cordoning off tehran. negotiators wrap up talks on the iranian nuclear program with more sanctions looming. the negotiators from iran and six world powers have wrapped up talks on iran's nuclear power but they are still worlds apart. westerb delegate des manded iranian scientists stop enriching uranium to levels that could be used for weapons. >> it's clear that we both want to make progress and that there is some common ground.

however, significant differences remain. >> iranian negotiators pressed u.s. and european officials to lift their economic sanctions. >> translator: iran has the right to enrich uranium and generate nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. >> the negotiators will meet again in moscow next month. joining us today is koichiro tanaka. thank you for joining us. no agreement came this time around, even after the second day of talks. what exactly is the fundamental difference between the two sides? >> basically, unlike the previous talks that were held in istanbul in april, i believe that the iranians made a substantial proposal, the agenda, the main agenda here is -- was the 20% enrichment

program that they had been running for some while. but unfortunately what the p5 plus 1 countries, their counterparts were proposing was the sort of old-fashioned way which had nothing to say interesting for the iranians to take in return for giving up or suspending their 20% enrichment programs. so i think that was the main, say, difference that you can see during the talks. >> all right. but on the other hand, catherine ashton said they also found common ground. where was that? >> basically, none of the countries that are involved in the talks want to see a war happening again in the middle east or the persian gulf region. what they are trying to do at this moment is to keep on talking and trying to see and find a common ground and trying to agree to some consolidate some kind of an agreement that

could defuse the tension and also, say, would turn the clock around or alter the circumstance or the environment that maybe israel might actually stage a military attack against iran. so that's sort of a common understanding and interest that all the parties have here. >> i see. so the talks will continue and it's expected in june next june 18th and 19th in moscow next time. >> right. >> so what prospects will you see there then? >> basically, we'll have to see whether the p5 plus 1 countries would be ready by then to give iran, that would be, say, for them to take. that's going difficult given the u.s. position or especially president barack obama's position domestically when he's facing a

challenge from the republican candidate but also from the congress. and a lot of pro-israeli lobbyists are also active in challenging obama's decision if he would make any concession towards the iranians. so that's the critical part that we are going to see. the one interesting thing that we've seen during these talks was two weeks ago, i believe secretary clinton herself said that she wouldn't want to see that iranians will say we'll get back to you during the talks, but now it was baroness ashton who repeated the same li. actually that shows that the iranians were quite ready for some kind of deal, bibuwhile the p5 plus 1 wasn't. >> that's an eu side position on the sanctions, right? >> they have sanctions coming in by july, and they had their own problems. and they want to possibly postpone some of the sanctions that are coming in.

>> all right. we'll wait and see what happens there. thank you very much. in other news, the u.s. secretary of state hillary clinton says the pakistani doctor was instrumental in taking down osama bin laden. she has criticized pakistani officials for jailing shaki shakil afridi. >> the united states does not believe there is any basis for holding dr. afridi. we regret both the fact that he was convicted and the severity of his sentence. >> a court in pakistan sentenced afridi to 33 years in prison for treason. he was tried for running a fake vaccination program for the cia to collect dna samples from bin laden's family. u.s. commandos killed the al qaeda leader a year ago in a raid near islamabad. clinton said that was clearly in pakistan's interest as well as those of the u.s. and the rest of the world. u.s. officials measured out criticism for chinese leaders,

too. they say the chinese are increasingly restricting the activities of human rights activists. a report from the state department says individuals seen as political troublemakers continue to face restrictions on assembly and travel. the document says authorities have made greater efforts to silence political activists. these include placing more of their family members under house arrest. >> we have seen in the last several years a worsening situation in a number of respects. one is that the space for human rights advocacy has narrowed. >> the report mentioned several prominent activists, including chen gaungchen. they were monitoring one of his relatives. he said they will raise the issue with their chinese counterparts at upcoming talks on human rights.

