. moving forward. hillary clinton meets with -- for the first time. the u.s. secretary of state plans to improve relationships with myanmar. welcome to "newsline." i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. u.s. secretary of state hillary clinton is challenging myanmar to push ahead with reforms. she says the u.s. could upgrade relations with the nation if it met certain conditions. if it makes further efforts toward democracy.

clinton is the first u.s. secretary of state to visit the country in 56 years. she met on thursday with president tain. and will look at lifting sanctions. she's urging further steps to release political prisoners and end ethnic conflicts. the clinton says the u.s. will consider upgrading the levels in myanmar from the current defair. she says it has been productive. >> i told the leadership that we will certainly consider the easing and elimination of sanctions as we go forward in this process together. >> very happy to meet you. >> clinton invited suu kyi for dinner thursday at the mission. they plan to meet again during

the day to discuss how to support reforms. nhk world's june kobayashi has the story. >> clinton welcomes signs in myanm myanmar. but she stressed this is just the beginning. she indicated that united states would lifting sanctions if the reform efforts continue. clinton's visit impacts the importance the obama administration places on the asia pacific region. at the same time, china is expanding its presence in this part of the world. myanmar's step toward democracy have provided united states with opportunity to reengage with the countries. from myanmar's side, its house

brought desire and -- relationship with united states. it sees that as a way of growing its economy. myanmar has been a closed country and is one of the poorest in the southeast asia region. myanmar has a lot of resources including natural gas as well as a cheap labor force. for the government of myanmar democratic is a means of getting sanctions lifted. on friday, clinton is planning to meet with pro-democracy leadi leading aung sun suu kyi. she will likely want to move in step with the united states to put pressure on the myanmar government to continue the

reforms. the momentum toward democracy is being driven by both international and domestic forces. and it is becoming increasingly irreversib irreversible. >> that was jun kobayashi reporting from nepito. to lift sanctions against myanmar. it has close ties with the southeast asian country. foreign ministry spokesperson commented on clinton's visit to myanmar. >> translator: all countries concerned should lift sanctions against myanmar and try to promote its stability and development. >> hong lei also maintained the importance of strengthening relations. >> translator: both china and myanmar want to increase their strategic corporation.

doing so will contribute to peace and stability in the region. >> myanmar is becoming strategically vital for china to meet its skyrocketing domestic energy demand. china has been financing port construction projects in myanmar. it also plans to build pipelines in the country so it can import crude oil and natural gas from the middle east and africa. the two most powerful eurozone nations are -- here's more on that. tell us about it. >> we won't know all the details until next week, of course. but french president sarkozy says france and germany will propose changes to the eu treaty on monday. speaking in southern france thursday, sarkozy said the crisis in the euro currency needs a structural response and that the foundation of europe

must be rebuilt. he noted a revision is necessary to address the credit uncertainties in europe. sarkozy also said for quicker decision makingmongst eu members, more should be decided by a majority vote than a unanimous vote. in the financial markets on thursday, investors bought government bonds of euro zone nations with excessive debts. this buying caused the yield on tenure bond to go below 7%. now, 7% is a level that's considered difficult for the nation to rebuild its public finances on its own. investors took heart from the previous day's announcement of a concerted action by central banks to expand liquidity in the money markets. the central banks include the european central bank, the u.s. federal reserve, and the bank of japan. another positive factor was thursday's relatively smooth auctions of french and spanish government bonds. as a result, the yield on

italy's ten year government bonds fell to the 6.6 level. spaib's fe the yield on france's ten year bonds also declined to the 3.1% range. on sovereign debt have been rising due to a possible downgrade of its credit ratings. in greece, unions called for a general strike to protest austerity measures. the 24-hour strike effected drain, bus, and ferry services and forced schools and other public offices to close for the day. in the capital athens, thousands of demonstrators marched carrying banners. a national unity government in a bid to promote belt tightening

steps. greeks are protesting the additional measures as they're already suffering from a series of tax hikes. more public protests are expected. next wednesday parliament will vote on a budget plan for the next fiscal year that will include further cutbacks. let's get a check on the markets now. tokyo stock prices are moving within a tight range this friday morning. the nikkei is currently slightly higher up 22 points. a gain of 1/4 of a percent. 8,619. topix higher by two points at 741. market watchers say concerns over the european debt crisis have eased somewhat. but investors are refraining from trading. on the tokyo foreign exchange, the dollars also little change.

