up a task force to support search and rescue. the first meeting was held on thursday. >> translator: the next several hours are very important. i urge all the officials concerned to make all-out efforts to help the rescue operations. i hope as many people as possible will be pulled alive from the rubble. >> prime minister kan instructed the task force members to offer their full support in providing information and arranging travel for families of the missing japanese students and tourists. fighting is intensifying around the libyan capital of tripoli as security forces try to fend off anti-government protesters closing in on the stronghold of the country's leader moammar gadhafi. with help from soldiers who defected from the army, government opponents have taken control over major northeastern cities like benghazi. mizurata is also in their hands. on thursday, fierce clashes

between security forces and anti-government groups erupted in a town about 50 kilometers west of tripoli. a demonstrator spoke to nhk over the phone about the crackdown by the government. >> security troops loyal to gadhafi are being dispatched to guard the capital. a tripoli resident said the government is acting like nothing has happened patching up traces of the clashes and erasing graffiti critical to gadhafi. observers say the gadhafi administration is trying to show that the capital is calm. gadhafi blamed the turmoil spreading across the country on

al qaeda. he made an audio address on thursday via state-run television. >> gadhafi said the people of libya have it within their power to change things for the better through committees. he emphasized libya will never witness what happened in tunisia and egypt. amid escalating fighting between pro and anti-government forces in libya, the international organization for migration says at least 30,000 people have already fled the country.

the iom says most of those leaving the nation are returning home to neighboring tunisia and egypt. some countries expressed concern of immigrants flowing in from libya. up to 400,000 refugees could cross the immediate trainian. after president benali was forced from power. libyans living in foreign countries are deeply concerned about the fate of their family and friends back home. many are doing whatever they can to stay in touch.

and they're showing how upset the way their country's authoritarian leader is handling the unrest. nhk's yasushi kudo has the story. >> reporter: as confusion in libya continues to spread, people as far as japan are expressing their opposition to the gadhafi regime and its crackdown on protesters. [ chanting ] >> reporter: more than 70 people gathered in front of the libyan embassy in tokyo on wednesday. they were from libya but also japan and various other countries all united by the anger they feel toward moammar al gadhafi for his use of deadly force against civilians. >> we want to change right now and we just want our freedom and we want to just stop the massacre. >> yesterday i called my home.

my sister was in the emergency department in one of the hospitals, and she told me that if anyone goes out in the street they shoot. she saw a young, 13-year-old boy outside of the hospital just walking. they shot him, these guys, and left him on the floor 15 minutes. then they picked him just like an animal and they throw him in front of the hospital. >> reporter: i visited a young libyan who participated in the protest. 27-year-old assim al arabi is studying engineering at a university in tokyo. he came to japan two years ago, leaving his family behind in tripoli. >> we think this situation is dangerous for everybody -- for innocent people, for even the protesters, of course. everybody now is in danger and the situation might go worse than that. so we are worried, really worried about that.

>> reporter: arabi met up with two libyan friends who took part in the demonstration. they are living in cities far away from tokyo, but they decided to join the protest against gadhafi's crackdown. >> reporter: even though libyan authorities are restricting internet access, many pictures of the unrest have been shared online. arabi said connecting with libya has been difficult. facebook is an important tool for him to keep contact with his family and friends. >> translator: a lot of people were shot in fashlum, suq al juma and najura. so many people were killed in

fashlum. >> reporter: arabi doesn't want anything special, just a normal life. >> it will be a better place. we can go there to express our thoughts freely. we can go there and participate with our technology. we can use our resources to help ourselves to get a better environment. this is what we hope for. this is our goal. >> reporter: it's been more than a week since protests broke out in libya. early on, achieving what was won in tunisia and egypt appeared unlikely. now victory for anti-government forces seems within reach. yasushi kudo, nhk world, tokyo.

the u.s. space shuttle "discovery" has lifted off on its 39th and final mission. it first launched in 1984. >> two, one, booster ignition, and the final liftoff of "discovery." >> the shuttle blasted off from the kennedy space center in florida at 21:53 utc on thursday. it has six astronauts on board. "discovery" separated from its external fuel tank about nine minutes after takeoff at an altitude of 150 kilometers. "discovery" is set to become the first of the three surviving space shuttles to be retired at by the end of this year. the shuttle is transporting water, food and other supplies, including a remote-controlled humanoid robot called r2 to the space station. a british court has allowed the extradition of wikileaks' founder julian assange to sweden.

