glad to have you with us on this edition of "newsline." it's thursday, august 4th, 9:00 in tokyo. i'm katherine kobayashi. a business tie up is in the works here. let's go to business news. >> good morning. japanese industrial giants i had tachy and mitsubishi have agreed to start negotiations to establish a new company. they are expected to merge their businesses in energy, environment, and social infrastructu infrastructure. sources say the two have reached a broad agreement to each invest 50% of capital to establish the

new entity in april of 2013. they are expected to announce the agreement in the near future. the field in which they plan to merge businesses are expected to be key to developing smart cities powered by renewable energy. the companies formed an alliance with an eye on emerging economies. they hope to integrate the power businesses with that of mitsubishi electric. analysts say negotiations could develop into a full merger. the dollar dropped to the 76 yen level in new york on wednesday as market players sold on concerns of the economic outlook. investor worries about a slow down mounted after an index showing business sentiment was worse than the market consensus. the dollar fell to 76.78 yen at one point. sources say they are not expecting further sharp declines in the dollar just now. many traders are expecting that

the monetary authorities may intervene to put a break on the surge. further easing in monetary policy is expected. right now in tokyo this thursday morning, the greenback is trading between 77.04 to 05 yen. let's get a check on the markets. the dow snapped an eight-day losing streak to private jobs data to see how stocks are trading here in japan, we cross over to the tokyo stock exchange. currency markets not showing a great reaction. >> yes, indeed. a good morning to you. we are seeing the reaction here for the topics following on from what we saw with the dow. both indeces in thes toative in the first few minutes of trading. the tie up you mentioned there had a pretty good impact in new york. we will keep track of those. both of those are not traiting

as of now as for instructions from the tokyo stock exchange. we will keep track throughout the day. a mixed reaction there as far as economic data. we had the jump in the private sector jobs data, but then we did have ism services data actually hitting a 17-month low for july. a bit of a mixed picture there. we saw the reactn in the stock markets trading higher and lower throughout the session. all of this comes ahead of the key jobs data in the u.s. on friday. a little bit of concern by market investors about recent data showing a little bit of a faltering in the numbers especially the housing and manufacturing and consumer sentiment. the jobs numbers are due out on friday this is translating to the pressure on the dollar. the lower 77 yen levels and it dropped below that at one point.

that's a bit of a concern there in the market place with talks of a possible intervention. we will see how it plays out in the markets today. that is really hurting exporters. the head of the central bank due to make a statement after the policy meeting later today. coming under pressure with debt on spain and italy coming into the focus as well. with the volatility with stocks and bonds and currency markets and analysts suggesting that better than expected earnings in the u.s. and japan plus good forecast might give a little bit of positive sentiment for stocks. we will see how that develops. a positive start in the first three minutes of trading. back to you. >> from the tokyo stock exchange. a spokes person said the drop in prices of spanish and italian government bonds do not reflect the true state of the country's

economie economies. european in an emergency statement issued on wednesday, the commission president said the decline is due it an increasing loss of confidence in the euro steming for the greek debt crisis. he called on euro members. this would reinforce monetary assistance to economies in fiscal difficulties. the crisis in greece affected italy and spain in the past few days that red to a plunge in the 10-year bond prices that have reached their lowest levels since the euro was introduced. italian prime minister berlusconi said they are on sound economic footing and the political system is stable. he added that the country needs economic reform to convince the market and ask lawmakers for their cooperation. here's a recap of the latest market figures.

>> per that's all for now on business news. back to katherine. >> thank you very much. a few days for the accident at the fukushima to cripple the nuclear plant. a panel is confirming it will take many years to safely decommission the facility's reactors. >> translator: decommissioning the reactors will take 20 years

or more. >> about 30 panel members held an initial meeting on wednesday to talk about the time table for closing the plant. they include officials from the nuclear safety commission and the operator, tokyo electric power company. they worked with u.s. researchers and studying the accident at three-mile island in 1979. he briefed participants on how it was brought under control and explained it took 11 years to extract the fuel rods because they were coping with the first nuclear melt down. they had to process contaminated wastewater. among the hurdles, how to repair the reactor containment vessels and decontaminate the buildings by remote voel so the fuel can be extracted. the panel plans to decommission by early next year.

