top of the hour now for nhk world's news round-up here on "newsline." i'm james tengan in tokyo. greek finance minister evangelos venizelos says the country has dropped its plan to hold a referendum on the european union's bailout package. in a statement on friday, venizelos said he told the european commission economy and monetary affairs chief jean -- claude junker of the decision in telephone calls. the announcement came ahead of a scheduled vote in confidence of the parliament of the cabinet of greek prime minister george papandreou later on friday.

venizelos said he told the european officials that the aim of the confidence vote is to form a government of unity. he said the government wants to obtain the largest consensus as possible. leaders of the group of 20 advanced an emerging economies welcomed an earn u bailout package for greece and other debt-ridden countries to prevent the european credit crisis from seriously disrupting the global economy. the g-20 leaders concluded their summit talks in the french resort of cannes on friday amid uncertainty over greece. in a joint declaration, the leaders welcomed the package that includes a measure to help greece overcome its fiscal problems. the declaration says that the recovery of the global economy is slowing down led by advanced economies. it cites unacceptedly high unemployment rates and growing strains in global financial markets caused by europe's credit crisis. the g-20 leaders stresd their

unity in endorsing the eu's efforts to prevent the crisis from spreading further. >> translator: the conditions for consensus in greece over the october 26th agreement are starting to come together. we really welcome the fact that the atmosphere today in greece is totally different from what it was at the beginning of last week. experts from the international monetary fund will monitor belt-tightening measures in another troubled european country. italy. eu president van rom poi and european commission president, josearroso made the announcement on friday. italy is under heavy pressure to stabilize its financing and contain the european debt crisis, so it's agreed to undergo checks from imf analysts every three months. the italian government announced a plan to restructure its finances at an eu summit last week.

italian leaders agreed to proceed with restructuring under eu oversight. italy hopes to restore market confidence by accepting imf help, too. italy's economy is the third-largest in the euro zone. president sarkozy and the other g-20 leaders spent much of their two-day meeting focused on greece. the leaders were eager to coordinate efforts to keep the credit crisis in europe from spreading. european union leaders worked through the night before the summit's opening on a new financial aid framework. the greem prime minister george papandreau surprised them by announcing a referendum on the debt deal. this put the scenario in question. countries outside europe urged france and germany to stand firm. president sarkozy, the host of the summit personally put pressure on greece. >> translator: if these rules are not respected, neither europe nor the imf will be able to transfer the funds. c c c c c c

c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c yoshihiko noda urged european leaders to demonstrate political leadership on the debt issue. in the end, the g-20 summit turned out to be anything but usual. next we go to pachari raksawong in bangkok to find out what's going on in the region. thailand is struggling to protect the essential functions of its capital as the floodwaters spread in bangkok. the main crisis center is under threat for a second time. and the city subway system also now looks to be at risk. the devastating floods are creeping ever closer to central bangkok. on friday, water came close to the new location of the government's flood relief operations center. it's also a temporary home to about 600 evacuees. the center was moved there from submerged don muang airport just a week ago. workers are hurrying to raise

the road before access to the center gets cut off. waters have also been seen around entrances to subway stations in northern bangkok. the authorities say they might have to consider suspending subway services if the situation worsens. there is chance that could happen sooner than people expect. >> translator: i didn't see flood waters in this area this morning. i didn't expect the water would rise this fast. >> life in the capital is becoming increasingly difficult. this buddhist temple is located on the west bank of the chao phraya river. 13 monks are trapped here with no running water. using higher areas of the temple complex, they carry on with their rituals as best they can. the rising flood waters have killed at least 442 people nationwide since july. and still there is no indication

when the crisis will end. the thai government is facing mounting criticism for its handling of the crisis. and communities are at odds over how to move the stagnating flood waters out to sea. nhk world's shikashi takaota has more. >> reporter: months of flooding have caused serious damage to parks in central thailand. the waters are moving south toward central bangkok inundating more and more areas along the way. local authorities have been trying to stop the water from reaching the center of the capital. they have ordered canal flood gates in the northern part of the city to be closed. but this has trapped huge amounts of water upstream. houses and other buildings in the affected areas remain flooded.

