hello, welcome to" newsline." japan's health ministry called on local governments across the country to prioritize raidso active checks on beef over other food products. the ministry issued the instruction after finding that at least 1200 beef cattle fed with contaminated rice straw were shipped nationwide. it says contaminated beef has been distributed to nearly 47 prefectures across the country. beef from farms was found to

contain radio active sezium in amounts higher than the government standard. they suspended shipment on tuesday. the health ministry is asking local governments to promptly check radio activity levels in meat products because contaminated beef could be held on retailers or wholesalers. meanwhile, radio active straw for cattle feed han been found in 10 prefectures. there t was ten times the levels used in other prefectures in central japan. most of the straw was shipped from companies north of the fuk.

there is radio activity as far as 150 kilometers. there are locations one meter above the ground in miaga prefecture, based on the results of an aerial survey from june 22nd through 30th. radio activity levels are highlighted in different colors. parts of a city about 150 kilometers north of the plant are light blue, indicating 0.2 to 0.5 per hour of radio activity, similar it hours close to the damaged plant about 50 kilometers pr the radio active source. quantity far above the government standard for found in rice straw cattle feed. >> it depends on the correlation of the accumulation of radio active cesium own contamination of rice straw. we would like to consult the agriculture ministry and local municipalities. >> a professor says if such data was made available earlier it

could have prevented farmers from giving the tainted straw to cattle. now let's take a look at the latest in business news. tell us about the situation, the current situation in greece sn. >> absolutely. the details have yet to come together, katherine np in fact, leaders from germany and france met to reconcile views on the second bailout plan, the dialogue held of a of a summit meeting which is scheduled for thursday. german chanceror merkel and french president met in berlin to talk about how investors such as commercial banks should be involve node rescue greece. local medias say that the two sides worked to iron out their differences. german official estated they are hoping private creditors will assume a greater burden in the rescue efforts while france is hesitant to involve the private sector. the greek debt crisis continues despite the 110 euro

bailout conducted last year. european leaders are under pressure to come up with a second rescue package as the credit crisis may spread to o 0er7b8g nationes with excessive debts such as italy and spain. meanwhile, european commission president warned that each country needs to specify support measures for greece. >> nobody should be under any illusion the situation is very serious. it requires a response, otherwise the negative consequences will be felt in all corners of europe and beyond. >> meanwhile, here in japan, this news just in, japan's trade balance in june posted a surplus for the first time in three months following the march 11th earthquake. according to data released by the finance ministry on thursday, japan's trade sur flus

june was $895 million. exports in june fell 1.6%. that's about 73.1 billion dollars. imports were up 9.8% to about 72.2 billion. now, let's check on how the markets are performing. evernight in new york, the dow jones ended slightly lower as investors lock in profits from extensive gains the previous day. for more we cross over no emily waning at the tokyo stock exchange. good morning emily. >> good morning. lots of factors for investors to look at today. first wbt debt issue loomed large, especially ahead of the finance minister's later on today. in the u.s., talks over the debt ceiling are under way and there is uncertainty over what the outcome might be. with all of these factors coming in, investors seem to be trading cautiously at least this morning. the average this morning opening above 10,000, it is maintaining that level.

it opened up about 14 points tp it gained just a little bit. these gatocks when u.s. paired back their gaines from tuesday when the dow posted its biggest gain for this year. results from apple helped put under share prices. they lock in prove w key indexes ending lower. the dow jones average is 12,571. nasdaq closing at 2,814. now, the risk of sentiment also prevails in the currency market. traders are buying then which they consider a safer asset than the dollar given the talks. the upper 78 yen level compared to what we saw yesterday on trading hours, which was around 79. the euro has a one-week high during early morning trading. talks by the leaders of germany and france lead to progress on the greek rescue package.

the euro/yen at the 112 level. one factor is tech giant intel's earnings results. their company said net income from the april to june quarter came in at $3 billion, up 2% from the same period last year. but after our trading from that chip maker was lackluster and ahead of major events coming up in europe and u.s., some investors could be wait waiting on the side lines to see if there could be progress on ongoing debt talks. for. >> thanks a lot, emily. that's emily waning from the tokyo stock exchange. global financial regulators agred to impose a new role on larger financial institutions that would require them to boost their capital. regulators so far pick 27 institutions that would come under the requirement. sources say japan's three major financial kbrups are among

to be among them. there are institutions based on factors such as their scope of lending. the new rule will require them to increase their ratios between 1 and 2.5 percentage points in the period between 2016. regulators say the purpose is to prevent another global financial crisis like the one in 2008, which was triggered by the collapse of lehman brothers. three groups say they aim to gradually raise their capital ratios by increasing profits. that is all for me here in business. back it katherine. >> thanks very much. engineers continue to struggle with the decontamination system at the crippled new hampshire plant. tokyo electric power company admits the system is still working below target. tepco says last week it was well below the target.

