those against. please, raise your hand. >> not united. a resolution on syria dies at the u.n. security council after russia and china, again, exercised their veto power.

the u.s. ambassador t tthe united nations says russia and china are protecting the syrian president and that thousands of civilians could die as a result. susan rice spoke after the russian and chinese representatives at u.n. security council vetoed the latest resolution on the conflict in syria. the draft would have permitted nonmilitary sanctions if president assad's government refused to stop using heavy artillery within ten days and the resolution called for a 45-day extension of the u.n. cease-fire observers mission. the current term expires on friday. it's a third time russia and china have vetoed u.n. resolutions on syria. >> the security council has failed utterly. this is another dark day in turtle bay. one can only hope that one day, before too many thousands more die, that russia and china will

stop protecting assad and allow -- >> western nations are expected to try to dlaft another resolution to extend the mission of the u.n. cease-fire observers. u.n. sectaryener ban ki-moon regrets the security council's failure to agree on a resolution. he argues that other nations have a collective responsibility to the syrian people and says the u.n. will continue to try to end the violence and human rights violations in syria. >> russia's u.n. ambassador says his country vetoed the original resolution because it would have helped to lead to external military involvement in the syrian conflict and the man in charge of nato forces ruling out that kind of intervention. secretary general rasmussen tells nhk a political solution is the only way forward. we spoke to rasmussen around the time of the u.n. security council vote and he expressed concern about the failure of

countries to find common ground as the violence in syria appears to be escalating. >> the fact that the u.n. security council has not been able on a legally-binding resolution sends a very, unfortunaty, dangerous signal. >> he says nato won't be intervenes in syria something it did last year during the conflict in libya and says it could trigger unintended consequences, given syria's complex ethnic and political structure. >> there's no military solution to the conflict in syria. we need a political solution based on the koefy ano plan and believe a political solution is the best way forward. >> he argues that no country has

called for nato military intervention. president assad ended speculation over his whereabouts following a deadly bombing that targeted the heart of his regime and made his first appearance since an explosion in damascus killed three members of his inner circle. syria's state-run television is squaring in the new general as new defense minister. a blast on wednesday killed the old defense minister, along with two other officials, including assad's brother-in-law. government troops have launch add t attacks for the assassinations. they want control of the capital is intensifying. sources on the ground tell nhk, citizens are dodging gunfire and explosions as they try to flee to safety.

a citizen in damascus tells nhk people have formed long lines at petrol stands and food shops. families are trying to flee the capital to go to rural areas or even outside of the country. and anti-government forces say the violence killed at least 240 people over the past couple of days. white house press secretary jay carney said he believes the administration is faltering. >> i think the incident today makes clear that assad is losing control. that violence is increasing, rather than decreasing. >> carney said he fears more violence and chaos will follow if assad stays in power. he called on the international

community to support a transition of power. former egyptian vice president omar suleiman has died of a heart attack. he was one of expresident hosni mubarak's associates. the news agency reported he died on thursday in a u.s. hospital. he was 76 years old. he served as the head of the country's intelligence services for 18 years. s suleman played a role in many things. observers considered him a possible successor to mubarak. he announced his candidacy for if the presidency in april but the election commission did not allow him to run. he had been receiving treatment for lung and heart diseases in the u.s. for the past three weeks. american corporate executives are running around this week announcing earnings. we've already heard from several leading chipmakers this week.

our business team joins us with the latest from another tech giant? >> exactly, catherine. we heard from intel earlier this week. today, we have the sales forecast to the year and then, ibmame out wh stron nbers and now we're hearing from another hi-tech giant, microsoft. they reported its first quarterly loss ever since it listed in at 1986. they say it was due to a poor performance in its online advertising business. microsoft released its earnings report for the april to june period on thursday. revenue grew 4% from the same quarter last year to about $18 billion. the company says the gain was due to strong sales of the office software suite and home use video game consoles. but the company reflected a devaluation of $1.2 billion related to its acquisition of

aquantiff. this led to a net loss of $492 million for the quarter. microsoft plans to shift its focus from personal computers to tablets and smartphones in order to improve its earning structure and they are launching the windows 8 operating system in october. microsoft's chief executive, steve baller says that company's business will turn for the better because a record number of core products will be released this year. still, u.s. stock prices ended higher on hopes that the fed may take extra steps at its next meeting starting at the end of the month to boost growth in the world's biggest economy. to see how stocks are trading this friday in japan, we're at the tokyo stock exchange. good morning to you. some down both economic data boosting hopes of a fed move and then, also, a mixed bagf earnings results has all this affecting stocks here in tokyo? >> let's go straight to the

indices and have a look for this friday morning in tokyo. and the nikkei and the topix down a third of a perd now 8,767 for the nikkei and 743 for the topix. in the u.s.,down existing home sales fell by 5.4%. that's the lowest in eight months. we had weekly jobless claims which comes out every thursday and that actually rose aittle bit more than alyst h expected. so based on those two bits of data, as well as the recent manufacturing, services and jobs data that we've had out of the u.s., the markets are figuring that the federal reserve may just have to take some extra measures at its next meeting to, perhaps, boost the u.s. economy. that's going to be a focus there as well. investors looking at a good performance in some hi-tech shares like ibm and that, also, helped to boost the sentiment so a bit of a mixed picture as well as economic data and earnings.