>> translator: the water is already been here for 15 days. it's starting to go foul. >> reporter: on october. 31st, about 200 angry people from flooded areas demanded that the government open the flood gates. a scuffle ensued. some residents destroyed part of the flood defenses. thai prime minister yingluck shinawatra issued instructions to open the gates to release more water. but people downstream are now complaining. >> translator: the water is now knee deep. if it keeps increasing at this rate, the crops in my fields will rot. >> reporter: one of the newly affected areas is an industrial park. about 80 firms operate there including foreign companies.

city authorities have asked them to make sure toxic materials don't leak out of their facilities. >> translator: we are really worried. we don't know how we'll be able to keep our company running. >> reporter: bangkok governor par bat ra says he opposed opening the flood gates. he says he wanted to protect the city's center and industrial park. critics have condemned such discrepancies between the prime minister and governor. they say poor crisis management has exacerbated the damage. >> so i have to register my protest. but i have to -- since it's the government's order, i have to obey. >> reporter: measures to cur b the flood has produced conflicts between neighborhoods, city officials, and the government.

the response seems to be making this crisis is even harder for ordinary people to endure. nhk world, chikashi takaoka, nhk world, bangkok. to afghanistan now where ever since the soviet invasion of 1979, there has been war and civil strife. many afghans have left the country to escape the endless conflicts. more than one million of them are believed to have taken refuge in iran. some afghans born in exile never lived in their own country. nhk world saanati spoke with some of them about their dreams of going home. >> reporter: the city of mashhad in eastern iran is home to many refugee s from afghanistan. this woman was born in exile. she said refugees like her face

discrimination. >> we are not allowed to work here in iran. and when you want to go to a different city we have some limitation. we cannot study whatever we want. for example, i'd like to be a doctor but i cannot be a doctor here. c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c country. economic self-dependence is the first step towards achieving that goal. that's why olami enrolled in a language and computer skills training program offered by a japanese ngo. eight months into the program, olami also volunteers with the group. ♪ >> reporter: the japanese ngo

has started this seminar to entitled "the role of education in afghanistan" to address the problems and issues facing afghan refugees in iran today. more than 250 afghan refugees are participating in the seminar. all of them share the same dream. that one day they would be able to return home. olami says meeting fellow refugees with a similar back ground is a source of both courage and resolve. >> you can see that nowhere in afghanistan is safe. maybe one day blasts in kabul, another day in hat. we believe we should rebuild our country. not foreigners. we should go and build our country. it is not their job. it is our job because it is our home. this is our homeland. >> reporter: despite the uncertainty that prevails in

their home country, many refugees are determined to work together until the day they can set foot on afghan world. nhk world, mashhad. and that will wrap up our bulletin. i'm patchari raksawong in bangkok. lawmakers and farmers have come together to adopt a resolution to oppose japan rushing into talks on the trans-pacific partnership free trade agreement. >> reporter: the tpp would affect all aspects of people's lives. but that information hasn't been disclosed. and that's prevented the issue from being debated nationally. we feel strong resentment. >> on friday, about 50 diet members, mainly from the main ruling democratic party held a rally with some 1,000 farmers and others in tokyo. they called on the government to not make hasty decisions.

then they adopted a resolution saying japan should not rush into talks on joining the tpp. prime minister yoshihiko noda said the government will soon decide whether to join talks on the trans-pacific partnership. japan is expected to announce its decision at the asia pacific economic cooperation forum later this month. a multimillion dollar m&a scandal involving a major panese optical machinery maker has turned the spotlight on corporate governance in japan. the former british president of olympus corporation told nhk about his brief tenure as president and his failed attempt to get answers about hundreds of millions of missing dollars. michael woodford had an illustrious 30-year career at olympus before he made it to the top becoming president of the company in april of this year. however, almost immediately he began inquiring about four questionable corporate

