glad to have you with us on this edition of "newsline." it's friday, september 9th, 8:00 a.m. in tokyo. i'm catherine kobayashi. japanese defense officials say two russian bombers took an unusual course circling around japan. the defense ministry says two tu-95 bombers from the russian air force approached japanese

air base on thursday morning. fighter planes from japan's air self-defense force scrambled to track the bombers. the aircraft later flew southward other the east china sea and south of okinawa's main island. it skirted along the archipelago northward. they headed south on the japan seaside before leaving areas near japan. the defense ministry says the bombers did not violate japan's air space but it was an unusual route for any russian military aircraft. the air force has been active around japan recently. bombers and spy planes have approached japanese air space five times since last month. a russian defense ministry spokesperson revealed to the interfax news agency that its bomber planes had in fact circled japan. the spokesperson said they were

tracked. he said the russian bombers were doing flight training over the ocean. this spokesperson added the country's air force regularly patrols international air space. prime minister yoshihiko noda has visited fukushima for the first time since taking office. he inspected the power plant and asked workers there to help contain the ongoing disaster. noda visited the stricken nuclear plant on thursday and inspected the damaged reactor buildings. he then spoke to about 200 people at the plant. >> translator: the whole world is waiting for japan to bring the nuclear accident under control. the efforts of everyone here will be the key to whether the nation can overcome the challenge. >> noda also said that thanks to them levels of radiation and waste water inside the plant

have fallen by a factor of 10 million. the prime minister also visited northwest of the power plant where relative high levels of radiation have been detected. he watched officials measuring radiation in a ditch and was briefed about decontamination work. japanese researchers have estimated that a total of 15,000 terra becquerels of radioactive substances have been released into the sea. researchers at the japan atomic energy agency, kioto university and others made the report of chemicals released into the sea. the combined amount of iodine 131 and cesium 137 is more than triple the amount by tepco. tepco had only calculated the radioactivity from the water

into the sea in april and may. the but researchers say their estimate includes a large amount released into the atmosphere and mixed with rain. they say they need to determine the total amount of radioactivity to assess the impact of the disaster on the sea. tepco says it will begin stress tests on two reactors at its nuclear plant in niigata prefecture. the reactors are currently out of service due to regular checkups. tepco says it'll conduct the first stage of the safety assessments on the number one and seven reactors of the plant starting on friday. in july, the government introduced an additional safety assessment as a response to the fukushima daiichi crisis. the stress test uses computer simulations to assess how well nuclear power plants can withstand earthquakes, tsunami, and the loss of external power. the first stage is required for

restarting reactors that were halted. but the governor of niigata prefecture has expressed caution. the governor has said conducting stress tests will not lead to the prefecture approving the rumgs of such reactors. he said his prefecture will not make a decision until the results of the accident are published. a tepco official says the company wants to confirm the safety of the plant through stress tests and explain the results to local communities. this sunday marks the sixth month anniversary of the devastating earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear crisis. all this week we're bringing you feature reports and analyses of the current situation. today's "nuclear watch" looks at how the japanese government and

tokyo electric power company have been dealing with the accident which is ranked at the highest level of severity. first we'll review what happened at the fukushima daiichi nuclear plant. >> reporter: on march 11th, a magnitude 9 earthquake struck a wide area of eastern japan. shortly after, a huge tsunami hit the fukushima daiichi nuclear plant. external power was completely lost and the underground energy generators were knocked out as well. >> translator: no radioactive leaks from nuclear power plants have been reported so far. >> reporter: however, hydrogen explosions and fires occurred in three of the reactor buildings. the explosions and venting operations released radioactive substances into the environment. to cool down the reactors, the self-defense forces and fire

departments began dumping water into the containment vessels. but the coolant water accumulated inside the reactor buildings. more than 10,000 tons of radioactive water was discharged into the sea. tepco and the government were severely criticized both at home and abroad. >> translator: it's very regrettable, and i'm sorry that radioactive water has to be discharged into the sea. intentionally. >> reporter: more than two months after the accident, the government revealed the fuel rods in three reactors had melted down and collected at the bottom of the reactors. >> translator: we should of taken the possibility of a meltdown more seriously. >> reporter: around this time, tepco began using a water

circulation cooling system. in july they announced the three reactors were being stably cooled down. a cold shutdown of the reactors by january so their temperatures will remain below 100 degrees celsius. >> earlier michio kijima spoke to commentator for more details. >> translator: it's been six months since the accident and tepco says that the reactors are being cooled in a stable manner. what is the current situation at fukushima daiichi? >> translator: there's no end in sight yet. and tepco has added more temporarily water circulation cooling systems to decontaminate radioactive water and to inject 380 tons of water per day into three reactors. but the temperature of the bottom of number two reactor was more than 110 degrees celsius

