welcome to "news lynn -- "newsline", record snowstorms are causing deaths and accidents in northern japan, while the korean peninsula grits its teeth through some of the lowest temperatures in half a century. meanwhile parts of the u.s. are enjoying cherry blossoms, a virtual taste of spring. along the sea of japan coast, heavy snows are hammering local

communities. >> translator: we seldom have such heavy snows. it's been 40 years since i came here. and i've never been through anything like this. >> on wednesday an afterlamplg killed three guests at a resort. the police and fire department said strong winds had collapsed surface snow. the next day all you can see of the hot spripg bath were bits of plastic roofing indicating the huge power of the avalanche. >> south korea extremely cold air blowing in from the arctic has pushed temperatures way down. mercury in seoul dived to 17 sell yus below zero. a 55-year low. at the same time the u.s. capital, washington, is enjoying a strangely warm winter.

that's thanks to the jet dream flowing farther north than usual. cherry trees have started blooming along the banks of the potomac river several weeks earlier than usual. >> it's amazing. i had a wool coat and a scarf and a sweatshirt. >> washington on tuesday saw daytime high of 21 degrees celsius. 14 degrees above normal. things are coming down to the wire of syria. the u.n. security council is debating a resolution aimed at stopping the violence in the country. councilmembers as well as representatives from the arab league met on wednesday. they so far have failed to agree on the proposed peace plan. the plan called for syria to immediately end this crackdown on anti-government protesters. it urges the president to hand over power to his deputy and hold an election to form a new government. western nations support the plan, but russia says the

priority must be on promoting dialogue between the syrian government and protesters. russia is reportedly insisting that any resolution must ib collude wording to the effect the military will not intervene. u.s. ambassador to the u.n. susan rice says she's not sure a consensus could be reached but that talks will continue thursday. president asad has kept a lock on power despite nearly a year of anti-government protests. but a syrian opposition figure tells nhk that grip might be slipping. he says his group is in contact with government insiders who have turned against asad. the syrian national council spoke to nhk from london. he insists the ruling administration is losing support, he added the government is being propped up by people who have benefitted from 40 years of asad family rule.

>> we can talk with some officials inside the regime in order to sort out the ere a after. >> he criticized russia for standing in the way of a security council resolution. japan will soon begin test drilling for me teen hydrate off the pacific coast. this will be the first offshore attempt to extract the substance. it's formed deem underground. when methane gas is trapped in water chris centrals, the ice like material can be extracted and burned like natural gas. japan oil gas and metal national corporation says drilling will begin in mid february about 07 kilometers in central japan. the organization will try to extract the methane hydrate next january to see if stable and long-term drilling is possible.

>> translator: extracting the methane hydrate effectively is a really big challenge. if we can start commercial production, methane hydrate will be one of the few domestically produced energy resources. >> it is believed the test site could supply the equivalent of about 14 years of natural gas consumption. next we go to bangkok to find out what's going on in the region. >> pakistan's supreme court says it will charge the prime minister with contempt. the case seeks further pressure on the prime minister from the judiciary at the same time as he faces strained ties with the military. the court said on thursday that the prime minister will be indicted on february 13th. it had ordered him to reopen a corruption investigation against the president dating back to the 1990's. but he told the court last month

that in his opinion, the president had immunity from prosecution. he did not comply with the order to reinvestigate the case. if he continues to refuse and is found guilty of contempt, he will be disqualified from parliament and ejected from power. his latest troubles come on top of tensions with the military after rumors surfaced in october that the president had sent a memo to the united states asking for help to avert a possible military coup. in vietnam a woman has died of bird flu. she was the second person in the country to succumb to the virus so far this year following the death of an 18-year-old man last month. health ministry officials say the 26-year-old in soc trang province died saturday after

being hospitalized with a cough and fever. a research institute found the bomb was infected with h 5 nrks 1, a potentially lethal airborne strain of the bird flu virus. a provinicial health department official told the ap news agency that the woman that i have slaughtered and eaten infected chickens raised by her family. the health ministry is still trying to identify the infection root. officials say birds in her neighborhood have died of avian flu, but they add that no one else in the area has yet reported symptoms. turning to papa new guinea where a ferry sunk off the northeast coast on thursday morning. about 200 people have been rescued, but many others are still missing. the ship, the mv queen was lost on thursday morning after the vessel sent a distress signal. the coastal ship was 47 meters

long. it's believed that there were around 350 people on board. it supg on its way to new guinea from the island of new britain. officials say rescue crews have so far plunked at least 193 survivors from the ocean. prime minister peter o'neill said his government is mobilizing resources for the rescue operation. >> we have now dispersed close to four vessels and a helicopter in the area to rescue the survivors. >> the area was reportedly experiencing bad weather at the time that the ship's operator has been unable to confirm the cause of the tragedy. and finally, an usual horse racing festival in the central highlands of vietnam has taken place following the lunar new year. thousands gathered to watch the

traditional event which provided spectators with a mixture of competition and comedy. one horse is unable to stop short so gallops straight out of the course. another one moves backwards instead of forwards. unexpected accidents like these are actually the main draw of this horse racing festival. thousands of people braved the bad weather to see tuesday's event. the horses normally drag carts for farmers who play jockeys on this day. the horses set off. but one of them flings off the jockey and keeps running. another refuses to be mounted. the jockey has no choice but to walk alongside. some give up mid race.

