warnings for iran. the u.s. and british leaders get together to increase pressure on tehran. barack obama and david cameron say the table when it comes to iran. they've pressured iranian leaders to abandon their nuclear program without success. they say sanctions and diplomacy could still work. they warn they'll consider another approach if they don't see any progress. obama and cameron laid out their case after meeting at the white house. >> because we have employed so

many of the options that are available to us to persuade iran to take a different course, that the window for solving this issue diplomatically is shrinking. >> cameron warned iranian leaders to meet their international obligations. if not, he said britton and the u.s. will increase economic pressure. they continue thinker approach in afghanistan too. they've insisted security there in improving despite recent events. a u.s. soldier killed 16 in a shooting over the weekend. lawmakers in iran have done something for the first time. they summoned the president to parliament. they wanted to question on how ahmadinejad has ruled. >> reporter: is the first international leader to be in

parliament since a revolution overthrew the government in 1979. ahmadinejad was accused during his appearance on wednesday after mismanaging the economy which has struggling with inflation. he was also quizzed on his 11-day absence from office last april. lawmakers said the action defied the authority of the country's supreme leader. but ahmadinejad countered that he had no intention of defying him. he said the lawmakers must have better things to do for the people than summoning him. ahmadinejad is believed to disagree with the leader. candidates in the political group lost again supporters earlier this month. analysts now fear that rejecting

compromise with the western israel, tension are likely to grow. nhk world, tehran. north korea and russia have agreed to cooperate to resume the six party talks. met with russian minister. the russian foreign ministry. the north agreed to suspend its enrichment activities and inspectors from the atomic energy agency at last month's meeting with the united states. in return, the u.s. will provide food aid. the russian government has welcomed the north's move. the north korean vice foreign

minister will stay in russia until friday. he's expected to meet the new chief negotiator for the six party talks, deputy foreign minister. china's government says it wants to slow down the economy and focus on stability. the national people's congress closed its annual session in beijing on wednesday. the apartment approved budget and policy plans for the coming year. they included a half point reduction in the annual growth target. that announcement has got worldwide attention. china has been a key driver of the global economy. nhk world is covering this story from beijing. >> reporter: the congress delegates convene at crucial time for china. setting the stage for a major leadership change this fall. after nine years at the top, president hew gin tow and premier wen jiabao are planning

to hand power. the public isn't happy about inflation and the widening gap between rich and poor. wen says slowing the economy will help tackle these problems. >> translator: the purpose of slowing down our economic growth is to reform the economic structure of china. ultimately the most important thing is improving standards of living in this country. >> reporter: the congress set a gdp growth target of 7.5%. this is the first time below 8% since 2004. the first objective is to cool overheated sectors and keep a lid on inflation.

the new target signals are changing priorities. the government wants to rebalance the economy for sustainable quality growth. to promoting consumer demand. rapid growth has created a number of problems. the auto industry is a prime example. china became the world's biggest auto producer in 2009. more than 300 companies are assembling vehicles large and small. that's not an efficient use of capital. small makers have toroduce heavily. vehicle sales last year rose by a modest 2.5%. if sales don't peak up soon, overextended automakers will go bankrupt. >> reporter: some factories,

some firms in these industries with access may shut down. this may be a painful process, a painful time, but that's something we have to experience. >> reporter: the changing labor market is another factor. cheap labor has played a major role in the economic expansion. but the influx of migrant workers from rural to urban areas is slowing. coastal areas are suffering from a chronic labor shortage. at the same time there aren't enough jobs for university graduates. more and more young people have to survive on part-time jobs. party leaders are also concerned about an impending decline in the working age population. as a result of china's one-child policy. the number of people aged 15 to 64 will start falling within a

few years. this means that workers' productivity would have to be raised just to maintain current living standards. >> a large fraction of the population don't feel that they are living a better life. so what we can do or what we should do right now is to re -- to reallocate capital to solve this structural problem. >> reporter: given all the problems, a half-point adjustable to the national growth target is hardly a solution on its own. but after years of rapid growth, the downgrade is symbolic. china's leaders are signaling their determination to shift gears. the new focus is social stability. to achieve that, effective measures will be needed. for president hu and premier wen, focusing on these issues

will be their final and most important test. >> now, premier wen has criticized a senior communist official in a rare public rebuke. he opposed ahead of a leadership transition this fall. bo shila is in chongqing. he had been expected to fill a central leadership post. the city's former police chief was one of his associates. wan was fired. he took refuge in a u.s. consulate. police detained him when he left. they have been investigating him ever since. wen made a thinly-veiled attack on bo after the congress. he did not mention him by name.