77.77-82. that's against the yen. euro against the yen is 104.79-21. following concerted action by the central banks of europe, north america, and japan to provide ample liquidity for the money markets, the yen lost ground slightly against the euro. let's look at the latest long-term interest rates now. the yield on the benchmark ten year japanese government bond is up two basis points so far this session. i'll be back in the little bit. for now back to catherine. >> thanks very much. the u.n. meteorological have enlisted industrialized nations to help with weather forecasting capabilities. the agency made the announcement as a news conference in durban south africa. the secretary general said that

normal weather linked to gloeshl warming has caused droughts and floods throughout the world. many countries have been badly damaged. some 70 countries mostly in africa remain vulnerable to naturalisasters because of a lack of basic weather monitoring equipment. they need support from industrialized nations. japan has been working with south africa on a weather forecasting study in southern africa using japan's earth simulator. one of the worldest fastest supercomputers. >> we expect that japan will play a key role and are aware of the very advance facilities of the earth simulatine inine inin. >> foreign ministers from across the european union are considering more sanctions on iran. they met to figure out what to

do after protesters attacked the british embassy in tehran. met in brussels. they drafted a statement announcing the storming of the embassy. it said the attack was a violation of the vienna convention. the ministers deplore the decision to explore from tehran. they consider these actions against the uk as actions against the european union as a whole. they also discussed by the atomic energy agency. iran conducted tests for nuclear weapons development. the ministers added 180 individuals within the eu to a list that imposes acid freezes and travel bans. >> this is part of our ongoing concern as a result of the report from the iaea. we discussed last time. and the desire for us to see

iran take seriously the call to respect its obligations and move away from the pursuit of nuclear weapon technology. >> eu foreign ministers plan to study further sanctions against iran at the next meeting in january. the new measures may include a freeze on the assets of iran's central bank. "newsline" is the place to turn to for the latest on japan post-march 11th. we have two segments offering two unique perspectives on the fallout from the earthquake and tsunami. "nuclear watch" brings you insight and information on the impact of the fukushima daiichi crisis. and "the road ahead" examines japan's efforts to recover and rebuild. don't miss "nuclear watch" and "the road ahead" on "newsline. nitrogen is being injected into the pressure vessels of the fukushima plant's crippled reactors. tepco says the inert gas will

prevent another hydrogen explosion. in late october, tokyo electric power company found hydrogen in the number two reactor at a density of 2.9%. since then the operator has been pumping nitrogen into the vessel. it began injecting right into containment vessels of one, two, and three reactors. it's believed the density of hydrogen accumulating in the vessels is below 4%. above this level, an explosion could occur. tepco says the nitrogen injection would push out hydrogen and reduce its concentration. this week we've shown you interviews with leaders on the indian economy. on wednesday the indian government said gdp in the latest quarter grew at a slower analyzed rate of 6.9%.

yet leaders we spoke to remain confident. today is the last of our series. i spoke with nhk world's hiro hirosei for more. >> what do you think is the point there? >> i drew attention to the five year plan that will start next fiscal year. i sat down with an adviser to the prime minister. he is deeply involved in the plan. >> so we are spending more money on higher education, skilled developments, primary schools. secondary schools. in 12th plan, we focus on creating public information infrastructure.

we have programs to connect all of our colleges, all of our universities to broad band network. we want to connect all local governments to fiberoptic and broad band. >> last year china surpassed japan and became the world's second largest economy. what do you think about india? do you think they could surpass japan and become the world's third largest economy? >> mr. pitroda found out the gdp is up to begin with. >> i believe we are going to immediate transformation. structural transformation at a global level. telecom has changed everything

around us. in this kind of a connected world, the earlier economic model which was based on disconnected world won't make sense. the earlier boundaries around nations, gdp, gnp, all that. i think we must recognize that in a globalized world. lot of my friends in eu get all concern because of china. so i remind them india was the largest economy in the world then. >> you lived in india ten years ago. how do you feel things have changed? >> i feel r i feel indians in general not only the business leaders have become more self-confident. but the country will go nowhere

without enough employment opportunities for its population of 1.2 billion. indian economy should be following the robust growth paths was the people's mind-sets that are changed to put the market on the right track. >> thank you for your insight, hiromi. >> now let's get your recap of the latest market figure.

