hello there. welcome. it's thursday august 5th, 11:00 a.m. in tokyo. here are your updates. u.n. secretary-general ban ki-moon is making his first visit to nagasaki on thursday. the city was destroyed by a u.s. atomic bomb on august 9th, 1945. ban arrived in nagasaki on thursday morning. he's visiting the city and hiroshima on the 65th anniversary of the atomic bombings. the u.n. chief is visiting the nagasaki atomic bomb museum. he'll also meet bomb survivors to hear their stories.

earlier, the secretary-general spoke to nhk. >> hiroshima and nagasaki, these are two most worst experience and disaster to human being. i'm very saddened to see there are still hundreds of thousands of people who have been affected by the radiation, and their life have been miserable. and we have to make sure that never again this will happen in the human history. >> he's also scheduled to visit urakami cathedral, the site of the atomic-bombed santa maria statue. ban saw the statue at the u.n.'s new york headquarters when it was sent to the city for an international conference on nuclear disarmament in may. u.s. president barack obama says the mission to stop the oil spill in the gulf of mexico is

nearing completion. he says the focus will now shift to cleaning up the environment and rebuilding the lives of people affected by the disaster. >> the long battle to stop the leak and contain the oil is finally close to coming to an end. and we are very pleased with that. >> the u.s. government has been working with bp to plug the worst oil spill in u.s. history that began on april 20th. in the final phase of the effort, mud and cement were pumped into the ruptured well to hold back the flow of crude. a u.s. government report released on wednesday says 74% of the estimated 770,000 kiloliters of crude have been recovered or have decomposed naturally. a magnitude 7 earthquake has struck off papua-new guinea in the southern pacific. the quake hit at 8:01 a.m. local time on thursday, or 22:01 utc on wednesday. the u.s. geological survey

reports that the epicenter is about 54 kilometers beneath the ground on papua-new guinea's new britain island. the pacific tsunami warning center in hawaii says the quake is unlikely to have triggered tsunami waves. hotel staff in new britain island say jolts from the quake lasted for about three minutes, but there are no reports of major damage so far. chief cabinet secretary yoshito sengoku will meet okinawa prefectural governor hirokazu nakaima on friday to discuss the relocation of the u.s. marine corps futenma air station. the japanese and u.s. governments agreed in may to build a base in a coastal area of the henoko district of nago city in okinawa as an alternative to the futenma facility. sengoku plans to inform nakaima of the government's policy. deputy chief cabinet secretary fukuyama and takino are to visit okinawa next week. but opposition to the construction of the alternative base inside okinawa is very

strong. the japanese government plans to soon set up a joint consultative body to establish close contacts with the local administrations in okinawa. some insist that the consultative body should discuss not only the relocation issue but also ways to reduce the burden of hosting u.s. military bases on okinawa as well as how to stimulate the local economy. a team of international scientists has discovered the fossil of an ancient crocodile but with teeth like a mammal. they say the animal is about the size of a cat. they believe it probably lived in the mid-cretaceous period, some 100 million years ago. it was discovered in tanzania, southwest africa. the group was led by ohio university in the u.s. the crocodile has molars and sharp, pointed front teeth, traits found in mammals, then moreptiles. the researchers speculate the creature lived on land in the southern hemisphere. they also think it fed on

insects and small animals before mammals thrived. the discovery will be published in the british journal "nature," to be issued on thursday. russia says raging wildfire there's have killed at least 48 people and destroyed nearly 2,000 houses. the disaster comes amid a month-long record heat wave, which has sparked dozens of fires in the west and center of the country. on wednesday president dmitry medvedev dismissed several senior naf yoifsers for failing to stop forest fires fren guflg a naval hangar in the moscow suburbs. forecasters say the rain is still some way off. the russian government is trying to halt the fire from spreading to streenltly important facilities including a nuclear research center. the u.n. is warning that

