you are watching nhk world "newsline." the operator of the fukushima daiichi power plant is stepping up the removal of radioactive water that hinders efforts to restore the plants cooling functions. tokyo electric power company is trying to remove contaminated water from the basements of the turbine buildings of the number one and number two and number three reactors. tepco wants to remove the water into storage tanks. contaminated water must be

transferred first. work at the number two and number three reactors is expected to begin on saturday. at the number one reactor, contaminated water in the storage tank will be transferred to another one by saturday afternoon. on friday, workers began a test spraying of resin in areas around the reactors to contain radioactive materials released by hydrogen explosion. the same day, eight posts monitoring levels in the compound started functioning again for the first time since the tsunami struck three weeks ago. radiation levels will be made public on its web site. also on friday, docked u.s. barges started providing water to reactors. the work was suspended temporary after water leaked from a hose.

tokyo electric power company has installed pumps that will restore systems by circulating massive volumes of water. currently fresh water is being poured directly to the reactors and the spent nuclear fuel rods. tepco wants to restore the cooling systems that circulate water in the reactors and the pools for spent fuel. the fresh water is cooled down by sea water. on friday, the utility installed temporary pumps at four reactors from number one to number four. the pumps will be used to capture sea water to circulate the fresh water. pipes and pumps may have been damaged by the quake and radiation levels in the reactor buildings remain too high to check their condition. tepco says it may take time to restore the cooling systems as it has to take emergency measures and wait for radiation levels to go down.

it says it will consider developing other cooling methods. many evacuees need to find new housing in the wake of the quake and tsunami. now there is a movement to provide housing assistance to these people for free. >> translator: mrs. endo and her 3-year-old son fled from fukushima. they have been staying at relatives home and at a hotel since the quake hit the region two weeks ago. but on march 26th, they moved in an apartment in shizuoka, tokyo. the rent is free for the first three months. mrs. endo found this apartment on the web site. it is run by a think tank called

daiici sogo. it offers more than 500 homes and rooms provided by individuals wanting to help evacuees. if terms and conditions are met, they can move in right away. i wanted to stay away from the nuclear plant as far as possible. it is so nice that someone i don't know at all gave me such assistance. mrs. saki offered the room to mrs. endo and her son free of charge. since mrs. endo hardly brought anything from her house when she evacuated, mrs. saki prepared the necessary items for daily living.

do you have towels? >> yes, i purchased some at a discount store. >> translator: mrs. saki says there are many different ways to support people. such as donation. and this is what i can offer. mr. toshiomi opened the web site and said offers for rooms came in more than expected and he will do the best he can to connect them. >> translator: evacuees who have already moved to public housing are also given support by local communities. 22 persons of nine families have moved to owati from mito and

fukushima prefecture. members of the local community association held an event to meet the evacuees. tempura and salads and hot soups are served. a man brought a local map and explained in detail about their town and the newly arrived ones took notes. >> we have no idea where to go. so we must start by asking. >> translator: the local people here have been very helpful. this woman is the leader of the association. the next step is to visit them and talk to them separately. they all have different needs so we must try to help them

individual individually. we can offer what the authorities cannot. the japan coast guard has rescued a dog from a roof of a house drifting in waters off miyagi prefecture. the dog seems to have spent three weeks on the roof since the march 11th quake. on friday afternoon, the coast guard helicopter saw the dog drifting in the sea about 1.8 kilometers off kesennuma city. the dog was scared by the hovering sound and ran off. using a small boat, the rescue team members approached the dog ga again. the dog looked weak and laid down. he later got up and ate sausages and cookies. the dog recovered to wag its tail and lick a crew member.