this is the third straight week it has failed to meet the target. the decontamination system's capacity to remove radio active materials is 30% lower than particularly planned. the cause of the latest problem is still unknown. since the crisis began in march, water used to cool reactors has become radio active and is accumulating in basements of the buildings tech co-put in a system to to decontaminate water and cool the reactors. failing to confirm the whereabouts of 198 workers who are believed to have worked at plant since the nuclear disaster started. criticizing the operator lax personnel management, the health ministry instructed tokyo electric power company to identify the workers and have those he workers checked for radiation exposure by next

friday. in a support submitted to the ministry by wednesday, the company admits it fail sewed far to confirm whereabouts of 198 workers who are on the list of workers at the plant between march and april. the company also reports that it has conducted radiation exposure tests on 8,338 workers but still has it test more than 1500 workers, including the 198 missing. the utility reported last week that the number of missing was 132. the nuclear safety industry is also investigating the case. if it is proven some workers were hired by the company without identities being confirmed, it could cross antiterrorism legislation. takahama power company says

it will begin turning off its number 4 power plant on thursday. the utility also plans to shut down another reactor in the same prefecture for regular checkups on friday. but the prefecture government decided ton approve the presumption of nuclear reactors until the central government draws up new safety standards for reactor after the nuclear disaster of fukushima. 18 of the 54 reactors are currently in operation. >> newsline is the place to turn to for the latest on japan, post march 11th. we have two statements offering two unique perspectives on the fallout from earthquake and tsunami. nauk lar watch brings you insight and information on the fukushima daiichi process. don't miss, nuclear watch and

the road ahead, on newsline. what happens to sky scrapers when they're hit by shock waves from a massive earthquake? new data suggests they may be more vulnerable than previously thought. >> the swank is intention. >> sky skriepers y scrapers swak and forth after the earthquake on march 11. experiencing the strongest shaking. experts simulate the intensity of the quake inside high rise buildings. testing what would happen on the top floor after 50-story building. the device they used simulating

the world's strongest swaying motion. the roof, swaying from side it side, back and forth a long ways. maximum amplitude is 60 centimeters. the long period ground motion is characteristic, slow with each cycle lasting two second or longer. >> the march 11th quake was the strongest ever for super sigh ohio rise buildings in or near tokyo. >> the long period ground motion made the sky scrapers top floors. but we found that another added to the damage. the head of the residence association of 37-high ride condominium in tokyo. the association conducted a survey and was surprised to find

that the worst damage was concentrated mid way up, the 37-story building, around the 20th floor. >> the damage was above and below the 20th floor. >> the top floor would sway the hardest. why, then, was much of the damage on the middle floors. the university in tokyo has a 28-story skyscraper. the 14th floor, about half way up the building, was severely damaged in the quake. the ceiling fell to the floor.

the professor is a works in is a seismic engineer. >> the quick severely jolted upper floors but there was also dog leg bending on the mid level. >> the building made large swaying motions, much like a dancer's hips rotating. >> the movement is called the secondary mode. >> the secondary mode is repeated in short sierk els. the vibrations are very different in nature for the long period motions. the long period motions are called primary mode movements. the secondary mode on the other hand has secondary cycles and affect the mid level floors more seriously. here the march 1 17b8g quake, a

massive slippage took place along 450 kilometer fault line. this triggered two separate shock modes simultaneously. the primary mode, volted the upper floors. and the secondary mode caused significant damage to the mid level floors. >> so now we know the squaks cause a secondary shock mode. that means if a major quake hits central or western japan as government specialists predict, the risk of damage may be even bigger than expected. >> the impact of the secondary mode of buildings was an unexpected violations caused about the i secondary mode shoe be considered in addition to the shaking of the top floors in designing safe buildings. >> earlier, speaking p with our reporter about the impact of the

high rise buildings. >> japan is an earthquake prone country. are there no cases in the past where super high rise buildings are damages. >> there is about 325 buildings over 60 meters high but no serious damage had been done in previous earthquakes except some elevators troubles. some time there is no catastrophic buildings either. but high rye buildings sustain damage not only in tokyo but in a city in the western part of japan. clearly the march earthquake was the biggest since super high rise buildings have been constructed. >> except that in the march 11 quake shaking and so-called secondary phase is strong. what else do we know? >> the march quake showed us the ordeal of its impact on high rise buildings. >> the duration after quake, it is said on march 11th, the

