welcome to nhk world "newsline," i'm gene otani in tokyo, here's a look at some of the stories we're following this hour. human error has caused another leak of contaminated water at fukushima daiichi, exposing workers to radiation. on nuclear watch. japanese scientist looking at the impact of the accident on blue pin tuna can now get down

to business after their work was delayed by months. and chemical arms expert said the deadline to destroy syria's huge stock pile may be touch the meet. nuclear workers say a decline of morale could behind the decline at the in. six workers were exposed to radiation. they discan connected one that was carry highly contaminated water. six of them has radio substances sprayed on to their skin. they say the exposure is much lower than the annual limit. they revealed the highly radioactive water continued leading for about an hour. they say roughly seven tons spilled out but is being held inside a barrier. they say the water contains about about 34 million becquerels of beta ray-emitting material per liter.

the head of the nuclear aid yags authority is urging managers to look at the big picture and take action. >> translator: they need to improve the working environment at the plant and encourage each worker to maintain strong morale. otherwise, they won't be able to prevent troubles caused by careless mistakes. >> they should make sure they supervise what's going on. tepco officials say some of it they say parts of storage tank had kor roided. more than 300 tons leaked from a container in august. some of it may have flowed into the pacific ocean. engineers dismantled the tank. they found corrosion around two bolt holes at the bottom of the tank. they believe water escaped out from gaps along the bolts.

more than 300 tanks of the similar type stored water at the plant. tepco officials plans to replace them with welded tanks as soon as possible. residents of a village in fukushima prefecture are nervous about a plan to burn radioactive rubbage in their town. decontamination crews have collected massive amounts of soil, vegetation and other wastes as they clean up areas around the nuclear plant. the environment ministry plans to build an incineration facility in iitate village. all 6,000 residents of the village were forced to evacuate following the march 2011 nuclear accident. they still can't move back because of high radiation levels. mayor norio kanno met with chief cabinet secretary yoshihide suga in tokyo. kanno says he hopes the facility's operations will be limited to three years. he called on the government to make sure ash from the burned waste is transferred to a storage facility as quickly as possible.

suga says the cabinet will take full responsibility for the plan. >> translator: we want the government to promise it will protect the safety of iiate villages, as well as the people in neighboring towns. >> kanno said village residents decided to host the incinerator because they want to contribute to decontamination efforts. scientists in japan are now able to move ahead with research into how this country's nuclear accident has affected a top level predator in the pacific. last week, we told you about the study involving blue fin tuna and samples from the u.s. that couldn't get through japanese customs. since our report, authorities have released that results. >> the preofessor is happy to gt down to work, he waited six months to receive blue fin tuna

samples from his colleagues in the u.s. >> reporter: the samples come from 20 blue fin tuna caught off california between may and august of last year. researchers at stanford university studied the same fish and said they detected low levels of radio active. they concluded the source of contamination was the nuclear accident at the fukushima daiichi plant. scientists sent the samples. but, custom officials in japan put them on ice. they said they needed documentation. however, a few days after nhk

world reported on the holdup, officials released the samples saying, they now recognize they are for scientific purposes. now, the professor and his team will analyze the tissue to major the levels. he knows the contamination is too low for certain humans. he says people would have faced no risks, even if they ate the samples. the study of fish that migrate across the ocean to understand how radio active particles spread in the environment. >> translator: the tuna could have been contaminated off the coast of japan, they could have absorbed radio active substance that traveled across the pacific. i can think of num ras processes of contamination. we need to do a detailed study to find out exactly what is happening. >> reporter: blue fin tuna spent

their juvenile period in japan coastal waters. then, they take between one and four months to migrate to the west coast of the united states. >> translator: this kind of joint study on the effects of the fukushima accident in the pacific is still unique. i hope this will spawn more international corporation in the future. >> reporter: he says scientists on both sides of the pacific need to share samples and information. and looking into as many angles as possible to truly understand the consequences of the nuclear accident. nhk world. officials in the white house

say president barack obama has made his choice for the next chairman of the federal serve, obama wants janet yellen to succeed ben bernanke, if confirmed by the senate, she'll become the first woman to lead the u.s. central bank. yellen has been the fed's second in command since 2010. she's also served as president of the federal reserve bank of san francisco. she headed the counsel under former president bill clinton and she's played a crucial role in the fed's monetary-easing policies. president obama will formally nominate yellen later on wednesday. she would take over from ben bernanke in february after his second term expires. they're looking at when they can start scaling down the easing measures that spla massive amounts of money to the markets. they're also thinking of whether to end the policy of keeping