>> so wen caught many off guard with his comments. let's see where the leading stock index is heading. ia joins us now with that. >> it's not just tokyo markets. even on wall street, the dow jones industrial ended higher for a sixth day in a row. as well as receding concerns about eurozone debt issues. let's see how stocks here are trading. for that we'll go at the tokyo stock exchange. stocks look poised to continue their upward trend. how is the nikkei starting off

this morning? >> let's look at the nikkei and the topix this thursday morning. you can see the levels for yourself. and we can see there the nikkei actually up quite a bit. and currently 10,130, up 79 points. the growing optimism. and we've seen that in gains in both the dow and the nikkei. the dow closed above for two days in a row. we've seen the nikkei closing above 10,000 for the first time since july last year. let's see if it can close above 10,000 again. focus on upcoming corporate earnings for japan and the sentiments surveyed for large and small manufacturers. which is due out in april. which is the beginning of the new fiscal year. the main reason for that renewed focus on japanese stocks is really the weakening of the yen that we've seen recently. but also interest in underpriced

domestic stocks which we've seen moves in as well. due to the monetary policy. and also the designs to bring japan back to a more sustained recovery. let's have a look at the currency levels as well. and you can see there the weakening trend of the yen continues with the dollar actually jumping to an 11-month high against the yen. look at the euro as well. when it was trading around 97 yen. you can see quite a jump there in the euro against the yen as well. >> well, indeed. what a jump. that should give boost to key exporters selling to europe. what else can we expect on the economic front? like are there bumps on the road ahead? >> there may be. that could come out of the u.s.

we'll have the weekly jobless claim numbers out of the u.s. that will give another insight to the picture in the u.s. also some inflation data. we'll have the ppi on thursday followed by the consumer price index, cpi as well as consumer sentiment on friday. so some big numbers there for economists to take in there. the nikkei has been gaining considerably. let's see if it can close above 10 tour 10,000 for a second day in a row. >> that was ramin from the tokyo stock exchange. chinese premier wen jiabao said they will let its currency float more freely against the u.s. dollar. >> translator: we're going to continue to gear up for currency

reform. that includes expanding the daily fluxuation range. >> will be allowed to fluctuate more than half a percent a day. but a stronger is unlikely because he says it's close to what he considers a suitable level since 2005 since it was first allowed to go higher. wen also said to control real estate prices as the market is still overheated. japanese automaker honda says it will resume production in thailand. honda is the last japanese automaker to return to normal operations in the country. honda says it will resume output on march 26th. the automaker suspended operations last october after its largest production hub in southeast asia was flooded in over two meters of water.

the plant has an annual production capacity of 240,000 vehicles. they're sold in thailand and other southeast asian countries where the company is expected at a fast pace. to recover to full capacity next month. here's a recap of the latest market figures. >> and that is the latest in business for this hour. back to catherine now. >> thanks very much, ai. the world's nuclear watch

dog says it's concerned about the able of nuclear power plants that a study revealed most are over 20 years old. the agency sent a draft of its annual report to member countries. the final report will be made public at its assembly. the draft said that of the world's nuclear facilities, 80% were more than two decades old at the end of last year. it says 43% are 20 to 29 years old. 32% are 30 to 39 years old. and 5% are older than 40 years. the head of the iaea. >> a major energy resource as long as the safety of facilities is strictly monitored. >> the agency wants cooperation from member countries to examine

their plants in a bid to reinforce safety standards. the nuclear crisis in fukushima forced 88,000 people to leave their homes. government officials drew up a two-year plan to decontaminate the zone around the plant. they hope some evacuees will eventual return. but many residents say they'll never feel safe there again. >> reporter: yamada and her family spends their days far from home. she, her husband, his father, and their two children have an apartment in iwaki city. >> translator: i'm just hanging on here. i don't know what my future will be. >> reporter: yamada lived there for 16 years. her home is 72 meters from the

plant. then on march 11th everything changed. she and her family jumped in the car the day after and left town. >> translator: i believe that the nuclear plant was 100% safe. i'm so confused and cannot resolve my feelings. >> reporter: yamada became concerned her daughter may have suffered internal exposure. a test revealed she was safe. still, yuka had trouble going into her new environment. it took her six she was fitting in. yamada visited the home last month. if only for a few hours. >> translator: i don't want to take her to our home, but still she wants to go. i'll videotape it instead.

