after fukushima, public opinion swung. (speaking japanese) >> it was a huge, dramatic shift in japan. it was something like two-thirds or more of the public in a fairly recent poll before the accident in favor of nuclear power, and then right after the accident it was on the order of a maybe 25%, 30% at most in favor. >> o'brien: and that profound shift in public opinion had an immediate and unexpected impact on japan's nuclear policy. >> as the reactors are required, roughly every year, to undergo a refueling operation, a maintenance operation, once a plant is shut down, it's not allowed to restart unless there is public support in the local area for a restart. so there are serious concerns that within a year after the fukushima accident started that japan will have essentially no reactors operating. >> o'brien: the disaster at fukushima trgerea chain reaction far beyond japan. and nowhere more so than in germany. >> ever since fukushima, the german government has been under pressure from the green movement. >> o'brien: l

he decided to go to fukushima dai-ichi himself. he was later criticized for interfering with the emergency work at the plant, but he says he had to find out what was really going on. >> narrator: at fukushima dai-ichi, the prime minister met directly with the tepco engineers. he insisted they vent the reactors. >> (translated): kan was very angry. the government had given an order. what was tepco doing? but we were trying our best. the valves were hard to open. we were genuinely trying. we just hadn't managed it. >> narrator: the plant manager, masao yoshida, was known for being frank. he knew the radiation near the vents was at potentially fatal levels, but he told the prime minister he'd send in a suicide squad if necessary. >> narrator: the prime minister knew his orders might condemn the men who went into the reactor to death, but he felt japan's future was at stake. >> narrator: but then tepco got some news which meant the venting was delayed yet again. the evacuation of the surrounding villages was not yet complete. if the re

but a store owner in fukushima city refuses to give into the fear. nhk world rorter has his story. >> reporter: this cake, known as bomkuhe, was made from rice flour grown in the area. it is denser than wheat flour and is naturally sweet. this shop opened in fukushima six months before the nuclear disaster. the eggs and the rice flour used to make the cake are grown in the region. this man owns the shop. he says his business has been on life support since the nuclear disaster. the farm where he bought his eggs closed down. and some rice grown in the area exceeded the government's radiation safety level. >> translator: we had always eaten local rice. but then it got contaminated. i was so shocked. >> at the same time, a lot of customers canceled orders. as well, the shop began receiving calls from people asking about safety. saito worried that he might have to close shop. but saito felt he couldn't turn his back on the local rice and vegetables. >> translator: i grew strong and healthy eating local foods. fukushima is my home. there's no way i could j

a store owner in fukushima city refuses to give into the fear. here is her story. >>> this cake was made from rice flour grown in the area. it is denser than wheat flour and naturally sweet. this shop opened in fukushima six months before the nuclear disaster. the eggs and rice flour used to make the cake are grown in the region. this man owns the shop. he says his business has been on life support since the nuclear disaster. the farm where he bought his eggs closed down. and the rice grown in the area exceeded the government's radiation safety level. >> translator: we had always eaten local rice, then it got contaminated. i was so shocked. >> at the same time a lot of customers cancelled orders. as well, the shop began receiving calls from people asking about safety. he worried he might have to close shop. but he felt he couldn't turn his back on the local rice and vegetables. >> i grew strong and healthy eating local foods. fukushima is my home. there's no way i could just walk away from it and move on. i want to do everything i can to help loc

"nuclear watch" brings insight and information on the impact of the fukushima daiichi crisis, and "the road ahead" examines japan's efforts to recover and rebuild. don't miss "nuclear watch" and "the road ahead" on "newsline." >>> japanese scientists say they found a protein that helps burn fat following an intake of fatty meals. the discovery is likely to lead to the development of drugs to combat obesity. a team of researchers at kyoto university compared myself with a protein called gpr-120 with those that do not have the protein. the gpr-120 is known for its able to recognize fat. researchers confirmed that the myself without the protein were heavier than those who had it by an average of 15% and accumulated twice as much fat in their bodies. the scientists also analyzed the genetic sequence of about 20,000 people in europe. they found that people with mutant gpr-120 genes were more likely to be obese. >> translator: the new discovery will lead to the development of drugs or foods to help prevent obesity and metabolic disorders. >> the team's findings will be published in the briti