he's accused of sex crimes in the nordic country. assange says he will appeal the ruling. the court ruled on thursday that assange should be extradited to sweden and rejected his claim that the move would breach his rights. assange is accused of sexual misconduct in cases involving two women in sweden. he was arrested in london last december at the request of swedish prosecutors but was later released on bail. assange continues to deny the allegations. his lawyer argued that he cannot receive a fair trial in sweden because sex crime trials are usually held behind closed doors. following the ruling, assange said the court only examined the extradition warrants procedures. he said no consideration was given to the merits of the allegations against him. >> we have always known that in all likelihood we would have to appeal. >> observers say hearings at a higher court may take months.

in the philippines, tribal leaders have demanded that japan review its method for finding fallen world war ii japanese soldiers. there are suspicions that filipino remains were collected in place of the late soldiers. on thursday, representatives of tribesman, former japanese soldiers and bereaved family members, visited the japanese embassy in manila. they requested that japan review the methods of a tokyo-based nonprofit group commissioned by the japanese government to look for the remains of imperial army soldiers. over the last year, the mpo has uncovered the remains of 7,700 japanese soldiers in the philippines. however, local islanders claim that the remains of their ancestors have been stolen from their tombs and passed off as japanese war dead.

>> japan's welfare ministry has suspended the recovery work in the philippines and sent officials to investigate the allegations. japan's toyota motto will recall 2.4 million cars worldwide similar to defects that triggered massive recalls in the u.s. and elsewhere. toyota made the announcement on thursday. the automaker said the cars affected include the rav4 and four runner suvs sold in the u.s. and canada. the amount to about 1.5 million unit. while the cars are in motion, a floor mat could slide and keep

the gasoline pedal from returning to the original position. toyota said it added these two models to the recall list after consulting with the u.s. transportation authorities. separately, toyota said it would also recall nearly 890,000 lexus rxs and highlanders sold in europe and asia. these models show a similar problem with the driver's side component keeping the gasoline pedal pressed down. observers say the latest recalls will dampen toyota's efforts to regain sales. and as a sign of a turnaround, u.s. automaker general motors posted its first profit in six years. its annual output exceeded toyota's, making it the world's number-one car producer once again. gm released its earnings on thursday, sales were over $135 billion. they were boosted by strong demand in the u.s. and emerging markets, including china. net profit came in at over $4.6 billion. that's the first full-year

profit since 2004. the automaker also made more than 8.7 million units, surpassing toyota motors for the first time in four years. but it was slightly behind the japanese maker in the number of units sold. general motors had filed for bankruptcy protection in june 2009. it had implemented extensive restructuring including plant closures. it has also slashed the number of brands from eight to four. flee leading japanese automakers say they aim to start producing fuel cell cars by around 2015. officials from toyota, hun da and nissan told a seminar on thursday about their separate goals to make fuel cell cars more affordable. the official said they're developing common parts for fuel cell and electric vehicles to cut costs. fuel cell cars generate power by a chemical reaction between hydrogen and oxygen. they emit no carbon dioxide and

too expensive for most consumers for the time being mainly because platinum is used in many parts. and now here's the latest market fig yurls.

for many in the philippines, public transportation means traveling on a motor bike with a side car. the filipinos call them tricycles. but the vehicles, about 3.5 million in number, are hea for the motor, he uses widely available chinese models. the only work his factory does is assembling the vehicles. garcia's trying to lighten it so the vehicle will drive farther. by widening the door frame and making a thinner roof, he cut down the materials and lowered the tricycle's weight. he uses less fiber, so the body strength hasn't changed. >> very durable. >> reporter: banks keen on investing in new ecofriendly

businesses so interest in gars why's tricycles. how long does it take to manufacture the vehicle? >> we can assemble within a week. >> reporter: investors have taken notice. >> i'm sure there are others. maybe there are others who had a dream of this, but maybe i'm the one that is bolder enough to do it and really take a substantial risk. >> reporter: in solving the problem on pollution, this e-trike company hopes to corner the market for the future of the transportation industry. aileen intia, nhk world, manila. >> and she says that there are hopes that if election tricycles are widely used, drivers can make higher profits as they won't need to spend money on

gasoline. now here's the weather. >> hi there, time now for your weather update for eastern asia. we are monitoring a winter storm that's moving across northern japan. it will be dumping significant snow today as that cold air dives in. we're looking at about 20 to 30 centimeters of snow to fall in the northwestern corner of the country. on the contrary, though, down toward the south and along the pacific, it stays very warm and pleasant. lots of sunshine to look forward to. meanwhile, across the korean peninsula, high pressure's been still keeping things dry. it's dry and mild. for china, big changes ahead. you can see the widespread rain and snow redeveloping over central and northern regions. and that cold air really starting to make its way into inland areas, coming in from the north. and that's going to be dropping temperatures come the weekend, also bringing significant snow, as well. do enjoy that mild weather while it lasts on friday.

