tv Newsline PBS July 4, 2012 7:00pm-7:30pm PDT
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back on the grid. japan has nuclear power for the first time in two months. a web of power lines crosses japan providing electricity to homes and businesses. the power flowing through some of those lines is once again from a nuclear source. operators say a reactor at the ohi plant in central japan is now supplying electricity. japan has been without nuclear power since may. all reactors in the country have been offline for regular inspections. the government ordered further checks in response to safety concerns after the accident last
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year at fukushima daiichi. on sunday engineers at ohi fired up the number three reactor for the first time in 15 months. it reached critically the next day. workers at the plant had to adjust some turbines. so the operators pushed back their schedule. they say they expect the reactors will reach full capacity next monday. south korean government officials have approved the restart of a reactor there a coverup over a power outage had forced authorities to suspend operations. members of the nuclear safety and security commission say they confirm the safety of the reactor at the plant in pusan. they discover the operator held back disclosing an outage for more than a month. the commission ordered this march the reactor be shut down.
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members checked into inspection in february. they said operational failures caused disruptions that lasted 12 minutes. protesters held rallies on wednesday in seoul and pusan. they're opposed to the restart. some lawmakers are taking a cautious approach. government officials plan to hold meetings with residents to reassure them of the plant's safety. the new chairman of tokyo electric power company has for the first time visited the firm's nuclear power plants in fukushima prefecture including the crippled fukushima daiichi. he says he will take seriously calls to decommission all new power plants in the prefecture. the chairman first visited the fukushima plant. there he met about 450 employees.
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he says he has visited more than a does municipalities in fukushima and sees how extensive the damage is. then he visited fukushima daiichi but the media were not allowed to accompany him. >> translator: a number of fukushima municipalities say they want the reactors decommissioned. we will take that request seriously. >> he also said tepco would decide what to do with fukushima dinei. crews at a nuclear fuel reprocessing plant in japan have resumed tests to prepare for handling radio active waste. but the impact of the country's nuclear accident is raising questions about the future of their work. the reprocessing plant has been idle for more than three years. test operations began wednesday
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at the japan nuclear fuel facility in northern japan. they involve mixing radioactive waste water with glass to make nuclear waste. repeated incidences caused it to be taken off the grid in 2008. on reporting the spent nuclear fuel both domestic and imported. crews extract plutonium in the nuclear process again. the ongoing crisis sparked by the 2011 accident at the fukushima daiichi plant put the recycling policy under heavy scrutiny. a government review is expected to reach a conclusion this summer. car manufacturers around the world can't help but feel uninspired by recent headlines. many of their customers in europe and in the u.s. are caught up in the downturn. some are looking into emerging markets to find business opportunities.
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ai uchida joins us now. what are you hearing from people? >> we often hear about car makers going into china, india, thailand. now we're hearing car makers are betting their future also on russia. the country's car industry has been growing despite the european debt crisis. japan's mitsubishi motors join forces two years ago to set up a plant southwest of moscow. now their assembly lines have started full scale production. workers at the kaluga plant are churning out 125,000 vehicles per year. that's three times their initial output. executives at mitsubishi hopes to use the facility as a platform for the russian market. the global financial crisis stemming from the collapse of lehman brothers triggered a plunge in russian car sales in 2009. dealers only sold about 1.5 million cars, which is about half of what they did the year before. the sector has shown strong signs of recovery, though.