some of the other sessions will be held in fukushima and iwate. government officials will invite representatives of countries that have experienced large scale disasters, including thailand, indonesia and haiti. japanese delegates will report on the march disaster and on rescue efforts. participants will discuss recovery, reconstruction and prevention. organizers plan to take them on tours of the region. government officials plan to use the results of the discussions for a u.n. meeting on disaster prevention planned for 2015. >>> parents of fukushima prefecture now can monitor in real time radiation levels at schools, parkses and other places frequented by their children. the education ministry launched the system for sharing data from 2,700 monitoring sites on its website. users can choose a place on a map and check the latest radiation levels there. choosing fukushima city brings up a list of 368 monitoring sites and their current readings. the system can also show average radiation levels at ten-minute intervals and graphs showing changes in ra

>> i think we will see an impact from fukushima. the time scale of when that energy policy was made -- we have not seen the impact of fukushima on state energy policy yet. i think it is worth highlighting the response has not necessarily been, genius. different countries responded in different ways. -- the response has not necessarily been homogeneous. china, they are doing more aggressive programs, although differently than before. >> thank you. in other news, officials in ohio say that another student has died following the shootings at chardon monday. the shooting suspect, 17-year- old t.j. lane, has a appeared in court. 16 people were on a bus in pakistan when a gunman opened fire. the bus was carrying passengers from the city that is the headquarters for the pakastani military. the french president nicolas sarkozy has ordered his military to adopt a new law about the armenian genocide. for more -- from wall street to london where the occupied movement has made its mark. but as of today, the campers outside the cathedral are no

fukushima and iwate. the government will invite representatives from countries that experienced disasters, including thailand, indonesia, and haiti. from the march disaster and rescue efforts. 9 participants will discuss recovery and reconstruction efforts, as well as prevention and mitigation. they will also be given tours of the disaster-hit region. the government plans to use the results of the discussions for a u.n. meeting on disaster prevention planned for 2015. parents in fukushima prefecture now can monitor in real time radiation levels at schools, parks and other places frequently visited by their children. the education ministry launched the system for sharing data from 2,700 monitoring sites on its website. users can choose a place on a map and check the latest radiation levels there. choosing fukushima city brings up a list of 368 monitoring sites and their current readings. the system can also show average radiation levels at ten-minute intervals and graphs showing changes at radiation at sit

report is highly critical of how japan's leaders acted in the hours and days of the accident at the fukushima daiichi nuclear power plant. it calls their response off the cuff. and too late. the six experts on the panel base their findings on interviews with 300 people including top ranking japanese and american officials. they spent months studying the response to the fukushima accident which happened after last year's march 11th earthquake and tsunami. they tried interviewing authorities at tokyo electric power company, the operator of the plant, but tepco turned down their request. >> translator: is direct causes of the nuclear accident where the unpreparedness of tokyo electric power for a serious accident ant the government's lack of responsibility. >> it rendered the crisis management manual useless. the report says the problem was compounded by lack of basic legal knowledge. it urges immediate debate on improving the situation. the report condemns nuclear and industrial safety agency from failing to give professionals proper safety training. it says the agency cannot drop plans to put

we received replies from 29 municipalities excluding those in fukushima prefecture. the main question was do you support the restarting of nuclear reactors? in today's nuclear watch, our reporter is going to explain the results of the survey. our conversation will be conducted in japanese with simultaneous interpreters. >> translator: nuclear safety has become a hot issue since the fukushima daiichi accident not just in japan, some countries have decided to abolish or phase out nuclear energy. why is it important to hear what local governments in japan think? >> translator: in japan the approval of the local government is needed to resume the operation of the nuclear power plants. right now the electric power companies are conducting stress tests which is the new government safety standard. and the nuclear industrial and safety agency is assisting the resource towards the resumption of the operation. and the government will make the final decision of the resumption and it is the local governments that hold the key to the final decision. >> translator: so tell us the

