welcome to "newsline." it's friday, june 3rd, 9:00 a.m. in tokyo. i'm catherine kobayashi. >> prime minister naoto kan said on thursday that he will step down after prospects for rebuilding the disaster-hit areas and stabilizing the fukushima nuclear power plant become clear. however, opposition party leaders and even some ruling party members continue to demand kan's immediate resignation. >> translator: a >> translator: after handling the disaster recovery and making

sure that the nuclear crisis has been resolved to a certain stage, i will have fulfilled my duty as prime minister to the japanese people. then i would like to pass on my responsibilities to the younger generation of democratic party lawmakers. >> >> kan is believed to have made the decision because some party members had hinted that they would vote in favor of a no confidence motion against the cabinet, which had been submitted on the previous day to the lower house. ruling ruling and opposition party members speculate that kan wants to stay in his post until january. >> translator: a >> translator: a state of cold

shutdown at the reactors of the damaged fukushima daiichi nuclear power plant would lay the groundwork for my resignation. >> the >> the plant's operator, tokyo electric power company, says it will achieve a cold shutdown of the reactors by january 2021. however, democratic party senior member and former prime minister yukio hatoyama sharply reacted to kan's remarks. hatoyama said it was agreed that kan would resign after reconstruction law passes and second supplementary budget plan is formulated, which is expected in about a month. secretary-general nobody te r rowirow ishihara called on kan to ishihara called on kan to resign as soon as possible, saying he will lose the trust of the international community. the operator of the fukushima daiichi nuclear power plant says it has successfully lowered the temperature of the spent fuel pool in the number two reactor building.

tokyo electric power company said on thursday that after it started operating a new cooling system on tuesday, the temperature in the number two pool quickly dropped by 30 degrees. >> translator: >> translator: the temperature dropped faster than we anticipated, from 70 degrees down to about 40, so we will now inspect the inside of the reactor building to check the current condition there. >> tepco expected it would take about one month to lower the temperature to the current level. in the number two reactor building, high radiation levels and steam released by the storage pool had been hampering recovery efforts. if the inspection goes well, tepco hopes to install filtering systems that will remove radioactive substances from the cooling wanter. the company also plans to start operating similar cooling systems at the number one and three storage pools in june, and in the number four reactor building in july.

tepco plans to plug all potential leaks of radioactive water from the fukushima daiichi nuclear plant by the end of june. tepco tepco submitted its plan to the nuclear and industrial safety agency after finding that highly radioactive water was flowing into the sea via concrete maintenance pits. the water apparently was coming from the turbine buildings of the plant's number two and three reactors. the utility says it identified five concrete tunnels and 39 pits around the plant as possible points from which radioactive water could reach the sea. the firm says it has filled all the tunnels and some of the pits with concrete. it says it will finish the work at 17 of the pits and repair cracked sea walls by the end of june. nagasaki university hospital says that at least 40% staff and

survivors had received internal radiation exposure from the crippled nuclear plant. the hospital checked staffers and medical experts sent to fukushima by nagasaki's prefectural government. they spent about a week in march assisting local offices and medical institutions. the hospital says radioactive iodine was detected in the bodies of 34 or about 40% of 87 examinees. some were some were also found to have been exposed to radioactive cesium. neither substance occurs naturally in the human body. however, officials at the hospital insist that the level of radioactive contamination is very low and poses no health concern. >> translator: >> translator: the survey shows that people in fukushima prefecture must live among high levels of radiation for a long period of time. therefore, fukushima residents should also be checked for levels of internal radiation exposure. the international atomic energy agency has called on japan to report the latest most

detailed information on the accident at the fukushima daiichi plant. the iaea explained the current status of the accident to its member nations during a meeting in vienna on thursday. deputy director general denis flory told reporters that so far information received from japan regarding the accident has been adequate. however, he stressed that however, he stressed that the latest information latest information must be provided at the ministerial level meeting later this month, which will focus on the accident. >> >> japan will have a role in explaining the accident and what are the very first findings. there is a need to rebuild the >> confidence. >> flory said the information should include the status of the nuclear reactors and why highly contaminated water is leaking into the sea. he also said countries must follow common safety standards in order to rebuild confidence in the nuclear energy industry and iaea standards should be their benchmark.

