welcome to nrk newsline. i'm shery ann. the government is trying to peace angry victims. last saturday one train rear-ended another sending some cars tumbling off an elevator track. at least 39 people died. chinese premier visited the accident site on thursday.

>> the premier met the injured at a hospital and talked with families of victims promising a thorough investigation to determine the cause of the collision. a visit to the crash site appears to be ae easing of criticism of the government to some degree as some support his actions. on the same day a government held a task force meeting on the accident. a senior railway official admitted that there were design flaws in the train's signalling system.

. >> the task force also known that station staff failed to nlts the malfunction. it said it will release findings by mid september. it aims it show that government is taking quick action in response to the accident. families of the victims he remain dissatisfied with the government stance on the same day many family members continue demonstrations against the government and demanded answers for the collision. the united states and north korea ended the first day of their two-day talks in new york to on ways to restore talks on the nuclear program. the meetings held at the u.n. office marks the first talks since december 2009. >> translator: i will -- [ inaudible ]

>> special envoy to north korea bosworth greeted gwan at the outset of the meeting on thursday. the meeting is not disclosed but they are demanding that north korea give up uranium and other nuclear programs. it is also believed that north korea stressed its corporation to resume the six-party talks. >> the meetings were constructive and i have nothing more to add at this point. we may have more to add tomorrow. >> talks will continue on friday. japan has asked south korea to ensure the safety of four japanese politicians who are planning to visit the country. state secretary for foreign

affairs commented on the news conference on thursday. four members from the opposition liberal democratic party want to visit the south korean island of ulleungdo. >> as state government, it is only natural for south korea to ensure the safety of foreign visitors. >> the island is located near the sea of japan which are known as takashima. it is held by south korea now. south korea president said it will not allow the four jp hemnes politicians to enter the country saying their safety cannot be assured. protest against their possible visit of ulleungdo continue in south korea. now to business news where we are joined by fresh economic indicators. >> that's rye.

we have three economic indicators just how out so let's kick things off with j pan's unemployment rate which worsened from the previous month. the internal affairs ministry says the jobless rates stood at 4.6%. that is 0.1% is point up from may. the number of unemployed stood at 2.93 million. that's down 360,000 from a year earlier. meanwhile, the number of people with jobs was 60.02 million, up 30,000. separately the labor ministry says job availability rose from the previous month. the ministry says that 63 positions were available for every 100 job seekers. >> now let's take a look at consumer prices in japan which inched up. the internal affairs ministry said on friday that consumer price index rose 0.4% from a year earlier. that is a third consecutive month of increases. the index excludes volatile fresh fruit prices.

index stood at 99.7 against the reference value of 100 for the year 2005. jean japan's industrial production rose for a third consecutive month. the ministry of economy trading an industry announce that output index of factories and mines was 92.7 against the reference value of 100 for 2005. the improvement shows supply chains are getting back on track due to recovery efforts sin the march 11 earthquake. the rise is because of increased manufacturing of machinery. now despite the slew of economic indicators here in japan the main focus remains the ongoing developments in the united states over the debt ceiling. with no resolutio so far, the dow ended lower for a fifth straight session on thursday. so to see how stocks are trading here in japan this friday morning, we cross over to ramin who is at the markets.

ramin. >> having a look at opening levels for the nikkei and topics wks both opened in the negative. we did see for a couple of seconds there the nikkei going into the positive but now into the negative. a mixed reaction. we did see the dow falling on the market's perception that u.s. may default if an agreement cannot be wrapped up before this weekend. so that caused any early gains on the dow to be pretty much wiped out. as you said, they are ending lower for a fifth day in a session -- fifth session in a row. also the euro zone markets with also dipping on renewed concerns about sovereign debt issues. so those playing into the markets as well. and having a look at hu that pressure of the euro, looking at the currency markets right now. the dollar remaining relatively weak against the yen at upper 77 levels p but did gain a touch against the euros. you can see the euro weaker

against the yen around the mid 111 levels. that seems to be at the forefront of market sentiment there. now in japan we add slew of results come out after the bell yesterday with sony, sharp, panasonic and nintendo all posting losses for april to june quarter. for all of them, disruptions caused by the march 11 disaster, was a major reason for slump in profits as well as stronger yen. especially for nintendo which makes about 80% of its sales overseas. nintendo also came out and said that it's revising down its earnings forecast and will also likely cut its dividend as well. and for the yen, if you compare it to this time last year, it gained about ten yen. for every yen gained, that cut a lot of losses in dollar terms. now today we will have results from the mega banks. numeral holdings. shipping companies as well as

