tug of war. negotiators from six world powers try to pull concessions from their iranian counterparts er tehran's nuclear program. western negotiators have left meetings in baghdad with little more than an agreement to meet again. the delegates are trying to get iranian officials to open up about what they are doing with

their nuclear program. they agreed on one thing. they'll meet again in moscow next month. the latest round of negotiations ended in baghdad a day later than scheduled. western negotiators demanded that iranian scientists stop enriching uranium to 20%. beyond that point, scientists can quickly concentrate the material to weapons grade. >> it's clear that we both want to make progress and that there is some common ground. however, significant differences s s remain. >> iranian delegates demanded u.s. and european officials lift some economic sanctions. >> translator: iran has the right to enrich uranium and generate nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. >> negotiators are trying to find a way t reduce tensions in the persian gulf. but they remain far apart on several key issues including

the inspections of some facilities. tokyo stock investors don't know what positions to take thp pethe strong yen and urn certainty in europe are keeping them on the sidelines. the nikkei has just opened this friday. ai uchida joins us now. >> to add to the lack of direction, overnight in new york stocks ended in a mixed picture. the dow jones average turned higher in late trading while some losses in high-tech issues held the nasdaq lower. so let's see how stocks are trading here in tokyo this friday morning. for that we're going to go to ramin mellegard. good morning to you. happy friday. there some are mixed signals from europe as well as the u.s. how are tokyo stocks starting off this morning? >> very good morning, ai. yes, indeed. confusing signals all around really, and from the eu officials saying that they want greece to stay in the eurozone. but then also not agreeing to certain measures for instance common eurozone bonds. also in the -- in other areas,

for instce withhe earnings we had dell earlier in the week coming out with disappointing earnings results. and that pushed the tech sector lower and later in the week hewlett-packard coming out and making aggressive cost-cutting measures. but then that actually pushed the high tech sector higher. also in the u.s. durable goods orders yesterday which rose for may and jobless claims also fell. so we have fundamental data earnings and events in europe all mixed signals. let's see how the actual nikkei and topix are kicking off this friday. and we'll get anoth pture here. actually, a little baste positive start here. we'll see if we can maintain that. let's not forget the nikkei ended on a bit of a positive note yesterday as well but had traded lower throughout the session. and the big concern for japanese markets has been the stronger yen in recent weeks. and the lack of any action by the bank of japan after its too-day bank of japan policy meeting earlier this week to take any aggressive measures to

bolster the economy. we should also focus on commodities. we did see a little bit of a rebound for gold and oil after the declines we've seen in recent days. so we'll keep track of that. and also the market will be closely watching any china related shares as well and the construction machinery sector. but let's have a look at how the yen is trading this friday morning here in tokyo. 79.65 to 67. so again, still under that 80 yen level for the dollar/yen and euro/yen under the 100 yen levels. now at 99.87-89. so the yen really remaining stronger there, which again is essuring exporters. ai? >> ramin, monday is a public holiday over in the states. but what is expected next week? >> quite a lot of key data. the big one next week is going to be the jobs numbers for the u.s., next friday. of course with monday off. but before we get to that we're also going to have consumer

confidence numbers and ism manufacturing data and also revised gdp. so quite a lot on the fundamental side for investors to take in. but, of course a lot of focus will be on any developments in europe among eu leaders aut greece and the real possibility here that greece could be exiting and the full impact for global markets. we'll watch after that. back to you. >> thanks a lot for that update, ramin. nikkei and topix up 0.4% so far this morning. this piece of economic data may be one of the reasons behind the rise in stocks today. consumer prices in japan slightly rose in april marking the third straight month of increases. the internal affairs ministry said the consumer price index for the month was up 0.2% from the same month last year. the index posted the third consecutive month of rises. that was because crude oil prices continue to hover at a high level.

