at odds. leaders of tepco and the japanese government go head to head over how to revive the utility. tokyo electric power company has received billions in public funds since the march 11th disaster. now the government is demanding more say in how tepco runs its business. industry ministry has issued a warning to tepco saying the other than of the plant will not receive public money unless the

government gets adequate voting rights in return. the government will not otherwise accept the business revival plan. tepco needs a large amount of public funds for compensation for nuclear disaster victims and for thermal power generation. >> translator: as long as i'm in charge, we will not accept any request for capital injection unless we get voting rights that reflect our amount of investment. >> he said after the meeting the comments cannot be taken lightly. but he added he is still opposed to the government's control. >> translator: the creativity of the private sector is indispensable. i think this is also important for a power company. >> tepco is likely to ask the

government for about $13 billion to strengthen its capital base. this is more than its present capital of $11.5 billion. the government must assume management rights and responsibilities to correspond to its support since taxpayer money is used. if the government gets more than 2/3 of the votes at a shareholders meeting it would get an absolute say on tepco's management. on the other hand, the utility wants to hold the government's influence to a minimum. tepco says meanwhile that it has been losing more money than thought. the company says it expects a net loss of about $9 billion for fiscal year that ends next month. that's about $1.2 billion more than the utility projected in november. tepco's electricity sales have fallen while the company is suffering special losses because of its effort to dismantle the damaged nuclear power plant. local officials staged disaster drills in hokkaido. the exercise assumed a major

accident with the possible leak of radioactive substances. >> reporter: the prime minister has declared a nuclear emergency. >> about 1,000 people took part in monday's drill. including officials from hokkaido prefecture. the participants rehearsed how they would collect the information, measure radiation and secure evasion routes. officials conducted a drill to relocate the functions of offsite emergency response facilities. they practiced moving computers and communication equipment. the offsite response center near the fukushima daiichi plant failed to function after the accident last march due to a radiation leak. the arab league has called on the u.n. security council to send a joint peacekeeping mission to syria. members want the u.n. the start a government crackdown on the protesters. the decision came as the league ended its monitoring system to syria. observers suspended their

submission last month. the league urged members to sever negotiations with asad. government troops have used more force in recent weeks. the traeks intensified during earlier this month after china failed to reach a u.n. security resolution. kooid kooi says it supports the government. there was a posted stated on websites on sunday calling for the overthrow of the administration of syria's president asad for the sake of freedom and justice. last friday bomb attacks on the

military and security service buildings took place. the government suggested islamic extremists were responsible. opposition forces say the prodemocracy movement has nothing to do with islamic extremists and criticized the government. syrian expats in toke yo have put a show of support. about 50 syrians demonstrated in front of their embassy to demand asad resign. many of them obscure their faces to prevent relatives from being harmed. >> the asad government is killing a large number of people in syria. please help us. >> the protesters later split into two groups and headed for the embassies of russia and china. members from each group read out

a letter of protest. they say those countries cause more killings by vetoing the u.n. resolution. next we go to bangkok to find out what's going on in the region. >> we start in pakistan where the supreme court has dieted the prime minister for contempt. if convicted, he will be disqualified from parliament and lose his position as prime minister. >> reporter: the court charged him on monday after he refused the order to re-open a probe against corruption allegations dating back to the 1990s. he appeared in court and pleaded not guilty. he said judicial authorities should not try the president because he has immunity while in office. the indictment makes the political situation in pakistan

even more uncertain. he has troubled relations with pakistan's military. that stems from the allegation that surfaced in october that the president had asked the united states to protect him from a possible military coup. the indictment heaps further pressure on the prime minister. this time from the judiciary. >> in indonesia the trial has begun of a key suspect alds to be responsible for the 2002 bali bombings that killed more than 00 people. the islamic mill tant arrived at a jakarta courthouse amid heavy security on monday. he faces six charges including murder, bomb making and possession of illegal firearms. it's believed he was a bomb

maker for a southeast asian terrorist network. 202 people died, most of them foreign tourists in the bombing of a nightclub on bali. he is accused of making the explosives used in the blast. the 45-year-old spent nine years on the run before he was captured in 2011 in the same pakistani town where osama bin laden was later killed by american special forces. local media say prosecutors plan to call 86 witnesses and will push for the death sentence for patek. with valentine's day on tuesday, love is in the air. let's turn to some flash news from around the region that called make your heart skip a beat. here in thailand seven couples gathered in a resort city on sunday to keep those lips

