welcome back to "newsline." the bank of japan just ended its policy board meeting on friday and decided to take additional monetary easing step. it the this is the second time since february the central bank decided to increase fund glows to the financial market. the bank's policymakers think it's needed. this is the breaking news and we'll have more details at the top of the next hour. now chinese politicians and his family are facing more and more allegations of wrongdoing. now there's a new charge, wiretapping. "the new york times" reports that aides to him including president hu jintao. the paper quotes party insiders

as saying he set up a large scale wiretapping operating several years ago. they said he monitored a firm last august by president hu. the times says communist party leaders viewed the wiretapping as a direct challenge. it was among several reasons he was removed from his senior post. the paper the quotes party insiders as saying the wiretapping revealed just how far he was prepared to go to moouch up the ranks. . >> a power struggle, intrigue, even murder. beijing is cloaked in a political scandal, the worst in years. at its center is the former party chief and rising star in the chinese communist parties. he was a strong contender to join the top ranks the leadership, but his sudden fall from grace is causing ripples in outside and the country.

much is shrouded in mystery, but it all started in february when his right hand man and former police chief turned up at a u.s. consulate reportedly seeking asylum. in march the communist party removed him from his post as the top party official of chung ching. another demotion followed in april. they suspended him from the bureau for serious discipline violations. then came the criminal twist. state media reported that his wife was suspected of murdering a british businessman. >> translator: it has been learned that neil hayward was murdered. his wife and his household aide have been detained as suspects in the murder. >> few other facts are known,

but his downfall is seen as evidence of a power struggle at the top. the party is preparing for a change in leadership this autumn. deep rifts as a result of scandal would have national, possibly global repercussions. >> the scandal is generating intense speculation. here to help us sort through the fog of scandal joining us from beijing. there is to much mystery. how are chinese people reacting to the scandal? >> nhk has visited his former province. the city seems little changed, at least on the surface. it has caused shock and confusion. here's the reaction of one man. >> translator: i don't know what's going on, but citizens have a favorable view of bo

because he made the city safe and led its development. >> reporter: as he mentioned, people want to know more. the main problem is the lack of information. media reports are being heavily sense censored. it's more obvious on the internet. so that's shows how sensitive this case is for chinese authorities. >> sigh. he seems to be in an astute and popular politicians. what is he accused of? >> the communist party says he was involved in a number of serious discipline violations, but it's not clear what exactly those violations are. his wife is being investigated for murder. now, the media is reported that bo is suspected of involvement in the same case.

there are also allegations of amassing a fortune. >> many analysts have talked about his policy of promoting nostalgia. was that a factor in his downfall? >> well, it's possible. there's growing frustration among ordinary chinese about widening the gap. he pushed for construction of low income housing and launched a campaign to revive the revolutionary spirit in the name of a more equal society. he called on the citizens to sing song, for example. this made some party leaders in beijing nervous. they feared he was trying to modernize the public for his own rise to power. in a rare move premier jintao attacked him in a news conference without mentioning him by name. >> translator: the city party

committee and the city government is must reflect sincerely and learn from recent incidents. >> a day later he was removed from his post. it is thought that the top leaders agreed to dismiss him. >> how does it unfold from here, then? >> well, the communist party will hold a convention this fall to selec a new leadership. so it will be a time of intense political maneuvering. the vice president is expected to assume the post of general secretary at the convention, hu putting him on track to become president of china next year. other top positions have yet to be decided. they want to prevent the

dramatic downfall from deepening rifts within the party. but the case has already created upheaval rarely seen in beijing. it remains to be seen whether the party can contain the full route. >> thank you very much. that was nhk world in beijing. now, in other news, workers in chernobyl mark the 26th anniversy of the accident there with another effort to limit the damage. they're building a new shelter to cover the one 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 a test. they plan to build an arch-shaped container building more than 100 meters high to cover the shell around reactor number 4. 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 workers and zints held a rally in kiev. she say the government is not doing enough. government officials across the european union get more time to test the nuclear plants. they want to make sure they can withstand natural and man-made disaster. the accident at fukushima prompted them to order safety checks, but inspectors have only visited 38 of 147 reactors. eu officials hope to release their final results and make

recommendations at a meeting of eu ministers in june. they pushed back the deadline to this fall. the he u energy commissioner said it's more important to be thorough than to be fast. people living around a nuclear plant in central japan wrestle 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 restart in the year since the fukushima accident. more than 500 people taenlded a local meeting. only local residents could attend. activists opposed 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 in the event of a disaster like the one at fukushima. residents then weighed in 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 buildings 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 comes to restarting the reactors, the economy and safety should definitely be considered separately. >> other residents questioned whether restarting the reactors is even necessary. >> is the electricity demand in the region as high as the government forecasts? >> a recent nhk poll suggests

