hello and thank you for joining us on this edition of it's now 7:00 a.m. on saturday, february 27. i'm raja pradhan in tokyo. a cease-fire is coming into force in syria. the government and opposition groups say they're ready to stop fighting for two weeks. the u.s. and russia persuaded them to accept a truce. analysts say the humanitarian situation will improve if the truce holds across the nation. they say the cease-fire would help international efforts to fight islamic state militants in syria, but they warned the government could continue the attacks under the excuse of fighting terrorists. analysts say some rebel forces may not respect the deal.

the syrian civil war has lasted five years, more than 250,000 people have been killed. soccer's world governing body fifa has a new president. members elected gianni infantino, he's the general secretary of the european soccer federation uefa and he's promising to reform fifa. can [ applause ] 207 members cast votes. the first round was inconclusive. no candidate got the two-thirds majority needed to win. infantino won the second round with 115 votes, a simple majority. >> i want to work with all of you together, with all of you in order to restore and rebuild a new era in fifa, a new era in fifa where we can put again football in the center of the stage. >> gianni infantino is a 45-year-old swiss lawyer. he's been an advisor to football bodies in spain, italy, and switzerland.

he joined uefa in 2000. he became general secretary in 2009. infantino pushed for punishment for european players and club teams involved in match fixing. during his campaign, infantino said he wanted the world cup finals to include more teams. he wants to increase the number from 32 to 40. each candidate pledged to reform soccer's governing body. infantino will now take on that. nhk world looks at what led up to the election of a new president and what fifa's future could look like. >> reporter: last may, sepp blatter was reelected for a fifth term as fifa president, but plagued by an ever-winding corruption scandal, he announced he would step down. the scandal involved marketing and broadcasting rights for events including the world cup. in late may, u.s. prosecutors indicted 14 people, including fifa officials on suspicion of bribery.

switzerland was also involved in cracking open the case. prosecutors launched an investigation into a 2011 payment for more than $2 million blatter made to vice president michele platini and banned him from taking part in any soccer-related activities for eight years. the appeal committee reduced that to six years. fifa calls it the worst crisis of its history. the focus of the election to choose a successor has been on measures proposed by fifa's reform committee. they include transparency of money flow, transformation of structure, and an increase in the number of participants in the world cup and term limits of the president and council members. this journalist has written articles on the fifa scandal. he said the road to reform is not an easy path.

what will be the top priority for the new fifa president? >> translator: the most important thing is to regain public trust. to do that, the organization will have to make its decision making process and money flow more transparent and fair. it also has to tell the public how hosts of the world cup and sponsors are selected and how they decide on selling the broadcast rights of the tournament. but it will not be easy to achieve. it needs a firm power base in order to take innovative steps towards reform. but building that power base is very hard work. >> reporter: what steps should fifa take to reform itself? >> translator: it's a major step for fifa to make its decision-making process and money flow transparent, but it's not enough because even if fifa stamps out corruption, the problem of finance will remain. europe is a clear example. european countries are a magnet for top football players and the world's wealth.

this trend will not change for the time being. i think their influence may become bigger, so even after fifa roots out a corruption scandal they should build a structure that can ensure the development of world soccer as a whole, avoiding centralized resources and power in europe. >> reporter: soccer fans around the world have high hopes for a fresh future, but for the time being a new president will be in the shadow of fifa's past. swiss investigators are looking at reports of suspicious financial activity linked to fifa's decision to award russia and qatar the 2018 and 2022 world cup. officials in washington have submitted a draft resolution to the u.n. security council seeking tighter sanctions on north korea. it aims to deprive the north of money that could be used to fund its nuclear ambition.

the u.s. diplomats are now backed by china after weeks of negotiations. >> the united states tabled a draft u.n. security council resolution that, if adopted, would break new ground and represent the strongest set of sanctions imposed by the security council in more than two decades. >> the proposed measures include a ban on exports of aviation fuel to north korea. they also prohibit exports of gold, titanium and rare-earth minerals from the north. in addition, all u.n. member states are required to inspect any north korean cargo entering or leaving their country. and it warns of more than 30 ships that may have been used to evade sanctions. beijing is pyongyang's main ally and was reluctant to increase sanctions, but it now agrees. >> we certainly hope that we will achieve the objective of denuclearization of the korean peninsula and also a negotiated

