workers at a crippled nuclear plant in japan make a surprising discovery, further hampering their plan to clean it up. crew detect the record levels of radiation at the heart of japan's nuclear disaster. they lowered instruments into reactor number one at fukushima daiichi, they got readings that were extremely high. the crew from tokyo electric power company used an endo scope and ocimeters to check inside for the first time since the accident in march last year. they took a reading 20 centimeters above the surface of

contaminated water. 10,300 any leesieverts per power, that would kill a person within a short time. they took a reading of 1,000 millisieverts per hour four meters above the water's surface, raising concerns about how they will decommission the reactor. tepco spokesperson said they may have found higher readings in reactor number one because more fuel rods may be melting there than in other reactors. people cannot enter the site so tepco will use robots to assess damage and for any demolition. the nuclear accident in fukushima has led to major changes in disaster preparedness. more cities and towns are carrying out emergency rules. nhk world has watched the latest exercise, he noticed a new sense of urgentry. takao nabeshima. >> i'm on an island in nagasaki

prefecture. authorities are holding the first ever drill to evacuate residents from the island in the event of a nuclear crisis. azuchi-oshima island is almost 30 kilometers from the nuclear power plant. the island is holding its first ever drill because of a change. since the fukushima accident, all people living within 30 kilometers of a nuclear plant have to prepare for disaster. the previous limit was ten kilometers. all 1,200 residents have to be evacuated off the island. they're going to the island port

where a boat is standing by. >> translator: we only have boats to get off of the island. this is a fact of life for island residents. >> translator: it's impossible to get all the residents on one boat. >> reporter: the island only has one ferry with a capacity of 150 passengers. authorities say they will make use of the island's fishing fleet to get residents to safety in an emergency. takao nabeshima, nhk world, nagasaki. the threat of u.s. sanctions has hung over iran for almost a year been iranian government leaders vowed not to give in to international pressure over their nuclear program despite a faltering economy. the u.s. congress passed a law last year to prohibit

transactions between u.s. banks and financial institutions around the world that deal with iran's central bank. the sanctions are set to continue unless countries in which the banks are situated drastically reduce imports of iranian oil. the european union is scheduled to begin a complete ban of oil imports from iran on sunday. iranians are already feeling the pinch. >> translator: as a result of economic sanctions, bread, tomatoes, the cost of everything is going up. >> supreme leader ayatollah ali khamenei says those in the west want to create a rift between the iranian people and this hair government. afghan government officials and the taliban leadership have held a rare meeting in kyoto, japan. the afghan ruling party called on the islamic hardliners to accept peace talks.

nhk world's hideki yabu reports. >> reporter: the meeting is being seen as a chance for both sides to exchange views and a move toward reconciliation in afghanistan. this meeting was set up by a theology professor. they are experts in islamic studies and have contacts with the taliban. they are hoping to help in the fighting. mohammed ma soom stankezai said all sides need to accept that afghanistan will not return to the chaos of civil war. >> the first important element for the peace process to move forward is the confidence-building. and most important in that is the political commitment from all sides. >> reporter: but senior taliban

official, din muhammad, refused to commit. >> translator: afghanistan will not be peaceful unless the u.s. and all other foreign troops withdraw from the country. >> reporter: the taliban suspended unpublicized peace talks with the u.s. in march. it also refuses to hold substantiative talks with afghan authorities, saying that the real enemy is the american presence in the country. the academics say the conference was the first attended by a senior taliban official. it precedes an international donor conference scheduled for july 8th in tokyo to support afghanistan. hideki yabu, nhk world, kyoto. syrian leaders are blaming rebel forces for a deadly attack on a pro-government tv station. gunman stormed in damascus and

