glad to have you on this edition of "newsline." it's july 7th, 9:00 a.m. in tokyo. i'm catherine kobayashi. after three attempts a south korean resort town is finally getting its wish. the international olympic committee has chosen pyeongchang to host the 2018 winter olympics, south korea's first ever winter games. >> the international olympic committee has the honor of announcing that the 23rd olympic winter games in 2018 are awarded to the city of -- pyeongchang.

[ cheers and applause ] >> the ioc announced the decision in durban, south africa on wednesday. ioc members used an electronic voting system to cast unsigned ballots for three candidate cities. munich, germany, and annecy, france were the other two. among the attendees south korean president lee myung bak and olympic figure skating champion kim yu-na were ecstatic with the result. kim won the gold medal at the vancouver winter olympics in 2010. >> translator: i've been under pressure as an ambassador, but i'm really happy with the result. >> it was a case of third time lucky for pyeongchang, which made unsuccessful bids for the 2010 and 2014 games. south korea will be the second country in asia after japan to host both summer and winter games.

>> pyeongchang. [ cheers ] >> celebrations broke out in pyeongchang early on thursday morning as soon as the announcement was made. >> translator: when i heard the result, i almost burst with joy. >> translator: it's fantastic. i'm really delighted. >> an ioc survey shows that the bid was backed by 92% of pyeongchang residents and 87% of the overall south korean population. the figures were much higher than public support in the other candidate cities. congratulations to south korea there. lots of excitement. all right. ai uchida joins us with the latest business news. ai, it's been a few days since the new imf chief was selected. >> that's right, catherine, and she actually just held her first news conference. the new head of the international monetary fund has pledged to address greece's fiscal crisis and other pending global issues promptly.

imf managing director christine leguard held her first news conference since her inauguration at the imf headquarters in washington on wednesday. lagarde cited debt crisis among industrialized nations and inflationary pressures in emerging countries with overheated economies as major issues for the imf to tackle. >> you know, you have the pressing, immediate issues, but it's a very broad-based issue that needs to be looked at as a matter of urgency. >> lagarde was also positive toward calls by china and other emerging economies about installing an extra deputy imf chief to better represent them in the organization. she said she and other imf executives will discuss the matters in a few days. it's thought that china will get the extra post if it is actually set up. european commission president jose manuel baros has

strongly criticized a leading u.s. credit agency. on tuesday moody's downgraded portuguese government debt by four notches. >> the decision of one rating agency to downgrade the portuguese sovereign debt, and i regret it both in terms of its timing and its magnitude. >> former portuguese prime minister barroso made a rare critical remark at the eu commission on wednesday. he said the move by moody's adds another speculative element to the debt situation. portugal is the second sovereign debt issuer in the euro zone to be rated below investment grade after greece. the country has been taking austerity measures to reconstruct its budget. in may eurozone countries decided to provide funds to bail out the country. the eu is now on guard against any further moves by rating agencies as more downgrades may spark fresh worries. and news just in.

japan's core private sector machinery orders were up in may. that is the first increase in two months on a month on-month basis. the cabinet office said on thursday that major machinery makers received about 733 billion yen, or over $9 billion worth of domestic orders. that's up 3% from april. the figure excludes machinery for ships and power plants. and now let's get a check on the markets. the dow snapped back into the positive, sidestepping data which showed a slight contraction in services ism for june, but to see how markets are trading here this thursday morning we cross over to ramin mellegard who's at the tokyo stock exchange. so ramin, u.s. markets look to have shrugged off weak data. how are tokyo stocks trading after machinery order numbers? >> very good morning to you, ai. and after those machinery orders we're seeing both the nikkei and the topix trading in the negative, marginally in the negative, but still the nikkei still trading above that key 10,000 level.