nuclear watch brings you insight and information on the impact of the fukushima daiichi crisis. and the road ahead examines japan's efforts to recover and rebuild. don't miss nuclear watch and the road ahead on "newsline." >> we have weather up next. >> hi there and welcome back. let's take a look at your weather conditions starting off with japan and starting off here in hokkaido. a very clear day throughout the day on tuesday. but this low pressure system overnortheastern china will then be moving over japan sea and then moving towards your area on wednesday bringing some blizzard conditions. as it does so, that's going to be dropping your temperatures down on tuesday forecasted high is 3. and then to thursday minus 4 is going to be your high. now we've got a very long stretching front that is from southeast china all the way to the pacific side of japan that's going to be bringing us wet weather including tokyo for the next couple of days. that's going to be bringing some warm air, but then again drop with a cold wave coming in towards the end of the week. it's going to be a

he also said he feared problems could occur at another nuclear plant in fukushima and that tokyo might have to be evacuated. he added the cabinet was told of this scenario, but that the government chose not to make it public. the independent report stresses the need for discussions on information disclosure by the government during emergencies. >>> russian state television says security forces have foiled a plot to assassinate vladimir putin. they say two men confessed. they were arrested last month in the ukraine. the report says the suspects were acting on instructions on a he chan separatist war load. the opponents say the report is a stunt to raise support for putin in the presidential election. russians vote on sunday. putin's spokesperson denied any link between the plot and the election campaign. russia has stepped up its criticism of u.s. foreign policy before presidential election next sunday. putin made remarks that were published in a russian newspaper on monday and he says russia cannot accept u.s. plans of a ballistic missile defense system in europe. he said it would only

nuclear watch brings insight and information on the fukushima daiichi crisis. and "the road ahead" is about how we rebuild. >>> a large scale evacuation drill has been held near the nuclear plant in western japan. a record 10,000 people took part. the drill was based on the assumption an earthquake damaged the nuclear plant. residents were evacuated by helicopter from a junior high school, about 20 kilometers from the plant. they were taken to a maritime self defense destroyer anchored 25 kilometers away. they were airlifted because they would have to pass by the nuclear plant if they evacuated by land. officials monitored data from the speedy computer system that projects the spread of radioactive materials. the japanese government was criticized for failing to use the system's data to evacuate people living near the fukushima plant. elementary school children gathered in the schoolyard soon after the drill started and evacuated to a gymnasium to avoid radioactive materials. >> people are becoming more aware of the possibility of an accident at the plant. we n

fukushima and chernobyl are the only level seven accidents in history. chim pom never imagined their work would be taking on themes like nuclear disasters. they told me that, in the beginning, they were inspired by, of all things, the mtv show jackass. >> werman: in an early piece that put chim pom on the map, the group traveled to cambodia. together with local kids who had lost limbs to landmines, they blew up designer bags and ipods, then auctioned the remnants for a cambodia benefit. >> werman: a few weeks after the tsunami, they traveled to a fishing village in fukushima. hand in hand with some young locals from the fishing community, they created a video piece that became an expression of solidarity. they called it "100 cheers." ( shouting in japanese ) ( cheers and applause ) >> werman: "100 cheers" was chim pom's immediate response, but that was only the beginning. as the nuclear crisis ( cheers and applause ) >> werman: "100 cheers" was chim pom's immediate response, but that was only the beginning. as the nuclear crisis intensified, chim pom dec

he cited safety concerns stemming from the fukushima crisis. commission members voted 4-1 to approve the project to build two nuclear power reactors at a plant in the state of georgia. the chairman objected. he said builders need to commit to safety measures to address risks exposed by the accident last march. >> there are significant safety enhancements that have already been recommended as a result of learning the lessons from fukushima. and there's still more work ahead of us. knowing this, i cannot support issuing this license as if fukushima had never happened. >> engineers at westinghouse electric designed the reactors. toshiba is the major other than of the firm. construction could begin this year. the reactors are expected to start operation in 2016 in everything goes according to plan. the u.s. stopped building nuclear plants after the three mile island accident in 1979. members of the administration say they will heed lessons learned from fukushima. still, president barack obama is sticking to his policy of promoting nuclear power. he

