welcome to "newsline." i'm michio kijima in tokyo. technicians at fukushima daiichi have measured radiation levels inside one of the plant's reactors for the first time since last march's accident. the readings from reactor two are considered extremely high and they confirm the presence of melted fuel as well. and they also reinforce how difficult it will be to shut down the facility. tokyo electric power company technicians placed a dosimeter inside the reactor's containment

vessel, and they say radiation levels increased as they lowered the instrument. this suggests fuel melted down and collected at the bottom of the vessel. it registered a maximum of 72.9 millisieverts per hour. to put that in perspective, if a human were exposed to that level of radiation, they would die within about seven minutes. the technicians also learned the water used to cool reactor two is only 22 centimeters deep. they expect the suppression chamber at the bottom of the vessel may have been destroyed. we spoke to the expert about the new findings at fukushima daiichi. masanori naitoh says it could slow the work to decommission the plant. naitoh says the next job is to find out where the water leak is occurring. the utility will have to develop radiation resistant cameras and new robots. >> translator: it is going to be

a hard task to find the damaged parts that are causing water leakage in the containment vessel. that's because the vessel has a large surface area. >> japanese scientists are cautious about possible earthquakes near the country's nuclear plants. they say many faults have become more active since last year's massive quake and there's a risk they could shift simultaneously triggering bigger earthquakes. japan's nuclear safety agency has asked the operators of six plants to reexamine the active faults near their facilities. the agency's expert panel has been studying the possibility of faults more than five kilometers apart becoming active at the same time. the phenomenon had been considered unlikely until the march 11th disaster. three of the nuclear power plants, mihama, tsuruga and monju, lie in fukui prefecture. the panel points to the

possibility of simultaneous fault activity damaging the plants. the agency has also requested reviews of three other plants, niigata, ishikawa and shimani prefecture along the sea of japan. panel expert takada cautions deterrence. >> translator: will no no safety. the government and company should explain the exact circumstances to local residents. fukushima daiichi has released massive amounts of radiation into the environment since last year's meltdowns and explosions. that contamination has had an impact on the fishing industry in the northeast, and not just off the coast of fukushima prefecture.

fishermen in neighboring miyagi may have to temporarily stop catching sea bass. it would be the first marine suspension in miyagi because of the nuclear accident. the levels exceed a stricter government limit that take effect next month. the new maximum allowable levels will be 100 be ke rels. the fukushima government is getting ready to give residents cash for the emotional distress caused by the nuclear accident. the payments will go to people in municipalities farther away from the plant who are not eligible for a full compensation from tepco. prefectural officials say they'll hand out roughly $2,400

to each pregnant woman and children aged 18 and younger. those payments would cover people in western fukushima. expectant mothers and children in the southern part of the prefecture will get about $1,200. the amount is less because tepco has promised to pay those residents about $2,400 each. prefectural officials say they'll also pay about $480 to everyone else in western and southern fukushima. for the southeast nation of myanmar, parliamentary elections will reveal the leader's new colors. it's been praised for the moves toward democracy but what is the future for the pro-democracy movement. the question, the election should answer is, are myanmar's

changes merely window dressing to keep things unchanged. >> translator: for the elections aung san suu kyi are saying there are available seats. the campaign has enjoyed high popularity. her speeches on the street have attracted passionate crowds. in what some observers called a surprise move, the military-backed government led by governor thein sein approved to move to the front line. the president allowed the national lead for democracy to legally re-register. and welcome an observer team of foreign lawmakers and journalists. myanmar expert visited the country last month. he was impressed by aung san suu

kyi's popularity. >> the government does not have any incentives to limit the activity of the aung san suu kyi, because the government will want to make this election free and fair. and they want to show they did the elections to the international community. the majority of the 45 seats in contest at this time, they remain as minorities. because 75% of the seats are still monopolized by the usdp, the ruling party. >> reporter: kudo said they want

to persuade the international community to remove its economic sanctions. >> the president understands the inference on the international community, especially on the u.s. and the u.n. and other western countries. without her consent, or without her cooperation, it is difficult to make the western countries to lift their sanctions. >> reporter: kudo says if she wins, she's likely to actively participate in the decisions of the government rather than aim for confrontation. >> she decided to play the game, sit by the present and the previous government. some people criticized aung san suu kyi is utilized by the

present government, but she takes this political risk to achieve the long-term target that is a democratic transition. >> reporter: high on aung san suu kyi's agenda is amending the current constitution that enables the military to maintain its influence. but kudo says the world will have to wait a few more years to see myanmar's transition to democracy. >> democratic transition may occur only after the 2015, the next general elections, where -- when in the next general elections she'll participate in a full-fledged manner. and then the usdb, and then nld will confront in the election. tokyo prosecutors have finished investigating a serious

