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anniversaries, the suesul tibet been in china in 19, ao t deadly riots in the tibetan capit lhasa four years ago. local tibetans say the chinese gornntasepyed armed security forces to contain further protests. > traders on tokyo's nikkei are joining counterparts in the stock sell-off. uchida reports. >> tokyo stock prices are falling fovnit plunge we saw in new york. investors are placing sell order on a wide range of shares. the nikkei average isrelyat9555 in. e bader topix is down 7 pointst819. both of them are down above 8%. sources say thatlol investors are focusing on the ouof negotiations between the greek government and private

investors including commercial banks over debt writedns. d currencieses, the yen is gaining ground against both the trinthis wednesday.tokyo e dlas currently changing hands at 80.72 to 73, t euro/yen at the bottom of the screen is at 6. to 05. sources say that investors' atntn now drawn to greece with the negotiation deadline is set for thursday. and a look at the latest long-term interest rates. e el ohe benchmark ten-yearapes geren bo down just about one basis point. tokyo prosecursla t serve new arrest warrants during the day on former ecuve o olympus. the executives are alleged to have kept hiding losses after 2009. osuts previously arrested kikukawa the president of the optical eipntkealong

with vice president hisashi mori and hideio yamada. they've all resigned. the exmanageme iccedf inflating the firm's assets by over 10 billion yen in 2007 and 2008 to covp henvtment losses. the sum is worth about $1.2 billion at current exchange rates. sources say kukaas largely admitted to the charge. he reportedly said after bemi psinte iended to disclose the faulty accounting but that other board meercoind m t . china sayst may expand a property tax in an effort to slow down it overheatingoung rk. the governnt launcd the taxes on fixed assets in shanghai ahoqi last year to stem speculative real estate buying. finance minister said on thursday that the property tax is working.

>> translator: the tax is helping to stabilize the housing markets. so we want to expand the area adopting the system after fuhecoidation and amendment. >> the numberf real estate deals plungedectl after the government tightened money policy and regulations on mortgage loans. the action triggered a slew of baruci angeaeste brokers. analysts warn, however sh that widening the property tax will cause real estate prices to nosedi. meeath t untry's housing bubble will burst. new figures show that brazil's economy dramatically ow dn in 2011. that's in the wake of europe's sovereign debt crisis. brazil's gd grew just 2.7% in 2011, down from 7.5% the year before. the brazilian itite o

geography and statistics announced the figures on tuesday noting that the economy marked year on year expansion in the fourth quarter. analysts blamed the slowdown on europe'seb csind the depression yags of the currency the real. funds are flowing in from abro, senheng the real and severely impacting brazil's manufacturing industry. tokyo markets are down. les ke lk other asian markets.

>> i i back to catherine now. >> thanks very much, ai. a u.s. nuclear expert says japan could have predicted the impact of last year's tnamin the fukushima daiichi plant. >> responsible people from around the world referring to the accident as unthinkable and unforeseen and so on. my view is that it was not unthinkable and it was not unforeen. as we heard earlier, the tsunami hazard was underestimated. >> nuclear regulatory commisoner georg apostolakis made the remark at a symposium in washington on tuesday. nearly one year has passed since the march 11th earthquake and tsunami crippled the nuclear plant. apostolakis said japan's government and the plant's operator tokyo electric power company could have better prepared for total power loss. he said the operators of u.s. nuclear plants are taking additional steps to deal with

blackouts. he said the commission hopes to come up with further safety measures by this summer. the carnegie endowment for international peace organizes symposium and released a report on tuesday. the paper says the analysis of past tsunami was insufficient it. says japan did not adequately prepare for the possibility of power failures at nuclear plants. a new robot has been developed to more efficiently explore the inside of nuclear reactor buildings damaged by last year's quake and tsunami in japan. the robot was built by machinery maker topy industries at the request of tokyo electric power company that operates the nuclear power plant. it's 50 centimeters tall and more compact than the currently used model. it's equipped with five cameras and a radiation checker. because it's so small the robot can move around on staircase landings and they're only about 70 centimeters wide.

it is designed to negotiate steep staircases. and it can wade into pool of water about three centimeters deep and work even under dripping water. >> translator: i hope the robot will help reduce the exposure of nuclear plant workers to radiation. an earthquake that jolted a nation. a tsunami that swallowed 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 our special program "lessonses of march 11th one year on" sunday 2:00 p.m. only on nhk world. israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu says iran must quit it nuclear program. he says time is running out and all options are on the table including military action.

