welcome to "newsline." it's tuesday, may 24th, 9:00 a.m. in tokyo. i'm catherine kobayashi. th> operopororf the fukushima daiichi nuclear power plant will install two heat exchangers at the number two reactor building on tuesday to let me show y lower the temperature of the spent fuel pool. wednesday tokyo electric power company workers entered the building to check radiation levels. but the high humidity prevented them from staying longer than 14 minutes. the humidity is thought to stem from the high temperature of the spent fuel pool and steam from the suppression pool which may have been damaged by the explosions after the march 11th

earthquake and tsunami. tepco plans to reduce the humidity by installing the heat exchangers in the building next to the reactor. the exchangers will take in the hot water from the pool and circulate it back after it's cooled. the utility says it hopes to start using them this month did to reduce the temperature of the pool from around 80 degrees celsius to about 40 degrees sell yus within a month. tepco hopes to install the exchangers at the number one and three reactors next month and at the number four reactor in july. the operator of the damaged fukushima power plant is continuing to transfer highly radioactive water from two reactor buildings to a waste processing facility went the compound. but the facility is expected to become full within three or four days. about 47,000 tons of contaminated water has accumulated in the plant's turbine buildings and utility tunnels, hampering tokyo electric power company's efforts

to bring the plant under control. tepco is pumping a total of 14,000 tons of such water to the processing facility from the number two and three reactors. but the unit is expected to reach full capacity in three or four days, forcing the transfer to be suspended. tepco says it's studying whether it's possible for the facility to accept additional radioactive water for the time being until it starts operating a new processing plant. the new facility is designed to lower the radiation level of the contaminated water and then use that water to cool the reactors. it's expected to be completed by mid-june. tepco says the levels of the remaining contaminated water at the two reactors remain almost unchanged and that there is no immediate risk that the water will leak into the ground or the sea. the utility added that it's monitoring operation s closely o prevent any leaks. tepco discovered contaminated

water leak into the sea in april and again earlier this month. the utility has since taken measures to prevent further leaks. a group of parents of schoolchildren is calling on the government to lower its radiation limit for children. >> imagine if your child were exposed to radiation. >> the group is from fukushima prefecture where the crippled fukushima daiichi plant poses the threat of nuclear contaminati contamination. monday members of the group submitted to the education ministry a petition with more than 15,000 signatures. after the accident at the plant, the government set the yearly limit for accumulated external radiation for children at 20 millisieverts. the parents say the level is too high and are demanding that it be lowered to 1 millisievertmil the level recommended by the international commission on radiation protection. >> the education ministry should do everything it can.

the u.n. says it will study the effects of irradiation from the accident at the fukushima nuclear plant using data provided by the japanese government. the united nations seen test reserve disk committee on the effects of atomic radiation made the decision at a regular meeting at its headquarters in vien vienna, austrie yeah monday. the organization says it will spend a year analyzing the radiation data from the japanese government to discern the effects on humans and the environment. it will report the interim results to the u.n. general assembly by may next year. it's come priced of scientists from 21 countries. it has conducted long-term studies on survivors of the 1945 atomic bombings of here she'll may and nagasaki. the organization is also monitoring the impact of the chernobyl accident in 1986 on human health. the chairperson, wolfgang weiss, told reporters based on the obtained data hi does not think

the fukushima accident has affected the health of residents so far. but he emphasized that pool around the plant must be monitored for a long period of time. japanese restaurateurs and food importers in hong kong organized an event on monday to promote the safety of japanese cuisine. hong kong's chief executive donald sang was among the attendees. sang ate sushi in front of the media while other guests tried food such as fish and fruit. >> very good. >> a number of japanese restaurants in hong kong were forced to close as people grew concerned about the safety of japanese imports after the accident at the fukushima daiichi nuclear power plant.

