welcome to "newsline." i'm keiko kitagawa in tokyo. people across iran are waiting to find out who will lead them for the next four years. election officials are counting ballots following a national vote for president. the winner will succeed the conservative mahmoud ahmadinejad who's been in office since 2005. so many people showed up at polling station, officials extended the voting by five hours. six candidatesner the running, three are hard-liners close to supreme leader aya toll la khamenei. they include tehran mayor o

mohammed-bagher galley baf and saeed jalili. reformists who want better relations with western countries are supporting a single candidate hassan rohani. he was a negotiator under pro-reform president mohammad khata khatami. the moderate rohani closed the gap in final stages. election officials will release the results later in the day. if no candidate scores a majority, the top two will face each other in a runoff vote in a week. u.s. president barack obama is changing his approach to the civil war in syria. his administration hat concluded that troops loyal to president bashar al assad have used chemical weapons. so a white house official says obama has decided to provide military support to opposition fighters. >> our intelligence community assesses that the assad regime

has used chemical weapons, including the nerve agent sarin on a small scale against the opposition multiple times in the last year. the president has made a decision about providing more support to the opposition. >> ben rhodes says chemical weapons are believed to have killed 100 to 150 people. he says the aid to the opposition will include military support but he hasn't provided details. intelligence officials looked into suspicions about chemical weapons use in syria in march. those in britain and france said assad's soldiers had used the weapons against the opposition. syrian rebels have been urging the united states to provide them with conventional weapons. president obama is expected to discuss the issue with other world leaders next week at the group of 8 summit in northern ireland. britain and france support arming the syrian opposition. the head of the international monetary fund wants the u.s. federal reserve to keep pumping money into the

american economy to help the global recovery. but christine lagarde is urging the bank to roll back its monetary easing in the future. the imf managing director spoke after releasing an annual report on the health of the u.s. economy. she said the feds quantitative easing helps the recover ne the u.s. and supports the global economy. >> there is no need to rush to exit from monetary accommodations given the still large output gap, gishton subdued growth that we have, and given the well-anchored inflation expectations. >> lagarde says the monetary easing should continue at least through the end of the year. the fed is buying $85 billion in bonds and other assets each month to lower borrowing costs and stimulate employment, but investors speculate it may start tapering off these stimulus measures. the imf report notes markets

could overreact leading to a sharp increase in long-term interest rates and volatility of international markets. united nations officials say they expect average life spe expectancy around the world to rise to almost 82 at the start of the next century and they expect the global population to reach more than 10 billion. the u.n. officials released their forecast in a report called world population prospects. they say they think people in east asia, europe and north america in 2100 will have a daily life span of 100 years. they project life expectancy in japan of 94.2 years and they say people in south korea will have the world's longest average life span of 95.5 years. the u.n. report says the world's population willw from the current 7.2 billion to 9.6 billion in 2050 and 10.9 billion in 2100.

>> it's important to plan for future population growth. it's important to see it as a kind of a warning signal that we need to accelerate efforts to find ways to live that are more sustainable over time. >> the report says india's population will likely surpass china's to become the world's largest by around 2028. and it says china's population will start shrinking after 2030. the report says most population growth in the immediate future will come in asia. it says africa will have rapid growth in the latter half of this century. south korean president park guen-hye is trying to get more north korean leaders to come to the negotiating table. she asked chinese foreign minister tang jiaxuan to try to persuade them. they say park expressed regret that the north koreans canceled

talks because of a disagreement over who led the delegations. they say park told tang she wants chinese leaders to try to persuade the north koreans to me to the negotiating table. tang says he wants to see more exchanges and cooperation between the two koreas, and he says he's concerned about north korea's nuclear weapons. he said chinese leaders have told the north koreans that they don't recognize their country as a nuclear power. government leaders in myanmar are considering a change that would make it possible for aung san suu kyi to run for president. a high ranking politician says they're weighing a constitutional amendment. on voice of america radio program during a visit to washington the speaker of the lower house and the highest ranking official under the former military regime. he says the restriction in the constitution would block aung san suu kyi from leading her

country. politicians a foreign national as a family member are prohibited from becoming president. aung san suu kyi's two sons are british citizens. p she would be ineligible even if she won the next election by a large margin. he shwee mann says making an amendment isn't easy. it requires the support of at least 75% of members of parliament. the people of airbus have completed the first test flight of their next generation passenger jet. they say the midsized plane will help set new environmental and performance standards. the a-350-xwb took off from a french airport in the city of toulouse. the jet is made from lightweight carbon products including the fuselage and main wing. an advanced engine designed for improved fuel efficiency powers the plane. and the cabins are more

spacious. airbus has already received more than 600 orders from carriers all over the world. >> translator: we're going to set new standards, not just for comfort, not just for performance, but for environmental friendliness. people living around airports won't even know we'retaking. >> it has lagged behind since the u.s. firm put its 787 dreamliners in service in 2011. here's the three-day world weather forecast. ♪

that wraps up this edition of "newsline." i'm keiko kitagawa in tokyo. thank you for joining us.