a walk in the clouds. people in tokyo start taking in the view from the world's tallest tower. it took engineers nine years to plan and build the tokyo sky tree. now the result of their work is being shown to an excited public. ticketholders became the first ones to head partway up the 634-meter broadcasting tower to check out its observation decks. those without tickets are enjoying the other things this facility has to offer. officials held an opening ceremony earlier tuesday. tokyo sky tree has two panoramic

observation decks and one is 350 meters above the ground. the other is 450 meters. the woman who won the contest to name the structure got a personalized tour before the public was allowed in. >> translator: i've been waiting for this day. i wouldn't see the view because of bad weather. but i was moved to be able to look down from here. >> 8,000 people won a lottery to visit tokyo sky tree on its opening day. the tower's operator issued tickets for the first 50 days to keep numbers under control. the new landmark and the complex around it have more than 300 shops and restaurants an aquarium and a planetarium. 200,000 people are expected to visit the area today. japan's net external assets rose for the first time in two years marking the second highest level on record.

net external assets are the difference in value between overseas assets earned by japan and foreign investments in the country. the finance ministry says the value of japan's net external assets stood at about $3.2 trillion. at the end of last year. that's up 0.6% in yen terms from the previous year. the rebound came as the strong yen also encouraged japanese companies to buy out foreign firms. financial institutions boosted lending abroad as well. japan's net external assets have been the world's largest since 1991. the figure exceeds the value for china in second place by over $1.4 trillion. tokyo electric power company has come up with concrete measures to rebuild its business. it will shore up its capital through state funding and the japanese government may hold over three-quarters of their voting rights in the utility. tepco, the operator of the crippled fukushima daiichi

nuclear power plant will issue special shares to this state-backed nuclear accident compensation fund. those shares will not be circulated in the market. this means the government will have a stake of more than 75% in tepco. tepco will submit the plan at its regular meeting of shareholders next month. if it goes through, the public fund injection benefit $12.5 billion will become official. a major japanese bank is going to help a leading commercial bank in myanmar improve its efficiency. the banking company and kbz bank signed the tie-up deal in yangon. for banks in myanmar, the major challenges tor make their operations more efficient and international. they are settling accounts in cash because they're behind in installing automatic teller machines. banks in myanmar also lack

know-how on handling foreign exchange. they will accept trainees from the myanmar bank and provide them with know-how. the move will help kbz bank improve its services. >> translator: many japanese firms are rushing to get themselves into myanmar. it's important to satisfy those companies' needs. >> sumitsu moto's president says building ties is important as investment in myanmar's infrastruct suralso expected to surge. germany has yet again opposed france's proposal to issue common eurozone bonds as way to ease concerns over the region's debt problems. newly appointed french finance minister pierre moscovizi met his counterpart wolfgang ahead of an informal eu summit meeting

scheduled for wednesday. he stressed the importance of common bonds as a way to gain funds for infrastructure. the money would be used to spur economic growth across the region. but they maintained germany's cautious stance on the eurozone bonds. he said there are differences of opinion between the two nations. the two sides also remain split over greece while the german minister said the debt-strapped country should go ahead with austerity measures, the french minister said economic growth for greece needs to berebui

rebuilding life is far from over. and our reporter has just returned from sichuan. he's now in our beijing studios. tell us what you saw there. >> i visited the county in the

north of sichuan province, one of the hardest hit areas. the old area was

♪ iran's nuclear energy

organization issued a statement descbing the talks as candid. the two sides have discussed ways to carry out nuclear verification. the iaea wants access to the military complex near tehran. experts suspect the site is being used for nuclear experiments. iranian authorities insist they are developing their program for civilian purposes. israel, the u.s. and other nations believe they are trying to build nuclear weapons. israel's economic blockade can make life difficult for palestinians in the gaza strip. but now a local athlete competing in this summer's olympic games is lifting people's spirits. nhk world reports. >> reporter: 19-year-old will run the 400-meter sprint. it won't be the first time he

has competed internationally. at last year's world championship in south korea, he set a new record for palestine. now he is again giving the longsuffering people of gaza something to hope for. >> translator: i don't think anyone imagined that a boy from gaza would compete on the world stage. even if he doesn't win, he will make us proud. but gaza's training facilities don't meet olympic standards. the track that he practices on is rough. pebbles are everywhere. hamas, the islamic movement that controls gaza strip allows him to use the track only 19 minutes a day. hamas does not encourage sports and the palestinian authority does not help him much either.

he goes through his phases as israeli fighter jets fly by. because of the limited amount of time on the track, he also practices on a beach. >> it's difficult to train for the olympics in conditions like these. but i want to show the world that athletes from gaza can compete with the best. >> reporter: this man coaches him physically and mentally. he was an olympic athlete himself. the first palestinian to compete in the games. in 1996, he ran in the 10,000-meter race at the atlanta olympics.