>> the organizers are offering a half-price discount at nearly 300 japanese restaurants once a week until the middle of june to win back customers. a number of countries and international organizations have been offering aid to japan since the march 11th earthquake and sooun. the united nations high commission of refugees is one of them. unhcr assists refugees and people displaced by conflicts or discrimination but doesn't usual support disaster victims especially in developed countries such as japan. nhk world spoke with the unhcr's representative in japan, yohan, about what the organization is doing to help survivors of the march 11th catastrophe. >> thank you very much for joining us today. >> my pleasure. thank you. >> the unhcr has decades of experience when it comes to providing humanitarian aid for people who have lost their homes. but supporting disaster victims

is not its primary duty so far. but why did your organization decide to assist japan's march 11th? >> japan over the many years has been a very strong supporter for humanitarian issues, has been extending support for refugees all over the world for many years. everybody within uncr felt it was our responsibility, our duty, to assist in any way we could here in japan. >> but japan, of course, is one of the most developed countries in the world. >> yeah. indeed. very much so. and i think in many respects, japan is very well capable in terms of resources and in terms of experience and capacity to respond to a situation like this. i think it's also a question of solidarity. a question of respect for japan. >> what kind of assistance has uncr been providing to the people in the affected areas? >> we have offered plastic sheeting, what we call nonfood

items which are normally used in an emergency, which is plastic sheeting, jerry cans, and also very importantly, solar lamps. it's very quickly the realization that people have no lighting, there's no electricity, and light is so essential because it allows people in the evening to come together, to have a social life and for us it's a message of hope toward the future of rebuilding in japan. >> in addition to such material support, has the organization providing any other forms of support? >> yes, yes. i mean, we have made -- immediately when the disaster happened available japanese-speaking international staff members who have experience in responding to disasters and emergencies. because from what happens in situations like this is that you have a massive outpouring of international support. and then it's often how do you

build the interface between national infrastructure and international partners? and i think that's where we have made available staff who can assist in providing information, in setting up systems, on how best to bring both national and international partners together. and in that context, for example, we've been supporting japan platform, consortium of japanese ngos to help them coordinate with the international community. >> you have also been to one of the disaster hit areas yourself. what was your impression? >> i think like everybody who has seen it is i think very shocked. i think the immensity of the disaster, i think it's really quite -- i mean, the many situations i have seen, has quite left me with a very deep impression. i was very deeply touched by refugees here in japan, i think

we have a couple pictures of them. people who have been granted refugee status here in japan, who have been welcomed by japan, who japan is providing their new home. they themselves went to the north to volunteer and to help out. when we talked to them, it was very touching. basically say said, we are refugees, we know what it means to be displaced, we know what it means to have lost loved ones, to have lost our property, to be in a very difficult situation. now that japan is giving us a new chance, a new future, we want to go and help people who are in a similar situation. and i think that for me was a very touching message. >> what are the challenges the unacr has been facing in japan? >> often assistance will go to areas which are the easiest accessible. easiest to reach. and that means then in other situations, in other places it may be a bit more difficult to reach out and they do not

immediately benefit. so you have gaps within that response. so what is very important is that you have a good coordination mechanism set up. unfortunately, within the region here in asia, it is a region which is very much prone to natural disasters. and unfortunately most likely, some experts say they will increase, and, therefore, drawing from the experience here i think can be very important also to prepare for future situations. >> thank you very much for sharing your thoughts today. >> my pleasure.ank you for havi. >> the japan representative of the united nations high commissioner for refugees. time now to take a look at the latest in business news. ai gives us that, ai? >> thanks very much. very good morning. let's start with news from ina. the chinese government says it is allowing foreign companies to participate directly in the country's travel market for the

first time. china's national tourism administration announced on monday that three firms from japan, the u.s. and germany are now allowed to plan overseas travel for chinese tourists. until now, foreign firms could only arrange hotels and transportation as subcontractors of chinese travel agents. a sino/japanese joint venture was one of the three companies invited to take part. rapid economic development in china is boosting the number of tourists heading abroad. more than 1.4 million chine niece visited japan last year. that's up 40% from the year before. but the number has dropped sharply since the march 11th disaster and the nuclear crisis at the fukushima daiichi plant. moving on, sony corporation red for a third consecutive year. sony said on monday it will post a net loss of about $3.2 billion

for fiscal 2010 that ended in march. that's a sharp contrast from its initial projection of a nearly $860 million profit. the revision is a result of an expected sales decline in part due to the impact of the march disaster. sony also expects about $170 million in expenses in fiscal 2011 to compensate playstation network users for recent leaks of personal information and also to upgrade its computer system after hacker attacks. amid renewed worries over europe's debt problems, government bonds of the region's fiscally strapped nations came under selling pressure. monday the sell-off sent the prices of ten-year greek and irish bonds to the lowest level since the introduction of the euro. greece received a huge bailout package last year from other euro zone countries. but it is falling behind on its debt reduction plans, fueling