also in the program, the fukushima nuclear disaster, the government considered it back to waiting tokyo. >> you can appreciate the strength of the explosion. >> one of the longest surviving anti-capitalist protest groups is disbanded. british police have evicted protesters from st. paul's. it's midday in london, 8:00 in the evening in hong kong, 1:00 in the evening in geneva. the u.n. human rights council is meeting their right now as the crisis in syria is at the top of the agenda. delegates will discuss a motion drafted by turkey and the gulf states of saudi arabia, qatar, and kuwait. given their past record of condemnation, expect a similar message. an armored in the division had entered the besieged city of homes. -- homs. a wounded photographer paul conroy has escaped just in time. >> the pounding of the city by syrian artillery continues. these are some of the latest pictures of the shelling. it's impossible to verify precisely when they were taken. this coincides with news that at least one of the wounded journalists trapped in the city is now safely out of syria. he is the briti

fukushima saw the biggest decrease at 5.8% or more than 17,000. this is followed by a fall of 2.3% in iwate and 1.7% in miyagi. the ministry says the accident at the fukushima daiichi plant is to blame for the decline in the number of kindergarteners and elementary school children in the prefektures. it says smaller children are more vulnerable to radiation and are likely to have been sent to other prefectures. >>> the warm spell in tokyo ended and residents are again dealing with cold weather. >> hello. time now for your weather update. let's begin with japan. we are looking at a typical wintry weather pattern. what this means is cold temperatures nationwide and snowy weather on the western side. we're expecting more than 20 centimeters from hokkaido down to niigata prefecture. and winds are picking up. so that is leading to blowing snow conditions. and the risk of avalanches are getting extremely high here. but most of the pacific side will remain largely dry today. but the exceptions will be the tokai area. there may be accumulating snow. as fo

a separate investigation into the fukushima meltdown has heard from a former u.s. nuclear regulatory chief. he told a parliamentary panel that on site experts should have the power to decide how to respond to an emergency situation at a plant. he says there's lack of trust for the japanese government and nuclear authorities stemming from how they dealt with the accident. >> in my view the only way to correct that is to have the puic have access to the information and know what's happening and why it's happening and have the confidence that decisions are being made on a proper basis. >> he said it is important for a nuclear regulatory organization to be free from government intervention and independent of the power company. the regulatory body must listen to the public and maintain high level openness and transparency. former prime minister ordered tokyo electric power company to begin emergency procedures during the fukushima accident. he says itilbe uhinkab if his cntry for that to be decided by the president rather than onsite experts. leading japanese chip maker

the crippled fukushima daiichi nuclear plant has been shown to the media. tokyo electric power company has given the media act soesz to the fooud plant for the first time since the government declared in december that the reactors there were in cold shutdown. the utility gave reporters a bus tour of the facility. the visit coincides with visits by the japan nuclear safety agency. reporters were allowed to get off the bus on a hill near the number four reactor and see the damage rocked by a hydrogen blast firsthand. during a previous media tour. reporters had to stay inside their bus. radioactivity levels on the hill are now 50 micro receivers per hours. the bus passed by cooling systems. workers have swathed pumps with sheathing and wrapped pipes with insulation materials to prevent leaks. >> translator: we will work the make the plant stable and safe so we can assure people that the plant will not release anymore radioactive substances. >> it is expected to take about 40 years to completely decommission the damaged reactors. tokyo electric officials faced

a separate investigation into the fukushima meltdown has heard from a former u.s. nuclear regulatory chief. he told a parliamentary panel that on site experts should have the power to decide how to respond to an emergency situation at a plant. he says there's lack of trust for the japanese government and nuclear authorities stemming from how they dealt with the accident. >> in my view the only way to correct that is to have the public have access to the information and know what's happening and why it's happening and have the confidence that decisions are being made on a proper basis. >> he said it is important for a nuclear regulatory organization to be free from government intervention and independent of the power company. the regulatory body must listen to the public and maintain high level openness and transparency. former prime minister ordered tokyo electric power company to begin emergency procedures during the fukushima accident. he says it will be unthinkable if his country for that to be decided by the president rather than onsite experts. leading japanes

processed right now. >> brown: what lessons have you learned about fukushima that make you sanguine? >> one that an extended loss of a.c. power electricity can lead to core damage. one of the enhanced features of the plant being built by southern company at the vogel site is that it doesn't need electricity to shut down safely in the event of a loss of off site power or loss of a.c. power at the site. there are passive features that are he lied on to safely shut down the plant for well over 72 hours when you can get hope the the site for key safety functions. >> brown: well, stephen smith, these are new di signs, right? for the reactors at the vogel plant? a westinghouse a.p.-1000 that it is said, at least, supposedly incorporates some of the lessons from fukushima. what do you think? >> well, yes, they're new. as a matter of fact, they're very new. they've never operated in this country before so we're still learning about how they're going to operate. one of the key things... i would disagree with my friend from the industry that the reason the chairman dissented was because the in

