the push to restart. the japanese prime minister gets ready to talk to the public about powering up an idle nuclear plant. yoshihiko noda is choosing his words, preparing to convince the public. he'll speak to the country later in the day about restarting a nuclear plant in western japan. all of the country's 50 reactors are now offline. noda is expected to tell people about the need for power during a long, hot summer. noda will stress that the ohi plant is safe and he'll tell

people it's a vital source of energy for powering the japanese economy. first, noda needs the approval of local government leaders to restart two reactors at the plant. the governor of fukui prefecture put forward several conditions when he met on monday with nuclear power policy minister goshi hosona. nishikawa said a direct explanation from the prime minister would put people at ease. the explanation from noda is the last of nishikawa's conditions. the governor is expected to give his approval as early as next week. workers have entered the basements of two reactor buildings at the troubled fukushima daiichi nuclear power plant. they are trying to find the source of water that's collected there. the crew was sent by tokyo electric, the plant's operator. they inspected the room's housing the suppression chambers of the number two and three reactors for the first time since the nuclear accident last year.

the workers were unable to pinpoint the source of the leak. photos released after the inspection showed no signs of major damage to the facilities or equipment. tokyo electric says more than 5 meters of contaminated water have collected in each unit. that's more than half the height of the doughnut shaped suppression chambers which are about 9 meters in diameter. tokyo electric will continue to search for the source of the leak. damage to the reactor's containment vessels must be repaired before the reactor can be decommissioned. japan has revised up its economic growth figure for the three months through march. the cabinet office announced on friday that the country's gross domestic product grew 4.7% in annualized items terms in the first quarter of this year. the preliminary figure released last month was 4.1%. based on a quarterly comparison,

the economy grew 1.2%. this marks the third straight quarter of positive growth. the upward revision is due to an increase in personal consumption as people spent more in clothing and services. the decline in corporate capital investment has moderated and this also contributed to the upward revision. the cabinet office says that the positive growth is also due to a high level of spending on public works. these stem from the recovery efforts following last year's natural disaster. japan's current account surplus shrank in april marking a decline for a 14th straight month. the ministry of finance said in a preliminary report on friday that the current account surplus stood at about $4.2 billion in the month. that's down 21% from a year earlier. the trade balance showed a deficit of about $5.8 billion widening by about $650 million compared to a year ago. the ministry says the slowdown

in the global economy triggered by the european debt crisis weakened exports. imports on the other hand rose due to higher crude oil prices and as the country imported more liquefied natural gas to fuel thermal power plants. meanwhile, the income account surplus showing japan's investments abroad grew by 7.4% to about $17.6 billion and offset the trade deficit. the people's bank of china has surprised investors by lowering lending and deposit rates by a quarter percentage point. the rate cut is the first in 3 1/2 years. the new lending rate will be 6.31% and the deposit rate 3.25%. chinese government leaders have been trying to find ways to mitigate slowdown. ai uchida spoke with tomo kinoshita. >> china is faced with

significant downside risks. the chinese economy is slowing. the exports are weak. the housing investment is slowing. infrastructure spending is stagnant and over the -- so over the past month, the china activated a more aggressive fiscal policy to counter these forces. so i think that yesterday's rate cut is the right move to make the monetary policy stance in line with the fiscal policy stance. >> okay. what do you think about the impact on the chinese economy and the markets? >> well, that's a good question. one of the problems with the chinese economy right now is that the banks have been rather cautious in their lending activity. this rate cut sends a signal to the banks that they should become more aggressive in lending. i have to say that the rate cut itself does not have a big positive impact on growth. but with all other fiscal measures, i think it should play a powerful role in stimulating the economy. >> so i guess the question is, will bankers be willing to lend more, as you say, will they be