floods ravaging pakistan could cause outbreaks of cholera and other infections as sanitary conditions worsen. torrential rains that fell mainly in northwestern pakistan last week have triggered floods in many areas. the nation's disaster prevention authorities say more than 1,000 people have been killed. the u.n. estimates that another 3 million are now homeless. with roads cut off and dozens of medical facilities destroyed, food distribution in the affected areas is becoming harder, and medical supplies are scarce. in the worst-affected area of the northwest, many women and children show symptoms of diarrhea and skin disease, probably because of bad water. the world health organization fears that bad sanitary conditions and a lack of vaccines could cause infectious outbreaks. w.h.o. is sending medical teams to the devastated sites and calling for international cooperation to fight the disaster. iran says a reported

assassination attempt against president pa mooudmahmoud ahmad was only a firecracker that went off as he was visiting a western iranian city on wednesday. the flash occurred near ahmadinejad's convoy during his visit to hamedan to give a speech. the president was not harmed. a cameraman who witnessed the scene told nhk that white smoke rose above the crowd at least 50 meters from the motorcade. reports say that no one was hurt and the president gave his speech as planned. an iranian conservative website claimed that a grenade had exploded and several domestic and foreign media hyped the incident as an assassination attempt. iran's presidential office has denied the reports. japanese police have put a 113-year-old woman thought to be the oldest person in tokyo on a nationwide list of missing people. fusa furuya remains unaccounted for after authorities found that she does not live at her

registered address in tokyo's suginami ward. her 79-year-old eldest daughter told police and suginami ward officials that she last met her mother over two decades ago. the rest of her family also claims to have been out of contact with the woman. the tokyo metropolitan government has paid the widow tens of millions of yen in pension benefits, which began when her husband, who worked for the local government, died in 1960. tokyo police are checking how she managed to keep receiving the benefits. meanwhile, the health and welfare ministry has randomly selected 840 people, aged 85 or older from records, as it tries to clear up how many may be illegally receiving pension benefits. the ministry says it has found irregularities such as differences in actual and registered addresses of benefit receivers in 1.6 million cases. now, officials from the pension service agency are visiting these residences as part of the

investigation. and now let's take a look at the latest in business news. here's ines matsuyama. >> thank you, catherine. hello. the u.s. will let tax cuts for the wealthy expire at the end of the year as planned. it's meant to contain ballooning budget deficits, according to u.s. treasury secretary timothy geithner. geithner made the remarks in a speech in washington, d.c. on wednesday. but the government will keep tax cuts for middle and low-income earners after this year to help them weather the financial crisis. geithner's statements echoed obama's tax cut plans, originally introduced by former president george w. bush. geithner said helping less wealthy consumers will support the economic recovery since they'll likely spend a good portion of their tax savings. he added giving tax breaks to the wealthy doesn't have the same effect since the rich tend to save the money they get from tax cuts. japanese car sales in asia surged 44% in the april to june period compared to the same

quarter last year. japan's eight major carmakers sold a total of 1.4 million units in china, thailand, and other parts of asia. nissan sales were up 62%, mostly in china. mitsubishi motors gained 50% and toyota 46%. robust asian sales offset declines in europe. but the carmakers say the domestic market will be stagnant in the short term as government subsidies for ecofriendly vehicles end in september. since the carmakers also don't expect growth in u.s. and european sales, they said they'll focus on unveiling cheaper fuel-efficient vehicles to expand in asia. wednesday toyota motor announced it turned a profit in the april through june quarter. the world's largest automaker said it posted an operating profit of about $2.5 billion due to an overall sales gain of 27% compared with a year ago. in the same quarter last year toyota showed an operating loss

of just over $2 billion. toyota says the turnaround was mainly because increased sales offset the impact from the stronger yen against the dollar and euro. more demand for autos came from the domestic and overseas markets, including emerging countries. for the full fiscal year through march 2011 toyota's expecting a better profit. it now estimates an operating profit of $3.8 billion, up from its initial forecast of $3.3 billion. nissan also reported upbeat first quarter earnings. strong sales in emerging countries and the japanese government subsidies for ecofriendly cars lifted demand. mcdonald's in japan announced that its profit for the first six months this year hit a record high. this was despite falling sales at other japanese food service operators. the japanese unit of the fast food chain said that its sales from january through june rose to 268 billion yen, or just over

