advice ignored. a new report on the accident at fukushima daiichi says the japanese government failed to heed u.s. safety guidelines. members of an independent panel spent months studying the response to the disaster last march in northeast japan. they interviewed 300 people, including senior japanese and u.s. officials. their report says the japanese government ignored the advice of u.s. authorities. panel mentals say the u.s. nuclear regulatory commission established guidelines after 9/11 for restoring reactors

disabled by a terrorist attack. they say the u.s. commission explained the guidelines to japan's nuclear and industrial safety agency on at least two occasions. and the commission asked japanese officials to improve the anti-terrorism measures at their nuclear facilities. but the independent panel says the agency did not adopt the u.s. recommendations. >> translator: if the advice had been taken in, there would have been less damage to the nuclear plant. that shows the stubborn nature of japan's nuclear industry. >> the japanese government says it will examine the report's findings in detail. the main opposition liberal democratic party wants a parliamentary committee to question former prime minister kaum. members say he should provide greater detail about how the government responded. a working group at japan's

nuclear overseer has come out with its recommendations on the disaster. members proposed setting up two separate facilities to help communities respond to possible crises. an off-site emergency response center failed to function properly during the meltdown at fukushima. rising levels of radiation and the impact of the earthquake and tsunami prevented local officials from gathering at the center about 5 kilometers away from the fukushima plant. a working group of the nuclear safety commission submitted its list of recommendations on tuesday. it proposed reinforcing the emergency response system by creating two separate facilities. one would serve as a nerve center to give local residents information and evacuation instructions. it would be set up in an office building away from the plant to avoid the risk of radiation. the second center would serve as a front base to monitor radiation levels and conduct

evacuations. the government will set new national guidelines following the panel's final recommendations due out early march. japan's agriculture ministry has decided to conditionally allow rice planting in some areas where unsafe levels of radiation were detected last year. local governments are to make sure that the crops will not be distributed if such high levels are found again. the ministry drew up new standards on tuesday for rice planting after the government tightened its safety standards for food to 100 -- per kilogram starting in april. the ministry says that farmers will be banned from planting rice where more than 500 per kilogram of radioactive substances were detected in rice harvested last year. in areas where between 100 and 500 per kilogram were detected in last season's rice, planting will also be banned in principle. but farmers in those areas will

be allowed to plant rice if they agree to the condition that municipalities monitor production in each field and all harvested rice is checked for radiation before shipment. the plan comes in response to calls from farmers in fukushima saying that stricting rice planting restrictions would cause more people to give up farming at a time when the farming population is aging. >> translator: rice with readings of more than 100 becarels will not be distributed. to enforce such a system, we need to work closely with local governments. >> the ministry aim toss hear from local governments by early march on whether they will opt for a total ban or follow the conditional permission scheme. the european union will continue import restrictions until the end of october on food from 11 japanese prefectures

including fukushima and tokyo. exporters from these areas have to inspect their food for radioactive materials. the requirement has bee extendedvery three months since last march. the e.u. announced on tuesday that the instructions will inss will be extended by seven months. they say they will need to inspect food harvested this autumn. they say the number of spot checks will be happened as japan has been conducting strict tests. many consumers and the fukushima daiichi plant aren't buying locally produced food because of fears of radiation. but a store owner in fukushima city refuses to give into the fear. nhk world rorter has his story. >> reporter: this cake, known as bomkuhe, was made from rice flour grown in the area. it is denser than wheat flour and is naturally sweet. this shop opened in fukushima

six months before the nuclear disaster. the eggs and the rice flour used to make the cake are grown in the region. this man owns the shop. he says his business has been on life support since the nuclear disaster. the farm where he bought his eggs closed down. and some rice grown in the area exceeded the government's radiation safety level. >> translator: we had always eaten local rice. but then it got contaminated. i was so shocked. >> at the same time, a lot of customers canceled orders. as well, the shop began receiving calls from people asking about safety. saito worried that he might have to close shop. but saito felt he couldn't turn his back on the local rice and

