ontaing at chernobyl at the damaged nuclear reactor. welcome to nhk "newsline."

this is the latestlatest, workers in chernobyl are marking the 26th anniversary of the accident there with another effort to limit the damage. they're building a new shelter to cover the one built after the disaster. they fear the old shell might collapse and release radioactive substances. the work got under way 26 years to the day after the reactor exploded during test. ukranian government officials plan to built an arch-shaped containment building more than 100 meters high. it will cover the shell around reactor number four. workers expect to complete construction in three years. the cost? more than $1.2 billion. >> translator: i am pleased to say that ukraine was not left alone to face the tragedy. we felt the whole world came to help us. the evidence of that is the financial support of the

countries that donated to the chernobyl fund. >> he stressed that international cooperation has become more crucial after the accident last year at fukushima daiichi. the president promised to help the 2 million people affected by the disaster. still, former plant worker and residents held a rally in kye yef. kiev. they say the government is not doing enough. they will defer doing stress testing results in the region until later this year. last year's nuclear accident at fukushima prompted the eu to do safety checks of old nuclear plants in the eu region. so fair they inspected 38 of 107 reactors. eu aimed to release the financial results by june and make concrete recommendations on

the summit. but they will postpone the eu energy commissioner said condting thorough stssests morimpoant an t timing of the results. people living around the a nuclear plant in central japan are wrestling with a difficult choice. they're deciding whether to agree to a plan to restart two of the four reactors at the power plant. the reactors are the first to be approved for restarting since the fukushima accident. more than 500 people attended the public meeting. only local residents could attend. activists opposed to the resumption of the reactors held a rally outside the venue. a japanese government official said experts put technology in place to keep the reactors cool. he said it would work even in the event of a disaster like the one at fukushima. residents then weighed in with their views. >> translator: i think japan

will not recover without the resumption of the plant. if the government will seriously think about protecting people's lives, i'm in favor of turning the reactors back on. >> some participants said they worried about the lack of building that could serve as a crisis center in the event of a strong earthquake. >> translator: the unimaginable could happen. a quake-resistant building is necessary in case the worst takes place. when it coming to restarting the reactors, the economy and safety should definitely be considered separately. >> other residents questioned whether restarting the reactors is even necessary. >> translator: is the electricity demand as high as the government forecasts. >> a recent nhk poll suggests

that residents are most likely in if favor of starting the reactors. he sai he will decide whether too do it after hearing what residents have to say. japan has 50 reactors and only one reactor in the country is operating right now. it's expected to go offline next week. people in japan's northeast are focused on overcoming the challenges of the 2011 disaster but it won't be easy. they have to rebuild homes, businesses, entire communities. we'll show you their struggles and their successeon"t road ahead "the" every wednesday at 1:00 p.m. japan time here on

"newsline." a u.n.-backed court convicted taylor of war crimes and crimes against humanity. he's the first head of state found guilty by an international war crimes court since world war ii. a special tribunal in the hague ruled that taylor is guilty of all 11 charges. charges clude aiding and abetting reb massacr o people in neighboring syriaearierra leone leone during the war. it continued for more than 10 years from 1991. sentencing is expected to be held next month. the prosecution held that taylor receive the diamond in return for providing weapons to rebels. the defense council denied all charged. the war focused attempt on the blood diamonds mined by slaifr laborers that helped to fund the fighting eyanto impose

restrictions. "the new york times" has reported reported that disgraced politician tapped phone calls to national leaders includes jintao jintao. the newspaper revealed a scandal in its wednesday's online edition. the paper quotes party insiders as saying he sets up a large scale wiretapping system in his home turf several years ago. they added that he monitored president hu last august. the daily says party leaders view the wiretapping as the most serious crimes. this was among several reasons why he was ousted. "the new york times" cites a political analyst as says he was eager to know exactly what leaders thought of him. the paper reports the

wiretapping indicates his strong desire to enter the party's top leadership. votersn greece areryg to make up their minds in an election that promises more difficult times ahead. government leaders need it to bring in austerity measures to remain in the you're loweuro zone. they're debating how to manage through the turmoil. nhk world reports from athens. >> translator: please trust us. we need your support. >> reporter: the country's two largest parties launched an interim government. they were successful in getting the pa lament to ent strict tight belting measures to get bailout funds from the eu and

imf. last month euro zone countries gave their official approval to a second bailout for greece worth 130 billion euros, which is about $170 billion. the public had an opportunity to pass judgment on the austerity measures that have made people's lives difficult. amid violent protests against those measures the latest opinion polls show the two biggest parties will likely lose many seats in parliament leaving neither of them with a single party majority. the other hand, minority parties on posing the austerity are gaining support and are expected to increase the number of their seats. some voters in athens say they

will not go to the polls because nobody is promoting desirable policies. if small parties gain many seats and if demands from voters for a review of the awe tearusterity measures increase, greece might not continue to receive bailout funds. this is a scenario that could rekindle uncertainty over europe europe. nhk world, athens. >> those uncertainties never seem to be far away. a leading credit agent has lowered the credit rating in the euro zone. ai is here with the details. >> the spotlight is on spain. the european debt concerns do linger. u.s. cret rating agency standard & poor's downgraded the government's bonds. they reduced their rating to bbb

