nuclear warning. iranian leaders announced they're building thousands of new sentry fujs, reigniting fears about their ambitions. the head of iran's atomic energy organization says officials there are building 3,000 new sen

tri fujs. they will use new material. this is just days after talks with officials from iran and six world powers. he says scientists will decommission machines still in use and replace them with advanced centrifuges. he did not go into specifics, but analysts with the atomic energy organization say they're more efficient. they started installing 180 machines at a facility in the central city of natonz. they offered last week to ease economic sanctions if the iranians agreed to suspend enrichment of the uranium to 20% impurity. iranians say they're refining uranium for peaceful purposes. a bomb attack in karachi,

pakistan. the bomb killed at least 40 people and wounded at least 135. workers are trying to find others who may have been trapped under the debris. the car bombing destroyed nearby buildings and houses. no one has claimed responsibility. but police suspect sunni muslim militants. the bomb went off in a shiite muslim neighborhood. the minority group has been the target of sec tar yan attacks from sunni militants. such attacks killed 40 people last year and nearly 200 this year. protesters have run into police in another day of fighting in bangladesh. at least 19 people were killed. more than 60 have died in several days of rioting. a government tribunal has been defended mass killings since the war on independence.

it was handed down to the islamist political power. media reports say they attacked police stations and the offices of the ruling party in the northern district of bulgra. the reports say police shot and killed six people. demonstrators joined in some protests in the capital daka, but many people remained at home and the streets were mostly quiet. emerging economic powers still struggling with poverty. em boldened citizens still demanding democracy, the threat of violence, the push for peace, the shadow of conflict. get news and insight on south and southeast asia every weekday live from bangkok only on nhk news line. china's political advisory body is calling on the country's new leadership to create a system that better reflects the interests of the people. the national committee of the chinese people's political

consultative conference opened its 10-day annual meeting in beijing on sunday. this came two days before the convening of the country's legislature. key current and former leaders of the communist party took part in an opening ceremony. national committee chairman said under the new leadership china needs policies that better reflect people's interests. chinese ambassador to japan has been newly chosen as a conference member. he said the strained relations between china and japan could be discussed. >> translator: the issue is not on the official agenda, but i hope we can do something to resolve it. >> conference participants are likely to elect him to be the next chairman of the national committee. he is the fourth highest ranking member of the communist party. fake posters supporting cardinal peter turkson of ghana

have been posted on the streets of roam. this comes as the vatican prepares to choose the next pope. following benedict xvi's resignation last week, a new pontiff will be chosen from the world's cardinals. the poster calls for cardinals to vote for him on the conclave. they were posted next to roam on the vatican. cardinals will soon meet behind closed doors in the chapel. the policy is strictly secret. some observers say the bogus posters are a message that urges them to choose their first african pope as a way to make change. government officials and experts from around the world are attending the 12-day meeting of the convention on international trade in endangered species of wild fauna and flora.

the meeting is held every two or three years. the thai prime minister spoke at the ceremony. >> i hope my life and cooperation for the species will become part of the strategy. >> the participants will become easing on tough measures. they will talk about catching three kinds of sharks whose fins are considered a delicacy. they will call on controls to stop ivory poaching. and they've started protection of the turtle, whose numbers have decreased in recent years. americans saw it coming. an automatic spending cut in the billions that slashes the budgets across the board. republicans and democrats debated it for months, but in

the end they couldn't agree on how to avert it. ai joins from us the business desk. ai, what can you tell us? >> the cut is worth $85 billion to be exact, and they worked until the 11th hour to try to figure out a way around it to no avail. u.s. stocks actually rows on friday even as president barack obama and congressional leaders failed to clinch a budget deal. that, of course, cleared the way for automatic spending cuts known as the sequester to kick in. let's see how these developments are affecting stocks in this part of the world. let's go to ra mean mel guamin the tokyo stock exchange. >> that will surely play into what the investors are thinking.