$3 billion. that's up nearly 3% from the same period last year. the company's operating profits surged to $170 million, up over 50% compared with a year ago. it was a record high for a fiscal half year reporting period. the chain operator drew customers with its burgers at 100 yen, or just over a dollar. free coffee at a certain time of the week also helped to attract consumers. sales were pushed higher by more expensive burgers, which contributed to the record-breaking profit. these were offered at around $4, along with items that have low profit margins. shares in tokyo rose on thursday morning, following overnight gains on wall street. the nikkei average ended the morning session at 9,609 points, up 120 points almost, or up 1.3% above wednesday's close. better than expected u.s. jobs data and a weaker yen encouraged

investors. sources say the nikkei's 200-point fall on wednesday is also attracting bargain hunters. check currencies now. the dollar rose against the yen as worried worries is about the u.s. economy eased. the dollar is now traded at 86.13-18. and the euro is now at 113.27-34. and here's a look at the latest long-term interest rates. this is the yield on the benchmark 10-year japanese government bond. in other asian markets hong kong's hang seng opened up 0.1% higher, almost unchanged now. the shanghai key index for major blue chips is down 0.6%, while in shenzhen the sse composite is slightly up, 0.3%. following its handover to china in 1997, hong kong's status as an international business hub has been largely influenced by china's economic growth. now it's becoming a financial center with a growing presence

of the chinese currency, the yuyew rmb. we asked alex hong about his views on what role hong kong will play. >> in the past business model in hong kong was driven by fdis into chien papp there's a lot of fdis going out of china to our parts of the world. and of course capital flows around the world is also changing. and a lot of this is now coming into hong kong. and so we're now become a base to integrate all these flows. and therefore provide very interesting new opportunities for japanese companies, china companies, and hong kong companies to work together. and the strength of hong kong lies in our human capital. as far as our legal system and as far as low techs. and so all of this is going to help create a new role, which i call knowledge transfer center. because at present 90% of hong

kong's economy, it's service sector. and in china the average -- there's a lot of opportunities for service industries to be transferred to different cities. >> reporter: the chinese government has been trying to make its currency, the recommend nimby, an international currency. just a few weeks ago the government eased its restriction on the establishment of denominated bank accounts by financial institutions based in hong kong. >> one is the role of the hong kong's offshore renminbi center. because overt past year there's a lot of developments in which hong kong is used through the bank of china to be the trade settlement center. meaning hong kong and chinese cities now can actually arrange for banking accounts to be

transferred. so you're in trading, you have an account in hong kong and other cities, if i change you, transfer through the banking system. without in the old days a cash system. >> reporter: according to fong, hong kong is a platform that connects china with the rest of the world. since its handover in 1997, the city has been haunted by a nightmare that it will be overshadowed someday by the mainland as the country's commercial center. but fong says the city's presence will further grow as the use of the renminbi spreads. >> renminbi-denominate the financial products will be developed in hong kong, and they have tremendous potential for the reinsurance industry as "wall-e" as other renmin renminbi-denominated financial products. so this is going to be a driver. especially a lot of the mainland firms are now using hong kong as a platform to go up, to become international. and then also our links with southeast asia through the china

agreements with the ftas with southeast asia and through the renminbi links is going to increase. and also as some of the manufacturers relocate their part of the facility to service asia, our network is going to increase too. >> that was alex fong, ceo of the hong kong general chamber of commerce. next is an update of the latest market figures. ♪

and that's all for now in biz news. nearly 50,000 students dropped out of college or junior college during the fiscal year ending in 2009. that figure comes from japan's ministry of education. next we see what one university is doing to prevent students from cutting their education short. >> reporter: ysuke okawa studies at a university in yokohama city near tokyo. two years ago he dropped out of a different university. okawa says compared to high

school universities give students a lot of freedom. he adds that he couldn't adapt. >> translator: when you are given total freedom, you have no idea what to do. >> reporter: typically, more than 100 university students attend lectures in large halls. not knowing anyone, okawa couldn't cope. he started skipping classes. finally, he dropped out. >> translator: i got stressed out, feeling that i wasn't fitting into society. then i fell into a depression. when i look back at that time, i guess i was too passive about everything. i wish i could have done things differently. >> reporter: why are so many college students dropping out? a non-profit organization surveyed 101 people who had dropped out of college.