54% of residents are in favor or slightly in favor of restarting the reactors for economic reasons. 71% voiced concerns about the risk of an accident if the units go back online. the mayor will decide whether to approve any restart after hearing what residents have to say jap has 50 xhekt reactors and that doesn't include the four damaged units at fukushima daiichi. only one reactor in the country is operating right now, and 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 successes on the road ahead, every wednesday at 1:00 p.m. japan time here on "newsline." syrian government forces have reportedly killed 70 people

in the country's city of hama despite the monitoring team. they say the forces used mortars and tanks to attack the city on wednesday. video footage posted online shows a residential area heavily bombarded and people struggling to reach survivors trapped in the debris. an advanced team of u.n. observers arrived in syria ten days ago. it set up posts. the united nations plans to send 30 more observers to syria by the end of the month and increase their number in status to 300. it has asked u.n. member countries including japan to send peace-keeping monitors. for japan to send a self-defense force troops overseas, the mission would have to meet the country's principles for peacekeeping operations. they include a serious fire agreement between warring parties. japanese officials say the

situation will be carefully assessed before a decision is made on sending observers. a u.s. state department spokesperson says the syrian government's continued crackdown on civilians has led to a drastic decline in its assets. >> reporter: assad and his cronier are running through the wealth of the country in a record pace. they're half what they were after the bloodshed starts. he's absconding with the people's money to pay for weapons to use against them. >> newland says the united states has to accelerate sanctions and pressure to try to stop the flow of funds to the syrian administration from overseas. chinese government officials have taken another step that's sure to upset their neighbors around the south china sea. they say they'll build a supply dock on the despited paracel islands. a statement says it agreed with a proposal from the southern province of hinan.

the dock will be built with private investment to provide fuel to tourist ships and fishing vessel. vietnam also claims sovereignty over the islands. vietnamese personnel have conducted a naval drill with u.s. troops in the south china sea. political analysts say they expect vietnamese leaders will re-double their protest against chinese intentions to control the waters. we have more details of the boj news now. the bank of japan will expand its asset purchasing program by 5 trillion yen to 70 trillion yen. that's more than $860 billion. the central bank's policymakers discussed japan's economic outlook at a board meeting on friday. they maintained their general assessment saying that the japanese economy shows some

signs of picking up, but the board members pointed out it will take time for consumer prices to advance 1%. this is a goal that the bank of japan has set to pull the economy out of deflation. the monetary policy announced earlier marks the second additional easing measures since february. the step is largely seen as an indication of the central bank's resolve to fight deflation. let me give you the markets now. sfo tokyo prices are sharply up. the nikkei is up 0.4% to 9,621.42. export related issues are going up in particular as the yen is weakening in reaction to the boj's extra easing measures. the dollar is gaining against the yen following more actions by the boj to weaken the yen. the dollar is right now at 81.24

to 26. yen and the euro now is changing out 107.26 to 27. and the euro is also regaining ground against the yen. investors have wondered for months about the strength of spain's finances. now u.s. credit rating agencies standard & poor's has downgraded government bonds. s&p analysts reduced spain's credit rating to bbb plus, down two notches from single-a. they had already downgraded spanish debt in january. the analysts say the cut is due to an economic contraction that was worse than many of them expected. they say government leaders have been slow to restructure their finances, and they say spanish commercial banks may need more support. the spanish bond market is on the decline. this briefly send the yields on ten-year government bonds above

6%. the world bank is making the show of confidence in myanmar. it will open an office in june. the bank released a statement that says it will explore ways to aassess the agriculture and finance sectors. for the first time in 25 years, officials with the bank suspended aid to the country in 1987 when it was known as burma. the vice president for east asia, pamela cox, will soon travel to myanmar to make an assessment first hand. it follows decisions from u.s. and european union leaders to ease sanctions on myanmar. they're too encouraged by democratic reforms. doctors have long practiced on replicas of human bodies to hone their skills. some simulators they use are made right here in japan, but as we hear, not everyone working for these companies have a medical background. in fact, one man used to carve

statues for buddhist temples. >> arab health, an annual health care exhibit in dubai. more than 2800 companies from 60 countries were there. japan's external trade organization was at the fair showing a new simulator technology. >> it was very nice product that has a lot of opportunities to be sold in the medical area. >> reporter: simulators used in medical and surgical training come in many varieties. this simulator allows trainees to practice drawing blood. it has a blood vessel inside with fluid flowing through it.