>> translator: i enjoyed the delightful atmosphere. they all did great. i think they were trying harder than in normal years. >> let's hope this lunar new year is off to a good start for everyone who took part. that's going to wrap up our bulletin. for ten months tokyo electric power company could only guess what was happening inside the reactors that suffered meltdowns at the fukushima daiichi nuclear power plant. last month it got its first clear view. the utility sent a fiberoptic camera into one of the reactors. on today's nuclear watch we look at what they found and what they failed to find. we know from a previous study that fuel melted through the walls of the core units of three reactors and fell into the bottom of the containment

vessels. >> tepco said the camera inspection was the first chance to look inside the containment vessels. it was a chance to see directly whether the fuel cells submerged in coolant water. tepco needs this information in order to maintain a stable state of the shutdown and to remove the fuel. until now, the company only had estimates based on computations. the survey was carried out at the number two reactor. a scope was inserted through a hole about seven meters from the bottom of the reactor's containment vessel. the camera was designed for industrial use. >> what did tepco find?

>> these are images taken by the scope. conditions inside the vessel made it difficult to take clear pictures. the white spots are potentially caused by high reduation. poor lighting and steam reduced visibility. what the video revealed is a harsh environment that no human can be allowed to enter. but tepco did manage to capture pipes that are s partially rusted. a nuclear expert to give us his take on the more useful pictures. >> the coating inside the containment vessel might be peeling off in places after being exposed to high temperatures. but the images also tell us that

the interior of the vessel suffered no major damage. >> what did tepco fall to find in the latest survey? >> the failure to locate the surface of the coolant water that was the main purpose of the survey. the camera took this virtual image inside the vessel. it is located four meters from the bottom of the vessel. tepco had expected it to be covered by water. >> is built in fuel in the reactor may not be submerged? >> tepco did collect other evidence during the survey to show that the fuel is being kept relatively cool. it measured the temperature inside the containment vessel for the first time during the survey. it was 44.7 degrees celsius. low enough to indicate the fuel

is in cool and stable condition. a professor said tepco needed to continue to study the situation inside the reactors to prepare for decommissioning work. >> translator: i believe the saying a picture's worth a thousand words. this survey was the first step for tepco to ascertain what's going on inside reactors rather than relying on assumption. >> getting a clear look inside the reactors is essential for tepco to develop a safe and efficient plan for decommissioning. the utility says it will attempt another inspection after developing a new type of camera that can go from the inside and get a clearer view. >> we sure are looking forward

to that. thank you for this week's nuclear watch. appreciate it. >> thank you. thursday was a chaotic day for the tokyo stock exchange. a come computer glitch prevented traders from buying and selling key issues during the morning session. the problem was fixed by the start offense afternoon trading. the people who run the tse say a malle malfunction occurred in its data distribution system. that made it impossible for investors to achieve information on big name issues such as sony, hitachi and others. so trading stopped on 241 issues right after the opening bell. the come computer glitch forced a securities exchange in northern japan to halt trading. services there resumed in the afternoon as well. the board's executive in charge of come computer systems held a news conference on thursday

evening. >> we'd like to deeply apologize for causing such an inconvenience to all our investors and other people who are affected by the problem. >> he said a switch over to a backup server failed. facebook is about to get some new friends. the website that started in a harvard dorm room and grew to become the largest u.s. social forum is joining the u.s. stock market. the company is trying to raise capital. investors will be happy to oblige. they've been waiting years for this moment. facebook's total market value is expected to reach $100 billion. that will make it the largest initial public offering for an i.t. company. the website has more than 800 million active users worldwide. people register then create a person profile. from there they can add friends,

upload photos, update their status, exchange messages and more. facebook submitted an application wednesday to the u.s. securities and exchange commission. the paperwork shows the company intends to raise up to $5 billion. facebook has not yet announced when or on which exchange it will start selling its stock. time to check on some of the stories we've gathered from broadcasters around asia. we're going to begin tonight with this item from thailand. thailand is minding its own business, small and medium size businesses, that is. a government says that the country must boost the small and medium sized enterprises. she said firms dealing with foods, jewelry, chemicals, plastic and furniture must improve their quality and distribution. it accounts for exports worth about $12.3 billion or 1/3 of thailand's total exports. it is expected the asean

