hello there. welcome to "newsline". it's friday, july 6, 2012. in tokyo it's 9:00 a.m. i'm catherine kobayashi. members of a diet-appointed panel have spent months going over what went wrong before, during, and after an earthquake and tsunami hit fukushima daiichi. their main conclusion, the crisis at the nuclear plant was manmade.

that crisis started on march 11th, 2011, and continues to this day. panel chair kiyoshi kurokawa handed the report to the speaker of the diet's lower house and the president of the upper house. he and his fellow experts met 20 times since last december. their report analyzes the underlying causes of the accident. it says that both the government and tokyo electric power company, or tepco, missed opportunities to develop basic safety requirements and ignored warnings about the possible impact of the tsunami. the panel says the tsunami should note coidered as the only factor and the impact of the earthquake on the facility should also be taken into account. tepco blamed only the tsunami in its investigation. the report emphasizes that tepco failed to give staff at fukushima daiichi enough training to take proper countermeasures in the event of a disaster.

the panel also notes that the roles of tepco and the government had not been clearly defined should a serious accident occur. it says this led to the failure to contain the situation. the report also looks at japan's nuclear power industry. it strongly condemns tco for using itdominant position to loosen regulations. it also criticizes the utility for refusing to disclose information even after the disaster. the panel says workers at japan's nuclear regulatory agencies were no better. it evaluates their level of expertise as poor. it says the nuclear and industrial safety agency and the nuclear safety commission didn't maintain independence from pro-nuclear government bodies and didn't prioritize public safety. panel chair kurokawa emphasized the key points the panel members concluded in the final report. >> i think we have to have sharing the value of this process and this recommendation to a greater public in japan but

also to the world. because that is the reason we made this committee meeting in addition to many inquiry and interviews and fact-finding sort of examination of any papers and documents. but a committee meeting has been opened. and also with simultaneous translation in english. you can see that, and here you may see how the leader of that time we invited many people -- about 38 -- how they respond to our dialogue in open session. this, i think, perhaps -- this is the lesson to be learned, and we like to share this with the world and also just ask for expertise and opinion into our society so that we could really contribute by learning a lesson and sharing this lesson with the rest of the world and ask world expertise and opinion into our society so we could really contribute by learning a lesson and sharing this lesson with the rest of the world. central bankers in europe

and china are doing what they can to stimulate their economies. we are joined now from the business desk. what are you hearing? >> well, we're hearing about rate cuts catherine, and we're hearing leaders say how worried they are over the global economic outlook so let's start with the ecb. the european central bank will cut its benchmark interest rate to help the europe debt crisis and boost its sagging economy. the reduction is the first in seven months. the record low 0.75%. >> in particular tensions in some euro area sovereign debt markets and their impact on credit conditions and high unemployment are expected to wait on the underlying growth momentum. >> he pointed out at a repea press conference that serious

concerns remain about the future of the euro zone economy. meanwhile, china's central bank also cut its key interest rate for a second straight month. this indicates that the government is stepping up measures in its monetary easing actions. the people's bank of china said the bench mash lending rate will be lowered by 0.31 percentage points to 6%. the deposit rate will be cut by a quarter of a percentage point to 3%. the new rates will become effective friday. china's economic outlook is becoming uncertain because of sluggish exports to european countries as a result of the region's debt crisis. europe is china's biggest trading partner. china's consumption also remains low. the central bank's recent move ames to support the country's economy and secure jobs with stronger monetary easing. well let's see how this is affecting markets. over on wall street u.s. stock prices ended on a mixed moat.

for details on how stocks are trading here in japan, we're going to go to ramin melonguard. markets back in full swing after independence day holiday. how are tokyo stocks looking? >> let's go straight to the levels actually this friday morning, and we can see exactly how we're kicking off here in tokyo following the u.s. and european markets, and both indexes trading lower. 9,067 for the nikkei can you remember, and 675 for the topix. a mechanicsed bag in the u.s. we did have the nasdaq trading actually unchanged on the day, but it was helped by shares from apple and the dow and the s&p 500 actually trading lower and that was weighed down by negative sentiment following some services data. i'll come to that in a second. slowing growth really is one of the key focuses across the globe, and that's really been proven by some of the central bank moves that we've seen specifically china, of course of course cutting rates. the european central bank

