demand for small and fuel efficient cars is growing. that's not only in emerging markets but also in advanced countries. our model can meet the needs of the times. >> japanese automakers are all reinvesting in thailand which some have called the detroit of asia. the carmakers share the same plan to build a small vehicles there, then export them around the world. a japanese stem cell pioneer has won one of the world's most prestigious awards for technology. a committee in finla named yamanaka co-winner of the millennium technology prize. the prize is awarded every two years for innovations that improve the quality of human life. yamanaka discovered a method to produce what are called induced pluro potent stem cells from ordinary cell tissue. they have the potential to develop into any tissue or organ.

members of the selection committee call yamanaka the father of the innovation. they say his work has had a great impact on research in medicine and biotechnology. yamanaka said in a statement his mission is to cooperate with scientists around the tworld make ips cell technology available for medical treatment as soon as possible. yamanaka shares the prize with liones torvel, the engineer from finland who developed the open source software known as linux. 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. japan time here on "newsline." north korea has long received diplomatic cover from its closest ally china.

but leon panetta said officials in pyongyang may be getting more than that. the u.s. defense secretary says china may have provided north korea with mobile missile technology. >> i'm sure there's been some help coming from china. i don't know the exact extent of that. i think we'd have to deal with it in another context in terms of the sensitivity of that information. panetta said the potential threat from north korea would be increased if it had mobile capability for long-range ballistic mispims north korean military leaders put what appeared to be a long-range ballistic missile on public display for the first time last sunday at a parade in pyongyang. authorities say the vehicle that carried it is the same as a special purpose vehicle developed by a chinese company. the truck is also used as a launch pad. an online version of the magazine jane'sefense weekly says if the vehicle was chinese made, china may have violated u.n. sanctions.

foreign ministry spokesman said china strictly follows security council resolutions, and he said chinese leaders enforce tlus control exports of weapons of mass destruction. north korean officials say they are going to pursue their aerospace program despite their failure to put a satellite into space. analysts have spent the past week investigating why the rocket blew up. last friday, less than two minutes after takeoff. in a statement, north korea's committee of space technology doesn't mention why the launch failed.

instead, it criticizes the u.s., south korea and japan for violating what the north koreans call their right to use space for peaceful purposes. the united nations security council concluded the launch used ballistic missile technology and contra venned u.n. resolutions. u.n. secretary general ban ki-moon has urged them not to go ahead with a nuclear test and said they should focus on addressing humanitarian issues. >> i renew my call on dprk authorities to build confidence with neighboring countries and improve the lives of its people who face a series of food and nuneeds. >> ban warned north korean leaders against any further provocations, including launches using ballistic missile technology or nuclear tests. security analysts believe the north koreans may react to international criticism by conducting a nuclear test.

poverty, pollution and corruption. these are just some of the challenges facing china. up till now, the job of tackling issues like this has been left up to ngo groups. but they are finding it increasingly hard to keep their activities going. nhk world has more from beijing. >> reporter: by some estimates, there are several ngos in china. some are registered with the government. others are -- many of the grassroots ngos were set up by people on their own initiative to tackle social and environmental problems. most of them have been relying on donations from abroad. >> reporter: she works for an ng no beijing which supports

migrant workers. life is hard for the poorest migrants and their families. they are excluded from many of the benefits provided for local residents and their children even have to go to separate schools. gao has been providing counseling for families who are having difficulties. she makes regular visits to their homes. on this day, she's visiting a 14-year-old boy. he used to fight with his parents a lot and even stayed out all night away from home. gao has met with him repeatedly to encourage him to communicate with his parents more. gradually, the boy has opened up and things have improved between them. now he's keen to go to college just as his parents have been

hoping. >> thanks to gao and the others, i feel much more confident in myself. >> translator: i really appreciate the help of the ngo workers. >> reporter: the ngo that gao works for has been operating for over 20 years. it also provides telephone counseling services for victims of domestic violence. but recently, it has had to cut back on its activities due to a lack of funds. >> translator: the funds from abroad have stopped for a grassroots ngo like us, it's been a huge blow. >> reporter: until last year, a u.s. foundation had been giving the group $100,000 a year. now it's sending nothing. the ngo had to scale back some of its projects. it also tried to cut its costs such as by turning off lights