now we take a look at the latest in business news with ai uchida. good morning. >> very good morning to you catherine and very good morning to you stwl. japanese automaker mazda motor plans to stop production at a joint venture firm it operates with ford motor in the u.s. this this is part of mazda's global reorganization. sources say mazda will stop making the mazda 6 models at the plant operated by auto alliance international in the state of michigan. mazda mazda reportedly plans to ship production of the model marketed in north america to its plant in western japan as early as 2013. mazda and ford each own a 50% stake in auto alliance international. the joint venture has continued to lose money since output fell substantially after the collapse of u.s. investment bank lhman brothers in 2008. mazda's future negotiations with ford are expected to include a complete withdrawal from the joint venture. the japanese automaker is

realigning its overseas production platforms. mazda already plans to build a factory in mexico to boost sales in fast growing markets in cross central and south america. it also plans to sell mexican made cars in north america. sharp will switch from making large display panels to smaller sized ones at two plants in central japan. the company's kameyama number two plant in mie prefecture currently produces large liquid cristial display panels for tv sets. shar sharp will phase out the manufacture of large screen tv sets and switch to small and medium sized lcd panels there. the kameyama number one plant will make lcd panels for smartphones by march 2012. the company says demand for smaller panels is expected to increase.

profits on large panels have become smaller due to intense competition from south korean and taiwanese makers. u.s. stocks ended lower with market players taking a wait and see stance ahead of key jobs data. to see how to see how stocks are performing this friday in japan we cross over to ramin mellegard at the tokyo stock exchange. ramin, how are things kicking >> good morning to >> good morning to you, ai. having a look at the markets, starting off in the positive and markets really look to be set up for the u.s. jobs numbers and global stock markets will be focused on that. the nikkei and the topix both in the passive, just barely, not a major move but in the positive nevertheless. now domestically japanese markets are also digesting the news of prime minister naoto kan having survived a no confidence vote yesterday and announcing his indication that he will step down once the recovery of the country takes hold. now the political uncertainties that follow may be of concern to markets especially as just this week, we learned that moody's

investor service put japan's debt rating on review for downgrade, citing exactly the political uncertainties as one of its major reasons. still, a lot of analysts that we've spoken to this week do say that economic indicators will also be a major focus and already this week, we've had a lot of data which has raised questions about a sustained global recovery. we had china pmi, we've had private jobs data out of the u.s. as well as ism manufacturing and also industrial output in japan earlier in the week, all of them proving rather weak. now, one ray of light might be just, which may actually spur some positive sentiment may be the hope of an end to greece's sovereign debt problem after european central bank, the imf and eu leaders met to come up with a plan which essentially would be a second bailout for greece. the the currency markets are one of the quickest to react to this

kind of news and we did see the euro jumping against the yen and the dollar on that news so a little bit of a positive news there helping the euro against some key currencies. currently trading around 117, and that compares to just 115 yesterday, when markets thought that no plan would go through. so a bit of a positive boost there. we'll see how it plays out. markets really waiting to see the jobs data out of the u.s. later and on monday i'll bring you the market reaction from tokyo. back to you in t back to you in the studio. >> ramin, all eyes on jobs data. thanks a lot, market reporter republican republican at the tokyo stock exchange. now let's get you a recap of the latest market figures.