more aggressive in lending? and if not, or even if so, what's next? what's the next step? >> yes, i think that the next step depends on the -- both external and domestic economic environment. on the external front, as you know, the situation is still uncertain. the china policymakers are watching very carefully what will happen to euro area later this month in terms of whether greece will exit from the euro area. on the domestic front, companies start to destock their excessive inventories or if banks remain cautious in lending. the authorities would not -- would rather act decisively to add new infrastructure spending and ease liquidity conditions in the banking sector. so i think that china will flex their muscle to deal with the economic downturn if we see more weakness in the economic activities. >> that was tomo kinishita,

economist at nomura international in hong kong. june 4th marked the 23rd anniversary of the tiananmen square incident in which a military crackdown left scores of pro-democracy protesters dead or wounded. even today, the chinese government is refusing to reassess its view of the incident. it insists the event was a riot provoked by students. details of the tragedy remain unknown. including the exact number of victims. the officials are placing the highest priority on maintaining the stability of the domestic situation. ahead of the scheduled reshuffle of its top leadership this fall. the chinese government continues to tighten its grip on the relatives of victims as well as pro-democracy activistsho continue to demand the government clarify what happened in the crackdown. nhk world recently spoke with a former soldier in the people's

liberation army mean was involved in the crackdown in tiananmen square. >> reporter: he belonged to the unit that -- the students 23 years ago. he enlisted as a military in 1986 when he was 16. at that time, he was patriotic and eager to help defend his country. three years later, in may, his unit was deployed to beijing which was under martial law. >> translator: back then, i believed that our mission was to keep society in order. the army taught its troops to regard ordinary citizens as their parents or brothers. on the eve of the tiananmen incident, chang's unit headed

for the square occupied by students. on the way, he saw many bodies lying in a pool of blood. he says even 23 years later, he still cannot reveal more. he fears punishment. >> though i cannot speak the truth about what happened back th then, my view of life and my values have changed drastically since that incident. two days after the incident, chang decided to quit the army where he told his boss chang was discharged for refusing to obey orders. soon afterward, authorities sent him straight to a detention

center without a trial. for three years, chang underwent socialist education and forced labor. four years ago, chang started sending letters to president hu jintao. he asked for his name to be restored and for china to be democratized. hu never replied. instead, authorities have been keep i keeping tabs on chang. despite this, he visited tiananmen square last month to pay tribute to those killed in the incident. he believes he has to continue trying to push china toward democracy. >> unless the government embarks on political reform, this

society might well collapse. we must raise our voice to press the government to reform. this year was the last time for president hu jintao and premier wen jiabao to be empowered during a tiananmen anniversary. some chinese have thought there might -- but the administration has not moved. as impatient as they are, pro-democracy activists and those seeking more information seem makoto oda, nhk world, beijing. reports of another massacre in syria are testing the resolve of u.n. observers. human rights activists say troops loyal to president bashar al assad killed at least 80 people in one village. the observers are being frustrated in their efforts to verify what happened. the activists say the militias

bombarded the village near the city of hama with artillery. most of the victims were women and children and the militia is reported to have abducted many residents. u.n. monitors tried to reach the location to investigate. but gunmen fired on their vehicle, and they had to flee. activists say the militia has moved on to another village and is carrying out another attack. government forces are deployed around that village and are blocking entry. activists say pro government forces are using helicopters in their assaults on several cities and ground troops are setting crops on fire. u.s. secretary of state hillary clinton insists it's time to start planning for what syria might look like after assad. >> the regime-sponsored violence that we witnessed again in hama yesterday is simply unconscionable. assad has doubled down on his brutality and duplicity.

and syria will not, cannot be peaceful, stable or certainly democratic until assad goes. >> clinton said foreign officials working with syrian opposition forces need to coordinate their efforts. she urged the diplomatic counterparts to impose and fully implement sanctions against the assad government. u.n. and arab league envoy kofi annan drew up the peace plan for syria and has watched it fall apart. he strongly denounced the massacre. annan addressed an emergency meeting of the u.n. general assembly. participants observed a minute of silence for those killed. he condemned the assad administration for ignoring a cease-fire. he said government-backed militias seem to have free reign in the country. annan said there must be consequences for those blocking efforts to end the conflict. western powers are looking at various ways to increase the pressure on the syrian government. but leaders of china, russia and

