welcome to "newsline." it's friday, mar the man who presided over the roman catholic church and led its more than one billion followers now wants to be known simply as a pilgrim. pope benedict xvi has officially retired.

he said farewell and valued advice and having spent time with them. he also pledged to unconditionally obey his successor. the pope then left the vatican in a helicopter. if flew over st. peter's square where many catholics assembled. >> translator: i feel as though i lost a parent. i also feel a sense of -- >> a short time later, he arrived at the papal retreat in suburban rome. followers cheered when he appeared on the balcony to speak to them. >> translator: i tnkou all for your love and friendship. let us continue our journey with god with churches around the world. >> he will now be known as

emeritus. cardinals will meet early this month to decide a date for the conclave to elect his successor. he's the first pope to retire since 1415. officials have argued for decades over controlf four islands in the waters between them. abe pointed to a statement agreed upon in 2001 as a starting point for discussions. abe is making rane ining arrang meet with russian president. he could visit moscow as early as april. they came to tokyo to lay some of the ground work. last week former japanese prime minister mori paid a similar visit to moscow. abe commented on the disputed

he said heants to base discussions on a statement japanese and russian officials issued in 2001. the state reaffirmed a 1956 declaration that russia would return two of the islands in the two sides signed a peace treaty. russian and japanese leaders never signed. he will relay abe's message to russia's president. . >> translator: japan and russia should boost economic activity between the two islands. >> russian leaders were at one point prepared to invite japanese businesses to the islan islands. government officials in tokyo

remain cautious about the development offer. they say any project should be conducted in way tha will not violate janesew. companies from other cntries are trying to get a foothold on the islands. a south korean firm is working on a port project. americans plan to spend $60 million in the coming months. >> united states has decided that given the stakes, the president will now extend food and medical supplies to the opposition incding to the syrian oppositions supreme military council. >> kerry announced the decision at a conference in rome. they've been fighting for nearly two years to overthrow president

assad. delegates renewed their call for his resignation. they're dispiappointed some nations are ctinuing to supply the assad regime with weapons. bangladeshi judges have sentenced a top official to death for war crimes. protesters have reacted with violence leaving more than 30 people dead. he's vice president of the opposition party. he was found guilty of atrocities committed over 40 years ago. supporters of his party clashed with police. 31 people are reported dead, including three police officers. several hundred others have been wounded. bangladesh leaders set up a special tribunal to investigate the 1971 war of independence from pakistan. more than three million people were killed in the conflict.

critics say it was set up by the government to persecute opposition groups. tens and thousands have rallied. they are demanding severe punishment for the people on trial. the japanese prime minister has a motto. exit deflation. we have the fresh prices data. how does the prime minister feel? does he like numbers? >> he's probably not smiling at the numbers. >> japan is still battling deflection. the japan's consumer prices dropped in january marking a third officials at the internal affairs ministry say the price

index fell 0.2% from a year earlier. the index excludes fresh food prices which can change rapidly. the overall drop offsets a rise in energy charges such as for electricity and gasoline and largely attributed to falling prices of household appliances as well as air fares and overseas tours. ov over in the united states democrats and republicans have failedo find middle ground. the budget cuts around $85 billion are likely to kick in on friday. plans by both democrats and republicans for ways around the cuts were rejected on thursday at the senate. senate democratic leader harry reid criticized republicans. he said they are trying to protect the interest of the wealthy. >> want to close tax loopholes and ask millionaires to pay a little more. >> the president talks about closing loopholes but only as a solution to fund more government

spending >> republican house speaker john boehner reiterated his party's stance that they will not compromise unless the governments and democrats drop their call for tax hikes. the cuts will not immediately affect people's lives but they could weigh on airport, education and welfare. obama is set to continue talks on friday with top lawmakers but it looks extremely unlikely a solution will emerge. revised u.s. gross domestic product shows it was growing instead of shrinking. officials at the u.s. commerce department released updated figures on thursday. they show the country's economy grew at 1.4% compared to the previous three months. the first estimate suggested an

economic contraction of 0.1%. it was to be first contraction in three and a half years. the increase in corporate spending on planning equipment was revised from 8.4% to now government spending showed a contraction of 6.9% pushing down gdp. defense spending marked a shrinkage of 22 these fures indicat the government try to control the spending ahead of possible automatic budget cuts. let's get a check on stocks. it's a loss of one-fifth of a

percent from thursday's close. some investigators are taking profits from a rally in the previous session and others are seeking bargains. market players are taking a wait and see stance. that's because debates on automatic spending cuts continue in the countdown to the deadline. let's take a look at the currency market. the dollar is trading higher against the japanese currency. these traders are buying the dollar on more optimism for the u.s. whieconomy. the dollar against the yen is being quoted at 92.50 to 55. now the euro is lower against the yen. that's amid jitters above the debt situation in the euro zone. it's changing hands at 120.87 to 92. in other markets in the asia pacific australia's benchmark is

trading lower. the kospi is closed today for a holiday. i'll leave you with a quick look at others open at this hour. japanese manufacturers have been trying to adapt to a number of challenges.

the fluctuating yen and the slowdown. they've had to layoff employees by thousands. some older works are on the look out for new opportunities. >> reporter: for engineers laid off they are hoping to enjoy another company. one based in north eastern japan and now expanding into the osaka area. with so many workers now jobless the timing is perfect. one of the applicants is a man in his 50s who was at

he made it to the final round. >> translator: i was nervous. i worked at my last company for many years. this was my first job interview in a long time. i hope i can land a job here. >> reporter: japanese manufacturers have focused on developing high end products with high price tags. this business strategy is no longer viable in the face of global competition that undercuts their prices. this man was offered early retirement from his job at panasonic before retirement age. >> translator: it starts with a chat about how business is bad and we're making no profit.

