>> hello and welcome to "newsline." it's 9:00 in tokyo and i'm catherine kobayashi. united nations observers in syria have seen the perils of life firsthand. a bomb exploded near their convoy and they escaped without injury. they wounded the soldier who is were guarding them. the observers were traveling through the southern province. a roadside bomb hit the trucks that carried the guards after they passed by. the norwegian major general is

leading the mission. he said they live with such things every day and remain focused on their work and it's not clear whether the bomb targeted the observers or the military and it raised doubts about the ability to work effectively. the government and opposition forces are fighting despite an agreement to ceasefire. the secretary general condemned the attack. >> this attack is unacceptable. i know they join me in condemning it without reservation. he said the mission is the only way to achieve peace in syria. leaders are sending more observers and hope to have 300 on the ground by the end of the month. the u.s. state department spokesperson said the administration is not following through on the promises.

. >> it is another evidence that we have to continue to pressure the reyeem and all actors. >> he said there should be more monitors so that the community will have the opportunity to protect the syrian people. indonesian police said what appears to be debris from a russian plane has been found in mountains south of the capital, jakarta. they suspect it is from a russian-made super jet 100 that went missing wednesday with 50 people on board. indonesia's transport said the passenger plane disappeared from the radar around 2:00 p.m. after taking off from an airport in ja cart a. the plane was developed by a russian aerospace company on a demonstration flight with airline employees and government officials from both countries on

board. eyewitnesss said the debris was found about 100 kilometers south of ja cart a. police say they have rescued dispatch teams to the site. another airport said before disappearing from the radar, the plane plunged sharply soon after the pilot asked for permission to make an emergency landing. russian president vladimir putin used the backdrop of heavy weapons and marching cadets to outline a vision of foreign policy. he said russia had a moral right to the respect of other nations, particularly on matters of global security. victory day commemorates the defeat of nazi germany. the former president and current prime minister attended the parade alongside putin. 14,000 service men and thousands of guests took part in the event.

>> translator: the self determination of individual citizens prevents the repetition of the tragedy of past wars. >> putin warns to the outside interference of other countries like syria. it featured 100 pieces of military hardware. they can counter the u.s. missile defense system. nuclear capable mobile icbm missiles were also on display. putin said just after his inauguration o monday he plans to update russia's military hardware. 1200 service men and others took part in a parade. the navy's pacific fleet is headquartered in the city. he said in a speech that several hundred thousand people were sent from the far east to the front in world war ii and the fleet contributed greatly to russia's victory. the parade featured new

equipment including missiles and the advanced surface to air missile system. >> south korea said it will seek international help in urging north korea to stop jamming the satellite global positioning system. the attack raised safety concerns for aircraft and ships. the government there said in a statement on wednesday that north korea is responsible for the disruptions and that seoul will protest pyongyang's actions through the international telecommunication action in geneva. the signals are coming from around the city in the north near the military border between the two koreas. seoul said the disruptions began on april 28th and affected about 660 aircraft arriving at and departing from the airports. it also occurred in around 180 ships in the yellow sea. south korea said the new operating problems or safety

issues have been reported because it switched to a back up system used when gps is unreliable. it is calling on airlines and shipping firms to be cautious about using gps. in an apparent move to present another side of north korea's new leader, the country's media has shown kim jung un scolding staff for neglecting duties at around amusement park and failing to serve the people. they said the incident occurred while kim was touring the fun fair in pyongyang. he grew exasperated over the park's run down appearance from grass growing in the pavement and paint peeling off the facilities and other signs of neglect. he said such shoddy conditions were insulting to the people. the young leader ordered soldiers to be mobilized to clean up the park. the media covers official tours

of the units and factories and industrial sites, but it's rare to report on the leader's anger or his solding of officials. observers say the news is part of a strategy to project kim as a benevolent ruler who cares for the people. a left wing party in greece has abandoned the bid to form a coalition government. it increases the chances of another election next month. the two parties lost their parliamentary majority in last sunday's election. it won the second largest number of seats and the leader has failed to find a government partner. his talks with the two former ruling parties collapsed on wednesday because the policies over austerity is too far apart. the new democratic party that topped sunday's poll has been unable to form a government. socialist leader whose party

came third in sunday's election is expected to begin coalition tal talks, but he too is unlikely to succeed. all the main parties are desperately lobbying groups that failed to win parliamentary seats. the observers warned unless greece establishes a stable government, europe's credit crisis will flair again. that's exactly what investors in markets around the world are worried about. they will check on the levels. >> the uncertain out come of greek elections are jittery around the world. the dow jones ended lower down 0.8% to a one-month low. the nasdaq that s 4/10 of 1% to end at a two-month low. bond deals are ending and spain's benchmark briefly touched 6%. so for how tokyo is trading this