interest rates near sow row. they have a huge impact on the markets. bernanke's suggestion in may that the fed may start tappering caused fluctuation in the stock market. yellen will be tasked of showing clearly market direction. the dangers of defaulting on the national debt, it would have cats terrific to consequences and not only for americans. in their latest report, imf economists lowered their forecast for economic growth. they noted political risks from a budget standoff. >> if they do not make payments on some of the bonds that they owe, then it becomes an even

bigger issue. because for a long time, treasury bills -- u.s. treasury bills have been considered totally safe. >> he said the that the u.s. recovery could turn into a recession and other country would get caught up. >> the first of 800,000 federal workers laid off a week ago, analysts predict that the shutdown will damper the nation's growth. the bigger risk is the possibility of the u.s. will default on its debt. >> reporter: u.s. lawmakers are working against the clock, they only got a week to come up with a deal on the debt. the consequences could be catastrophic. if the world's largest economy misses its payment it would trigger a crisis felt around the globe. some warn that the effects could

be more severe than the collapse in 2008, the financial services firm of lehman brothers. stock markets would be sent on a wild ride. and interest on a range of loans would go up, putting another burden on those with home and car debts. si china and japan hold u.s. government bonds. a default would hurt both of those economies and countless others. most investors believe lawmakers will find a way to resolve their differences. they have plum met during the government shutdown. some think that the congressional leaders will ultimately find some common ground. but even if they reach an agreement by theebt liadline th could be adverse effects.

they went through these same discussions two years ago. they came up with a deal just two days before the deadline. that hurt the color. one credit agency said they would consider downgrading u.s. government bonds. investors count on americans to demonstrate their leadership in the global economy, but leaders across washington are testing that fate. japanese financial regulators have given mizuho bank a deadline to submit a report on dubious loans to organized crime groups. the financial services agency instructed the bank and its holding company to examine why mizuho's accounts given to inspectors didn't match the facts. they earlier stated that the former workers of top management

weren't aware of the loans in question. the former president did know about the case and add considered steps. also revealed that the loans were presented in documents in 2011 and 2012. leaders of egypt's interim grip are tightening their grip on opponents. some say it's a step toward making the islamist organization illegal. authorities limited the activities of the muslim brotherhood until mohammed morsi came to power last year. it gave the group the legal authority to operate.

but in july, military leaders overthrew morsi and started to crack down on his supporters. those supporters have protested again and again. more than 50 people were killed on sunday in a fight against security forces. but on tuesday, they were back on the streets of cairo, last month, a court banned all activities of the brotherhood and a draft amendment to egypt's constitution a ban on all religious parties. he's sending more inspectors to syria, they'll oversee the destruction of the country's arsenal of chemical weapons. about 30 experts from the organization for the prohibition of chemical weapons and the united nations are already on the ground, dozens more are on their way, the experts plan to inspect all of the country's chemical weapons facilities by the end of the month, they began

supervising in dismantling rockets. they have agreed to destroy their entire stock pile by the middle of next year. a japanese specialist familiar with the process of destroying nuclear weapons is casting the time line in syria. it may be difficult for the international egs perts to meet their deadline. >> reporter: this plant in the southwest of fukuoka is designed to destroy chemical weapons. it opened nine years ago to handle a batch of old arms. manufactured for the japanese imperial army. they were found on the seabed in a nearby port. a japanese firm designed this high-tech equipment. its called da vinci. which stands for detonation of

ammunition in a chamber. munitions carrying chemical agents go inside the chamber. explosives wrapped around the munitions detonate. and incinerates them. temperatures of up to 3,000 degrees celsius detoxify the chemicals. there are only five of these systems in operation around the world. while in japan and four others overseas in belgium, the u.s. and china. this man is the former head of japan's ground self-defense force chemicals corps. he says even with the state-of-the-art system. it would be difficult to destroy syria's arsenal by the middle of next year.

>> translator: the system in fukuoka can incinerate two to three times a day. so, even if you destroy two munitions at a time, you can only dispose of six at the most. to wipe out the stockpile by mid-2014, is, in my opinion, a bit far-fetched. >> reporter: the team faces another major obstacle. as many as 100 inspectors and support staff will be working in dangerous conditions. snipers often fire on the united nations inspection team that visited damascus in august. the convoy had just three hours to get evidence and get out. the expert says no one has managed to destroy chemical weapons in the middle of a war zone before.

>> translator: i think it's almost impossible to carry out this kind of work in a combat zone. you have to be able to install facilities. private firms would surely be involved, too. the military can't handle it on its own. >> reporter: u.n. secretary-general ban ki-moon concedes the mission is unprecedented. he says success will depend on whether authorities offer their full cooperation. tomoya, nhk world. the civil war in syria has affected the fate of half a million palestinian refugees, who have been living in the country. japan has pledged $5 million in humanitarian aid.

it will go toward helping palestinians who have been forced to relocate again because of the ongoing violence. >> japan is also committed to the palestinian cause and also fully extending help to the palestinian refugee community. >> he made the announcement at a news conference near jerusalem. the aid will be provided through the local u.n. office as cash and to buy textbooks for children. about 530,000 palestinians have been living as refugees in syria before the civil war began. at least 50,000 of them have been forced to relocate within the country or move to lebanon and elsewhere. every year police in japan deal with thousands of reported cases of stalking. authorities in tokyo believe the latest one led to a murder hours after they found out about it.