manufacturing as well as consumer sentiment data really helped boost the dow jones industrial average to its highest level in five years and five months, so let's see how all of that is translating into trade this monday, march 4 here in tokyo. both indexes in the positive. up almost 1% for the nikkei and up just over 1% for the topix, a pretty positive start. let's not forget the nikkei actually ended last week, also in the positive, despite a couple bumps. let's not forget that, following the italian elections last sunday which helped in exporters and fallen markets. today we are seeing a weaker tone in the yen. every other month we get u.s. auto sales and that's recently shown a strong rebound for pay lot of japanese manufacturers. toyota, especially, has seen a strong turnaround and having also regained the world number one spot for sales, so that will

be a focus as well. ai? >> and ramin, the weaker yen is also boosting autos in this region? >> yes, that's also a focus. let's not forget some of the exchange rates between the yen and the south korean wan. things have changed and that's also a bit of a focus there with japanese automakers versus korean automakers. 93.57 to 59. euro/yen, 121.83 to 88 right now. that compares to lower 120 levels on friday. and even upper 118-yen levels at one stage following the volatility that we saw after the italian elections. now, after investors have a look at those, we may keep to a bit of a tight range given the fact that u.s. spending cuts are going to be kicking in this week and we also have some data due

out as well. the service industry data, we have trade balance data in all the u.s. and of course the key jobs numbers which are due out on friday. that's going to be a big focus for investors globally. but a positive start here for monday, march 4 here in tokyo. ai, back to you. >> sounds good, ramin. thanks for that update. ramin mellegard from the tokyo stock exchange. more japanese consumers are using smartphones and tablets to get on line, and that's hurting the pc market. in fact, domestic computer shipments in january plunged to a record low. analysts at a japanese association for electronics in the i.t. industry say manufacturers ship nearly 650,000 desktop and laptop computers. that's down 13% from a year earlier. the value of the shipments also tumbled 18% to just over $480 million. that's the lowest figure since data became available in april

2007. manufacturers in japan usually update their lineups in february. they release products in time for newt schothe new school yean business hires new graduates. touchscreen computers are loaded with windows 8 operating system. the sales are sluggish. stiff competition is forcing manufacturers to drive down prices for corporate clients. the "new york times" announced last month that it plans to sell the boston globe. the sale is a sign of the rapidly changing media landscape in the u.s. where new sites are challenging traditional media. one example is the huffington post. celebrities contribute to the 9 news outlet and readers love it. we spoke to ceo jimmy maiman

about traditional media in the digital age. >> there are a lot of smart people in the traditional media, but for a long time, they had hope that the decline would stop. now they realized it's not going to stop and the future is actually an on-line future, so now they really have to think carefully about how they transition their business fuelly into on line, many of them are on line, but they haven't really done it with their heart. it's not just about taking a printed edition and putting it on line because there is no added value in that on-line experience, and therefore, people do not want to pay for it. >> about 500 reporters and editors work at the huffington post. in addition, it has more than 30,000 bloggers across the u.s. maiman says what he calls conversation to the readers has been key to its rapid growth. it's a new value that he thinks is essential to make an on-line

news site a success. >> it's been very important for us to be able to create a platform that both from an editorial perspective but also a user perspective was able to kind of unlock this whole social media thing and integrate all the social tools and make it easier for me to be part of this conversation. that's the most important, that with our technology, with the people that raet. we think it's important for how opinions are created in society. >> one of your reporters won the pulitzer prize last year. how do you gather these really good reporters? >> i think whether it's in print, on line, it's still about being able to tell a story. it's about stories and write it in an interesting and engaging

way. so talent, whether you write it on line or off line, still has to have the same characteristic, i think. on top of that, i will say for us, of course, that it's important that you embrace this whole social movement, so you understand how that can add value to what you produce from a scaleability is. that's the added layer. that's what we would like to see in the people we're bringing on. >> the huffington post publishes in english, german and japanese. time to take a look at the urban global line this week. they are waiting for them to announce their economic policy for the next year. on the same day, brazil central

bank will begin a two-day policy meeting. it will consider whether to keep the key rein at the president record low of 7.25%. the governing council of the european central bank cht. that's on thursday. the focus is whether they will further reduce rates from 7.2 account. the deficit, the account fell to its lowest level in decades last year, and that's main news. in january, unemployment inched up .1 of a point from the previous month to 7.9%. here in tokyo, the nikkei is trading higher by 1%. let's see how other asian markets are opening.

a heavy blizzard has struck hokkaido in northern japan. many people were stuck in their vehicles in freezing conditions. the blizzard has claimed eight lives. a woman and her three children aged 11 to 17 were found dead in a car that was buried in snow. firefighters responded to a call about people trapped in a car. they found them in a state of cardiorespiratory arrest.