netanyahu spoke in washington at a pro-israel conference. his country has threatened to launch a preemptive strike on iran's nuclear facilities. >> we've waited for diplomacy to work. we've waited for sanctions to work. none of us can afford to wait much longer. >> netanyahu referred to concerns an attack on iran would result in a more unstable situation in the middle east and higher oil prices. he said it's time to start talking about the danger of not stopping the country's nuclear program. >> for the sake of our prosperity, for the sake of our security, for the sake of our children, iran must not be allowed to acquire nuclear weapons. yur neen union leaders are encouraging iranian officials to get back to the negotiating table. >> i've offered to resume talks with iran.

we hope that we will be able to now pursue with iran constructive engagement with the purpose of addressing the international community's concerns about the nuclear program. >> ashton says she replied to a letter iran's chief nuclear negotiator sent last month offering to return to the talks. eu officials have been coordinating between negotiators from iran and six nations including the u.s., russia and germany. they want to build confidence in the hope of getting all parties to meet again. iranian officials say they'll allow iaea inspector into a facility the inspectors have wanted to get into for a while. the iaea team suspects iranian scientists are developing nuclear weapons at the parchin military complex. the iranians did not let them into this site last month. iran's envoy to the iaea, ali asghar soltanieh granted access

to the facility during talks with the agency. iranian officials say getting permission takes time because parchin is a military complex. soltanieh said entry to the complex would be allowed after the iaea board meeting this week. iranian officials did not elaborate on how much access they would allow, and they didn't say when they would let inspectors in. next we go to bangkok to find out what's making headlines in the region. >> we start in afghanistan. two civilian have died in an attack outside the base where two weeks ago u.s. troops burned korans. the taliban has claimed responsibility, saying it was revenge. nhk world reports. >> reporter: a suicide bomber detonated explosives at the gate of bagram airfield outside kabul on monday evening. an afghan official said at least two civilians died and four

others were injured. a taliban spokesperson said the attack was revenge for the burning of islam's holy book. that incident caused uproar in afghanistan. the unite said it wd states sai unintentional and apologized but that haven't stopped violent protests that have so far killed 30 people and wounded hundreds more. reporting for nhk world. next to thailand where a symbolic stage of recovery has been reached after last year's devastating floods. bangkok's dong myun airport opened four months after rising water forced it to close.

>> reporter: political leaders and senior officials attended a ceremony on monday. they watched aircraft making use of the renovated airport. one day before it starts operating again. the airport was shut down after its taxiways were submerged last october. it was used for a time as the nation's flood relief operations center. it was also one of the biggest evacuation centers. but as waters kept rising, the authorities were forced to 4,00w center outside the capital. the government was criticized for not realizing the severity of the crisis.

prime minister yingluck is visiting japan from tuesday and will meet her japanese counterpart, yoshihiko noda. she plans to explain thailand's new water management policies. winning back international confidence is critical for thailand in order to maintain it place as a manufacturing hub of southeast asia. reporting for nhk world, bangkok. turning now to vietnam where terrible traffic is one negative side effect from the booming economy. dangerous driving and chronic delays make getting around a chore. but that hasn't deterred one japanese delivery company from trying it luck. nhk world reports. ♪ >> reporter: sagawa express launched door to door deliveries

in vietnam on march 1th. it is one of japan's major transport companies. it's now in the vietnamese capital hanoi and the business hub ho chi minh. it plans to spread further, but it needs to be smart because transportation in vietnam is different than it home market. in vietnam people use motor bikes more often than cars for getting around. so for the delivery service, this kind of motor bike will be it main means of transportation. there are around 33 million motorcycles on the roads of vietnam. about one in every two adults uses them to get around. they use them to transport anything humanly possible. but upgrades to infrastructure aren't keeping up with economic

growth. on the roads, many intersections have no traffic lights. where they do exist, many drivers ignore them. more than 10,000 people die in traffic accidents every year. it's a challenge for sagawa to execute deliveries accident free and on time. the company educates drivers to put safety first. >> translator: i need to be careful because we have to be safe, not just for ourselves but for our customers' goods, too. >> reporter: the lack of traffic lights is not the only problem. parking lots are also in short supply. most drivers park on the edge of the street. it's almost impossible for sagawa drivers to find short-time parking.

