massacre in homes. a syrian government officials accused of murdering women and children. human rights activists are accusing government forces in syria of one of the worst attrocities. they say a loyal to assad killed 45 women and children. the attack took place in the city of homs. they appealed to the united

nations. government forces bombarded it for nearly a month. they regained control this month. human right activists say government troops kept firing at civilians. they say the death toll is rising. syrian run television showed images of several bodies with this be hands tied behind their it accused terrorist gangs of carro caring carrying out the killings. secretary of state hillary clinton and officials met on monday after the u.n. security council meeting in new york. this came after kofi annan and others failed to crackdown on the issue in backing the u.n. resolution to pressure assad. >> we expect all nations to join

us now in oppressing the regime to silence its guns. >> stopping the violence was more important than assigning blame. >> we think of putting the government on one level and whether it is acceptable or not. it is about saving lives. >> he warned that the conflict will escalate if foreign troops intervene. it is the fourth day of israeli air strikes in the gaza strip and the death toll has reached 25. five of them are civilians. the violence started on friday when israel bombed a car in gaza. the blast killed the commander of the popular resistance committees and militant coalition. israel said he plotted a terrorist attack. the group responded by firing

rockets in territory. some have hit urban areas. egypt is trying to mediate the situation, but the militants will not accept the troops. the afghan parliament is demanding a u.s. soldier be tried under afghan law. the soldier went on a shooting rampage on sunday and killed 16 civilians. the soldier opened fire in kandahar. the gunman acted alone and is in custody according to the u.s. military. members of parliament say afghans have run out of patience with the arbitrary actions of foreign soldiers. they urge the u.s. government to punish all who are involved. the spokesperson for the nato-led forces promised a thorough investigation. >> the important thing is the findings will lead to an

appropriate legal procedure and justice will be done. >> u.s. forces sparked a spade of violence last month when they inadvertently burned copies of the koran. greece's neighbors have stepped in to help once again. ai has that story. >> at last, the eurozone countries has finalized the bailout for greece. this comes after most private investors accepted write offs on the greek government bonds. >> as new financing of 130 billion. the eurosss will be committed f 2012 and 2013. it is an unprecedented amount of financing that is being committed for securing greece's future.

>> the finance minister of the 17 eurozone nations reached the decision on monday as the debt-strapped nation has met necessary conditions. euro group president also urged greece to successfully implement austerity measures. he said greece should not waste the second chance has been given. the greek government said the majority of the creditors have agreed to write off over 50%. it has reached 96% of the reduction target amount. in the u.s., stocks ended mixed. some were encouraged by greece's second bailout. others hold a wait and see approach. we go to the ramin mellegard at the tokyo stock exchange. good morning, ramin. >> reporter: good morning, ai. we saw u.s. stocks ending mixed. the dow higher for a fourth day in a row. we saw the nasdaq trading a

touch lower. investors waiting on the sidelines ahead of the fmoc meeting in the u.s. federal open market committee meeting. we will keep track of that. let's have a look at the opening levels this tuesday morning and the nikkei and topix trading higher. we did see the nikkei trading lower yesterday on the back of the definite numbers out of china. that held the gains we saw across asia. the nikkei did trade above 10,000 yesterday and on friday. we still have not managed to close above that level. we are getting close, but let's see if we can do that today. oil and gas and construction and machinery and stocks traded lower yesterday on the back of the trade deficit out of china. investors trying to gauge the impact of slower growth for the world's second biggest economy. we are keeping track of those today.

eurozone debt issues not too far away as you touched on that earlier as well, ai. of course, that has led to some further gains for the euro. let's have a look at some of the currency levels as well. you can see the dollar/yen. 82.33. and the euro/yen 108.43. ai. >> ramin, you mentioned the bank of japan meeting that is wrapping up today. what is expected there? >> reporter: the bank of japan meeting to be wrapped up today. a lot of economists and market watchers are keen to see if the bank of japan will enhance its monetary policy stance or asset-buying program. let's not forget it increased that last month and set a target inflation of 1%. all of which helped to weaken

the yen and also the prime minister noda also said in the diet yesterday in a speech that he still thinks that the yen is still strong. also finance minister azoumi said investors are keenly watching markets for the weakening of the yen, which which are seeing. that is a focus for a lot of investors to see if the weakening trend of the yen continues. for now, the nikkei and topix are trading higher. we will see if it closes above 10,000 today. back to you, ai. >> thanks, ramin. ramin mellegard from the tokyo stock exchange. german car manufacturers have reported record profits for 2011. a weak euro boosted sales in china and other emerging markets.

volkswagon says the sales hit a record price of sales with8.3 m vehicles. gm held on to the top spot with 9 million units. daimler reported $140 billion and record profits of $7.9 billion. and bmw had sales of 90 billion dollars and profits of $6.4 billion. time for the latest recap of the latest market figures.