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salesmen sold about 2.6 million cars last year. well, investors around the world were taking a wait and see attitude on wednesday because the u.s. markets were closed for independence day. and european markets ended lower ahead of thursday's policy meetings at the european central bank and the bank of england. let's get details of how stocks are trading this thursday morning here in japan. for that we're going to ramin mellegard at the tokyo stock exchange. good morning to you. pretty thin trading conditions with the u.s. on holiday on wednesday. how are stocks trading today? >> good morning to you. in the absence of the u.s. markets, most of the focus was on the european markets. and a lot of focus on energy-related stocks which we've been following here throughout the week and also in the banking sector also following the resignation of barclays bank ceo. let's see how the nikkei and
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topix are kicking off this thursday, july 5th. and both indexes trading a bit lower. the nikkei still above 9,000 at 9,094 and the topix at 777. the nikkei closed yesterday higher for two days in a row. one area focus today may be in autos. we're going to get data for a new car sales for the first half of this fiscal year. as well as earnings for the owner and operator of the biggest convenience store chain in japan. also some focus on the bank of japan as branch managers meet ahead of the key policy meeting next wednesday. a lot of focus there on how the bank of japan is going to continue to combat deflation here in japan and also what its outlook is going to be for the remainder of 2012. so a lot of focus there on domestic issues here. also consumer sentiment data compiled by the bank of japan
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recently showed an improvement to its highest level in five years. so some of that playing into the markets as well. we're going to continue to keep an eye out for energy related stocks as well. we did see wti, crude oil prices dropping a touch. let's not forget after it rose around 4% yesterday. so continued volatility there. and we'll keep an eye on crude futures as well. now, let's have a look at currency levels. of course plays a big part in how stocks trade. and currently the yen actually dollar/yen 79.89-92. >> we've been talking about automakers this morning. and you mention auto sales. what's expected there? >> a lot of focus on the auto industry. especially after the march 11th disaster last year and a lot of domestic sales figures
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economists are looking at. also signeds of a rebound especially after u.s. sales showed a strong rebound for the likes of toyota which indicated that sales were up 60%. honda said sales were up 40%. and nissan up 28%. a focus there also on those auto sales figures later today. t of course the ecb meeting coming up later today will also be a major focus for investors. back to you. >> all right. thanks a lot for that update. ramin mellegard from the tokyo stock exchange. now, we are seeing modest move on tokyo stock markets. looks like modest moves for other asian markets this hour. i'll leave you with a check on those.
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the higs bosan is called the god particle. saying it helped form the universe. it exists in theory. researchers have been trying to track down definite proof. they now say they discovered a new subatomic particle that's consistent. >> translator: we have a success today. we have a discovery. we have discovered a new particle. >> scientists made the announcement in an organization by the european organization for nuclear research. a group of about 6,000 researchers from europe, north america, asia, and other regions have been carrying out experiments since 2008. confirming the higgs would perform the physics known as this standard model.
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they have discovered the other 16 subatomic particles. they say the new characteristics would take more time. higgs boson is named after peter higgs. the boson is believed to give mass to everything from atoms to people. scientists believe that without the higgs there would be no gravity and no universe. the big bang created the universe. the theories of physics say particles raced around with any mass in the beginning. but scientists say at a certain point the higgs boson sailed space. the higgs gave other particles mass and restricted their movement. scientists believe that caused particles to stick together leading to the creation of stars, planets, and eventually humans. physicists believe the higgs boson is densely concentrated in space. they've been using something
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called a large hadron collider. the particle accelerator is a looped pipe in a tunnel 100 meters underground beneath the swiss/french border. trying to get protons close to light speed. then they fire them in different directions. they create a reaction designed to simulate the big bang. from there researchers analyze the particles generated by the collision. peter higgs was in his 30s when he came up with this ground breaking theory. he's now 83 years old. the physicist was on hand for the announcement and said he thought he'd never live to see this day. >> well, i would like to add my congratulations to everybody involved in this tremendous achievement. for me it's really an incredible thing that happened in my lifetime.
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>> scientists around the world also considered this find incredible. we spoke with two of japan's nobel prize physicists to get their take. >> translator: if you look at this experiment, i'm sure it will give things that are beyond expectations. so i'm very cited and thrilled. >> translator: no such heavy particle had been found so far. so this is a great discovery. now we have to make sure what they found is really the higgs particle. >> a japanese expert tells us more about the significance of the discovery. he's a project associate professor of the institute of the physics and mathematics of the universe at the university of tokyo.