vegetables. >> translator: i grew strong and healthy eating local foods. fukushima is my home. there's no way i could just walk away from it and move on. i want to do everything i can to help local farmers. >> saito decided to keep using ingredients from fukushima. he found a new chicken farmer in the area to supply eggs. but getting safe rice flour was a problem. saito asked the local co-op how it inspects rice for radiation. he also wanted to learn its radiation levels, which are stricter than the government's. on this day, saito and his staff prepared to bake their first bomkuhen made with local rice that meets the co-op's safety

standards. they adjust the temperature and start baking. the new rice makes the cake delicious, soft, and chewy. saito sends the cake to the lab. the staff will see if the cake contains radiation. saito wants to be concern that his customers will be safe. two days later, the report comes back. the lab did not detect any radiation in the cake. >> translator: now i can use rice harvested in 2011. >> translator: we thoroughly test our rice flour from 2011. so please have confidence in us.

>> saito reassures the customers. >> translator: fukushima will keep moving forward. the rice is safe, and we want to revitalize the city with our cakes. >> saito believes fukushima's food industry and its business will pull through. just to be sure, he adds an extra ingredient in each bomkuhen, his love for his hometown. nhk world, fukushima. an earthquake that jolted a nation. a tsunami that swarmed a coastline. a nuclear plant that spiraled out of control. japan marks the first anniversary of the march 11th disaster. what lessons have been learned? find out on "newsline" starting monday, march 5th. then sunday join us at 2:00 p.m.

japan time for lessons of march 11th one year on. traders on asian stock markets are upbeat about recent economic data. our reporter from business with a check on the market. >> stocks are trading well this year, kathryn. traders in japan having a great month even. as for wednesday morning, tokyo stocks are extending their gains. they're trading at levels last seen in august last year. the nikkei is currently as 9,000837, a gain of 1.2%. the broader topics higher by 1% at 846. investors are taking their cue from an upbeat outlook for a u.s. economic recovery. south korea also had a positive open this wednesday morning. kospi currently up 1.2% at 2,00028. tokyo and south korean key indexes are following the overovernight surgeon the new york stock exchange. the dow jones on tuesday closed

above the 13,000 mark for the first time since may 2008. investors placed buy orders on the back of positive consumer confidence data. the doij industrial average finished at 13,0005. that's a gain of 23 points from monday's close. the dow has recently been on the rise on expectations that the u.s. economy is heading for recovery. higher share prices are supported by improvements in job and housing markets, as well as strong performances by i.t.-related firms. u.s. consumers are showing the strongest confidence levels in 12 months. u.s. research firm the conference board says its index of consumer confidence surged nearly 10 points in february. that is the first time the index has topped 70 in one year. that's against a base value of 100 set for 1985. upbeat data in jobs and the housing market is boosting u.s.

consumer confidence. the index has been rising since bottoming out a little over -- at a little over 40 in august. a positive economic indicator also coming out of japan this morning. january industrial output grew 2% for its second consecutive monthly rise. japan's industry ministry which released its preliminary report this morning says the increase is mainly due to rising auto and digital camera production. the ministry also forecast that production activities will rise 1.7% in february and a further 1.7% in march. the european union is not expected to increase the amount of its bailout fund at its summit this week. the group of 20 finance ministers and central bank chiefs called on sunday for the e.u. to strengthen support for

the most debt-ridden eurozone countries. eurozone leaders are debating whether to raise the lending ceiling of will the bailout fund from the current 500 billion euros. but germany, the biggest contributor, is throwing cold water on the plan. chancellor angela merkel says her country sees no need to increase the capacity of the bailout fund. the people who work at private banks are also delaying making any decisions about the fund. they have yet to complete the debt reductionsrocedures needed to support greece. and on the tokyo foreign exchange, the dollar is little changed against the yen this wednesday as investors are on the sidelines. the dollar is currently trading at 80.61 to 62 yen. the euro now stands against the yen at 108.56 to 61. sources say that market players are waiting to go hear fed chairman ben bernanke's

congressional testimony about the u.s. economy on wednesday. a look at the latest long-term interest rates. this is the yield on the benchmark ten-year japanese government bond. and let's also take a look at some other asian market figures. that's the latest in business. back to kathryn. thank very much. gunmen in northern pakistan have attacked a full bus of passengers. they killed 18 people. the bus was traveling from a suburb of the capital islamabad

