a test of leadership. iranians decide in parliamently elections whether they trust president mahmoud iranians will cast their votes in the country's parliamentary elections on friday. the focus is how many seats conservative hard liners critic of of mahmoud ahmadinejad will win. we have more. >> reporter: about 3,400 candidates are vying for 290 seats in parliament. the contest is heating up among

ayatollah khamenei and president ahmadinejad. a group supporting the predent is fighting a tough election battle after many candidates are said to be disqualified by the guardian council. the council is a constitutional watch dog under the influence of khamenei. hard-liners of president ahmadinejad are attacking his fiscal measures of reducing substance. iran's economy is over its nuclear program. meanwhile, staged massive anti-government rallies after the presidential election in 2009 are leading to pressure on

authorities. iran could take a tougher stance against western nations if conservative hard-liners expand their hold on power in the election. two afghans have killed two u.s. soldiers in afghanistan. the burning of copies of the koran last month has stoked anti-american sentiment. spokespersons for the international security assistance force say afghans working with the americans opened fire at a base in the southern province of kandahar. they say isap forces shot and killed the gunmen. one was believed to be a soldier. the other was a civilian teaching afghan personnel how to read and write. multinational forces have been on alert for two weeks. afghans have been outraged since u.s. personnel burned copies of the muslim holy book at a base nearkabul.

an afghan soldier shot and killed two u.s. soldiers thursday in an attack in the eastern province of nand da har. two days later a man believed to be an afghan interior ministry official killed two u.s. sfaers inside the ministry building in kabul. the unite and the two koreas are stepping up diplomatic activities following the recent agreement on north korea's nuclear moratorium. the unite and north korea agreed last week that the north will suspend nuclear tests and uranium enrichment and accept inspectors from the international atomic energy agency. in return, the u.s. will provide 240,000 tons of nutritional aid to the north. south korean diplomatic sources say the country's foreign policy kim sung-hwan will have talks with u.s. skt hillary clinton on friday next week. they're expected to discuss their country's response following the agreement. the u.s. and the north differed on several points of their

agreement when they announced the details. the north did not say it would allow it plutonium facilities to be inspected by the iaea. u.s. state department spokesperson victoria nuland said there's no difference in the positions of the two countries. >> the u.s. and the dprk both know that the dprk agreed that the iaea would be allowed in to confirm the disablement of the fiv megawatt reactor and associated facilities. so that's something that we're expecting also to be on the list wen the iaea goes to north korea. >> you inland also said a senior north korean official will attend an international conference in new york next week. whether the u.s. and the north will hold talks during the official's visit. an international body monitoring monitoring atomic testing has welcomed north korea's nuclear moratorium, but it says it will still keep a close watch on the country.

the executive secretary of the tiber toth spoke with nhk in vienna on thursday. >> it's important that north korea for the first time pledged not to carry out nuclear tests. his organization will closely monitor the north's moves so the international community will determine whether it's keeping its word. the ctbto has more than 300 facilities around the world. the group monitoring radioactive materials in the atmosphere and tremors caused by nuclear tests on a 24-hour basis. syrian rebel forces have pulled out of a town that's at the heart of the protests. government troops have been shelling homes for nearly four weekts. member of the rebel force say they don't have enough webs to fight back. and they've seen an increasing number of civilian casualties. deserters from the government

side formed the backbone of the rebel free syrian army. a senior member of the group told nhk that the retreat is temporary. he said they will return to homs to reknew their fight and try to topple the government of president bashar al assad. a local human rights activist says government troops are conducting a house by house search for dissidents who may be hiding in the city. the government granted permission to the international committee of the red cross to enter the city soon after the withdrawal. the red cross will deliver medical food and supplies to civilians. the united nations human rights council has condemned syria for what it called systemic and widespread violations against civilians. u.n. high commissioner for human rights navi pillay urged syria

to accept international inspectors and humanitarian aid. they left before the vote. they said the forum was designed to attack their country using humanitarian assistance as an excuse. the council adopted its resolution, its fourth condemnation of syria since last april. the resolution called for an immediate halt to crackdown. instead the syrian government is even torturing and killing civilians, civilian children. western and arab delegates voted in favor of the resolution. russian and chinese members again opposed it. they fear any such resolution could lead to western military action against syria. european leaders are under pressure to tackle their challenges with debts and soon. they've just wrapped up the first of a two-day business meeting. ai uchida joins us with details. >> the leaders have been monitoring greece's austerity

measureses. the leaders of the you're peen union countries have approved a second greek bailout package making it likely that one part will be implemented next week. the leaders 130 billio euro package. they agreed last week that the bailout package would be implemented. this is on the condition that the request to private sector banks of reducing the value of their greek debt holdings would go smoothly. >> eurozone leaders support the efforts undertaken by greece and the assistant offered by the european commission to strengthen the country's institutional capacity improving also tax collection is a case in point. >> the leaders also discussed boosting the european bailout fund for countrieses in serious fiscal trouble. the participants agreed to postpone making a decision on the issue by the end of march as

germany, the largest contributor is opposed to boosting the fund. the ongoing european credit crisis has pushed the jobless rate in the 17-nation euro zone to it highest since the launch of the euro in 1999. the european union statistics office said on thursday that the euro zone unemployment rate rose to 10.7% in january. that's 0.1 percentage point h higher than the previous month. jobless rates have increased in countries that have adopted tough austerity measures. spain had the worst figure at 23.3%. a record high in december. the unemployment rate in greece also worsened to almost 20% last november. that's the latest data for the country. the jobs situation is becoming increasingly severe particularly for young people. unemployment for those under 25 in the eurozone in general was