solution. >> translator: we should note that although china is a close neighbor to the north, it's fulfilling its obligation as a responsible world power. >> officials in seoul also commended the draft. they say it's a stern warning the international community will not allow pyongyang to obtain more weapons of mass destruction. they say the sanctions do not target north korean people but its leadership which they call the most repressive regime on earth. the security council could pass the draft resolution in the coming days. it still needs to be scrutinized by the other council members, including russia. g-20 finance ministers and central bank governors are meeting in china to discuss the shaky global economy. they're looking for ways to restore calm to financial markets. chinese delegates are chairing the meeting for the first time. they're likely to field questions about how they're responding to slowing growth in

the world's second-biggest economy. japan's finance minister says leaders need to agree on the causes of the problems before they can fix them. he was accompanied by the bank of japan governor. he says he'll do his best to justify the bank's negative interest rate policy to the other delegates. the operator of a nuclear plant in central japan has restarted another reactor. this is the country's fourth restart under regulations the government adopted after the accident in fukushima. kansai electric power company restarted reactor 4 at the takahama plant in fukui prefecture. workers confirmed a self-sustained nuclear reaction.

they plan to start generating and transmitting power on monday and they aim to resume commercial operation late next month. the reactor uses fuel made from reprocessed plutonium and uranium. workers found a leak of radioactive water last week in an adjacent building. they say they'll keep a close eye on equipment to make sure it's working properly. nearly five years have passed since the fukushima daiichi nuclear accident. now some former executives that owned the plant are facing trial. for the first time, a court will decide on criminal responsibility. court-appointed lawyers announced they'll indict the three former executives of tokyo electric power company on monday. their former chairman, tsunehisa katsumata and former vice president ichiro takekuro and sakae muto. the three are expected to be charged with professional negligence resulting in deaths and injuries. the lawyers claim the three failed to implement necessary measures despite being told the tsunami could cause flooding at the plant. and they say the accident led to the deaths and injuries of

hospital patients after they had to evacuate. the defendants are expected to plead not guilty on the grounds that they could not have predicted a massive tsunami. people from a town near the crippled nuclear plant are creating a reminder of the help they got after the tsunami. they're preserving blackboards that bear messages of encouragement from rescue workers. everyone in the town of namie had to leave after the nuclear accident. they're still living elsewhere as refugees. police and self-defense force members conducted search-and-rescue operations soon after the disaster. they left words of encouragement on blackboards and whiteboards at an elementary school. they urged locals to hang in there and promised to keep helping until the town recovered. locals wrote replies. some declared they'd live in the town once more. town officials removed 12 boards.

they'll keep them at another school for the time being. >> translator: the messages show what people have been thinking over the past five years. our job is to preserve them. >> the vice mayor said they'll talk with evacuees about the best way to preserve and display the boards over the long term. in other news, the leaders of two japanese opposition parties have officially agreed to merge next month. they aim to better compete with the ruling coalition in the upper house election this summer. the democratic party is the biggest opposition group. the japan innovation party is the third largest. their leaders decided to launch a working group discuss the name and platform of the united party. >> translator: our party will respond to the voices of people who have various concerns and questions about the policies of prime minister his is.

we will be an alternative to the government. >> translator: we will stop wasting tax money which the governing liberal democratic party is unable to do. we will drastically reform the administration and prevent taxes from rising. >> katsuya okada and yorihisa matsuno agreed to hold a vote to choose a leader after the upper house election. they say they'll call on other political groups to join forces with them. five opposition parties have been discussing ways to work together in the coming election. that includes fielding only one candidate in single-seat constituencies. they hope that will improve their chances against ldp and komeito coalition. it holds a majority in the upper house and over two-thirds of the seats in the more powerful lower house. a u.n. official says people in south sudan are in need of international support and resources are lacking.

