grave concerns. officials from the u.n. and the u.s. express their worries about new attacks and new syria. diplomats tried to bring peace to syria are being frustrated by delays and deceptions for more than a year. now they believe they're seeing new strategies from forces loyal to president assad and they fear those forces may be organizing another massacre in opposition strong holds.

kofi annan says he's concerned. >> mr. annan demand that the parties take all steps to ensure that civilians are not harmed and he also further demands the entry of the u.n. military observers in to the town there immediately. >> government forces seem to have switched tactics. they're now launching air assaults on opposition stro strongholds. pro-government militias have carried a series of massacres. in response opposition forces have increased their attacks against troops loyal to assad. a u.s. state department spokesperson says government troops have blocked u.n. cease-fire monitors from entering some towns. she says that the international community will learn who is responsible for what she called crimes against humanity and will be held accountable. >> the united states joins joint

special enjoy kofi annan in expressing deep alarm by reports from inside syria that the regime may be organizing another massacre. >> u.n. officials estimate that more than 10,000 people have died in more than a year of fighting despite monitoring activities by u.n. observers. tokyo investors may have a hard time keeping up their enthusiasm today. now we get a check on markets around the world. >> we certainly saw decent gains on the fee kay yesterday. global shares jumped on monday's news of the eu's rescue deal for spain. rallied in the u.s. and europe were short lived. markets gave up gains to end up mostly lower on the day. stocks on wall street opened higher soaring by nearly 100 points at one stage, but sell orders later accelerated. the dow finished down 1.1% on

the day, 12,411. investors's concerns over eurozone finances weigh heavily on sentiments. major european markets were mixed. london's ftse 100 ended flat on the day. in paris, the cac 40 shed almost one-third percent. frankfurt's dax up .5%. now we cross over to the tokyo stock exchange. why are markets cooling off to the spanish aid deal so soon? >> like you mentioned, u.s. and european markets enjoyed a bit of a spanish bull run yesterday but that was short lived as both markets slipped mostly into losses later in the day. now that was as the initial cheers soon gave way to questions such as who would be paying the bill.

now that pushed down -- pushed up values in spain. nye kay is down 1.9% at 8,46ii . nikkei ended up over 2%. it is now gone below that. yesterday investors were buying up apple shares on the cheap on hopes that the apple conference would announce some exciting new product developments to boost business. but contents of the news conference are likely to und

underwhelm the markets. >> while the market reaction to spain's aid deal was short lived, it looks like there may be some longer lasting political backlash? >> that's right. antieurozone party in greece is seeing red over spain's lenient loan terms and are using this to sway public sentiment against the eurozone. we'll be keeping an eye on those developments. for now, back to you. >> the nikkei down nearly 2% so erasing gains that we saw yesterday. as she mentioned, executives from apple announced a parade of new products in san francisco on monday.

the break-throughs this time include a thinner notebook with state of the art display and software able to display detailed maps on mobile devices. >> would you like to see the next generation mac book? let's show it to you now. >> the new mac book pro has gotten thinner and lighter. it comes with a razor sharp screen that was first introduced on the ipad tablets. it is the first major computer upgrade for apple in four years. the maker plans to launch its new ios6 mobile operating system in autumn. software canisplay three-dimensional maps and traffic information. it is voice recognition feature allows users to ask where they can find things like restaurants or gas stations nearby. the computer company is, no doubt, aiming to navigate users away from google in mobile map services. apple's ceo tim cook said

the new devices and features are superb products that people need in their lives. >> our goal has always been to do great work, and in doing so, make a difference in other people's lives. >> he promised to continue challenging rivals in the field of mobile software. that's the latest for this hour in business. i'll leave you with a check on asia markets that are open at this hour.

japanese leaders have faced more than a year of questions and criticism for how they responded to the accident at fukushima daiichi. new revelations about what happened in the hours and days after the march 11, 2011 disaster, will likely fan the flames. nhk has learned government officials had data on the spread of radiation from the nuclear plant and they knew that day that which was gathered by a system known as speedy was reliable but they deliberately with leld it to avoid sparking panic even though the media repeatedly asked for the information. nhk obtained a draft report from the science and technology ministry on what happened after the meltdown at fukushima daiichi. the document says on march 15, four days after the accident, ministry officials used speedy to identify high levels of radiation in nanie, 20

kilometers northwest of the plant. officials reported findings to the prime minister's office that day. they also combined some of the speedy data with other radiation readings and released the information to the media but there were doubts about the accuracy of the results. the ministry finally decided to divulge the complete speedy data at the end of april, more than a month after the nuclear accident. officials argued they withheld the full results because findings were based on predictions and releasing them could have caused panic. >> translator: after they actually took radiation readings they found the levels were high. so officials can't really say speedy is unreliable and accurate. the system is there for the japanese people to help regulation dents residents avoid radiation exposure. >> translator: the government

