vrjts a call for peace. u.s. president barack obama urges the palestinians to put aside their differences.

barack obama says peace in the middle east is possible. he addressed 600 young israelis asking them to reconcile with palestinians. he assured america is behind them. >> i'm proud that the relationship has never been stronger. >> he asked them to empathize with those in the occupy territories. >> and put yourself in their shoes. look at the world through their eyes. it's not fair that a palestinian child cannot grow up in a state

of their own. >> he urged them to take steps. > . three banks suffered be attackn wednesday afternoon. malware affected servers and disabled more than 32,000 computers. they traced the code to an ip address in china. authorities warned they would retaliate for a strike on their networks. officials in seoul say this was the latest breech by hackers. someone compromised their website at the same time.

text appeared saying hit man 007 kingdom of moracco. the simultaneous nature of the attacks say they involved more sophisticated techniques than those employed in the past. india has approved a new law mandating the death penalty for certain sex crimes. it was in effect due to an executive order by the president. the law cleared the upper house of parliament on thursday, two days after it passed the lower chamber. the gang raim rape of a woman in december prompted the changes. she died later of her injuries. she was 23 years old. indians have been demanding more

protection for women after a number of other sex crimes. they say police are not doing enough to catch those responsible. japanese government officials have instructed the operator of the fukushima plant to install more backup power. employees struggled for more

than a day. >> reporter: we told them to supply multiple power sources and implement other efforts as quickly as possible to restore public confidence in the safety of the plan. the handling has greatly damaged public trust. >> tepco officials failed to report the problem promptly. they ordered them to improve their risk management. it took crews more than day to restore power to all the cooling systems. march 20th anniversary. iraqi leaders remain confidence that renewed oil production will help pave the way for prosperity. they are already investing more in the region to meet growing

energy demand around the world. >> reporter: the ground beneath the deserts of southern iraq hold some of the world's largest untapped oil deposits. decades of war and sanctions left the country's oil industry in a state of disrepair. but multinational corporations have returned to start new oil production. this is the oil field in southern iraq. i'm standing here on a 14-meter-high construction site of an oil tank. this is where the extracted crude oil will be put temporarily before being put into the pipeline. this oil field is being developed by a joint venture from asia.

a malaysian state-run company owns 60% of the stake while an investment firm backed by the japanese government owns the remaining 40%. about 2,400 people work here around the clock. engineers from pakistan and bangladesh work with colleagues from malaysia, japan and iraq. >> japanese count. all right. eight count, please. all right. >> reporter: every morning, workers exercise before heading to the construction site. it's an idea implemented by the japanese employees to foster a sense of community among workers with different languages and cultures. kazuhiro ouwai from japan

oversees the on-site work flow. he instructs the workers on safety procedures. they speak to each other in english, but all have different accents. communication often takes time. >> what? >> projection. >> protection? >> projection. >> translator: one of my priorities is to make sure no one is hurt here. safety is very important for us. >> reporter: officials from the joint venture have also started on-site vocational training. instructors teach six subjects, including english and i.t. skills. so far, 340 people have participated. some have started working at the site. >> translator: i want to study

english so i can deal with foreign companies. they are coming back to our country and they are beneficial to us. >> reporter: the efforts of the workforce could help provide a stable energy supply for asia and the rest of the world. >> reporter: people in iraq hope the increase in oil production will help rebuild their country and their lives. both iraq's leaders and the multinational corporations will need to make sure that the development benefits the majority. sho beppu, nhk world, in southern iraq. a report released last year

by the international energy agency says that by 2030, the country may surpass russia to become the world's second largest oil producer after saudi arabia. what are some of the biggest challenges? >> as the prime minister of japan has asked of the new governor, deflation is probably the biggest challenge he's expected to overcome. this was reiterated at the first new conference. he took office with a vow to beat deflation. officials at the bank of japan having begun ways to expand monetary easing. they want to achieve a 2% inflation target as soon as possible. >> translator: i will pursue bold monetary easing utilizing

both quantitative and qualitative work. i'm convinced it's an achievable target. >> the bank will supply a huge volume of funds into the market. he said this effort will raise market expectations and will pull japan out of inflation. the central bank is expected to purchase not only short term bonds but those with longer bonds. they are considering riskier azea assets. over in cyprus they have agreed on a new plan to create a special plan. the new plan emerged as an alternative to levees on bank

deposits. cryprus president discussed the deal. it could use government owned real estate as collateral to raise the money. in a statement they said they're ready to discuss a new proposal. the european central bank officials say it will continue to extend emergency funding until monday. they urged a formal agreement should be reached with the eu for the bailout soon possible. let's get a check on the markets now. the dow jones industrial average fell on thursday. that's after further concerns with the banking crisis in cyprus. to see how stocks are performing let's go do ramin. we've seen a pull back in european and u.s. markets. are we seeing that down trend

continue here? >> yes, we are. the main drag on the market s the reemergence about concerns with the banking scenario surrounding cyprus. that led the euro lower including the yen. let's have a look at the exact opening levels for today, friday, march 22nd. both indexes are trading lower. we're going to see if the nikkei ends in the positive or the negative. we felt the jitters and volatility this week that's for sure. your zone pmi or business activity for march showed a bigger fall with the consensus. the markets here in japan really focusing very much on what the new bank of japan chief will do after he clearly stated at his