are we continue to see an international impact from fukushima? >> we very much will see an international impact. the time scale over the decision on energy policy is made, we have not seen an impact on state energy or the full range of the energy policy yet. it is high time that the responses have been it differently. with the exception of the u.k., nuclear energy has been viewed very badly. india and china are still continuing for aggressive programs, albeit in a slightly different way. >> james axon, thanks. hospital officials in ohio state's third student died following the east -- the shooting from chardon high school. if the prosecutors say he did not know his victims and chose them randomly. today, the dow jones closed above the 13,000 mark for the first time since may 2008. it comes just as the occupy movement dealt another blow last night. after more than four months camped outside f st. paul's cathedral in london, british police had cleared away the protesters. jeremy cooke has this story. >> st. paul's cathedral, a renowned place of wor

"nuclear watch" brings you insight and information on the impact of the fukushima daiichi crisis. and "the road ahead" examines japan's efforts to recover and rebuild. don't miss "nuclear watch" and "the road ahead" on "newsline." >>> leaders from japan and the united states are trying to strike a balance between regional security and sensitivity to local concerns. they've agreed to change the terms of a bilateral agreement. the 2006 deal is essentially a blueprint outlining the future deployment of u.s. troops in okinawa. right now 3/4 of american forces stationed in japan are based in the southern island prefecture. the current plan calls for thousands of u.s. marines to be shipped out to guam, but only once the futenma air station is moved from a densely populated area on okinawa's main island to a less populated location. many locals are opposed to the plan because they want the futenma base moved out of okinawa entirely. that's prompted the u.s. and japan to change their agreement. the marines will be transferred first as details of the futenma relocation are worked out. >> t

worse than fukushima or you could have actually we don't know yet how bad fukushima is going to get if you have a bad enough. steam generator failure and we had a close call indian point near new york city it was february of two thousand and they blew a steam tube and r.c. had let them operate to the brink of failure and then it failed and if they had had a cascade i mean this is twenty five thirty miles from new york city they had another radioactive steam released at that time into the hudson river valley so these nukes are getting old and dangerous we're in the breakdown phase of the nuclear power in this country and. well and now the n.r.c. is saying ok you all have four years to check out these plants to make sure that they're ok with an earthquake we had an earthquake here in washington d.c. a few few months yeah august twenty third the north anna plant had damage on the site they only inspected one of the reactors and let both of them restart assuming that the other one was the same as the other one they had damage to their radioactive waste so mary climb all over the washing

the operator of fukushima daiichi tries to figure out what's going on inside reactor number two. the people who run tokyo electric power company are puzzled over the state of one of the reactors. they say a thermometer in the damaged number two reactor indicates the temperature inside has gone up. they're trying to figure out if and how to cool it down. spokespersons for tepco say one of three thermometers at the bottom of the reactor read more than 71 degrees celsius sunday afternoon. a jump of about 25 degrees in ten days. tepco rearranged water pipes to cool the reactor more efficiently. the spokespersons say the two other thermometers read about 45 degrees. they say they don't know why only one shows higher temperatures. workers partially suspended the injection of cooling water during plumbing work in late january. the spokespersons say the procedure may have changed the way the water circulated inside the reactor. and they say that may have prevented the system from sufficiently cooling the nuclear fuel. >>> a staged arbitration body wants tepco to make advance payments to

the operator of a disabled fukushima daiichi nuclear power plant says attempts to cool the facility number three reactor through water injection continue as we speak. but that temp in the facility remains high. but the firm says the reactor is in a state of cold shutdown. the tokyo lek tri power company, tepco, says a thermometer at the bottom to have he actor read about 73 celsius on monday morning. the temperature has risen more than 20 degrees in the past four days. spokes people say two other they recall meters have stayed at 44 degrees. tepco has been injecting more than ten tons of water for hour into the reactor. the firm says the temperature rise indicates that the flow of water may have changed direction after plumbing work was carried out disrupting the cooling system. but the utility says radioactivity has not been detected in gases around the reactor. tepco says it will increase the amount of water being inject into the reactor to see if it cools. the japanese government will start measuring radiation around the plant. government officials are ree vising the no fly zone over th