the u.n. deputy humanitarian coordinator for the african country had an interview with nhk. she said humanitarian aid is needed by over six million people in south sudan. that's over half the population. >> the humanitarian assistance will require at least 1.3 billion u.s. dollars in 2016. unfortunately, we've raised only 2% of the resources that we need. >> she urges japan to play a leading role. japan is chairing this year's g-7 summit and has a non-permanent seat on the u.n. security council. >> we hope that it uses those positions to help to advance global compassion and global solidarity with the people of south sudan. >> a peace accord for south sudan was reached last year, but fierce fighting continues between government troops and armed opposition forces. the conflict has killed several thousand people in the past two years. over two million people have

been displaced. a global charity is launching a mission in the indian ocean. it's going to track and rescue boats carrying migrants fleeing from myanmar and bangladesh. patchari raksawong at our bureau in bangkok has the details. last year southeast asia saw a crisis. thousands of migrants sailed out into the sea and were washed ashore in indonesia and malaysia they included rohingya's fleeing alleged persecution in myanmar and bangladeshis escaping poverty. the charity, migrant offshore aid station, is dispatching a vessel on saturday. it will carry out a three-week journey to the eastern part of the indian ocean. the crew will use drones to search for boats in distress. every year, tens of thousands of rohingya's flee myanmar in overcrowded boats. the voyages are mainly organized by human traffickers.

>> the trafficking if not diminished is not eliminated based on a crackdown by thai authorities. however, it's still being reported that people are leaving on boats under their own accord without human traffickers because of human rights violations against them. so, again, this is the push factor that we're hearing about. >> rohingya muslims are not recognized in predominantly buddhist myanmar. the government denies them citizenship. police in papua, new guinea, have shot and killed 11 prisoners after they took part in a mass jailbreak. the convicts were part of a group of more than 30 prisoners who reportedly attacked their guards at the prison about 320 kilometers north of the capital. reuters news agency says 17 prisoners were wounded and recaptured. it's not known how many remain

at large. the oceania country struggles with endemic violence and poverty. a japanese government travel advisory on papua, new guinea, warns of frequent prison escapes and says runaway convicts are rarely caught. representatives from 12 pacific rim countries officially signed the transpacific partnership free trade pact earlier this month. indonesia got a late start in taking part in the deal. although the country has announced its intention to join, government officials are caught in a domestic struggle between those who support the deal and those who don't. nhk world's metalia reports. >> reporter: indonesia is southeast asia's biggest economy. among the asean countries, it amounts to nearly 40% of the total gdp. in october during a visit to the united states, the president announced indonesia's

willingness to join the tpp free trade pact. these are indonesian garment products that will be exported overseas, especially to the united states. >> for baby gap for usa. >> reporter: this is the president of a clothing manufacturer. he owns a sewing factory outside the capital, jakarta. the company's biggest competitor is vietnam. indonesian and vietnamese workers are at about the same levels, both in terms of quality and wages. competition in recent years has become easier. his sales in 2015 were down 50% from a year earlier. clothing that's produced in indonesia for export to the united states is hit with a maximum 30% tariff.

in contrast, similar products made in vietnam and shipped to the u.s. market will have no tariffs after the tpp comes into effect. >> especially on the government, we rely on a lot of american markets and if indonesia is not doing the tpp and vietnam is and other countries are then indonesia will definitely be out of the market. >> reporter: but other industrialists in indonesia are showing strong resistance toward the tpp pacts. among them are the operators of the more than 13,000 traditional markets. they say if the government policies prefer shipment for use by these markets they will be exposed to stiffer competition with foreign firms. >> translator: these traditional markets are lucrative investment targets.

and they will be taken over by foreign firms. that would be very dangerous. we hope that the nation will not take part in the free trade pact. >> reporter: like other count these have signed on to the tpp, indonesia finds itself at a cross roads. some people will continue doing things the ways they've always been done, while others want to embrace change. the country has a ways to go before it can join the free trade deal. metalia, nhk world, jakarta. that wraps up our bulletin. i'm patchari raksawong in bangkok. people in japan are looking back 80 years to one of the

closest coup d'etat's in the country's military history. the failed military rebellion ended with closed-door trials but today the whole picture of the incident has not been filled in. >> reporter: tokyo's tourist hub of shibua showed a different side as people gathered to remember and ask questions. . >> they stood where a prison of the now deif you want japanese imperial army once was and where leaders of an uprising were executed. >> translator: i'd really like to know the truth, why the officers and soldiers joined the incident. >> reporter: it was february 26, 1936 when a group of army officers led 1400 soldiers on a mission to seize tokyo. they wanted to abolish the government and military leadership and demanded the formation of a new cabinet. they killed several leading