so sagawa stocks each vehicle with two people. one keeps driving while the other makes the delivery. there's no other way. sagawa believes it's worth the extra effort to get a piece of this growing market. it also took into account the increasing number of japanese businesses moving production to vietnam. >> translator: vietnam has a lot of room for mail-order services to expand. this will definitely push up demand for door-to-door deliverieses. >> reporter: as the japanese market shrinks, booming vietnam is attractive for delivery companies like sagawa. it's hoping to take the service it offers at home and deliver it to this exciting new business

frontier. akiko itchy har ra, nhk world, ho chi minh. and that wraps up our bulletin. all right. it's been pretty warm this morning in tokyo. happy about that. sayaka mori joins us now with the weather picture for here and elsewhere. >> we are dealing with very warm and hazy conditions here in tokyo. the expected high is 14 degrees. so still warmer than average. it's staying dry across japan but both sides of the country are dealing with rain. a low pressure system is moving across hokkaido producing blowing conditions that could be accompanied by thunderstorms and gusty winds. and heavy thundershowers are still continuing across the southern islands up to 100 millimeters is still possible in the next 24 hour.

and across the southeast coast of china and back behind it a wintry mix will develop as we head into thursday. then down towards the indochina peninsula showers in cambodia will move towards the north over the course of thursday and it could become heavy at times. temperature wise getting up to 23 degrees in hong kong and 8 degrees in shanghai. 7 degrees in seoul with plenty of sunshine. tokyo again getting up to 14 degrees, but it will cool down to 9 degrees on thursday. now, heading over to the americas. it's mostly dry and warm in the east, but stormy and cool in the west. and in between these areas very strong winds are prevailing, red flag warnings have been posted for much of the southern half of the u. particularly dry in parts of new mexico as well as texas. the risk of wildfire is extremely high here. meanwhile, a low pressure system

continues to track eastward along the u.s./canada border spreading widespread snow showers up to 20 centimeters is possible in southern manitoba. then we have another low pressure system moving across the central rockies spreading winter storm conditions. and back behind the system there's a lot of cool air, so as the cold front moves through, temperatures will drop dramatically going down to 2 degree in denver on your wednesday. that will be 18 degrees lower than what we saw on tuesday. but across the east still warmer -- it's still on the warmer side getting up to 18 degrees in oklahoma city and double digits in toronto as well as chicago and getting up to 17 in washington, d.c. now heading over to europe, we can see these big rotating clouds over the atlantic. these are powerful low pressure system and a couple of fronts producing blustery winds and

heavy rain in much of the british isles as they move towards the east much of the scandinavian peninsula, france, the low countries and parts of germany will turn wet and windy in the next 24 hours. as for the iberian peninsula, still dries out. particularly portugal has been dealing with serious drought conditions, but unfortunately, no rain is in the forecast for the next several days. meanwhile thundershowers are gradually easing in southern italy as well as the southern balkan peninsula. temperature wise lot of double digits across the mediterranean country. 11 in london. out towards the east, cooling down to minus 7 in moscow despite the sunshine and minus 3 in kiev under cloudy skies. here is your extended forecast.

our lead stories this hour, board members of the international atomic energy agency are urging north korean leaders to follow through on their promises. the new leadership in pyongyang announced last week they'd take steps toward denuclearization in return for food aid. american negotiators are pushing the north koreans to honor their commitments by allowing early monitoring by iaea inspectorses. the u.s. member of the board outlined the detail of the agreement at a meeting in vienna. north korean officials have agreed to halt uranium enrichment temporarily at their nyongbyon nuclear facility. and they say they'll allow iaea inspectors to visit the site. japanese and chinese board members welcomed the agreement. the south korean delegate said the u.n. agency should wait and see if pyongyang will actually carry out what it agreed to do. iaea director general yukiya amano says he'll send a senior

official to north korea as soon as officials there agree to meet. military tensions on the korean peninsula are never far away. north korean soldiers have carried out drills in an apparent show of anger. north korean troops shot at pieces of paper bearing the name of south korean president lee myung bak during their live fire drill. political analysts say this is the latest effort by north korean leader to tighten their grip. south korean and u.s. military personnel are carrying out exercises of their own. north koreans are angry about a poster found at a south korean military barracks. it contained slogans threatening kim jong-un and his late father. thousands of soldiers and civilians protested against the poster at a rally in pyongyang. and that's all for this edition of "newsline." i'm catherine kobayashi in

tokyo. do stay with us.