killed seven people. the country's state-run tv network reported that the attackers hit the headquarters channel believed to house a studio. syria's information minister omran al zoebi denounced the violence as a an assault on the freedom of the press, fighting between government troops and rebels is taking place daily in almost every part of syria. the escalating unrest has left u.n. truce monitors to suspend their mission in the country. united nations investigators say the violence in syria since a cease-fire has only got worse. they say the situation is dangerously and quickly deteriorating. members of the u.n. human rights council looked into the circumstances that led to the massacre last month in the central village of houla. the report says the massacre follows a pattern set by previous attacks by forces loyal to president bashar al is aassad. more than 100 people were

killed. the report says investigators cannot exclude the possibility that an anti-government group murdered people who refused to cooperate with them. the lead investigators noted the flow of weapons from abroad is helping government and oppositions forces. aolo pinheiro says this could make things worse. kofi annan said foreign ministers from a number of countries will meet on saturday to discuss ways to encourage the two sides to stop fighting. opposition groups in syria were encouraged to launch their protest by what they saw happening around them. the arab spring movement started in tunisia. people in the north african country succeeded in overthrowing the old regime. rafik abdessalem helped bring about change as a pro-democracy leader. now he's the foreign minister. abdessalem says the situation in syria is more complicated because assad resists change.

>> we have conversations with people and we are following since the region is deeply connected. people no longer accept a despotic regime, they advocate to have their dignity and their voices to be implemented in the political situations. >> abdessalem hopes the move toward democracy reaches different parts of the arab world. he says tunisians must send a positive message that islam and democracy can co-exist. moderate islamist party won parliamentary elections in tunisia last october. abdessalem says the future of democracy depends on whether the government can solve economic and social concerns that prompted young people to protest.

ai uchida, what is on the table? >> catherine, you and i a few days ago talked about officials from spain and cyprus requesting bailouts, that's on the agenda but only small pieces of a much bigger puzzle. leaders of the european union are to discuss ways to bail out debt-stricken members, they're also going to be prosposing new economic growth measures. two-day eu summit is beginning in brussels later on thursday. urgent problems to be addressed

include how the eu should deal with greece, the country's new government wants to ease austerity measures. procedures to rescue spain and cyprus is also going to be on the agenda. the two countries asked the eu for financial help earlier this week. the eu recognizes that belt-tightening policies are dampening the economy rather than contributing to fiscal reconstruction of the region. to achieve an economic recovery, the leaders hope to agree on a $100 billion euro economic stimulus package. measures include recapitalizing the european investment bank which is the eu's long-term lending institution and encouraging private sector investment into infrastructure related projects. to deal with the crisis the leaders are expected to discuss the idea of integrating banking supervision and introducing common eurozone bonds. however, opinions are divided over these issues. for one, german chancellor

angela merkel has made clear once again her opposition to the idea of common eurozone bonds. >> translator: political enforcement of a unified interest rate in bonds is ignoring the market. it is a repetition of the s >> merkel voiced her worries that if common bonds are introduced at a time when the eurozone has not achieved fiscal reunification, germany would have to bear the burden of other countries. ahead of the eu summit, u.s. markets ended higher, that's following improved economic data. the dow jones ended up 0.7% at 12,627. now for more details on how stocks are trading this morning we're going to go to ramin mellegard, who is at the tokyo stock exchange. ramin, good morng. u.s. housing data, that boosted wall street's sentiment. that optimism being carried over here to tokyo? >> reporter: definitely, ai, we're seeing that in the first

few minutes of trading, pending home sales and durable goods orders came out a little bit better than expected so that's boosting markets here as well. however as you've covered so far, markets taking more direction from the upcoming eu summit meeting which kicks off today. we'll see how that pans out. the economic data out of the u.s. has really helped, just having a look at the opening levels right now you can clearly see the nikkei is up over 1%, 8831 right now and the topix at 754. trading however may remain in a little bit of a tight range and we have to check volume levels as well, might be a little bit less than average today, markets here and abroad waiting to take in the eu summit. having said that, with the broad differences between the german, french and italian leaders, markets really not expecting anything major or concrete to come through from the eu summit. nevertheless, it is the major