during the day. but that was not enough. the only things to do was to drastically cut the pay of full-time staff like gao. one expert says many grassroots ngos are now facing similar problems. he says china's strong economic growth is deterring donors from abroad. >> some big international organizations are pulling out the money from china because they think china's economy is so big, they maybe do not need our money, and maybe the local donors or companies can take their own responsibility for their own social problems. >> reporter: before she started working for this ngo, gao used to work for medical equipment company. her current salary is less than half what she earned before. she's now studying psychology at

an open graud school. she wants to do more to help children. but she can only continue in this job while her parents are supporting her financially. >> translator: helping people is very meaningful, but if i get married and have a child of my own, i don't think i can continue. >> reporter: there's growing concern that lack of funds will make it hard for the grassroots ngos to hire the talented staff they need to achieve their goal. improving the situation for the most vulnerable members of society. >> why are the grassroots ngos so dependent on funds from abroad? why can't they raise funds within china? >> well, government registered

ngos have a monopoly. more than 90% of donations go to either the government or to ngos with strong connections with the government. grassroots ngos on the other hand are not allowed to conduct fund-raising activities. >> the reason why many grassroots ngos are short of funds is because they do not have good coordination with the governme government. news reports say the chinese government is considering easing the energy regulations. but it remains to be seen if reforms actually take place and whether more money reaches grassroots ngos like the one gao works for. yuko? >> thank you very much, susumu kojima in beijing. in other news now --

shocking photographs have emerged that appear to show u.s. soldiers posing with the remains of dead insurgents in afghanistan. senior u.s. officials rushed to denounce the action of the soldiers and promise an investigation. nhk world sayed akbari reports. >> reporter: the los angeles times published the photographs in its wednesday edition. the papers say they were taken in 2010. senior officials tried to limit the damage. u.s. defense secretary leon panetta in brussels for nato meeting denounced the actions of the soldiers. >> i strongly condemned what we see in those photos, as has general allen. that behavior that was depicted in those photos absolutely violates both our regulations

and, more importantly, our core values. >> reporter: u.s. troops in afghanistan have to stop anti-american sentiment. they have been accused of burning copies of the koran and in one case killing 17 afghan villagers. in brussels, nato members decided wednesday to stick to the planned withdrawal of international troops by the end of 2014. >> let me stress that there is no change whatsoever. it is in the interest of the whole international community to see strong and highly capable afghan security forces take full responsibility for security by the end of 2014. >> reporter: that statement by the nato secretary general came

the same day that afghan defense ministries say the country will need at least $4.1 billion a year from international community to maintain security after foreign troops leave. nato is due to discuss long-term aid for afghanistan at a meeting in the united states next month. but many members of the alliance face financial difficulties of their own. for them, the afghan mission looks increasingly hard. said amir akbari, nhk world, kabul. afghan president hamid karzai is now calling for a faster transfer of security authority from nato-led international forces to afghanistan. he says only this will prevent a recurrence of what he calls painful experiences.

such as those revealed in the recently released photos. karzai has denounced the conduct of the u.s. soldiers describing it as inhumane and provocative. he says the only way to prevent such acts from being repeated by foreign forces in afghanistan is an accelerated and full transition of security responsibilities to afghan forces. newly released video purportedly shows taliban fighters just before they launch a series of coordinated attacks on kabul earlier this week. speaking to the camera, the militants say attackers are retaliation for recent attacks by -- acts by u.s. soldiers in afghanistan. >> they have burned our holy koran so we will take the revenge for those children and womens who they killed in kandahar. >> the taliban posted the video footage online along with

photographs of some 30 men who carried out the attacks. they are presumed to have died during the fighting. one man in the video warns there will be more attacks. he says many of his fellow militants will rise up to get revenge for the actions of the u.s. military. analysts say the taliban is trying to win support among the afghan people by stressing that they are retaliating against u.s. troops. a curator of an art musm in hiroshima has solved the mystery. a portrait by the acclaimed painter van gogh hangs on their walls. it's been restored twice, and that gave rise to the puzzle. nhk world has this story. >> reporter: here she sits, van gogh's "peasant woman" unaware of the mystery that surrounded

her. it dealt with the picture's appearance. the museum wanting to know if the restorations had changed the way the picture looks. so it contact contacted a profe kibe university. he and his researchers have experience examining artworks. at their lab in okayama prefect urgs they use x-ray technology that reveals the layers of paint without damaging them. the museum thought this technology might be the key to solving the mystery. what the researchers found looked promising. x-rays of the painting show many black spots. the white color is the paint applied as the base. the black marks on it gave shimoyama his first clue.

