flowing inside the reactor, which could help our research. but nothing is clear. tepco needs to grasp the

condition inside the reactor as it prepares for decommissioning. the company says they will consider using other devices to get a better view. the environment ministry said high levels of radioactive cesium have been found in firewood ash in fukushima prefecture, northeastern japan. in the wake of the accident in fukushima, the ministry informed the prefecture and seven others that the municipality should collect and dispose of the ash because it can be contaminated. they burned samples of wood collected from two gardens from two houses after being asked by the city last november if the fuel could pose a health hazard. the ministry found that the maximum level of radioactive cesium was about 44,000 becquerels per kilogram. the forestry ministry, the forestry agency last november notified prefecture that firewood contaminated with the 40 becquerels per kilogram should not be distributed. the wood in question was gathered from nearby forests by residents.

the environment ministry has decided to examine how firewood is kept and used by residents in fukushima and surrounding prefectures. it will check the radiation levels in its ashes. tens of thousands of people that used to live around fukushima daiichi are desperate to return home. they have been in temporary housing for months. the fact is, they'll likely stay there months more. their towns and villages need to be decontaminated. the government is trying to speed up the process, and says building a storage facility for contaminated waste is key. on this week's "nuclear watch," we 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 power washing routes children take to school. but progress is still slow. the main reason, municipalities can't find 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 up to 30 years, until a permanent location is found. last month, the environment minister formally asked eight municipalities to approve the plan. >> translator: i have come to ask your understanding in building an intermediate storage facility here. >> we spoke earlier with a reporter to find out why the

government wants to build a facility in that area. >> it is home to fukushima daiichi. some 74,000 people lived in its eight municipalities before the march accident. most of them were forced to leave. a large part of the region is enveloped in the area around the plant. 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 decontamination 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. >> i have nothing to say.

i feel frustrated in many ways. >> we can't return home unless the area is decontaminated, but then we have to accept a facility to store radioactive waste. it is a grave issue. >> the prime minister yoshihiko noda had 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. they had talks tuesday with residents. some citizens are struggling with the idea. >> translator: if you built the facility in tokyo, 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 an intermediate storage facility by the end of march, 2013. spokespersons say efforts to explain the necessity of this will continue, but it may take time before the ministry gets approval from local municipalities and residents. many are casting a wary eye on japan's economic future, but one british journalist has a different take. bill emmett, former editor of "the economist" and tokyo correspondent for the magazine and now writes a column for "the times." his best seller predicted the bursting of the japan economic

bubble in the late 1980s. he foresaw the japanese economy would come back. what does he think now? business anchor ron madison asked emmott for his views. >> good to see you. back in 2010 when china looked poised to overtake japan as the world's second largest economy, you wrote an article that basically said don't count japan out. of course, several things have happened since 2010. we had the march 11th disaster here in japan, and the yen hit historic highs as well and its continued strength is driving production now out of the country and hurting the nation's exporters. i wonder how your outlook has changed? >> basically, my outlook hasn't been changed by events in the past year, although 2011 was a tough year for japan, thanks especially to march the 11th. but i don't think that the yen's rise is all that important. inflation adjusted terms, it

hasn't risen that much. the real issue is domestic politics and the continued failure to reform the economy. that's been disappointing, but that is continuity unfortunately rather than change. >> you touched on domestic policies here. we had an nhk poll that shows the sixth prime minister in five years looking at dismal approval numbers at this point. if he can't find consensus to get legislation enacted to pass the budget, he actually might be calling a general election as soon as march. i'm wondering what this political uncertainty in japan means for the country in 2012. >> i think political uncertainty is always bad for investment. it means that companies defer investment because they don't know what tax rates are going to be, don't know what reforms are

going to be introduced or not, and the disappointing thing about japanese politics is that despite the crisis, the national crisis, march the 11th, basically politics has remained dysfunctional, paralyzed, lacking in consensus. to that extent, a general election, regrettable though the necessity for one will be, actually possibly is good news from a business point of view, investor's point of view, at least it opens up the possibility of change, the possibility that a government mighty merge that has a real mandate for reform or for clear policies. >> i see. all right. well, in terms of the current government, what would you say are the most pressing tasks for them at this point to get the economy back on a firm recovery path? >> well, i think that the biggest tasks for the japanese government right now are implementing reconstruction and recovery plans, spending the

money being voted effectively. secondly, i think getting clarity over energy policy so that business and consumers have some sense of where the energy is going to come from, what the cost of it is going to be. the fact that japan still has most of the nuclear reactors in the country idle tells you that there's not a consensus, there's not trust in japanese public, on japanese politics about the future of nuclear energy nor about the future of energy policy, and i think that's a critical issue for government. the most immediate debate, of course, is about tax and about fiscal consolidation, and about plans in the future to raise consumption tax. >> and mr. emmott, to wrap up, what would you say a keyword or phrase would be to really best describe the year ahead for japan? >> my phrase or my keyword would be distrust.