plus on thursday. that's down two notches. that's the first downgrade since january. the agency says the cut is due to spain's economic contraction that was worse that many analysts suggested, suggesting the reconstruction is slow. they say spanish commercial banks may need more support from the government. thspanish bond market h clined recently. this has briefly sent the yields to above 6%. but overnight in new york u.s. stocks extended gains. the dow jones industrial average closed up 0.9% to 13,204. that is a gain for the third day in a row. now, for more let's go to the tokyo stock exchange. this is the latest levels. ra ramin, goomorning to you. a lot of information on this friday wit a big fus on data

as well as the bank of japan. >> definitely ai. we had a stream of data comes out for japan just before the markets kicked off. cpi was up 0.2% in march. also unemployment staying at 4.5%. so unchanged there. industrial production also gaining 1.0% and that's the first gain in two months. so quite a lot of information there, and other data comes out as well. we'll see how that plays into the markets. let's look at the opening levels for this friday with the nikkei and the to p ppix there. a little mixed and lower actually. so not really following on from what we saw in the u.s. markets there. that followed strong gains for the earnings here. of course we track how the this plays into the stocks. a lot of market players may be staying on the sidelines ahead of the key bank of japan meeting, which kicks off after the markets close. we get na news conference from

bank of japan from the governor. looking at curreies and how that plays into what a lot of market players and analysts and economists are looking for in the bank of japan to take extra measures to weaken the yen, which a lot of exporters are hoping for. looking at the dollar yen 81.04 to 08. you can see the yen has strengthened there to lower 81 yen levels. euro general is 106.95. the euro did drop as the s&p downgraded spain. that's because of euro zone concerns that continue in the marketplace. ai. >> ramin, corporate earnings are a focus in the united states, of course, but also here in japan, isn't it? >> definitely. we've been having a couple of weeks now from u.s. corporate earnings, but japan is really starting to kick off quite heavy load today, specifically some global names such as fujitsu,

mazda, hand da and sharp and fuji film. we have numerous holding in the securities awell as the heavy industries and nipon steel as well. quite a lot of different sectors coming through there. i have to add as well monday is a public holiday here in japan, and next week is a truncated week. we have thursday and friday off as well. just two days, really tuesday and wednesday for markets to react from further information from the bank of japan but also further news from the u.s. that we might get later today. so we'll see how it plays in. for now, really mixed opening here for theikkei and the t topix. back tyou,. >> thanks for that update. as he just mentioned in his report, japan's unemployment rate was unchanged in march. the international affairs ministry says the seasonally adjusted jobless rate stood at

4.5%. the number of people without jobs was about 3 million, people with jobs stood at everover 62 million. separately the labor ministry said job varmt improved marking the tenth straight month of increases. 76 positions were available for every 100 job seekers. the labor ministry says the job situation is showing signs of improvement in some areas. a factor supporting this is a pause in the yen's advance. flat moves here on tokyo markets this morning. i will leave you with a recap of those latest market figures.

one of japan's most powerful politics has beaten charges he broke political funding laws. ozawa has been a force to be reckoned for many years. however this funding scandal sidelined him, sent him to court and could have sent him to jail. judges in tokyo ruled he's not guilty. prosecutors accused ozawa of conspireing with his aides to falsify accounting records for about $5 million. the group that manages the funds he raised used money in 2004 to buy land in tokyo. he has denied any conspiracy from the start. the presiding judge acknowledged that one of ozawa's former aides falsified the reports.

he bievedhe skoefr of the records would hurt his boss's political activities. three judges in all ruled the aide informed ozawa of the report and they ruled he approved of falsifying the document, but they could not determine whether there had been any conspiracy. ozawa says the verdict shows the court's good sense and fairness. court appointed lawyers serving as prosecutors in the trial say they're considering whether or not to appeal to a higher court. ozawa has been a figure in politics for more than two decades, and during that time he's held top positions in both ruling and opposition parties. >> ozawa joined the democratic party in 2003. it was the largest opposition party at the time. he played a key role in shaping a force capable of challenging the government. that work finally paid off in 2009. the dpj scored a landslide

victory in the lower house election ending 55 years of almost unbroken rule by the liberal democratic party. but tokyo prosecutors slowed his momentum targeting his political funding. they charged his former aides in 2010 for falsifying an accounting report in connection with with a $5 hill land deal. prosecutors said the money came from a construction company hoping to win public works contracts. >> translator: i'm innocent. i received no illegal donations. >> tokyo prosecutors later dropped the case against ozawa saying they didn't have enough evidence. but an inquest panel challenged that decision. the panel was made up of members of the public. their finding led to an indictment in january last year. soon after the dpj decided to suspend ozawa's party membership. court appointed lawyers serving

as prosecutors summed up the case last month. they said ozawa clearly approved of the false accounting and demanded a three-year prison term. the court criticized tokyo prosecutors, describing the investigation as illal and unjust. it rejected most of the depositions by ozawa's former aides linking him to the land deal. ozawa repeatedly pleaded not guilty. >> a democratic party representative says the trial's outcome was expected. >> translator: the acquittal is a matter of course. >> the dpj secretary-general says party leaders will soon begin the process of restoring ozawa's membership but a top ranking official from the main op oppositionally democratic party, it doesn't matter if he gets it back. he's still tainted by scandal.

