at least 75 people were killed in the quake and 300 missing. the 6.3 magnitude quake rocked new zealand's second largest

city shortly before 1:00 p.m. when streets and shops were packed. >> the decision made on legislation declare a national state of emergency. >> we feel connected to your suffering. your tragedy is our tragedy. this proud country is right behind you and we are backing you with all our might. >> international relief >> if they need assistance with equipment at that stage, then we would certainly provide it. >> damage to infrastructure may hamper the distribution of aid supplies. japan has decided to send

self-defense force personnel to quake hit new zealand. the deployment was ordered on wednesday in response to a request from the government. the personnel will leave japan along with other officials on wednesday afternoon with medical and construction equipment? they include english language school students. the government aircraft will be used to bring injured japanese citizens back home. japanese experts believe tuesday's earthquake is an aftershock. the magnitude 7 earthquake that occurred seventh months ago was west of tuesday's quake. more than 160 aftershocks have

been recorded since that time. the research institute explains that new zealand is prone to earthquakes because it is located where two plates collide. a seismic engineering specialist says that the quake caused more damage to brick buildings than other structures. >> translator: old buildings made of brick or supported by thin pillars easily collapsed after being shaken from side to side and up and down. researchers stress the need for counterquake measures for brick buildings after last september's magnitude 7 quake.

libyan leader moammar gadhafi refused to quit while clashes continue and the death toll rises. he will not resign and will die martyr in his homeland. it's believed this footage was taken at the libyan capital tripoli, al jazeera said clashes between protesters and government forces have spread nationwide. it says troops who appear to be mercenaries fired at random at demonstrators in the capital on tuesday. gadhafi appeared on television tuesday where he made his first speech since the start of anti-government protests in the country.

>> gadhafi lashed out at protesters, calling them islamic extremists and said they deserve the death penalty. this footage shows the northeastern city of bengazi. military units are helping protesters take control in some cities in the northeast. defections are reportedly spreading among government officials. libya's deputy u.n. envoy openly criticized gadhafi for the bloodshed and urged him to step down. libyan diplomats in india and china have left their posts. the organization human rights watch said on tuesday the deaths of at least 62 people have been confirmed at two hospitals in tripoli since sunday. reports say the death toll

across the country has risen above 300. nhk world interviewed one activist taking part in the protest. he asked we don't use his name but he did tell us what's happening around the libyan capital. >> translator: yesterday many foreign mercenaries were seen shooting randomly with live ammunition at unarmed civilians. this morning many protesters from cities close to tripoli tried to enter the capital. however, mercenaries surrounding the city are shooting live rounds to try to keep them out. so far, we have not seen any military officials joining the protesters, and there is no of firefighters in tripoli. >> a radio station in northeast libya has been airing broadcasts that it called the free voice of libya in place of the regular programming from the country's state-run radio. nhk team in denmark picked up

the broadcast. >> earlier we spoke to a middle east specialist. >> professor, a middle east specialist at the university of japan, professor, thank you so much for joining us. as we just heard, we picked up the radio broadcast that says the protesters now control most libya's radio and tv stations and some reports say that military units have switched sides and have helped protesters to control some of the cities. by hearing this broadcast, what do you make of what's happening in libya? u.n. high commission for human rights navi pillay said in a statement that widespread and systemic attacks against civilian population may amount to crimes against humanity. >> she called for the international community to calm down and unity. and she asked to stop

immediately the force used in libya against protesters. in bahrain, tens of thousands of opposition supporters staged a protest rally in the capital manama on tuesday. there appears to be no prospect for an early end for the turmoil in the gulf state. protesters flocked the bahrain mall in manama's financial district demanding the end of the monarchy. protesters, majority shias, continued demonstrations against the sunni monarch since february 14th. the government's attempt to suppress the protest by force left seven people dead and about 300 wounded. military troops and security forces were withdrawn from the capital's central district after international criticism of the violent crackdown. on tuesday the king ordered the release of some political prisoners in a concession to the