four central asian countries said they oppose any military intervention to stop the violence. nhk world susumu kojima reports from beijing. >> reporter: the six leaders adopted a joint statement in beijing on thursday. at the end of the two-day summit of the shanghai cooperation organization, a mutual security and economic group. chinese president hu jintao and russian president vladimir putin took part. iranian president mahmoud ahmadinejad attended as an observer. the statement declares the shanghai group is against military interference in the affairs of the middle east and north africa. it also rejects any enforced hand over of power or sanctions and stresses that problems should be resolved with dialogue. the syrian violence comes in the wake of the arab spring. those uprisings overturned

regimes across the middle east that had been friendly with china. analysts say china may fear exit of assad could open the door to more western dominance of the region. susumu kojima, nhk world, beijing. >> iranian president mahmoud ahmadinejad has called on russian president vladimir putin to support his country's nuclear program. they met in beijing on the sidelines of the shanghai summit. ahmadinejad said iran's first nuclear power plant was built and operated with technical assistance from russia. he said it serves as a symbol of nuclear cooperation. he asked russia for its continued support of his country's right to use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. putin said russia backs iran's peaceful nuclear development but not the development of weapons. iranian officials are scheduled to visit moscow later this month to attend the next round of international negotiations on

their nuclear program. democratic reform in myanmar has received another show of support. australian government leaders say they will lift economic sanctionss and increase financl assistance. the foreign minister met with thein sein and aung san suu kyi. he said the country should move even faster. he said the sanctions will be lifted within a few weeks. they include bans on financial transactions and travel restrictions on military personnel. he said australia will double its annual aid to almost 100 million u.s. dollars by 2015. it will be used for education, medicine, law and social services. a nepalese man is together with his family for the first

time in 15 years. the man was released from a japanese prison after the tokyo high court granted him a retrial based on new evidence. govinda mainali was convicted of murdering a woman in 1997. they gave him a life sentence. however, the high court on thursday granted him a retrial. it said a new dna test shows there is a possibility that someone other than mainali killed the woman. mainali's nepalese wife and their two daughters were visiting japan met the 45-yeerltd man in an immigration facility in yokohama on friday. the immigration bureau has started procedures to deport him to nepal because he did not have a proper visa when he was arrested 15 years ago. his family says they are asking the nepalese embassy for help so he can return home with his family as soon as possible.

japan is moving forward to starting talks on entering the transpacific economic partnership. japanese farmers already looking abroad for markets, especially those producing omi beef, one of the top three varieties. it's already carving out a market in southeast asia. >> reporter: singapore, a country gushing with spending power. especially when it comes to premium beef. a single steak of omi beef from western japan costs over 120 u.s. dollars a serving. >> very tender. >> the first time i tried it, i realized i found something very, very special that was unlike any other japanese beef that i

tried. >> reporter: last year, 260 head of omi beef cows were exported. three times more than in 2010. 90% went to singapore. last november, a promotional event was held in singapore. since then, there's been a surge in exports of omi beef. this is one of shiga prefecture's top cattle ranchers. he first started exporting to singapore four years ago. after demand in japan stopped growing. now he's got his eyes on another market -- thailand. >> translator: bangkok is the business hub of southeast asia.

that's why i'm looking to start shipping there. >> reporter: he sees thailand as an entry point to other southeast asian markets such as vietnam and malaysia. two countries that are taking part in the transpacific partnership talks. bangkok now has over 100 restaurants serving beef barbecue. it's becoming widely popular. in may, he went to bangkok to discuss marketing strategies with local trading companies. they decided to focus on beef barbecue restaurants and supermarkets already selling high quality beef. in some supermarkets they've set up counters. the beef is cut to order, as much or as little as needed. samples are handed out to draw in customers. >> translator: it's delicious. slowly but surely he's aiming to create a foothold in thailand