yesterday, thursday, cutting rates, as expected and also the focus now is following the jobs numbers later today in the u.s. could the federal reserve also take some similar action. that's really the question for global markets now as well. now, mixed data still keeping investors a little bit on their toes. the u.s. economy had the private sector aep jobs report which was favorable. also, though weekly jobless claims. in other words people claiming benefits also showed a drop. its lowest in a month and a half, in fact but then the ism services data was showing a contraction, which also follows the ism manufacturing data earlier this week which also showed a contraction. that's a little bit of a concern there. hence, the slightly mixed picture for the u.s. economy. now, here in tokyo, of course the u.s. markets back from end penicillin day so volume should pick up a little bit, although

traders, investors really waiting to see how those jobs numbers pan out later today. now, the drop in the euro may hold back some exporters. let's have a look at the fx levels as well for this friday here in tokyo trading hours. the dollar did gain a uch, which alsoould lead to dollar dominated commodities. gold and oil. look at the euro-yen. 98 to 98.0 a. the euro fell around 1% against the yen after the ecb rate cuts. >> that's right. you know we talked about the ecb. we talked about the people's bank of china. you mentioned the fed, but just next week the bank of japan is meeting here in japan, and given recent data here what is expected? >> yeah. the expectations could be that the bank of japan may not have to take any steps. we had a regional economic report this week wch also showed a moderate recovery. we also had the tancan business september meant survey which was an improvement on the previous quarter, and if the

u.s. europe and china central banks have already made their moves, the bank of japan may wul not immediate to make any moves. we'll have to see, of course later today after the jobs numbers in the u.s. how everything pans out. back to you. >> all right. so a lot to look forward to but, first, u.s. jobs numbers. all right. ramin from the tokyo stock exchange. all right. we also have other asian markets open this ur soet's see how they're doing.

pakistani officials have opened their country's supply routes to u.s.-led nato forces in afghanistan for the first time in seven months. on thursday a truck carrying supplies to nato forces crossed the border. pakistani officials closed the routes in retaliation for cross border air strikes by the u.s. military last november that mistakenly killed 24 pakistani soldiers. on tuesday u.s. secretary of state hillary clinton apologized for the botched raid for the first time. at a news conference on thursday, a pakistani foreign ministry spokesperson expressed hope that the re-opening will lead the u.s. to soon resume most of its assistance to his country. some observers in pakistan have criticized the government for deciding on the re-opening, though the u.s. has not agreed to halt air strikes by unmanned drones. tension is rising due to the decision. islamic extremists declared they

will attack u.s. military trucks carrying supplies to afghanistan. an intertional conrence support afghanistan will be held in tokyo. japan is negotiating with nations and international agencies to raise a total of $15 billion in aid for the country by 2015. the japan initiated conference will bring together representatives from about 80 countries and international organizations. they will include afghan president karzai, secretary of state clinton and u.n. secretary-general ban ki-moon. karzai is expected to ask the international community from vied afghanistan with annual aid of $3.9 billion. the money will go towards reconstruction and development after foreign troops leave the country in 2014. the japanese government hopes the international pledges will reach the requested amount. donors have criticized karzai for years for failing for reign in corruption. police, military, and government

officials routinely demand bribes. nhk world melt with the man responseible for cracking down. >> it's very serious. you know it is the most corrupt country, you know in the world. >> afghan anti-corruption office absolutely says corruption is already pervasive even among high-ranking government officials. >> from police -- traffic police on the road until our ministers. yes. there are a lot of these corrupt people. i have to cases from ministers. i have cases from the environment, from the governor of provinces. >> reporter: he also knows that less than 10% of cases were prosecuted last year. >> i was not very happy with the

cases that we sent to anti-corruption, but since last week the president was very serious. he talked to the regional office and then you have to be serious and to give as soon as possible the results and to bring it to court. >> reporter: public criticism is mounting against the afghan government. some say corrupt officials are now hampering reconstruction efforts in the country. they know that to secure support president hamid karzai would have to declare clear, effective anti-corruption measures. he must assure to us that france will not be diverted into the pockets of the corrupt officials. officials in moscow have unveiled a plan to build agriculture facilities on russian-held islands also claimed by japan.