to the northern city of gilgit. eight gunmen stopped the bus. they checked people's names, then shot the male passengers. police say all casualties were shia muslims, a minority sect. police in the area are on high alert for sectarian violence. tensions have been rising since last month when month when sun muslim was killed. mayan mar -- is receiving aid from japan. >> building infrastructure is essential to accentuate mayan mar's democratic reform. resuming yen loans will help the move. >> japanese foreign minister said that adjustments are being made to restart yen loans in april when mayan mar's president visits japan.

gemba added the government will grant 5 billion yen or about $62 million in march. the humanitarian aid is intended to help mayan mar's recovery from floods last year and to provide food to ethnic minorities. gemba said he believes mayan mar's efforts doords democratization are real. the yen loans have been suspended from japan to mayy ma since the 1980s. an automaker plans to carry out the first clinical test of cell sheets to restore weakened heart muscles. cells are taken from the plant's thigh and cultured to create thin round five centimeter membranes. when the sheets are placed on a patient's heart, they emit over 20 substances that help repair heart muscles. 13 patients at the osaka university hospital have had the procedure. one patient is no longer bed ridden after undergoing the treatment. the pharmaceuticals and medical

devices agency has approved the clinical trials. the company hopes to commercialize the product in five years. >> translator: the patient's age is not a problem. their condition will improve if the treatment is started while they are still resilient. >> all right. next let's go to bangkok to find out what's making headlines in the region. >> nepal has been rocked by a rare bomb blast. suspicion for the attacks has fallen on a little-known ethnic separatist group. the bomb went off in the center of the capital. police believe the explosive was homemade. three confirmed dead, at least seven people were injured. the blast happened neither headquarters of the state oil company on monday afternoon.

residents of the capital expressed shock. >> translator: i just can't believe such an explosion happened in broad daylight. it must be a security failure. >> nepal's home minister said the blast was the first such incident in four years. a group calling itself the united ethnic liberation front said it was responsible. several ethnic groups in southern nepal have been calling for more autonomy. some of them claim to be armed and have threatened to use violence. a pakistani filmmaker is celebrating after winning an academy award for her short documentary about vicious attacks on women in her country. >> "saving face." >> dani and i want to dedicate this to all the heroes working on the ground in pakistan, to all the women working for

change. don't give up on your dreams. this is for you. >> director shamin chinei is the first pakistani ever to win an oscar. her film "saving face" tells the story of two women who were victims of acid attacks. one of them was disfigured by her husband after she filed for divorce. more than 100 people, mainly women and girls, are disfigured in acid attacks in pakistan every year. the film's crew and supporters said they hope the award will highlight a topic that's boo in pakistan and help bring an end to the hideous crime. a survey by the thompson reuters foundation has called pakistan the world's third most dangerous country for women after afghanistan and the democratic republic of congo. from the screen to the stage now, troup of actors in afghanistan has begun rehearsing a play by shakespeare. they aim to perform at london's

legendary globe theater reaching an international audience after decades of persecution and conflict. this version of shakespeare's "comedy of errors" has been recreated using the afghan language. actors wear local costumes. the music, story line and characters have all been given an afghan twist. the troup plans to join a culture festival leading up to the london olympics. >> translator: three decades of conflict destroyed our artistic culture. gradually we are trying to rebuild the arts. hopefully one day we'll regain our theatrical glory days again. >> but acting isn't a risk-free profession in afghanistan. the group has been targeted by islamic militants who say what they're doing is un-islamic. actresses especially have been threatened.