we'll see if we actually close above that today for a second day in a row. you mentioned u.s. markets there sidestepping that slightly weaker ism services sector data. we did see the dow and the s&p 500 up on the day. the nikkei average yesterday actually did outperform most other asian indexes. as i said there, closing above 10,000 for the first time in two months. and actually the highest level since the march 11th earthquake. analysts say expectations of a faster pace of recovery in a lot of key market sectors in japan may bode well for earnings and production numbers for the second half of the fiscal year, meaning from september to march 2012. and that looks to have given a little bit of optimism for the nikkei for now, trading above that 10,000 level. still, concerns about eurozone sovereign debt problems does seem to be overhanging global market sentiments. and we just saw -- also heard about portugal's credit rating being lowered to below

investment grade. and that has weighed a little bit on the euro. having a look at the currency levels right now, the euro-yen dropping back a little bit. currently around the 116, upper 115-yen levels. but compare that to when it was trading upper 117 earlier this week. so you can see there the yen has strengthened against the euro. and we're going to see the next focus for the euro should be the european central bank, which is meeting today, will make a decision on the rates. market consensus going for a rate hike, and market analysts telling us that if that's the case it may ease a little bit of pressure on the euro and stop it from taulg any further against a basket of currencies. the rate hike yesterday in china may hamper sentiment in the asia pacific region somewhat. we'll keep track of that and how it affects the nikkei and topix during the day. back to you in the studio. >> all right. good stuff, ramin, thanks a lot. that was our market reporter

ramin mellegard from the tokyo stock exchange. and now let's get you a look at some other market figures. ♪ ♪ that's all for now in business news. back to catherine. >> thanks very much, ai. some good news. the operator of the troubled fukushima daiichi nuclear plant says a new cooling system is now working well following a string of problems. tokyo electric power company says it will accelerate the cooling of the plant's reactors in august, a vital step to bringing them under control. tepco says the cooling system has been working almost as planned since the start of this

month. the system, which recycles decontaminated radioactive waste water, had struggled to get up and running since its launch in late june. the utility says that with radioactive water still leaking from three reactors it had to limit the amount of waste water used in the system. the leaks mean that the level of toxic water already accumulated is not falling. the utility says if the water decontaminator keeps working properly the water level will drop to more than one meter below the risk of overflowing by next month. that in turn would allow it to increase the amount of water used to cool the reactors. but tepco says it's still concerned about the extent of damage to the reactor containment vessels, injecting more water into the damaged vessels could release more radioactive steam into the environment. japan's industry ministry will carry out additional safety inspections called stress tests on nuclear power plants to reassure the public.

industry minister banri kaieda told reporters on wednesday that the stress tests are a response to concerns expressed by residents living near nuclear plants. several plants have had operations suspended since the march disaster. the stress tests on nuclear reactors were introduced by the european union following the accident at the fukushima daiichi plant. in japan they will involve raising the magnitude of simulated quakes and tsunamis to check their effects on the plants. >> translator: i want the stress test to include the list prepared by the nuclear safety commission and also reflect local residents' concerns. >> kaieda said all japanese nuclear plants will be tested starting with those already undergoing routine checks. he said he aims to accelerate the schedule of this work. some municipalities could oppose the restarting of nuclear plants until details of the tests are clarified, a scenario that would affect electricity supply over

the summer. the operator of the geng-kaar nuclear plant has admitted trying to improperly influence a public meeting on whether to restart its reactors. the mayor of the local town gave permission after the meeting for the reactors to resume, the first to do so since the fukushima crisis began. on june 26th the government held a meeting in sanda city to take questions from residents in preparation for restarting the reactors. the controversial restart depended on winning local public opinion. the meeting was shown live on cable tv and the internet and viewers were invited to send in their opinions by e-mail or fax. on wednesday the president of kyushu electric power company revealed that four days before the meeting its head office instructed some employees and four affiliated firms to send e-mails urging a restart. >> translator: please accept my deep apology for my company's action, which undermined the

credibility of the meeting. >> manabe denied knowing how many e-mails were sent. he said the company hoped to help deepen residents' understanding by stating its opinion as the plant operator. industry minister banri kaieda issued a statement, calling the incident outrageous and saying it undermined the aim of the meeting. concerns over food safety stemming from the accident at the fukushima daiichi plant are growing in tokyo, about 200 kilometers from the crippled facility. a group of parents of school children have petitioned the mayor of the city's most populous ward to take measures to ensure that school lunches are safe. the parents met the mayor of setagaya ward, nobuto hosaka on wednesday to submit a letter expressing their concerns. they've asked the ward not only to set up a system to check for radiation in vegetables, fish,

milk and other foodstuffs used in school lunches but also to procure these items only from limited areas. they also handed the mayor a petition with about 6,000 signatures in support of their requests. >> translator: i understand the parents' concerns. >> the mayor told them that no milk has been found tainted with radiation so far and that the harvest areas of foodstuffs will be disclosed at all schools in the ward. hosaka also promised to convey their request to the national government. over three months have passed since the march 11th quake and tsunami, but people in the disaster areas are still facing many difficulties. recently a group of journalists from the united states took part in a tour to the disaster-hit areas to see for themselves how people are coping.

