welcome to nhk, it's thursday, september 12th. i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. the people at the fukushima daiichi nuclear plant have another problem on their hands. fi officials say the levels of radioactivity in a storage tank

have risen. more leaked last month of a tank. it is thought to have seeped into the soil. monitors have assigned more to -- they say the level of tritium rose to 64,000 becquerels per liter. more than twice the reading the previous day. the well is not located near where ground water is flowing and managers say most of the tainted soil around the tank has been removed, so they don't know how the water is getting con tame that ed. workers planted ground water and reroute it into the ocean before it passes through reactor buildings, but their latest finding may change that. the crisis has made headlines around the world, now, the french weekly newspaper has care a ried a car yakture mocking the crisis.

a cartoon shows wrestlers fighting about. one wrestler has three arms and the other has three legs. two people in protective gear referee outside the ring. a comment says -- sumo was picked as an olympic sport, thanks to fukushima. the editors of the paper said the cartoon expresses surprise that tokyo is hosting the games even though the plant is not under control. but they said the caricature is not intended to hurt japanese feelings. it's not the first time fukushima has been the butt of french humor. the public broad casting had a broadcast showing a goalkeeper with japan's soccer team with four arms. the presenter of the program blamed the fukushima accident for the deformities. the embassy launched a protest and managers of the tv station apologized. plans to rebuild break

waters in three prefectures of northern japan are behind schedule. officials in local municipalities say more than 60% of the projects have not gotten underway. the central and local governments plan to rebuild break waters stretching hundreds of kilometers stretching along japan's pacific coast. a majority of the waters will be in -- but officials say only 4% of the projects have been completed. work on more than 60% of the projects has not even started. most of the planned break waters will be higher than the previous ones, but officials are having trouble getting the approval of local residents. they say they are ugly and would hurt jobs along the coast. japanese government officials are warning of

possible cyber attacks from china. they say the sites include the prime minister's office as well as local governments and media organizations. chineseackers have launched attacks the past few septemberers. they coincide with an incident in 1891 and last year, struck just after japan nationalized the senkaku islands in the east china sea. china claims the islands. the hackers hit the websites of at least 19 japanese organizations, including the supreme court. they are analyzing their website to see if they can find anything out about the hackers. japanese media have taken part in a drill over the senkaku islands. a fleet of patrol planes carried

out the exercise over the east china sea. the squadron consisted of p 3 c control from fleet air wing 5 and the planes controlled the western space over the east china sea about 150 kilometers west of the main island of okinawa prefecture. >> we recognize chinese naval activity has picked up and we'll keep alert that any signs our national security is under threat. >> in the drill, the air crews tried to identify the names and nationalities of vessels approaching the area and the patrols have also been trying to identify any suspicious vessels and submarines in the east china sea including the areas around the islands. time now for the latest in business news. it's still thursday, but tokyo investors may feel like they've already had a full week. they've traded on all kinds of news from tokyo wins the olympic

bid to uncertainty over syria. what's on investor's minds? >> investors may be taking cues from what happened on wall street where stock markets ends on a mixed note on wednesday, easing concerns over syria boosted the dow, but a decline in apple share price weighed on the nasdaq. the dow jones industrial average rose 0.89% to end the day at 15,326 and the nasdaq fell a tenth of a percent to 3,725. now, to see how stocks here are going to be affected, we go to ramine at the tokyo stock exchange. so, before we get to the stock opening levels, we've also just had some key data here. >> yes, indeed. and we had machinery orders for july and i can safely use the

word, almost unchanged. now, that data is actually a very strong indicator for capital investment by japanese companies. we'll see how that filters through, but let's have a look at the opening levels and it's almost the same as how the u.s. markets closed. we're getting a mixeded open here with the nikkei higher. now, in the previous session on wednesday, the nikkei maintained the trend and as we've seen the dollar fall from yesterday's levels, we may see further selling in some exporters today as well. exporters had been driven higher when the dollar was around the mid hundred yen levels on wednesday, so some fluctuations there. now, apple as you mentioned, is a big focus. its shares slumped in the u.s. session. analysts say there weren't too many positive surprises in the

latest lineup of smart phones. there's also going to be a big focus here on the battle of the mobile phone carriers here in japan, especially now as ntt gold has number one will be supplying the latest iphone smart phones, so soft bank and the other two will have increased competition in that sector of the market. we'll also need to keep track of component makers for the iphone, many of which were sold off yesterday. we'll see if that continues or if there's a halt in that precio progression. >> where do we stand this norng? >> that's a big focus. having a look at the dollar yen and you can see that it is well below 100 yen. still questions about what the federal reserve may do on it