this model is for detecting cancer. mock tumors are hidden in the upper body. trainees use an ultrasound scanner on the simulator to find the embedded tumors. >> we try to make the experience as realistic as possible using quality, high-tech simulators. it gives students the chance to practice, a benefit for patients as well. >> kyoto kagaku is the company making these simulators. it produces about 100 varieties of body parts. an unusual type of engineer has been helping the company with their replication techniques. he is specialized in restoring

buddhist statues. he helped develop the cancer detection simulator. >> translator: this is a ct scan of a real human body. i made it into three dimensions from these two-dimensional photographs. >> he imagined the three-dimensional shape of the internal organ based on the ct images. while restoring buddhist statues, he had to imagine how they looked before they were damaged. using the same carving tools, he started sculpting the international organ based on the image in his mind. this is the original model he created. he has sculpted a human kep that enables ultrasound imaging almost equal to that of a real human body.

>> translator: it's all about handcrafting. same tools, same method. just a different field. >> a restorer of buddhist images has turned his skills to saving human lives. the company is now working on a simulator that has moving parts and organs, just like a human body. it will be helpful in improving the skills of x-ray technicians locating cancer. >> translator: it's so close to the human body that it exceeds expectations. japanese doctors gave us such detailed specifications that we've almost overdone it. now it's ready for the global market. >> supporting the advance of medical science, engineers are working hard to raise the level

of craftsmanship. >> a rainy friday in tokyo. will it get better in the weekend? time to check the forecast with rachel ferguson. >> most of japan is seeing a nice, plivent day for tomorrow. however there's a chang in the weather from western japan on sunday. that's because there's quite a large mass of rain over from china. it's back down here in the southeast at the moment affecting the coast, but it will be expanding and getting a little bit heavier as well. meanwhile, heavy thunderstorms take place across indochina. it's very, very hot here, and that's really helping to cause some instability in the air. for those showers to come down during the heat of the day, up towards the north we have a low pressu system that was producing some snow for mongolia. still, very chilly in much of mongolia. however, towards the northeast rather than snow but some fairly gusty conditions with that small low moving through as well.

into north america. things are very split. we have this large system coming out of the west. south of it is going to be pretty warm. in fact, temperatures up above average, but to the north of it quite a different story. a snow will be moving in towards the northern plains, maybe as much as 10 centimeters for north dakota. also we see nasty storms coming out of that system as well through the central plains. out towards the northeast things are generally clearer. however, there is just this slow-moving system continuing to plow through the northeast, and you will still get wintry precipitation from that in new england and maybe even as much as half a meter of fresh snow for eastern parts of quebec. here are the temperatures then. you can see that split, the greens and blues towards the northern half of the continent. we see lots of orange and yellow indicating much warmer temperatures towards the south up to 32 degrees in houston. all right. into europe. a fairly distinct split here as

well in the weather, and you can see this band of cloud come down from sand naif ya towards the iberian peninsula. it's been stormy for bern parts of europe this week, and that will continue. we've had strong winds and flooding rains and there's more to come. the rest of the continent is looking very clear and hot indeed. temperatures are in some places 10 to 15 degrees above average. let's look at some of those figures. 22 in berlin, 22 in vienna, 24 in warsaw and getting up to 26 in kiev. it's not just your friday. saturday and sunday we see similarly warm temperatures across central and eastern locations, however, out towards the west, wet and stormy and temperatures will just be around the seasonal average. i'll leave you now with your extended forecast.

let me give you the details of our top news now. the bank of japan has decided it will expand its asset performing program by 5 trillion yen to 70 trillion yen. that's more than $860 billion. the central bang's policymakers

discussed japan's economic outlook at a board meeting on friday. they maintain the general aassessment saying that the japanese economy shows some signs of picking up. but the board members pointed out it will take time for consumer prices to advance 1%. this is the goal the bank of japan has set to pull the economy out of deflation. the monetary policy announced earlier marks the second additional easing measure since february. the step is largely seen as an indication of the central bank's resolve to fight deflation. and that's all for now on this edition of "newsline." we'll be back with more news at the top of the hour, so do join us then. thank you very much for watching. tavis: good evening, from los

tavis: good evening, from los