government figures, including two former prime ministers. but their uprising failed. and 21 of them were tried and executed or committed suicide. the incident marke turning point in japan's history as the military increased its control over the government. the leaders of the uprising were put through closed military trials with no attorney. and even today the records of the so-called "dark trials" remain out of sight. research have been requesting the documents be made public. and officials plan to transfer them to the national archives of japan. but some experts are skeptical. >> translator: the government may black out parts of the documents saying it's to protect privacy, but these documents are public property, so they should be disclosed and allow us to

make copies. >> reporter: he says it's also important to show japan's policy of information disclosure. the government says it plans to release the documents some time next year and that's what people are waiting for. they say they need to see the documents in full to truly understand a pivotal moment in this nation's history. nhk world, tokyo. the popularity of skiing in japan has been sliding for years. for one thing, fewer young people are taking up the sport. so to help fill their slopes, ski resorts have started wooing foreign customers. nhk world's midori aoki has more. >> reporter: this resort is in the town of yuzawa. foreign tourists are sliding down the mountain on sleds.

where are you from? >> thailand. >> indonesia! >> reporter: have you seen snow before? >> no. >> it's so cold! but it's so cool! >> translator: we'd like tourists from all over the world to enjoy the snow and the skiing among other things that yuzawa has to offer. >> reporter: the early '90s were the peak years for japan's ski resorts. back then, around eight million snow lovers flocked to yuzawa's slopes every winter. these days, only about a quarter of that number come. town officials decided they needed to attract foreigners to revive the local economy. >> translator: you look like a snow fairy. >> reporter: they focused on tourists from southeast asia who might never have even touched snow before.

>> japanese ninja! >> reporter: this winter they put snow shoes on visitors from abroad. you don't have to be a skier to have a good time in the snow. >> it's amazing! it's soft. >> reporter: after the fun, it's time to snap photos with smart phones. the pictures are a pr bonanza. and the town is ready to promote it. >> translator: this is a sim card. >> reporter: the tourist association rents them out to visitors so they can access the internet in japan. the town uses facebook to pitch itself to people in indonesia, southeast asia's most populous nation.

>> translator: when visitors experience our wonderful snow firsthand, they share their pictures with friends on facebook and twitter. their friends may decide to visit this town, too. >> reporter: officials want to more than triple the number of foreign visitors to 250,000 a year. it's a strategy they hope will give japan's ski resort industry a needed lift. midori aoki, nhk world. there's more to come here on newsline, but first, here's the three-day outlook on the world's weather.

here's one more story to share with you before we go. one of the legends of japanese soccer has turned 49. he's the oldest player in japan's professional football league, j-league. miura is preparing for his 31st season. he's currently on the second division team, yokohama fc. he proved his stamina during training for the season starting this weekend. during the previous season, he played in 16 matches and scored three goals. in june last year, he broke the

record for the oldest scorer in the league. his fans celebrated his birthday. >> translator: i'd like to contribute to the team's success. i hope we can all celebrate getting another goal and another victory. >> miura started his professional career in santos, brazil, in 1986. he went on to play for clubs in many countries around the globe, including italy, australia, and croatia. he says he wants to still be a professional player when he turns 50. that's all for now on this edition of newsline. i'm raja pradhan in tokyo. from all of us at nhk world, thanks for watching and have a good day wherever you are.

steves: the dramatic rock of cashel is one of ireland's most evocative sites.

this was the seat of ancient irish kings for seven centuries. st. patrick baptized king aengus here in about 450 a.d. in around 1100, an irish king gave cashel to the church, and it grew to become the ecclesiastical capital of all ireland. 800 years ago, this monastic community was just a chapel and a round tower standing high on this bluff. it looked out then, as it does today, over the plain of tipperary, called the golden vale because its rich soil makes it ireland's best farmland. on this historic rock, you stroll among these ruins in the footsteps of st. patrick, and wandering through my favorite celtic cross graveyard, i feel the soul of ireland.

>> "global 3000" goes to china. the country needs more children to help care for an aging population. and we travel along the mekong in cambodia in search of the last river dolphins. but first, what happens when baby-making becomes a business? the history of in vitro fertilization began just 37 years ago. the first baby conceived through in vitro fertilization. in july 1978, the birth of louise joy brown made headlines around the world. baby-making still requires an