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engineers at japan's damaged fukushima daiichi plant have almost finished repairing a major malfunction. systems that cooled thousands of spent nuclear fuel rods shut down. japanese researchers have created a formula to calculate

the risk of having a stroke. they hope it will help some people reconsider their lifestyles. and a decade from the start of the war that toppled saddam hussein. the emotional wounds are still fresh for some iraqis. nhk world reunites with an orphan he met nine years ago. from our studios here in tokyo, this is "newsline." crews at fukushima daiichi worked all night and through the day to fix a problem that could have had dangerous consequences. the system's designed to cool four spent fuel rod pools at the nuclear plant stopped working. tokyo electric power company engineers announced that things should be back up and running again by wednesday. >> translator: this is our target, but this plan could be subject to slight delays. we're trying our best to get the systems working again.

>> a blackout happened at the facility early on monday evening. for a short while, people working inside the plant's accident response center were left in the dark. then tepco engineers noticed the system used to cool spent fuel in pools connected to reactors one, three, and four, along with another pool, had stopped working. these pools contain about 8,500 spent fuel rods. tepco needs to keep cooling water flowing into them, or temperatures will rise. if it gets too hot, fuel can melt down and release a massive amount of radiation. engineers traced the problem to three high voltage switchboards. they say they bypassed these devices to send electricity to where it needs to go. so far they've managed to get the cooling systems for the reactor one and four pools operating again. they say the system for the running shortly and the one or

the other spent fuel pool which is not connected to any reactor building will be restored by wednesday morning japan time. engineers say they still have not figured out what caused the malfunction. tepco's spokespersons say radiation levels around fukushima daiichi have not changed and say the system's mechanism that cools the melted fuel in reactors one, two and three has not been affected. researchers in japan have come up with a tool that could help people in many countries reduce the risk of a leading cause of death. they've created a formula to calculate the chances of having a stroke. all people have to do is answer seven questions. fujita health university professor hiroshi yatsuya and his colleagues studied 15,000 men and women across japan. they looked at their daily habits and health data. then they came up with seven factors linked to strokes, such as smoking, obesity, diabetes, and blood pressure. using these factors, people in

their 40s to 60s can determine the possibility they'll have a stroke in the next decade. they can also find out the condition of their blood vessels. for example, a 50-year-old diabetic male smoker with other health problems faces a risk of 12% to 15% and he has the blood vessels of an 85-year-old. professor yatsuya says he hopes the formula will encourage people to improve their lifestyles. another group of researchers in japan has made a discovery that could be useful in developing new treatments for cancer. scientists at kyushu university found that suppressing a type of protein in certain cells makes anti-cancer drugs more effective. they focused on cancer stem cells. scientists agree are responsible for the development of cancer cells. cancer stem cells are normally resistant to anti-cancer drugs. the researchers found a way to break down that resistance. they used mice with chronic

myeloid leukemia. they manipulated the genes to suppress the function of a protein called fbxw-7. this made stem cells in the mice vulnerable. when researchers administered anti-cancer drugs, the cells died. two months later, the survival rate among these mice was eight times greater than among those with normally functioning protein in their cells. >> translator: we think it's highly likely that this treatment can be applied to other types of cancer as well. >> members of the team say they will now try to identify the specific substance that suppresses the protein. they hope their work will lead to cancer medications in five to ten years. 300,000 people have celebrating with the new pope. he says he will lead a humble church that will help the poor. the followers filled the square

and he was elected last week by a secret conclave of cardinals. he then entered st. peter's basilica. he received the ring known as the fisherman's ring. it bears the image of st. peter holding two keys. he called on economic and social leaders to protect the people and the environment. representatives for over 130 county t countries and organizations

attended the mass. pope francis indicated he will build a closer relationship with followers, raising expectations for reform within the catholic church. an american educated i.t. manager will become the prime minister for the opposition in syria. ghassan hitto lived in the u.s. for decades but now he will govern parts of syria controlled by rebel forces. members of the syrian national coalition met in istanbul, turkey. they voted to elect hitto who moved to turkey last year to help coordinate the opposition. the coalition plans to launch an interim government for northern syria which is under rebel control. 70,000 syrians have died in two years of fighting between rebels and president bashar al assad's forces. analysts say some in the coalition see hitto as an outsider. they also doubt rebel groups which are not part of the coalition will accept an interim government. people across iraq are looking back at a war that