the earthquake and tsunami triggered a series of events at the fukushima daiichi power plant. the terrifying images of a nuclear crisis unfolding were immediately seen around the world and international media rushed into japan to see for themselves how serious the situation was. often they were frustrated by the level of information they were given. as the administration's spokesperson, he was put in the hot seat. >> many people in tokyo frankly don't believe the statements that japanese officials are saying. they feel the statements have been very vague. often contradictory. >> we are trying our best to provide information to the public and we know that this is very important in terms of the accountability of the government. >> reporter: considering the mounting concern about the long-term effects of radiation con tom nation, i asked him whether he thinks the situation should have been handled differently. >> in terms of the status of nuclear reactors, the i think there's good room with improvement in terms of how to facility the understanding of the public about the conditio

members of the administration say they will heed lessons learned from fukushima. still president barack obama is sticking to his policy of promoting nuclear power. he wants to reduce depends on oil. the operator of a fukushima daiichi nuclear power plant is reprayering for the removal of spent fuel rods starting next year. it will be the first step in a four-year decommissioning plan. the tokyo electric power company says it has found no damage to fuel rods in the number four reactor, which will be the first to be removed. tepco released underwater video at the number four reactor building. the video shows debris fell on to the rack containing the spent fuel rods, but caused no damage. the company says visibility is about five meters. the number four reactor was offline when an aert quake and tsunami disabled the plant last march. however ark hydrogen explosion blew off the roof and sent wreckage into the storage pool make it difficult to assess is condition of the contents. the utility plans to study the inside of the storage pool before removing debris. influent

released 3,000 pages of transcripts showing its response in the days following the disaster at the fukushima daiichi nuclear power plant in japan. the documents show the agency contemplating evacuation advisory for u.s. citizens two days after the quake and tsunami disabled the facility. the transcripts cover in-house conferences over ten days from march 11th last year when the quake hit northeastern japan. a recording of an emergency conference call shows commission members discussing the seriousness of the situation. >> there is somewhat alarming language that talks about, and i'll just quote, the iaea tells us the earthquake triggered a power failure at the fukushima, daiichi unit two nuclear power plant. >> the documents show a senior member wanting to evacuate people within the radius of about 80 kilometers of the plant two days after the disaster. cesium had been detected leading an official to fear the core of the reactors were partially damaged. chairman gregory jaczko had a scenario in which reactors one, two and three all melted down. the u.s. ultimately issued an 80 kilometers eva

plus it's in fukushima prefecture and i'm hoping this move helps the prefecture cor. as a business owner, i want to do as much as i can to make that happen. >> reporter: another business is also trying to create jobs to help the disaster victims. a chain of shopping centers have been located in a town not far from the damaged nuclear power plant. after the disaster it had to close all nine stores and laff its 200 workers. next month, one store will repeanemoyee about 30 workers. as for the other laid off employees, they collect unemployment benefits while wainfothe rest of the stores to re-open. >> translator: it's heartbreaking to think that 80% of our former employees arar wainfor the stores to re-open. >> reporter: the company decided cata ecl amf workers called the temporary housing core. they visit people in temporary housg mmits,ak orders, and deliver good during a trial run, they got a favorable response. soheomnyecedo d people to the core. on this day, the company asked a former employee to join the team. as he had been reluctant to move ouofhili owo, happily

at the center of this battle, this nuclear plant, this same design as fukushima.tation is 40 years old. it's operating license issued by the u.s. nuclear regulatory commission or nrc is set to expire next month. it's 1 of 23 mark-1 design nuclear reactors in the u.s. the problems with this design are well known to industry insiders including the nrc. according to government documents dating back to 1972. >> 1972 the nrc said we never should have licensed this mark 1 design, period. but they also said, we have got so many of them licensed already, that if we were to change our minds, that would ruin nuclear power forever. >> arnie gunderson is a former nuclear industry executive turned whistle-blower with decades of experience in the industry. he's been appointed the chair of the state panel overseeing the vermont yankee reactor. he says because of design flaws, vermont yankee and other plants like it across the u.s. are one major earthquake, tornado, or flood away from disaster. and that's a fear bordering on reality after massive floods and tornados hit vermont l