nhq world's sa tori aoyama reports. >> reporter: all four reporters had visited japan before, but this was the first time they had been there since march 11th disaster. they traveled to miyagi prefecture, that suffered massive damage from the tsunami. steven nesson is a journalist with a public radio station in new york. he first got to know japan last year, when he visited okinawa to report on the u.s. military bases there. >> how are the people that live here affected, and what is day-to-day life like for them? and now it's three months on. what's changed? what hasn't changed? yeah, that's stuff i'd like to know. >> reporter: the journalists met with some students at an elementary school in kesennuma. their local school was severely

damaged by the tsunami, so they are now attending classes at another school nearby. before leaving for japan they called on american elementary school children to write messages of encouragement. they received around 7,000 letters from all across the united states and brought many of these messages with them. they handed out the letters to each of the children. >> translator: i'm happy to know that people in america have been thinking of us. >> translator: i'd like to send a reply thanking them and saying we're doing our best to stay strong. >> reporter: the next day the journalists visited ishinomaki, where nearly 6,000 people died or are still listed as missing.

they took photos of the city streets, which are still filled with debris more than three months after the disaster. they also visited an elementary school which is being used as an emergency shelter for more than 180 people. they wanted to talk to the survivors to find out how they are coping. >> can i take a picture? >> if you don't go inside and take a general shot, wide shot from here, that's fine. >> reporter: one of the survivors invited them to enter her living space. kakeko takahashi has been living on her own in this shelter ever since the tsunami.

at one school in ishinomaki many elementary school children died because they were not instructed to flee to higher ground immediately after the quake and they stayed in the school grounds. >> translator: we have never experienced such a huge tsunami, and we underestimated its dangers. i want children to be taught that after a quake occurs they must immediately move to a safe place. >> translator: i want everyone to treat this disaster as an issue that concerns them, not mething that happened to other people. i want the story to be passed down and never forgotten. >> nice to meet you. >> reporter: nessen could see that the survivors are gradually coming to terms with what happened. he was touched by their spirit and intends to report on everything he witnessed after getting back home.

>> it seems like they've -- physically, i can see that the land has been devastated and the homes have been devastated, but just, you know, the spirits hav not quite been devastated. they seem very strong. so that's very, you know, nice to see. >> reporter: more than 100 days have passed since the march 11th disaster. there's a growing consensus that the japanese government has failed in its reconstruction efforts in some places. but what american journalists found when they came here is that survivors aren't letting that stop them from rebuilding their lives. satoru aoyama, nhk world, in miyagi prefecture. >> "newsline" is launching a new segment this friday, and you won't want to miss it.

"the road ahead" will examine the impact of the march 11th earthquake and tsunami and japan's efforts to rebuild. that's "the road ahead," every friday night at 8:00 and 11:00 japan time. time to check on some of the stories we've gathered from broadcasters around asia. we begin with this item sent by cctv china. china's top ocean watchdog said in beijing on tuesday that recent oil leaks in boh achlt bay in northern china will have a long-term impact on the marine environment. the spills from an oil field operated by the country's largest offshore oil producer took place on june 4th and 17th and spread over an area of 840 square kilometers. the state oceanic administration says that the spills are more or less under control. it says about 70 cubic meters of oil has been cleared up. it added that the oil producer faces a fine of about $30,000. iran's president mahmoud

ahmadinejad inaugurated the country's highest dam in the southwestern province of charmahal and bakhtiar on wednesday. iranian engineers constructed the 230-meter dam at a cost of about $900 million. it has a storage capacity of 2.2 billion cubic meters of water. it's expected to generate 1,000 megawatts of electricity and prevent floods. this is the third iranian hydroelectric project that has been inaugurated since may of this year. thai tour operators in ayutaya province near bangkok have start aid new service to attract foreign tourists keen to gain more understanding about elephants. the week-long package is run like a homestay program. it aims to teach people more about elephants and how to take care of them. it provides tourists with firsthand experience of feeding and bathing jumbos. more adventurous participants can also go on elephant-back sightseeing tours during their stay. the organizers say the number of