financial fraud by optical equipment maker olympus, indicting four people on additional charges. they have clarified how olympus management repeatedly covered up losses. the prosecutors indicted olympus itself, former president, tsuyoshi kikukawa and two others, hisashi mori and former auditor hideyo yamada. prosecutors say olympus did not post huge investment losses that it incurred about 20 years ago. and they say the company hid the losses after they exceeded more than $1 billion by transferring them to overseas investment funds. kikukawa said he did not have the courage to disclose the wrongdoing. shareholders say the company should realize its difficulties have also hurt their clients. the claim came after 61 individual and corporate shareholders filed suit at tokyo district court on wednesday seeking damages of some 370

million yen, or about $4.5 million. the shareholders say they would not have bought shares in olympus if they had known about losses and coverup. they complained that led to them suffering for the subsequent huge fall in the value of the olympus stock. >> translator: window dressing in itself amounts to fraud. >> olympus declined to comment, pending confirmation of the lawsuit. north korea's regime is feeling pressure from all sides. the leaders of japan, the u.s., south korea, and other nations are urging it to call off an upcoming rocket launch. now the head of the international atomic energy agency said a launch could affect a planned inspection of a north korean facility. iaea director general yukio and lynn reportedly spoke about north korea's invitation to the iaea to monitor the suspension

of its uranium enrichment program in yeonpyeong. >> i do not want to speculate. for now, the agreement between the united states and the dprk was made. consultation started. but as you know, these are things that will take time. >> amano added he will monitor the rocket launch. and so will many others. north korean authorities say the launch will happen between april 12th and 16th. they say they're only sending a satellite into space. but most believe they're going to test a ballistic missile. that's why leaders have been lining up to urge the north to scrap its plan. the call comes from the presidents of the european council and south korea.

>> we urge korea from any destabilizing act and that fully abides by its obligations of the u.n. security council resolutions. >> european council president and south korean president spoke after meeting in seoul. they urged the north to focus on stabilizing its food supply instead before promoting missile and nuclear development. south korean officials estimate the new rocket launch site and the launch itself could cost about $800 million. they say north korea could significantly ease its food shortages by using that money to pay for imports. for example, their calculations are that it would buy more than 1 million tons of chinese rice. despite the pressure, despite the warnings, north korean authorities still say their rocket launch will go ahead. that's put japan's self-defense forces on standby and the country's leaders on the offensive. they're planning to extend sanctions against pyongyang for one more year.

the current measures expire in two weeks. japan first impolesed sanctions in 2006 for missile launches and nuclear tests. next month's rocket launch is the main reason the sanctions are being extended. but government officials are also frustrated with the failure of their north korean counterparts to resolve the issue of japanese abductions. agents from the north kidnapped japanese citizens in the 1970s and '80s. the sanctions banned all trade with north korea, and prohibit north korean ships from harboring in japan. japanese officials say they could call on the u.n. security council to pass a resolution imposing additional penalties if north korea goes ahead with the launch. they might also add more measures of their own. time to check on some of the stories we've gathered from broadcasters throughout asia.

we're going to begin tonight with this item sent by rirb, iran. turkick prime minister arrived in tehran on wednesday after attending a nuclear summit in south korea. the foreign minister welcomed him at the airport. iranian president mahmoud ahmadinejad discussed the lingering crisis in syria. the two-day visit comes among strained relations between iran and turkey over the bloodshed in neighboring syria. an expert said commercial gaming revenues will overtake those of the u.s. by mid next year. makal's income grew to a staggering $3.5 billion last year. gambling consultant ben lee made a prediction ahead of the global gaming expo to be held in las

vega on may 22nd. it will please investors but they shouldn't get too comfortable. lee said fierce competition is on the way from other gambling service providers in east asia, such as south korea and taiwan. a museum in northwest malaysia will hold an exhibition of about 100 poisonous snakes beginning may 6th. the director of the museum said on wednesday that about 100,000 people are likely to visit. anyone who does will be treated to the highlight of the event, a 24-year-old female snake charmer known as the snake queen who plans to live with the poisonous snakes throughout the month-long event. a japanese expert panel has put forward options for the nation's future energy mix. this is part of the effort to review power sources. the focus is how much japan should depend on nuclear energy. on tuesday the panel under the industry ministry put forward

six options for 2030. one option was zero dependence on nuclear power which accounted for 26% in the previous fiscal year through march 2011. to make up for the difference, the proportion of renewable energy would go up over three times to 35%. thermal power would decline slightly to 50%. in-house power generation would double to 15%. this will mean the highest dependence on nuclear power at 35%. here, nuclear energy would account for 20%, and in-house generation at 15%. at the meeting, some experts called for further discussions on nuclear power policy, while others urged more studies on boosting renewable energy. the panel plans to finalize the various options by may, and submit them to the government. the united states is ramping up production of natural gas.