concerns over the fiscal health of its own as well as other inhadn'ted neighbors. against this backdrop, the selling momentum spread to the state bonds of spain and italy. these two governments also have large deficits, raising doubts if they can improve their fiscal standing on their own. market players say euro zone debt problems have come under intense scrutiny after last week's downgrade of italy's medium-term debt forecast. this added to concerns over greece. now let's get a check on the markets. overnight the dow finished at a one-month low as investors became more concerned about europe's debt problems and a slow-down in the global economy. for more we're joined by our markets reporter at the tokyo stock exchange. yonggi, how are things looking so far? >> u.s. markets posted pretty hefty losses monday, and we have to see how that is going to come into play during tokyo trading hours. we're about 14 minutes into

trading on this tuesday morning. so far both the nikkei and the topix both in negative territory. nikkei averages in the negative but still holding above the 9,400 mark. and the topix index also moving downward so far. overnight on wall street, both the dow and nasdaq fell by more than 1%. and what weighed on sentiment were continued jitters over europe's debt problems. standard & poor's cut italy's ratings from stable to negative on saturday and that became another piece of bad news surrounding europe's debt problems. growth link sectors like energy and tech shares were among the top losers. big you the closing levels in new york, the dow finishing at 12,381 points, down about 1%. the nasdaq finishing at 2,758 points. that was down 44 points, or more than 1.5%. here in tokyo the nikkei fell for a third straight session,

yesterday breaking below the psychologically important 9,500 mark. you mentioned sony and that is going to draw a lot of attention here in tokyo. investors are eager to see how much impact the march 11th effort quake, as well as the cyber attack on its computer networks, are going to have on its business performance. now we would also like to see how the weaker yen will affect trading here in tokyo. dealers were selling the euro against the dollar due to concerns about europe's debt problems. and euro/dollar broke below 1.40 during london trading hours to hit a two-month low and that prompted selling in the yen against the dollar as well. the dollar is quoted around upper 81 yen. the upper 1:14 yen levels. that is the picture from here. back to you. >> thanks for that update. that was our reporter yonggi from the tokyo stock exchange. here are some other market figures for you.

that's all for now in business. back to katherine. >> thanks very much, ai. the japanese foreign minister says japan will cooperate with tunisia in building infrastructure to support its transition to democracy. matsumoto met his tunisian counterpart in tokyo on monday. in january, protesters overthrew the 23-year-old authoritarian government of ben ali. tunisia is preparing to elect a national assembly that will draw up a new constitution.

he said his country wants to share japan's principles of democracy and freedom, as well as establish a multi-party system. he also said that tunisia is formulating a five-year plan to build a democratic nation and asked for japan's support. matsumoto said japan maintained good relations with tunisia and will support efforts for reform. he also said japan plans to send election monitors to the country. the number of new aids patients reported in japan last year hit a record high of 469. a health ministry panel on aids reports the number of people newly found to be infected with the hiv virus last year reached 1,544. that includes those who had already developed the disease. the figure is the second highest on record. the panel says 63% were infected through homosexual conduct and 20% through heterosexual contact.

550 of the patients with in their 30s and 383 in their 20s. the panel's head, professor of the institute of medical science at the university of tokyo, says he's concerned that people who should be tested are not and the number of cases is increasing. the ministry is urging people to get tested and take preventative measures. nonjapanese atomic bomb survivors living in china and taiwan have sued japan's government, demanding that it compensate them for being denied access to the government's medical benefits. the lawsuit is the first filed by chinese and taiwanese survivors of the 1945 atomic bombings of hiroshima and nagasaki. the suit was filed with the hiroshima district court on monday by plaintiffs, including 11 survivors from taiwan, a family of a taiwanese victim, and a chinese citizen. the plaintiffs are seeking about

$15,000 per person in damages, saying they were unfairly denied access to japan's health care program for atomic bomb survivors because they did not live in the country. in 2007, the supreme court ruled that the government's policy toward survivors living outside japan was incorrect and that compensation must be paid. the government has agreed to compensate about 2,800 survivors in seven countries, including south korea and brazil, under court-mediated settlements. a coast-proposed deal is also expected for the latest case. in the united states, more than 40 tornados have torn through seven midwestern states on sunday. at least 89 people are dead after a wave of tornados battered the state of missouri. one powerful tornado cut a path nearly ten kilometers long through the city of joplin, missouri, on sunday night. it leveled homes, overturned

