welcome to i do newsline." it's tuesday, july 12th, 9:00 a.m. in tokyo. i'm catherine kobayashi. the operator of the crippled fukushima daiichi nuclear power plant will twin preparations to inject nitrogen into the number three react over tuesday afternoon. tokyo electric power company says workers have confirmed last friday that the pipes can be connected to the reactor container. tepco plans to inject nitrogen to avoid a hydrogen explosion. the utility has set a target of july 17th to complete the task. nitrogen was injected into the number one reactor in april and the number two reactor in june.

>> translator: we are planning to connect the pipe to the container around 1:00 p.m. on tuesday. we want to begin the injection as soon as we get the approval from the safety agency. >> the utility reported its plan to the nuclear and industrial safety agency on monday. it described the safety measures to limit radiation exposure to the workers. tepco also told the agency how the injection will impact the container. tepco says it has detected airborne radioactive materials above the government standard in the number two reactor building. tepco has been investigating inside the three reactor bllgds and the areas surrounding them since early this month. the utility said monday that robots found airborne 134 in the number two reactor building with levels ranging from 40 to 65 times above the government standard.

the buildup of radioactive air is believed to have originated from explosions and steam leaking from the damaged reactors. the plant operator said it needs to confirm the origin and amount of radioactive substances and also needs to reduce the contamination so that work can begin to bring the reactors under control. "newsline" is the place to turn to. we have perspective ons on the fallout from the earthquake and tsunami. "nuclear watch" brings insight and information on the impact of the fukushima daiichi crisis. "the road ahead" examines japan's efforts to recover and rebuild. don't miss "nuclear watch" and "the road ahead" on "newsline." ai joins us now with the latest in business news. big losses on stock markets overnight. >> indeed, catherine. europe and wall street sliding overnight. new york stocks tumbled on

monday on growing concerns that greece's fiscal problems could spread to other european countries such as italy and spain. the dow jones industrial average lost more than 180 points at one stage, closing the day at 12,505, down 151 points from friday's finish. sell orders surged for a wide range of issues. earlier in the day, european stocks were down across the board. market sources say investors are speculating eu stress tests for regional lenders could reveal problems that are weighing down on italian banks. results will be announced later this week. italy's long-term bond prices have plummeted on the speculation. now let's go check on tokyo shares after a considerable setback on wall street and continued concerns in europe. we go to ramin mellegard who is at the tokyo stock exchange. italy emerging as the next big

story. >> very good morning to you, ai. we're really seeing that reflected in the markets here at the open boat the nikkei down over 100 points and below the key 10,000 level. that's the first time since last wednesday. and the topix trading lower as well. pretty much reflecting the town trend that we saw in the dow and in the u.s. markets as well. and the sovereign debt crisis in europe does seem to be a dark, immovable cloud hanging over global markets right now with very few signs of it being able to move on. now add that also to growth concerns in china and also continuing talks in congress in the u.s. about the debt ceiling. and also the recent jobs numbers that we just had on friday. and that gives you an idea of what stocks have to deal with. now, here in japan there's also the added factor of key industry sectors trying to get back to pre-quake sales and production numbers following the huge setbacks from the march 11th earthquake and tsunami. and also earnings numbers out of

the u.s., which started off this week, may reflect a dip based on disaster which happened in japan four months ago. now, following on from the euro zone debt concerns, we also saw another setback for the euro. the common currency there. currently trading around the 112 yen levels compared to 117 just last week. so you can see the yen strengthening there against the euro on those euro zone debt concerns. and that was also following last week when there was a little bit of a receding of concerns following greece's bailout package. so you see things have turned around a little bit. here in japan, also the bank of japan is going to wrap up its two-day meeting and it's expected to downgrade its assessments of the state of the economy for the fiscal year ending march 2012. the key pocus also may be any gdp forecasts in the wake of the march earthquake and tsunami. so a lot of stuff for investors to take in there.

also let's not forget u.s. economic data later this week. retail sales, inflation data, and industrial production. so a lot on the plate for investors. but the nikkei down over 100 points. back to you. >> thanks for that update, ramin mellegard at the tokyo stock exchange. as mentioned with the possibility of u.s. default looming large, president barack obama says he will keep calling for as much reduction in the budget deficit as possible. that's in a bid to win concession from the opposition republicans ahead of the august 2nd deadline for for raising the federal debt ceiling. in a news conference at the white house on monday, obama indicated his intention to keep tax cuts for oil firms and the wealthy in place at least through the year, through the next year. >> now's the time to do it. if not now, when? i continue to push congressional leaders for the largest possible deal. >> obama's conciliatory stance

comes as the republicans are demanding huge cuts in deficit in exchange for agreeing to raising the federal borrowing limit. house speaker john ehner told reporters that comprehensive spending cults are needed before removing tax reductions. obama said he would continue to discuss the issue with congressional leaders to narrow their differences and to reach an agreement in time to prevent a default. data just in. the prices ofoods td among foa ninth consecutive month.ai o emssonony amaed d wh grd

