nhk world "newsline." the secretary general of the united nations says a urn team is likely to conclude chemical weapons were used in syria but they're not saying who is to blame. government or opposition forces. >> our team came out with the report but i believe that the report will be an overwhelming report that the chemical weapons was used. >> he's expected to receive the

report by the inspectors as early as next week. he isn't pointing fingers but he strongly criticized syrian president, bashar al-assad saying his government committed many crimes against humanity. they say they used poison gas in an attack last month on neighborhoods in the suburbs of damascus. hundreds of people died including many children. syrian leaders have denied the accusations. president al-assad:00 claim lon he didn't have chemical weapons but admitted this week his country has them and promised to join the chemical weapons' convention. the top diplomats for the u.s. and russia are working if on a plan to put the chemical weapons under international control. president obama is keeping options opened for military strike against the assad regime in case the negotiations fail. us secretary of state john kerry and russian foreign

minister sergey lavrov held the second day of talks on friday in geneva. the u.n. and arab league lakhdar brahimi joined them and they have discussed the international conference to bring together the represents of the syrian government and all opposition forces. >> we're working hard to find the common ground to make that happen. >> we design a road which would make sure that this issue is resolved quickly, professionally, as soon as practical. >> kerry and lavrov will meet again on saturday and they agree to continue discussions later this month in new york at the u.n. general assembly. a court in new dehli sentenced four men to death for the gang rape and death of a woman and carried out the attack last december along with two others. the case generated international attention and sparked a national debate on the treatment of women

in india. the district court in new delhi on friday ordered them to be hanged. the judge noted that india is experiencing an increase in crimes against women. he said the courts cannot turn a blind eye to such gruesome crimes. five help and a teenager assaulted the 23-year-old woman on a bus, gang raped her, beat her with an iron rod and threw her on to the road naked and she died two weeks later in a hospital in singapore. the case prompted protest against the widespread violence and discrimination women face in india. earlier this week the district in and around the four men guilty of rape and murder and their lawyers say they'll appeal the death sentences. the fifth man accused killed himself in prison earlier this year. and the teenager went through the juvenile court system. he received the toughest penalty for a minor. three years in a reform

facility. they have changed the laws following the case and courts can now hand down the death penalty for sex crimes where the victim or victims die. still, violence against women continues. five men raped a 22-year-old female journalist last month in mumbai and they are under pressure to do more to protect women. engineers at japan's crippled plant have made a discovery. they've been digging into the ground at the fukushimas site to find leaks of contaminated wastewater. a monitoring well near a storage tank contained sharnly rising levels of tritium. and officials with tokyo electric power company reported the findings and say the level of tritium in water samples from the well rose on thursday to 130 now, becquerels. that's more than twice the level at which japanese nuclear plants

are allowed to release water into the ocean. a storage tank released more than 300 tons of highly radioactive water last month and it probably seeped into the soil. they dug the well 20 meter there is the tank and started taking samples of groundwater. the tritium level in those samples was 64,000 becquerels per liter on tuesday and rose to 97,000 on wednesday. company officials say they suspect the water leaked last month caused increase but can't be certain. they are also trying to figure out whether past leaks from pipes had any effect. investors are watching u.s. economic data and trying to figure out when policymakers might scale back their stimulus measure and now they have more figures to consider. retail sales picked up but less than analysts had expected. officials at the commerce department say retail sales came in under $427 billion.

the figure was up 2/10 of a percent of the month. this increase was the fifth in a row. sales of cars rose 9/10 of a percent and so did sales of home furnishings but retail reported lower sales building material wbs clothing, sporting goods and entertainment products. analysts say consumer spending has been getting stronger since the spring but seems of the lost momentum. policymakers at the u.s. federal reserve are due to meet next news and analysts think they'll discuss when to scale back their economic stimulus measures. in you have ever dreamed of seeing japan in luxury and style you may want to head to the southwestern of kyushu.

the officials with the railway company held a ceremony to celebrate the completion of the 7 stars liner. the train designed to look luxurious, even from the outside and the luxury continues inside. each car is decorated with art work by master craftsmen and passengers have plenty of private space. nearly every car is divided into three twin cabins. each has a shower and toilet and wash basin made of locally produced porcelain. the lounge car has a piano and bar. they can start touring kyushu next month. a ticket for a four day trip costs $5,700 but that's not deterring customers, tours are fully booked until next june.

here's your three-day look at the forecast.

that's all for this hour on "newsline." thank you for joining us.