trading houses. so a lot of earnings still to come. back to you. >> thanks, for that. ramin. the leading japanese electronics makers depend heavily on experts. the firms released results for the first quarter through june on thursday. toshiba says sales fell more than 8% and panasonic dropped 11% and fujitsu dropped almost 6%. another factor for the decline is disruption of output by the march 11 disaster. the three companies said the dollar exchange rate for earnings are between 80 and 85 yen. they say their businesses will be under more pressure if the dollar stays below 80 yen. trance tans . >> translator: if the yen stays strong we cannot offset the

impact by cost-cutting alone and must reconsider our export dependent business mod model in japan. >> now time for a recast latest market figures. that's all for new in business. back to shery.

>> slunl water at facilities is containing radio active seesz yum rulting from plant. >> forming 49,000 tons of sludge has been found. a total of 1600 found, fukushima. contain -- at a water treatment facility in fukushima. the ministry says three fourths of it is stored at water treatment plants with no way it dispose of it. it says more than 54,000 tons is

yet to be check ford radio activity. the ministry continues to study to how to dispose of the radio active substances. the international atomic energy agency offered to help japan with the results of additional safety tests set for the country's nuclear power plants. director general made the offer in a meeting with japan's minister on thursday. among explaining how stress tests are conducting in europe and whether the tests should be a for restarting plants. and saying that the agency is not in the position to tell japan what to do. he says that government wants it join hands to bring the nuclear crisis under control. >> translator: i told the minister about our plan. i also told him that we're ready to work together to find ways to

carry out radiation decontamination. and handle the reactors and spent nuclear fuel rods. time now for a nuclear watch. our weekly segment that brings you the latest on the crisis of the fukushima daiichi plant. one includes contaminated beef that entered the supply chain in japan. it comes from cattle that ate rice with radio active sees yum. they are holding back on buying beef that is forcing live stock haulers from taking shipments. some are worried about their lively hoods. fukushima prefectures advisory zone, in july it was up to six times the government safety limit was detected in beef from

cattle shipped from a farm to a meat processing facility in tokyo. radio active cesium can turn the exposure it radiation but a single serving of the contaminated beef will have no impact on human health. a farm about 7 kilometers from fukushima daiichi with rice straw with radio active was used for feed. it was 80 kilometers from the nuclear plant. >> translator: i never imagined this could have happened. i have no idea what i should say to people who have already eaten the beef. i'm sorry and sad. >> the national institute for environmental studies continue a simulation after the first explosion at fukushima daiichi. experts say radio active cesium released from the facility must have been carried away by wind

and have snow particles and deposited on the ground. nhk learned that radium above the limit was seen in six prefectures. beef from more than 2900 cattle from those farms has been shipped throughout the nation excludeing okinawa. levels of radio active cesium have been detekded in six prefectures. >> i have a small child. i'm too worried to let my family eat beef. >> on july 19th, japan's central government directed authorities in fukushima to put a suspension on cattle shipments. the suspension is making farmers uneasy. about 07 cattle are kept here, about 120 kilometers from the damaged nuclear plant.

fear about radiation in food following the fukushima accident has already cut the price of cattle to about a third of what it was before march 11. the suspension has also deprived farmers of the profits they expected to make by selling their cattle. >> translator: i'm troubled, here yod. period. i will try to change things around in toward deliver safe beef to consumers without any worry. i'll have to ask the central government for a help in doing that. >> on july 2 much, the government announced a plan to deal with beef containing unsafe level. now nhk reporter is occur e kfring this story for us. earlier giving insight. >> currently beef seemingly

contaminated with radio active cesium is distributed nationwide except okinawa. why would they have reached the mark market. >> translator: the radio active in beef is not bust enough. beef shipments were inspected by local governments. but due to the lack of inspection machines, they were testing only a sample portion of the beef cattle. in actuality tests were performed for only about one out of 200 cows, which is a pretty small percentage. that is why the contaminated beef slipped through the inspection points and was distributed. >> translator: how will the beef on the d distribution chain be ended. is there beef that went overseas. >> translator: after it was