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>> i'm very excited, actually. the higgs boson -- actually this discovery is nothing but one most important scientific discoveries in this century. higgs boson is very special particles which is different from other particles we have seen so far. actually the higgs boson can -- without higgs boson, all particles with massless. and without higgs boson is something to do with the lifetime. and result of higgs boson, the life time of the sun is much shorter. and in such a case, we cannot live. so this is most important aspect. we can study how -- what kind of structure we have in the universe. and also how the universe will be -- was developed and how the
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universe was produced. egyptians are pushing to get their voices heard. every day since the inauguration of mohammed morsi, they have been petitioning in cairo. a clear contrast to hosni mubarak's regime. morsi took office on june 30th as a candidate backed by the muslim brotherhood, he won the first election since the collapse of the mubarak administration. hundreds of people visited the office to call for more jobs and improved working conditions. during the mubarak era, tight security was put in place in and around the office. people approaching the office would be arrested or shot and killed. morsi says under his pro-democracy policy, he'll deal
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with petitions by setting up a department. with the military still retaining strong legislative power, attention is focused on how far he can meet people's demands. pakistan has reached an agreement with the united states to reopen supply routes for nato troops in afghanistan. but the agreement may do little to appease anti-u.s. seminant. >> the supplied lines not only impinge on a relationship with the united states, but also on a relations with the other 49 member states of nato isef. pakistan should be seen as a cooperative member of the international community. >>. >> reporter: the pakistan prime minister chose his words carefully as he announced the
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reopening of supply routes. he stressed the international nature of the issue apparently to try and avoid inflaming anti-u.s. sentiment. closed the supply routes last november after the death of 24 soldiers. they were mistakenly killed by the u.s. military in a cross-border air strike from afghanistan. u.s. secretary of state hillary clinton issued a statement saying the united states is sorry for the losses suffered by the pakistan military. but the statement failed to mention the ongoing source of public anger. u.s. drone attacks on pakistani soil. that omission struck a position by the supplied route deal. the acts suspected al qaeda
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optatives. many pakistan believe including members of civilians who died. the reason to open the supply routes was difficult for the pakistan government. it doesn't doesn't want to show with the united states that would strengthen the hard liners in the pikds military and opposition parties. nhk world, islamabad. a former leader of the 1989 student protest in tiananmen square has criticized the chinese government for failing. he fled to the united states in 1998 after spending six years in prison. wang told a group in tokyo the political situation in china is getting worse. he said authorities are suppressing freedom of speech.
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>> wang urged the japanese public to pay more attention to what's happening in china and to pressure the country's government to improve its human rights record. wang also noted more democracy in china would lead to better relations with japan and contribute to peace in east asia. china has been dubbed the world's factory for its cheap and plentiful labor. but wages are rising fast hurting businesses and some manufacturers are facing bankruptcy. now even china's businesses are looking abroad. >> reporter: a new helping hand has arrived in beijing. noodles are being made by this robot.
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it slices the dough as skillfully as a chef. the robot costs about 1,200 u.s. dollars. that's equivalent to five month's pay for a chef. >> translator: good. all the noodles are a consistent size. >> reporter: this company manufactured the robot. every day restaurant owners struggling with rising labor costs come seeking help. >> translator: robots can do so much. wages are rising but robots work without making any demands. >> reporter: attitudes towards work are changing in china. that was shown recently. young people are becoming more demanding in their job search.
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>> translator: i want a job that pays well and gives me a lot of days off. >> translator: i'm not in a big hurry. i want a job with good conditions. >> translator: wages are increasing so much, it's putting a strain on the business. >> reporter: the strain is already being felt on factory floors. this company manufactures bags for western brands drawn by china's low labor costs. the factory needs 400 workers to operate at capacity. but it has secured only 300. sewing machines sit unused with their covers on. the company has turned to cambodia in its search for cheap labor. wages here are only a quarter those in china. an advertisement for staff received ten applications for every position.
