welcome to "newsline." it's tuesday, june 14th, 9:00 a.m. in tokyo. i'm catherine kobayashi. more workers at the more workers at the fukushima daiichi nuclear plant are being pulled off the job because they might have been overexposed to radiation. japan's health and labor ministry says six workers could have received doses above the allowable limit of 250 millisieverts. tokyo electric power company gave the ministry an update monday of its latest round of checks on plant workers. the ministry says the amount of radiation exposure was nearly 500 millisieverts for each of the six tepco employees in question. the maximum allowable dose for

nuclear workers in japan was raised to 250 millisieverts from 100 after the crisis started. an additional 94 workers have been exposed to between 100 and 250 millisieverts. in late may, two tepco employees on duty at reactors number three and four were confirmed as having received doses of more than twice the emergency limit. the health and labor ministry has told the utility to give all overexposed workers thorough aminations. it says it is very regrettable so many of them have come into contact with such high levels of radiation. italians have voted overwhelmingly to give up nuclear energy in a nationwide referendum. voter turnout exceeded the majority or the mandatory 50% required for a quorum, so the result will be valid. italians had opted to close

nuclear plants in a poll in 1987, following the chernobyl accident. but prime minister silvio berlusconi's government proposed in 2009 to build new plants to secure sufficient supply of domestically generated electricity. the referendum was on whether to approve berlusconi's idea of reviving nuclear power. voting was held on sunday and monday. the italian interior ministry said 94.6% were against domestic nuclear power generation after 95% of all the votes were counted. >> translator: today is the historic day for italy. >> translator: the nuclear accident at fukushima convinced us that nuclear power generation is an outdated technology. >> even before the result was announced, berlusconi expressed his intention to cancel the plan to build new nuclear power plants. >> translator: once the italian

people have spoken we will probably have to give up nuclear power. >> he also said the country will promote renewable energy sources. germany and switzerland have already decided to close their nuclear power stations after the accident at japan's fukushima daiichi nuclear power plant, but italy is the first country to hold a referendum on its nuclear energy policy. three months after the crisis at the fukushima daiichi nuclear power plant an nhk poll shows that nearly half of the japanese people want fewer plants. 1,685 voters were randomly selected for the weekend poll. they were asked about their attitudes about nuclear power generation. 66% responded. 47% said they want less. the figure is four percentage points higher than last month's survey. 18% said japan should abandon nuclear power, while

27% want to maintain the current number of plants. only 1% said they want more. asked about the government's response to the accident at fukushima, 17% said they somewhat approve, and 2% said they highly approve. but 31% said they strongly disapprove of the government's work and 44% said they somewhat disapprove. the total disapproval rate was 75%, up ten percentage points from the previous survey. a new nhk survey suggests more than half of voters in japan want prime minister naoto kan to resign within the next couple of months. kan has said he will step down once the reconstruction effort in the country's devastated northeast has made progress. 25% of respondents said they

approve of kan and his cabinet, that's a drop of three percentage points from last month's survey. the disapproval rating stands at 57%, up two percentage points. 73% of those surveyed said kan's resignation is natural or inevitable. 22% said it's unnecessary. as for the timing of when the prime minister should leave office, 31% said by the end of june, and 25% said by around august. former foreign minister seiji maehara tops the list of candidates to replace kan. yoshiko noda is a close second. most surprisingly more than a third surveyed said there is no one appropriate to be the next prime minister. earlier mitch cokijima spoke to masayo nakajima.

>> well, as we saw in the survey, former foreign minute certificate maehara leads the packs. but party executives believe he's not an appropriate choice for prime minister. because he resigned only three months ago after a scandal. the second most popular person in the survey to succeed kan, if machine stir noda. this will mean a continuation on his fiscal policies. he support as tax hike as a means to realize a more stable social security policy. other names being tossed around include agriculture minister michihiko kano, who used to be with the ldp so some dpj members believe he could have a better relationship with the opposition party. japan's diet remains divided. so the most important task for the next prime minister will be to gain the opposition's cooperation.

