hello there, welcome to "newsline." it's tuesday may 31st, 9:00 a.m. in tokyo. the operator of the troubled fukushima nuclear power plant reported high levels of radioactive water. tepco says a water sample can taned 2 million becquerels of radioactive cesium per cubic meter. >> translator: water affected by the damage is leaking from the

pressure vessel and containment vessel. >> tepco created a map that shows the distribution of the contaminated water in the plant buildings. it will use this to prevent a recurrence of the accident in march. at that time, three workers were exposed to radiation by stepping in tainted water. the company plans to set up a cooling system to circulate decontaminated water back into the reactors. this is expected to be installed in july. tepco will install equipment to purify contaminated sea water near the water intakes near the number 2 and 3 reactors. they use a mineral to absorb the radioactive cesium. preliminary operations will begin as early as thursday. the utility previously built undersea silt barriers to prevent highly radioactive water from further spreading into the sea. radioactive substances are still being detected outside the

barriers. the operator of the plant says two workers may have been exposed to radiation exceeding the legal limit of 250 milisieverts. tepco said on monday the two are in their 30s and 40s who worked in the control rooms of the number 3 and 4 reactors. a test detected 9,760 becquerels and 7,690 becquerels of iodine in their thyroid glands. the two have been exposed to external radiation of 73.71 and 88.70 milisieverts. the combine readings suggest they may have been exposed to radiation exceeding the legal limits of 250 milisieverts for working at the fukushima plant set after the accident. the utility said the workers have so far claimed no health problems, but that they will

receive detailed health checks at a specialized medical institution. tepco has been slow in checking workers for internal radiation exposure at the damaged plant. internal radioactive exposure can come from breathing radioactive substances. exposure could continue for a long period of time until the radioactivity is discharged from the body. the power company began internal check-ups march 22nd, 11 days after the nuclear accident at the fukushima daiichi power plant. it takes a week to get results. internal check-ups have been given priority to workers who have been exposed to 100 milisieverts externally. 40% of the 3,700 workers at the daiichi plant received check-ups for internal radiation exposure. internal exposure cannot be

detected unless tests are conducted using special equipment. tepco usees four devices to measure internal radiation exposures. it plans to introduce five more devices in july. the power company has a duty to ensure workers are not exposed to more than the emergency limit. it looks as though it has been exceeded in some of the workers. the workers say they are ill-equipped to protect themselves from internal radiation exposure. >> these come off easily and i breathe in radioactivity. worker safety isn't a top priority. >> experts say their exposure levels need to be monitored closely. >> translator: other workers must be working in similar high-risk conditions, so they must be all scanned for internal exposure. it's very important to have the whole picture and countermeasures.

>> translator: the government wants tepco to speed up its testing procedures with whole body counters. it should also examine measures on its own. >> we are joined with business news. what's the latest? >> thanks, katherine. the japanese government released several economic indicators for the month of april. let's start with jobs data. april's unemployment rate stood at 4.7%. the figure worsened by 0.1 point from the previous month. the internal affairs ministry released the seasonably adjusted figures on tuesday. the number of unemployed stood at about 3.1 million. this is down 300,000 from the same month a year ago and marks 11 straight months of improvement. knows with jobs stood at 60 million, up 70,000 from a year earlier. the figure excludes 2,200

households in three quake-hit prefectures. separately, a report from the labor ministry showed job availability in april worsened for the first time in 17 months. the ministry says that 61 positions were available for every 100 job seekers. meanwhile, japan's industrial production rose 1.0% in april from the previous month. the ministry of economy, trade and industry says the index stood at 83.5 against a base of 100 set in 2005. this is the first improvement in two months after a record plunge in march. large manufacturers forecast their output will grow by 8.0% in may and 7.7% in june. now, let's get a check on the markets. with u.s. markets closed for the holiday, japanese investors will find little cues from wall street.

let's cross over to the tokyo stock exchange. some important data out this morning. how are stocks reacting? >> very good morning, ai. key numbers, unemployment and industrial output. in the first few minutes of trading, nikkei and topix were in the negative but now have come back into the positive. a bit of positive reaction there there is a lot of data for japan due out later today. we are going to have car production exports for april as well as global shipments for electronics parts, as well as construction machinery shipments and japan housing starts. still quite a lot for investors to take in today following the unemployment and industrial outputnams you just gave us. with the u.s. and uk markets haig been closed on monday for public holiday, a lot of market focus shifted back to euro zone sovereign debt problems and unfolding events in greece.

