grad to have you with us on this edition of news line. it's friday may 11. how to stop the violence in syria. suicide bombers killed 55 people in the deadliest attack in dams cuss in more than a year of fighting. they wounded more than 370 others. council members are once again urging all parties to lay down their arms. two suicide car bombs scloeded

in close succession. government and opposition forces blamed each other for the bombings. the security council issuing a statement strongly condemning the attacks. >> the members of the security council condemn in the strongest terms the attacks that occurred in damascus causing death and injuries. >> the statement called on all parties to seas armed violence. the u. new will continue to do its utmost to end violence. a socialist party leader has made to progress in greece. he's under pressure. his group has to form a coalition to avoid sending greeks back to the poles. they failed to win back the

majority in the election on sunday and the parties that came first and second in the vote could not agree to a coalition. the leaders got the chance to form a gosm. pasok leader met with the leader of the democratic left party. they offered to cooperate on the condition that the measures would be eased gradually. polls taken after the election, suggest the support for the radical coalition now exceeds the party that won the most seats. the leaders of the radical left are going to push for a new election next month. eu officials -- we asked a senior economist in london about the possible outcome of the

political turmoil. >> translator: i can't rule out the possibility that greece will leave the euro zone. >> the impact on europe's financial would be limited compared to what happened last year. the value of greek government bonds held by financial institutions has been reduced significantly but he remains cautious about the situation. >> translator: further problems will prompt investors to think that neighboring countries can face similar situations. so i wouldn't rule out the possibility of the turmoil spreading. >> investors have been worried about the future of the rur row zone for a while. but now traders on wall street seem a bit more optimistic ai. >> those concerns seem to be

taking a back seat to encourage economic data. the dow jones industrial average ends almost 1/5 of a % hire. tokyo stock markets have just opened. let's take a look where we are starting off. for that we'll go to ramin mellegard who is at the tokyo stock exchange. >> good morning to you, ai. a favorable opening from what you just said about the dow there and we did see jobless claims a little better than expected. ncns f spain's bre withne b that also giv alikkearnings,

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earthquake could strike in central and western regions even in tokyo. scholars gathered in the capital onhuda to how to best prepar 29mi societies in such fiels earthquake engierg,onruio a urban planning took part in esblhing preparedness measures they discussed the need t me some residential areas to here toesttsunami.hnologies to be >> translator: i want to learn w prepare for a possible major earthquake in tokyondato >> translator: we should prepare for e nt bigquake, en if it doesn't happen for a hdr yes. >> the effect of a massive rtua decynd tokyo was one of the symposium topics. jan' cits home to more

than 13 million people and thousands of companies. mega quakeou he severe impact on the whole nation. >> the forecast is based on a scario in which a magnitude 7.3uakeccsnd tokyo bay. powerful jolts will rock the city and 4 hundred thousand buildings will collapse. about 200,000uiin will go up in glams. the estimated death tol is 9, 0 700. the numbers cover only tokyo with damageneiboring places not taken into account. when a massive earthquake

strikes,oc ahoti py a crucial role in coordinating rescue operations. officials in the greater tokyo area are working to ensure that th ctan action even in the worst circumstce >> reporter: police earth wake and tsunami drill. the assumption is that police headquarters have been dag and the command center must be located. in march they prepare t contingency by setting up an alternative site 25 kilometers away. tnsto w m face problems such as downed phone lines and overloaded wireless neor. wto sdy way toss prepare for these contingencies.

>> reporter: in toky this building stands on solid bed rock. some20 employees reside within kilometers of the office. if disaster stkes, ty wl set up a disaster headquarters there. also employees have been assigned specific duties in emgeie t the preparedness goes even further. eyav s up an alternative site, 70 kilometers ea the base hospital. the backup site is ready. should a disaster strike. it's equipped withheame

communication as the government offices. 60 employees livingn adjacent buildings are on call to man the stations when required. >> translator: first of all, i nthe public to rest assured that the metropolitan office was built on extremely solid ground. but we'relso prepared for various contingencies. that's why our systems are fully backed up. at the disasr management center. >> reporter: tokyo is prepared for the worst. that has yet to conduct a full-scale simulatn -- the march 2011 earthquake led to --

>> keeping command and control centers functional is a key to preventing disaster. the united states has expressed concern to china over reports that relatives of human rights activist cheng juan chen have been detained. >> we have had contact with chinese authorities about these concerning reports. beyond that, we are awaiting further information on some of these issues. >> chen is receivingreatment in a beijing hospital. the blind activist says he wants to go to the u.s. the chinese government says he can leave the country for study purposes. new york university has invited chen to be a visiting scholar and urged the government to let

him leave for the u.s. the united states plans to ask china to expedite chen's departure. myanmar and europe are working to deepen ties. the lower house speaker has visited eu headquarters for the first time since it suspended all sanctions against the country. a group of law makers recently met with eu president and foreign policy chief in brussels. it came last month ashton visited myanmar for the opening of the eu office which aims to promote trade and investment. authorities in south korea are again pointing fingers toward the north. they say their neighbors continue to jam their gps.