fisheries agency chief announced the project in the capital. he said the government will spend $160 million to set up eight agriculture farms on two islands. prime minister medvedev says they should prioritize the islands among its issues related to the far east. observers say russian officials announced the plan right after the prime minister's trip to make clear their intention to develop the islands despite japan's claim. the philippine government has protested china's move to place disputed islands in the south china sea under the jurisdiction of a newly created city. the chinese government announced in late june that it had integrated its administration districts of three island groups into the new city. this includes macclesfield back and spratley island.

they're also claimed by the philippines and other asian nations. the filipino foreign ministry condemned the move. they said it dominated their sovereignty over the island. tennings between the two nations are mounting fueled by a recent incident. patrol ships from both countries were locked in a standoff near a disputed shore for two months. china and vietnam are also at odds over the sovereignty of the disputed island groups. vietnamese officials are looking toward other emerging economies to increase trade. they hosted a meeting with government and business leaders from latin american countries, including brazil and argentina. the prime minister says the vietnamese want to increase economic cooperation with the 15 visiting nations. he is hosting the meeting for the first time. >> translator: latin america has abundant natural resources and a population of 570 million

people. it's an essential partner of vietnam's economic growth. >> the european debt crisis has been a drag on the economies of industrialized nations. vietnam has relied on its biggest trading partner, china, but government officials are trying to diversify the countries they trade with. they're finding interest among latin americans. many representatives say they hope to increase trade among emerging economies. rapid growth is boosting consumer confidence and the trade between vietnam and latin america has been increasing steadily. until recentl hpitals in japan have focused on treating the most common forms of cancer such as lung or colon cancer but last month the government announced a change in policy to provide treatment for less common types of cancer including those affecting children. nhk world has more.

>> reporter: 5-year-old yuki imai lost her sight in both eyes due to cancer. her parents first noticed something was wrong with her eyes three months after she was born. they took her for check-ups at four different hospitals, but all of the doctors -- they even took scans of her entire brain. the cancer showed up as the cloudy areas in the eyeballs. even so, the doctor gave her diagnosis of no abnormality. finally, yuki was found to have an extremelyare children's cancer called latimo blastoma. her parents noticed something was wrong, and over a year had passed. >> translator: i do wish that a specialist had discovered her cancer while it was still at an

early stage. >> translator: if the cancer is discovered early and if it isn't too close to an area that affects vision there is a strong possibility of saving the child's eyesight. >> reporter: there are other cases in which children have such rare forms of cancer that doctors find it hart to diagnose. yusei kihara is now 6. three years ago doctors found he had a tumor in his left thigh. however, over period of two months he was misdiagnosed three times before the exact form of cancer is discovered. li pos arp o liposarcoma. by the timeis contion was correctly understood he had already undergone the wrong chemotherapy causing serious

side effects. >> translator: this is a country with advanced medical facilities, but there are very few places that know how to treat small children with diseases like this. >> reporter: in the case of yuki the eye cancer was discovered too late. her parents face a difficult decision. surgery to remove her eyeballs to stop the cancerrom spreading or radiation treatment which would leave her eyeballs intact that leaves the possibility of the cancer recurring and spreading. her father wrote a letter for yuki when she grows up. >> to the very end we could not accept the idea of you losing both your eyes but the highest priority is saving your life. even if you lose your eyesight we want you to be able to hav a long life.

rirchlgt the day after yuki's left eye was removed. later, her right eye had to be removed as well because the cancer had spread. at the time she was still only 22 months old. yuki now attends a school for the blind where she is learning to use her ears and hands to compensate for her lack of eyesight. >> translator: there are so few medical cases like hers. hospitals need to do more t collect data and accumulate know-how on treatments. we need a medical system that can support patients and overcoming the difficulties they face. >> reporter: every year around 2,500 children in japan face cancer. strong steps need to be taken to provide them with adequate diagnosis and treatment.

new legislation introduced the government calls for a specialized high quality treatment for children's cancer to be provided at about ten major hospitals around the country. this network will also act as a model for treating adults diagnosed with rare forms of cancer. one of the world's biggest events promoting japanese pop culture, japan expo opened on thursday in france. ♪ >> the annual event is taking place just outside paris. japanese comics and animation are popular in the country. many french are visiting the site, including young people dressed up as popular animation characters. they're buying french language versions of the japanese manda and animation dvds as well as character themed merchandise. >> translator: this expo offers lots of things to see.