locked. they're trying to beat the guiness world record for the longest kiss of 46 hours, 24 minutes and nine seconds. food and drinks are fed through a straw and a bathroom break is allowed only with the presence of a referee. romance was also felt in thailand's northeastern province on sunday. authorities held a wedding party for 12 foreign and local couples to promote the area as a honeymoon destination. the event was held at the lake of red water lilies one of the province's many popular tourist attractions. people in vietnam started celebrating valentine's day early on sunday. instead of exchanging gifts and chocolates around 6 hup young couples opted to donate blood. officials say that giving blood is a way to express love not

only for each other, but for society as a whole. that wraps our bulletin. the opposition block in venezuela has chosen a 39-year-old state governor as its candidate for president elections set for october. attention is now focused on whether the opposition can unite behind him to deny incumbent chavez for a fourth term. the governor beat out four other candidates in a primary contest on sunday. he garnered 62% of the vote promising to revive support for the poor. he is posing a challenge to the 13-year rule of chavez. chavez' cancer surgery last june does not appear to hurt his popularity. he has expressed confidence that he will win the president election this year and the one

after that as well. japanese aid givers are changing the way they help people in other countries. once japan gave more assistance than any other country. but tight finances forced japanese officials to cut the budget. now it's half the level of 14 years ago. officials also decided to shift spending from building infrastructure to humanitarian projects. they believe this type of aid better reaches grassroots communities. >> reporter: bangladesh home to 140 million people. for about 40 years japanese ode has helped country build railways, bridges and hospitals as well as other infrastructure

and institutions. it changed the focus from building projects to directly helping people. here a corporation has been busy. they are working on reducing the number of newborn babies who died. the problem started four years ago. thisville ang lies about 60 kilometers from the capital. one out of 26 newborns used to die here. now all newborns survive. >> translator: thanks to japan's assistance program no newborns die anymore. >> reporter: they teamed up with local medical people to teach

hygiene, to expecting and nursing mothers. japanese government officials expect to cover the whole nation. >> translator: we've recognized that not just construction, but humanitarian aid is so important. >> reporter: it is essential that medical prak in additioners be present when women give birth. she recruited volunteers and orzed a support group to prevent mothers or newborns from dying. volunteers indicate where pregnant women and newborn

babies live. she knew she had to accommodate local tradition into the program. for religious reasons, mothers and their babies separate from their families after childbirth. after two weeks families reunite. until then, the mother and her baby stay in this hut. it's made from straw. nothing covers the ground. the chance of infection is high. >> translator: i have no control over their religious affairs. it's a challenge. >> reporter: to improve hygiene while following religious tradition, the team made a proposal. they persuade the villagers to replace the walls with sheets of iron. supported organizations like

this one now number about 150. a member of one group has rushed to the home of a young mother. she is in desperate need of treatment for severe diarrhea. the ride to the hospital took just 20 minutes. on foot the journey would have taken three hours. the hospital staff also treated the mother for malnutrition. >> translator: i'm thankful for their help. >> translator: i'm now convinced that if we cooperate we can save human lives which might otherwise be lost. >> reporter: japan now tailors its assistance programs even more to meet the needs of the

bangladeshys. officials are confident the world will recognize the value of the new programs. >> there are other examples of humanitarian assistance. japan provides guide book for the school teachers. in indonesia there was a notebook used in checking the health of mothers and children. in uh-huh began da it helps locals grow rice that withstands the arid climate. these are the few examples of how japan changes the way it gives aid to countries. japan's economy shrank for the first time in two years. the earthquake and tsunami knocked recovery off the past. the cabinet office said the nation's gross domestic product fell 0.6%.

that translates to 2.3%. as a result, if overall gdp growth for all of last year came to negative 0.9%. a credit crisis in europe doctoringed down japan and other economies around the world. public investment in japan tumbled 4%. corporate capital spending edged up 0.3%. a poll shows the approval rate for nodda's cabinet has edged upward. a growing proportion of the nation's citizens are claiming they don't support any particular party. results from the poll conducted over the weekend show that 31% support noda's cabinet. the disapproval rate fell marginally to 48%. respondents were asked their opinion of noda's plan to submit a bill on social security and tax reform including a con

sunchs tax hike. 40% of the respondents approve of the plan. 53% expressed disapproval. those polled were asked about the ruling democratic party. only 14% approve of the idea which is aimed at funding the new pension system with 35% disapproving. the support rates for the democratic party and the opposition liberal democratic party slipped slightly to around 17%. almost 50% said they don't support any party in particular. the figure is the highest since the current survey method was adopted in july 2004. the results suggest that interest may be shifting from long established parties to upstart political blocks that are now taking shape. lessons from the march 11th disaster was the theme of a recent forum held in tokyo. our business anchor attended the forum to meet a renowned