that's it in that's it in business for this hour. back to the main news with catherine. >> thanks very >> thanks very much, ai. a u.s. special envoy who visited north korea last month says he was invited back to the country for talks on human rights. his visit was arranged to help a north korean request for food aid. the special envoy on north korean human rights, robert king met with north korean officials and discussed ways to monitor food distribution in the event that aid is resumed. on thursday, king reported on his north korean talks before the house of representatives committee on foreign affairs >> they were willing to talk about human rights. they were willing to look into some of the issues we are interested in raising with them. he invited me back to pyongyang

to have discussions on human rights and i'm looking forward to possibly having that opportunity. >> during >> during king's stay in pyongyang last month a u.s. citizen was released after being detained in the north since last november. the move appeared to be a goodwill gesture designed to encourage the united states to resume food aid. the president of a u.s. subsidiary of sony corporation has defended his company's handling of the disclosure of data breaches from its online gaming services. sony network entertainment president tim schaaff spoke before a u.s. house energy and commerce panel on thursday. the hearing investigated the theft of personal data from more than 1 million sony customers. >> we notified our customers promptly when we had specific, accurate and useful information. >> lawmakers criticized sony for keeping the security breach a secret for one week and only using a blog post to notify users. sony gamers in the u.s. have filed class action lawsuits over

the data theft. during the hearing, schaaff called for increased protection against cyber attacks. he made reference to similar attacks that occurred at a u.s. aircraft company and a national research institute during the past two months. russia has banned the import of fresh vegetables from the european union as deadly food poisoning e. coli bacteria spreads in germany. so far the e. coli outbreak has claimed 18 lives and sickened more than 1,000 others. the first victims died of hemolytic uremic syndrome which causes kidney failure. on thursday they announced a total ban from eu countries after cucumbers imported from spain was suspected of infection. russia russia said despite repeated requests the european union has not released proper information. the eu issued a statement that urged russia to end its ban

it shows the it shows the source of the infection was not cucumbers from spain and the outbreak of e. coli is limited to the northern part of germany. the eu has asked other countries to remain calm and help prevent the disease from spreading. we we just found out this week that japan's population decline is accelerating. the shift in demographics is having an impact on many facets of life. one of them is marriage. in some parts of the country there aren't enough women for men to wed. that's true in the tohoku region which bore the brunt of the march 11th tsunami. a number of men there married women from china or the philippines but because the tsunami tore apart families, these foreign brides have in some cases been left to take care of themselves. nhk world's satoru aoyama has one woman's story.

>> reporter: 43-year-old launa tikta has been living in an evacuation center in ishinomaki for nearly three months. she she came to this coastal city in miyagi prefecture almost a decade ago, after marrying a man 16 years her senior, but the march 11th tsunami completely changed her life. lorna grew up in a city near the philippine capital, manila. the man she married, shin kikta was the eldest son of the owner of a marine equipment company. he visited the philippines and set up an arranged marriage with the lorna. the couple lived with his 91-year-old father. when the quake hit, lorna left the dry cleaner where she worked and headed home. but then she saw the tsunami

rushing toward her, so she raced to a pedestrian bridge. >> translator: it was like dominos, many houses were being washed away. one after the other. i prayed to god, please help my husband and father-in-law. >> reporter: after the disaster, she wandered through the devastation for a couple of days in search of her family. a month later, the bodies of her husband and father-in-law were identified. just two days af just two days after the march 11th disaster, lorna was supposed to be celebrating her ninth wedding anniversary. now she had to plan a funeral. these days, she often visits the place where her home once stood.

and offers incense. when she first m when she first moved into the evacuation center, she didn't know what to do, but she now gets support from a japanese woman she's befriended. tokokimura also lost her home in the tsunami. she and lorna met because they live side by side for a month in a school gymnasium. she helped lorna get another cell phone and apply for a new passport. >> translator: >> translator: don't worry, you're still young, please ask others if there's something you don't understand. finding someone to help you solve your problems can build your confidence.

>> reporter: and >> reporter: and as time passes, life is getting better. last week, lorna received some good news. she was able to move into a temporary house pride by the local government. tokiko went with her when she visited it for the first time. looking at her n looking at her new accommodations gave lorna hope. she decided it w she decided it was time to start looking for a job. and so she visited an employment agency. there aren't man there aren't many positions available in ishinomaki right now.

