3/11. 3/11. long walk ahead. politicians in greece force a any election and trigger fresh fears about their country's future in the eurozone. welcome to nhk world "newsline." people in greece will vote in a few weeks to pick who they want to lead them in this time of economic crisis. it would be their second parliamentary election in less than two months. some political experts are calling it a referendum on the debt-ridden country's membership in europe's single currency bloc. the big question is whether greece will stay and implement strict austerity measures or go

it alone. party leaders have started talks to set up a caretaker government for the weeks leading up to the election. the poll will take place as early as next month. greeks voted ten days ago, but politicians failed to form a coalition. opposition parties are calling for the withdrawal of pledges on spending cuts and other measures to reduce the national debt. the austerity package is a precondition for bailout funds from the european union and the international monetary fund. representatives of greece's former ruling parties say giving up the austerity policies could force the country to leave the eurozone. voters are divided. >> nobody can impose to them economic terms that are not affordable. they cannot afford them. >> unfortunately, we're going to have to keep up with austerity measures. otherwise, we don't know what's going to happen.

>> but some greeks fear the worst is going to happen. local media quoted president carlos papoulias saying a total of 700 million euro of deposits have been withdrawn from banks since the may 6th election. here's a look at what would happen if greece is forced out of the eurozone. the government would have to issue a new currency, and that currency would start off weak against the euro. prices of imported goods could soar and trigger hyperinflation. greece's exit from the eurozone would also increase concerns about other european economies. portugal is already struggling to rebuild its finances after accepting bailout funds. italy and spain are also in severe fiscal trouble. if ratings agencies downgrade their government bonds and interest rates continue to rise, both countries will find reconstruction even more difficult. eurozone leaders have been

pushing for fiscal austerity measures for some time now, despite public growing resistance. angela merkel spoke to nhk about the situation in greece during an exclusive interview. >> translator: i'd like to see greece remain in the eurozone. i heard that 80% of people in greece want their country to remain a member nation. in order to achieve that goal, the european union needs to express solidarity with greece. but at the same time, austerity measures which were agreed upon by the imf, the european central bank and the european commission, must be implemented. >> merkel met new french president francois hollande on tuesday. the two leaders agreed op the need to improve the finances of the eu member countries. however, they admitted to differences of opinion on how to

boost the xhueuropean economies. merkel pointed out the roles they must play to deal with the eurozone issues. the german chancellor said she will coordinate views with the french president and eu summit in late june indicating that they could get over their differences. stock prices fell sharply across asia as political turmoil in greece weighed heavily on sentiment. investors fear that a second election could pave the way for the country's exit from the eurozone. here's a snapshot of asia's major bourses. here in tokyo, the nikkei shed 1.1% to close at 8801. that's a three and a half month low. the yen's continued rise against the euro triggered selling in exporters, like autos and high tech. the kospi fell 3.08 to close at a four-month low.

high tech shares plunged on reports that apple could be shipping orders of memory chips to japan. the hang seng closed at 19,259. that's after china's official media reported flat loan growth in the first half of may for the country's state-owned banks. moving on to the european market, london's ftse down by a two-tenths of 1% at 5417. the dax, 6377. also down by about a third and in paris, the cac 40 declining and looking on to currency on the tokyo foreign exchange, the euro lost ground to the yen and renewed investor worries. against the dollar the yen briefly hit a four-month low

falling to a $1.26 level and one point the lowest in months. in london the euro is currently trading at 1.2728 to 2731. and against the yen, the euro is changing hands, see if we can get that up, 102.40 to 43 yen. japanese businesses are worried that greek political turmoil will affect the asian economies. the head of the japan foreign trade council has expressed strong concern. chairman shoei utsuda said the worst scenario is in greece leaves the eurozone. if that happens, that will have a serious impact on asian economies such as a decrease in trade. the yen would go higher. utsuda expressed that they would cooperate to prevent the debt crisis from spreading further. >> translator: the ideal path is for greece to deal with the problems, maintain economic growth and not take excessive austerity measures. here's more of the latest market figures.

a bomb exploded tuesday near a convoy of united nations cease-fire observers in northern syria. there were no casualties reported, but activists say at least 21 people were killed earlier in the day when syrian forces fired on a funeral procession in the same area.

the blast occurred in the northern town of khan sheikhoun in the idlib province. a video of the attack appeared online, although nhk cannot confirm its authenticity. they said the attack damaged three vehicles, but there were no injuries. u.n. observers began monitoring a cease-fire in syria last month, but the violence shows no signs of easing. nhk's senior commentator, nobuhisa degawa, was a former correspondent in the middle east and has visited syria many times. you said there doesn't seem to be much of a cease-fire for the u.n. to monitor. >> well, certainly, the violence is hindering the work of observers. they are even coming under direct attack. as you might recall, there was a bombing last wednesday targeting a u.n. convoy. none of the u.n. members were injured, but several locals were hurt. the latest bombings have made a tough job even more difficult.