opposition forces. opposition leaders are demanding that the government resign to pave the way for dialogue. they vowed to stage a nationwide strike in a few days. oil prices continue to soar on tuesday due to growing concerns over the unrest in north africa and the middle east. in london prices for crude oil temporarily climbed to $108.57 marking the highest level in about 29 months. in new york, the wti crude oil futures for march delivery briefly rose to the $94 range per barrel, up nearly 10% from last weekend. market players say though libya's share is limited in the global crude oil supplies, buy orders will gain momentum, worries over worsening tensions in the arab world. they say the passage of iranian naval vessels through the suez canal fueled concerns. the international energy

agency comprising all important countries denies an immediate stoppage in oil supplies in a statement on tuesday. and here is the latest market figures. >> reporter: during the past ten years, 80% of them have died. this puts added pressure on families to make quick funeral arrangements. now there is a temporary shemter for the bodies of loved ones.

>> reporter: traditionally when a person dies in the hospital, the body is taken home but many are shying away from this tradition due to confined living space and concerns about privacy. the bereaved families often let these families dictate the course of the ceremony. >> many families would just let the assigned funeral home take charge of the arrangements without asking for estimates. they end up regretting how things turn out. >> a new business is emerging. companies are providing temporary shelters dubbed hotels for deceased. this firm in tokyo began providing the service last december.

they field multiple inquiries every day. >> many people want to know about the service. demand is rising as you can see. gradually but surely. >> the company sent staff to collect the remains of the hospital. great care is taken to ensure no mistakes are made. a bar code with personal information is placed on the body.

>> to prevent the spread of germ, the room is equipped with state of the art sterilizing tech knowledge. the charge for looking after a body is about $90 per night. a conference room is also available. >> it's a temporary place to hold the body giving bereaved families time to think. there wasn't really anywhere for them to come to terms with their loss. we wanted to create an emergency solution for them. >> this man's father passed away in hospital. >> we needed to avoid the pressure of making snap

decisions. we wanted to arrange a funeral that would most suit our father. >> his family decided to host a large funeral and encouraged many people to come. the father had disliked wasteful spending. to honor that trait, the family compared estimates from several funeral homes and fwoesnegotiat prices including the cost of a reception tent and hiring security. it took three days to plan the ceremony. they were very satisfied with the funeral they put together. >> our father always liked to see his children work together.

>> the demand is likely to increase. thailand and cambodia have agreed to allow observers from indonesia monitor a truce at the site of a border clash earlier this month. the shooting broke out on disputed territory surrounding a medieval temple. the foreign ministers of asean met on tuesday in jakarta, indonesia, to mediate in the confrontation. after the meeting they issued a statement saying that thailand and cambodia will allow civilian and unarmed military observers to be posted on their border.

the two countries also agreed to continue talks to ease tensions and resolve the dispute. tension escalated three years ago after the united nations approved cambodia's application to have the temple listed as a world heritage site. both countries deployed troops in the area. the clashes on february 4th killed nine people and wounded more than 100. japan's democratic party has decided to suspend the membership of former party leader ichiro ozawa until a court rules on his financing scandal. a mandatory indictment was filed against ozawa in january after an independent judicial panel twice overruled prosecutors last year. the decision to suspend ozawa's membership came on tuesday at a meeting of party executives. upper house democratic leader azuma koshiishi said the party should reject any demand from the opposition to summon ozawa for sworn testimony on the case before parliament. prime minister kan said the decision now settles the ozawa issue, which has widened a rift within the dpj. ozawa's supporters have insisted the party should first wait for the outcome of the upcoming trial.

kan needs to unite the party to pass the fiscal 2011 budget and related bills in march. a rapidly spreading disease in australia is wiping out the entire population of tasmanian devils. they're one of the most rare animals in the world. but now a new project is under way to save the animal from extinction. now a non-profit organization is restoring the used wheelchairs and sending them to children in developing countries. >> once a month this facility receives children's wheelchairs

from the tokyo area. on this day, 55 wheelchairs come in. they had all been customized for children with different disabilities. each chair is unique. seats are now refashioned so that anyone can sit in them comfortably. >> after altering the wheelchairs they are sent overseas. >> this is recycling. it's great if we can make children overseas happy.