lorna is inter lorna is interested in nursing care so she is thinking of taking a course to get qualified. she's slowly reb she's slowly rebuilding her life. >> translator: >> translator: i will work hard in my hometown of ishinomaki to continue with my life. even though i'm alone now, i will try hard for the sake of my husband. >> reporter: peo >> reporter: people who lost their loved ones and homes are still filled with grief.+++/y some of them left japan. but those who stayed, are slowly managing to put their lives back in order. satoru aoyama, nhk world in ishinomaki city, miyagi prefecture. hi there, time now for your

weather update. rain clouds move away from japan, looking much brighter and warmer, ac ross the country, there will be some heavy rain down into the okinawa islands, and also a few more showers to come across taiwan but nothing too severe. meanwhile a low pressure system continues to grip northeastern china. here it continues to look thundery and stormy in isolated areas. heavy downpours as well. the system is finally on its way out but sweeping across the northern end of the korean peninsula as it goes. south korea could certainly turn cloudy this afternoon as well. central and southern portions of china are looking for significant rain to develop over the next couple of days as well. hunan looking at substantial rain for today and indo china we flins laas well, widespread rain and pockets of heavy as well and india as well the southwest coast looking at torrential rains over the next several days, southwest monsoon

impacting the area. 32 degrees in hong kong, 28 in chongqing, another hot day in shanghai, 32 in beijing and warming up in tokyo to 25 degrees. now, we take a look at what's happening in north america, we've got a lot of warm air coming in from the gulf of mexico, reaching the northern plains and feeding energy into this low pressure system so looking very severe throughout the night for central canada especially northern manitoba, southern saskatchewan looking at the risk of tornadoes, also severe weather conditions across the northern plains as well, some hail reported here, some of that lingers in montana and idaho tonight, clearing up by friday finally and then that system heads towards eastern canada as we head into your friday, bringing severe weather into eastern canada, also the great lakes will experience thunderstorms as well. the west coast is going to be clearing up on friday, but by the afternoon, new system comes on through, this is going to be bringing some showers to northern california.

26 degrees in los angeles today. 25 in denver, it remains very hot down in the south, 33 degrees, a bit of a jump for chicago at 32 degrees. now for europe, high pressure system, very strong high pressure system dominating western and central europe today, that's going to be bringing bright spells of sunshine, so overall looking very warm and very sunny, all the way from scandinavia down towards spain and portugal. it looks like the west coast of norway will again be subject to wet and windy conditions and down towards the south for the mediterranean, a weak however, a very large low pressure system will continue to hover the region so that's going to be bringing unsettled conditions again, light to moderate thundershowers occurring widely across the balkans, italy through to southeastern spain. heavy rain particularly for places like northern italy, into the alpine region. 24 degrees in vienna, looking at a risk of thunderstorms here. 25 in rome, looking thundery,

good spells of sunshine, very warm, 29 degrees in paris and then 25 in berlin. all right, here is your extended forecast now.

our lead story this hour, prime minister naoto kan said on thursday that he will step down after prospects for rebuilding the disaster-hit areas and stabilizing the fukushima nuclear power plant become clear. however, opposition party leaders and even some ruling party members continue to demand kan's immediate resignation. >> translator: after handling the disaster recovery and making

sure that the nuclear crisis has been resolved to a certain stage, i wilhave fulfilled my duty as prime minister to the japanese people. then i would like to pass on my responsibilities to the younger generation of democratic party lawmakers. >> kan is believed to have made the decision because some party members had hinted that they would vote in favor of a no confidence motion against the cabinet, which had been submitted on the previous day to the lower house. ruling and opposition party members speculate that kan wants to stay in his post until january. >> translator: a state of cold shutdown at the reactors of the

damaged fukushima daiichi nuclear power plant would lay the groundwork for my resignation. >> the plant's operator, tokyo electric power company, says it will achieve a cold shutdown of the reactors by january 2012. however, democratic party senior member and former prime minister yukio hatoyama sharply reacted to kan's remarks. hatoyama said it was agreed that kan would resign after reconstruction law passes and second supplementary budget plan is formulated, which is expected in about a month. secretary-general nobuteru ishihara of the main opposition democratic party called on kan to resign as soon as possible, saying he will lose the trust of the inrnational community. and that wraps up this edition of "newsline." i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. thanks very much for joining us.