acquisitions by olympus in 2008. woodford approached a british auditing firm to investigate the deals. c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c tag for one of the acquisitions, a british medical equipment maker as unusually high. it also questioned the roughly $687 million commission to the brokers who arranged the deal. it says olympus may have committed irregularities. >> it's the largest payment ever in the history of capitalism and m&a activity. for what and for whom? for what was the money paid and to whom was it paid? which is outrageous to anybody who's looking at it. any informed observer. >> reporter: six months after being promoted, woodford was abruptly fired right after he outlined the deal's questionable nature to olympus officials. the firm says it fired him because of his authoritarian way of management. woodford also launched

investigations into olympus' purchases of three other firms for about $940 million. the acquisitions went ahead despite olympus posting $710 million in losses for the 2009 business year. >> that is why the concerns arise. why were we paying such huge amounts of money for companies with tiny turnovers. it's not anything to do with olympus' business. i mean the strategic fit is bizarre. >> reporter: olympus maintains that all of the acquisitions were carried out in a correct manner. japan's government is seek ing to confirm that sustained nuclear fission has not resumed at the fukushima daiichi power plant. earlier this week, radioactivity xenon was directed at the plant's number two reactor, indicating that nuclear fission had occurred recently. the minister in charge of the nuclear crisis, goshi hosono,

said on friday, that the presence of xenon was not linked to new developments. he said it was the result of detailed radiation monitoring by tokyo electric power company. hosono says he shares the utility's view that xenon was produced by a phenomenon known as spontaneous fission and not criticality. >> translator: ensuring that the situation does not escalate is one of the conditions to bring the reactors to a state of cold shutdown. of course, that includes the absence of recriticality. the company that operates the fukushima daiichi power plant forecasts more financial troubles. tokyo electric power company is set to post a heavy loss for the business year that runs through march 2012. in figures released on friday, tepco estimated its net loss for fiscal will total 600

billion yen, about $7.7 billion. the utility blames the cost of ongoing efforts to stabilize the damaged nuclear plant. fuel costs from the use of thermal power plants to shore up electric output add to the losses. tepco analysts project energy-saving efforts by households and businesses will translate into a 1% decline in annual energy sales. the utility plans to book an extraordinary loss of about $13 billion to compensate those affected by the nuclear disaster. a government-backed fund is expected to contribute about $11.5 billion worth of public funds to assist tepco in making the payments. [ bell ringing ] [ applause ] aapanese machine maker has finally achieved a long-held

goal -- kikuchi got its name put on on the jazdaq securities exchange and is now a publicly-listed company. the firm looks to fukushima for its output. in spite of its celebration, the past few months have been a testing time for people who work there. >> translator: the employees and the company work together to make it happen. i really can't believe we've come this far. >> kikuchi's main factories are located in iitate village, in the zone the government ordered evacuated after the nuclear accident at fukushima daiichi. in our weekly segment, "the road ahead," we see how the determination of workers saved this company from crisis. >> reporter: all the residents in iitate village had to leave home after the government issued a mandatory evacuation order.

the government allowed kikuchi to stay open. their factories continued to turn out parts for cell phones and cameras. the space between these white lines has been decontaminated. workers have to stay inside the area as they enter the factory. no trace of radioactive materials remains on the workers. thanks to this device. kikuchi's factories remain at full output. the business generate a profit of more than $80 million a year. about 270 people work in the factory. many live in temporary housing in fukushima city. they spend an hour each way commuting by car to work. iitate native kikuchi built the factory in 1984. he decided to build a plant in

his home town. >> translator: i was very grateful for my workers' parents in iitate. they trusted my company and let their sons and daughters work for us. i have never forgotten my gratitude to them. >> reporter: the company faced challenges along the way. then, the nuclear accident. c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c con forced the workers to leave their homes. >> translator: i thought it was a serious matter. i didn't know if it was time to return to work. >> translator: i was worried, i didn't know if our company would stay here. i was also concerned about working in the middle of high-level radiation. >> reporter: this man manages the factory, he's been with the company for 22 years, ever since he graduated from high school. he's most proud of the skills he learned from older workers. he can now c c make camera parts,

