welcome to nhk world "newsline." i'm gene otani in tokyo. here's a look at the stories we're following this hour. japanese officials say work to remove fuel from the crippled reactors at the fukushima daiichi plant may begin sooner than expected. a former u.s. intelligence worker has told reporters he leaked details of government surveillance programs out of conscience. japanese businessmen are

working to come up with ways to help people avoid future disasters by studying the past. >> japanese engineers may be able to start removing fuel from the reactors at the fukushima daiichi plant earlier than previously expected. officials of the government and plant's operator want to speed up the process and drafted a new road map for getting the work done. the officials jointly released a revised timetable for decommissioning the four reactors damaged two years ago. plan covers various scenarios and calls for work to begin on separate dates for each of the reactors. engineers will start with the number one and two reactors in the year 2020 at the earliest. that's 18 months sooner than the previous plan. work on reactor number two could be delayed until 2024. it will depend on how quickly engineers can decontaminate the reactor building. radiation levels remain high at

the plant. engineers now depend on remote control robots to work inside the reactors. timetable is subject to change whether they can develop new technology. >> officials have been facing very challenging situations. in september, crane operator accidentally knocked a steel beam into a spent fuel pool in the building of reactor three. the worker was removing debris at the time. a power blackout caused the suspension of cooling systems of spent fuel over nearly 30 hours. officials believe a rat caused a short circuit. contaminated water leaks or another problem. ground water is seeping into buildings at a rate of 400 tons per day. >> translator: the more time it takes to decommission the reactors, the more risks engineers will be exposed to. they need to revise the road map as they go to deal with special

difficulties they encounter and prepare back-up plans. >> the biggest challenge will be to remove melted fuel. a meltdown occurred in 1979 at the three-mile island plant in the united states but the fuel remained in the core. the meltdowns at feek puck -- fukushima daiichi caused the meltdown. all 6,000 residents were forced to evacuate their homes two years ago after the nuclear crisis and still can't move back because of high radiation level. many are hoping to resume work as farmers after levels drop. some have planted rice seedlings in a decontaminated paddy to see if the crop will be affected.

the paddy has the highest radiation levels in the village. in august, workers very moved five centimeters and levels of cesium fell more than 90%. village officials plan to harvest the rice in september. they will dispose of it after learning how much cesium it contains. >> translator: it's tough and sad for us to throw our crops away, but we are look ing forward to posting results from the test as that will help bring us a bright future. an official says he hopes the results of the plant testing will lead to an early return of the villagers. a man who once worked for the cia has admitted that he leaked details about secret u.s. surveillance programs. the national security agency collected information on people's phone and internet records.

britain's "guardian" newspaper and "the washington post" first reported about the programs last week. they say edward snowden agreed to disclose his identity as a source of the leaks. he worked as a technical assistant for the cia and also a contract worker for the nsa. he spoke with journalists from "the guardian" in hong kong. saying that it destroys the privacy and hurts basic liberties of people all over the world. >> even if you're not doing anything wrong, you're being watched and recorded and the storage capability of these systems increases every year consistently by orders of magnitude. the public needs to decide whether these programs of policies are right or wrong. i'm ready to go on record to defend the authenticity of them. and say i didn't change this and modify the story. this is the truth and this is what's happening. you should decide whether we need to be doing this. >> snowden has said he wants to seek asylum in a foreign country. he presented information,

showing that nsa officials monitored u.s. phone records. agency officials gathered internet data from communication service providers. it includes e-mail messages and videos and photos. government officials have acknowledged the program's existence. president barack obama had said they are part of steps to prevent terror attacks. u.s. department of justice officials say they've launched an investigation. the name of the internet data collection program is prism. the administration of president barack obama's declassified certain details about the program after its existence was leaked. a statement by the director of national intelligence describes prism as a computer system to help collect foreign intelligence. it says such information gathering is authorized by congress. "the washington post" reported that the nsa and fbi have used prism to tap directly into the central servers of nine leading u.s. internet companies. it says prism enables officials to extract a range of data,