economic community will become thailand's biggest market overtaking the u.s., the european union and japan. malaysians are continuing to buy gold despite the sharp increase in the metal's price in recent months. the managing director of the pan am jewelry business says the rising price of gold on world markets has made people more confident about buying the precious metal for investment and personal use. uncertainty about the direction of the global economy is said to be another factor behind the trend. sri lanka has started manufacturing luxury yachts. a firm has produced four yachts priced between $500,000 and $800,000. the boat haves four bedrooms, bavms, a kitchen and a device to purify sea water for drinking. the vessel is controlled by state of the art equipment including radar system. bankers have come in for some heavy criticism in recent years. many people say greed in the

finance industry is to blame for the world's economic problems. our next story puts a kinder face on the money game. it starts with the tsunami last march and a group of investors willing to profit in some unusual ways. >> the business in distress. this man is the company's president. he built the factory from scratch 20 years ago. the tsunami knocked out the plant's power unit and destroyed almost all the machinery including the refridge traitor-could he get creative to keep his company going? >> translator: this is the nozzle of a few on the compress sor. >> with his vacuum pack out of action, he made some adjustments to this home appliance.

it's a clear work around but no match for the proper machine. output fell sharply after the tsunami. >> translator: our production capacity is 1/20 or 1/30 of what it was before the disaster. >> these men may be able to help. they work for an investment fund that has been supporting businesses hit by the disaster. he asked the company managing the fund to visit his factory. after checking the facilities, they presented a contract. he signed up immediately. >> translator: i can't give up. if it was just me it would be okay too give up. but i have my customers. >> the next step was to recruit investors. the finance company set up a meeting in tokyo.

the fund offers a number of projects, individual investors can support a company or a product. one share costs about $140. the companies include a shipbuilder. standing in front of 200 potential investors, he makes his pitch. >> translator: no matter what, we want to deliver products to our customers. please, please, give us your support and help our company. >> what's in it for investors? part of the money contributed is a straight donation. but if the company can make a profit, shareholders get to buy his products at a discount. also a special dividend for people who buy more than five shares. a whole salmon, free of charge. he hopes those incentives will help raise about doctors 800,000 to cover the cost of new

equipment and materials. in order to revive our company, i don't mind begging for people's help. >> not too proud to beg and investors were not shy to contribute. in one month he raised almost $80,000. at long last, the new vacuum packer arrives. the futon compress sor can be retired. the machine gets tested right away. >> translator: i never thought that would happen, but here we are with the new machine. we have to work hard to rebuild. i owe it to the people who invested in us. there's no way we can give us now. >> he still has a lot more fundraising to do. but thanks to some compassionate investing, he is taking his best effort toward building the

company. >> rachel ferguson is up next with weather. hello again. it has been quite a week in japan here in terms of snow. the worst of it is over, but we still have some pretty significant totals to come in the next 24 hours. let's start in the past with what has happened so far this season we've seen more than four meters of snow in parts and that's an additional 20 centimeters of snow since yesterday. that's nearly three meters of snow in daisen. we're actually going to see things quiet down towards the west as one big system leaves. what we'll be left with is the usual wintry pattern across japan and into the next 24 hour. anywhere you're seeing in the red about 50 centimeters widely

in the green and down towards the west as some places picking up another 30 to 40 centimeters of snow into friday evening. so it's not quite over yet and lots of dangers of course with this cold snap and the snow. there have been many deaths reported and several hundred injuries, too of people trying to clear that snow away. if we head into north america more snow here. we have a storm erupting across parts of colorado as well as it's going to be nebraska and kansas getting the snow. to the south of that system thunderstorms maybe some hail damaging winds for oklahoma as well as texas. out to the west, things are looking mostly dry. temperatures are way above average, still. figures have come down since yesterday, but it's still seeing 9 in new york city. 12 in d.c. 9 in chicago as well. where we usually see two or so for the high.

winnipeg at the freezing point. you're usually way below 0 for the high. so continuing to see these above average temperatures. oklahoma city look at spring at 18 degrees. let's go into europe. another place that's been dominated by this extremely icy force at the moment. i want to start off with some video. this first video is going to be coming out of romania. let's switch to that now. this is where temperatures sank to minus 17 degrees allowing people to walk on some of the frozen waters of the black sea. the weather is likely to continue so we'll probably see that ice spreading even further. next we go to northern bulgaria where temperatures on wednesday morning plunged to record lows. 16 towns in bulgaria recorded their coldest temperatures since records started 100 years ago. people are being advised just to stay at home. not only because of the cold but because of the dangers of getting out there and walking of

course, on the icy roads or even traveling on the icy roads clearing the snow. we have our jet stream sinking all the way down across the mediterranean engulfing most of the continent in this arctic blast of air. take a look at the weekend, it's going to spread into northern africa as well. definitely seeing that in morocco as well as algeria. usually temperatures around 17 for the high. it's going to be around 5. you really need to wrap up. here are your friday temperatures. we have 3 in london. minus 2 in paris. down to 4 in madrid. sub zero in central europe. a very frigid minus 15 in kiev and warsaw and moscow 16 in moscow. here's the extended forecast.

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. . .