timetable. that's a big focus for global financial markets. euro's been holding largely in a bit of a range, both against the yen and dollar. investors taking further gain up the economies, which of late has been pretty supportive, but again, a big focus there on euro zone economies and further data. but as i said, little bit of a mixed opening here for the nikkei. back to you. >> thanks a lot for that update. china's prime minister has urged the public to -- in monetary easing. he was speaking at the annual summer davos. about 2,000 executives, government officials and academics are attending the event. he stressed the need to prevent a particular country's policy

changes from affecting other countries, especially emerging economies. his comments come as the u.s. central bank prepares for a policy meeting next week. federal reserve officials may decide at the meeting to start scaling back credit easing measures. such a move could prompt investors to pull more money out of emerging economies. lee also spoke about domestic issues. he said the chinese government is successfully raing reigning in monthly government debt. he said officials in beijing are stepping up oversight of municipalities and lending institutions. that's the latest in business. i'll leave you with a check on markets.

president obama has warned of continuing threats 12 years after the september 11th terror attack. about 3,000 people died in the attacks. ♪ he attended a ceremony at the pentagon. about 180 people were killed there as a plane flew into the building. he joined survivors in honoring

those who died. >> have the strept to face the threats that endure different than they may be from 12 years ago so as long as there are those who would strike our citizens, we would defend our nation. >> he said force is necessary at times, he said this even as he considers a military strike on syria. still, he's changed the u.s. approach to security since taking office. for example, military commanders plan to end combat operations in afghanistan by the end of next year. people in afghanistan are worried about the prospect of a taliban comeback after international forces withdraw. foreign troops are already pulling out of some areas and militants are moving in. >> taliban influence in north afghanistan is on the rise again.

we had a rare opportunity to film a taliban unit. members are split into subgroups tasked with carry out strikes against both international and afghan forces. on this day, they are planning another attack. foreign forces have been defe defeated. they're trying to flee afghanistan. our victory is near. german troops are responsible for security around here. but they're getting ready to go home. by the end of 2014, only a few will stay behind to carry on training their afghan colleagues.

>> translator: we will be responsible for local security until the date of withdrawal. >> reporter: many afghans feel like international forces are aabandoning them. a 23-year-old was an ininterpreter tor for the german military. by but the people he wons worked for are being sent home and last december, he lost his job. >> still, the taliban is not removed, not vanished. they have to work on security parts of -- >> this is the warning letter. >> reporter: he received a letter in april. it contained a threat from the taliban. >> translator: we know you are a spy for the german military. if you don't share what you saw and heard, we'll kill you.

>> reporter: last month, two of his former colleagues were killed. >> we were getting warnings from every size of and they knew us. that's why we're really concerned about the life. >> reporter: the taliban's reach even extends deep into the capital, kabul. in june, it launched a massive attack against the office of the president. the united states wanted to weaken the taliban before most of its troops leave at the end of next year. but instead, the militant move remains a powerful and deadly enemy. more than 2200 troops have died in afghanistan over the past 12 years. >> heroes honored today will not have died in vain.

>> amid poor security, economic progress has ground to a halt. kabul used to be a thriving city thanks to huge amounts of aid pumped in by the international community. but that's no longer the case. as you can see here, this building is in kabul is under construction, but work has been suspended halfway. the city is dotted with unfinished construction projects. people and money are draining out of afghanistan amid fears of a return to civil war. >> translator: everybody worries their investments may go down the drain because of the return of the taliban. >> reporter: 12 years have passed since reconstruction began in afghanistan. following the military campaign to oust the taliban after the

september 11th terror attacks. but the country remains unstable placing a constant threat of violence making its citizens feel disappointed and increasingly nervous. >> pakistani officials say they'll release the highest ranking member of the taliban they have in custody. he is the former second in command of the afghan taliban. over the last year, the pakistanis have release d 30 detaine detainees, but none have been as high profile. businesses in japan may soon find roads and highways more difficult to navigate. tourists are expected to stream into tokyo and government

officials want to make road signs easier to read. english street signs were introduced 27 years ago, but only list the pronunciations of places and streets. not the meanings of words. for example, the one for busy roppongi avenue in central tokyo reads the japanese name. officials at the transport ministry have decided to translate these signs into english will become -- the sign in front of the diet building will be changed to the national diet main gate. ministry officials will spend the next two remaining signs at about 50 remaining destinations. they're asking counterparts and local governments to follow suit. people turn to google to learn all kinds of things, to check facts, find a recipe, to see the latest weather. now, they'll be able to click on something even educational.