focus for financial markets going forward today. also, judging by currency levels, the euro continues on a slightly weaker stance. let's have a look at the foreign currency, the fx levels as well, and again, you're looking at the euro/yen, 99.28-35, so the yen continues to be a little bit stronger there. the euro also losing a little bit against the dollar but dollar/yen holding pretty steady there at the mid the yen levels. >> ramin, i hear that there are some news from japan out today which might affect the auto sector. >> definitely, the focus there for the big three japanese automakers, toyota, honda and nissan, they're going to be coming out with their monthly reports for may as well as suzuki and mazda as well. automakers of course took the brunt of the stronger yen in the last year, and they've gone through a lot of cost-cutting

measures and moved plants and factories overseas to really curb some of that strength of the yen so we'll see how that plays through the numbers today. also in the u.s. we have weekly jobless claims so that might be a factor as well. back to you. >> all right, ramin, thanks a lot for that update, ramin mellegard from the tokyo stock exchange, both the nikkei and the topix up over 1% this thursday morning. let's see how other asian markets are doing. vietnam has called on china

to halt its plans for developing offshore oil and gas fields in a disputed area in the south china sea. the protest from the president of vietnam's national oil and gas group came after china corporation began international bidding for joint development projects. the chinese company intends to drill for oil and natural gas in a 160,000 square kilometer area off the coast of vietnam. >> translator: china's actions are illegal. the mining fields that china is trying to develop lie within vietnam's exclusive economic zone. >> a vietnamese foreign ministry spokesperson also raised concerns pointing out that the sites are even closer to his country than the areas that have been in dispute with china over many years. he also stressed that vietnam has already begun to conduct surveys in the area for joint projects with overseas firms. a chinese foreign ministry official responded by saying the

development is a justifiable economic activity and that china hopes vietnam will not violate its rights to oil and gas in the area. china's maritime authority says four patrol ships have already departed for the area. japan, the united states, and the european union have formally filed a trade case against china over the country's export restrictions on rare earth materials. the three economies jointly filed the complaint with the world trade organization on wednesday. the complaint requests the organization to establish a dispute settlement panel after their negotiations with china failed to resolve the issue. china produces more than 90% of the global output of rare earth minerals used in high-tech products such as hybrid vehicles. the three parties say china's export restrictions which keep rare earth prices high, violate wto rules. during negotiations that took place earlier this year, china argued that its restrictions are

aimed at the protection of resources and the environment and are justifiable. the wto could set up a dispute panel as early as next month. japan's government expects the panel to issue a ruling around summer next year. a fight between teenage boys are becoming more common in chongqing province, one of china's major manufacturing zones. migrant workers in the city clashed with police. some injuries were reported. the violence was apparently triggered by a fight between a local student and a young migrant worker from an inland city. news report said after security personnel intervened and beat the young migrant, relatives and other migrants started a riot.

public discontent is growing in china as economic disparity spreads among the working class. the chinese government is becoming concerned about the recent increase in social unrest. britain's queen elizabeth celebrated her diamond jubilee earlier this month. the country held special events marking her 60 years on the throne. the queen reigns over england, wales, scotland and northern ireland which together make up the united kingdom. scotland was an independent kingdom more than 300 years ago. the scots have a proud sense of their history. last month the scottish parliament launched a campaign seeking full independence. nhk world's to ragoto reports. >> reporter: alex salmond is the head of the scottish national party or snp. he's also scotland's first

minister, the top post in the scottish administrative authority. salmond is one of the main figures in a campaign to seek full independence from london. he's calling for a referendum to be held on the issue in 2014. scotland has never had an independence campaign on this scale before. >> the people who live in scotland are best placed to make the decisions that affect scotland. and we realize that the power of an independent scotland is necessary to achieve these great ends. >> reporter: some scottish people wear kilts on special occasion, a sign of the value they place on cultural traditions. ♪ some feel uncomfortable about scotland beingart of britain. >> the culture, tradition, is very different from england. so therefore we should have independence. >> reporter: john glenn teaches management science at a

university in edinburgh. he joined the snp in 1979. during the 1970s, oil fields were developed off the scottish coast in the north sea. glenn argues that britain has failed to invest the oil revenues wisely for scotland. >> there's a good future in oil for scotland. but the important thing is that that is used for the benefit of future generations. >> reporter: scottish demands for devolutiont of powers from the central government have already achieved some success. the scottish parliaments areinstated 13 years ago, for the first time in around 290 years. movie star sean connery was born in scotland and is a high profile supporter of scottish independence. he was invited to attend the inauguration ceremony for the legislature.