discovered, the cattle were given numbers starting eight years ago. they have relevant id numbers and are working with the government to check the distribution of cattle suspected of eaten contaminated feed. the government is also urging retailers with meat with corresponding numbers to turn it in. if any meat is left over, a test for radio active substances is conducted. if levels are abuffer the government safety limit, the meet is collected. but there are not many instances in which they know where the meet was ultimately sold to. the government says that it currently does not know if any of the meat has made it overseas. measures taken by the government is sufficient. >> translator: the government did not do enough. following the accident at the fukushima power plant on march 19, the government issued a

notice, do not feed grass or rice straw harvested after the accident to live stock. however, many live stock farmers had no knowledge of this notice. furthermore, the government was not aware that farmers in fukushima kept rice straw outdoors in spring in order to let it dry. the government's notice was not enforced nor was it knowledgeable about actual farming practices. this is why the contaminations spread. >> translator: so what measures are necessary to prevent recurrence? >> translator: in areas where cattle have been given feed containing radio active substances, many local governments indicated that all head of cattle will be tested. but the inspection machine is expensive at around 20 million yen or $260,000 u.s., one machine can only handle so many

animals. therefore the government is considering planned shipments in which the number of cows shipped will be restrict sewed that every single animal can be tested. that will require more inspection machines and a detailed understanding of the shipment plan. issues remain for this plan to be implemented. >> thank you for your report. >>.

welcome to your weather update. we are looking very unsettled an stormy in parts of the asia-pacific region keeping an eye on two tropical storm storms the south and north east. heavy rain continues to impact the region as well. for the northern half of japan looking wet and stormy out again we've got flooding warnings, landslides warnings and the korean peninsula continues to deal with significant rainfall this morning. fortunately that system is finally losing steam in the afternoon but any additional rainfall is not good news after a devastating rain event. meanwhile china is starting to see significant rain from inland areas. this is spreading northeast and then moving into the beijing area, today bringing a rainstorm and eventually arriving in the northeast corner ease well. that increases the flooding risk in the area as well.

the southern coast of china starting to feel the effect of the storm, heavy rain, strong winds impacting the area since last night tp. tropical storm is due it make land fall sometime between this after nan, this evening. and further strengthening is quite possible before making land fall here. of that it is then expected to move into northern vietnam. now, the island will get the brunt of the storm and heavy rains will occur the next 24 hours. more than 150 millimeters is possible so looking at extremely high flooding. also keep an eye on the new system. a tropical storm east of the philippines. it is going to be quickly turning towards the north quickly strengthening as well. it could gain typhoon status by sunday morning. so keeping a close eye on this system as well. now, let's take a look at the americas. widespread thunderstorms and rain effecting the midwest

stretching down towards the southwest. we have this line of rain effecting mexico again. for tropical storm don, steadily approaching texas, tarting it bring rain here tonight. it is going to be making land fall sometime between friday night and early saturday morning. looks like it will maintain its strength before making land fall here. nevertheless, severe thunderstorms. winds and heavy rain, more than 111 mill meeters is possible when making land fall. some of that will be welcome rain. for europe, staying fairly the same, looking very unsettled for southern areas and once again picking up all this moisture from the mediterranean, lots of thunder storms occurring across italy and over towards the northeast as well. this low pressure system remaining active bringing heavy rain it places like the balance tick states. finland, rain spreading into northwest russia. bringing a bit of relief from that heat wave conditions, 31,

staying hot in moscow, despite the rain and coming down to 21 degrees and also 19. quite chilly in london today. all right. here is your extended forecast now.

here is a recap of our headline story. the chinese government is making efforts to appease angry family members of victims from last week's fatal high speed train crash. last saturday, one train rear-ended another sending some cars tumbling off an elevator

track. at least 39 people died. chinese premier visited the accident site on thursday. [ speaking chinese back [ [ the premier met at a hospital and talked with families of victims promising a thorough investigation to determine the cause of the collision. a visit to the crash site appears to be easing criticism of the government to some degree. as many on-line postings supported his actions.

on the same day the government held a task force meeting on the accident. a senior railway official admitted that there were design flaws in the train's signaling system. the task force noticed that they failed to notice the function. they will have investigation by september. there is quick action in response to the accident. families of the victims remain unsatisfied. on the same day many family members continue demonstrations against a government. and demanded answers for the collision. that's all for this edition of "newsline fots. thank you for watching. o?7w