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>>n theingf aour bt cen russia has ren to50. thrue sp ulga capsized a sank sunday passenge members aboard. officials of russia'smeen siatn ministry said on monday that 79 people have been scd. but about 50 have been confirmed dead so far. th say nearly 70 are still unaccounted for. they'rinde the boat, whichying on the bottom of the river about 2 meters below. it was on its way from the rer regional capital00 komers

away. it capsized in stormy weather and sank withi nus. el was built 56 yearsgosays the and was carrying far more passengers than its capacity.ut investigating whether the operator of the tour boat ignored safety meare a small passenger plane crhewhile attempting an emergency landing on a river in st beria. russian officials say at least five people were killed. the turboprop w carrying about 30 passengers and crew members when itranheolb river in siberia monday morning. a russian news agency says fire from one of the pl gisorced its pilot to attempt to land. the crash is the latest in a ri of recent accidents involving planes built in the sovieta. june 20th, a tupolev 140 plane crash-landed a runway iorweer rsi killing 46 people.

amid the strife fm the tohoku earthquake and tsunami four months ago, tewt members of the communities are thriving. the infants born around the time t disaster look physically healthy and show no signs of stress. eaieth moh, wised the disaster area to see how some of the new arrivals are in >> repte hen eow minami some infantsre gti their checkups. the babies were born in february and march just before aft e disaster. on ts date, 18 are being examined. meou parents lost their homes in the tsunami. eye do raise their children in the austere conditions of emergency slts and temporary housing.

eaveirth to her daughter hikari omah 2d, 1 days after the tsunami. the hospital she had planned to give birth in was damaged in the disaster. hikari was taken from her temporary sheltero ath hospital where she gave birth to her daughter. she nedhe ianhikari, which means light shhod rautewod grow up healthy and happy, never to be defeated by disaster. >> translator: we want her to be a ray of hope. soeamederikari. rorr:he tn of minami was completely devastated by th eahqkendsumi. yukari lost her home to the giant wave. she was finally able to move toemra hsi ath beginning of june.

but raising a baby in the disaster zone is still a stgg. sheas to depend on donations for the baby's diape and undeear. e water supply is unreliable and the running water drkae. yukari has to fetch water from a tank to make formula milk. we've just been making due as we go along. >> reporter: this is the day of hikari's three-month checkup. she weighs a sapng 6.3 kilograms, twice what she weighed at birth. and shows no signs of malnourishment. the nurse advised yukari to be

sureoiverab plenty of water as the weather gets hotter. >> translator:'mlath e'heth she's adorable. she's our little ray of light. it's been four months since the fukushima daiichi accident. restrictions on vegetable ipntanother farm products are now being lifted in fukushima prefecture. in karaga, se 250 kilometers away, radioactive substances exceeding the legal limit have been detected in tea leaves odedhe. shims are being restricted, putting pressure on the growers. >> reporter: akitoshi grows tea in ckanagawa prefecture.

500 becquerels is the legal limit. 74we decd in a kilogram of tea leaves grown in his field. none of the have vested leaves could be used.vested leaves cou be used.havested leaves could be ud.esd av ulbe used. >> translator: i never thought radioactivity would be found here. >> reporter: in may, kaga prefecture tested samples of farm products for radioactivity. tests showed that all the products in the area were conser bow the legal limit for contamination, except tea. the reason the tea contains radioactive material lies in the way it grows. after the incident, radioactivity released from the power plant adhered to the leaves. the buds of the tea absorb

nutrients from older leaves as they grow. tid nutrients, radioactive substanceslso get absorbed into the buds. it's normally harvest time now. but this year, kirakoro cut back leaves containing radioactivity, instead of picking fresh tea. >> translator: it's just a real shame to have to cut off all the leaves after i worked so hard to on grow the plants over the last year. >> reporter: the shipment restriction is dealing a greater blow to farmers who had been expanding business. t toshihara farms tea on one hectare of land.