egyptian voters have cast their ballots in the first free presidential election in their history. 13 candidates are running. the rivalry between islamists and officials from the mubarak regime has split the nation. voters went to the polls more than a year after protesters horsed hosni mubarak to step down. the former president ruled egypt for 30 years. members of the electoral commission say the voting was fair and without major confusion. front-runners include mohammed morsi of the muslim brotherhood and abdel moneim aboul fetouh. they captured more than 75% of the seats in parliamentary elections in january. and other strong contenders are ahmed shafiq, a former air force commander and prime minister and amr moussa, an arab league secretary general. voters expect to hear the results by next tuesday. none of the candidates is likely

to win a majority. the candidates who finish first and second will head to a run-off next month. many voters considered 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. tomoko yamaguchi reports from cairo. >> reporter: support is growing for the muslim brotherhood. the group's leader, mohamed morsi, is leading the presidential race. during campaigning, he advocated building a nation based on islam and repeatedly made remarks about restricting women's rights. his remarks posted on the

internet are also proving controversial. >> reporter: in parliament, islamist lawmakers are submitting bills about women. including one that would limit the rights. the secular policies adopted by the mubarak 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. kamel is a tv anchor and pro-democracy activist. she 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 across the country in a meeting to ask the presidential candidates about their policies. five candidates spoke of their views on the status of women at the meeting. >> 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: kamel 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 arrive 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. japan time here on "newsline." u.n. investigators are looking into how radiation has affected the health of people cleaning up fukushima daiichi. they say the deaths of six of them were not caused by radiation. the team from the u.n. scientific committee on the effects of atomic radiation is study thegs effects of emissions after the disaster. more than 20,000 workers have taken part in the operation. six of them have died. at least two are known to have had a heart attack. one was diagnosed with acute leukemia. >> we don't have any indication that their death was related to radioactivity and exposure. >> the researchers said eight workers had been exposed to enough radiation to put them at risk of developing cancer. 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 might be suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. researchers surveyed more than 10,000 officers based in the region. more than 4% of respondents reported symptoms 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. doctors have not diagnosed any officer in the region with ptsd. still, officers at the police agency plan to study the issue further and write a manual to address the problem. 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 the 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 coastline. researchers at a national institute estimate that marine technology could produce the same amount of electricity as ten nuclear plants. japan's core consumer prices rose for a third straight month in april. that was due to high gasoline prices and electricity bills. the internal ministry says the

consumer price index in april stood at 100.2 against a reference value of 100 for the year 2010. the index excludes volatile prices of fresh food. gasoline prices and electricity charges rose due to higher crude oil prices. television sets also became more expensive. hotel room charges rose from the same period last year. that was just after the march 11th disaster which caused room rates to decline. the ministry says that even though the core cpi posted a third straight monthly rise, prices still remained flat. that's because some of the increase reflect temporary declines posted in april last year. japan's government says the fishing industry in the country's disaster-hit northeast needs to recover quickly to ensure a stable national supply of seafood. the fishery ministry's annual white paper said catches at major fish markets in the northeast in march were down to just 78% from prior to the

disaster. the paper asked that only 70% of fishing boats damaged or destroyed in last year's tsunami have been restored. japan turned overseas to fill the gap sending imports of pacific saury from taiwan and other industries soaring by 74%. oyster imports rose by 20%. one sign of china's economic growth is the high number of chinese now traveling outside their country. according to china's government, that number increased last year by a staggering 22% from the previous year. chinese airlines are moving to take advantage of this growing opportunity. in this report, we follow a low-cost airline that has been flying chinese tourists to japan. now it is gearing up to expand business. nhk world's mari yamada reports.

>> reporter: planes from spring airlss land at three provincial airports in japan. the airline is flying these passengers to japan for a group tour. >> hi. >> reporter: they have paid about $680 each for a six-day trip to tokyo and the region. >> translator: the tour makes it easier to visit japan. all my families have come. >> reporter: spring airlines is based in shanghai. a chinese travel agency started it to make its tours cheaper. the number of chinese traveling overseas is surging. many like vacationing in japan. it has lots of sites and hot springs and it's not far from

china. spring airlines made its first overseas flight in 2010. linking shanghai and ibarake in japan. later, the airline added routes to and from takamatsu. the cheapest one-way ticket to japan is $37. the plane has only economy class seats so it can hold more passengers. there are no free meals or drinks. spring airlines president sees a good future for his company in low-cost tours to japan. >> translator: lower costs will lure more people to travel by air. >> reporter: to boost its business, the airline's planning to set up a local company in japan. it will team up with japanese