but the pace is falling short of bank of japan's goal of a 1% rise in consumer prices. sharp and taiwan's honhai precision industry are to boost their ties. the japanese electronics maker plans to help them make liquid crystal panels in mainland china. sharp is to supply its manufacturing expertise to the lcd plant. the site will produce small lcd panels for smart phones. back in march, sharp agreed with honhai to enter a capital tie-up. sharp is receiving funds to turn around its struggling television business. on thursday, sharp decided to end its production partnership with sony at an lcd plant in western japan. instead, sharp will now run the site jointly with honhai. > thas tates from me this hour. i'll leave you with a look at the market figures.

egyptian voters have cast their ballots in the first free election, that's a presidential election in their history. 13 candidates are running. the rivalry between islamists and officials from the former regime has split the nation. voters went to the polls more than a year after protesters forced hosni mubarak to step down after 30 years in power. members of the electoral commission say the voting was

ir and without major confuser. front-runners cloud muhammad morsi and abdel moneimaboul moneimaboul moneimaboul moneimaboul fotouh. islamist parties captured more than 75% of the seats in parliamentary elections in january. other strong contenders of ahmed shafiq and amr moussa a former foreign minister and arab league secretary general. voters expect to hear the results by next tuesday. none of the candidates is likely to win a jority. the candidates who finish fir and second will then face a run-off next month. many voters consider security and the economy when they made their choices. but many female voters care more about equality. they won freedoms in recent years and they believe a victory by an islamist candidate would put those freedoms in jeopardy. nhk world's tomoko yamaguchi reports from cairo.

>> reporter: support is growing for the muslim brotherhood. the group's leader muhammad morsi, is leading the presidential race. during campaigning, he advocated building a nation based on islam and repeatedly made remarks about restricting women's right s s. his remarks posted on the internet are also proving controversial. >> reporter: empowerment. islamist lawmakers are submitting bills about women. including one that would limit the rights. the secular policies adopted by

the administration helped women to participate in society. egyptian women are now feeling a sense of crisis. and fear that an islamist president may sharply restrict their rights. a tv anchor and pro-democracy activist ran in the presidential election on a platform calling for a promotion of women's rights. she drew attention as the only female candidate. but she pulled out of the race after an islamist group threatened here and disrupted her campaign. she fears that resurrection against women in egypt have been getting stricter by the days since mubarak's fall. >> translator: islamic

fundamentalists want to send women back to square one. women in egypt are not even second class citizens. but third or fourth class citizens. >> reporter: kamel isn't the only one who feels a sense of crisis. melba is a pioneering woman diplomat who has served in a variety of countries. at home she promotes the elevation of status of egyptian women. >> those who have the power in their hand in the parliament are not concerned with women and they are calling for a reverse action. >> reporter: last weekend, just before the election she brought together women's groups from acrosshe count in a mting to ask the presidential candidates about their policies.

five candidates spoke of their views on the status of women at the meeting. but now some islamist groups. >> translator: i understand that women are concerned about curbs on their rights. >> where we are now, it's very crucial. and that's why we are concentrating on the election. >> reporter: they showed up at the polling station on election day. she voted for a liberal candidate who places importance on women's rights. >> translator: the revolution is not yet over. it's continuing. the people have to keep an eye on whoever the next president is.

>> reporter: the arab spring has yet to aive for women. the women of egypt are casting ballots in hopes of a better future. tomoko yamaguchi, nhk world cairo. 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 successes on "the road ahead" every wednesday at 1:00 p.m. jap time here on "newsline." a u.n. agency says the deaths of six workers at the crippled fukushima daiichi nuclear plant were not linked to radiation. the u.n. scientific committee on the effects of atomic radiation released a preliminary report at its headquarters in vienna on thursday. its study began last may based on data provided by the japanese government.