i felt there was no work for me, so i left. >> reporter: some of his colleagues became salesman but he wanted to continue as an engineer so he had to leave panasonic. >> translator: it's been a worry for me. i want to keep on working as an engineer until i reach mandatory retirement age. >> reporter: the company he wants to join started out producing necessities. it began making home appliances four years ago focusing on products that undercuts its much bigger rivals. the company has already developed 130 thanks to its team of over 50 engineers. many of them were formally with

major manufacturers. >> translator: working here i decided everything about this project from start to finish. as an engineer it's good to be about to translate ideas into products. >> reporter: engineers will hopefully be there. >> translator: last november and december the major companies encouraged a large number of employees to take early retirement. we're moving fast to encourage the skilled workers to join us. two days after the interview the news comes in. the engineer has landed the job at the company. >> translator: i hope i can work

on many products that become popular. if consumers like them and recommend them to others that would make me even happier. the shake up in japan's manufacturer industry has led to many people losing their jobs but it's also bringing opportunities for smaller companies and a second chance for some lucky workers. a group of japanese researchers has applied for government approval to conduct the world's clinical trials of ips cells. the stem cells can develop into any type of body tissue. the scientists want to use the tissue to help people with damaged retinas see more clearly. a research group led by an institute plan to regenerate the skin cells of patients and

cultivate them into retinal tissue and transplant it in to six patients. >> translator: our goal is to develop new treatments for patients. the application is the first step towards the goal. it is significant that we're making progress in our medical techniques. >> kyoto university professor yamanaka developed human ips stem cells in 2007. he says he's gratified that it took the researchers only five years to reach this point. these will be the first osprey drills outside the country. >> translator: u.s. military

official told the japanese vernment that they will conduct low altitude training between march 6th and 8th. three of the osprey will fly to the air station on the main land. >> defense ministry said the usual flight altitude limits will be in effect 150 meters above the ground and 350 meters at night. muslims from western myanmar

have been denied citizenship from the government. increasing numbers include to flee by sea and ricty boats. those who survive face another danger ruthless human smugglers. >> reporter: it's getting faster. more than 7,500 boat people have reach reached thai waters in just six months. they were found at a plantation in southern thailand. human smugglers confined them for six weeks. >> they hit us with wood, punched and kicked us. we were divided into small groups by the smugglers. we were afraid of what would

happen to us. >> reporter: most hope to find production among its muslim majority. there's another threat. human smugglers catch them who want to go to malaysia and hide them in southern thailand. >> translator: after we were caught at sea smugglers carried us away in sacks and put us on a truck. they threatened us. they tried to force us to pay 2,000 so because we have no money they beat us. >> reporter: we travel to an island that's become a main smuggling group to malaysia. one night in january some 50 people were abandoned here. this is a cabin where they took shelter after survivoring a sea journey. they were hiding with no idea to go or what the future would

hold. they were confined without food or water. smugglers took what money they had and abandoned them. on the island we met a man who works inside a smuggling network. he said they have never been busier. >> translator: we know they can't live in myanmar anymore. if we promise to take them to malaysia they will pay large smuggling fees. if we don't like them we sometimes just throw them into the sea. >> reporter: the man give us details about the people operating the human smuggling network. >> translator:here are burmese and thais in the network. i'm also sure police are tied up

in it. without them smuggling would be impossible. >> reporter: involvement of officers have made headlines. they say it's untrue. >> translator: this kind of business can't be done by individuals acting alone. they do it as a network. an investigation by the police show our people were not involved. >> reporter: they flee violence. those who survive are confronted by another harsh reality. there's no safe place to go. >> translator: i left my family and i don't know what has happened to them. i want to know why our life is so hard. why do we have to struggle like this just to live. i don't know why. >> reporter: the u.n. refugee agency is urging them to protect them. with few countries willing or

able to act, these unwanted peopleill continue to set out to sea not knowing what fate awaits them. time now to get a check on the weather. people in tokyo are grabbing their lighter jackets today when they head out. >> people in japan are enjoying warmer weather. an expected high in tokyo is 17 degrees. the warmth is also affecting the northern japan. the warm weather maker is this low pressure system where we have a low pressure system moving across the sea of japan. most of the time temperatures are on the rise across much of japan and today is not an exception. as the system moves through dropping rainfall, conditions will go down. temperatures will go down and things will turn back to normal

and snow showers will return to the northwest. blizzard like conditions will happen on saturday across this location. behind it conditis will get drier across much of the korean peninsula by this afternoon. across the northern half of china it's staying dry. people there are suffering another problem. it's not welcomed. it could cause some rpitory visility.as well as low today people on the west coast of the korean peninsula will have to wear masks because the sand is expected to reach. usually the phenomenon will continue until may. temperatures across east asia on friday is looking like this. 7 degrees in beijing and cooling

down to 3 degrees in seoul. tokyo still on the warmer side. as i mentioned it will cool down on saturday. in the u.s. and america or canada, mostly calm but there are a couple of areas which are dealing with snowshowers. rst all, theew england states in south eastern canada lingering snow showers are affecting these locations. nova scotia would see the heaviest snow with up to 25 centimeters is likely. snow is increasing in the west coast across the mountain areas. an additional 75 centimeters is possible. the average is getting higher here. in losngeles 30 degrees.t. much hotter than mid-summer. temperatures starting to warm up in denver. 6 degrees but starting to cool

down. the overnighttime hours it will go down near freezing. that could kill some plants in left uncovered. in europe, heavy rain, snow showers and strong winds are still occurring across parts of the front. severe weather will happen across italy on saturday. two degrees in moscow. here is your extended forecast.