it's time now for "newsline." i'm keiko kitagawa in tokyo. a fatal shooting is testing a ceasefire between israel and hamas. israeli soldiers killed a palestinian man near the border with gaza. it's the first reported death since the truce came into effect wednesday ending eight days of air strikes and rocket fire. israeli government spokespersons say troops on patrol friday fired their guns at palestinian protesters. they say the man who was killed carried a hamas flag and approached the fence of a buffer zone. the hamas representative says

the shooting violates the ceasefire agreement. he says based on the acts, egyptian official who is are mediating are urged to take measures to prevent a recurrence. but egyptian leaders have their hands full with a growing issue. thousands of people gathered in cairo to let their president know about his decree he issued expanding his powers. the largest group since morsi took office since june. state run media reported that several people were jird. morsi issued as decareer thursday. he had the constitution exempt his orders from court review.

the president deferred to himself in the face of the protests. he says it was part of extensive discussion and it was necessary to move the revolution forward. the choices for voters in south korea's presidential election just got a whole lot simpler. a candidate has stepped aside. the election is now a race between candidates from the country's two main parties. ahn gave his backing to the opposition. >> translator: i am giving up my presidential candidacy. my fellow citizens, our sole candidate is moon. he needs all of your support. >> unapologized to his supporters, he said campaigning against moon would not have been good for the public. they had been trying to merge their campaigns but couldn't decide which of them should run for president.

ahn is a software entrepreneur. he was popular with voters who have turned away from mainstream parties. he earned support from young people by visiting universities and students who face a tough job market. the polls suggest park is in the lead. thousands of korean has -- and they want compensation. government leaders are failing them by not trying to negotiate with the japanese, they say. they filed a court petition to try and spur their leaders into action. representatives of more than 2,000 former forced laborers went to the constitutional court. they filed a petition. they said the failure to negotiate with the japanese is unconstitutional and infringes on their basic human rights.

japanese officials say the south koreans waved their right to demand war reparations when they signed a bilateral treaty in 1965. still the constitutional support in august. judges said leaders had had violated the treaty. south koreans have marked the two -- the second anniversary of a north korean artillery attack that killed two soldiers and two civilians. they gathered for a ceremony. >> reporter: about a hundred people took part in the ceremony with many offering flowers at a monument dedicated to the

fallen. it's been two years since this island came under north korean shelling attack. south korean government decided to permanently preserve these three houses that were directly hit. it also built a museum where people can learn about the incident. fragments of shells, photos of the attack opened its doors to coincide with the anniversary. >> translator: i didn't suffer any direct damage, but the memories of the attacks still haunt me. >> reporter: north korean officials have threatened it would attack the island again if the south went ahead with the memorial services. the south korean military staged a drill at the exact hour when the north bombed the island in a show of defiance and to

prepare -- yeonpyeong island in south korea. government leaders in the philippines and vietnam are complaining about china's latest attack in territorial dispute. showed disputed islands on to china. philippine officials say the dot on the map helps the composition in the sea. they demanded the chinese to leave the dotted line. taiwanese officials have their own reason to protest. they say a picture in it shows it as it's in china. a spokesperson for the chinese foreign ministry brushed off the complaints. >> translator: leaders of the countries concerned should act rationally and commonly.

>> the spokesperson stressed the chinese government's position that taiwan is part of china. conservationers mourned a few months ago when they heard about the death of a giant tortoise named george. they believe he was the last of his kind. now they say george may not have been so lonesome after all. he belonged to a subspecies related to one of the galapagos islands. they believed the species became extinct when he died in june. they say they found 17 animals with some of the same genes as george. they say the parents of five could be the descendents and still alive. coming up, the world weather forecast.

some of the world's biggest rodents are taking a very human approach of beating the winter cold. these live in a nature park near tokyo. the keepers give them a hot bath every winter. the animals tested the water before taking a dip. one of the babies couldn't resist a swim. >> translator: it's great to see them looking so cozy. >> they will get to enjoy their bath until the weather warms up in spring. that concludes this edition of "newsline." i'm keiko kitagawa in tokyo. thank you for joining us.

now the moment you've all been waiting for. an introduction to treasures produced in japan. what extraordinary skill will we see today? the ultimate craft. ippin. let's begin with a question. it adorns the tokyo sky tree, the capital's latest tourist spot. it garners the attention of women making them say it's a bit pricey, but i want one too. japanese celebrities have expressed their love for it. what are we talking about?

the answer, edo kiriko cut glass. this traditional glass called edo is rising in its popularity. there's secret techniques that have been hangeded downing over generations. this is a program in which we pursue in detail the allure of a craft that craftsmen devote their lives to. today we'll be looking closely to the edo kiriko cut glass. we'll carry out various experiments to showcase the outstanding skill used in the craft. >> he finds something already.

>> this is an -- this one has a pattern of stars. >> right, the tokyo sky tree is adorned with many pieces of edo kiriko cut glass.

>> this design is -- oh, i get it, it's an ed red sox, -- edo kiriko cut glass. >> every part of the replica was crafted by hand. but tao is in for an even bigger surprise. >> wow, what a beautiful world! the elevator doors open and voila, it's a sky of edo kiriko fireworks. >> there are over 370 pieces in all. sheered by these beautiful cut glass fire works, visitors are taken all the way up to the observation deck, 1,500 meters above ground. >> that one there is different from the rest. it's a sky tree.

look at that, it's a gathering of sky trees. ah, i sure do like that kind of playfulness. >> edo kiriko pieces can be seen all over the sky tree, but why the edo kiriko. >> we want to share this with the people of the world and of course with the people of japan and make them happy. and we also want them to feel moved by its beauty. it's really fun to spot pieces. exactly. it's our wish to have visitors walk around and find pieces spread across the entire building. >> the city at the tower's foot is what was once known as edo, where the craft was born. this traditional cut glass craft is one that began in edo, old tokyo and areas near it.