that's the end of the second stage to bring it under control. the operator of the fukushima power plant said they could start injecting water in the reactors within three hours if the system is shut down by problems. tokyo electric made the claim in a report to the industrial ministry's nuclear and industrial safety agency on wednesday. tepco could restart within 30 minutes of a loss of power and the water pumps braying down by using emergency generators. if problems occur simultaneously, they will use fire engines to inject cooling water. they want to help the government issue an advisory for local residents. the government said they want to lift evacuation advisories for areas 20 to 30 kilometers from the fukushima plant. they are advising the residents

in the areas to prepare for emergency evacuation. a recovery time table released on wednesday proposes lifting the notice by the end of september. the government said the situation at the plant has improved. the plan covers the town and parts of four other municipalities. many residents have been forced to evacuate and schools and hospitals are closed. the government said they will begin negotiations with local authorities latter this week and ask them to draw up plans. the measures are collected to include reopening hospitals and other services and decontaminating school yards. they will support each government to respect residents return home. the japanese government said rice harvested in the coming months will be tested for radio activity in order to ensure the safety of the country's table. >> the agriculture ministry announced a meeting of rice farmers on wednesday that rice in areas with high levels of

radioactive cesium in the soil will be tested both before and after harvest. if the amount of cesium exceeds the government-set safety limit of 500 bequerels, seasons will be banned. farmers will be obligated to dispose of the rice. the owner of the nuclear plant will be forced to pay compensation to the farmers. the government said 14 prefectures ranging from north eastern to central japan will be subject to the checks. checks will be carried out where 1,000 bequerels of cesium are detected in soil and more than 0.1 are detected in the air. a japanese anti-nuclear organization opened the annual international conference in hiroshima with an agenda that includes scrapping nuclear power. the move follows the accident at the fukushima plant.

the japan counsel against atomic and hydrogen bombs started the four-day meeting ahead of the 66th anniversary of the bombing. they criticized japan's government for following the u.s. line on promoting nuclear power. >> translator: the accident at fukushima occurred because the government built 54 reactors based on a safety measure. we must scrap the power generation and free human kind from the wrong use of nuclear energy. >> a survivor of the atomic bombing said how she later lost her daughter to cancer. the woman said survivors suffer physically and mentally from the impact of the bombing. the conference participants plan to discuss nuclear disarmament and the effects of radiation.

"newsline" brings you hiroshima nag saki 66 years on. it commemorates the atomic bombings of the two cities. in hiroshima, a website has been created to show what the a bomb did to the city and people it. uses testimony from survivors and photos taken after the bombing to create a unique online record. >> the site is called the hiroshima archive. you can super impose photos on a map of hiroshima today. by clicking on the icons, you can read the testimony of people who experienced the bombing in those locations in english and japanese. the site uses google either, a virtual globe based on satellite

images. the hiroshima project is led by an associate professor at tokyo metropolitan university. he launched an archive about the bombing last year. it required him to launch the archive this year. >> it shows the materials to give a sense of time and space. it gives an overall picture that individual materials don't convey by themselves. >> he got here to interview survivors for stories to put in the archive. this is a second year at senior high school. she was interested in a peace movement so she was keen to be involved. >> i top the find out everything

i can and have it put in the archive. here is the story. he was 4 years old and living on the island at the time of the bombing. he remembers seeing survivors being brought out. >> dozens of people died every day. they were cremated where dead horses were incinerated. hundreds, maybe thousands of people were cremated there. >> this was the first time they experienced the atomic bombing. >> seeing how passion ead, i feel like i can trust them to pass on my story to future generations.

>> it was reviewed before it went online. it has 150 photographs and the testimony of more than 100 survivors. >> seeing the archive on the screen was really moving. it's an amazing piece of work. i hope people who see it online will think about the spirit behind it. >> i want the archive to send out a message about how the human race should deal with nuclear weapons. >> the hiroshima archive carries the thoughts of many people across the generations. >> earlier we spoke to a reporter who filed the story in the studio. >> so what's been the reaction to the hiroshima archive? >> researchers at the universities in the united states and belgium have introduced the archive after visiting the site.

rently it was shown at a mting of about 50 em bass tors. the operators said they are surprised by the overwhelming response. >> why did the operator decide to launch the archive? >> it wanted to document the voices of asian survivors to allow them to be heard by as many people as possible. around 220,000 survivors of the hiroshima and nag saki remain. as of march, the average age was 77. those involved in the project feel they have no time to waste of as many a-bomb survivors as possible. >> i heard that the archive project is expanding. >> the archive plans to uplot testimony and the stories in more languages. the university teams also working on an application for smart phones to allow easier access to the website.

hiroshima has been called for more than 60 years and a healthy archive will strengthen the sea's cause. >> thank you so much. appreciate it. >> thank you. >> we have two segments offering two perspectives on the fallout from the earthquake and tsunami. nuclear watch brings you insight and information on the impact of the crisis. and the road ahead with the efforts to recover every bill. don't miss nuclear watch and the road ahead on "newsline." >> over to syria. the protesters killed more than 160 people over the past four days. the government of the president has launched a major crack down across the country.

protests were expected to intensify. the tanks have been deploy and conducted repeated assaults. more than 100 people have been killed since minute. in the suburbs, government troops opened fire on citizens reportedly causing many casua y casualti casualties. a human rights organization told nhk about the military's use of force. it called for international intervention to stop the violence. the worsening situation that adopted a statement condemning the suppression of can't violent protests. it falls short of a legally binding resolution.

