an appeal for calm. barack obama urges benjamin netanyahu to take a diplomatic approach to iran. the u and israel are linked by their history. they've walked together on the bumpy road to peace in the middle east, but their leaders have not enjoyed an easy relationship. now u.s. president baracobama and israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu are at odds again, this time over iran. they met for three hours in the white house. israeli leaders do not believe u.s. sanctions against iran's

nuclear program are working. they've threatened to launch a preemptive military strike against iranian nuclear facilities. obama's trying to steer them towards another approach. >> when i say all options are on the table, i mean it. having said that, i know that both the prime minister and i prefer to resolve this diplomatically. we understand the costs of any military action. >> when it comes to israel's security, israel has the right, the sovereign right to make its own decisions. i believe that's why you appreciate, mr. president, that israel must reserve the right to defend itself. >> officials in the obama administration say they'll continue to press israel to seek a diplomatic solution. they say a strike by israel would have dangerous consequences across the middle east. the director general of the international atomic energy agency has expressed concern

over iran's nuclear program. yukiya amano says that iran is still enriching uranium and has started a fresh program at a new nuclear facility. amano spoke at a board of governors meeting at the agency's headquarters. he said iran is not fully cooperating with the iaea. he said it's impossible to determine the extent of iran's nuclear program. >> the agency is unable to provide credible intelligence about the absent of material and activities in iran and, therefore, to conclude that all nuclear material in iran is in peaceful activities. >> china's national people's congress is meeting all this week in beijing. let's get ai uchida from our business desk with more on that. >> premier wen jiabao has announced several shifts one being slower growth, the other being that his government will wean the economy off it reliance

off external demand and foreign capital. wen made the remarks in his annual work report to the national people's congress in beijing on monday. >> translator: this year's first priority is to expand domestic demand especially consumption. we should pursue the goal of long-term stable and rapid economic development. >> china's economy is heavily reliant on exports and foreign investment and has been hurt by the credit crisis in europe. but analysts say the world's second largest economy is better placed to boost domestic consumption than japan, the united states or european countries. japan and vietnam are enhancing their ties. japan's top business group is visiting the southeast asian nation this week. the two sides are talking about continued cooperation in infrastructure development including construction of nuclear power plants. japan business federation

chairman met the vietnam trade minister on monday. the japanese delegation is touring southeast asia through saturday. the vietnamese minister called for japan's assistance, stressing the importance of progress in infrastructure for the nation's economic expansion. he said mutual cooperation was necessary to creating a favorable business environment and to promote continued growth of asian economies. he also called fon vietnam to help japan join the transpacific partnership trade talks. vietnam is one of the nine nations discussing the free trade initiative. the vietnamese minister expressed his support. he declared the two countries are indispensable partners for economic development in the asia pacific region. one of japan's biggest mobile phone carriers is getting into the solar power business. softbank says it will build four solar energy plants as it

branches into renewable energy ventures. construction of two plants starts next month. one plant is in kyoto, western japan. the other is gunma, near tokyo. the company aims to start operations in july and then sell the energy to power companies. softbank says its station in kyoto will generate enough electricity to support 1,000 households annually. the gunma facility will be able to power 640 households. the schedule to build two other plants in toke oshima prefecture in western japan is not yet decided. it's expected those facilities together will be able to power over 1500 households. and share prices are actually in the negative now here in tokyo this tuesday morning. the nikkei now in the negative by but less than 1 point at 9697. the broader topix also in the

negative at 832. earlier markets were up. market sources say investors were buying shares after the overnight release of better than expected u.s. economic data. however, some institutional investors are selling to lock in profits. and taking a look at currencies, the dollar is high against the yen in tokyo trading this tuesday. the dollar/yen at 81.46 to 48, euro/yen at 107.69 to 74. the dollar is being bought in anticipation of a u.s. recovery. but the up side the capped as investors are moving to sell it ahead of the yen before the fiscal year end. let's take a look at the latest long-term interest rates. the yield on the benchmark ten-year japanese government bond is higher by just about one basis point. tokyo prosecutors are expected to question former executives of a software firm on suspicion of making a false