>> translator: give me the chance to go back once. >> translator: i want to figure out how i feel. then bring our things back here. and all the good memories that go along with them. >> reporter: yamada videotaped her home. she wanted to show her children what had become of it. yamada and her husband opened the door. the floor was littered with their belongings. some kind of animal had scratched the floors. dust covered everything. but their old piano was exactly as it was. their children used to spend hours practicing.

local government took the piano. then she brought it back to their apartment. then she showed them what had had become of their old place. >> translator: elderly peoe say they want to return soon. but for me, considering the children's health and our jobs, i cannot even imagine going home. >> reporter: the jpss japanese governments hope evacuees will return home. but many like the yamadas say what they had is gone. they want to start again somewhere else. nhk world.

a bus packed with school children has crashed on a highway in switzerland killing 28 people. the bus was one of three taking belgian elementary school students home from a ski trip in the alps on tuesday night. the coach was carrying 52 passengers. it crashed into a tunnel wall in the southern swiss state near the italian border. the dead include 22 children and six adults. another 24 children were hospitalized with injuries. it appears no other cars are involved. police are investigating. scientists believe they are getting closer to proving the existence of the higs bosan thought to supply mass to the matter that makes up our universe. an experiment is to resume wednesday at the large hadron

collider designed to catch glimpses of the so-called god particle. the collider is operated by the european organization for nuclear research. it sits in a tunnel meters under the ground. it has is designed to produce collisions between protons. after accelerating them close to the speed of light. this is to recreate conditions after the big bang which scientists say were responsible for the formation of the universe. they hope hit will be present in these collisions. the total cost of building the facility was over $6 billion. >> either we will discover the higs or we will discover there is something else that has to replace the higs. >> sciences at cern hope to confirm the existence by the end

of this year. it's been unusually warm in the united states. let's go to rachel ferguson for the details on that one. she has the world weather forecast. >> morning. you're absolutely right. we're saying may-like temperatures across much of the u.s. and parts of canada. however, it's not all warm. we have a winter storm taking place across the northwest. anywhere down into northern california, we're seeing some significant precipitation. rain tat the coast up on the upper elevations. you could see about 90 centimeters of fresh snow on the cascades. now, also there's strong winds with this system. there will be an increased risk of avalanches. posted at the moment. however, on the eastern side of the system we are seeing exceptional warm. that rush of humidity and warmth

from the south is helping to bring thunderstorms across the southern plains and eastern canada. probably the most severe area is going to be here just south to the great lakes. you'll see large hail perhaps. thunder and lightning. nothing too much on the severe side, however. let's take a look at the temperatures. 22 in denver. 24 in chicago on your thursday. 28 in d.c. let's take a closer look at the three-day forecast -- two-day forecast for some cities. to show you the departure from average. as for memphis, tennessee about ten degrees above average. and ottawa usually hover b above the freezing point, seeing temperatures in the mid-teens for the next couple days. do enjoy that. you'll have it probably through the weekend. let's head now to eastern asia. starting to see things unstable across central and southern china. developing low here. and showers will get a bit on the heavy side towards the

eastern side of the river. then when we head in towards the west, snow showers will be intensifying. you may see ten centimeters of snow in the next 24 hours. moving across northern china and the northeast, this will be accompanied by the strong gusts as well. strong snowstorm here in the northeast on thursday. meanwhile, japan's drying out. we're seeing showers moving away and much of the country will see settled conditions and temperatures returning to some seasonal averages. tokyo 13 degrees. a bit warmer expected today. 11 degrees in seoul. ten in beijing. and down to the south hong kong starting too come up to average. hot day in bangkok. 36 for your high. into europe we go. not much of a change across much of central europe. we will see welcomed showers spreading across portugal and spain where drought conditions have been expanding for the last week or so.

wet across parts of the united kingdom. and that's going to continue up the western coast of norway. then down towards the southeast, seeing some showers as well as lots of inland snow particularly across turkey. temperatures will be continuing to fall into the end of the weekend. four for the high on thursday. and moscow below the high. and 13 in berlin as well as in vienna. 17 in athens and rome. mid-20s in madrid. 17 in london. i'll leave you now with the extended forecast.

and that wraps up this edition of "newsline." i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. we'll be back at the top of the next hour. see you then.