this morning which means it's boiling. so radioactive substances are still believed to be leaking even now even though the total amount of leaks has significantly been reduced since right after the accident. >> translator: why can't the temperature of the reactor or the nuclear fuel be brought down? >> translator: because tepco has to minimize water injection to prevent radioactive water from overflowing. besides they are injecting water without knowing exactly where melted fuel lies within the reactors. they cannot directly confirm its location due to strong radiation. so tepco and nuclear and industrial safety agency used a simulation program developed in the united states to analyze the situation and have learned that meltdown occurred and reactors

were crippled within four days after the accident. but the two simulations they had done in the past didn't tell us where exactly melted fuel lies inside the reactors. >> translator: that seems to suggest that a more detailed simulation is needed. >> translator: that's right. that's why another simulation was done recently used a computer program developed in japan. based on the detailed structure of the reactor and the shape of rods, researchers found how they changed in the number one reactor. this was run by a team headed by nito, at the institute of applied energy. they ran a more-detailed simulation calculated how rods have changed every .1 second since right after the cooling system failed.

according to that simulation, shortly after 5:00 p.m. on march 11th, the core of the fuel rods began to melt and began to pile up at the bottom of the reactor. and a large amount of radioactive substances contained inside the rods were released. two and a half hours later, melted fuel made a hole at the bottom of the vessel and began to leak out to the containment vessel causing melt through. all fuel was completely melted within four hours after melting began. 85% has already leaked out to the containment vessel. it's the first time that we've got such a detailed data about how much fuel has melted and where it lies now.

>> translator: an analysis was significant in it helps us better understand the status of the reactor. would you expect a simulation of this kind to play a major role in the situation? >> translator: if they know exactly where the melted fuel is and they can inject water more precisely and efficiently, tepco and nisa should not use only their own simulation results but also the simulations through other institutions like this to develop more effective strategies. gaining accurate information about the reactor is oh, so crucial for decommissioning work. in the three mile accident island in 1979, radioactive substances were released from the melted fuel. at three mile island, only one reactor was crippled but it took

five years to grasp the situation inside the reactor and another five years to take out melted fuel. at fukushima, three reactors failed. so it will take more time. the government and tepco should utilize as much data as possible including this one to bring the situation under control. >> translator: thank you very much. the march 11th disaster. the september 11th attacks. two anniversaries, one source for in-depth coverage. join nhk world for "japan: six months on" and "9/11: defining a decade." our programming continues all week. then on sunday, september 11th we'll mark the anniversaries. 2:30 p.m. japan time for the 3/11 disaster. 9:40 p.m. for the 9/11 attacks.

the accident at fukushima daiichi has prompted the japanese government to start reducing this country's dependence on nuclear energy. it won't be easy. we'll look at the challenges on friday in our weekly segment "the road ahead." wind, solar, and other forms of green energy are developing in japan, but slowly. we'll examine the efforts to turn renewable sources into a reliable power supply. in other news, russia's gas company has opened a pipeline in the country's far east. it hopes to boost liquefied natural gas exports to japan and other parts of the asia pacific region. a ceremony was held on thursday to mark the completion of the pipeline. the 1800 kilometer system runs to the region's largest port city.

>> translator: we will continue building infrastructure in the far east. will bring further regional development. >> japan and russia have agreed to build a plant near vladilov strks og. the two countries will cooperate to extend to south korea through the north. the country intends to develop new gas fields in eastern siberia. corporate bankruptcies in japan have risen for the second month in a row. some companies are blaming the record-high yen. private credit research firm data bank says 969 companies failed in august. that's up half a percent from the same month last year. those eight companies say it led to a drop in exports. this year the strong yen pushed

34 firms into bankruptcy as of august. this is an increase of 21% from the same period last year. unlns to japanese firms will be reduced. now let's take a look at the market figures. many next we go to our bureau in

bangkok. patchari raksawong has the latest on what's making headlines in the region. >> we have an update on the deadly bombing that shook the indian capital of new delhi on wednesday. investigators are analyzing a message sent to several television stations by an islamist group claiming responsibility for the attack. here are the details. >> reporter: the bomb that exploded in front of the high court building in central new delhi killed 12 people. 91 others were injured. the prime minister condemned the attacks. >> this is of a terrorist nature. we will deal with it. we will never succumb to the pressure of terrorism. >> reporter: after the attack, several indian tv stations

received an e-mail claiming responsibility for the bombing on behalf of an islamist group based in bangladesh. the message demanded that authorities throw out the death sentence of a man convicted of participating in an attack in 2001. the attackers are believed to have concealed the bomb in a small suitcase. two male suspects have been released. in july mumbai was shakened by bombing attacks in three locations. high court in new delhi -- when the bomb went off in the parking lot. given the symbolic importance of this target, authorities are

under pressure to find those responsible and put an end to the attacks. nhk world. in other updates, the afghan defense ministry says more than 10% of the country's military personnel have deserted in the first six months of the year. it raises concern as the security is being transferred from the international coalition to the afghan military. >> translator: a total of 18,066 personnel departed the service from january through june in 2011. >> the figure marks an increase of nearly 2,300 from the same period last year and accounts for 10.6% of the entire military. but according to a tally by the

coalition forces, the situation is even worse. they say the number of deserters is 24,000 or 14% of the total. the afghan defense ministry acknowledged that desertion remains a major problem during the transfer of security control. and at the same news conference, a spokesperson for the nato-led coalition jacobson unveiled plans to provide $2 billion worth of supplies to forces. >> to support afghanistan in the war on terrorism, we will continue to build up afghan national security forces. and that will wrap up our bulletin. i'm patchari raksawong reporting in bangkok. all right. well, the best women's soccer team on the planet has secured a spot at the 2012 olympic games.

