Members of the Security Council are demanding they be released immediately. The peace keepers monitor a ceasefire. The captors are from the syrian opposition. A video posted online shows armed men standing around u. N. Vehicles. One of them says they will hold on to the captives. The u. N. Security council gathered for an emergency meeting to figure out how to respond. They strongly condemned a group of 20 peace united nations. About 1,000 peace keepers from four countries are stationed in the golan heights. Officia Officials Say more and more syrians are fleeing into neighboring countries. Officials say more than 400,000 people have fled since january. Many are crossing into turkey or jordan. Aid workers have asked for 1 billion to cover expenses but they say that would only last until june. Agency Officials Say they were provided with a quarter of the money they need. Hes asking the leaders of other countries for help. A senior u. S. Envoy had expressexpress ed his frustrations. Theyre committed to what he called deception, defiance and delay. The time for action by iran is now. There is no lack of clarity on what steps iran has to take. Theres no debate over requirements. Inspectors from the International Atomic agency has asked to enter a facility near iran. Iranian officials have rejected their requests. They say first the inspectors have to agree to certain conditions such as the number of inspections. We cannot give a blank check for our national security. No country will give a blank check. Delegates from six world powers met with iranian officials last week. They offered to ease economic sanction ifs the iranians give them some concessions in return. Bankers at the u. S. Central bank have been talking to economists and Business People across the country. They asked them how they feel about the economy and compile to answers into a report. What can you tell us . We found that more americans are buying more cars. Theyre buying more houses but some are still cautious about the automatic spending cuts in the u. S. They say Economic Activities are expanding at a modest pace across the country. That has housing and auto sales remain on the rise. Federal officials release their beige book. Its based on surveys conducted in 12 Federal Reserve districts in january and early february. The report says Consumer Spending grew in most districts thanks to strong auto sales. It states the Residential Market strengthened across much of the country as home prices have grown. It says employment generally expanded but several districts reported restrained hiring. The fed report is somewhat cautious about the outlook. It says uncertainties over spending cuts and other issues are having a negative impact on consumption and corporate activities. Lets get a check to see how markets are doing. Tokyo share prices are trading higher today. The nikkei average has the 12,000 mark. Market sources say tokyo in vesters are hopeful about an economic recovery in the u. S. In economic recovery in the u. S. Rs economic recovery in the u. S. Or economic recovery in the u. S. The dollar is trading higher against the japanese currency. Market sources say following the beige book report investors are more confident about the u. S. Economy. Strong job numbers from private Payroll Survey adp has encouraged investors to buy the dollar. Taking a look at the euro against the yen thats changing handing against 121. 98. Taking a look at other markets in the asia pacific. Seouls kospi we will keep track of trade moves for you over the course of the day. U. S. Democrats and republicans are seeking ways to prevent the expiring of the provisional budget from adversely affecting peoples lives. Congress has yet to enact this years budget due to disagreements between the two parties. The republican controlled house of representatives passed a bill on wednesday to extend the budget until the end of september. It approved a bill that says the part that includes defense spending will be exempt from automatic spending cuts. Other items including education and transportation should also be exempt from the cuts. They plan to deliberate related bills next week in the senate where they hold a majority. Both parties agree that measures should be taken to prevent the expiration of the professional budget from affecting some Administrative Services as well as offices excepting insurance applications. Toyota motor is reshuffling executives and will have three external Board Members for the first time in the countrys history. He asked the three men to join the board to show that toyota is open in its pursuit of global growth. One of the new appointments is General Motors executive mark hogan. The three new Board Members will take up their posts on approval at a Shareholders Meeting in june. Translator in line with toyotas Global Expansion we need a Business Structure that shows the public we have an open mind. Thats why we made this decision. Chinas latest surge to stem the rush in the home market is scrammingab scrambling. The Chinese Government said last friday it will start leveeing a 20 personal income tax on profits of the sale of a used home. The move is aimed at curbing housing prices as signs of Economic Growth appears. Homeowner are heading to real estate offices across the country looking for a quick sale to avoid the new tax. Buyers are flocking to registration offices. They are worried that homeowner may increase prices because of the tax. Translator even without the tax many people cant afford a home. I dont understand the governments view at all. Some people in the Real Estate Industry say the new tax could backfire and trigger a rise in housing prices. Antitrust regulators have come down hard on microsoft. They ordered it to pay a massive fine for failing to keep a promise to give consumers a choice of internet browsers. Officials say microsoft bundling of Internet Explorer with the windows operating system has stifled competition. They fined the company 561 Million Euros or about 731 million. Microsoft promised four years ago to offer consumers a choice. The fine is the first eus to be imposed for. Google is being probed who are looking into suspected anticompetition practices involving web advertising. Ill have more business headlines for you next hour. Here is a check on regional markets. Officers deployed a ship last september. The plan was revealed in an interview with state run tv. They have conducted 12 training voyages. Pilots and crews have practiced take off and landing exercises. They carried out their drills close to shore. Sometime this year they will train out on the open water. He did not disclose further details such as when are where the exercises will take place. Military commanders in neighboring kneighbor ing countries are concerned about chinas military build up. Leaders have had their first talk since taking off. She told japanese Prime Minister abe that japan must acknowledge its history in order to move forward. The talks took place over the telephone on wednesday evening. Park told abe the two nations are important partners in east asia. She said she wants to build a relationship thats forward looking. Japan must address historical issues. Abe told park he wants to improve bilateral ties. The islands are claimed by japan. Park and abe discussed north Koreas Nuclear test last month. They agreed cooperation is essential to impose tougher sanctions on the north. Members of the group landed last month in sabah. They say that the heirs