a twist in athens. thereek president suggests anotr waout of a pitic ma. the president of greece is trying to make a last stand. the country is hurdling toward new elections, and possibly even an exit from the eurozone. so ka roh close papoulias has

proposed a government of technocrats from the private sector sector. papoulias made the proposal when he melt with the two former leaders of a ruling party and minor party. another party to the extreme right already rejected the idea. still the others agreed to speak again later in the day. evangelos venizelos served in the last government. >> translator: the negotiations aren't easy but i want to fulfill my responsibilities. >> members of the radical left coalition repeated they would not join any government that promotes austerity measures. they urged greek politicians to form a stable government that can push through the spending cuts soon. eu leaders say the measures are a prerequisite for receiving new bailout funds. still many in greece and else where are increasingly uncertain

about what will happen with the belt-tightening program. investors, too, have shared their concerns for weeks now. ai uchida from the business desk gives us the latest market moves. >> most major markets around the world fell yesterday and u.s. and european shares no exception. share prices went tumbling overnight on u.s. and europe markets due to worsening concerns over europe's cret problems. [ bell ringing ] in new york the dow jones industrial average dipped nearly 160 points at one stage. the key index finished the day at 12,695 down 125 points or just below 1% from last week's close. over in europe stock prices dropped even more sharply. frankfurt was down nearly 2% italy and spain, 2.7% each greece saw a fall of 4.6% meanwhile, over in the bond

market, investors unloaded the sovereign debts of fiscally strained countries, yields for ten-year government bonds briefly rose to the 6.3% level in spain and to 5.7% in italy. so how are overnight moves affecting japanese shares this morning? we go to ramin mellegard who is at the tokyo stock exchange for more. ramin, markets remain super jittery. what should investors here be focusing on? >> good morning to you ai. you mentioned some key factors there, of cosearkets really weigd down by events in europe, as well as continuing concerns about the huge loss at morgan chase, which is weighing down on banks and brokerages as well. yesterday the nikkei closed higher but below the key 9,000 level. opening levels for this tuesday just to get a sense of direction for the markets here and you can see again, we are continuing the overall trend lower, 8,894 for the nikkei 748 for the

topix. also moody's investor service downgraded 26 italian banks. i know you'll have more details on that later on. of course, we will be keeping track of banks and brokerages. that sector was way down yesterday on the continuing concerns about jpmorgan chase's $2 billion investment loss. another factor here in japan, ai we'll have earnings for the three mega banks here mitsubishi sumitomo and mizuho financial group so that will be a major foc for t banks. regardinof what's going on with jpmorgan chase. the euro on the back foot on continuing concerns about europe and bank and bond yields. let's look at the foreign currency levels the dollar/yen 79.85-90, and look at euro/yen

now trading at 102 levels mid 102 levels just a couple of weeks ago that was trading around 105, so you can see there, the yen gaining quite a little bit against the dollar and the euro and euro falling to its lowest level in three months again, consistent concerns about greece's elections, and that may be destabilizing the common currency. ai? >> i was going to say, you haven't seen 102 for the euro/yen in a while. global concerns about europe as well as the focus on earnings in tokyo, i understand the u.s. still has some key data to focus on. >> exactly, focus on fundamentals, they're going to come out with retail sales later today and als some inflation data consumer price index and really economists want to see whether this hot and cold data out of the u.s. in other words some strong data earlier in the year, weak data recently, how is that going to really portray the world's biggest economy.

also french president holland will be going to berlin later today, meeting with germany's chancellor merkel and that will be a key focus to see how they can clarify the banking situation in europe and how that will affect mkets but for now backo you. >> ran, thanks a lot for that update. that was of course ramin mellegard from the tokyo stock exchange. as he mentioned, u.s. credit rating agency moody's has downgraded its major ratings of its debt ratings rather of major italian banks by as much as four notches. moody's on monday lowered debt ratings of 26 banks, including unicredit, italy's largest bank lost one notch going from a2 to a3. the agency attributed the downgrade to an increase in bad loans after italy's economy fell into recession. another factor is that italian banks still have difficulty collecting funds.

the moody's move comes after another major agency standard & poor's lowered its assessment of 34 italian banks in february. okay tokyo stock markets still down the nikkei trading below 8,900. i'll leave with you a recap of the latest market figures. the european union impoetzed fresh sanctions on syria as the presidt ofasha al assad coinues its violent crackdown.

the eu again called for damascus to immediately comply with the u.n. cease-fire plan. the eu foreign ministers agreed to freeze the assets of three entities and vitds supporting the authorities. the individuals will also be hit with a travel ban. the eu has now frozen the assets of 128 people and 43 entities in syria, including the country's central bank and president assad. the syrian goverent has agreed to a cease-fire plan drafted by former u.n. secretary-general kofi annan, but the violence continues, with more than 50 people killed last week in a bomb attack in the capital damascus damascus. convoy of u.n. cease-fire observers narrowly avoided a roadside bomb earlier this > people in okinawa are looking back and forward. residents of japan's southernmost prefecture are observing a milestone, it's been 40 years since it was returned

to japan from u.s. rule. a lot has changed in okinawa in the past 40 years, but people in the prefecture hope this year will bring even more change. they want economic development and a settlement of issues surrounding u.s. bases in the prefecture to be settled. a worker in okinawa can only expect to earn about 73% of the average income in japan despite about $125 billion in public investment by the central government since the prefecture was returned to japan. another outstanding issue is the u.s. military presence. more than 70% of u.s. military facilities in japan are located in okinawa. the national government has been trying to relocate the u.s. marine corps futenma air station to nago city on the coast. negotiators from the u.s. and japan agreed to the move in 1996. now okinawa government leaders want the base out of the prefecture.