guests arriving from overseas has increased during the first week of the new service. and welcome back to your weather update. now, we're still talking about all of the rain that has been impacting east asia, and we still have that seasonal rain front very active, and right now towards the western end of it we do have this low pressure area that has formed, and it's still bringing very heavy rains and near its center that's where some of the heaviest rains have been found these past few days. it's gradually now moving toward the southeast, moving away from some of those well-saturated areas in and around the sichuan province. so that at least is good news. but still, now more toward southeast corner of china, that is, that's where you're going to start seeing those heavy rains develop. so here you do want to keep an eye out on all of that rain. northeast china as well stays very wet. unsettled weather will continue. showers popping up here and there. the korean peninsula is also

looking pretty wet today, and as will japan. japan has been seeing some very heavy rains this whole week. it's once again today across the country showers are developing, and he wiwe may see heavier rai the north. quake affected areas you might want to watch out for potential flooding as well as landslides. as for temperatures, 29 in tokyo so, a little bit cooler today thanks to all the clouds keeping the sun away. 24 in seoul. 33 degrees in beijing. chongqing coming in at 28. so considerably cooler than the past few days. finally, that rain moving in and making things a little bit cooter. but still over toward the southeast coastline much hotter for areas like shanghai, coming in at 37 degrees. over toward the americas and lots of activity to be found in and around the caribbean. you can see a lot of bright white clouds here. showers and thunderstorms are widespread in the area, all the way through central america and up along the west coast of mexico as well. also moisture continues to move up toward the southwest of the

united states, in toward the rockies, too so pretty unsettled weather here. meanwhile, a low's going to drop out of the rockies and into the plain states, so rain is headed your way here, moving all the way into the mid mississippi valley. and then ahead of that right now looking at some thunderstorms developing in the deep south. also northeast areas too are pretty active today. could be looking at showers and thunderstorms tonight as well. as for highs on thursday, once again still very hot for the atlantic seaboard. 33 in new york, gets up to 32 in d.c. meanwhile, out west a little bit of a cooler picture. 21 in seattle and only 20 degrees in vancouver. and finally, a look at europe, and not much has changed here. we're still talking about this well-developed low sitting right over the british isles, slow-moving one so, the picture has just not changed these past few days. some more showers to come for you, and also the outer rain bands are going to be developing over the next 24 hours and moving into western, central sections of continental europe. you can see it's starting to really develop in the later

hours of thursday here. you do want to watch out for potentially stronger thundershowers, especially mountain areas. over toward the east, meanwhile, still pretty unsettled here too. showers and thunderstorms, mainly in and around western russia and parts of east europe. as for those temperatures, it's warming up toward the east, i should say. zagreb coming in at 31 for your high. definitely warmer than seasonal averages. it's going to be getting warmer in the next couple of days. athens 32. and we've got 31 expected in vienna. that's a look at your weather for now, and here is your three-day outlook. ♪ ♪

♪ ♪ our lead story this hour, after three attempts a south korean resort town is finally getting its wish. the international olympic committee has chosen pyeongchang to host the 2018 winter olympics. south korea's first ever winter games. >> the international olympic committee has the honor of

announcing that the 23rd olympic winter games in 2018 are awarded to the city of pyeongchang. [ cheers and applause ] >> the ioc announced the decision in durban, south africa on wednesday. ioc members used an electronic voting system to cast unsigned ballots for three candidate cities. munich, germany and annecy, france were the other two. among the attendees, south korean president lee myungback and olympic figure skating champion kim yu-na were ecstatic with the result. kim won the gold medal at the vancouver winter olympics in 2010. >> translator: i've been under pressure as an ambassador, but i'm really happy with the result. >> it was a case of third time lucky for pyeongchang, which made unsuccessful bids for the

2010 and 2014 games. south korea will be the second country in asia after japan to host both summer and winter games. >> pyeongchang. [ cheers and applause ] >> celebrations broke out in pyeongchang early on thursday morning as soon as the announcement was made. >> translator: when i heard the result, i almost burst with joy. >> translator: it's fantastic. i'm really delighted. >> an ioc survey shows that the bid was backed by 92% of pyeongchang residents and 87% of the overall south korean population. the figures were much higher than public support in the other candidate cities. lots of excitement there. and that concludes this edition of "newsline." i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. do stay with us. o?7o7gg7ogw