>> and that is the latest in business. the humble book seller cuts a less cut these days. people are reading fewer. and fewer reading them on paper. a book seller in tokyo hopes to draw readers by offering something customers can't find just anywhere. he's digging into the past to do it. >> now officially open. >> reporter: you don't often see this much fanfare around older books. this shop opened in central tokyo. a place for readers to satisfy their thirst for knowledge and appetite for fine things. this book is by victor hugo published in 8089. antique books like this is

highly appreciated by collectors. many in the united states and europe. the owners of 22 book shops from 11 countries around the world selected some of their favorites. they got together here in tokyo. they urged customers to take books out of their showcases to hold them, feel them, no matter how expensive. businessmen and women drop by on their way home. and fill up the shop. hiakowa is a devoted collector of books. he prefers 19th century volumes from england and france. hiakowa owns 20,000 books. he bought his first special edition in his late 20s. this hand-crafted edition by designer william morris.

>> translator: the type face and ink are strongly pushed into the paper. the effect of this printing was extremely appealing. >> reporter: hiakowa visited the shop expecting to add to his collection. he stumbled upon a 15th century german encyclopedia. the price was too expensive. $190,000. still, he was happy to flip through the pages. >> translator: i see many kinds of rare books from around the world. all in one place. >> reporter: collectors of rare books in japan are rare themselves. most young people just aren't interested. still something drew some of them. >> i'm very happy just to see

them. >> translator: i can check the quality of the papers and bindings. which is important. and i can find something new when i look inside the cover. >> will eventually fall in love with old books and start to collect them. >> reporter: he hopes more readers will fall for these books. and love books for what's on their covers and what's between them. nhk world. >> some valuable treasures there. i don't think it's felt this cold this year. sayaka mori has the weather picture here and around the world. >> hello. time now for our weather update. let's begin with east asia. japan is still feeling cold weather. in addition to the chilly

temperatures, we're experiencing very cold rain across the southern half of the country. the rain will also spread to the tohoku area in the next 24 hours. in tokyo, it was only 4 degrees. across the korean peninsula, rain and snow will develop into the weekend. as for china, a high pressure system is in place bringing dry and nice conditions. down towards the south, it's largely wet across the philippines and wet at the northern end of the country. out west, central vietnam will still see ongoing rain throughout the day. temperatures are looking like this staying in the single digits in tokyo with eight degrees. and 11 in shanghai coming in at 35 degrees in bangkok with the chance of showers. heading over to the americas, a winter storm is now impacting the four corners region. especially snowy across arizona.

we're expecting more than 45 centimeters of snow in the mownmown -- mountain areas. the same system will create ice and rain across the southern plains on friday. now, back behind the wet weather, extremely fierce winds are blowing over southern california and nevada raising the risk of wildfires. up towards the north, an area of snow is moving through eastern canada reaching ontario as well as the northern rockies in the next 24 hours. but otherwise, it will stay largely dry across the eastern half of the u.s. we're expecting 11 degrees in new york and 13 in washington, d.c. but in denver, still cold but a bit warmer compared to thursday. and coming in at 22 degrees in houston. and 19 in los angeles. finally let's go over to europe. an active low pressure system is

still bringing wet and windy conditions across the scandinavian peninsula. and the associated front is from the baltic states down to the northern peninsula bringing rain. and rain could become heavy across france, belgium, as well as spain. and in spain, you pay may see some snow in the higher evaluations. the system will move eastward over continental europe on friday. on the british isles, a break in the rain. however, it'll turn wet again starting friday night. down towards the south, thundershowers are developing over southwestern italy. temperatures are looking like this. we're expecting 8 degrees in london and 9 in paris. same goes for madrid. warm in rome with 20 degrees. and 18 in athens. all right. that's it from me now. here's your extended forecast.

our lead story this hour. u.s. secretary of state hillary clinton is challenging myanmar to push ahead with reforms. she says she u.s. could upgrade relationships with the nation if it met certain conditions. might get a u.s. ambassador after 20 years without one if it makes further efforts towards democracy. clinton is the first u.s. secretary of state to visit the country in 56 years. she met on thursday with president tein seine. will look at lifting sanctions.

she's urging further steps to release political prisoners and end ethnic conflicts. clinton says the u.s. will consider upgrading the level of its diplomats stationed in myanmar to an ambassador. clinton says the discussions have been productive. >> i told the leadership that we will certainly consider the easing and sanctions as we go forward in this process together. >> very happy to meet you. >> clinton invited pro-democracy leader suu kyi for dinner on thursday at the u.s. diplomatic mission in yangon. they plan to meet again during the day to discuss how to support reforms. that's all for this edition of "newsline." i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. thanks very much for joining us.