otherwise, almost no legislation will be passed. since the dpj still has a majority in the more powerful lower house which effectively elects the next prime minister, the next leader of the dpj will be the next prime minister, unless the democrats concede the top government post to the opposition. >> you've given us names of several contenders. now the question is, when? when is kan going to resign? >> well, he hasn't said yet. the prime minister says he wants to stay in office until reconstruction efforts have made progress, possibly until the end of august, or even later. kan announced earlier this month that he would eventually resign in order to defeat a nonconfidence motion. since then he's been under pressure from the main opposition ldp and also from within his own ruling democratic party. some dpj executives say kan must resign by the end of june if a

cooperative relationship is to be formed between the dpj and ldp to pass bills and progress quickly with the reconstruction effort. >> when kan announced his intention to resign, that made the formation of a so-called grand coalition between dpj and ldp more likely. now, what will happen to japanese politics if that goes ahead? >> 42% of japanese people surveyed by nhk support grand coalition. the ruling dpj wants a wide based coalition so it can pass a bill to issue bonds to cover debt. differences over economic policy means ldp is not yet on the side. it says the dpj should rescind its major campaign pledges such as child benefits and toll free expressways because they waste taxpayers' money. the dpj does not want to go back

on the promises it made to voters. the ldp says the next dpj leader must promise to hold an early general election. the liberal democrats believe that their chances of winning and regaining power would be greater. the dpj is currently facing a low public approval rating. the ldp has set a promise of an early election as its condition to cooperate with the dpj. you know dpj doesn't want a vote because it fears losing power. so forming a grand coalition does not seem feasible at this point. either way, japan may have sixth prime minister in five years and the next one could be equally short-lived. >> so the situation is still very fluid. nhk political commentate area masayo knack gina joins us tonight. thank you. >> ai uchida joins us with the

latest in business news. italy voted against nuclear power generation and germany is giving it up. and it's not impossible that here in japan all nuclear plants might be suspended. if that happens how would it affect our electric bill. >> a japanese think tank estimates that monthly electricity bills will rise about $13 per household if all nuclear power plants in the country halt operations. since the accident at the fukushima daiichi nuclear power plant, of the 54 reactors nationwide, 35 of them have been suspended so far for safety inspections. it remains unclear when they can resume operations. the government affiliated institute of energy economics has estimated the possible economic impact if all 54 nuclear plants were to be suspended by spring next year. the institute says if utilities use thermal power generation to cover power shortages caused by

the suspension the annual cost for natural gas and oil will rise by nearly $4.4 billion. if the increase were to be passed on to consumers, the average household would pay an additional $13 per month, an increase of 18% on the current power bill. higher utility bills will negatively impact the economy and that urgent discussions are needed on whether to continue with nuclear power. moving on, standard&poor's cut its rating of greek government bonds by another three notches. the u.s. rating agency cited a significantly higher likelihood the debt-strapped country may default on its obligations. on monday, s&p announced a downgrade from single b which was already below investment grade to ccc, the latest move follows a two-notch rating cut made last month. late year greece received a bailout package worth 110

billion euros or $110 billion, mainly from eurozone countries. additional aid is being discussed as greece has been slow to reduce its fiscal deficit. germany says further support should involve burden sharing by private investors but depending on the content of the new package the rating agency says it may view greece as defaulting on its debt. attention is focused on what kind of support plan hammered on by concerned parties this month. let's get a check on the markets, the dow barely in the positive with mixed sentiments on the economy. let's cross over to ramin mellegard at the tokyo stock exchange. ramin, good morning. how are stocks trading this tuesday? >> reporter: good morning to you, ai. the nikkei enthe topix kicked off in the negative but both are now in the positive. just barely but a little bit of a mixed opening there. you mentioned the dow just ended just a shade in the positive at

one point, broke above 12,000, have to add though that the nasdaq ended in the negative, so again a bit of a mixed session for the u.s. as well. overall market sentiment looks to be dampened by continuing concerns about the recovery in the u.s. economy as well as the downgrading to junk level of greece's bonds by standard&poor's yesterday that you just mentioned, leaves the u.s. federal reserve and european central bank on the back foot if you consider the fed is about to stop its current round of easing by the end of this month and the european central bank is still set to raise rates perhaps in july. moving on to the currency markets and how that's affecting the dollar/yen and euro/yen staying in a tight range compared to monday at the lower 80 yen levels for the dollar/yen and around the mid 115 levels for the euro against the yen. u.s. data this week is going to be critical for market players,