nadeshiko has won the chance to compete next summer in london. the team faced north korea for its fourth of five qualifying matches. nagasato's shot put japan on the board in the second half. it ricochetted into the goal. but north korea's kim jorra nailed this one to tie the match. china and australia met in the follow game. australia won 1-0. japan's team faces china on sunday. but it has secured the second highest position in this tournament with a total of ten points. the london games will be their fourth olympic appearance. in tokyo people erupted into loud cheering after hearing the news. >> translator: i'm so happy.

nadeshiko is representing japanese women. i want to shine like them. >> translator: i hope they'll become the world's number one again. just like at the world cup. welcome back to your weather update. we're getting a look at the weather in east asia. we're keeping our eye on tropical storm kulap. it is moving past the southern islands of japan aiming for the okinawa islands now. over the course of today and into the start of the weekend. after that looks like it's going to continue at a steady pace towards the northerly direction. heading in towards the korean peninsula. it's not expected to intensify at all. a small and compact system. but definitely strong systems.

showers are going to start effecting the islands here in the south but parts of southern mainland japan as well. and that will include some hard-hit areas. areas that are still well saturated from the tropical storm system from last week. landslide risk will remain very serious in some of these areas. over towards china it remains wet out towards the east. scattered showers across this wide area today. shanghai's high remains at 29 degrees. chongqing down to 25. pleasant here. tokyo in at 31. it is going to be on the humid, sticky side for a change. over towards the americas, we're looking at good rotation here. this is hurricane katia remaining off shore but bringing dangerous rip currents to the east coast of the u.s. it will start veering out towards sea after this and head out. but we are keeping an eye on tropical storm nate in the gulf of mexico. remains a slow pace, about four

kilometers per hour. it is expected to become a hurricane by friday. and it will continue to bring in lots of rain to the yucatan peninsula as well as some high waves. we need to watch out for that. and in the caribbean there is tropical storm maria. and this one is expected to weaken a little bit as it moves through the islands as a tropical depression. after that it is expected to strengthen once again, become a tropical storm system. so this, too, will be a system that needs watching over the next few days. or even well into next week. and finally a look at europe here. lots of clouds out towards the east. lots of showers and thunderstorms have been moving through the northern half of the europe this weekend. it is now starting to move in towards areas like western russia as well as eastern europe. this rain headed your way. even behind that it doesn't completely clear out. especially tonight showers lingering across portions of germany and poland.

for the british isles, settles for awhile. especially on the eastern side on friday. but tonight that -- friday more showers coming on in. could be intensifying at times. here's a look at highs. stockholm in at 19. also cool in berlin. showers out east will make it feel cool. 15 expected in kiev. out west, a bit of warmth coming up. paris hits 25 degrees. london warms up to 23. all right. that's a look at your weather conditions for now. here is your three-day outlook.

is. our lead stories this hour, japanese defense officials say two russian bombers took an unusual course circling around japan. the defense ministry says two tu-95 bombers from the russian air force approached japanese air base on thursday morning. fighter planes from japan's air self-defense force scrambled to track the bombers. the aircraft later flew southward over the east china sea and then south of okinawa's main island. afterwards it moved to the pacific side before skirting along the archipelago northward.

the bombers continued flying over the strait of soiya while being refueled mid-air. the defense ministry says the bombers did not violate japan's air space, but it was an unusual route for any russian military aircraft. the russian air force has been active around japan recently. bombers and spy planes have approached japanese air space five times since last month. a russian ministry spokesperson revealed that its bomber planes had in fact circled japan. the spokesperson says the bombers were tracked by fighters from japan and south korea's air force. he said the russian bombers were doing flight training over the ocean. the spokesperson added that the country's air force regularly patrols international waters without violating international law. and that wraps up this edition of "newsline."

i'm catherine kobayashi in to o tokyo. do stay with us. we'll be back with more of your updates at the top of the next hour. hello. i'm tomoko kimura with nhk world tv. this week we're showing two new programs that offer understanding of traditional japanese culture. kampai, a guide to great drinks offers foreign drinks to visitors. the first episode is on sake. our reporters visit sushi vau

restaurants to find which go best with certain dishes. sumo star hakuho is the 69th yokozuna. he has become a keystone of the sport. he talks about the spirit and s essence of sumo. we're also presenting a documentary this week that investigates the secret of lon generality which has created a sensation in japan. a gene has been discovered that delays the ageing of the human body and expand the human life span to over 120 years. please visit our website for air