bu nevertheless, in tokyo markets there's also a little bit of caution here. not only because of earnings in the u.s., but also we're seeing investors take a little bit of a step on the sideline there is. global events. we've seen political events stirring up in the middle east. the stronger yen as well as concerns about upcomings earnings in japan. we've seen for each day of this week so far the nikkei trading above 8,800 during the day but retreating into the close to close below 8,800. let's have a look, also, at some curren levels this friday morning here in tokyo. dollar/yen. relatively unchanged. yiesh you-yen, 96 .54-59. keeping to relatively unchanged markets market is hesitant ahead of key events. >> you say earnings they taking center stage and earlier you heard catherine and i talking about some of the tech companies and you mentioned them.

anything else you can add? >> exactly. you talked about microsoft, of course, and adding to that, google and ggle did come out after the bell. its shares rose after hours. actually, earnings which were a little bit stronger than market consensus. and google says a recent acquisition of a telecom equipment maker also helped. so as you said, a bit of a mixed bag with microsoft and google and, still, yet more to come. of course, next week, a lot of focus on japanese earnings. back to you. >> all right, thanks a lot for that. i want to make one correction. microsoft did reflect a devaluation of 6.2 billion related to e acquisition of aqauntiff, that's $6.2, not $1.2 like i said earlier, sorry for any confusion. another story before i go, the asian development bank has revised down its negotiating for economic growth and member countries and territories for

this year. the asian development bank altered its growth outlook for 44 members in the regiono 6.6% and that is down from 6.9% given in april. the foreca excdedapan and other advanced countries. now, it also cut its estimate for next year's growth for 7.1% and that's down from 7.3%. the head of the adb's office of regional economic integration, they told us on thursday that the slowdown in europe and united states is affecting asia. >> when europe and u.s. are experiencing a slowing down of their economy, that affectshe asian economy, in particular, in china and india. >> he said that export-oriented economies like singapore have been most affected. he said that china and other asian nations are increasing

exports inside asia, as well as to other emerging markets like latin america and africa. he says that this will keep the asian economy strong, despite a slowdown in the gloeblg economy. more business headlines for you next hour. i'll leave you with a check on markets. indonesia's foreign minister is on a bridge-building tour of

southeast asia trying to get asian neighbors to mend divisions that emerged last week over maritime disputes with china. nhk has the report from phnom pen. >> the foreign ministers' meetings ended last friday without a joint committee. on one side of the disagreement, the philippines and vietnam, two countries in dispute with china over the south chen sea. on the other side was cambodia, whose top financial supporter is china. it was the first time in asian's 45-year history that the joint failed to issue a jiernt committee. the foreign minister is on a quick trip of three ajeanne members. on first day, he held meetings in cambodia after visit penguin philippines and vietnam on

wednesday. cambodia's foreign minister says his government may agree to a joint committee as soon as friday, after consulting with oth assian >> atrong determination to move forward and not to turn back. i have always -- >> indonesia feels a sense of crisis about the state of among assian members. it's taking a role as mediator in order to keep the group yuntd ppd asean will develop the community by 2015. this episode raises concerns about a group's sense of common

purpose. nhk world, phnom pen. japan and u.s. forces are preparing against a large-scale disaster that experts say could hit tokyo at the any moment. we have this story. >> reporter: this is what tokyo would look like if it was hit directly by a massive earthquake. it's the kind of situation today's joint drill was meant to address. the 5,000 participants focused on improving coordination during disaster relief operations. based upon each scenario, the officials check the extent of damage and the thunder of casualties to device a set of priori priorities. japan's self-defense forces have been conducting similar drills

regularly since 2006. today, is the first time they're joined by counterparts from the u.s. military. >> some 100,000 japanese troops were mobilized during last year's disaster. the united states contributed 16,000 soldiers to provide assistance under the banner of "operation friend". japanese and u.s. troops who work together after last year's quake and tsunami face several challenges. one of them was determining when and where to deploy the right type of units. participants say they've learned a lot from last year's relief efforts. >> lessons learned. you're talking about communications. getting accurate account of what

may be required or needed. that type of thing. and taking that experience or what was learned and trying to incorporate it into the current exercise. >> we're simulating how to conduct swift coordination at a real site. we want to check the order of our work to get ready for a possible disaster. >> japanese and american offices say today's drill was a good opportunity to understand their respective rol roles in another disaster. this is a regular source of friction with the communities that host military bases. u.s. officials are eager to show that they are also capable of saving lives. nhk world. more than 1,000 tornados hit