who want to see that after the recent unimpressive data out of the u.s., if that was just a blip or if there is sustained proof in the numbers that we're going to get this week on inflation, housing and retail sales that the u.s. economy is, in fact perhaps faltering. there will be critical economic data there. many attributed recent data in the u.s. to the march 11th disaster, because that did supply, disrupt the global supply chain so they have been looking into the finer points of those economic data. later today japan's going to get revised industrial production index for april, and also we're going to be looking at the corporate sector for further guidance. honda is coming out with the forecast for this fiscal year, for its profit outlook, that follows toyota's forecasts which came out on friday when they said they're expecting a 35% drop in operating profit. a fair bit of economic news as well as corporate news to guide

investors for the rest of the week. back to you, ai. >> thanks a lot, ramin. that was market reporter ramin mellegard at the tokyo stock exchange. and that's going to do it for now in business news. back to catherine. >> thanks very much, ai. north korean leader kim jong-il has introduced his son to a senior chinese party official visiting pyongyang. kim appears to be trying to assure support from his neighbor from the power succession. china's state-run tv said on monday met with the head of the organization department lee yeon chow. lee expressed concern the north has been taking a more hard line stance with the south. kim said his country will more closely communicate with china and contribute to peace in the region indicating that he is aiming to win china's support. the tv program showed kim jong-un, the third son and heir-apparent participating in a reception held after the meeting and chatting with chinese

officials. li is expected to be promoted to join the politburo standing committee at the congress next year. the meeting between the likely future leaders of each country is seen as an attempt by the north to lay groundwork for the succession. the south korean government says the north is completing a new missile base and cites concerns about fresh military provocations. defense minuter is kim gwan jin told parliament monday that north korea has almost finished the site for the long range missiles in the northwestern area. the minister said it's larger than others in the country and is equipped with high-tech devices. he also said last week north korea launched a short range missile into the yellow sea from another base. he said it was to test its performance and was successful. the north has been strengthening economic ties with china but it has been refusing dialogue with the south and ignoring their

calls to apologize for sinking a south korean naval vessel and for the artillery attack yeonpyeong island. south korea is on high alert as the north is improving its missile performance and deploying more patrol ships in the yellow sea. vietnam held a military drill in apparent move to drills. its navy conducted a live ammunition drill 40 kilometers off of the province. it was held in the morning and at night and lasted nine hours. the ministry did not disclose the number of ships involved in the exercise. vietnam announced over a period of about two weeks, china had obstructed its fishing boats and a survey ship owned by state-run oil company. the vietnamese people staged protests against china on june 5th and 12th in the capital

hanoi and ho chi minh indicating increases objections to the country. the u.s. state department expressed temps that the display of military power would only heighten tension in the region but vietnam said it was just a routine exercise. china is scheduled to begin operating a high-speed railway between beijing and shanghai late this month. the trains will run at two speeds, 300 kilometers per hour and 250 kilometers per hour. the faster one will cover the 1,300 kilometers between beijing and shanghai in four hours and 48 minutes. the railway will have seismic sensors installed at 31 points along the route so trains can slow down in the event of an earthquake. the train and railway operation system were developed with technological support from other countries, including japan and

germany. but the vice minister of railways stressed chinese technology at a news conference in beijing on monday. >> translator: the railway is a compilation of chinese railway technologies. our technology in this field has reached the highest level in the world. >> the line was initially set to open in october this year. china's leadership is believed to be using the railway opening to play up the country's achievements in science and technology before the 90th anniversary of the ruling communist party on july 1st. japan's unmanned space probe has been listed in the guinness book of world records as the first probe to bring back samples of an astroid. hayabusa completed its 300 million kilometer round trip to the itokawa asteroid on june 13th 2010. it brought back a canister of

particles from the asteroid's surface. last july the japan aerospace agency applied to guinness to have it recognized as the first ever spacecraft to land on and return from a celestial body other than the moon. the agency received a certificate on june 2nd recognizing hayabusa's achievement. junichiro kawaguchi, a professor and leader of the hayabusa project says he hopes this will result in more people knowing about the spacecraft. time to check on the stoiris from broadcasters around asia. we begin with this item from cctv china. heavy rains have affected about 10 million people and destroyed 645,000 hectares of farmland in 13 provinces.