corporate buyout announcement. executives of tokyo based solardam technology allegedly announced in 2009 that they'd raised about $18 million from issuing new stocks. they said they used the money to buy an environmental consulting company beige basted in beijing. it is listed on the jazdaq securities change. sources say they never raised the funds for the acquisition. prosecutors believe they tried to deceive investors with the false announcement. it's also suspected that they intended to illegally raise it share price. prior to the announcement the firm's stock was trading at $120, but within a year it had soared by more than ten times. all right. south korea and singapore markets are also open. let's take a look at those.

next day of trading here on the tokyo markets. that's the latest from business. back to catherine now. >> thanks have very much, ai. nhk has found that at least five people starved to death last year in the evacuation zone around the fukushima daiichi nuclear plant. police and medical authorities examined the bodies. they say the victims appeared to have been stranded. >> translator: if the nuclear accident had not occurred, some of these people might have been rescued. they had no mean to ask for help. we have to learn from these cases about how to manage that kind of situation.

>> the government issued an evacuation order one day after the nuclear accident. but some residents were left behind. one of the five was a man in his 70s. he was found dead in late march on the second floor of his home. the tsunami had damaged the first floor. he lived about five kilometers from the plant. another was a woman in her 60s. she was found dead last april. she lived alone and had trouble walking. now to our series "lessons of march 11th, one year on." we're looking back on last year's magnitude 9 earthquake which triggered a tsunami and nuclear crisis. more than 15,000 people died. about 3300 others are still missing. we're bringing you reports this

week from the hardest-hit prefectures in japan's northeast, iwate, miyagi and fukushima. nearly 300 people remain unaccounted for in minami-sanriku. one man has not seen his son. he's come to a difficult decision. >> reporter: on the cold day in february, he shows us where he once lived. >> translator: there was a bathroom here. and my son's house was over there. >> reporter: a house that sheltered generations of his family. now just a foundation. but he lost much more on that day. his son nori tack ka who lived in minami-sanriku.

[ sireness ] the march 11th tsunami, he was a man with officials at the local government in the control center. rescue operations. the water started to flood the three-story building. the officials ran to the roof. but the tsunami swallowed the structure whole. it swept away tanaka and others. >> translator: noritaka was honest, sincere and modest. >> reporter: he could be called courageous as well.

noritaka wasn't even supposed to be at the center. he'd be in the hills around minami-sanriku conducting the survey when the quake hit. he descended immediately and went straight to the control center. he wanted to help any way he could. >> translator: he probably felt responsible as a town official. but i believe he shouldn't have run toward the tsunami. >> reporter: makino, along with other families, search for any information of the missing on march 11. >> translator: i read the inquiries of about 5,000 people. soon i was overwhelmed. i felt helpless. and finally gave up.

>> reporter: he gave up but he still hoped to find his son's body. however, months passed without any news. so in february, makino made the difficult decision to hold a funeral. he wanted to honor his son ahead of the first anniversary of his disappearance. noritaka put letters written to him by his children in place of his ashes. [ chanting ] >> translator: how depressing. to honor my son, i have to hold a funeral without his ashes. but if i don't, i feel my son cannot rest in peace.