it's how imf will deal with the reap deductions of a possible default of greek bonds. the euro and currency markets showing some effects of this. the euro under pressure. we see selling against the dollar and the yen. albeit, volume has been thin as the u.s. and uk market participants were often a public holiday. we continue this week with economic data tomorrow, china will come out with manufacturing data and although it's going to show an expansion, the pace of growth may be slower than what analysts are expecting. japanese stocks also political events and ongoing no-confidence motions being set up by the liberal democratic opposition party against prime minister naoto

kan. the nikkei dipped back into the negative by one point. a little bit of volatility we are seeing in the first few minutes of trading. nikkei in the negative and topix in the positive. >> thank you. that was our reporter at the tokyo stock exchange. standard and poor's slashed its credit rating of tokyo electric power company. they cite huge losses an unclear compensation plan for the downgrade. standard and poor's downgraded tepco's rating to single b plus. they posted huge losses for the business year ending in march and the framework to help pay damages are unclear. a single b plus is considered a high risk investment. tepco says it is striving to

contain the situation at the fukushima plant, while it continues to streamline its business and restore its image. moody's japan cut tepco's credit rating by two notches and will put the utility on review for a further possibility downgrade. let's get you a recap of the latest market figures.

that's all from me for this hour. back to you. north korea is vowing to cut off military communications with south korea. the country says it will no longer deal with the administration of their president. north korea's national defense commission issued a statement monday saying the country will sever military communication lines on the east coast and shut off communications in the resort area. the decision follows remarks made may 9th. he said he is ready to invite north korean leader kim jong-il to a nuclear summit. south korea plans to host the summit next march. the national defense commission denounced the statement demanding apology for two deadly attacks last year. 46 sailors died after a torpedo

attack. north korean leader kim jong-il is home after a week's long tour of china. he traveled 5,000 kilometers on an unprecedented third trip to china in just a year. >> translator: north korean leader kim jong-il made an unofficial visit to china from may 20th to 26th at their president. >> kim's focus was object serving china's economic development. kim's first stop was a lake near the city near mudanjang. his father planned a battle against japanese forces in the 1930s. he visited an automobile

factory, a supermarket and solar panel factory and electronics factory in nanjing. he met chinese president in beijing. earlier our reporter had an indepth look at kim's latest visit from china. >> what can we learn from kim jong-il's trip to china? >> no leader since the 1950s has visited china three times in a year. the latest visit was reportedly to ask the chinese government for economic aid. they set a goal creating a powerful and prosperous nation in 2012. it's hard to get aid from other countries. kim is becoming frustrated because there are no signs of the economy recovering.

i think kim asked china to help move things alon whether he is able to get the economic assistance he wants remains to be seen. >> why did he visit china at this time? >> during the beginning of his trip, a summit was held in tokyo. the purpose of the meeting was to strengthen ties in the wake of the march 11th nuclear crisis. the leaders talked about north korea. by traveling to china, kim was aiming to show he is still in power in the region. also, he wants to show his country and the world he is still healthy. if he look at the video being released, the north korean's leader's complexion appears good. his movements are natural, which makes it seem like he recovered from a stroke he had in 2008. if he needed to get special

medical treatment such as kidney dialysis, it would be difficult to travel by train for an entire week. >> it was recently reported his son would visit china alone but that didn't happen. he didn't go with his father. why wasn't he there? >> the transfer of power will take time. kim jong unis in his late 20s. in their meeting with chinese president jintao, he said the relationship will not change if the leadership changes. this shows his support of transfer of power to his son. >> how does kim's visit help china? what's in it for china? >> china wants to keep favorable relationship with china. the member countries discussed the nuclear program.

in the meeting, kim insisted the six-party talks resume immediately. this time chinese premier talked about the visit while kim was staying in china. >> what makes china's intentions when it comes to north korea? >> i think the chinese government wants to show the international community that it is trying its best to persuade north korea to give up its nuclear development. china is trying to convince the north to open up its economy before kim jong-il loses power. >> thanks. appreciate it. the international energy agency estimated that carbon dioxide emissions topped 30 billion tons last year, hitting an all-time high.

the figure was released by the agency on monday. it shows that co2 emissions from fossil fuel emissions surged in 2009. fast-growing china and india show vast increases. an agreement was made in mexico last year. it called on countries to reduce global warming gasses and keep temperatures within two degrees celsius of preindustrial levels. in order to achieve that goal, be less than 2 billion tons by o 2020. institute released its annual global peace index. iceland topped the list followed by new zealand and japan. mideast and north african nations dropped due to political instability. the institute for economics and

peace based in sydney ranked 153 country and regions. it used 23 indicators including domestic and international conflicts, crime rates, terror threats and the ratio of military spending against gdp. somalia was the least peaceful nation in the world. libya slumped from 60th place to 143rd. violent clashes continue between anti-government groups and security forces. egypt fell from 49 to 73. bahrain from 72 to 123. government forces opened fire on demonstrators in central yemen. more than 15 people have been killed and 120 others are wounded. tens of thousands have been