first news conference on thursday that he's going to pursue bold monetary easing measures to achieve that 2% inflation target. >> that should boost the japanese government bond markets as well but currencies also a key focus as we've seen volatility because of the cyprus and the euro. what are we seeing this morning? >> the dollar/yen at the top of the screen. the euro is losing a bit of ground after rebounding midweek. the dollar yen having a look that the. at the top of the careen 94.87 to 90. we can see before and after the tokyo stock exchange has opened that rose to above 96 on

thursday. the slightly stronger yen may be a reason for profit taking. the key focus remains now on what the bank of japan can deliver as domestic and foreign investors watch intently for any moves at any upcoming meetings. that's going to be a big focus there. in the meantime we're enjoying the cherry blossoms here which is blossomed earlier than usual. perhaps a hint from nature that change might be coming a little quicker than expected. we'll follow that as well. back to you. >> we'll see you outside at the parks. investors are buying up japanese funds. some are betting the markets for the bonds will crash.

>> reporter: japanese bonds account for less than 1% of total assets. it's policy on them remains consistent to buy. domestic invers have dominated the ordinary reasonship of japanese government bonds. they have been steadily increasing reaching over 9% last year. some investors have long been casting doubt on such buying

trends. they are predicting the recent crisis and the u.s. housing bubble. over the first few years he has been actively setting his japanese bonds. >> now we have an extreme secular decline in population. we'll have more people exiting the seem than entering. if you look at japan's income statement that gap has been growing at 9.5% a year and growing every year. we all knew this would happen. at the time japan was head frg a

general direction. >> it's important to see what will be the driving political forces in the new government. we're focused on the changeover in leadership. we can see a whole new inflation policy from the central bank. >> reporter: they buy his investment strategy. assuming that the depreciation of the yen. a new trend is emerging among investors worldwide expecting a

global scale economy they are moving to lower risk bond so they can buy into higher return stocks. the sale strategy for japanese bond hasn't paid off so far but he's confident that the prices will permit in the near future. >> we will continue to do that for the next five to seven years. we'll maintain this position every year for the next foreseeable future. you'll have to be positioned because when they move they will move very quickly. >> reporter: when japanese bond prices remain stable or will they crash as fast as managers expect. all eyes are now on abe's new

economic strategy. >> the nikkei is opening lower this friday. i'll leave you with a check on other markets.

the car bomb exploded at the refugee camp in an area bordering afghanistan. it's a known stronghold for islamist insurgent groups. l local police said 12 people were killed and 20 wounded. >> translator: i was near the food distribution point when there was a big explosion. i don't know what happened. >> camp residents have been affected by violence. most were displaced by fighting on the border with afghanistan. reuters has said pakistani taliban has denied responsibility for the task.

a general election is scheduled for may 11th. art fair tokyo 2013 is under way featuring antiques and contemporary works offered by about 140 galleries both inside and outside japan. the annual event opened on thursday at the tokyo international forum. the fair is the largest of its kind in japan and attracts more than 50,000 visitors. its organizers say this year the weaker yen may attract more art collectors from overseas. >> translator: the yen is weaker and tokyo stock prices are higher. they indicate the country is getting a shot in the arm. >> translator: the weaker yen is good news for overseas buyers. japan has a lot of good art items, so i think the country's market will grow. >> 24 young japanese artists living together are selling their building and works of art as a package for about $2.6 million.

>> translator: a number of visitors from abroad are coming to see this art fair. as an organizer, this trend is definitely giving us a leg up. >> the organizer says japanese contemporary art has been popular among overseas collectors for years and recently its investment value has been rising. people in some areas of china are dealing with severe weather conditions. >> good morning. some quite famished here across southern china. let me show you a video coming up from that area. the severe storm brought strong winds to south china on thursday. large hailstones were also observed. the storm unleashed a tornado that claimed the lives of three people and injured 52.

hundreds of policeman and firefighters dealt with rescue efforts. the next storm is expected to batter the area again tomorrow. there are some cloud cover across the region in south eastern parts of china yet again. as of now as we speak there's some light to moderate rain in the region but you're likely to see another front line form across the area. that's going to be supplyi inin ample moisture and dumping heavy rain and thunderstorms are accompanied which could be on the severe side yet again with large hail possible. do watch out for that if you're in the vicinities. out here in the philippines the tropical depression has moved over the country and now it's over west. it will be making its way toward northern borneo as well as high waves and windy conditions due

to this strong easterly flow scattered thunderstorms will be erupting across the country in the philippines. out towards japan we have a system moving in from south eastern russia. this will bring blowing snow conditions and leaves left behind due tow the associated front. due to the warmth reaching six degrees. risk of avalanche will be very high and also down towards the south we'll see unstable weather from the afternoon hours. rest of the country will be looking at nice wealther. seoul at 8 degrees and manila we're looking at 33. here in tokyo where people will be enjoying the cherry blossoms that will be in full bloom this weekend. sunday is not a good day to look at the cherry blossoms due to

the showers and cold temperatures. today and tomorrow will be flies to get out there. we can enjoy it all the way to may and northern japan as southe as southern korea. blowing snow will be here and that could disrupt your traveling. watch out and check your roads and also the weather forecast if you're traveling in these vicinities. fire weather also still lies across the southern fore cour cs region. winnipeg at minus 6 for your

high. i'll leave you now for your extended forecast.