>> translator: a lot of the lead base was missing. i hadn't expected this much damage. >> reporter: the professor found the worst damage near the lips and nose. next, the group used a florescent x-ray microscope to measure the volume of iron, calcium and other compounds in the paint. the amount varies depending on the color. this enables the researchers to find out what the original shades were. they discover flecks of vermillion red paint near the lips. the team compares the two images of the damaged area. they note that red paint covers the base paint in the area that is not damaged. van gogh had to definitely use

the vermillion red paint around the woman's lips. shimoyama's team went on to identify the exact shading of all the original colors that van gogh had painted. this exhibit opened in late march at the museum in hiroshima. the museum is showing what the picture looked like when van gogh painted it. van gogh had used priter colors. not only on the woman's head covering, but also on the face and clothing. >> translator: i had no idea he used such bright colors. what a discovery. >> translator: now i look at other paintings with a new perspective. >> translator: it is very clear now that van gogh used bright colors for strong effect. he used blue as the basic color

and to complement it, he used orange on her face. i think our research was valuable. >> reporter: more than 120 years after van gogh painted "peasant woman," we see her exactly the way he did. wakako takada, nhk world, okayama. a cloudy day today in tokyo. let's go to sayaka mori for the world weather forecast. >> hi there. looking dry across the northern half of japan. but very wet across the west. heavy rain and thunderstorms are still continuing across the southern islands of japan. and additional 150 millimeters or more are possible in the next 24 hours here. as for western japan, much of the rain will move out to sea by tonight. however, a stronger system will move in. that's going to produce very heavy rain as well as thunderstorms in some locations.

and back behind it, turning wet and cool across the korean peninsula on saturday. that could be accompanied by thunderstorms and gusty winds. as for china, parts of the southeast coast are seeing a break in the rain at this moment, but heavy rain will be moving in. so it's going to be wet on your saturday again but finally, dry weather will return on your sunday. so that's good news. now moving over to the americas, a strong low pressure system is starting to move into british columbia and the pacific northwest spreading stormy conditions here but as the system pushes on to the east, it's going to dissipate quite quickly and then we have a larger system over the midsection of the u.s. producing a mixture of rain and snow across the lower great lakes region and a threat of severe weather from iowa all the way down to northern texas. tornadoes are not out of the question overnight. and as the system moves towards

the east, we're going to see snow in southern parts of ontario, quebec and a threat of the veer weather in southern texas and heavier showers across eastern mexico on your friday. meanwhile, the florida peninsula will continue to see thundershowers into the weekend. highs are expected to be 28 degrees in miami on your friday. reaching 23 in washington, d.c., but cooling down to 11 degrees in chicago. 14 degrees in toronto, which is about 4 degrees lower than what we saw on thursday. out towards the west, looking more summaery here. finally, let's go over to europe. messy picture again. several systems are still creating heavy thundshowers across the central mediterranean countries and heavy rain gusty winds and mountain snow in the western continent. and we have an area of rain over the british isles.

we are going to continue to see unsettled picture here over the weekend. and it could affect the london marathon coming up on saturday. so heavy rain is in the forecast. so conditions are a bit tough for the runners. in terms of temperatures, a couple of degrees lower than average with 12 degrees, so not too bad here. as for the highs for the rest of europe, getting up to 14 degrees in paris, 17 degrees in madrid and out towards the east, quite warm for this time of year reaching 18 in moscow, but looking more wintry in stockholm getting up to only 5 degrees on your friday. all right. that's it from me now. and here's your extended forecast.

our top story once again -- it appears the international monetary fund will likely achieve its target of getting fund contributions amounting to about $400 billion as countries coordinated their efforts to shore up its lending capacity. the group of 20 finance ministers and central bank governors just ended their first day of talks in washington. they discussed steps to contain the european debt crisis. measures will include boosting the lending capacity of the imf.

prior to the meeting, japan pledged $60 billion to the imf. other european nations also agreed to contribute. this means the funds base will increase by at least $320 billion. in the day's discussions, countries including australia agreed to cooperate in the cause of the proceedings. japanese finance minister told reporters that the first day of the meeting was fruitful. >> translator: i think the target of $400 billion is achievable. i hope this could give a great sense of relief and stability to the global economy. >> the g-20 members also discussed issues facing the global economy, including surging crude oil prices. the finance chief is scheduled to issue a joint statement on friday. and that's all for now on this edition of "newsline." i'm yuko aotani in tokyo. thanks very much for joining us.