we've got seven degrees in beijing. 13 in shanghai. 8 in seoul. and tokyo, 19 degrees. now we head to new zealand where we've seen quick showers moving across south island here, bringing some showers to christchurch, as well, on friday. that's cooling things down. we've already got 16 degrees for your daytime high. by the weekend, it will be warming up quite nicely. 18 on saturday, 19 degrees on sunday. good spells of sunshine to look forward to, as well. now we head into the americas. things really turning wintry across the northern tier of the u.s. over the next day or so. for tonight, though, we are keeping an eye on this. very potent storm down in the south that's bringing torrential rains, as well as very gusty conditions, all the way from arkansas, texas, up towards kentucky. we are looking at a threat for flooding. also tornadoes, as well. now, by friday, we should start

to see that moving toward the northeast, clearing out of the region. but it's going to continue to maintain that strength. by the time it reaches the northeastern corner, it's going to be quite -- it's going to be a major snowstorm bringing significant snow over wide areas stretching across the lower great lakes. you can see 15 centimeters or more accumulating. and then out toward the west, as well, dealing with another winter storm which hasn't moved a whole lot and continues to bring widespread snow across the rockies and out toward the west, even in san francisco, picking up a good deal of snow. so a rare event here, and that's partly helped by this cold air diving into this region. we've got frigid conditions again. minus 1 in vancouver. 0 in seattle and dropping to 1 in denver, as well. now before we wrap up, we're going to finish up with footage out of bolivia. let's take a look now. heavy rains have left a large part of bolivia flooded. many rivers have burst their

banks from all that rain. it's a rainy season here. farmlands and homes have been heavily damaged and many residents fleeing to evacuation shelters, as well. neighboring peru also dealing with heavy rain, severe conditions, severe flooding. and it doesn't look like that it's going to be finished up any time soon. as i said, it is the rainy season. it looks like more heavy rain to come over the next few days. all right. here is your extended forecast.

here's a recap of the headline stories. rescuers continue their desperate search for survivors following tuesday's earthquake in christchurch, new deland. but with more than 72 hours since the deadly tremor hit, experts say the chances of finding anyone alive under the debris are slim.

new zealand police have confirmed 113 people died and more than 200 remain missing after the 6.3-magnitude quake. more than 500 rescuers from countries including japan, singapore and australia have been working around-the-clock to save victims trapped under buildings. relief teams from china and the u.s. will join the rescue operations on friday. >> 47 bodies have been recovered from the collapsed canterbury television building where many people including the japanese are believed to be trapped. the building housed an english language school for foreign students. fighting intensifying around the libyan capital of tripoli as

security forces try to fend off anti-government protesters closing in on the stronghold of the country's leader moammar al gadhafi. with help from soldier who is defected from the army, government opponents have taken control of major northeastern cities. 200 kilometers east of tripoli is also in their hands. on thursday, fierce clashes between security forces and anti-government groups erupted in a town about 50 kilometers west of tripoli. demonstrator spoke to nhk over the phone about the crackdown by the government.

>> security troops loyal to gadhafi are being dispatched to guard the capital. tripoli resident said the government is acting like nothing has happened, patching up traces of the clashes and erasing graffiti critical of gadhafi. critics say gadhafi is trying to show that the capital is calm. that condition cluds this edition of "newsline." i'm shery ahn. thank you for watching.

>> california's gold is produced in association with kcet los angeles, and is seen statewide on california public television. this series is endorsed by: it sits on top of a mountain and it's probably the most famous house in california, maybe even the whole world.

we're talking, of course, about the hearst castle, built by william randolph hearst and his architect julia morgan back in the early 1900s. now this huge mansion has 115 rooms including 38 bedrooms and along with its gardens and fountains and guesthouse