>> and that is the latest in business. back to katharine. thanks, ai. the head of the bank of china may indicate they may ease policy to spur economic growth. zhou xiaochuan said they may lower the requirement ratio. the amount of cash the chinese banks must hold in reserve. >> translator: the requirement now stands at 20%. we have much room to bring it down. >> zhou said it is closely necessary to monitor the debt crisis on his country's economy.

he says global economic trends recommend the policy. zhou's remarks continue as the exports continue to decline due to the debt crisis in europe. this is creating social problems. some local government officials eager to speed up development have land taken. we have a report from beijing with kengo okamoto. >> reporter: discontent is growing leading to demonstrations and clashes with police. these are traveling signs for the government as it prepares for major change this fall. one recent flash point is a village in the southeastern province of guang do.

nhk world has the story of what happened there. >> reporter: residents say officials did not give them enough money in selling and buying property. so the residents held protests and forced the police to come. the confrontation escalated when one died in custody. protesters squared off the security forces after barrica barricading themselves in the village. the protest video was posted online and the story was picked up by western media. it came to the attention inside

and outside of china. the communist party which has political control feels concern. party officials rush to come promising to engage in dialogue with residents. >> translator: we'll make every effort to consider their grievances and resolve the issues. >> reporter: the party eventually decided to hold an election to choose a new local leader and other senior officials. it was the first-ever election in the village. voting took place on march 3rd. the mayor, who led the protest, was elected leader. he sees the result as a victory.

some of the residents say the protesters want the government to hold the election. officials across china are being forced to deal with similar unrest. with the major change of leadership ahead, ensuring social stability is becoming a difficult challenge for the government. reporting for nhk world in china. >> it looks like they found a democratic solution, but things aren't so simple. before the vote, the communist party announced it had appointed the winner ahead of the local chapter. he ran virtually unopposed. some think the party attempted to use the vote to influence the

rule. the communist party conducted the election and others in the effort to calm concussifusion. they figure the residents are upset with the local leaders and not the central leadership. it seems the central government thought that by letting people decide their leader, they could prevent further protests. of course, single-party rule is all important to the communist party. the local election worked in this case. it calmed an angry village, but the chinese government will be cautious about holding back on a model when local conflicts arise. u.s. pop singer cyndi lauper

is asking people to support the japanese. lauper is visiting japan on a concert tour. ♪ >> the entertainer visited ishinumaki city in miyagi prefecture. she spoke about her shock when a friend from fukushima gave her candy and said it wasn't contaminated with radiation. she made the appeal at a conference held for foreign media in tokyo. she said people in the fukushima region are isolated and need support to revitalize their economy. >> don't isolate these people. buy from the areas that were hit where the stores are still open. just keep the money moving so people can recover and get back on their feet. >> lauper promised to continue

helping the affected areas rebuild. last year, the singer was in japan on the day of the disas r disaster. she stayed on and performed her concerts as scheduled. a group of pakistani musicians has chosen a unique way to show sympathy for victims of the disaster. a rock song. we have a report from islamabad. ♪ >> reporter: the song is "land of the rising sun." the band's vocalist wrote it to send a message of support where he and his family lived for a

time eight years ago. a video of the song was shown to the media on saturday night in islamabad to commemorate the first anniversary of the march 11th disaster. the video was shot in islamabad. the aim was to show the country's sense of solidarity with japan. >> the message to the video is about the friendship of pakistan and japan. and i would like to say pakistan is always there for japan and like japan has always been with us. >> reporter: the music video has been uploaded to an internet music site. the band is negotiating to get