did not fulfill its obligations. >> the head of the government panel investigating the fukushima accident says if officials had released the speedy data and explained its reliability, people in namie could have used the information to come up with an evacuation plan. instead, they stayed in the town and were exposed to radiation for a month. japan's prime minister says it's essential to restart central japan's ohi nuclear plant. now, the mayor of the host town looks to give his consent. the plant in ohi town is offline for scheduled safety checks. the prefecture's nuclear safety committee has declared the plant's number three and four reactors safe. ohi's mayor is expected to tell the town assembly thursday that he supports switching the reactors back on. fukui's governor also needs to

give his approval before the plant can come back online. >> translator: we will listen to the opinions of the prefectural assembly and ohi town before we reach our decision. >> the governor will inspect the ohi plant on tuesday. he's expected to make his decision as early as friday. nations around the world are making inroads into myanmar and its untapped economic potential. the country's building up its infrastructure to pave the way for foreign investment. but obstacles stand in the way. nhk world reports. >> reporter: dawei is a port town on the indian ocean in southeastern myanmar. development is under way to transform the city into the country's first special economic

zone. it's set to become the western starting point for major load running into china's peninsula. expectations are high for the distribution route that will directly connect the south china sea to the indian ocean. the myanmar government plans to improve roads and port facilities and build a power station in the area. its ultimate goal is to make dawei the largest industrial area in southeast asia. >> it's the center of the pacific ocean and indian ocean. >> reporter: but development is not proceeding as smoothly as the government wishes. two years ago, the previous military regime granted development rights to a general contractor in neighboring thailand. but the current government is

having trouble securing the budget, which is set to exceed $50 billion. another issue is ethnic tensions involving minority groups. last year, an armed group of people exchanged fire with government troops in an area of dawei under development. groups have been fighting with government forces for decades. the national union reached a cease-fire agreement with the government this january. but their distrust of the government is so deeply rooted that they say it would not approve the development of dawei unless it helped improve their livelihoods. >> translator: we will support the development only if benefits

will be distributed to all ethnic minority groups. but if the development is likely to ruin our lives and deprive us of freedom, we cannot support it. >> reporter: myanmar is drawing a lot of attention as asia's last frontier. the key to its economic development lies in whether it can overcome challenges such as ethnic tensions and transform itself into a true democracy. in japan they're using a groundbreaking therapy to treat children born with heart problems. it uses the patient's own heart cells to improve cardiac function. if this new technique fulfills its pro tension, doctors could save lives without resorting to

heart transplants. >> reporter: this 3-year-old was diagnosed right after she was born. left ventricle of her heart was not functioning. left untreated, this condition is usually fatal. she can't live a normal life. to prevent her from contracting pneumonia or other illnesses, she's not allowed to play outside. her liquid intake is restricted as it puts a stress on her heart. >> translator: she keeps telling me "i want to gargle or i want to drisnk some tea.

it's really stressful for me and her as well." >> reporter: up to now, the treatment for this condition has been heart transplants. however, organ donations for children are very rare in japan tland's only been one child heart transplant in the country, so its neat an option for this child. as an tern toualternative appro, yo ya ma hospital began research last year. first some tissue is taken from the patient's heart. these is what they look like after being cultured for ten days. the ones that look like fibers are cells that have multiplied. cells are then put pack into the

patient's heart. >> translator: regenerative medicine makes sense because you are using the person's own cells so there's no need for medication to prevent rejection. >> reporter: the 3-year-old underwent this treatment in february. after culturing and multiplying her cells, and then replacing them, the doctors are hoping this will boost her cardiac muscle and allow her heart to pump more slowly. three months after the procedure, the child was flown back to the examined. there was a 5% increase in her heart's ability to pump blood. this means the child's

restrictions on liquid intake may be removed soon. th other sick children have made similar progress. >> translator: we think that regenerative medicine could be used to treat most people who are in need of heart transplants. >> fascinating. the new approach is attracting interest overseas. the doctor recently presented his research at harvard university. he a also considering teaming up with hochts in tspitals in the states. temples in japan a trying to adapt to changing times. fewer people are coming to worship and families are not holding as many booedist muddhi