the four were pronounced dead at the hospital. >> the car was buried in two kilometr metres of snow. >> police say they probably died of carbon monoxide poisoning. the car was left running buried in snow. many cars got stuck on roads saturday night. a man and his daughter were found in front of a warehouse on sunday morning. the man's body was covering his nine-year-old daughter. the man was confirmed dead at a hospital, but his daughter is conscious and in stable condition. prime minister shinzo abe has ordered the disaster management to take extreme lengths. about 1,000 firms have not renewed contracts with the utility because they object to higher electricity charges. the firm asked its corporate customers to accept an average rise of 15% last april.

tepco is struggling financially. its reliance on energy imports has increased since the 2011 accident at the fukushima nuclear plant. the nearly 250 factories that had to renew contracts since january have agreed to the electricity. many are using their electricity without paying their bills. tepco plans to explain its cost-cutting measures. they said some corporate customers who have renewed their contracts have retained information about free electricity. tepco says they will have to cut off companies that do not renew their contracts for a long time. aleppo is a cradle of culture. they dedicated this city a world

heritage site for its age-old market, citadel and mosques. but fighting opposition forces has left much of aleppo in ruins. archeologists worked there for more than 20 years before the civil war forced her to flee. now these reaching out to japan to help her friends in her second home. >> a charity auction in kyoto for syrian people. she helped organize the event. she used to live in syria but fled last year. some of my syrian friends are planning to build a school there. i am hoping to widen our circle. >> she had moved to syria 23 years ago. she taught archeology in aleppo and trained many young scholars.

she was charmed by the syrian's hospitality and kindness and she ended up marrying one. yamazaki seemed to have settled in nicely. >> translator: the people are so warm. that meant more to me than any historical site. i felt at home there. >> but two years ago, her world was shattered. thousands of anti-government syrians rose up, demanding democracy. the military stepped in. the fighting turned parts of the historic city into rubble. amid the chaos, yamazaki's husband suffered a heart attack. unable to get the care he needed, hamido died.

after she lost her husband, the fighting got worse, so she fled to safety in japan. now, one year later, she rents an apartment in tokyo and works as a translator. yamazaki's former students in syria keep her up to date on what's happening in the country. things always seem to get worse. then, in december, her former students sent her an e-mail from aleppo. they asked her to help build a school for children in their area. in and around aleppo, children stay home all day because there are few schools to go to. many were destroyed or damaged in the fighting. yamazaki's former students are trying to convert an underground

shelter into a safe school. we want to be. we want to make it more beautiful than the ones that existed before. >> the ya mrks arma. >> you mentioned that the school will be underground. could it possibly be above ground? >> if bombs fall, the children will be safe underground. >> if the number of illiterate people increases, syria will stop developing. the children are our pope for the future, and we have. the charity auction raised about 32,000 there are.

. if illiteracy rises. the children are our only hope. we must help them. >> like millions of syrian ds. she does hold parts in gentleman japan to make period breakthrough. time now to get a check on the weather. as we've been reporting, people in northern japan are dealing with incredible mts of notice t. mary katherine, hef. maybe they're seeing things to tore off, however, it's going to be a very short break unless you see. a krols the rest of japan, there may be a few chasz of.

and the temperatures will be on the rise. take a look at that the. with these kind of temperatures, you may need a light coat in the evening ourd. . also toward the korean peninsula as well as, making things very dry and clear and warm again in seoul and bay r bay engines, so you have been feeling a very cold winter to season, so i'm sure you're looking forward to this one as well. still in the 30s across the region here. thailand, myanmar, scattered thundershowers. bang kroft at 5 degrees see the.

. it's been slamming the area with snow to. mainly dry across the eastern half of the u.s. you may see a little scattered somehow couple of storms will be moving across height high border and that could bring heavy snows to the dakotas, mississippi and iowa. toward the south of that system, warm temperatures are dominating the area, bringing some fire weather conditions. it's quite windy out there in houston. we're above your average at 26 degrees we've again. but chilly for your air.

you may even see some snow showers to your tuesday. mainly drew across the skies. we'll be denied weather on tuesday when a system moves in. madrid, due to this ongoing rainfall that's not going to be going any pr. we'll be moving into the mediterranean p regions. heavy snow is impacting the region. . warm air is predominant. . i'll leave you now with our

extended forecast. and that wraps up this edition of "newsline." i'm catherine kobayashi in

tokyo. do stay with us. we'll be back with more updates at the top of the hour.