the video on local tv. they are calling for other pakistanis to lend their support as well. reporting for nhk world in islamabad. time to check on the stories we have gathered from broadcast ares around asia. thai and japanese people in the mai province participated paper lanterns into the sky. this is way to remove troubles and woes from one's life. they observed a minute silence for the disaster victims. later, they lit paper lanterns in a japanese ritual in which

the lanterns are thought to guide spirits on their path. the anniversary was also marked in hong kong where japan's consulate held an exhibition on rebuilding efforts in disaster-hit areas. the consul general expressed appreciation by hong kong residents. japan saw a sharp decline in the number of visitors from hong kong in the aftermath of the disaster. but arrivals from the territory bounced back in january. japan is a popular destination for hong kong residents hosting about 40,000 of them during peak tourist seasons. it feels chilly in tokyo. rachel ferguson joins us with the world weather forecast. >> it is chilly. we are still in the middle of the winter. it feels like that right now. we don't have the snow that has been north of japan.

we have been experiencing a winter storm condition again across northern japan. that has left about half a meter of snow in some areas. more getting about 48 centimeters of snow in 24 hours. some areas seeing gusts up to 75 kilometers an hour. now you can see the forecast is the low that is bringing the storm. it is moving away now. that is good news. however, those strong northwesterly winds that are bringing the chill will continue to impact northwestern japan. in the next 24 hours, there is a potential for 20 to 30 centimeters of snow. some making its way over to eastern tohoku. we will be staying mostly dry here in the pacific edge of the country down toward the south. yes, still a little bit chilly. much of the rest of the region will be dry. the korean peninsula and mongolia and china. showers contue for the

southern coast. while it will be fairly light on tuesday, areas south of the asean sea could be heavy on wednesday. we will see showers continuing in western china. scattered thunderstorms across indo-china and northern philippines. temperatures are going to continue to be a little bit on the cool side for this time of year. just 15 degrees in hong kong. we usually see about 22 in the middle of march. 11 in shanghai. a chilly day in tokyo today at just 9 degrees. all right. as we head on into north america, another winter storm in the pacific northwest. now it is really going to get fairly intense for the northern mountains of california. you can see about 90 centimeters of snow in the next 24 hours. it will be accompanied by strong gusts. that will make travel hazardous in some areas. as the system moves inland and starts to dissipate, there will

be a steady stream of moisture over the next couple of days. the rest of the week is looking very wintry for canada and b.c. and central california. we run into high, dry weather here. not always a good thing because we have the surge of warmth and may-like temperatures coming up from the south. however, it will be dry and that means the potential for fire weather for the central and northern plains as well. we still have some severe weather today on monday across parts of the united states. severe weather likely still for just areas south of the great lakes and then around that, we have lots of moderate-to-heavy rain turning over to snow in northern parts of eastern canada. you can see 20 centimeters up north. some of this is freezing rain before it turns over to snow. having said that, you will see 21 degrees in new york city.

24 in washington d.c. we have 18 in chicago. 28 in oklahoma city. as we head into europe, again, very dry and unsettled for much of the continent. we will see lots of storms to the southeast. inland snow which is particularly heavy for turkey. you will see falling temperatures over the course of the week. getting down to zero by friday. i'll leave you to your extended forecast.

our lead stories this hour. human rights activists are accusing a government force in syria of one of the worst attrocities in a year evof

violence. a loyal to assad killed 45 women and children. the attack took place in homs. images were shot of the bodies. homs has been an opposition strong hold throughout the year-long uprising. government forces have been bombarded for nearly a month. they regained control this month. human activists say government troops fired at civilians. syria's state-run television showed bodies with their hands tied behind their back. it accused the gangs of carrying out the killings. the secretary of state has called for the immediate end to the violence in syria. hillary clinton and other officials met on monday after the united nations meeting in

new york. this was after being failed to halt the violent crackdown. clinton called on backing a resolution to pressure assad. >> we expectll nations, including russia and china, to join us now in pressing the assad regime to silence its guns. >> stopping the violence was more important than assigning blame. >> we really think of putting the government opposition on one level whether it is acceptable or not. it is about saving lives. >> he warned that the conflict will escalate if foreign troops intervene and assad steps down. that is all for this edition of "newsline." i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. thanks for joining us.