thursday morning, it's time to go to rammin at the desk. europe is dominating events as we take in key earnings results. >> good morning to you. distracting for a fact that we had key earnings in japan that may have given investors reasons to be more cheerful. as you said, they are focused on the elections in france and greece which is taking a lot of market focus. let's have a look at the opening levels for thursday. we are seeing something interesting here. the nikkei is just trading below the key 9,000 level and that is the first time since february 14th for interday trading. we will monitor that and it's back up above 9,000 again. as i said, way are wavering just above and below the key level. we keep track of that.

the nikkei shed around 1,250 points since hitting the highs at the end of march and the sell off in april. looks to be continuing in may. that put the bank in a tight spot as it achieves the 1% rise in consumer prices. that is also trying to keep the yen from strengthening further. overseas events as we have seen for instance with the euro zone, that seems to be pushing the yen higher as investors shifting into safer assets in which the yen is one. look at the currency levels. we are below that 80 yen level. and here again, 103 yen levels. just a couple of days ago, that was trading at the lower 104 yen level. you can see again there is strengthening of the yen. >> so in the middle of all this stock and currency volatility, you did mention we had positives

from key earners this week. >> definitely. we it had with toshiba and yesterday after the bell, we had earnings from toyota and they have come out very positively. they are looking to nearly double the profits for this year and they said the net profits fell around 30% for last year and that was compounded by the march 11th disaster as well as the flooding in thailand. also toyota coming out and saying they do see positives pegging the dollar yen around 80. euro yen around 105. just a reminder that any stronger yen hurts the profitability of japanese exporters and the price competitiveness against the like was gm, ford, vw and the south korean rival. we will look at how that trades today and the nikkei is below the 9,000 tyke logical level. back to you. >> thanks a lot. from the tokyo stock exchange

and the nikkei is trading below 9,000. this is the first time that the nikkei is below 9,000 in the interday trade since mid-february. we will keep track of that for the rest of the day. japan's account balance for the fiscal year through march capped the surplus, but the figure fell for the first time in three years. the finance ministry said the surplus was down 52.6% from fiscal 2010. the current account balance is a broad measure of the foreign trade and includes income and dividends and in addition exports and imports. the drop in surplus was led by weak trade. japan posted a record trade deficit in fiscal 2011. exports 23fell 2.8% and impours increased 14% due to higher impours of fuel because of the

shut down of reactors after the accident at fukushima. speaking of which, the government approved a restructuring plan and many challenges remain for the operator of the fukushima nuclear power plant. under the plan agreed on wednesday, tepco will-about $12.5 billion in public funds. prot posal aims to turn around the loss-making operations and show a black in fiscal 2014. it will decommission the plant while continuing a stable supply of power. it also includes early repayment of the public money. tepco's restructuring will be led by the government. restarting a nuclear power plant is included in the plan, but the goff of the prefecture said he opposes restarting the reactor. >> translator: tepco needs to

understand that they caused the fukushima accident and i want them to reconsider whether they are qualified to o power plants. >> industry minster also acknowledged that the government at this point has not given the go ahead to restart the nuclear power plant. the plan may lead to an increase in electricity charges for households. users are expected to voice their opposition. the nikkei is still trading below 9,000 so far this thursday. i will leave you with the latest market figures.

more signs that under score the struggles of people who live near the fukushima nuclear plant. the signs read closed for business. people are leaving the area one after another. shops are closing down. some people in fukushima city are trying a strategy to revive the economy. we have the story. >> japanese are no strangers to match making parties not many have seen them as big as this. more than 70 other spots cross

town have them. none had met before and they had other worries too. >> translator: many people are uncomfortable or skeptical about being in fukushima fearing the effects of radiation. i wanted to wipe out their fears. >> fukushima city is about 60 kilometers away from the plant. it's outside the government's evacuation zone. still city officials detected elevated levels of radiation in places. more and more residents are leaving town. >> when i walk around, i feel that there fewer young people in the city. it will be great if many people could get to make fukushima i have brnt again. >> shopkeepers are not seeing

the customers they used to. this man manages a commercial building with dozens of shops. three have gone out of business over the last year. he decided to do something. match making on a grand scale. most restaurant owners were skeptical and didn't think that anyone in fukushima would participate in such an event. he visited them one by one to win them over. >> translator: i hope we can working to to get people to come to fukushima. >> the day of the event arrived. more than 2300 people lined up. hundreds came from outside the area. he grew up in the town within

ten kilometers. he was forced to move away after the accident. now he lives in a town that is not far. his friends are scattered all over the place. he hadn't seen so many people in one place since the accident. he wanted to meet new friends and not just women. >> translator: over the past year, i have been taking care of myself, but the people want to make things better. i couldn't have come this far without their help. now i want to contribute to those efforts. >> men pay $80 to get in.