>> the largest opposition leader, syrian national council president burhan ghalioun visited japan last week. how crucial is his role in the conflict? >> he's one of the key players. japan, the u.s., europe and many other countries recognize his council as one of the legitimate representatives of syria. now he's pushing them to play a more active role in the country's affairs. he came to tokyo to ask the japanese government for even stronger support. in an interview ghalioun said there was a fatal blow in a peace plan drawn up by u.n. special envoy kofi annan, as well as in the u.n. security council resolution. >> translator: assad is taking advantage of weakness and division in the international

community. annan's plan allows assad's regime to use its power to oppress people. there has to be a resolution in the security council that enables the use of actual force against the current regime. >> ghalioun wants the security council to adopt a new resolution allowing military operations if syria's government fails to comply with the cease-fire. he also said he won't accept any solution that allows the assad administration to stay in power. >> translator: we accept an unannounced plan on the premise but the purpose of negotiation is to bring this to a democratic administration, not to reconcile with the assad dictatorship. there will be no immediate and true solution to this crisis without assad's resignation. >> ghalioun expressed optimism

about uniting the various anti-government groups. >> translator: the syrian national council is tackling the conflicts within the opposition. last month we held a conference with other anti-government groups and succeeded in setting up a preparatory commission. the commission should unite opposition groups and strengthen mutual cooperation. >> ghalioun said it may take time for the various groups to come together and build a force that could take power after assad. >> both kofi annan and u.n. secretary-general ban ki-moon said we could descend into civil war if they fail. they say this could be catastrophic. >> yes. some people question the viability of annan's peace plan and the u.n.'s monitoring mission. but the assad administration has

endorsed it as have russia and china, a city with traditional allies. at the moment the u.n. mission may be the most viable hope for avoiding a full-scale civil war. the focus now is on whether the u.n. can increase the number of observers in syria from the current 190 to the targeted 300, but the security council resolution on syria are not enforceable. the ongoing violence means member countries may prove reluctant to send personnel and that would make it even harder to find an end to the conflict. >> senior commentator nobuhisa degawa. >> thank you very much. nato leaders are moving to repair strained relations with pakistan. they have invited the country's president to the summit on afghanistan. nato is trying to organize an orderly withdrawal of troops and pakistan's cooperation is seen as critical.

the two-day summit opens in chicago on sunday. pakistan is blocking supply routes for u.s. forces in afghanistan. the blockade started in november. >> as a neighbor of pakistan, afghanistan does have a role to play in supporting afghan security. we do want to see these land routes opened. we are continuing to work on it. but we thought it was important to have them at the summit in this partnership role. >> nuland said she hoped to reach an agreement before the summit opens. lady gaga may have to con sell a concert in indonesia. the authorities refused to issue a permit after a group voiced

strong opposition. the concert is due to take place in jakarta on june 3rd. a local newspaper says more than 30,000 tickets were already 108d. sold. but the permit had been denied for security concerns. islamic groups had been vocal in their objections, calling lady gaga's act vulgar. they said her sexy clothing and dance moves would corrupt young people. some hardliners said they would try to stop her entering the country. lady gaga is now on a world tour of 30 countries. okinawa marked 30 years of return to lands to japan. local residents have been living side by side with u.s. soldiers for even longer, over 65 years. they've often struggled to get along as neighbors, but one american import has helped to bring the two cultures together. and we're talking about rock and

roll. in okinawa city, aging rockers are passing on the legacy to a new generation. here is their story. >> reporter: it hits you as soon as you walk through the door. an explosion of guitars, bass and drums. this is one of dozens of music clubs in okinawa city. strains of rock and roll. u.s. soldiers used okinawa as a base during the vietnam war. they'd take a break here. soldiers filled the streets of okinawa in the cliche, "looking for sex, drugs and rock and roll." a sub culture flourished. soldiers filled music clubs every night. and every night they threw

glasses when they thought the bands weren't getting it. >> these guys are the legends. >> reporter: these musicians spent their youth playing in front of u.s. soldiers. yolkio is 70 years old. he said he and fellow musicians risked their lives. >> translator: this was the only weapon i had to protect myself. so when they attacked us on stage, i beat them with this. >> reporter: kan was brought up in the red light district for u.s. soldiers. he spent his boyhood on the streets lined with nightclubs. he learned the lessons of rock

from jukeboxes. in 1964, cam and a friend formed a rock band. they split up after a few years. they brushed up their performances by playing for americans. they went on to form two legendary bands, icons of japanese rock. the history of okinawa rock legends started from this small business district. still, cam didn't find it easy to play in front of americans. his grandmother was killed when a u.s. soldier ran her over. no one was ever held accountable.