>> he has used five wheelchairs so far. rr r. >> if you can't move and get around you kind of shut down and can't find hope in your life. >> the group was founded six years ago. so far it has sent over 6,000 wheelchairs to children in 17 countries. many children didn't know about the devices.

they had never left their homes before uses a wheelchair to get around. so far his family has donated three. the yellow wheelchair on the far left used to belong to a japanese child. it has helped many children in vietnam. >> it makes me very happy. >> as the program grew it started to receive more donations. now they face a new challenge. recruiting volunteers to remodel wheelchairs.

>> i hope to expand our activi y activities with the next generation. >> the group is asking companies for support. now here is the weather. >> hi there, welcome to your world weather update. in oceania we have two tropical cyclones, one is to the southeast of new caledonia here.

powerful system, indeed, category 4 system. very powerful indeed. the good news is it will continue to move in a southeasterly direction. southeasterly direction and staying well away from north island of new zealand. it's gradually weakening as well in the next several days. but it's still a powerful system, which means that it could be bringing some high waves in the vicinity. so these islands for fiji, also as it gets closer to new zealand as well. but no major threat with this storm system. in terms of christchurch, we can expect a couple of showers to occur tuesday on wednesday. on thursday, brightening up, calmer conditions, good spells of sunshine. 22 degrees for a daytime high.

so bang on average here. then on friday, we expect to see showers move on through. but nothing on the severe side. now as for tropical cyclone carlos, a category 2 system, it's heading into the gulf of exmouth here so we expect to find destructive winds in the area, especially on the coast west of onslow here. watch out for damaging winds as well as high waves and coastal flooding is quite possible as there will be some heavy rain moving on through the next several hours. now in terms of east asia, then, we have a gain. high pressure system that's keeping things very calm and sunny across the north for much of japan, the korean peninsula. there will be some clouds building over the southern end of japan, bringing showers later on as well. otherwise it's going to be quite calm and settled. not much change for china as well. largely settled conditions over towards the northeast. quite an active low pressure system that's going to be producing blowing snow in the region. and then over towards the south, southern china and indochina looking at scattered showers as well. but nothing heavy. now, in terms of temperatures, stays mild again today. 19 in hong kong. 17 in chongqing.

then 16 degrees in shanghai. very pleasant in seoul again. double-digit figures again. 12 degrees. then 12 in tokyo. right, then. as for north america, we have a winter storm moving into the united states. a fairly strong system going to be producing significant snow for the northern rockies, the cascades, a couple of systems in place, in fact. that's going to be heading into the northern plains. we're look at a fairly widespread snowfall into your wednesday. over towards the south, dry just now. but we expect to find some showers and thunderstorms popping up for you on your wednesday. and then in terms of temperatures, stays very chilly out towards the northwest. we've got 2 in vancouver. only 4 in seattle. it stays on the cool side for los angeing a bit milder for the midwest. 4 in chicago. and then 4 in new york.

and stays very pleasant down toward the south. 18 in atlanta and 23 in houston. all right, here's your extended forecast now. and that's all for this

>> here is a recap of our headline stories. the search continues for survivors of tuesday's earthquake. at least 75 people were killed in the quake and 300 are still missing. search teams are using heavy cranes and excavators to pull survivors from the rubble one day after the quake rocked new zealand's second largest city. reports say that people trapped inside collapsed buildings are calling for help. >> we feel connected to your suffering. your tragedy is our tragedy. this proud country is right behind you. we are begging you with all our might.

>> we agreed to send the search and rescue team which is deploying immediately. >> if they need assistance with equipment at that stage then we would certainly provide it. >> the new zealand government says damage to infrastructure may hamper the distribution of aid supplies. japan has also decided to send self-defense force personnel. the personnel will leave japan along with other rescue officials on wednesday afternoon with medical and construction equipment. the foreign ministry said 3 japanese remain unaccounted for. they include english language school students. the government aircraft will be used to bring injured japanese

citizens back home. and that's all for this edition of "newsline." thank you for watching.