women pay $50 and they can go to any restaurant they like, eat and drink as much as they want. and if they are lucky, maybe even find a match. he said the success of the event encouraged him to organize another and perhaps another after that. >> everyone will come back gradually. and when they do, i want them to find this city lively. i think it's our duty to make that happen. >> he said the event helped businesses throughout the city. restaurants, shops, salons and tels too. he said residents can rebuild their own. on the hope of finding love. nhk world, fukushima city.

>> japan's cherry blossom season is something of the past. the tiny white petals fell to the ground last month. another kind of flower got people reaching for their cameras. we have a report from the flower park. >> this flower garden is north of tokyo. thousands of people come here at this time of year to see more than 300 different kinds of flowers on display. this year people get a rare feat, both white and purple in full bloom at the same time. the biggest crowd pleaser at the park is this. the giant wisteria tunnel. >> translator: looks like i came at the perfect time. i'm so happy. >> it's so refreshing. looking at these flowers makes me so relaxed. >> what are a view from down

here. it's like a purple curtain. >> these trees are 145 years old. the branchs have grown more than 30 meters from the trunks in all directions. the vines swallow from the wire, some of them are as long as 180 centimeters. some reached the middle to create this giant pergola that spans bigger than four basketball courts, making it one of the largest giant wisteria displays in the world. these are raised in the nearby farm facility. they said transplanting a tree older than 100 years was in impossible, but the first certified female arborist was successfully able to move them to the flower park.

>> translator: people who come to see the wisterias say they are beautiful and it's great. they leave with a sense of joy and happiness. my hope is that these giant wisterias live for 1,000 years and grow beautiful flowers and continue to be loved by visitors. >> in the evening, they get to take pleasure in another kind of show. the park will have a special illumination display for the tunnel until may 20th. more than 80 halogen lamps give it a warm glow. whether it's the impressive daytime display or the evening illumination, the beauty of the wisterias attract thousands of visitors. but you have to be quick to enjoy them. the wisterias are only in full

bloom for about ten days of the year. nhk world, japan. . >> just beautiful, aren't they? people planning to go see the flowers are also keeping an eye on the weather. we have the world weather forecast. >> good morning. we are experiencing blue skies here in tokyo, but we could be seeing thundershowers and gusty winds and even hail across central japan because of the daytime heating as well as cold air in the upper atmosphere and the weather should remain, but the southern half of the country will have lots of sunshine. the korean peninsula and the northern half of china will stay dry. this low will be moving into north eastern china and that will be spreading heavy rain tomorrow. down towards the south, a

seasonal rain is to the south and heavy rain across southern china. they killed two people and injured 30 and tens of thousands of homes are without electricity. unfortunately more rain is in the forecast into tomorrow that. could worsen the situation here. temperature-wise reaching 33 degrees in hong kong. 30 degrees and the same goes for beijing and looking at 26 in seoul. looking at the seasonal 23 degrees with showers expected from early this afternoon. moving over to the americas, a slow-moving system and n france are producing showers and that should remain wednesday from the mid-atlantic to the southeastern u.s. over the next 24 hours, much of the precipitation should be gone. however parts of the canadian maritimes in southern quebec

will see unstable conditions into your thursday. down towards the south, the u.s.-mexico border is dealing with torrential rain. we have very cold air and that is colliding with warm and humid air from the gulf. the hot air is extending up to central canada, raising temperatures. look at this 29 degrees in winnipeg on thursday and 30 degrees in bismarck. behind it on the cooler side up to 14 degrees in vancouver and the same goes for seattle. moving over to europe, a well-developed low pressure system is affecting much of the british isles and wet and windy conditions. heavy rains in the peninsula and the low countries over the next 24 hours. down towards the south, things are looking unstable. thundershowers expected during the daytime hours.

in the southern peninsula as well as much of turkey. otherwise staying dry from the iberian pe ninssula to eastern europe. lots of sunshine and temperatures are on the warmer side, reaching 27 degrees in vienna. i could be rising to 30 on friday. 26 in paris and down it shoulds the south, the hottest spot is the iberian peninsula. i will leave you now with the extended forecast.

that concludes this edition of "newsline." we will see you again. ññuqñuuñx