including audio, video, photographs, e-mail messages and connection logs. it says officials use the information to monitor communication of individual users. the newspaper published slides about prism that it says are from the nsa. this slide shows how most of the electronic communications move through companies based in the united states. it says communications by an individual targeted for surveillance could easily flow through the u.s. facebook, google and apple are among the companies identified in the slides. officials at these three firms have denied giving the government direct access to their servers. we asked an expert for his take on the developments. a freelance analyst who specializes in international politics says that the disclosures offer new insights into the extent of the nsa's intelligence gathering efforts. we are target to expanded to international terrorists or terrorist organizations. what is remarkable is the extent

of the surveillance operations by nsa, they obtained data from u.s. internet providers by direct access to the servers of the companies covering e-mail, skype, facebook. and we have to remind that the recently obama administration repeatedly said that the current threat is home grown terrorists, so it is reasonable to suspect ordinary u.s. citizens under surveillance by the u.s. government. what is interesting is the source of the leak, mr. snowden, he was described as a former cia worker but his current job is employee of private company. so one of the most secret surveillance program is handled by a private companies, quite interesting and shows how intelligence activities changed

since 9/11. as i mentioned, nsa surveillance activities expanded from targeting foreign intelligence agents to possible terrorists all over the world. but simply expanding those is beyond the existing capability of the u.s. government. so since 9/11, what happened in intelligence community is to outsource part of the intelligence and surveillance activities to private companies such as booth allen. another aspect is to prevent terrorist attacks, all of the relevant agencies, such as nsa, fbi, must share intelligence. this is a trend since 9/11, but the logical sequence is that low ranking employee such as mr. snowden can access to one of the top secret program. all right the government was criticized for the u.s. intelligence activities, it is

possible the intelligence agencies of many other countries or allies could benefit from the secret u.s. program and there could be criticism in those countries for cooperating with u.s. activities. another aspect, it was revealed the u.s. government was so active in surveillance activities all over the world so it is difficult for the obama administration to criticize other government for conducting cyber espionage, for instance, or other intelligence activities. this could weaken the obama administration in dealing with other countries. japanese government officials had positive news on

the economy. they say growth was initially better than reported. officials at the cabinet office raised their estimate of gross domestic product for january through march. the new figure suggests gdp rose by 1% compared with the final three months of last year. that's an improvement of 0.1% from the preliminary estimate. the japanese economy has grown for two quarters in a row. in annual terms the economy expanded by 4.1% up from the preliminary estimate of 3.5%. capital spending declined by a smaller amount than initially calculated. the new figures suggest investments decline by 0.3% compared to the drop of 0.7% earlier reported. officials say higher stock prices and a weaker yen are benefitting the economy. but they say the government of prime minister shinzo abe must carry through with a recent growth strategy. they say that's necessary to increase capital spending. japanese consumers are feeling good about the economy.

their confidence improved for the fifth straight month in may reaching a six-year high. the latest data show that consumer confidence stood at 45.7. it went up 1.2 points from april. the rise is attributed to growing expectations that the government's economic policies and weak yen will help improve corporate earnings. on the basis of the latest numbers, the cabinet office upgraded its assessment of consumer confidence and said it's improving. officials remain cautious about the future though. they say they will closely monitor stock and currency market developments and see how they will affect consumer confidence. prime minister abe plans to explain his economic policy at a group of eight summit scheduled in northern ireland. >> translator: i am hoping to win the understanding of the other g-8 leaders about the three pillars of my economic policy.

i hope they'll see that japan's recovery will also help revitalize the global economy. >> abe also told government and ruling party officials that he intends to launch the second phase of his growth strategy in autumn. he said his proposal could include major tax cuts for corporate capital investments. he instructed party officials to start discussions on tax reforms earlier than planned. abe is pushing three economic plans that consistent of bold monetary easing, stepped up government spending and a growth strategy. here are the latest market figures.

japanese prime minister shinzo abe is maintaining popularity among his citizens according to a new nhk poll. survey takers interviewed 1,008 people over the weekend. 62% of respondents say they back abe's cabinet. 37% say they prefer the makeup of the cabinet to other alternatives. about one fifth say they have high hopes for the administration's policies. survey takers also ask about his plans to revitalize the economy. more than two-thirds say they approve of the measures he's taken. only 11% feel the economy is recovering. more than half also say they are concerned about the rise of consumer prices. the survey covered the plan to increase per capita income by $15,000 in the next ten years. 13% feel the plan will lead to economic recovery.