the organization soon formed an image of a young person who could not adapt to a conventional college education, who felt estranged right after setting foot on campus. >> translator: they're dropping out too easily. without considering risks involved and not thinking about their future. >> reporter: the increase in the number of dropouts could cut into universities' revenue. some universities took remedial action. 4.9% of its students drop out. that's 2.6 times higher than the national average. in some cases freshmen drop out within days of starting. so the university set up a support plan for freshmen. it organized mandatory classes consisting of only 30 students. the university tries to create an environment in which students

closely interact and make friends. they assign a support team, including a lecturer, a support pers person, and a senior student. moreover, the university monitors attendance. if students miss a class, the university gets in touch by phone or e-mail. the purpose is to assure the students that the university is watching over them. freshman shotaru yoshi says at first he had a hard time adjusting to university. the university staff member who

meets yoshi once a week told him he should set small and attainable goals. yoshi says now he feels better about university life. >> translator: i was confused because the environment was so different. i was told to set goals. so now i'm working hard on bookkeeping. >> translator: it's very unfortunate that students drop out without realizing the importance of college education. we'd like our students to have dreams for their future and offer our support. >> the college says its support team has lowered the dropout rate. other schools are taking similar measures like offering classes with less than ten students and sending some to camp before they start college to prevent feeling isolated. now let's take a look at the global weather forecast with saki ochi. hi there, and welcome back

to your world weather update. now, japan today really in the clear and dry. we're seeing a lot of sunshine. high pressure in control. so the clouds away. that will help push up those temperatures, however, so in the afternoon definitely a chance of thundershowers. once again, mainly on the pacific side of southern japan. that's where we'll see the highest risk of a little bit of wet weather forming. now, for china we've got this frontal line here, and that is going to be producing quite a bit of rain. we'll see that rain start heading southward, too, stretching in toward eastern china. so overall pretty wet picture for the eastern half of china today. in the north here there is a chance of still some more heavy rains to fall. do stay on the watch for that. and then for southern portions and central areas here too, a lot of moisture coming off the coast as well 37 come coupled with all of that this entire area starting to look at more wet weather developing today. now, another area continues tonight indian subcontinent. a lot of showers will continue for the next couple of days.

still light showers, mostly scattered across the region, although still in the next 24 hours or so there's a chance of some heavier amounts falling in southern pakistan. after that rainfall amounts slowly start easing off, although it's still a pretty continuous picture. so water levels will most likely remain quite high. as for highs, on thursday we've got 35 in taipei, shanghai gets even hotter in inland areas, 38 for chongqing. tokyo too will be quite a steamy day. highs of 35 in tokyo. and up into the north too sapporo coming in at 30. as we look toward central japan likely seeing 36 to 37 degrees. so very, very warm conditions all across the country, and humidity levels are going to be quite high as well. now, for the americas quite a bit of wet picture moving into the eastern half of the united states as well as canada. we've got this long frontal boundary, and it will be some stormy weather forming tonight. so do stay on the watch for that. down toward the south tropical moisture continues to push up

from the caribbean so showers will develop across the deep south. florida peninsula as well. eastern canada also not escaping the rain. more rain headed your way. and tonight there could be some severe storms developing in parts of ontario as well as quebec. meanwhile, the deep south still hanging on to the very high heat and the high humidity. 36 degrees for houston. 36 in atlanta. and the heat starting to head northward here. new york coming in at 34. and d.c. expecting 35 degrees. quite a warm picture for you. over toward europe, and there's a little bit of wetter picture here for western europe. that's going to head into central areas now. alpine region we'll need to stay on the watch for heavier downpours to form. a couple lighter showers will still hang on toward the east, but it is still quite hot for those of you here. 36 in kiev and 38 degrees in moscow. very, very warm conditions. but on the other hand, looking quite mild for central, western areas. paris at 22.

london coming in at 22 as well. and you should be seeing some sunny periods. all right. so that's a look at your weather for now. and here is your three-day outlook. ♪ ♪

♪ ♪ and that's all for me. i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. we'll be back with more of your updates at the top of the next hour. do stay with us.