intellectual. >> reporter: the world civilization forum was chaired by harvard university professor. the professor was born in india. he's a nobel laureate in economic science for his research into the mechanisms of poverty and his work in connecting economics and philosophy. >> what the fukushima daiichi disaster brings out with great force is the radical uncertainty that may be present that looked like safe enterprises of great importance to the world. >> reporter: in our interview professor sen says the domestic crisis at fukushima is a problem of world civilization. >> what fukushima established in a way that somehow the earlier incidents like the three mile island and chernobyl had not be

able to get fixed in people's minds that they could be lyingly advanced country and still end up in a situation of gigantic pollution affecting the lives of many people. i think it had made the nuclear option an alternative to standard fuels very much more difficult. so that is a problem of world influence and civilizational issue. >> reporter: really in the wake of fukushima you might say that the world is watching japan so to speak, to see if and just how it will change its energy policy. >> i think what japan does will be a matter of tremendous interest for the whole world and whether what you do to what extent can you go to solar power, wind power, japan can go

full steam ahead with research on this. this is only the first time that japan's research had changed the practice in the world. this could be a very big move in that direction. >> reporter: as countries do start to shift towards different types of energy, how can they do so without causing harm to their economies? >> if the solar and wind powers do become popular which they're only in very small scale now. if they become a large scale option, then i think they will become part of the investment climate of the country that could generate a lot of investment in that. and energy being available at a cheaper price in a nonpolluting way would be a big stimulus to an economy.

i don't think that's going to be the source of the problem. the source of the problem would be the engineering innovation that's needed. i'm just going based on the idea it's from the history of the world when humanity had looked for a solution to the problem intensely, they found a solution. "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 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." >> we have weather up next. >> hi there and welcome back. let's take a look at your

weather conditions starting off with japan and starting off here in hokkaido. a very clear day throughout the day on tuesday. but this low pressure system overnortheastern china will then be moving over japan sea and then moving towards your area on wednesday bringing some blizzard conditions. as it does so, that's going to be dropping your temperatures down on tuesday forecasted high is 3. and then to thursday minus 4 is going to be your high. now we've got a very long stretching front that is from southeast china all the way to the pacific side of japan that's going to be bringing us wet weather including tokyo for the next couple of days. that's going to be bringing some warm air, but then again drop with a cold wave coming in towards the end of the week. it's going to be a little obit of a break here in southeastern

area of china with some wet weather. but another round of wet weather to come for you. it's going to be clear and fine here in the china peninsula. but a different story in the philippines. active low pressure system just lingering over now that will be traveling all the way over. pretty much most of the country will be looking at thundershowers and some heavy -- locally heavy rain to come. manila temperaturewise 30 degrees. hong kong 22 with some misty conditions especially many the early morning hours. seoul at 7. that's going to be dropping down as well with that cold wave as i mentioned before. tokyo at 9 degrees for the tuesday high. that's going to be recovered to 13 degrees perhaps on wednesday. then again thursday dropping down to 6 degrees. that's going to be difficult for us to cope with. here in north america we've got a pacific northwest system that is going to be traveling down

all the way to the four corners and especially in nevada area snow could accumulate up to 30 centimeters. even in the valleys about ten to 20 centimeters of that snow could be possible. after this system moves all the way up towards upper midwest, the northern states will be look at some snowy conditions and en freezing rain and some sleet conditions could be seen in central mississippi valley area which could be severe. houston at 17 degrees. oklahoma city at 4 with some snow to come for you. 4 here in new york but that's with some sunshine and washington, d.c. as well with 7 degrees for temperature. los angeles 16 degrees that's going to be a little bit cool for you out there. in europe, same frigid arctic air is going to be controlling over the continent.

a weak front will be bringing some wet weather to come in the low valleys that's going to be rain, but high elevation snow. snowy here up in norway as well and that system winter storm system is going to be moving towards the east. very coastal heavy rain could be possible as well. thundery activity in the middle eastern sea area. this winter storm will bring snow to pile up in the ukraine and western russia in the course of this week. moscow minus 14 and warsaw minus 4. those are going to be recovering in towards the midweek and lisbon staying at 14 degrees for the tuesday high. here's our 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. . .