the united states last year. the storms claimed the live of over 500 people, the highest number inform half a century, experts are trying to improve early warning systems. alice has more. >> reporter: a chase is under way in oklahoma. tornado spotters are in hot pursuit of a skin ster looking storm. these volunteers are the first line of defense against this deadly force of nature. their job is to sound the alarm. that information the sent here, the national weather center. meteorologists try to determine the tornado's course so that they can send out a warning to the public. they use radars to detect and track the storm but it's no easy task. a typical tornado is a few hundred meters in diameter, much smaller than a hurricane. because of the small footprint, the average lead time between

the warning and the tornado's arrival is just 14 minutes. >> 14 minutes probably isn't enough if you're talking about moving people, especially large numbers of people, to safety. >> reporter: the weather center is striving for earlier alerts. and this new technology may make it possible. it's called duel polarization radar. radar works by emmitting electromagnetic waves to get reading on wind and wave formations and the waves are beamed out horizontally. this new radar adds another layer of vertical waves. this means that the tornados can be analyzed in three dimensions. providing more detailed information. this is a conventional radar screen. the red represents heavy rain, but the location of the tornado is not clear.

on the new radar screen, the blue circle shows tree branches and rubble flying through the air. this means that a tornado is forming. storm tracers feed the data into suter computers and the combination of precision radar and super computer analysis will allow a faster and more accurate forecast. eventually, the weather center hopes to issue alerts to people 30 minutes ahead of a tornado's arrival. >> it will give you information on where the hazard will be. where the -- to a very precise location. perhaps in the 20, 25, time frame. >> improved forecasting will save lives. so will stronger buildings. this house, hunkered down in the plains of texas, can double as a tornado shelter. the house features a unique dome

design and fewer windows. built as one strong shell of concrete, and re-enforced with steel bars, the dome protects against flying rubble or fallen trees. the result is a fortress. capable of withstanding wind speeds of more than 130 meters per second. the construction c the same as an ordinary house. four years ago, the u.s. government approved and began to provide funding for these types of designs. tornado-proof gymnasiums and community centers already serve as shelters. in all, 4,000 buildings have used these construction methods. >> one of my proudest achievements is the avalon school. because it's a real small school. it's been hit by tornadoes. it's through safety. >> reporter: tornadoes are a serious threat to the lives and

property of many americans. but using a potent mix of science and creativity experts think they contain the fury. alex kirst, nhk world, new york. it's been extremely hot in tokyo recently. but commuters are enjoying a break from the heat today. rachel fergunoins us now with the world weather forecast. yes, certainly it's feeling cooler this morning. it will be for the next kouj of days. i'll showous what's going on. north easterly winds coming into japan and it will drop the temperature by about 10 degrees for much of the northern half of the country. we're talking about temperatures getting down to the upper teens in how kie do. the high yesterday, it was 35 degrees. a really big drop of 12 degrees. that will last into saturday. by sunday, we probably will be returning to that muggy, thick,

summer heat. it is the season, of course, when we start to see a lot of tropical systems as well. we were tracking one that moved to the korean peninsula for the last couple of daze if you remember. this is -- this dropped about 250 millimeters of rain in parts of the korean peninsula, sitting east of north korea and it will continue to weaken and move away. another tropical system here. this one a depression, just sitting east. this doesn't look like it will move very much or intensify at the moment. just churning away. but it is certainly doing enough to bring lots of heavy rain and gusty winds across the northern half of the philippines. and, also, taiwan will be affected by this system. it's actually also helping to bring a lot of moisture up toward western jeep and we'll see continuing heavy rain here could y extensive reason and probably an

additional 150 millimeters of rain in the next 24 hours. let's look at temperatures acss the rest of the region then. very hot in beijing, 34. you can see the heat continues all the way down into southern china. 33 for you in hong kong. we'll head to north america. severe storms are targeting the ohio valley overnight tonight. that's going to be pretty much on the cars on the course of friday. lots of heavy rain extending to the gulf coast. also we have rain storms across in the northwest. however that said, there's an ongoing drought situation was pretty critical at t moment acss muc of the u.s. here's our maps to show you what's happening. it's been damaging the crops over the last month or so and we've had record heat. lots of records broken. and today, we're going to be seeing continued heat through much of the central u.s. oklahoma city getting up to 41 degrees. you're going to be seeing temperatures in and around the 40-degree mark for the next couple of days. denver getting up to 38 degrees

as well. much cooler in the pacific northwest. and here your getting the rain, too, as well. very enviae people. . storms moving through the northeastern locations and you can see another front coming up through the alpine region and meeting that low so the heavier rain up toward the northeast but you'll see storms dragging to the central mediterranean. the british isles, warmer and dryer. down in toward the south, it will stay dry and hot in some locations heading toward the upper 30s. madrid, 37 degrees for you. almost a 30 in rome. 29 and 35 in athens as well. i'll leave you with you're extended forecast.

today's all for this edition of "newsline." i'm catherine kobayashi in to o tokyo. thanks for joining us. -- caions by vita www.vic.com