an nhk survey shows 71% of okinawa residents think people elsewhere in japan lack understanding for their plight. the figure hasncreased by 10 percentage pnts from ather surv tenearsgo. japanese government leaders say they intend to provide more stimulus to okinawa throughout this year. for many islanders, the return of okinawa offered the promise of peace. but many say it marked the beginning of more hardship. former governor ota led the drive in the 1990s to get the bases out of okinawa. nhk world's tomoko kanada spoke with him about his disappointments and his hopes. >> reporter: now 86 years old, ota served as the okinawa governor from 1990 to 1998. after surviving the war, he devoted himself to studies at universities in okinawa, tokyo, and the united states, to try

and understand why his islands had to make such a great sacrifice. during his tenure as governor, the okinawan people's anti-u.s. sentiment exploded after the rape of a teenage girl by three u.s. marine soldiers. in 1996, after a series of negotiations with the pentagon and tokyo, ota won a concession. the u.s. agreed to withdraw from bases from okinawa, including the notorious futenma marine air station. however, after the governor retired from the politics, the base issue became deadlocked over where to relocate it. >> people question so strongly that that the okinawa military bases should be cut down

similar amount to the mainland japan. but this was not done. now there's great disappointment and anger toward the central government. local people here feel they are betrayed by the current central government after 40 years of reversion. >> reporter: anything ha changed about the issue of the bases? >> nothing has changed at all, even worse. >> reporter: ohta survived the battle of okinawa as a child soldier. he says the sacrifice of a third of the islanders made him determined to eliminate military bases from his homeland. >> i'm afraid unless the people understand the terrible experiences of local people during the battle of okinawa, they cannot understand why local people are strongly opposed to the u.s. military bases.

we believe that local people will be protected by the japanese defense forces, but we were wrong, because japanese defense forces soldiers killed the local people, you know. they ordered mothers to kill the child, simply keep quiet, you know so that they would find out by the enemy forces, you know. so we saw such terrible things which we never dreamed of even. so we're very much disappointed. and we learned the big lesson that the military does not protect the civilians. when the war occurs, you know. >> reporter: ohta is frustrated by the indifference of the majority of japanese

towards the u.s. military presence, which could lead to the permanent establishnt of bases in okinawa. >> japanese central government always say that the u.s. -- security is so important. it's national interest of japan. and in order to maintain the peace and security of the asia-pacific regions, u.s. military bases on okinawa are indispensable. however, even though they insist that the u.s./japan treaty is so important, in its national interest, the rest of mainland japan does not want to bring in the military bases into their own backyard, you know. >> reporter: what do you think about that? >> this is nonsense for us, because if it's national

interest, you know, they should share the burden and also the obligation under the name of democracy. you know, democracy, majority rules, you know. so the ma minority loss and the problem will not be solved unless those majority pay attention or take okinawa programs, their own programs. >> reporter: ohta says an increase in the number of young islanders who can clearly say no to what they see as an unfair burden could achieve an okinawa without bases. >> we watch the college situation among the local youngsters. voices of okinawa should be independent, if the central government tries okinawan people as they used to will you do there any longer the central

government has to listen to the minority groups people like okinawan people, you know. this is -- i have the hope that they will change. now to other stories we're following here on "newsline." afghan security forces are taking the lead in more and more parts of their country. the government will be responsible for 17% of afghans by the end of the year. residents say they've seen few signs of stability. nhk world reports from kabul. >> translator: anti-afghanistan groups will continue to pose a threat but we will keep our pee-budingffor. >> reporter: afghanistan on sunday announced a plan to

transfer security responsibility from nato-led forces to afghan troops. the first and second stages are already in place and give afghanistan control of its provinces in some other areas. in total, covering about half the country's population. it will see that expanded to another three provinces as well as all 34 provincial capitals. the afghan government has been ramping up calls for swift handover of security control, following recent scandals involving u.s. troops that have pure anti-u.s. sentiment including the burning of copies of the koran.