for premium omi beef. he already has ten customers in thailand. he plans to export 50 head of cattle this year and twice that number in 2013. >> as a cattle farmer, i never imagined i'd be working as an exporter. if i produce really high quality beef, i think it will be appreciated abroad. this is a great opportunity to increase my exports. >> he and other cattle farmers in shiga prefecture are setting their sights on shipping omi beef to hong kong and the united states as well. all right. time now to check the world weather forecast. here's sayaka mori. >> there. a developing low pressure system is affecting western japan producing locally heavy rain and

thunderstorm thunderstorms. in fact, rainy season has started across western japan. the rain is expected to expand central japan and northern japan into tomorrow. as the rain comes in, we're going to see temperatures drop. in tokyo, your high's expected to be only 20 degrees. seven degrees lower than today. behind it, on and off showers will dissipate across the korean peninsula tomorrow. stationary low will continue to produce thunderstorms, gusty winds and hail in northeastern china and southeastern russia into the weekend. down towards the south, yet again, a lot of rain in the southern half of china and much of the indochina peninsula. today the heaviest rain can be found in southern thailand. as much as 160 millimeters of rain has fallen over the past 24 hours. and more rain will be coming down at least for the next couple of days. moving on to the americas, we've got vivid clouds over here producing thundershowers from

saskatchewan down towards colorado. we've got tornadoes touched down in colorado and wyoming. as the system pushes on through the east, things will be clearing up in the plains. however, the western portions of the great lakes region will turn quite wet on friday. and there's another area of heavy rain moving in to new england states. out towards the west, we've got a low pressure system sliding over the u.s./canada border as it moves towards the east. things will turn quite severe in eastern montana on your friday because the system is dragging cold air from the north. we're going to see a mixture of rain and snow in the higher elevations of british columbia. but to the south, it's a different story. dry, warm and iwindy. conditions are favorable for wildfires in the southwestern u.s. temperatures are on the hot side in phoenix reaching 40-degree mark. 33 degrees in denver and 30

degrees in oklahoma city. out towards the east, 29 in washington, d.c., and 31 degrees expected in atlanta. all right. finally let's go over to europe. stormy conditions are remaining in much of the british isles. we've got wind warnings in place in the southern portions of the uk. but finally conditions will improve over the weekend. this attached front is slowly -- quickly moving across france, germany and switzerland producing locally heavy thundershowers and gusty winds and even a risk of hail. and ou towards the east, there's another area of severe weather across western russia. stormy conditions here will likely continue at least for the next couple of days. as for the highs, 21 degrees in moscow. 23 degrees expected in kiev. central europe is on the hot side reaching 29 degrees in vienna. and down towards the south, 32 in athens and 28 degrees

expected in rome. all right. that's it for me now. and here's your extended forecast.

our main stories once again -- japanese prime minister yoshihiko noda is making another push to restart a nuclear plant. he'll speak to the public later in the day. all of the country's 50 reactors are now offline. noda will stress that the ohi plant in western japan is safe and he'll tell people that companies need it as a source of power. noda needs the approval of local government leaders to restart two reactors at the plant. the governor of fukui prefecture put forward several conditions when he met on monday with nuclear power policy minister hosono. power policy minister. nishikawa said a direct explanation from the prime minister would put people at ease. the governor is expected to give his approval as early as next week.

workers have entered the basements of two reactor buildings at the troubled fukushima daiichi nuclear power plant. they're trying to find the source of water that's collected there. the crew were sent by tokyo electric, the plant's operator. they inspected the rooms housing the suppression chambers of the number two and three reactors for the first time since the nuclear accident last year. the workers were unable to pinpoint the source of the leak. photos released after the inspection show no signs of motor damage to the facilities nor equipment. tokyo electric says more than 5 meters of contaminated water have collected in each unit. that's more than half the height of the doughnut shaped suppression chambers which are about 9 meters in diameter. tokyo electric will continue to search for the source of the leak. damage to the reactor's containment vessels and supre s suppression chambers must be repaired before the reactor can be decommissioned. and that's all for now on

this edition of "newsline." i'm yuko aotani in tokyo. thanks very much for watching.