one-third of respondents say they don't. militants have laumpbled a deadly attack on a nato convoy in pakistan. the vehicles were traveling from afghanistan along continental route that has long been a favorite target of the pakistani taliban and other militants. the attack could have serious implications as the route is becoming more important for transporting nato combat forces withdrawing from afghanistan. four people were killed in the attack in the tribal region in north western pakistan. the area is home to several main roads used by supply trucks bound for afghanistan. local officials say militants dressed as policemen armed with rockets attacked vehicles from the surrounding mountains. two vehicles were completely destroyed. truck drivers and their assistants were among the dead. pakistan previously closed the supply route in november 2011 after the death of 24 pakistani

soldiers. they were mistakenly killed in a cross-border air strike by the u.s. military launched from afghanistan. the route was reopened in 2012 after then-u.s. secretary of state hillary clinton offered an official apology. the u.s. has decreased use of routes passing through pakistan and instead using more expensive corridors through central asia. but the pakistani routes are still crucial for nato supply chains. an official of the jamrub area said the convoy was returning from afghanistan. the safety of the route is especially important as nato forces prepare to withdraw from afghanistan at full swing. vietnam's leaders have faced confidence votes for the first time since the nation was founded. state-run media in the country is hailing it as a move to increase accountability and transparency in the

communist-controlled government. lawmakers cast their ballots on monday. the vote is part of changes approved by the legislature last year. the country's top 47 officials including prime minister were subject to the vote, according to state-run vietnam news. they were required to summit performance and achievement reports in advance. the media says those who pull less than 50% will face a no confidence vote or be asked to resign. the new measures come amid growing public anger over alleged corruption and inefficiency of the government, which is under the one-party rule. analysts say the confidence vote was adopted as part of efforts to quell discontent. the state media says the results of the vote will be released on tuesday. most observers say they don't expect any of the top officials to fail. thai police confiscated hundreds of rare and protected animals on monday. officials say it's one of the largest seizures of recent years in thailand. the country is known as a major

international hub in the illegal wildlife trade. authorities found around 400 caged animals from 40 rare species during a raid on a house in eastern bangkok. among those found were white lions, indian peacocks and reptiles. >> translator: we found out that a rare bird was going to be handed over to a buyer this morning. we blocked the sale. it is obvious this is part of a trafficking operation. >> according to police, the owner of the building claims the animals were being raised there before being sent on a nearby private zoo. later, the animals will be sold to buyers in other countries. police are investigating whether international trafficking rings are involved. southeast asia is known for its rich wildlife. thailand is at the center of the region and is surrounded by some of its poorest countries. experts say that is why smugglers see thailand as the ideal hub for bringing animals to wealthy buyers.

since the massive earthquake and tsunami in 2011, companies and local governments have been taking action to prepare for similar disasters in the future. a major earthquake off the south coast of japan could trigger another massive tsunami. so companies are developing new approaches that they hope will help save people's lives. nhk world has more. >> reporter: lights flash, a siren wails and smoke pours from a chimney. it's more than just a warning that a tsunami's expected, it's also a guide so when people in the vicinity where they should head for safety. this system was developed by a

steel plate processing maker. >> translator: we are a steelmaksteel maker. we want to use our technology to help improve people's lives. >> reporter: the aim was to develop a system to show people where to head for safety. all 23 of the company's employees submitted ideas. the company still processing to build. the hardest part was ensuring that the smoke would be emitted continuously. >> translator: standard smoke flares only emit smoke for slightly more than three minutes. we've managed to develop flairs that can last for an hour. >> reporter: the company is now trying to pitch the new system to local governments in coastal areas of japan.