21.6% with spain the highest at 49.9%. here in japan, too, the unemployment rate worsened slightly in january. it increased to 4.6%, that is up 0.1%, a percentage point from the previous month. the internal affairs ministry e rees leased the figures on friday. number without jobs was 2.91 million down 190,000 from a year earlier. but the number of people with jobs stood at 62.1 million, which is down 480,000. meanwhile, the labor ministry said the ratio of job offers to job seekers in january stood at 0.73, higher by 0.02 percentage points from the previous month, marking the eighth consecutive month of increases. this means there are 73 offers for every 100 job seekers. japan's consumer prices in

january fell for a fourth consecutive month. the internal affairs ministry said the consumer price index in the month was down 0.1% from a year earlier. the index stood at 99.3 against a reference value of 100 for 2010. these figures exclude volatile prices of fresh foods. the ministry said the fall is due to lower prices of television sets and refrigerators. a halt to the recent rise in gasoline prices also pushed down the index. and tokyo stocks are rebounding this friday morning. optimism over a u.s. economic recover is triggering buy orders on a wide range of shares including exporters. the nikkei average is currently higher by 0.4% at 9747. the broader topix higher by half a percent at 835. market sentiment is receiving a boost from encouraging u.s.

employment data as well as a weaker yen. speaking of which, the dollar is hovering at the lower 81-yen level this friday morning. dollar/yen at 81.20 to 22. the euro is gaining ground after eu leaders agree to the greek bailout. the euro against the dollar is at 1.3317 to 3319. against the yen it's at 108.14 to 19. here is a look at the latest long-term interest rates. the yield on the ten-year japanese government bond unchanged. let's take a look at other asian market figures now.

that is the latest in business. on this week's "nuclear watch" a bird's-eye view of a badly damaged facility. nhk took to the air last weekend hours after the japanese government scaled back the no-fly zone over fukushima daiichiy. a year ago explosions devastated the nuclear plant turning it into a twisted mass of metal and debris. our roert satoru mass is a yam ma was in the nhk helicopter to capture he's images.

he told us what he saw. >> translator: from a radius of 20 kilometers to 3. because it was determined that the radiation dosage in the atmosphere did not pose a problem for safe flying. nhk's helicopter captured images fromhe skies near the power plant for the first time since the accident last march. now on the screen we see the fukushima daiichi power plant reactors one, two, three and four. the number three reactor had a hydrogen explosion and is the most severely damaged. from the mountainside, it is possible to see the ocean through the crumbling wall. the number four reactor also had a hydrogen explosion.

the yellow round object visible in the building is the lid of the outer containment vessel. the containment vessel is designed to prevent radioactive substances from the reactor leaking out but is now exposed to the outside air. the yellow-green device is the crane above the spent fuel rod pool used to move fuel. at the time of the accident, the number four unit was going through a routine inspection and had no fuel in the reactor. the pool below the crane still contains many fuel rods. now at west side of the plant property, there are about 1,000 tanks. the tanks contain roughly 120,000 tons of contaminated water that has been treated when molten fuel caused by the meltdown is cooled with water, contaminated water is generated. treating this contaminated water is one of the most difficult

efforts in the accident cleanup. the space for tanks is limited. how to add more is another issue. i had actually covered the fukushima daiichi nuclear power plant prior to the accident. back the the large facilities were in an orderly layout, and there were trees on the property. now the buildings are devastated and crumbling away while the trees have been cut to make room for the tanks. i was speechless watching this sight from the skies. we also flew in an area in a 20-kilometer radius away from the plant. the area in a 20-kilometer radius from the plant is off limits. there are no people in the homes. there are no cars on the road. this is a supermarket parking

lot. and you can see that it's empty. to the north of the power plant is namie town. the port the damage from the tsunami remains untouched. fishing boats grounded on the land have been left abandoned. the baseball field is about three kilometers from the power plant. it's being used as a temporary storage ground for removed dirt. there's a plastic sheet on the ground so the contamination will not spread. the dert dirt that has been removed is being piled on top of the sheet. seen from the skies, the homes and shops are there. however, there was a thin layer of snow on the ground and despite that, there were neither footsteps nor tire mark that could be seen. there are no residents, no people at work within a 20-kilometer radius from the power plant.

the town without life stretched across a vast expanse. in this report, the gravity of the nuclear power plant accident and the painful struggles of the local fukushima people struck home with even greater force than before. >> nhk world's satoru mass is a moto there. 185 people died in an earthquake last february. many buildings were in runs. among them a historic landmark and spiritual refuge. christchurch cathedral. now a japanese architect is working on a temporary cathedral. his methods are far from traditional. >> the cathedral was built in the 19th century. the quake destroyed the tower and the site is still off limits for safety reasons.