>> we don't have any indication that their death was related to radioactivity and exposure. >> on the other hand, the committee confirmed that eight of the roughly 20,000 workers who had been involved in operations at the plant until late january were exposed to more than 100 millisieverts of radiation. anyone with that dose is said to have an increased risk of cancer. the researchers plan to compile a final report and submit it to the u.n. by the end of next year. police who work in northeast japan have had a host of new challenges to deal with over the past year officials at the national police agency say many of them are suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. researchers surveyed more than 10,000 officers and other workers based in the region. more than 4% of respondents reported stimptoms associated with ptsd. some said they have trouble sleeping.

others said they get irritated over small matters. 7% of officers working near the fukushima daiichi nuclear plant reported symptoms. but doctors have not diagnosed any officer in the region with ptsd. officials at the police agency plan to study the issue further and write a manual to address the problem. more than 72,000 people have left the three northeastern prefectures in japan's disaster zone. since last year's earthquake and tsunami. many evacuees come from fukushima where the damaged nuclear plant is located. but when they get to their new location, many come up against new problems. and as nhk world yuko fukuyama reports, they have no one to turn to. >> reporter: this woman left fukushima for tokyo two months after the nuclear accident. she often speaks about her experience so others know what evacuees go through.

here she addresses university students. >> reporter: i felt there were no guarantees for my daughter's health and life if i remained in fukushima. >> reporter: before the accident, rika lived in miharu a town famous for its beautiful cherry trees. the community is some 50 kilometers away from the nuclear plant. the government did not designate it as an evacuation zone. just the same many residents left. after the accident rika and her family took great care to avoid radiation exposure. they wore masks and stayed indoors as much as possible. but rika worried that radiation might affect her 7-year-old daughter so she decided to flee to tokyo. >> i found that getting away from fukushima wasn't the end of

my problems. my new life in tokyo is full of them, and i find it very stressful and difficult. >> reporter: rika lives in an apartment provided by the tokyo government. but at the end of next march, she will have to leave. her husband still lives in miharu because he cannot leave his job. he also has to take care of his elderly parents who cannot move out of the hometown they love. rika used to grow and sell organic vegetables in miharu. the accident took away her source of income. now she's digging into her savings. >> translator: now i really understand what it's like to live hand to mouth. i have no goal or dream, and i don't know what i want to do with my life.

>> reporter: some 60,000 people are said to have evacuated from fukushima after the accident. but they have few links to each other. rika is trying to do something about that. over the internet she is reaching out to other mothers who evacuated from fukushima. here thanks to rika ten women were able to get together. many moved away from fukushima with only their children leaving other family members behind. rika hoped a meeting would encourage the mothers to discuss feelings they usually keep to themselves. like problems related to the children and financial difficulties. >> reporter: it >> translator: it was such a hard year. i felt like dying.

i still feel that way. >> translator: i'd be worried about my children's health for the rest of my life. if they got sick i would worry it was because of radiation. >> reporter: rika hopes she can hold a gathering like this once a month. eventually, she wants to set up a network where evacuees isolated after leaving their hometowns can help each other. >> translator: i am really grateful for this place where people listen to me and offer me support. >> translator: i want to move ahead step by step so i can make people who gather here happy and solve some of their problems. i want to continue activities for long time. >> reporter: more than one year has passed since the disaster but there is no telling when the evacuees can go back home. the mothers from fukushima continue looking for ways to

pull through these trying times. yuko puckfukuyama, nhk world. japanese researchers are exploring how to satisfy the country's appetite for energy. now they are turning to an alternative source wave power. japanese government officials plan to set up test sites as early as 2014 to experiment with marine power generation. this form of renewable energy harnesses the push and pull of ocean waves and tides to drive generators. researchers in other nations have been leading developments in the field. japanese officials want to see how it will help them. members of a government task force are expected to approve the test sites later in the day. they'll need to assess the impact of marine power generation on the environment and they'll have to address some rights issues with fishery unions. japan has the world's sixth longest coast line. researchers at a national institute estimate that marine technology could produce the