he invested about $600,000 to build a processing plant and was being contracted by other farmers to process tea. but now he can't ship any tea, and he's lost most of his income from the processing plant. >> translator: after i pay back the loan for the machinery, i'll probably have no money left. i will either spend my savings or take out another lope to gan through the year. >> reporter: kikuchi spends a lot of time thinking about the future of his business. he worries about whether he'll be able to continue to produce a product that will be safe for consumers to buy. >> translator: i think that the only way is to prove to everyone that we can grow tea that's safe to drink.

i hope that no matter how many years go by, we can continue to remain a center for tea production. as of july 12th, restrictions on shipments of tea will be expanded to include ibaraki prefecture and other prefectures. in parts of shizoka prefecture, farmers are holding their production as a precaution. in other areas, tea leaves cleared for radioactive substances are being shipped to other regions. now take a look at the weather forecast with sumi zushi. >> hello, time for your weather update. keep an eye on tropical depression over the pacific which has just formed. it is moving in a westerly direction and it is expected to become a tropical storm in the next couple of days.

keeping a close eye on this storm system. over towards the north, the high pressure system firmly covering much of japan here. so we're looking at intense sunshine, extremely hot conditions throughout the country again. but of course, daytime heating will he'd lead to those afternoon thunderstorms. so watch out for some sharp showers in many areas. meanwhile, the seasonal rain band remains very active and lingers in the same region, affecting eastern china, the korean pen nips la. so it looks like additional heavy rain will impact south korea as well as shandong in china, up to 100 millimeters in the next 24 hours. you see torrential rains beginning to develop in north korea as well come wednesday. southern china will continue to deal with additional significant rain as well. around the bay of bengal, we continue to see plenty of moisture developing. scattered showers in place for indochina peninsula and the southwest monsoon beginning to really advance into the northern tip of the indian subcontinent.

we're looking at fairly widespread rain here. particularly heavy downpours up in the north eastern corner. temperature-wise it's going to be quite cool in chongqing today. shanghai 32. hotting up to 33 degrees in tokyo. so another hot day. plenty of showers affecting central america. again, we've got this very big high pressure system bringing this mexican monsoon. also the southwest monsoon affecting the u.s. here. over towards the north we've got this very long frontal system stretching across the midwest, looking at widespread thunderstorms, rain, anywhere along here could experience a couple of thunderstorms, severe thunderstorms, that is, across wyoming, south dakota, even down in west virginia as well. the center of the storm is steadily moving into eastern quebec. here it's looking quite severe. eastern quebec, maine as well. down in the frida peninsula, looking fairly unsettled as well. temperature-wise it stays hot in the southeastern corner again. 40 in wichita.

36 in houston. coming in at 34 in atlanta. as for europe, high pressure system covering the british isles. we've got good spells of sunshine. there will be showers occurring from time to time. nothing too severe. we will start to see some heavy rain developing in western europe, western france, northern spain on tuesday. scattering of showers across scandinavia. then this low pressure system over in eastern europe remains very active, bringing heavy rain, strong thunderstorms in isolated areas. right now it's over the baltic states but it's going to be moving into finland on tuesday. so that will be welcome rain. behind this it is going to be triggering some quite sharp showers in places for the balkans as well. and that will help to cool things down. still a few degrees above your seasonal averages here. we've got 31 in budapest. 32 in belgrade. coming in at 37 in athens. all right, here is your extended forecast now.

our lead stories this hour. the operator of the crippled fukushima daiichi power plant

will begin preparations to inject nitrogen into the number three reactor tuesday afternoon. tokyo electric power company says workers have confirmed last friday that the pipes can be connected to the reactor container. tepco plans to inject nitrogen to avoid a hydrogen explosion. the utility has set a target of july 17th to complete the task. nitrogen was injected into the number one reactor in april and the number two reactor in june. >> translator: we are planning to connect the pipe to the container around 1:00 p.m. on tuesday. we want to begin the injection as soon as we get the approval from the safety agency. >> the utility reported its plan to the nuclear and industrial safety agency on monday. it described the safety measures to limit radiation exposure to the workers. tepco also told the agency how the injection will impact the container.

supporters of serial president bashar al asad have attacked the u.s. and french embassies in damascus. the government's loyalists are criticizing western countries for supporting anti-government protesters. rioters broke into the u.s. embassy monday and smashed windows before climbing onto the roof and raising the syrian flag. no one was injured. on the same day a group of syrians clashed with guards while trying to enter the french embassy. three french embassy staff members were injured in the incident. last week the u.s. and french ambassadors to syria were in the central city of hamah. the enjoys backed the protesters' calls for democratic reform. the syrian government has accused them of interfering in domestic affairs. that wraps up this edition of "newsline." i'm quoesh core in tokyo. do stay with us. we'll be back with more updates at the top of the next hour.