energy companies are fine-tuning the technology that allows them to extract it. nhk world has more on the potential for this fuel as an energy resource alternative. >> reporter: the huge gas tanks loom. more and more gas stations across the united states are offering natural gas at the pump. the company owns this gas station, and plans to increase the number of stations offering natural gas from the current 260 to more than 400 over the next two years. a major transport farm has also begun promoting the use of natural gas trucks. this firm has been using diesel trucks, have switched to trucks powered by natural gas to help the company save more than 20% on fuel costs.

this year the company added to its operations, 100 large type trucks running on natural gas. >> you're almost saving $1 per gallon by using a fuel, yet we're reducing greenhouse emissions. >> reporter: along with the demand for conventional natural gas, production in the united states has rapidly increased. unlike regular natural gas, this type is found in underground shale formations at the depths of 2,000 to 3,000 meters. to mine shale gas, you have to dig a deep well. then high pressure is applied by injecting a large amount of water to fracture the shale

rock. recent improvements in drilling technology have made it possible to extract the gas. the u.s. state of pennsylvania, a major shale gas producer, is benefiting from the shale gas boom, almost like the gold rush of the mid-19th century. lots of cars have arrived from across the country. they are coming to attend a job fair. about 2,000 people have come to look for work in the shale gas industry. in all 35 companies are participating ranging from drilling to transportation. >> it's going to create -- it's created a lot of jobs, and it's going to continue to create a lot of jobs, which obviously helps the economy.

>> reporter: shale gas production has led to new business opportunities in north america. preparations are under way in japan to import the gas. major japanese trading house mitsubishi corporation is developing this shell gas field in western canada. mitsubishi owns the rights for about $2.6 billion. a natural gas development company with business tied to mitsubishi are doing the drilling. the company plans to build a facility for producing natural gas also for export to japan. >> translator: what matters is how we can contribute to japan. i'm glad and proud that we'll be

able to provide the nation with stable supplies of energy. >> reporter: the natural gas revolution in north america is now reaching other parts of the world. but it remains to be seen whether shale gas can be placed as a major source of energy. nhk world, new york. here are the market figures.

let's get a check of the weather. it was pretty warm in tokyo today. should we expect this to continue for the rest of the week? i hope you say yes. >> well, michio, i'm glad to say yes for the answer for at least the rest of the work week. we had a very interesting weather today in metropolitan tokyo. we had sunny conditions during the day and then we started hearing rumbles of thunder, sudden overcast. so a very typical spring-like weather here. we actually had reports of thunderstorms in the narita airport area. so a lot has happened today. but the system will be pulling away from japan, and behind it, very pleasant weather until the weekend. in northeastern china, we have this stormy weather over here. and that's going to be spreading across, further up north, actually, the system is pulling very cold air. so that's going to be turning into snow. maybe some blowing snow could be

possibilities up there, too. lingering showers in central china will then be spreading toward shanghai by friday. and these two systems will be reaching japan about saturday. so it's going to be another, well, stormy weekend for us again. here in the philippines, especially as of now, it's going to be affected with a lot of coastal heavy rain. and the waves are picking up as much as 4 meters high, especially in the eastern sea boards. tropical depression over south china sea is still going to be lingering there. it's going to stay here for about another 72 hours. it is going to intensify, and it looks like it's going to become a tropical storm. and if it does, it will be the first in eastern asia this year. it's likely to intensify in the next 24 hours. so coastal flooding and flash flooding along the southeastern coast of vietnam is going to be very troublesome in the next couple of days. tokyo, we're looking at 14

degrees temperaturewise. reaching up to 17. in beijing, 19. heading over to the americas now, the system that was troubling south ontario and the great lakes, that will be moving towards quebec and in the new england region, dropping heavy amounts of freezing rain, as much as 5 millimeters. that's going to be causing troublesome dangerous winter weather driving conditions there. the associated front that is stretching all the way down toward the central plains, this is the area where you may see severe thunderstorms to be igniting. hail and damaging gusts are not ruled out. pacific northwest we'll still be looking at very heavy coastal rain along the coast of oregon and northern california. wet snow will be piling up in the mountainous regions. it could be very heavy. now, around the colorado regions, fire weather is still going to be posted up there as an alert. let's take a look at some video

coming -- excuse me, some photos coming up from colorado. these are the wildfires that was supposed to be contained. it has reignited because of the very strong winds. winds are still going to be strong in and around the denver region. 25, well above average temperature there. also in oklahoma city, reaching up to 28. here in washington, d.c., you're going to see some chances of thunderstorms, temperaturewise it's going to be 24 degrees. really warnl out there, too. here's the extended forecast.

and that's our broadcast for this hour on "newsline." we'll be back in a half an hour. i'm michio kijima in tokyo. thank you for watching. bye-bye.