precise to 1/100 of a millimeter. he makes everything by hand using what he learned and what he knows by intuition. >> translator: it's like my hands have eyes. they just move as if they have their own mind. >> reporter: saito polished his skills as his company grew. then, he started a family. >> translator: this company made me who i am. i grew up here in iitate. and was hired by kikuchi. i want to spend the rest of my life here. with my family. >> reporter: saito says he couldn't replace what working for the company gives him. he interviewed his co-workers one by one after the accident. many worried about radiation. some offered to clean up factories, remove radioactive

materials. and seal up the factory air-tight. everyone agreed to stay. kikuchi survived. >> translator: it was all the c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c cthey took the initiative because they like their jobs and wanted to keep them. i'm proud of them and very grateful. i really am. >> reporter: life isn't easy for the workers. far from settling down the company has become the core of their community. >> translator: everyone is a member of this community. i'm so glad that we're all here. >> reporter: now weeds cover fields and rice paddies in iitate village. the beautiful landscape is gone. >> translator: iitate is our sweet home.

>> reporter: kikuchi hopes his home town will find its way back to where it was, back to the place he's always loved. here on "newsline," let's see what weather conditions are like in cities across the globe. >> hello there, we're looking now to the weekend in terms of weather. what can we find? well in eastern asia, we are going to be seeing some wet weather moving through eastern portions of china, coming into the korean peninsula and also western japan. now this is the low here in the east china sea. that's actually going to be delivering a fair whack in terms of the rainfall. parts of kyushu and okinawa looking for about 100, to 120 kilometers of rain and it will be accompanied by some gusty winds as well in places. this weaker low towards the north will be bringing showers into hokkaido. but it's not going to be quite as intense. now in behind that we're looking fairly dry across the north, certainly mongolia looking under a strong high pressure there.

but we will see showers continuing in and around the chongqing area. let's look to the south now, we have a few things going on. a new low pressure here in the south china sea is going keep the rain coming into eastern indochina. down in towards the south as well. but much of the north and west looking quite dry now. and then as for the philippines, that heavy rain is still coming in, particularly up towards the northeast. parts of luzon saw 250 millimeters of rain in the last 24 hours. which is not good news in determines of flooding and landslides. and as you can see, into the next 24 hours it doesn't look like it's going to be alleviated. strong winds accompanying that, meaning high waves and rough seas in the forecast. temperatureswise in the tropics, 29 in manila, 33 in bangkok. 33 also in hong kong. hot day for you. and low 20s in chongqing, shanghai seoul and tokyo, 15 and beijing with 3 for the high in ulan bator. a winter storm moving through

the western half or western third of the u.s. this is going to be delivering some snow, certainly and some cooler temperatures down even towards northern parts of the baja peninsula and into southern california. let me show you exactly what's going on here. we've got the jet stream dipping all the way down here towards the south. and then back up through the plains. this is going to be snow in parts of colorado, expect about 40 centimeters of snow in the mountains there. and then we have some cooler rain going through much of california there. the cascades certainly picking up their fair share of this earlwinter snow as well. now, ahead of that system, it's going to be very dry and also a little bit warmer. a few degrees warmer, dry and very gusty, and that means we have fire danger here. and this is going to be minnesota and also eastern parts of the dakotas. out towards the east, looking fairly calm and settled. just got a system storms moving through the carolinas right now, that will be clearing out for your weekend. 8 in seattle, 7 in vancouver, 12 in denver.

17 for oklahoma city and 11 in chicago. 28 in mexico city, as well as in miami. nice and warm to the south. 17 in atlanta, and 12 in new york city. all right. let's go to europe now. we've been talking about some very heavy rain in parts of northwestern italy. milan picking up more than 230 millimeters in the last 24 hours. this is going to be ongoing. the southwest is not looking good as we head into the weekend. the british isles clearing on up. a few showers in scandinavia, too. and let's look at what's going to be happening along northern spain, coming into southern france. then into northern italy, switzerland as well. picking up almost 200 millimeters of rain, maybe even more than that in some places over the next three days. so into sunday, so landslides and flooding, flash flooding are going to be very high concern. temperatures, meanwhile, are looking pretty moderate here. but moscow is getting down to just 1 degree for the high. so you'll need to wrap up there. here's your extended forecast.

i'm james tengan in tokyo. for all of us here on c c c c c c cine," thanks for watching.

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