you're watching "newsline." i'm shery ahn. the countries have suffered the world's worst nuclear accidents could soon be working together to increase nuclear safety. japanese and ukranian leaders say they'll swiftly seal a deal to share information in hopes of better dealing with any future nuclear crisis. japanese prime minister yoshihiko noda and speaker of the ukranian parliament met in tokyo. noda said the two countries must work together to improve global nuclear safety. he said japan wants to learn

from ukraine's experience with the chernobyl disaster. the ukranian government wants to work with the japanese under a nuclear safety deal. it's nearly a year since the devastating earthquake in japan. they're dealing with tons of debris. local governments have joined hands to help dispose of it more quickly. 17 local governments outside the disaster area have agreed to accept debris for disposal, but they can't handle it all. their top officials launched a project to encourage more local authorities to join the effort. >> translator: i'm sorry the disposal of debris is going so slowly. let's work together to produce results. >> the disaster last march left an estimated 22.5 million tons of debris.

officials say only a little over 6% has been incinerated or buried. some local governments are reluctant to accept it because knowing what an earthquake feels like is a good way to be prepared for a big one. so disaster prevention officials in tokyo have unveiled an earthquake simulator that anyone can try out. the simulator can produce jolts with the maximum intensity on the japanese seismic scale. it can also simulate what experts call extended ground motion. this kind of earthquake has long, slow movements that can shake high-rise buildings far from the epicenter. >> translator: the long movements make me feel sick. >> extended ground motion made skyscrapers in tokyo sway during the earthquake last march, even though the epicenter was hundreds of kilometers away.

disaster prevention officials say they hope lots of people will use the new simulator to find out what extended ground motion feels like. greece has a bailout. the eurozone finance minister said the conditions were now in place for greece to get $130 billion euro bailout. the crucial bond deal involves more than 50% cut in the value of greek government bonds, held by private investors. the eurozone finance minister said greece still needs to implement security measures and structural reform to rebuild fiscal health. the unemployment situation in the united states has continued to improve. the u.s. gained more than 200,000 jobs last month for the

third month in a row. the labor department says employers created 227,000 jobs. manufacturers added 31,000 jobs. the mining sector added 7,000. the job growth was in line with market expectations, but it fell short of january's increase of 284,000. the unemployment rate was unchanged. officials say unemployment is still too high, but don't expect it to come down very much in the near future. for more on the u.s. unemployment data, we spoke with troy david, senior u.s. economist at barkley's capital. >> the current pace of average job growth over the past few months stands at 250,000. one positive aspect of this morning's report is it shoetd gains across several sectors, so we saw increases in

manufacturing, business services, education and health, and leisure and hospitality. in general, the report was solid, and indicates that labor market in the u.s. is generally improving. going forward, we are expecting job growth in line with recent trends. in our view, this will pull the unemployment rate down substantially over the next 12 months. we see the unemployment rate falling from the current level of 8.3% to 7.8% by the end of the year. this is a bit lower than fed forecasts which put the unemployment rate at the end of the year between 8.2 and 8.5%. but still, overall, the report was very positive and in response, markets, equity markets rallied. brought indexes within .5%. saw longer term yields increase. >> that was senior u.s. economist troy davig at barkley's capital. time to check some of the

stories we gathered from broadcasters around asia. this item from thailand. a fire at a high-rise hotel in the thai capital of bangkok thursday left at least one dead and 20 others injured. the blaze broke out on the fourth floor of the hotel. one russian woman who suffered from smoke inhalation was unconscious when taken from the hotel. she later died at a hospital. firefighters brought in cranes to help evacuate people screaming for help from the 15 story building. authorities are still investigating the cause of the fire. cambodian police thursday nabbed a huge hall of traditional chinese medicines traded illegally in the capital. the previous day, the police received information from two people who were caught transporting ten boxes of medicine. five kinds of medicines weighing about 770 kilograms were seized in the raid. the cambodian health minister said the use of the medicines

could prove fatal. indians across the country rejoiced in the festival of colors on thursday. it marks the arrival of spring and celebrates the victory of good over evil. adults and children roamed the streets, splashed color on each other. they were smeerg patterns on their faces. in new delhi, top political leaders joined the festival and conveyed their greetings. the celebrations were marred in mumbai where 170 children were hospitalized following an allergic reaction to contaminated powder. elementary school students in new jersey made a video message to encourage japanese children effected by last year's tsunami.

this student at the school after the tsunami, he proposed wrighting to children in areas of japan. they have now exchanged over 800 letters. on thursday, about 400 u.s. students gathered at the gymnasium to make a video. >> the children wrote their names on a flag that will be sent to an elementary school. >> i'm sad for the tsunami, but we're helping them. >> we're trying to get this set down to say we still remember about you, how are you doing. we still care about you. >> he wants to continue the exchanges with japanese students

and hopefully one day they'll be able to meet. here is your extended weather forecast. that's all for now. i'm shery ahn.

thanks for watching.