caused many problems. u.s. forces invaded their country. saddam hussein collapsed, but it continued on much longer. nhk world's sho beppu covered the war and its aftermath. he's now back in baghdad. sho, how are things in the iraqi capital now? >> reporter: right. i can say that it changed quite a lot compared to those worse days. it seems lively, at least on the surface, streets in baghdad are busy, especially in the center. roads are jammed with cars, and the shops are packed with people. residents who sought refuge elsewhere, in iraq or across the country, are returning. oil production levels are back to what they were before the war, about 3 million barrels a day. companies have built modern shopping malls to take advantage

of the growing buying power of consumers. but iraqis still face the threat of violence. they are, on average, three terror attacks a day across the country. no one knows exactly how many civilians died in the war, and unrest that followed. a study estimates the violence may have claimed 120,000 lives. survivors are nursing wounds that have yet to heal. among them is a girl that we have met nearly a decade ago. she lost her parents who were killed by the american forces. i was able to track her down recently to find out how she's doing and ask her how her life has changed in the past decade. farah still calls baghdad home. she lived there in 2004 when we first got to know her. she's now 15 years old. i met her a year after the start

of the iraq war. farah was taking an art class at a children's center. she had been drawing picture after picture of dead palm trees. she said the trees were dead. farah lived with her grandparents. we were told that her parents had been killed in front of her soon after the war broke out. the family was fleeing the fighting in a car. u.s. soldiers reportedly mistook them for insurgents. farah's mother shielded her daughter from the shooting.

the teenager remembers staring at dead palm trees that stood nearby. during our reunion farah told us more about why she focused on drawing dead palms nearly a decade ago. >> translator: it was a way of expressing my grief. i was sad. i wanted to show the difficulty i had, my sadness and anxiety. >> reporter: farah misses her parents.

when she feels lonely, she visits their grave. >> translator: my father took good care of me. he took me to the theater. my mother allowed me to have my way. she loved me. >> reporter: life has been tough for farah since she became an orphan. the u.s. military paid no compensation for her parents' deaths. making ends meet hasn't been easy. her grandfather fell ill and can no longer work as a car mechanic. her relatives help pay her school bills. in the future, she wants to help others who may face similar hardships. she feels a deep sorrow that no

one took responsibility for what happened to her parents. >> translator: the u.s. military killed my parents and made many people suffer the same fate. i hope i can be a lawyer. i want to show the difference between right and wrong and help people protect their rights. that's how i truly feel. >> reporter: the iraq war in the sectarian conflicts took many lives. survivors have been moving on, but the scars of war remains fresh as does the sense of grief. the healing process will take more time still. >> sho, how common is farah's story? >> reporter: it's quite common, i'm afraid. iraqi officials hearsay that war has taken 4 1/2 million children to orphans, so one out of every seven iraqis has no parents.

many of these children need assistance but they don't simply get it. people complain, politics are too busy dealing with internal disputes and neglecting the basic needs of the decisions. when a former bush administration launched the war it said that the then iraqi leader saddam hussein was hiding weapons of mass destruction. this accusation proved false and the iraqis had to pay the price of the consequences. for many of them, this war is not yet over. that was nhk world's sho beppu in baghdad.

tuesday was the last day in office for the head of the boj. >> a lot has happened in my turn including the collapse of lehman brothers, and the march 11 earthquake. >> he expressed hope that the boj and the government will step up efforts to pull japan out of the long period of deflation. >> japan now has an opportunity to end deflation. the yen is falling and the stock prices are rising. >> he said he did his best to try to stop deflation as soon as possible, and spur economic growth. the band bought bounds to pump liquidity into the economy. but he expressed that he had

taken extreme care to make sure they did not end you have shouldering the country's debt. also, he said they could not change fast enough to keep up with the ageing population. chief researcher spoke about his time in his he criticized the boj governor for not working hard enough to get the country out of deflation. >> translator: end deflation. he failed to clearly outlike the

boj's responsibilities and to appeal to the public that they would take aggressive steps. >> but he gave him ret for stabilizing the system. transportation officials sri lanka have opened a new international airport with a lot of help from china. they have high hopes it will give the economy a boost. cholaphansa narula in bangkok is following the story. president mahinda rajapaksa attended the ceremony. he sees it as a way for sri lanka to revitalize itself. nhk world reports. >> reporter: the airport was built in the southern district. the first flight arrived on monday. coming out of the plane is