scotland has won a substantial degree of autonomy. it has the power to enact its own laws in a wide range of fields such as health and education. it also has limited authority to set income tax rates. the pro-independence snp became the largest force in the scottish parliament five years ago and went on to win a majority of the seats in last year's election. salmond believes this is the time to drum up support and achieve full independence. >> well, our strategy is to build to victory and we'll do that by mobilizing the communities around the country. people in the philippines are dealing with the effects of an approaching storm. sayaka mori joins us with the world weather forecast.

>> here is the latest details of the storm right now, sustained winds of 65 kilometers with gusts of 90. it will likely get very close to northern luzon by tomorrow morning and then become a severe tropical storm by saturday, and then continue to head towards southern china. heavy rain has been coming down over the past couple of days across the northern half of the philippines in luzon, as much as 100 millimeters of rain has been falling over the past 24 hours. of course, stormier conditions are in the forecast as the system approaches, so additional rain could trigger further flooding and landslides. all right, up towards the north, a seasonal rain band and low-pressure system are creating lots of heavy rain in western japan. in fact, in kyushu, rain has been reported over the past days, double the amount we normally see for the entire month of june. heavy rain is now targeting, accompanied by thunderstorms. some showers, not too heavy,

will spread to the rest of the pacific coast, including tokyo today. but to the north, hot and sunny across the northern half of japan. out towards the west, we have a seasonal front lifting to the north, so central china will see rain today. temperature-wise, 27 degrees in chongqing and 25 in beijing. another hot day in seoul with a high of 33, but we are expecting cooler and wet conditions over the weekend. heading into the americas, the main story is going to be the excessive heat in central and western portions of the u.s. because the jet stream is lifting to the north. let's take a look at the forecasted highs on thursday. 42 degrees in st. louis and 38 in chicago, which is about 10 degrees higher than average. as for denver, 38 -- 36 degrees, and, in fact, wildfires have been reported in this state, in colorado state, and tens of

thousands of people have been evacuated due to the forest fire. unfortunately, dry thunderstorms with less rain are in the forecast. that means that could make things worse across the colorado state. all right, head into europe. develop low-pressure system is approaching the british isles, so you're going to see intense showers as well as strong winds on thursday, and then the associate front is going to swing through the western continent. as it does so, you'll likely see locally heavy rain, thunderstorms, as well as gusty winds, but as for the iberian peninsula a dome of high pressure will be in place so sunny conditions. 29 degrees in lisbon, so a little bit cooling down compared to what we saw over the past couple of days, but still on the hot side. in madrid, 38 degrees. up towards the north, looking mild. 19 degrees in stockholm and 20 degrees expected in moscow on your thursday. all right, that's it for me now, and here's your expected forecast around the globe.

our lead story this hour, a crew has detected record levels of radiation inside a reactor at fukushima daiichi. workers from tokyo electric power company used an endo scope and ocimeters to check inside

reactor number one for the first time since the accident in march last year. they took a reading in the suppression chamber 20 centimeters above the surface of contaminated water. the record level hit 10,300 any l ly sieverts per hour. they took a reading of 1,000 millisieverts per hour four meters above the water's surface, that raised concerns about how they'll decommission the reactor. tepco spokesperson said they may have found higher readings in reactor number one because more fuel rods may be melting there than in other reactors. people cannot enter the site, so tepco will use robots to assess damage and for any demolition. that's all for this edition of "newsline." i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. do stay with us. we'll be back with more of your updates at the top of the hour.