to land and they want their land back. Translator on tuesday the military launched air strikes against a group of around 200 members that are occupying villages. The group claims to be the descend desce descendants of a royal clam. 13 members of the Militia Group have been killed in Army Operation as of wednesday. The atmosphere remain tense on wednesday. Troops continue their search for armed militants which may be hiding in palm tree plantations and surrounding locations. It came around the 15th century but collapsed in the early 20th century strived on the slave and arms trade. Media in the philippines and malaysia are reporting daily on the expected occupation. In the 1960s the government of the philippines laid a claim on sabah and came into conflict with the government. The dispute has long been dormant but the fresh outbreak of violence could affect public opinion. Philippine foreign secretary arrived in malaysia on monday and called on the government to avert for loss of life. Malaysia will hold general elections by june. Both governments are eager to settle the standoff as soon as possible. They do not want the dispute to cast a shadow over bilateral ties or the upcoming elections. At voting time Everyone Wants their voice to be heard. Concerns are growing over possible turmoil in kenya because of a delay in vote continuing for the contested president ial election. The countrys election board said on wednesday the ballot tallying system encountered trouble. It was to use mobile phones for data transmission. Votes are being calculated manually. The board said it would announce the results within 48 hours after polls closing on monday. Eight candidates are vying to succeed the outgoing president. The delay in the announcement of the results is stirring a sense of distrust among the citizens. The election board is calling for calm. People are waiting for the real result. Real result so that we can be peaceful. The election was carried out amid tight security due to concerns over a repeat of bloodshed after the 2007 president ial race. Allege vote counting irregularities triggered violence that killed more than 1,100 people. A leading dancer has admitted to ordering an acid attack on the artistic director in january. The Russian Interior Ministry released a Police Interrogation video. It showed him admitting he organized the attack but not intend it to be as serious as it turned out to be. They suspect he harbored a personal grudge against the director. He was detained on tuesday along with two other men. They are suspected of carrying out acid attack on the director who suffered severe burns to his face. He had been add odds and became increasingly critical of him after a dancer he was close to was treated coldly by the director. Artisans who live along the sea of japans coast, a local technique for dyeing fabric used in kimonos. But they found that the demand is falling so they are using some new outlets for their skills. Traditional meets modern. The flower power motif is from a kimono design. Developed 300 years ago, a technique used for dyeing silk kimono fabric. There are about 200 artisans. However, compared to the peak year of 1991, their output has dropped by 80 . One master dyer has been producing the works for 40 years. He recently started experimenting, applying traditional motifs to unconventional items, such as dishwear. Up till now im focused on kimono. The possibilities are endless. He is currently working with a textile producer to create designs for a special kind of material. Super organza is an ultra light fabric that is onefifth the finest of human hair from this ultra thin cloth for sale in japan and abroad. The first stage in creating the dyeing is to draw the design using a special paste. He says the cloth is so sheer it feels like painting on to thin air. Its difficult to focus so it can be hard on the eyes. Its stressful but the finest of the cloth is what makes the design so appealing. He is equally painstaking in his choice of colors. He chooses bolder hues, including gold and silver. The glitter of the metals compliment the translucence of the fabric. Finally, he rinses the cloth in cold water to remove the glue used for the outline. He washes it extra carefully using the finest soft brush to avoid damaging the delicate fibers. The colder the water, the brighter the final color. Altogether, it takes a whole week to make a shawl like this. The colors have a lovely gradation. It is unique to blend a 300yearold craft like this with a modern life material. I have a dream to create something completely new using our techniques. Taking old ways to a new time to check on the weather. Hi, there. Iceland has been hammered by fierce systems. Let me show you footage coming out from there. Ice land has been hit by powerful winter storms. The island has been lashed bringing heavy snow. Visibility has been reduced to near zero resulting in widespread traffic jams. You can see theres numerous Car Accidents yesterday. You can see the cloud coverage over iceland. The winds will be winding down and the heavy snow will be diminishing into the friday afternoon hours. Also its very messy across the central areas of the mediterranean. The gusts, thunderstorms, hail also reported yesterday. This is all going to be rain rather than snow. Looking at 9 degrees back to the single digits. Looking fine and nice in vienna well above your average for your thursday high. Moving over to the north American Continent where the eastern half has been slammed by this very potent system which is finally moving away going toward the offshore but due to the warmth of the water it will be developing further and lingering across these areas. Yet again accumulating more snow into the next 48 hours. We already have reports of about 60 centimeters of total accumulation in west virginia. About 20 to 30 but into the next 24, 48 hours yet again accumulation of 75 centimeters could be popular. New york and d. C. Both marking up 4 degrees. Youll see a mixture of rain and snow. Theres going to be slushy snow which is dangerous for driving. Oklahoma city reaching 19 degrees. The average is 17. Its a huge jump from yesterday where it marked ten degrees. Nine degrees above yesterday. Moving over to the Eastern Continental asia where the spring air is covering much and see the record. Its going to be a messy day out for you in northern japan starting noon hours. Were talking about thunderstorms and snow and rain. Could be on the heavy side. Thats a drop there. A different story here in tokyo. Another thing to talk about is this yellow sand thats pooling in. It sounds nice but not really. It causes Health Problems and its going to be on its way toward western japan. Temperature wise its shaping up like this. Ill leave you now for your extended forecast. The dutchess of cambridge may have spilled the beans on a royal secret. A slip of the tongue suggest she and Prince William are expecting a daughter. She made the comment while visiting a town in central england. The couples baby is due in july. A woman from the town presented kathryn with a teddy bear. The dutchess thanked her. She said she would keep the gift for her d and quickly stopped there. Another woman asked if the baby is a girl. No, no. We dont know. The exchange was big news in the british press. Some tabloids ran the story on the front page. The couples first child will be third in line to the thrown after Prince Charles and Prince William. Thats all for this edition of