in hong kong, more than 200 asian singers and actors are raising funds for the survivors of the earthquake and tsunami. hong kong actor jackie chan proposed holding the concert. ♪ >> the participants sang lyrics of "made by the rain." two japanese singers are from the disaster areas. the three-hour concert was broadcast live. organizers say by friday night, they had received pledges of

about 2.4 million u.s. dollars. people in taiwan are giving generously to those affected by the quake and tsunami. they have donated more than $100 million so far. >> translator: japan was generous to taiwan when we had a natural disaster. it is now taiwan's turn to show compassion. >> taiwan's foreign affairs office says governmental bodies, the red cross and private groups collected $128 million as of friday. three weeks after the earthquake and tsunami, several million dollars are still being given every day in taiwan. 560 tons of relief supplies like blankets and power generators are being sent to affected

areas. other efforts to help japanese survivors are on the way from the world. the u.s. red cross had received $120 million in donations as of friday. libyan remembbels for moamm gadhafi say they will not agree to a cease-fire. nato has established a no-fly zone over libya. gadhafi hasn't attacked government forces in misrata as he wants to avoid harming citizens. the former minister heads the national council in the rebel strong hold of benghazi. on friday, they were trying to broker a cease-fire between the

rebels and gadhafi. there can be no cease-fire unless forces loyal to gadhafi stop attacking the rebels and withdraw from towns and cities. the senior government officials have deserted gadhafi. libya's information minister and the speaker of the congress have left for tunisia. gadhafi is rapidly losing power. the japanese sumo association has punished 22 wrestlers and one stable master for involvement in a bout-fixing scandal. >> translator: it's a great pity that we have to punish so many of our members. it's an extremely severe

punishment. >> the association's executive board decided on a series of punishment from an outside investigative committee. 19 wrestlers were asked to refir reti retire. six are in the top tier. three people who admitted involvement in bout fixing were suspended for two years. >> translator: i want to apologize to the sumo association and my stable and mostly to the fans for the trouble i've caused.

>> the bout-rigging scandal surfaced in february after police found text messages that show involvement of 14 wrestlers and stable masters. it forced the cancellation of the march tournament. let's now take a look at the world weather forecast.

that's all for this edition of "newsline." if you would like to help out and make a donation to the people affected by the great

east earthquake, check out the red cross web site at www.jrc.or.jp/english. your contribution will be truly appreciated. "newsline" will be back with more updates soon. you are watching nhk world "newsline." the operator of the fukushima daiichi power plant is stepping up the removal of the radioactive water that hinders the efforts to cool the contaminated water. the crews are trying to remove the contaminated water from the number one and number two and number three reactors. tepco wants to move the water to

the storage tanks. at the number one reactor, contaminated water in the storage tank will be transferred to another one by saturday afternoon. on friday, workers began a test spraying of resin in areas around the reactors to contain radioactive materials released by hydrogen explosions. resin is expected to harden mud and dust. the same day, eight posts measuring levels in the compound started working again for the first time since the earthquake. they will monitor the levels so it can be made public on the web site. also on friday, u.s. barges started to provide fresh water to the operation.

tokyo electric power company has installed pumps that will help restore systems that cool reactors in a stable manner by circulating massive volumes of water. fresh water is being poured directly to the reactors and the pools with the spent fuel rods. that is one way to cool them down. tepco wants to restore the functions that circulate water in the reactors. here, the fresh water is cooled down by sea water. on friday, the utility installed temporary pumps at four reactors from number one to number four. the pumps will be used to cool down the circulating fresh water. pipes and pumps used to cool the reactors may have been damaged by the quake. radiation levels remain too high. tepco may take time to restore the cooling systems as it is waiting for radiation levels to go down.

it says it will consider developing other cooling methods. meanwhile, many evacuees need to find new housing in the wake of the quake and tsunami or because of fears of radiation leak from the troubled nuclear power plant. there is a movement to provide housing assistance to these people for free. >> translator: mrs. endo and her 3-year-old son fled from fukushima. they have been staying at relatives home and at a hotel since the quake hit the region two weeks ago. but on march 26th, they moved in an apartment in shizuoka, tokyo. the rent is free for the first three months. mrs. endo found this apartment on the web site.

it's run by a think tank and offers more than 500 homes and rooms provided by individuals wanting to help evacuees. if terms and conditions are met, they can move in right away. >> i wanted to stay away from the nuclear plant as far as possible. it's so nice that someone i don't know at all gave me such assistance. >> translator: mrs. saki offered the room to mrs. endo and her son free of charge. since mrs. endo could hardly bring anything out of her house when she evacuated, mrs. saki prepared various items needed for daily living. >> do you have towels?