trucks, and knocked down trees. local authorities on monday said at least 89 people were killed and many others injured. many residents are believed to be trapped under collapsed houses. missouri has declared a state of emergency and sent the national guard to the scene for search and rescue operations. more than 130 tornados have struck alabama, mississippi, and five other southern states late last month. more than 350 people have been killed, the second high-est death toll from tornados in u.s. history.est death toll from tornados in u.s. history. work is under way to dismantle giant cranes used to build the world's highest broadcasting towers. workers began taking down the four giant trains on the tokyo sky tree which reached 634 meters in march. the cranes on the roof of the 375-meter-high observation deck had been used to lift materials

for higher parts of the tower. the workers first removed steel frames that connected props of the cranes to the tower's structure. the props are to be dismantled next before the cranes are disassembled one by one. >> i've never seen anything this tall before. >> it's a little scary. >> the cranes are scheduled to be fully removed by mid-july. the sky tree is to begin operating next spring. hi there, welcome back to your weather update. we're still keeping an eye on the pacific, the west pacific i should say. here we have our tropical storm system. this is just the second one of this year but it is strengthening rapidly. it's already a severe tropical storm system packing winds of up to 108 kilometers per hour. gusts are hitting 144 kilometers per hour.

these are some pretty strong winds that we are talking about. still continuing in a northwesterly direction. looks like the next couple of days it may get close to the northern end of the philippines. and we'll keep a close on it. it's expected to maintain that slow pace and also continue to develop. winds are likely to get stronger went the next two hours. we're expecting it to attain typhoon status. we'll keep a close eye on its developments. along with those winds we are of course going to be seeing quite a bit of rain with thesis systems. the central philippines in the next 24 hours. then the core of the really heavy rain too could start impacting you. it's going to be a pretty wet next couple of days. those winds are going to intensify as well. you do want to keep a close eye on this system if you are going to be in the area. meanwhile we're still talking about this rainy front that extends across much of east asia. it is, however, sagging a little bit more to the south today. so the rain finally gets away from much of mainland japan.

lingers in areas like the okinawa islands and taiwan. it looks a little drier for southern china as well. so that will be welcome relief. however, in japan northern areas may see a couple of hours showers develop later on today, just quick ones. in the southeast of asia, still talking about quite a bit of rainfall here. anywhere from the bay of bengal through the indochina peninsula, pretty wet conditions and heavy rain too is going to be possible in parts of myanmar, northern thailand, so watch out for that. flooding, landslides becoming a major concern as rain continues to pile up. tuesday's highs will show only 18 for those of you in tokyo. still on the cool side. chilly winds blowing in. it's nice and warm for seoul at 28. and also beijing still looking pretty hot at 29 degrees. two-day outlook for quake-affected areas. largely sunny skies tuesday and wednesday. largely dry. some clouds starting to move in in the afternoon hours. for mito, you'll see showers in the morning hours before that

tapers off. highs though remaining in the teens. and they won't get too much higher on wednesday either. as for europe, we're looking at this big rotation going on right over the north sea. it's been windy and wet here. well, that continues again today. some very strong winds reported across ireland, the british isles. that will continue for you toward the southern end of the scandinavian peninsula. rain and winds are going to be moving right through here in towards finland as well as the baltic states. in the southeast too, really unsettled picture again today. lots of thunderstorms reported across the balkans. lots of heat going on here. so that's really in line for that stormy weather to develop. tuesday too it's going to be staying pret warm. getting up to 25 in kiev. 24 in warsaw. 28 in vienna. very warm conditions across the board. all right, now here is your three-day outlook.

our lead story this hour. the operator of the fukushima daiichi nuclear power plant will install two heat exchangers at the number two reactor building on tuesday to lower the temperature of the spent fuel pool. last wednesday, tokyo electric power company workers entered the building to check radiation levels. but the high humidity prevented them from staying longer than 14 minutes.

the humidity is thought to stem from the high temperature of the spent fuel pool and steam from the suppression pool which may have been damaged by the explosions after the march 11th earthquake and tsunami. tepco plans to reduce the humidity by installing the heat exchangers in the building next to the reactor. the exchangers will take in the hot water from the pool and circulate it back after it's cooled. the utility says it hopes to start using them this month did to reduce the temperature of the pool from around 80 degrees celsius to about 40 degrees celsius within a month. tepco hopes to install the exchangers at the number one and three reactors next month and at the number four reactor in july. that wraps up this edition of "newsline." i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. do stay with us. we'll be back with more of your updates at the top of the next hour. hope to see you then.