i think we've seen in the year behind an increased level of distrust of government and big institutions in japan, based on the fukushima daiichi disaster and the incompetence that surrounded it, and surrounding the governmental reaction to it. distrust carries on into 2012 and the ability of this government or of a successor government after elections to repair that trust is crucial for the future of japan. >> all right, mr. emmott. thanks for being with us. great to get your insight. >> that was bill emmott, columnist for "the times." he was formerly editor of "the economist." the nikkei is up so far this friday. that's it for now, back to katherine. let's go to sumo with murray

johnson. 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, but two of the men at the top of the sport pulled the kind of sumo that won't bring fans back to the arena. first good sumo. kit attacki fought him in the last and lost. he maintains that constant attack and pushes kitatagi out. he could be a top ranker in a short time. the next future chance at ozeki, and he needs a win. kakuryu has a solid grip, but looks light as he's driven to the edge. he second quarter seal the deal,

so goes to plan b, to move to 7 wins, and needing 8. sumo is a contact sport, but from what we saw today, two ozeki have a different idea. let me also say it's the job of each opponent to watch the foe closely, and many blame those that don't. anyway, back to the action. baruto leads the tourney and is undefeated, kisenosato slaps him down. i can't understand baruto. maybe baruto chose a desperate move to keep his perfect record. hakuho finds himself in an unusual position. he lungs and he sidesteps to push him from the rear.

i wonder if that's the kind of sumo that he thinks the fans would enjoy. now a look at the changes in the leaderboard. baruto remains the sole leader and undefeated. hakuho is the closest chasing, with two losses. if baruto wins on day 13 and title. i've been commentating. in my opinion today was not a golden day in sumo's history. let's hope the action is head-on on day 13. >> looking forward to it. murray johnson with the latest in sumo. tokyo's drought is over. let's go to the world weather report. weather update. after a long

better snow is pretty light, but because we are not used to snow, so that could cause some trouble disturbances. meanwhile, inland areas are experiencing heavy snow, about 20 centimeters are possible in the mountains and 10 centimeters even in the lower-lying areas. over the next 24 hours, most of the precipitation will ease, but it looks like some areas will continue to stay wet. heading back to a bigger pictures, showers are developing in much of china, the northern sections are experiencing snow rather than rain. a cold air mass to sag southward. some areas may see a change over to snow. and in shanghai, you're going to see some light snow on sunday. so today's highs are looking

like this. we're expecting only minus 26 degrees in ulangbatoh, and in tokyo depending down to 6 degrees.ing down to 6 degreeing down to 6 degreeping down to 6 degreeping down to 6 degrees. moving to the americas a chain of winter storms has been impacting the northwestern states with a huge amount of precipitation and very strong winds. coastal areas of northern california and oregon having dealing with torrential rain, and mountains are still dealing with lots of heavy snow. more than 45 centimeters are still possible in the next 24 hours. some of the snow will move towards the lower great lakes in the next 24 hours. now, we will notice that another round of wet weather is coming into the pacific side again, so stormy conditions will likely continue into the weekend, so we are concerned about poor visibility and more

transportation delays here. across the east, separate -- moving toward the east over the northeastern states as well as eastern canada, bringing some light snow. so temperatures are looking like this. on friday, we're expecting only minus 19 degrees in winnipeg, and 4 degrees in toronto, 6 degrees in chicago, but the southern portions are still on the warmer side, getting up to 25 degrees in houston, and 25 degrees in miami. finally, let's go over to europe. it's messy again, and active low pressure system is moving over continental europe, bringing wintry precipitation as well as very gusty winds. in austria, more than 50 centimeters of snow are possible. across the british isles, a new system is moving into the region. they will continue to see heavy snow until friday morning. so temperatures are looking like this, on friday we're expecting 8 degrees in london for the high, 11 in paris.

across the east, still on the chilly side, minus 5 in moscow, and 0 degrees in kiev. that's it for me now. here's your extended forecast.

that's all for this edition of "newsline." i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. tokyo. do stay with us. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com