>> yes. i purchased some at a discount store. >> translator: mrs. saki says there are many different ways to support people. such as donation. and this is what i can offer. mr. tomioshi who opened the web site says the offers for rooms and houses came in more than expected. and that he will do the best he can to connect them. evacuees who have already moved to public housing are also given support by local communities. 22 people of nine families have moved to tokyo from mito and in

fukushima prefecture. members of the local community association held an event to meet the evacuees. tempura and salads and hot soups are served. a man brought a local map and explained in detail about their town and a newly arrived one took notes. >> we have no idea where to go. we must start by asking. the local people here have been very helpful. >> translator: this woman is the leader of the association. the next step is to visit them and talk to them separately. they all have different needs. so we must try to help them individually.

we can offer what the authorities cannot. the japan coast guard has rescued a dog from a roof of a house drifting in waters off miyagi prefecture. the dog seems to have spend three weeks on the roof since the march 11th quake. on friday afternoon, the coast guard helicopter saw the dog drifting in the sea about 1.8 kilometers off kesennuma city. two rescue team members got down to the roof of the lhelicopter, but the dog was scared off. using a small boat, the rescue members approached the dog again. one jumped into the sea and managed to catch it. when moved to a patrol boat, the dog looked weak. later, he was able to get up and eat sausages and cookies. the dog wagged its tail and licked the face of a crew

member. and in hong kong, morning 200 asian singers and actors raised funds for survivors of the japan earthquake and tsunami. hong kong actor jackie chan proposed holding the concert. ♪ the participants together sang lyrics based on the poem "be not defeated by the rain." two japanese singers took part in the concert are from the disaster areas. the three-hour concert was broadcast live. organizers say by friday night, they received pledges of $2.4

million. people in taiwan are also giving generously to help those affected by the quake and tsunami. they donated more than $100 million so far. >> translator: japan was generous to taiwan when we had a natural disaster. it's now taiwan's turn to show compassion. >> taiwan's foreign affairs office says governmental bodies, the red cross and private groups collected about $128 million as of friday. three weeks after the earthquake and tsunami, several million dollars are still being given every day in taiwan. 560 tons of relief supplies like blankets and water and power generators are being sent to affected areas.

other efforts to help japanese disaster survivors are on the way from around the world. u.s. red cross had received $120 million in donations. libyan rebels fighting the government forces say they won't agree to a cease-fire unless his forces leave towns and cities. nato has established a no fly own over libya. he hasn't attacked government forces in the city of misrata. former justice minister heads the national council in benghazi. he met with u.s. special envoy on friday. he was in benghazi to try to broker a cease-fire between the rebels and gadhafi.

there could be no cease-fire unless forces loyal to gadhafi stop attacking the rebels and withdraw from towns and cities. the senior government officials have started deserting gadhafi. libya's information minister and the speaker of the congress have left for tunisia. the officials show that gadhafi is rapidly losing power. the japan sumo association has punished 22 wrestlers and one stable master for a bout-fixing scandal. >> translator: it's a great pity that we have to punish so many of our members. it's an extremely severe

punishment. >> the association's executive board decided on a series of punishments from an outside investigative committee. 19 wrestlers were asked to retire. six are in the top tier division. three people who admitted involvement were suspended for two years. >> translator: i want to apologize to the sumo association, to my stable and mostly to the fans for the trouble i've caused.

>> the bout-rigging scandal surfaced in february after police found text messages that showed the involvement of 14 wrestlers and stable masters. wrestlers and stable masters. it forced the mar

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