memorial services. some young monks have decided the time has come for a more moderate approach. >> reporter: reciting sutras by day, run barring by evening, or even playing in a band. yes, these are monks, too. monks are stepping out of their temples and they're speaking out. and not in dusty strolls. this book handsomely packages presents the thought of 40 young priests. they all talk about their lives, hob buys and interests. by opening up about themselves, they want to show another side to monks -- as people that young japanese can relate to. the book came out in march. it's rung up strong sales and a xwoeted following of young

women. >> translator: this world of monks is completely unexpected. >> reporter: this 33-year-old is one of the monks working to get people to come back to the temples. his temple has 800 years of history. but the number of regular visitors is falling. distracted by modern life, people are losing interest in traditional places of worship. he operates a cafe in a corner in the temple twice a week. customers can make a reservation to sit and talk with a hmomonk to an hour free of charge. the monks also open up the main temple building during lunch hours. office workers bring their own food. it's a place for quiet conversation and relax iing. >> translator: it's a nice place

to come for lunch. i feel at ease. >> reporter: other monks follow the way of technology. this is a 32-year-old monk. working with some monk friends, he set up a cyber temple. they post information about events and answer questions about buddhism. they even created this free smartphone app. it guides users through a zen meditation. it is normally practiced in temples, keeping the mind focused. with a firm tap from the monk. using the app, the phone becomes a virtual monk watching your back. if you notice idle thoughts arising, you bow and the phone

responds. more than 30,000 people have downloaded this app. there are real world strategies as well. in may he organized a gathering of 15 people from various buddhist sects. the subject of discussion -- temple management for the 21st century. >> translator: temples exist within a changing society so we, too, have to change accordingly. >> reporter: he is planning more meetings like this across the country. >> translator: nowadays people are not in the habit of visiting a temple on a regular basis. we will have to try a variety of things to bring people back. >> changing times. all right. there's some tropical activity in the pacific. rachel ferguson joins us with details and more in her world

weather forecast. >> that's right. we are looking at the potential for a tropical storm. right now it's a tropical depression out here they're the caroline islands. quite far down there just to the bottom right of your screen. this looks like it's going to become a tropical storm and head up towards the northwest. we want to keep a close eye on it. we already have a lot of very heavy rain and strong gusts falling along a front that's been stretched out across the southern japanese islands, taiwan, and affecting eastern china the last several days. what we're going to see is a little bit of movement with this system. it's going to be starting to affect parts of western and central japan today. but unfortunately, it's not really shifting away from the southern japanese islands or taiwan so we'll see ongoing heavy rain in land that's already saturated. okinawa maybe seeing 120 to 150 millimeters of rain in a 24-hour period from this system. in some parts of okinawa, reports of 100 millimeters in

the space of three hours. so very short time heavy rain. the potential for strong gusts which will bring those waves up as well. back in towards southern china, the same front could actually produce 250 millimeters of rain in the space of 24 hours. so we're talking very significant totals here. the southwest monsoon has really got going in some parts. it's quite slow moving up the indian peninsula at the moment. it has been bringing plenty of moisture into the eastern bay of bengal. northeastern india, bangladesh, myanmar continuing to see heavy downpours. we'll see thunderstorms targeting northern vietnam. here are your temperatures. you can see a lot of heat spreading into beijing. 29 here. you see oranges toward the east of china. 15 in ulan bator. a little on the chilly side. tokyo 19 as well with rain coming in this morning, we're going to see the temperature fall a little bit. let's go into the americas.

out west staying mostly dry. we're starting to see a little bit of moisture come in. there's a low pressure system moving b.c. showers popping up along the rockies today which is good news. wildfires have been raging across new mexico into utah, colorado, wyoming. when we see the rain coming in, bringing that moisture, it is going to lessen the fire risk into tuesday. so good news there. however, plenty of rain and a little bit too much of it across the east. there's a very powerful low moving through eastern canada. there's an associated front and all along there's some potential for severe storms from ontario down through the mississippi valley and into southern texas. there's flash flooding risk for alabama and georgia today, although during the course of the day the heaviest of the rain is going to move up in toward the new england area. temperatures falling a bit toward the northeast. 27 in toronto. not a big difference there but new york city, chicago coming

down by about 8 degrees between monday and tuesday. we'll see the heat continuing toward the south. 34 in houston, texas. there are some heat warnings for you in southern texas. as we head into europe, not much change here. cool and wet across much of the continent. we're keeping the heat in the southeast here. looks messy indeed. most of it's going to be moderate to heavy rain with thunderstorms targeting the south. as i mentioned, that heat keeps building in the south and east. 27 in kiev. 30s in bucharest and ankara. 36 in athens. here's your extended forecast.

that's all for this edition of "newsline." i'm katherine kobayashi in tokyo. do join us again.