>> reporter: and so reluctantly makino said good-bye to his son. but he's still wait iing. >> i am hoping dna tests identify my son soon. i'm expecting that will happen. i cannot bear to think my son's body is lying somewhere unattended. >> reporter: makino, like many others in the northeast, will continue to do what they've done for months now. wait, and perhaps reflect on all that they lost one year ago. daisuke azima, nhk world, minami-sanriku. an earthquake that jolted a nation, a tsunami that swallowed the 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 our special program "lessons of march 11th one year on" sunday march 11, 2:00 p.m. on nhk world. thousands of people took to the streets in moscow to protest vladimir putin's victory in sunday's presidential election. about 20,000 protesters rallied at a square near the center of the capital. opposition leader grigory yavlinsky and another protest leader expressed their discontent. they allege that the voting was rigged. they say the results could be putin ruling russia for a long time. yavlinsky was denied registration in the race. one demonstrator said putin is trying to monopolize power and that the country will degenerate if the administration does not change. another said there's no reason to stop the protests.

more protests are planned for saturday. police have detained a few for public disorder. putin supporters staged their own rallies closer to the kremlin where the president's office is located. gunmen wearing military-style uniforms have launched simultaneous attacks on police in western iraq. they killed 27 officers. the gunmen targeted checkpoints in hadithah about 200 kilometers northwest of baghdad. the police returned fire. they say three of the attackers were killed. the rest escaped in vehicles. a spokesperson for the governor of anbar province said the incident bore what he called the fingerprint of al qaeda. iraq is preparing to host an arab summit later this month in baghdad. government officials are tightening security throughout the country. they hope to impress arab leader

with their progress in security and reconstruction. next we go to bangkok to find out what's making headlines in the region. >> has asked them to issue an arrest warrant for pervez musharraf. the one-time military leader is living in self-imposed exile. pakistan's current leaders want to prevent him from returning to politics. >> reporter: pakistani law enforcement officials told nhk they have taken steps under international law to arrest pervez musharraf. the former president is already wanted in pakistan over the assassination of 2007 of ex-premier benazir bhutto. equate sy ug awe of plans f fo

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here temperature wise getting up to 24 degree i hong kong with the chance of thundershowers. n tpei with some light rain, cooling down to 6 in seoul and again 18 i tokyo. the wa cditions will continue into tomorrow. now,ngo the americas, it's nice and settled across most of theu.,uto the north we've got an active low pressure system mge u.s./caa coldro flanking southeastwar let me showou tudasore from the west coast all the way to teern grak region, you are gng t s widespread snow showers and heavy rain along the coast oflia risk of fire weather in parts of eouerand central plains as well as the lower colorado sd bau of warm and dry weather coming in from the south. so temperatures will be warming up to 26 in hst a23 in

oklahoma cit and getting up to 21 indeer which is about ten degrees higher than average. noovg oo roit's staying dry and settled across the west, buthere multiple systems in the western ctint br w aindy conditions. but those are weakening systems, so hvy rain in france, thunderstorms in italy, as well as a mix oaind sw in the southern balkans as well as e eeaain on your l continue t tuesday. and up towards the north, staying dry in the british isles at this moment, but rain is expected to affect theorer ha othbritish isles. temperatures are as follows. getting to 8 degrees in london and the same goes for degrees in vienna with plenty of sunshine. before i wrap up, i want to show you some video coming out of southern argti. massive chunks of ice bke free from the perito moreno glacier

in santa cruz and fell into argentina. the country's iceberg, the ou 200 square kilometers and rises up to about 70 feet above water level. the glacier last ept i 2008. a spectacular sight there. all right. here's your extended forecast.

u.s. singer cyndi lauper has brought smiles to children in northeast japan who survived last year's earthquake and

tsunami. the pop star, who is in japan r ccetour, visited an elementary school in ishinomaki city, miyagi prefecture. ♪ girls ty wt to have ♪ that's all they really want >> lauper sang several of her hit songs for the school's 350 students. afterwards she presented the school with ten cherry saplings. >> you are not forgotten, and we brought trees in hopes for nel r u. >> the school says it will plant the trees on graduation day later this nth. stear lauper arrived in japan on march 11th, the exact day of the disaster. many foreigners left janumr the immediate aftermath, but she

stayed on and performed her concerts as scheduled. >>th'sllor this edition of "newsline." i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. thanks for joining us.yywqwgwgwy