president rajapaksa, the airport's namesake. he's been active about seeking foreign money to help reconstruction. he wants the airport to lead economic development in the south by bringing in tourists and investors. this is the second international airport in sri lanka. the first is near the main city of colombo. the new airport will link the country with the middle east, china, and the maldives. rajapaksa thanked china for funding the construction of the airport. chinese loans also helped build a nearby sea port. it will be run of the largest in south asia. and they're funding the construction of ports in pakistan and myanmar. it's part of a strategy to increase their presence in the region. they want to secure crude oil shipping routes from the middle east and africa. president rajapaksa has made improving infrastructure his top priority.

at the same time, the sri lankan government has been relying on an increasing amount of commercial loans from china. the situation has been causing concern in neighboring india. nhk world. the people of sri lanka are trying to rebuild their island nation after more than 20 years of civil war. president rajapaksa is seeking to drum up support for them in the international community. he sat down with nhk during a recent visit to japan, and talked about the challenges that lie ahead. nhk world has the report. >> the civil war of 2009, troops from the government led by the majority sinhalese battle the minority tamil militants. since the fighting ended tourists have been coming to sri lanka with their money. they've been seeking out the

country's natural beauty, and the asian buddhist culture. president rajapaksa want to make tourism the engine that drives economic revival. he stressed that the security situation is stable. >> after 2009, there were no incidents at all, no killings, no bombs like in other countries. no attacks reported. so at least people realize, safe, they're at peace. >> reporter: many programs remain, especially in the former battleground in the north and east. nearly 30,000 residents who escaped the fighting have returned to their homes. rajapaksa said he wants the international community to help them rebuild their lives.

>> we are building the houses. countries are helping us to build those houses today. and the government is also building houses for them. now we have the area but the need at the moment is apartments in that area. we need the investment. >> reporter: he refuted allegations alleged by the united states and some other western countries that government forces committed human rights abuses at the end of the civil war. >> they should have taken -- without doing all that. they're just issue a report,

one-sided, biased report i would say. >> reporter: rajapaksa said a government committee is continuing to investigate the allegations. the world will be watching the efforts of the rebuilding after a long and bitter civil war. nhk world. >> and that wraps up our bulletin. i'm cholaphansa narula in bangkok. emerging economic powers struggling, citizens demanding democracy. get news live fron bangkok. hi, it's been a beautiful

day today, also here in tokyo, we have not missed out on the sunshine. 25 degrees today, that's what we normally see in may, not march. tomorrow it will be a different story. this was the scene today, robert speta took these pictures on his way to the park. you see here that the cherry blossom is out, and people will take to the parks and have parties under the trees, but if you're planning it for tomorrow, i urge you to reconsider. we have two storms coming in from the south of china, and that will bring storms through the west of japan, and it will be going up towards the north and bringing a round of winter in. so not wednesday, but the

weekend will be a better time for a flow vier viewing party. warmer than average temperatures earlier in the week gave way to a sudden burst of snow showers. now the heaviest snowfall rea reached 3 millimeters, and the temperature dropped to minus 17. many residents breathed a sigh of relief as the snowstorm moistenned the air and improved the air quality quite dramatically. temperatures are going to be improving here. it is quite a bit cooler than we were seeing today, and seoul also looking pretty cool as that snowstorm moves through.

taipei rising to 30 degrees. to there are three storms to talk up. in the americas, out west this one will be rain, and that will serve to really melt that snow pack. that can result in flooding and also in avalanches. that will been the warning toward the west, and to the east it's more snow. you can see 50 centimeters of snow. maine you will see 35 centimeters as well. this other storm, that has been bringing severe weather through the southeast, loads of wind reports, and injuries from these storms -- the good news is that will be a thing of the past, just a few showers left in

southern georgia and florida. still, a very frigid minus 11 in winnipeg. it's unsettled to et west in europe. there will be blizzard conditions in northern portions, and towards paris it will be mostly rain here, france i should say. a quick moving storm bringing rain will head in towards italy and quitckly through greece. this will all be snow, and fairly heavy as well. it's a absolute split here, we have wet and unstable to the south and west, and in the east here much more like winter. here is your extended forecast.