>> translator: you can't say everything about the bases is bad. by coming into contact with american music, okinawan jazz and rock was born here. i hate to admit it, but the bases are one source of our heritage. >> reporter: through the years, u.s. soldiers were convicted of various crimes. assault, rape, murder. their commanders slapped a curfew on them. then the yen started to rise against the dollar. the soldiers no longer filled the clubs. some of them had to close their doors. now, cam suffers from heart disease. ka ma mitt su is losing his sight because of diabetes. this march he had to close down the club he ran for three decades. now cam feels he needs to put

his memories down. he's asking other musicians to help him write the history of cata rock. >> translator: it's time now. it's my mission to record and hand down a record of how okinawan rock was born, and has developed its history and culture. >> reporter: kyan and the guys he grew up with are trying to pass on what they know to another generation.

>> reporter: kyan and other old musicians expressed their innermost feelings through rock. they say the times have changed, but the spirit of their music will never die. nhk world, okinawa city. residents of tokyo are weathering some warm weather. temperatures were unseasonably hot today. in fact, it became the hottest day of this year at 27 degrees. we went out into the thick of it. >> reporter: it's always hot at this corner of tokyo. thousands of people scramble

through the crossing every day, but today they were hotter than usual. i bought this mobile weather station which is in my hand right now, and it actually tells you the heat index, plus the temperature. the heat index is how hot people feel. and they feel as if it's 35.5 degrees right now, which is the mid-summer temperature. just in mid-may here in tokyo. nhk world, mai shoshi. will this hot weather last? robert, what can you tell us? >> well, it does look like this, hot weather will be lasting throughout the remainder of the work week here. there is high pressure dominating most of japan here with these highs going into your thursday. tokyo expecting up towards about

25 degrees. this is mainly due also to a westerly wind coming across the japanese alps here. it slides down the eastern slopes, and warms up. that's what's bringing this very warm weather. accompanied by some low humidities, though. what this is going to be causing, going into thursday, and especially into friday, is colliding with cooler air coming in from the north. and it will be bringing the threat of some thunderstorms, strong at times across much of eastern japan, even expanding off to the north. down towards the southern portions of japan into the japanese isles, you're expecting rough weather going into the next several details. the next 24 hours, 120 millimeters of rainfall could be expected there in okinawa, and in taiwan in the past 24 hours you have seen upwards of 111 millimeters of rainfall. this is bringing the threat of land slides and flash flooding, especially into the low-lying valleys here. much of the tropics, remaining scattered thunderstorms across much of the region here. temperatures looking like this,

though. bangkok with a high of 36. hong kong at 30. beijing at 30 as well. and ulong 26 for your thursday. unfortunately, though, the low will be down to about 8 into your overnight hours. now into the americas. much of the eastern seaboard, you have been seeing wet weather here. there's a slow-moving front moving off to the east. new england, you could still be seeing thunderstorm activity, potentially becoming severe at times on your wednesday. but then going into thursday, it does look like this front will finally move off to the east, bringing cooler weather in behind it. much of the south is still going to be seeing afternoon and evening pop-up thunderstorms into florida. while off to the west, into the rockies here, much of wyoming, idaho and even towards colorado, unsettled weather. thunderstorm activity accompanied by hail could be showing face here. down across much of the south, southern portions of the americas, very warm weather. check out these temperatures.

oklahoma city at 30. atlanta 28. even new york looking at a high of 27. toronto, though, only at 16 for your high on wednesday. now, into europe. much of the eastern half here is seeing some unsettled weather. this is all running basically north along the western portion of a blocking high that's bringing fair weather to moscow. unfortunately across much of eastern europe, unsettled weather. thunderstorms, hail at times here in the ukraine. you could be seeing gusty winds. unfortunately gusty wind and rain showers are going to be expected in toward the uk, especially wednesday and afternoon hours. this system will be moving onshore bringing all this foul weather with it. farther towards the south, though, you're going to be seeing summer-like temperatures here. madrid and lisbon at 21 and 31 for your high on thursday. cooldown is in store. look at these temperatures going through your weekend. 22 and 18 on saturday.

then sunday, dropping down to the high teens. much relief after you have been seeing temperatures well above your averages there. now here's a look at your extended outlook.

more than 500 people paraded through the streets of kyoto dressed in traditional court

costumes. the spectacle was part of the city's annual oui festival. the event dates back to the reign of emperor kinnia. the parade traveled a kilometer-long course to the palace to one of the city's oldest shrines. onlookers cheered the festival's main character, a woman in an elaborate princess kimono. >> translator: the colors were very beautiful. japanese people have always had a flair for artistry. and i could feel that here? >> the event is one of three main festivals each summer. we'll be back with more news in 30 minutes. i'm getani in tokyo. thanks very much for joining us on nhk world.