>> it's so damaged. i don't know that they'll be able to fix it. >> a lot of money probably, but hopefully it will be done. >> the cathedral's future is uncertain. the building plans have yet to be approved. in the meantime, church leaders are working on a temporary place of worship. this makeshift cathedral will be built out of ultradurable cardboard, cheap and quick to build. construction should be completed in three months. >> hi. >> this man is the designer, a japanese architect with plenty of experience in post-disaster construction. his area of expertise is temporary housing project for earthquake survivors. he has worked in kobe, haiti, turkey and, most recently, northern japan.

the christchurch project will make use of cardboard pipes 1.5 centimeters thick and 17 meters long. more than 60 pipes will be asem peled like tents. when completed it will be 24 meters high with seating for 700 people. >> it's not fun watching buildings get torn down. people like to see new things being built or new plans being created, making something fresh will boost people's spirits. >> the cathedral's administrators knew of his previous work. they believe his knowledge of disaster area was crucial for this project. >> it felt like the city's heart had been broken. so -- but the spirit lives on. we are building a new city and new hope and confidence for all our people. so it's a very important

building. >> on this day, he heads to the proposed building site. it's just a few hundred meters from the cathedral. he does a final check on the location. >> translator: i think it's a great location and it's close to the city center. >> his visit coincided with the one-year anniversary of the earthquake. he attended a service to remember the victims. this memorial honors the 28 japanese people who died in the earthquake. it will be moved to the temporary cathedral. >> translator: watching people offering flowers was very moving. the memorial will be placed in a temporary cathedral.

it reinforced my feeling that i have very important work to do here. >> the cathedral project promise a spiritual refuge in this time of hardship. if successful, it will also serve as a symbol of the city's reconstruction. hiromi cure osaka, nhk world, christchurch. we go to the weather forecast now. there's been persistent rain and flooding in southeastern australia. rachel ferguson joins us now with the details. >> hi, yes, indeed. there has been just a steady stream of moisture flowing right through australia. it seems to be the southeastern quarter that's getting hardest hit. i want to take you to new south wales and victoria. we have some video to show you what is going on here. about 600 residents have been forced to evacuate their homes as the rivers have been quickly rising. officials say about three-quarters of this state were first here in new south

wales nearly as large as texas remains under the threat of flooding. these pictures are coming from victoria. people are busy unloading sandbags to protect their homes and businesses from flooding. serious situation. there will be a bit of a break in the wet weather. but if we look at the 48-hour forecast, you can see that it's not going to last. we can see that heavy rain once again diving down in towards the southeast. so it looks like it's going to be continued risk of further flooding into the weekend. we'll keep you updated. let's go to eastern asia. widespread rain here, too. nothing quite as heavy as we were just looking at there in australia, but it is going to be quite widespread across southern china, then turning to snow across the north. it will really develop into the next 24 hours from central china up towards the north, then mongolia also dealing with

precipitation which will be following snow here still very cold. a heavy rain targeting myanmar as well as bangladesh and northeastern india. further toward the south, scattered thunderstorms for the indochina peninsula as well as the philippines, but it shouldn't be anything particularly heaviy. seasonal light thunderstorms. japan will see an area of rain moving from west to east. most of it falling as rain apart from the mountainous regions of central japan. by the time it hits tohoku, it should be changing over the snow. a little chillier towards the north. but not too bad in tokyo. today ten degrees forecast for the high, eight in seoul and five in beijing. eight in shanghai as well, taipei and hong kong both at 21 degrees but a hot day in bangkok. 36 for your high. into north america we go. to the northwest we're seeing a system here starting to dissipate as it moves farther inland, which is certainly good news. this one a windy system bringing

snow as well as coastal rain in the last 24 hour. but even as thins settle down here, there's going to be yet another system coming in on its heals friday night. something to keep in mind. go out to the east because really severe storms have been just ripping up the midwest and eastern united states over the last couple of days. you can see this front moving away out over the atlanta. but there's only going to be a short break, i afraid. this low here in the south is getting ready to develop, move into the east and bring yet more severe weather on friday. tornadoes are possible. damaging winds. potential for hail in those storms as well as potentially flooding rain. all right. temperatures are a little bit cooler towards the south but still staying fairly warm in the mid-atlantic. 14 for you in d.c. and a bit of a better day in new york city at 9. into europe we go. fairly settled still and very spring-like for much of western euro here. we'll be seeing a few showers for portugal and spain, welcome

rain this is. but there's a hefty storm coming in. windy and wet across iberia and the british isles. out towards the east, this had be a mixture of rain and snow. but the really cold air is relegated quite far east just for turkey up through kiev, moscow, buty the time we hit poland starting to hit seasonal averages.

and that wraps up this edition of "newsline." i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. thanks for joining us.

hi, i'm janice edwards, inviting you to join us for bay area vista. as you probably know, bay area vista is your show. we're talking about your community, talking about what's important to all of us, here in the bay area. i always thank you for the great job that you do in our bay area. so, that's what tuesdays at 6:30(pm), here on kcsm, are all about. please join us then.