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>> translator: working here has made our life much easier. snot we can have a better life. >> reporter: 13 other chinese companies have built factories in the same industrial park. >> translator: cambodian people are hard workers. i think productivity will increase there and fall in china. >> reporter: with labor costs rising, chinese need a new model for success. for some companies, that means looking beyond china's borders. we've been reporting on the heavy rain and flooding affecting many in southern japan. rachel ferguson gives us the latest on the situation there and more in her world weather forecast. >> yes. that's absolutely correct. for the last couple of days,
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experiencing particularly heavy rain resulting in flooding and landslides. starting to ease off today which is good news. however, the front that's bringing the rain is not easing off. it's just moving farther towards the north. we followed that front through the korean peninsula and back into southwestern china we'll find heavy rain along that front. in the last 24 hours some part of of seshwan province has v a high risk of flooding and landslides. to the south of that front, things are looking much drier. it comes with its own problems. heat is building here. we're seeing temperatures widely in the upper 30s. shanghai has been seeing that real extreme heat for the last couple of days and into thursday we're expecting a high of 38 degrees. anywhere in this orange area just south of the front is going
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to be experiencing some intense heat. elsewhere across the region, temperatures are in the low to mid-30s. tokyo also getting 30 degrees today. so a little bit cooler at 25 with that rain coming through. all right. let's go to north america where it is still the fourth of july. but the whether is not too much to celebrate at the moment. we're experiencing an extreme heat wave in locations in the u.s. and around the periphery, some severe thunderstorms. you can see along the front here moving through the central plains and heading towards the four corners. we'll also see another band of thunderstorms through the great lakes region and into eastern canada. south of that is where we're seeing the heat wave. you can see the dome of high pressure keeping things hot and dry. today's temperatures, well, thursday could see 39 degrees in chicago. in the upper 30s also will be oklahoma city, washington, d.c.
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the forecast for st. louis and missouri, 41 degrees. very intense heat. thunderstorms just around that dome. and we'll also see monsoonal rains towards the southwest. now to europe. more thunderstorms here as well. there's a low pressure system just sitting to the southwest of ireland. and dublin, edinburgh. heavy rain coming to you. going to be looking unstable. heading to the east the dome of high pressure still in place and bringing temperatures up about ten degrees above average in some places including budapest expecting 36 degrees. there are warnings and watches posted for the heat. i'm going to leave you now with the the extended forecast.
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engineers restarted it over the weekend. japan has been without nuclear power since may. all reactors in the country have been offline for regular inspections. the government ordered the checks in response to safety concerns after the accident last year in fukushima. on sunday engineers at the ohi plant fired up the number three reactor for the first time in 15 months. the plant's operators had hoped to supply power starting wednesday. but workers at the plant had to adjust some turbines. so the operators pushed back their schedule. the reactor will reach full capacity next monday. the company is scheduled to restart the number four reactor at the plant in two weeks. and that's all for this edition of "newsline." i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. we'll be back with more updates at the top of the hour. see you then. -rock]
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♪ ♪ (jane joyce) floating near the sunlit surface of earth's oceans, billions of tiny organisms called phytoplankton are the base of the food pyramid for all life. they also shape global climate. from space, different colors of ocean water reveal different concentrations of phytoplankton. phytoplankton play a critical role in balancing the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. during photosynthesis,
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phytoplankton capture water from their surroundings, carbon dioxide from the air, and energy from the sun to build plant material, the primary food source for aquatic life. while most phytoplankton are eaten by other tiny organisms and fish, some of them sink, and are eventually buried under sediment for centuries. in this way, phytoplankton extract nearly half of the atmosphere's carbon dioxide that otherwise would trap the sun's energy and warm the planet. phytoplankton also generate as a by-product more than half of the oxygen we breathe. for the first 2-billion years, earth's atmosphere lacked oxygen. phytoplankton patiently reengineered the atmosphere to where it now has 21% oxygen, a supply upon which we are critically dependent. earth is a complex system, a web of interdependencies. some of the tiniest things in the sea create conditions suitable for some of the largest things on land.
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