after the break everyone saw the devastating earthquake in japan wreaked nuclear advocate fukushima what if the same thing happened somewhere in america are nuclear energy plants in danger. we just put a picture of me when i was like nine years old until she told the truth. i think incessant i am in total get of friends that i was traveling to pop music and. that it was kind of a yesterday. i'm very proud of the world with its place. you know sometimes you see a story and it seems so you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else and you hear or see some other part of it and realized everything you thought you knew you don't know i'm tom harpur welcome to the big picture. welcome back to the big picture i'm tom hartman coming up in this half hour the focus to a nuclear disaster happened thousands of miles away but could the very same thing or worse happen in our own backyards also americans sure do love to get their sugar highs but new research suggests sugar is not all sweet and facebook's initial public offering may create upwards of a thousand new millionaires who wan

nuclear watch brings you insight and information on the impact of the fukushima daiichi crisis. and the road ahead examines japan's efforts to recover and rebuild. don't miss nuclear watch and the road ahead on "newsline." >> next we continue our series of special reports from vietnam. >> reporter: this week we're reporting on the challenges and opportunities facing central vietnam. we'll have a report on the burgeoning tourism market in just a moment. but first, some other news from the region. the trial has begun in manila of the former president of the philippines. she appeared in court on thursday and pleaded not guilty to charges of electoral fraud. she was indicted in november on suspicion of ordering the manipulation of vote counts during a senate election in 2007. the case is viewed as a key test for the government of the president who has made eliminating corruption a priority. and next we continue our special report on central vietnam boosting tourist arrives is a key goal with the central region to catch up with economic development in the rest of vietnam. now it's wo

. >> we takeover glimpse inside the fukushima region we take a glimpse inside the fukushima plant. it is 10 in the morning in singapore. >> it is 2:00 here in london. welcome to newsday. the british photographer who had been trapped last week has been smuggled out of the country. several activists are reported to have been killed in the operation to get him out of the district. syria's ambassador to the u.n. human rights council left the debate on his country after condemning. >> the shelling of homes, as unrelenting today as it has been the last few weeks. the regime is killing 100 civilians a day across syria. heavy artillery is being used indiscriminately. this little boy's home was destroyed by a shell. incredibly, he is still alive. rescue workers freed him. he is now recovering in a makeshift field hospital. the british photographer paul conroy escaped all this. the paper said he is in good shape and good spirits. his family said they are overjoyed and relieved. >> we are quite happy he is out. we are very happy. >> the badly injured french journalist was with him in the make

plus it's in fukushima prefecture and i'm hoping this move helps the prefecture recover. as a business owner, i want to do as much as i can to make that happen. >> reporter: another business is also trying to create jobs to help the disaster victims. a chain of shopping centers have been located in a town not far from the damaged nuclear power plant. after the disaster it had to close all nine stores and layoff its 200 workers. next month, one store will re-open and employee about 30 workers. as for the other laid off employees, they collect unemployment benefits while waiting for the rest of the stores to re-open. >> translator: it's heartbreaking to think that 80% of our former employees are are waiting for the stores to re-open. >> reporter: the company decided to create a special team of workers called the temporary housing core. they visit people in temporary housing communities, take orders, and deliver goods. during a trial run, they got a favorable response. so the company decided to add 50 people to the core. on this day, the company asked a former employee to jo

nearly half suggested a satisfactory investigation into the accident at the fukushima-daiichi plant and the understanding of local residents. a third cited new government safety regulations. local leaders said they are concerned about safety and demanded more government accountability. tokyo electric power company says it has successfully lowered the temperature inside the number two reactor at the fukushima daiichi nuclear plant. tepco had been struggling to deal with rising temperatures inside the reactor. a thermometer at the bottom of the reactor read 35 degrees celcius on january 27th, but rose to over 70 degrees on sunday. the cause is unknown, and two other thermometers inside the reactor registered little change. it began pumping more water into the plant on tuesday. it boosted the rate of injection to 13.5 tons per hour. the company says that the internal temperature at 5:00 a.m. wednesday had dropped 5.5 degrees from a day earlier. the current rate of injection is the highest since after the crisis began last march. the temperature inside the reactor later rose slightly but is