>> translator: he's a symbol of palestine. his success would make us all very proud. we'll all be cheering him on. >> reporter: with his help, he's getting ready for the upcoming london olympics. >> translator: my dream is to stand on the winner's podium as the palestinian flag is raised. and for palestine to be recognized as an independent state. >> reporter: that recognition means so much to palestinian athletes. for them, representing palestine in the olympics means more than winning. nhk world, gaza. >> all right. time now to check the world weather forecast with sayak sayaka mori. >> let's start off with asia. a new tropical storm has formed over the northwestern pacific. this is now packing winds of 65

kilometers per hour. already impacting the southern islands of southern mariana islands with very heavy rain and a strong wind. some strengthening is likely but will move away from the islands. up towards the north, still wet and cool across the eastern half of japan under the influence of this strong low pressure system but things will change. we are looking forward to dry and warm conditions across much of the country today. in tokyo, our high is expected to be 27 degrees. more than 10 degrees higher than today. out towards the west, there's a strong low pressure system bringing heavy rain across inland china, and that will move towards the east and will affect the shanghai area tomorrow. down toward southeast asia, heavy rain is falling across northern portions of vietnam, as well as northern section of the philippines today. out towards the west, as we reported yesterday, a heat wave

is still impacting much of india. for example, in agra, your high on tuesday is expected to be 43 degrees and 41 in ahamdebad. eastern portions are experiencing the brunt of it. 7 degrees higher than expected. hot conditions will likely remain for the next several days. now moving over to the americas, we are monitoring a couple of tropical depressions. this one over the pacific could become a tropical storm tomorrow and quickly intensify to a hurricane on your wednesday. right now moving in a west-northwesterly direction but could change its direction towards the northeast aiming for the south coast of mexico. it will likely make landfall on the coast by your saturday

morning local time. stormy conditions are in the forecast in a few days. we'll keep you posted on its progress. meanwhile, a tropical -- another tropical depression which was once tropical storm alberto will continue to move away from mainland u.s. but it will continue to produce -- bring ample moisture to the eastern seaboard of the u.s. and canada bringing thundershowers here. and towards the west, a couple of low pressure systems moving along the u.s./canada border. conditions will turn quite severe in the northern plains. severe thunderstorms, large hail and gusty winds are possible on your tuesday. but to the south, staying dry and warm and actually there's a risk of wildfire in parts of the four corners region. temperatures are looking like this. still on the hot side in houston. 32 degrees. 29 degrees in oklahoma city. and reaching 34 in denver, which is about ten degrees higher than

average. out towards the east, looking mild. 26 in d.c. and 23 degrees in new york. here's your extended forecast.

and our top story once again. the world's tallest broadcasting tower is now open. ticketholders became the first ones to head partway up the 634-meter tokyo sky tree to check out its observation decks. officials held an opening ceremony earlier tuesday. sky tree has two panoramic observation decks. one is 350 meters above the ground, and the other is at 450 meters. the woman who won the contest to name this structure got a personalized tour before the public was allowed in. >> translator: i have been waiting for this day.

i couldn't see the view because of bad weather, but i was moved to be able to look down from here. >> 8,000 people won a lottery to visit tokyo sky tree on its opening day. the tower's operator issued tickets for the first 50 days to keep numbers under control. the new landmark and the complex around it have more than 300 shops and restaurants, an aquarium and planetariam. 200,000 people are expected to visit the area today. and that's all for this edition of "newsline." we'll say good-bye with a view of tokyo sky tree once again. standing at 634 meters, the world's tallest tower is now open to the public and the lucky 8,000 will be up in the clouds today. wonder what they'll see up there. thanks very much for joining us.