i like it very much. >> reporter: the japan tourism agency and travel agents have set up booths to promote travel to japan. some areas have been set aside for traditional japanese culture and crafts. volunteers are selling goods and donating the proceeds to reconstruction efforts from last year's disaster in northeastern japan. >> i hope the japanese people we work hard so that reconstruction will go smoothly. the japan expo will run through sunday. organizers expect about 200,000 visitors. japanese food makers are to sell new products that help make consumer feel cal thi summer. this is because power shortages are expected across japan forcing people to save energy and use air conditioning sparingly. food products unveiled their new products designed to beat the

sweltering heat. they developed a cup noodle that tastes best when eaten iced. it uses oil that does not get greasy even at low temperatures. you pour a small amount of hot water to soak the noodles and then put in ice cubes before eating. and there's wine that should be served on the rocks. it's a sweeter version, and it's sweeter than memorial ones drunk without ice so the taste does not get so diluted when the ice melts. the food industry is taking advantage of people's increased awareness for power saving by promoting cool food products this summer. people in southern japan are dealing with heavy rain and flooding. residents of the north america and europe are facing severe heat waves. rachel ferguson has the latest in her world weather forecast. >> good morning, catherine. there is certainly a lot to get through, so let's just get started. that heavy rain that's been impacting parts of japan and china is now taking aim at the korean peninsula. in the last 24 hours parts of

south korea have seen over 250 millimeters of rain. they're still likely to see heavy amounts to the tune of about 40 millimeters just in the period of one hour as we head on through friday so that can lead to flash flooding. very, very dangerous situation here. as the low pressure sitting over the front heads in towards japan, there is going to be more heavy rain coming in to the country. in fact, you'll see a lot of rain through much of honchu and the west as well. particularly heavy are going to be kushu, so a critical situation there. we're talking about already saturated land floods landslides occurred as well. this is extremely unwelcome rain and a very serious situation. down towards the south of the continent we're going to be seeing more heavy rain as well. the southwest monsoon is in full effect, but particularly heavy rain is going to be coming to parts of northern myanmar, northern thailand as well as laos as we head to the next 24 hours, so there's going to be a risk of flooding here as well.

now, temperatures have been soaring through parts of eastern china for the last several days. no change today, shanghai. 37 degrees forecast for you. right through towards chonching in the upper 30s. let's take a look at north america. as we mentioned there we're seeing a heat waveersisting into the weekend. severe thunderstorm as well. now to add to it a tropical storm. let's go through and see what's happening with tropical storm daniel. there is good news with this one. although it's going to be developing very quickly to hurricane status and intensifyi there, can you see it's moving away fromand masses. so it doesn't look like it's going to be posing a threat. just something to keep an eye on as we head on through the weekend. let's get back to these storms. you can see where they're going to be coming down through ontario. the great lakes region. and down towards the four corners. large hail damaging winds, potential for tornadoes with these as well. then we run into rain rather than storms here. this is the monsoonal flow coming up through mexico into new mexico. it's really helping a lot of

this rain to alleviate those very dry fire conditions we've been seeing for the last several weeks. there will be the potential r flooding as some of the rain is going to be on the heavy side. all right then to the heat wave and temperatures. not much in the way of good news, i'm afraid. look at some of these digits. 39 degrees in chicago. 41 in st. louis. you're going to see temperatures in the 40s for the next several days. up to about 42 on saturday. however, the upper midwest is going to see thunderstorms coming through, and that will help drop your temperature by about ten degrees. still, a hot day. it is going to persist, that heat, right through to the mid-atlantic. d.c., 38 degrees for you, and it's going to be a hot weekend. all right. into europe we go. thunderstorms rattling through central and western locations and out to the east it's going to be hot. this is the basic setup. the heaviest of the rain is taking aim at the british isles, so we have warnings and watches there posted for flooding and out to the east and that heat persists particularly in

southwestern poland as well as into hungary, and there are red alert warnings there for the heat. do take care with that. here's your temperature. i'm going to leave with you your extended forecast now.

that wraps up this edition of "newsline." i'm catherine kobaishi in tokyo. thanks for joining us. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com