balkan peninsula, alpine region a chance of snowfall today. fairly settled picture for the rest of europe. the winds will be strong across the skand knavian peninsula and norway could see snow. three in stockholm and three in warsaw. cold but not the frigid temperatures we have been seeing the past few days. that's a look at the weather conditions for now and i will leave you with your three-day outlook. here's one of our lead stories this hour. new zealand's government says it will end rescue operations in the earthquake hit city of christchurch, the country's ministry of civil defense and emergency management informed reporters on this on thursday. it said the hopes of rescuing anyone else alive from the rubble are gone and the focus is now on recovery. authorities say they have so far recovered the bodies of 161 people. they say the final death toll could reach 240. >>> and we'll be back with more news in 30 minutes. i'm gene otani in tokyo . this is rainwater .. collected from the roof and sent through underground pipes into this 1500 gallo

and in to inland areas of spain and the balkan peninsula, too, looking at further flurries to fly again today. really starting to pile up in some of these areas. as for highs 3 in stoke hole, 7 in berlin and vienna and 13 degrees and rome and 9 in madrid. that's a look at your weather for now and here's your three-day outlook. >>> we'll be back with more news in 30 minutes. i'm gene otani in tokyo . çç

then we'll be talking about snow for the alpine region as well as the inland areas of the balkan peninsula12 is your high in rome today. 10 expected in athens. minus 3 in kiev. then 1 for warsaw. cold in moscow, minus 7 degrees. all right, that's a look at your weather for now. i will leave you with your three-day outlook. >>> taking a look at our lead stories. as worries grow over under rest in the middle east, crude oil futures have hit $100 a barrel in new york. buy orders increased on tuesday as market players became more concerned about future oil supplies on news that iran security forces clamped down on anti-government protesters. iran is the second largest oil producer among opec member countries. the crude futures topped $100 a barrel in after hours trading for the first time since last wednesday. looking at the new york stock exchange, share prices plunged on tuesday amid growing worries that higher oil prices may slow down the world economic recovery. the dow jones industrial average average closed at 12058, down 168 points from the previous day. >>> u.s. federal reserve chairma