losses around $1.3 million. the meteorological administration has predicted more rain in the coming days for middle and lower reaches of the yanghtzee river along with the southern parts of the country. d 35 pangalons in the country. the second attempt to smuggle the mammals into neighboring countries where its meat is considered a delicacy. a 40-year-old man was arrested as he washifting the animals from one car to another. he modified the trunks of the cars in order to hide the animals. found in indonesia, malaysia and thailand, pangalons are a protected species on endangered species. a week-long celebration has kicked off in sri lanka to mark the 2,350th anniversary of the introduction of buddhism to the country from india. the main events of the full moon

day will take place in the central city of the ancient capital of the island nation. they include chanting of sutras and illumination of the main temples. the authorities have deployed hundreds of busses and started special train services to transport hundreds of thousands of people to the site. about 3 million people are expected to participate. hello there. welcome to your weather update. we'll take a look at east asia first of all. looking at changeable weather for japan today. there will be spells of sunshine in between those clouds but looking quite showery up in the north for hokkaido. also one or two showers could affect central areas including tokyo as well. further south for the amami islands getting close to that seasonal rain band. here going to see hefty showers

and at the tail end of this system we continue to see some torrential rains occur in central and southern china, this low pressure system is set to ride along this frontal system, bringing some heavy rain for areas along the yanghtzee river. expected to have heavy rain over the next several days. over the next 24 hours areas like chongqing, qubei, and anhui in particular we're experiencing torrential downpours, over 100 millimeters or more so renewed flood risks in the area. around the bay of bengal lots of moisture to be found again, wet conditions for much of indo china peninsula, up northeastern india, bangladesh as well, northern end of india as well, pradesh as well experiencing heavy thundery downpours. temps looking cooler in central china, 24 degrees in chongqing, 25 in shanghai, quite cloudy out here, it will be warm, though, for beijing, 32. 29 in seoul. now let's head to the americas,

turning much cooler up in the northeastern corner here, but stays exemely hot across the southern plains and in between is where we're going to find those severe thunderstorms break out across the plains states into the lower mississippi valley, we're looking at chances of storms here, especially arkansas and down towards mississippi looking at violent storms, just north of this, heavy rain will impact areas like missouri and illinois. now, flooding is still a concern up in montana here, river levels are starting to slowly recede but still pretty high and another round of rain here is really going to be increasing those flooding risks. down toward the southwest it stays very dry and windy here, so the strong wind gusts really not helping the fire fighting efforts going on. 26 degrees in los angeles today, 38, another hot day in houston, but up towards the northeast, new york city, much, much cooler at 19 degrees. now for europe, showers are

going to be sweeping across the north, starting off in norway, eventually reaching sweden, looking quite blustery out here as well but instead, high pressure system will start to cover the british isles looking calmer and brighter for your tuesday. central and western areas showers as well, france and low countries into germany, still looking at lots of thunderstorms to develop for italy, parts of the balkans especially greece, croatia into romania especially as the day heats up. it will stay dry and sunny across much of spain and portugal, 30 degrees in madrid today, 22 in lisbon and warm sunshine in london at 24 degrees. all right, here is your extended forecast now.

our lead story -- more workers at the fukushima daiichi nuclear plant are being pulled off the job because they might have been overexposed to radiation. japan's health and labor ministry says six workers could have received doses above the allowable limit of 250 millisieverts. tokyo electric power company gave the ministry an update monday of its latest round of

checks on plant workers. the ministry says the amount of radiation exposure was nearly 500 millisieverts for each of the six tepco employees in question. the maximum allowable dose for nuclear workers in japan was raised to 250 millisieverts from 100 after the crisis started. an additional 94 workers have been exposed to between 100 and 250 millisieverts. in late may, two tepco employees on duty at reactors number three and four were confirmed as having received doses of more than twice the emergency limit. the health and labor ministry has told the utility to give all overexposed workers thorough examinations. it says it is very regrettable so many of them have come into contact with such high levels of radiation. 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.