shaking continues for 13 minutes at high rise buildings in tokyo. that is longer than the national quake resistant standard predicts. experts say high rise buildings may suffer structural damage in the future if a massive earthquake causees a complicated pattern of shaking. >> are there specific measures that can be taken against the shaking in very large earthquakes? >> construction companies in japan develop various type of equipment. on march 11, buildings with such systems don't sway very much. but controlled systems are expensive so only a few high rise buildings have installed them. following the march 1 17b8 quake, the japanese government started reviewing the quake resistant standard for high ride buildings. >> could similar shaking occur in other countries but have many high rise buildings like the united states? >> if a massive quake occurs,

off the woest coast of the united states, super high rise buildings could sustain damage. to better prepare for future massive quakes, each country should complete the analysis of the damage by march 11th earthquake quickly and draw off measures against them. >> thank you. >> the japanese government has drawn out the outline of its reconstruction plan for areas devastated by the march 11 disaster. the outline calls for setting up special reconstruction district where deregulation will will be promoted and fast track procedures will be made it utilize land. the outline also calls for building advance solar energy and wind power generation systems to promote renewable energy businesses and creating equal friendly towns in the disaster hit areas. regarding the nuclear

disaster at the fukushima daiichi power plant there is a research institute to be set up to help decontamination entries with the cooperation of universities and companies. the government hopes to decide a basic policy based on the outline by the end of this month. time to check on some of the to stories gathered by other reporters around asia. the 25th nuclear plant in in the state, the 700 megawatt plant, is indigenous heavy water technology and experted to start general power by 2016. by 2017 india hopes to generate 10,000 megawatts of electricity from its nuclear plants. seven of which are under construction. mean while, organizations raised concern about the safety and security of nuclear plants and

the black drop of the fukushima daiichi nuclear crisis. tradesing on its border is expected to increase by 30% compared to last year. recently lifting a ban on 15 items including food products, a senior thai customs official said on wednesday the valley of goods trade et at the post could increase by millions of dollars as result. previously banned items such as instant noodles, fresh fruit, liquor, canned goods and cigarettes are very popular in the neighboring countries. world famous basketball star yam ming announced his retirement. he fractured his foot last year. with 2.9 meter star plays for agts seasons in the national basketball association and became china's most known

athlete abroad. he vows to continue his social work. he has donated millions to build schools and basketball courts around china. >> a look at your weather for east asia. we are looking at the tropical storm that is heading away from asia. it is a nice conditions least hopefully now. the storm is still with us, severe tropical storm storm level and continues to bull over south. in the islands on the outer edges of japan but it looks like it could be towards the north again. continuing to maintain slow speed. still parts here will be feeling some of the affects throughout the day today. so high waves, stronger wind are possible. looks like a little bit of rain

hanging around as well. also looking at showers, looking to impact the north east corner of china, quite a bit of upper level cold air in places making things settled. out west another low front developing. near that heavy rain is going to be possible at times. nothing lasting too long but you do want to watch out for torrential downpours. this tropical storm about taiwan and into the philippines as well as the indio china peninsula. in beshing it is looking hot. tokyo coming in at 24 degrees with gray skies today on the cool side. towards the americas, mexico, hurricane dora forming a clearly defined eye. clearly strengthening. category 3 strength and likely a major category 4. that is major hurricane on thursday before it starts weakening.

it will likely maintain parallel to the coast of mexico. high waves along the area. rs it may have effects you want to watch out for that. winds may be felt along the close line as well. we have tropical storm brett here too. that is a weakening trepd and continuing to head out to meanwhile, a messy picture here along the u.s./canadian border. along the ridge of that high heat. looking at severe weather under this area. watch out for thunderstorms, large hail and daging gusts. right below that is where we are looking at all of the heat impangting the u.s. again today. very, very warm conditions for eastern and mid section of the united states and up towards eastern canada. toronto coming in at 37 degrees. new york at 35. heat, watch out if you are going to be be outside. it is largely unsettled for many areas. in eastern and central sections

of ub europe. againing with getting active over the area here. we are hearing of snow near na mountain range. watch out for that. highs still looking hot out towards 9 east. but we are looking at 31 in moscow and key ef annage ins head here is your three-day outlook.

our lead story this hour. japan's health ministry called on local governments across the country to prioritize radio active checks on beef over other food products. the ministry issued the instruction after finding at least 1200 beef cattle fed with contaminated rice straw was

shipped nationwide. contaminated beef has been distributed to nearly all 47 prefectures across the country. there is radio active cesium in amounts higher than the government standard. they suspended shipments of beef cattle on tuesday. the health ministry is asking governments to check levels. meanwhile, radio active rice straw used for cattle feed has been found in ten prefek tours. wh most of the straw was shipped from companies in miaga prefecture, north of the fukushima daiichi nuke particular plant. that wraps up this edition of

"ne "newsline." thanks for joining us.