in low lying coastal areas where there's no high ground, a number of towers and other structures have been built to serve as evacuation points. however, many structures are likely to suffer damage if they're hit by cars or other large objects swept away by the tsunami. >> translator: our evacuation tower resembles a bridge. >> reporter: in the 2011 tsunami, many homes and buildings were destroyed, but bridges tended to remain in place. this bridgemaker developed a structure that was more like a bridge with a wider gap between the pillars to reduce the impact of objects floating in the water. it conducted experiments with a local university to assess the impact of cars on various types

of evacuation towers. testing a small scale model of a conventional evacuation tower they found many of the motor cars ended up hitting the front of the tower, but they have designed for a new tower was a much wider gap between the support pillars allow the cars to be swept past easily. the first full-size structure using this new design will be built in october of this year. >> translator: our aim is to build an escape tower that will protect all the people who take shelter on it. >> reporter: as fears grow of another tsunami occurring in another part of japan, companies are drawing on the expertise to come up with the solutions and those create new business

opportunities. nhk world. tropical storm miyagi spinning south of japan. meteorologist robert speta has been following that. robert. >> we are continuing to watch this one just south of here spinning up. one fun fact is yagi in japanese means goat. well, i was growing up on a farm goats were quite a nuisance. that's what this storm is going to be pulling off towards the north. it is going to just be bringing rainfall throughout the rest of the week here to mainland japan. you're going to see heavy rain even winds possibly up around tropical storm strength. and then also about four-meter-high waves with this as it pushes out towards the north just west of the islands eventually recurving back here towards the east. near the mainland coast you can see about two-meter high waves, upwards of about three meters high and then you're talking about the rain. the rain not expecting to be all too heavy.

the problem is is that it's going to be persistent here throughout the next several days and that could cause some flooding. storms intensify monday through tuesday. up to about 93 kilometers per hour maxing out. then we have the rainy season front right here and also some cooler sea surface temperatures, that's going to mix in with this too. but that front is going to kick up the wind shear. as you can see on the model it completely falls apart and drifts off. really don't expect this to make landfall as a tropical system or at least with the gusty tropical storm strength winds. that's going to continue to pull off towards the north and towards the east throughout the remainder of the week. then towards the west southeastern china getting in on heavy showers about 50 to 100 millimeters in your forecast. that could cause further flooding. you've been seeing this day in and day out for the last several weeks, even around hong kong thunderstorms will continue to pop-up here. let's continue to look farther to the west, myanmar and india, it's the southwest monsoon out

here. and it has been causing some problems still. actually, i want to show you some photos coming out of western india here. now, what happened is some people were down by the river here washing their clothes in the river. and a sudden surge of water came through. and there was about ten people stuck out on this little embankment here. rescuers had to throw out a line. but that happens with these flash floods. you'll see these quick bursts of heavy rain upstream. that's what a flash flood is. it's just in a flash. comes right through. now towards southern portions of india you're seeing the monsoonal flow come on shore that's typical this time of year, june 10th officially set in. then we look towards july gradually going to push off farther towards the north bringing cooler temperatures. that is well the good news with it is that it has been baking out here and you're going to start to see it cool off. now let's take a look towards the americas. heavy rain in the northeast. well, this is coming on the heels of tropical storm andrea, which pushed through last week.

well, that brought some heavy rain to new york and new england. this one's going to be around 50 millimeters of rainfall. and that on top of what has already come out here is bringing that risk of some further flooding. even extending off of that we're going to see strong storms towards the southeast as this cold front continues to push off there towards the east. behind it high pressure's working its way in. very warm temperatures into the central plains. we're actually going to be into the mid to high 30s out here. and also talking fire weather into the desert southwest, some 65 kilometer per hour winds out in this area and even that very, very dry air. so definitely want to stay hydrated and keep your fires just inside or possibly no fires at all. oklahoma city high 34, denver at 36 on monday. that's a look at your world weather. here's the extended forecast.

that's "newsline" for this hour.

i'm gene otani in tokyo. from all of us here at nhk world, thanks for joining us. have a great day wherever you are.

danish journalist asger christensen has been covering the damage for years. >> it is interesting to come here to follow the way that the japanese have handled the extreme challenge they have been put up against. >> two years since the catastrophe struck. what efforts are being made to recover from the damage?