>> translator: ozawa bears heavy political and ethical responsibility, considering three of his former aides were arrested. >> the ldp secretary-general says his party will ask ozawa to testify before the diet about his alleged role in this funding scandal. awa refused similar requests whil his tal was under way. nhk world's political commentator has followed the ozawa case from the start. he spoke earlier with scherrary rishare sherri ann. what impact will it have on japanese politics? >> i suggestspect he'll try to regain political power and use it to push out noda. she suspended his membership after learning the charges against him. i expect the acquittal will push him to withdraw the suspicion.

ozawa still controls the biggest faction in the dpj. without his cooperation, it will be very difficult for noda to govern. >> what can a prime minister expect from ozawa? >> the most likely target is the plan to double the consumption tax up to 10% by 2015. noda says the tax hike is necessary to cover the costs -- increasing costs of social security. you know, ozawa doesn't buy that argument. he aiddmits it must come first on the way to an economic recovery. he said the party made those promises when it took power two and a half years ago. so the tax bill faces several challenges. senior lawmakers close to ozawa quit their official positions last month when noda submitted the bill to the diet. many members have already signaled that they will not

cooperate. he orders members of the faction to vote against it. then passing the bill would be impossible. then the prime minister would almost certainly have to resign. noda could call the election to ask voters whether or not they support him. his public approval rating suggests that they did not, at least not now. so it will be a very big struggle for him to say the least. >> noda has been in office for only about six months. is there any way he could survive? >> well, noda is trying to win suort from the main opposition liberal democratic party to that he doesn't have to worry about the votes ozawa controls. if noda makes a bargain to call a general election the ldp may cooperate with the prime minister. the party is looking at the public support rate believes it can regain power in an election. in any case noda will not be able to survive or keep power

without an election. so you know janese voter may beacin tossibility of having the seventh primarye minister in six years. >> that was nhk world's political commentator. coming up next is the world weather forecast with rachel ferguson. >> good morning. many people across central japan into southern japan enjoying clear skies and sunny conditions today. however frshgs eastern japan towards the north, showers will persist with this very slow-moving system bringing gusty winds as well. things clear up into saturday and commence the golden week holiday. good news there. across the continent things say nice and dry. to the north there's a olympic come low pressure from mongolia. this one will intensify, and so some heavy showers and it will be gusty, too. down towards the south we see

clearing and however things will intensify into saturday. parts of gadong province prps yourself for rain and it will be ongoing into the weekend, becoming quite widesead as well. as for indochina, we see spots of heavier rain here tooshgs, too. you can see the oranges extending into northern myanmar and bangkok at 39 degrees for the high on friday and, in fact many cities across thailand are posting temperatures exceeding the 40 degree mark. into north america, we have a storm out of the west. it's spilling into the southeast and bringing with it widespread rain, mountain snow as well as some severe weather. the wors of th storm today are going to be found here across the northern into the central plains. tornadoes not out of the question. you'll probably see large hail with that as well. now, out towards the northeast, things are still pretty fairly

wintry today. a mix of snow and rain for parts of new england, and you can see half a meter of fresh snow in eastern quebec as well. as that system pushes out, it will be drier and clearer behind. the lower temperatures remain. toronto, the high is 8 degrees on friday but your friday into saturday overnight comes down to about minus 4. back down below zero once again. having said that down towards the south, temperatures are widely above average. 27 in atlanta, 29 degrees in oklahoma city and 32 in houston, texas. okay. let's go to europe. western and northern locations here have been experiencing some very inclement weather this week, and unfortunately it isn't going to end. very strong winds here have even brought reports of tornadoes to the british isles, something very rare indeed. there's flooding associated with these systs, too, and it's not just the british isles but much of the western continent has

been affected. in parts of spain the gusts were so strong that pilots found it quite a task to land the planes. look at this video, you can see the plane is wobbling around in sustained winds of over 65 kilometers an hour and had to take off again and try to land the plane again. it must have been quite a ride for the passengers inside. there weren't any cancellations, but they were planes rerouted because of these very strong winds. unfortunately, it won't change muff into the weekend. we have yet another storm come in from the atlantic and that spread across the west to the north. however, central and eastern locations look absolutely splendid into the weekend. it looks like mid-summer here. dry skies and temperatures about 10 to 15 degrees above average. looking at the low to mid-20s across much of central and eastern continent, so do enjoy that if it's you. i'll leave you now with your

extended forecast.

that concludes this edition of "newsline." on behalf of our team, thank you for staying with us.