occupying a square for days. they were demanding the president's resignation. early monday morning, government forces used live ammunition and tear gas to disperse the protestors. at least 200 died since january in a series of government crackdowns. the political upheaval allowed al qaeda-affiliated groups to take control of some cities. there is growing international concern over the situation in yemen. time to check on some of the stories we gathered from broadcasters around asia. a flood in a coal mine in southwest china on sunday has trapped 12 workers. a local government officials said rescue work is under way to save the miners trapped in tunnel about 200 meters underground. the mayor of the provincial capital said they heard the miners' cries for help early

monday indicating they are still alive. rescuers have been pumping water out of the shaft that leads to the miners, and opened up the air distribution channels near where the workers are trapped. top officials from india and pakistan met in new delhi monday to discuss easing tension on the high-altitude mightized zone. this is the 12th talk since 1984 where they began their standoff at the site located in northern kashmir. talks were suspended after attacks in mumbai in 2008. the two countries' prime ministers agreed to carry forward the dialogue when they met last year. police in iran have arrested members of a major international drug-smuggling group in tehran. the head of iran's anti-drug

police said in tehran monday they had been gathering information about the group for the past four months. he added that the police have seized more than 270 kilograms of narcotics and arrested several smuggers in operations over the past 24 hours. the officials said the group produced industrial narcotics in home laboratories and sent them to malaysia, indonesia and thailand hidden in milk shipments. time for your weather update. across eastern asia still looking windy across japan this morning. the remnant low of typhoon songa caused flooding problems in quake-affected regions and continues to bring windy conditions along the east coast of japan here. high wind warnings posted now.

we will look at calmer and brighter conditions up toward the north. warm and bright down in the okinawa islands. across china, lots of clouds building over the region across the north central portions toward the northeastern corner here. this low pressure system continues to bring drenching downpours in isolated areas. starting to spread across the korean peninsula. light to medium showers, but nothing on the severe side. just to the west of the philippines we've got an active low pressure system that is, in fact, showing signs of intensifying as it moves slowly over the south china seas. this will bring heavy rain to taiwan as well as persistent rain off the philippines, as well. let's head towards south asia. picking up monsoon rain across indochina peninsula to india as

well as bangladesh. we are keeping a very close eye on this area high flood risk as well as landslides, especially across bangladesh and down into thailand, as wl. 30 in hong kong today. isolated showers. cloudy in chongqing, 25. 32 in shanghai. very warm in beijing at 29. now for the united states, looking unsettled over towards the northwestern corner. chilly and wintry in around montana and wyoming. could see isolated heavy snow during the nighttime. that will clear up by your tuesday. this low pressure system is going to be heading into the northern plains. looking at moderate chances of severe storms tonight across the dakotas down into nebraska, also minnesota looking at chances of hail, damaging wind as well as tornados.

it stays dry out toward the east. very hot again for places like washington, d.c. 36 degrees here. 32 in toronto on tuesday. 34 in houston. red flag warnings being posted down in the south. very dry and windy out here. now for europe, eastern europe will stay calm and settled under this high pressure system. wet weather will impact the western side of europe. particularly for france and germany. looking at heavy rain to move on through tuesday. along this frontal line we'll see heavy showers in the alpine region. the british isles, you'll see a break in the wet weather here. again, a new system is going to move in from the west. we are expecting widespread showers by the end of tuesday. 17 in london. turning much, much colder in paris. 18. stays very warm in central and eastern portion temperatures in the upper 20s for you. here is your extended forecast.

our lead story this hour, the operator the damaged fukushima daiichi nuclear power plant reported high levels of radioactive water that has accumulated in the basement of the number 1 reactor. tokyo electric power company or tepco says a water sample contained 2 million becquerels of radioactive cesium per cubic centimeter. >> translator: we speculate water affected by the reactor damage is leaking from the pressure vessel and from the containment vessel. >> tepco created a map that shows the distribution of the contaminated water in the plant buildings. it will use this to prevent acu march. at that time, three workers were

exposed to radiation by stepping in tainted water. the company plans to set up a cooling system to circulate decontaminated water back into the reactors. the system is expected to be installed in july. tepco will also install equipment to purify contaminated sea water near the water intakes near the number 2 and 3 reactors. they use a mineral to absorb radioactive cesium. preliminary operations will begin as early as thursday. the utility previously built undersea silt barriers to prevent highly radioactive water from spreading into the sea. radioactive substances are still being detected outside the barriers. that wraps up this edition of "newsline." i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. thank you very much for joining us.