18-year-old suzuki and her parents visited police to tell them that she had twice spotted her ex-boyfriend near her home. a short time later she was stabbed to death. police have arrested 21-year-old charles thomas ikanaga on suspicion of carrying out the crime. they say he and suzuki were in a relationship that ended about six months ago. they say thell phone but couldn't get through. they left a message asking him to call back. they then asked suzuki to bring letters and e-mails from ikanaga so they could handle the matter as a criminal case. last year police in japan received 20,000 reports of stalking. disaster experts in japan have urged the government to establish anti-flood measures for subway systems and underground shopping centers. they had previously examined the path of destruction caused by

hurricane sandy in the u.s. the experts presented their recommendations on wednesday to japan's land and transportation minister. in october last year, hurricane sandy claimed the lives of 132 people in the united states and canada. the storm caused an estimated $80 billion of damage. the new york subway system resumed service on some routes only two days after it was inundated by the storm. this was possible because city officials suspended operations the day before sandy hit. power equipment and other vital infrastructure were moved out of harm's way. japanese disaster experts explained that the u.s. government draws up an action plan in response to natural disasters, and then state governments and companies compile their own plans based on federal guidelines. >> translator: it is vital that measures are taken before a natural disaster to minimize damage and allow normal operations to resume as quickly as possible. >> the disaster inspection team urged the japanese government to

compile anti-flood measures and evacuation plans. the priority would be for tokyo, osaka and other large cities with underground subways and shopping centers. meteorologist joins us now with the latest in weather. robert. >> first start by talking about what's going on across japan today, following donna, as that pushed through here. gusty winds to western japan, now racing off their towards the east. behind it, high pressure is going to be ridging in along with some warmer temperatures. high 20s, loyer 30s across most of japan toward the korean peninsula. not only wednesday, extending out toward thursday. on friday, low-pressure area over northeast china. it will usher in cooler air behind it. coming in contact with warm air, the risk of severe weather across korea, over japan, toward

friday that threat is really going to be there. farther down towards the south, i know that throughout the day today. we have been talking about these areas across the tropics, well, it looks like one of these have been named now, tropical storm nari. this one tracking off towards the west is forecasted to become a severe tropical storm before making landfall, well east of manila. you could be seeing pretty heavy rainfall and not to mention, there's still the risk of typhoon-strength wind gusts and high waves, really, i think the main threat is going to be the heavy rainfall. serious risk of flooding and landslides. we also have our deep depression bringing heavy rain, winds gusting up to 70 kilometers per hour.

this will track off to the northwest and the possibility of becoming a severe sigh clcyclon threat. all of tropics still very active. temperatures look like this. 30 there in manila. shanghai at 27. let's take a look towards the americas, a low pressure area bringing some rain showers. moving off quickly to the east. clear skies in the central portions of the country and canada. if you have travel plans it looks fairly decent in and out of los angeles, though, some rain showers in your forecast. the mountains a little farther inland. to the northern portions of the

rockies. low pressure area, you could see 5 to 15 centimeters of snowfall continuing to kick up here. rain showers there in los angeles. but this is what i really want to point out, just beautiful weather across much of the central portions of u.s. beautiful weather in the low countries of europe. france, over toward poland, pretty sunny skies. that is working its way south. that's going to be drawing in that cold air behind it. rain showers and gusty winds cooling right off. you can see that gradient, the areas in green, indicating lower teens. here's your extended forecast.

a team of reer is eveners have discovered ancient artifacts at the bottom of the

lake titicaca. for the past two months, a joint team of archaeologists from bolivia and belgium have conducted an underwater expedition of the lake. the researchers said that they have retrieved more than 2,000 cultural objects from the bottom of the lake. they include stone statutes from the inca era. they date back 2,000 years. some of the objects seem to have brought in from chile. they had contact with neighboring regions before they were conquered by the spaniards. the legend says that indigenous sank their treasures in the lake before the spanish conquest. that's "newsline" for this hour. i'm gene otani in tokyo. from all of us here at nhk world, thanks for joining us.

until next time, good-bye.

from the four winds and the scent of the earth come the color of the seasons. exploring the four seasons of japan. yokohama harbor, japan's busiest destination for passenger ships, the harbor has been in operation for more than 150 years.