same amount of electricity as ten nuclear plants. some other japanese researchers have taken on an ambitious project. they used data obtained from the annular solar eclipse this past monday. they succeeded in accurately calculating the diameter of the sun. the sun, moon and earth lined up during the eclipse. a celestial rarity. instead of obscuring the sun, the eclipse creates a ring around the moon called an annulis. they also observed bailey's beads. the effect happens when the rough lunar surface either blocks or lets sunlight shine through. researchers at the national astronom call observatory of japan gathered data from observers across the country. the team compared the readings with others sent from the lunar probe to determine which valleys on the moon created the beads. they can also gauge the position of the edge of the sun. they calculated that the

diameter of the sun is 1,392,020 kilometers. >> translator: i am proud of japanese scientific development and we would like to thank members of the public for all their help. >> they are expected to re-examine their data and formally announce their results this fall. stormy conditions are approaching the coast of mexico. let's go to ya mori for the world weather forecast. >> that's right, catherine. the southwest coast of mexico is bracing itself for the arrival of hurricane. you can see clear -- we can see the clear eye here indicating the storm is quite powerful. right now a category 2 system packing sustained winds of 175 kilometers per hour with much higher gusts. it will likely become a major hurricane withiny in next 12 hours and make landfall on the southwest coast of mexico by

late friday local time. itil move inland and make a u-turn and get out of the coast. very strong winds are going to impact the coast starting tonight and rainfall total could be 100 to 150 millimeters and locally 250 millimeters. so flooding and landslides are highly concern here. again it could make landfall on the southwest coast of mexico by late friday local time. we will keep you posted on its progress. meanwhile, innd around the midwestern states this is where we've seen lots of active weather. severe weather and flooding rain will continue in the southwestern corner of ontario down towards kansas. over the next 24 hours, the system will weaken and move towards the east and affect quebec and the eastern great lakes region. but behind it things are looking more wintry in the northern rockies, up to 40

centimeters of snow is on the cards in the higher elevations. but to the south, red flag warnings are still in place in the great basin and the four corners region. temperaturewise, 32 degrees in houston and 33 in oklahoma city. the heat is extending all the way up towards the north. 27 in chicago. and 30 degrees in toronto. the eastern seaboard is also looking a hot day. 30 degrees in d.c. and 31 in atlanta. now let's go to east asia. a seasonal rain band is stretching from southern china through the southern tip of the korean peninsula into western japan. precipitation are quite right in the eastern section, but southern cna will continue to deal with thunderstorms, gusty winds and hail in some locations. up to 100 millimeters of rain is still in the cards over the next 24 hours. lots of floods and landslides have been reports. so any additional rain is not good news. and then we have a strong low

over northern vietnam producing torrential rain. out towards the east we can see this pink showing up. this is sanvu. it has been upgraded to a severe tropical storm. continues to work its way toward thogasawa island. it could produce stormy conditions on the island starting tomorrow. so we'll keep you updated on the situation. and it looks like it will move towards the northeast so no major -- no direct impact on mainland japan is in the forecast. just rough sea conditions along the pacific coast. as for the high 23 degrees in tokyo. we could be seeing some light showers this afternoon. 27 in seoul. and 21 in chongqing with showers and 35 degrees in bangkok with thundershowers. all right. that's it for me now. and here is your extend forecast.

our lead story this hour --

negotiators from six western nations and iran are locked in a stalemate over the iranian nuclear program. they've agreed to meet again in miss cow next month. the leaders round of negotiations ended in baghdad a day later than scheduled. western negotiators demanded that iranian scientists stop enriching uranium to 20%. beyond that point, scientists can quickly concentrate the material to weapons grade. >> it's cle that we both want to make progress and that there is some common ground. however, significant differences remain. >> iranian delegates demanded that u.s. and european officials lift some economic sanctions. >> translator: iran has the right to enrich uranium and generate nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. >> negotiators are trying to find a way to reduce tensions in the persian gulf.

but th are divided over verakey issues. and that's all for this edition of "newsline." i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. thanks for joining us.