airlines. the first time a low-cost carrier has decided to do this. at the moment, customers from all over china have to get to shanghai before they can fly to japan. but spring airlines hopes to fly passengers from locations around china directly to major japanese airports. there it will fly them to provincial cities. to do this, the company must establish a japanese subsidiary as only japanese firms are allowed to fly domestic routes. in april, he visited japan to get the plan moving. in japan, airlines must be at least two-thirds funded by japanese capital. in search of japanese partners, he meets with his tokyo staff. >> translator: we'll be able to

contribute to japan's efforts to bolster its tourism industry. our impact on the economies of both japan and china will be extremely positive. >> reporter: spring airlines wants to make it possible for more chinese to visit japan. now that more chinese are keen on overseas travel, spring airlines is determined to get their business. mari yamada, nhk world, shanghai. now a japanese researchers have measured something well beyond their reach. they studied data this past monday during the annular solar eclipse and calculated the diameter of the sun. the sun, moon and earth lined up during the eclipse. a celestial rarity. the eclipse creates a ring around the moon called an annulis.

researchers also observed a phenomenon called bailey's beads. the effect happens when the rough lunar surface blocks or lets sunshine through. they gathered data on the beads from people 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 -- they used all this to find the sun's diameter. >> 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 check their findings and formally announce their results this fall. and time now to check how the sun is looking today. let's turn to sayaka mori for the world weather forecast. >> hi there. in tokyo, we are seeing lots of

clouds covering the sun. even light showers are falling. but tomorrow, the sun may come out, and we are looking forward to sunny and warm conditions here in tokyo over the weekend. light showers across much of japan, but that should be gone within the next 24 hours. the exception is going to be hokkaido that will continue to see thundershowers into tomorrow. out towards the west, lots of heavy rain and thunderstorms are still impacting southern china and much of the indochina peninsula. the heaviest rain can be seen at the southern end of china and the northern tier of the indochina peninsula. out towards the east, there's a pink showing up. that will be severe tropical storm sanvu. it is still strengthening and will likely move south of the ogasawa islands over the weekend. so stormy conditions are expected to impact the islands from tomorrow. no major impact on mainland japan is in the forecast. there is more potent storms

south of mexico. that will be hurricane bud. bud has been upgraded to a major hurricane now packing winds of 185 kilometers per hour with much higher gusts. it will likely hit the southwest coast of mexico by late friday. and projected to move inland and make a sharp turn and head out to sea. right now hurricane warnings are in place along this line. the hurricane conditions are in the forecast starting friday afternoon local time. in terms of precipitation, as much as 200 millimeters are likely in southwestern corner of mexico. so floods and land dld slide la highly concerned here. we'll keep you posted on its progress. there's a low pressure system producing thunderstorms and gusty winds across the caribbean islands. and there's a possibility of it becoming a tropical cyclone within the next 48 hours as it moves toward the northeast. and then we have more potent

storm producing severe thunderstorms across areas from southwestern ontario down towards kansas. as it moves towards the east it will weaken and affect quebec and the eastern great lakes region over the next 24 hours. back behind it, things are looking more wintry. the northern rockies could be seeing as much as 60 centimeters of snow by your sunday morning. as for the highs, the heat is extending all the way up towards the north over the eastern half of the u.s. and canada reaching 30 degrees in toronto and 30 degrees in washington, d.c. in fact, hot conditions will likely remain during your memorial day weekend. 34 degrees expected in washington, d.c., on your sunday. and to mitigate the heat, thundershowers are expected on your monday. all right. head into europe, not much change since thursday. inclement weather is still going on across the eastern half of the mediterranean and the black sea region. lots of thundershowers are

happening here. but to the north, mostly dry. but as you can see, showers are expected to expand over the iberian peninsula today. as for the highs, still on the hot side in the western portions of europe. getting up to 24 in london and 31 degrees expected in madrid. all right. i will leave you now with your extended forecast.

and that's all for now on this edition of "newsline." i'm yuko aotani in tokyo. we'll be back with more news at

the top of the hour, so do join us then. thank you very much for watching.