support for a quick withdrawal of nato-led forces is also growing in western nations. the number of foreign troops killed in a decade-long war has reached 3,000. nato is scheduled to hold a summit in the u.s. city of chicago next week. the latest announcement of the transfer plan is seen as an attempt by nato and the afghan government to show that their efforts towards a troop pullout are going smoothly but continued attacks by the taliban insurgents, observers have voiced concern about the ability of afghanistan military and police to maintain security. said amir akbari, nhk world, kabul. donors have pumped billions into another country that relies on countries from abroad. economic laos has lagged behind vietnam and thailand. an initiative from japan offers

an example of how that could work nhk world's akihiko akihiko ishihara has the story. >> reporter: in saravan province, southern laos a japanese pharmaceutical company has been running this farm for two years. this is one of the medical tree, cinnamon. it is used as a medicine for cough or an ache of throat. the farm is used to grow medicinal herbs used in kampo, a traditional medicine that originates in china. dozens of types of herbs grow over 200 hectares of land. the company chose laos because of its climate and the quality of its land. strict rules about the use of pesticides have kept the farm relatively free from contamination. >> translator: we tested many

countries, but laos performed best. it's also relatively easy to acquire land here. >> reporter: sao works on the farm with 200 other workers. he started out as a day laborer, but he worked hard and earned himself a full time job. now he's in charge of training other employees. >> translator: i enjoy the work. i teach many people, and they're all eager to learn. >> reporter: the company has plans to expand its land five-fold. it also wants to hire more than 1,000 workers, but there is a problem. laos is littered with unexploded bombs from the vietnam war.

last year, they killed more than 90 people. getting rid of them is expensive. few foreign companies are willing to shoulder the cost. in this case, the pharmaceutical company was able to turn to the japanese government for assistance. the japanese government hopes that partnering will help streamline the delivery of japanese assistance to laos. the government assessed the project and they decided that the farm had good prospects for creating jobs and supporting local development. it pledged about $1 million worth to prepareor clearing the farm. >> transtor:he gernment of laos doesn't regard our oda as sufficient enough for development of the local economy.

they think it depends on how much we can promote local employment or technology transfer. for these areas, japanese companies can contribute more. >> reporter: the oda plans helped reduce the investment risk for the farm. local people are now hopeful the expansion will go ahead. >> translator: the farm is contributing to the economic development of the area. i hope that by helping each other the village will become prosperous. >> this combination of public and private investment is helping improve the lives of people living in a small village in laos. it could also serve as the model for other developing countries. akihiko ishihara, nhk world, saravan.

all right, let's go straight to rachel ferguson now who is standing by with the world weather forecast. >> good morning, catherine. >> i noticed you had your rubber boots on this morning. >> i did. i saw you with your umbrella as well. japan, it is a wet day for much of the country. unfortunately, we'll see almost as much as 120 millimeters in some places. central japan is going to get the worst of it. we have this frontal and low coming across toward the country enveloping most of it in this pretty unstable weather. strong gusts, some thunderstorms embedded in that as well. should be clearing up as we head on into wednesday. meanwhile, the korean peninsula is looking quite dry. you still see a few popup thunderstorms across the peninsula as well. things also starting to clear out here in southeastern china. however, just along the edge of the country here down toward the southeast coast, you will still see some pretty significant rainfall.

fujan, you could see maybe 50, 100 millimeters in some places. which is certainly going to be very unwelcome rain falling on already saturated land. another place that has a high risk of flooding and landslides is going to be eastern indochina. we're seeing sustained heavy rain. it's starting to shift further toward the west as well. temperature-wise, another scorching day in bangkok. 38 degrees. 34 in manila. 30 in taipei as well as in hong kong. a little bit cooler in tokyo, just 19 degrees, under the influence of that rain coming through. but wednesday we'll be sunny and jumping up to 27 degrees. so a hot day. alright. let's head into north americ out west, right across much of the north of the u.s. and canada, things are looking fairly clear and calm. there is more severe weather, though, today. and it hasn't changed much in terms of position from yesterday. it's going to be new mexico through texas and down into northern northeastern mexico. potential for hail, damaging winds, and also for tornadoes.

we're getting a lot of humidity coming up from the gulf of mexico here. that's also helping to produce lots of showers across the atlantic coast from miami, excuse me, florida, i shou say, to the northeast, and the heavy rain is going to be pushing into new england today. another wet day also for the upper midwest. we're going to see a system coming in here. you can see it dashing through ontario there. it's going to be producing some severe thunderstorms today partly because of the heat that is reaching all the way up to the upper midwest. 27 degrees in chicago. we're looking at 28 in oklahoma city. as for you in seattle, above average. another warm day at 23. and keeping the heat down in the desert southwest. phoenix, 41 degrees for you. you can see these oranges here in parts of western mexico. southern californi southern arizona and down the baja peninsula. keep care in the extreme heat. in europe, we're also seeing some really hot temperatures. down in parts of southern portugal as well as spain. temperatures are just soaring

here. we'll show you all of those figures in just a second. up toward the north, norway as well as the british isles still under the influence of this large storm system. going to be quite unsettled through much of the british isles. particularly england and wales. maybe potential for gusts and hail. mountain snow for norway. winds getting up to 79 kilometers an hour. out toward the southeast, we have the low moving across the balkan peninsula. that will be spreading to the black sea region. thunderstorms. let's talk about those temperatures. 30 degrees in lisbon. that will be moving up to 34 as we head on into wednesday. i'll leave you now with your extended forecast.

and that's all for this edition of "newsline." i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. do join us again.