that's causing confusion for pilots. transport ministry officials say the instrument panel of a plane that took off from japan two weeks ago malfunctioned as it was approaching the airport. an alarm warned that the aircraft was too close to the ground but it had not reached the landing strip. officials say it caused a false alarm. the plane landed safely on the second try. 674 planes have reportedly by affected by gps jamming signals. south korean government officials say north koreans are responsible for the disruptions. they plan to file a formal complaint. in egypt, people power ousted a regime.

during last year they threw rocks now their weapons of choice are paint brushes and wall painting. >> reporter: portrait of young egyptians killed during the up rising. women marching, weapons in their hands. government leaders portrayed as snakes. walk the streets of cairo and everywhere you look, the balances are covered with paintings. it's all the work of amateur artists, most of them young people with a message to get across. they show up in their free time, armed with their paintbrushes.

before the start of the movement last year, anyone caught painting on the walls risked being tortured by the secret police. nobody was allowed to criticize the regime. >> translator: up to now, egyptians have been unable to express themselves. we were only given food and clothing. we were treated like animals. >> reporter: for the people in egy egypt, this street art is a way to voice their dissatisfaction in public and express hope for future. >> translator: throughout history egyptians used drawing in their culture. there are aejs drawings showing people would not be suppressed by their rulers.

>> reporter: last year, he took part in the demonstration in cairo to protest the corruption of the ruling political elite. some of his friends were badly wounded in the military crackdown. he also noticed many of the protesters had nothing to eat. he himself was detained and tortured by the security forces. he says that experience changed him profoundly. >> translator: instead of raising my voice in protest, i realized it's better to express my message through art. >> reporter: he sees his art as a way to inspire his fellow egyptians to build a new country. having painted in the street art for a year now, his focus has turned to what comes next.

after the uprising in which so many lives were sacrificed. he paints slogans to remind people not to let their ambition lead them in the wrong direction. >> translator: we are all nervous. we don't know who the next president will be. will our next leader be an islamist? that's why these words are so striking for me. >> translator: i put simple words in my art. right now egypt is like a sick person. i think the country needs more street artists to bring about change. >> reporter: the aim to help create a new country for the street artists of egypt, the paintbrush is mightier than the sword.

now let's go straight to the weather. >> yes, we're experiencing a nice gorgeous morning here in tokyo, lots of sunshine, but severe weather affected much of central japan yesterday. here's what happened. we heard a lot of rumbles of thunder in the afternoon hours. there was also torrential rain and very strong winds about 85 kilometers per hour. even hail was reported. the storm is followed a tornado. we've seen unsettled conditions over last several days in much of central japan. today conditions were not as bad as yet, but there is a chance of thunder showers in parts of central japan. meanwhile northern japan will see wet conditions, and rain

chaining to snow. high pressure is bringing another day, but back behind it there's a low producing heavier rain and stronger winds in north eastern china. but behind it temperatures will be on the cool side across much of mongolia. showers will expand across central and southern china. we've been hearing reports of flooding and land sliets. temperature wise getting up to 28 degrees in h hong kong. things have settled across much of the eastern half of the u.s. but heavy prezip tigs should remain in southern quebec into friday earn. down towards the south, rain is still ongoing in parts of the

southern u.s., particularly severe in southern texas. tornado warns have been posted here. heavy rain also moving into louisiana on friday. up towards the north, a separate system is producing light shaurs in parts of the midwestern states and increasing snow showers in and around colorado. temperatures will drop significantly cooling down to 12 degrees in den vir which is about 15 is he grease lower than what we saw on thursday. but ahead of the system, getting up to 23 in chicago. finally over in europe. mostly dry and warm in the south, but chilly and wet to the north. a series of low pressure systems bringing wet conditions and mountain snow in the northern british a ss british isles. over the next 24 hours, ireland

should get dryer but the rest of the area, france germany and poland will get wet and windy conditions on your friday. down towards the south, the daytime heating will create severe thunderstorms across southern grease and western turkey on your friday. again temperatures on the warmer side across europe. getting up to 28 in warsaw, 29 in vienna, but cooling down to 19 in paris which is about 10 degrees lower than thursday. here is your extended forecast.

>> with less than three months to go before the year's biggest

sporting event, the torch for the london olympics was lit in greece. at the temple of hira ruins by the ancient olympic stadium, the ritual began with men dressed as heralds to symbolize athletic strength and women in the roles of ancient high priestesss. the flame was transferred to a torch. it will be flown to britain by mai 18th, carried across ireland and used to ignite the opening

center on july 27th. thanks for joining us. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com