and if you happen to be in london in late may, why not go and show them your support. that's it for our bulletin toda today. well, it's snowing heavily outside the studio here in tokyo. and it's piling up. rachel ferguson joins us now with the world weather forecast. >> hello again. earlier on we brought you video coming out of tokyo. this time it's from setagail. this is from 7:00 this morning, nearly white-out conditions there it looks like on our camera, anyway. people trying to get to school or work, and really watching their footsteps there. you can see that the roads are quite icy. the temperature's not going to get beyond 4 degrees today. now, that's the forecast high for tokyo. so you can see a lot of that very wet-looking snow is going to be turning over to ice and making things very slippery indeed. now, the system will be pulling away, so things should be a lot more settled as we head on into thursday. here is the cloud that we're

talking about right now bringing all of that snow. it pulls away into thursday and it will be a much drier and much warmer affair across much of the country. i mentioned the high today is about 4 in tokyo. it's going to rise to 14. so that will feel a lot more comfortable for a few days before we get down to averages as we head on in towards the weekend. it's warm also across the korean peninsula staying mostly dry here. we've got continuing showers for the southeast of china, and in fact we could get a little bit heavy in places. a few spots of snow are going to be popping up north of shanghai. we also have snow spreading in from southwestern china into central locations. the same system is going to be dipping down towards mayanmar in northeastern india but falling as rain with warmer temperatures. we'll also see thunderstorm activity there, too. 18 degrees in hong kong. that's much better for you. it's been a little bit chilly for the last couple of days. 8 degrees in beijing, unseasonal warm. it will be 4 degrees for you on

your thursday. meanwhile seoul's going to get a nice run of some warmer temperatures for the next several days. all right. into north america we go. there's a very large storm system just doing its thing right in the middle of the u.s. at the moment. here it is. it's going to be bringing snow towards the north. welso have some freezing rain just before it turns over to rain and thunderstorms down towards the gulf. it's just about here at the moment in kansas and nebraska we actually have tornado watches and warnings out at the moment. now, this system's going to travel right through towards the east during the course of the day. for wednesday daytime in the middle of the night at the moment -- out towards the west a very windy system brings more snow here and some coastal rain. and that's also going to be blown about by all those strong winds as well. here is that outlook i promised you. lots of snow owl towards the west. the sierras and cascades seeing the heaviest of the snow. another heavy band of snow

freezing rain very dangerous for driving and then severe thunderstorms likely or you could have damaging winds and the possibility for tornadoes and also for large hail. it is going to continue to be warm, though, across much of the southeast. and all the way up into chicago. 12 degrees here, 21 in oklahoma city and 25 for you in houston. minus 1 in winnipeg which is not too bad for this time of year. we go lastly into europe. now out towards the west things are going to be fine. lots of good opportunities for sunshine for you today as well. we have a weakening system which is going to be heading towards the ball can peninsula here. it starts to break up and dissipate quite quickly. turkey will see heavy snow today. it is very cold here. here's the jet stream. it's going this motion where you can see it's moving right up towards the north including scandinavia then dipping right down and bringing all of that cold air right down in towards the southeast. so that's definitely going to be reflected in the temperatures. out towards the east -- or west

i should say, we're in the double digits even in berlin and vienna. warsaw getting up to 6. but out towards the east still very much in the grips of winter. here's your extended forecast.

our lead story this hour, members of an independent panel spent months studying the response to the disaster last march in northeast japan. now, they interviewed 300 people, including senior japanese and u.s. officials. their report says the japanese government ignored the advice of u.s. authorities. panel members say the u.s. nuclear regulatory commission established guidelines after 9/11 for restoring reactors disabled by a terrorist attack. they say the u.s. commission explained the guideline toss japan's nuclear and industrial safety agency on at least two occasions. and the commission asked japanese officials to improve the anti-terrorism measures at their nuclear facilities. but the independent panel says the agency did not adopt the u.s. recommendations. panel members say that if the guidelines had been followed, the damage at fukushima daiichi

would have been less severe. a giant set of olympic rings have been fated down the river thames in london to mark 150 days until the start of the summer games. the barge with the five rings traveled toward the olympic park on tuesday. the rings are 11 meeters high and 25 meters wide. one of the city's landmarks, tower bridge, was opened for the tugboat pulling the rings. a musical band performed in front of city hall as children waved british flags. >> this is the thing that's going to happen to the city perhaps only once in my lifetime. i think we'd be absolutely crazy to miss the opportunity to sell london around the world. >> the london olympic games will open on july 27th. and that's all for this edition of "nhk newsline." edition of "nhk newsline." thanks for joining us.

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