university level courses free of charge. they're teaming up with edx. hundreds of thousands of users have signed up. together, they'll provide massive open online courses. professors at a number of universities will collaborate to create the open source learning platform. universities, schools, businesses and governments will be able to build and host their own courses. japan's universities are already preparing to distribute courses with edx. the university of tokyo began offering an online course in kos moll ji earlier this month with another u.s. online venture. a new robotic machine is helping overworked hospital staff someday on top of their jobs. it automatically records details of the drugs used in surgery.

nhk world has this report. >> reporter: this is lifting an empty vile of an injectable drug. the machine can process one vile every 30 seconds. it will record the type of drug. the machine is a brainchild of a joint venture by the maker of the equipment and researchers at the national college of technology. doctors at this hospital in this town performed roughly 500 surgeries per year. and an operation can require up to tens of vials of drugs and the exact quantities of medications used must be

recorded. this is for safety, and also, for the hospital can make up accurate bills. keeping such records is a big job. however, during an operation, every second is critical. nurses are occupied assisting surgeons and they don't have time to write down details about medications. after surgery, staff spends one or two hours loading the drugs used. it's a lot of extra work. >> translator: some of the time that should be spent on patients has to be spent on drug management so it can be a large burden. >> reporter: last year, this hospital acquired a free

dispersion of the monitor. all the nurse has to do now is put the used vials in a drawer and wait as the drugs are recorded, thanks to the device. over time, this has fallen more than half. the machines -- they want to sell it elsewhere but it has one problem. its size. >> translator: it's a bit large. it would be easier to use if it were more compact. >> reporter: the makers went back to the lab with help from the technical college team. eight months later, they came up with this. it's about 15% of the size of the previous model. by reducing the number of cameras inside and upgrading the software, the inventories changed the machine to desk-top

size. >> we're very happy our image processing technology will be used in hospitals. we hope this technology from japan will be used around the world. >> reporter: two hospitals have now installed the machine. the inventers hope this means more to come. time for a check on the weather. people in tokyo are enjoying sunny skies. good morning, catherine. it's going to be a return of summer across tokyo and the rest of the southern half of japan. the high could rise to over 30 degrees in tokyo for the first time since last thursday. very hot conditions and hatoyama will get higher compared to what we have been experiencing over the past several days. but wet weather is in the cards for you for northern japan.

thunderstorms are likely. more heavy rain is coming down from southwestern china and 90 millimeters of rain has been observed in shanghai to give you an idea, that's about 60% of the annual -- excuse me, monthly rainfall for september across the region. heavy rain is in the cards for you for the korean peninsula, starting tonight. and down toward the south, the showers are active across the indo china peninsula, especially in northern vietnam as well as parts of thailand. about 30 people have been killed so far due to flattened landslides in vietnam. and across the pacific, we have a newly-developed tropical depression and this one could become a tropical storm within the next 24 hours. right now, let's bring in rainfall for the mariana islands. tokyo, 32 with sunny skies and 26 with cloudy skies during the most part of the day and 27 for you in beijing with thunder showers.

right over the atlantic we have the first hurricane of the atlantic hurricane season. this is humberto. eight tropical storms so far but none have reached a hurricane status. the good news is it won't cause anywhere threat to any land masses for the next several days. across, continent and near the continent, we have a tropical storm that's gabrielle. it caused stormy conditions for the bermuda island and pulling away and will likely nova scotia on friday night and probably hit new finland over the weekend. across the continent, hot across the south but cooler in the north. we usually see severe conditions in this situation we have severe weather warnings in place from michigan to maine as well as southern parts of quebec and new brunswick. even tornados not be ruled out. large hail and damaging winds

are also possible. across the west, flooding rain continue across the four corners region and that raises the potential for flattening landslides further but the rain won't fall in much-needed areas like california. several wildfires are still growing across the state. temperatures are really, really high across seattle. 30 with plenty of sunshine. 27 degrees in los angeles. meanwhile, heat is easing across the northeast into the 20s in chicago and 29 degrees in new york city. that's five degrees cooler than what we saw on wednesday. further down toward the south, still hot in houston at 34 degrees and 31 for you in miami on your thursday. and here's your extended forecast.

that wraps up this edition of "newsline." thanks very much for joining us.

captioning sponsored by macneil/lehrer productions >> woodruff: all eyes are on the u.s. and russia to craft a plan to seize control of syria's chemical weapons and avoid military action. >> ifill: we get two takes on the president's push for diplomatic and military action. from former national security advisor zbigniew brzezinski and senator john mccain. >> the question is whether the russians are really sincere in this effort. >> woodruff: new york city mayor michael bloomberg is not on the ballot, but hari sreenivassan reports his legacy has dominated the race to replace him. >> new york city is