>> rt security council don dems human rights and the use of force by the syrian authorities. >> the presidential statement condemning the suppression of protesters by the administration of the president was adopted on wednesday. the statement follows three months of discussions and a motion to syria. by britain and france and other countries. they had russia to maintain close talks instead of a legally bining resolution. the statement expresses great concern over the hundreds of debts resulting from the crack down and urges the syrian government to stop all violent acts. it makes no mention of measures such as the use of force or sanctions that were incorporated

into a resolution adopted against libya in march. some members would close relationships and are reluctant to sanction full-scale involvement, citing the burden of intervention in the media. >> it's a political signal that goes to the government, but also to the syrian people who made clear that the security council as a whole condemns the violence in syria. we hope it will have some effect on the situation. >> the move finally shows a unique fight on syria, but also exposes the limitations of any international response. there is no sign of a breakthrough in solving the situation. nhk world, united nations. >> in other news, south korea said they will provide aid to the northern neighbor for the first time since last november

when the north shelled one of the islands. the south korean red cross society told the north of the government's decision to offer $4.8 million of emergency aid. they will send medicine, blankets and other things. it's from late june to late july. delivers breached banks destroying houses and roads. south korea gave rice and cemen to the north in september last year after a similar disaster. it suspended assistance after the artillery attacks. welcome back to the weather update. keeping an eye on tropical activity and we are seeing this well-formed system that is

aiming for the island. we have here the typhoon, but that's not only it. we have a tropical depression popping up south of japan and in the pacific too. the newest storms and tropical storm also joined us. this is still a strong typhoon, packing the strong winds and aiming towards the islands here. we will be reaching the area later on in the next couple of days. it was already bringing stormy conditions and the conditions will only get stormier today and even for friday. we will be talking about the strong wind and plenty of rainfall. high waves and storm surge. especially coastal areas will be vulnerab vulnerable. we want to keep a close eye on conditions and the winds increase. after that, it looks like it will be going towards the north aims for the central coast of china and impacting shanghai in towards the weekend and thipgs will remain stormy into next

week. talk about the coastal area, it's out at sea and looks like it will stay that way even though may strengthen. it's more of this tropical depression that we are worried about. it looks like it will be becoming a tropical storm within the next 24 hours or so and aim for the central areas of japan. either way, showers have been impacting japan again and it will be more changeable weather. showers and thunderstorms extending throughout northeast china through the korean peninsula and even the east coast. two things are pretty wet. heavy rain impacting the areas of china as well. is the high and things are looking hot in shanghai at 33. for the caribbean, tropical storm emily and rainfall amounts will be very heavy. strong winds too. that's as of thursday and

talking about rainfall monsoon season getting up to 500 millimeters. a lot of rain and flooding and deadly landslides. cuba and bahamas will brace for the heavy rains. as for europe, the thundershowers moving through central sections of europe right now. along the slope that will head more in towards the balcan peninsula tonight and thursday. the british aisles as well as western europe will deal with a separate developing. heavy rain in parts of the british aisles as well. rains are wet across parts of northern ukraine and western russia with thundershowers and the downpours. on the cool side for london and 19 is the only high with the rain with the wet chilly day. it remains at 20 degrees and mild in kiev as well. let's look at the weather conditions.

here the three-day outlook. >> our lead stories, a panel a pointed by the japanese government confirms it will take many years to decommission the crippled reactors. >> we have a slight technical

difficulty. about 30 panel members held an initial meeting to talk about the time table for permanently closing the plant. they include officials from the safety commission the operator of tokyo electric power company. they worked with u.s. researchers in studying the accident at three-mile island in 1979. he briefed participants on how that plant was brought under control. it looks like we have a different video clip running currently. let's talk about the japanese industrial giant, hitachi and mitsubishi. they agreed to establish a new company. i had tachy and mitsubishi are expected to merge their businesses to form the company. sources say the two have reached a brought agreement to invest 50% of the capital each to establish the new entity in april of 2013. they are expected to announce the agreement in the near

future. the field in which the two plan to merge businesses are expected to be the key to developing smart cities powered by renewable energy. the companies have formed an alliance in the business with an eye on emerging economies. they hoped to integrate the power businesses with that of mitsubishi electric. they could develop into a full merger. once again, the top story, japanese industrial giants i had tachy and mitsubishi have agreed to start negotiations to establish a new company. they are mernling in energy, virp, and social infrastructure to form a new company. we will keep you updated on the details and join us later on. at the top of the next hour with the latest on business news. i'm katherine kobayashi in toke yow. thank you very much for joining us.