you are watching newsline and the arrival of the olympic torch in london. organizers took the flame to spots throughout the capital. david cameron was waiting at 10 downing street as the torch arrived at his office. >> it's amazing! >> runners then took the torch to buckingham palace to the delight of prince william and his wife, the duchess of cambririe.

60,000 people waited for the torch in hyde park. >> five, four, three, two, one! the opening ceremony will start at 9:00 p.m., friday, local time when the tor arrives at the olympic stadium. organizers have a lot to worry about though. facilities, transportation, relations, athletes and countries, but they have made an error in protocol before the games have even begun. and north korean officials are outraged. the north korean women's soccer team headed into a preliminary match wednesday against colombia. organizers displayed the flag of south korea. the players refused to start the game. their protest delayed the match by an hour. >> so bad. one of the worst.

worst that can happen. very, very important. politics. >> this was an honest mistake, honestly made, an ale popology been made. i'm sure every step will be take ti n. >> they want to put the issue behind them. millions of would-be twitters had to find another way to communicate. twitter suffered a brief, widespread outage. users were unable to post or view messages 40 minutes on thursday. they said the cause what was they called a coincidental failure of both parts of a parallel backup system. operators denied the outage was caused by an increase in tweets caused by the olympics. service has been fully restored, bringing relief to 150 million

twitter users around the world. another social networking giant is having problems of another kind. facebook posted a net loss in its first earnings report since going public in may. sales for the second quarter stood at about $1.2 billion, that's up 32% from a year earlier. still the company suffered a net loss for the april-june period, $157 million. analysts point to spending on research and development and push for increased advertising. the number of users around the world rose to 955 million. that's an increase of 29% over the past year. ceo mark zuckerburg laid out plans to strengthen the business. he said there are opportunities for expansion by targeting mobile phones and tablet computers. google meanwhile announced it will launch an ultrafaster internet and television service in the u.s. using its own fiber optic network.

the service is called googlefiber and will be available in parts of kansas and missouri in september. transfer speed will be 1 gb, 100 times faster than average broadband. google fiber will cost $120 a month. and internet only package costs $70 a month. the tv service will feature hundreds of channels and ability to record eight shows at a time. customers can use tablets and smart phones as voice activated remote control devices. samsung electronics posted record operating profit in the april-june period thanks to robust sales of new smartphones. the south korean company said on friday, that sales in the quarter hit nearly $43 billion, up over 20% from a year ago in one term. operating profit rose almost 80% to about $6 billion. net profit reached almost $4.7 billion. their performance is attributed

to strong demand for new galaxy smart phone models. sales in the mobile phone division marked a rise of 75% year over year. meanwhile, lg electronics reported a 46% rise in net profit for april-june quarter. sales of mobile phones fell, flat screen tvs performed well. japanese consumers are finding better prices for tv's and a host of other products. consumer prices fell in june, for the second consecutive month. the consumer price index was down, 0.2% from a year earlier. led by a drop in gasoline prices due to cheaper crude oil in the global market. price tags on televisions dropped, sharply from a year earlier. sales surged temporarily, last year ahead of a nationwide shift from analog to digital brdcasting. officials of the internal affairs ministry say, prices are flattening out. but they will keep a close eye on the energy market including

electricity rates and the cost of gasoline. japan's government warned that their disaster hit northeast is facing an unprecedented population decline. the government's annual economic report released friday said that about 40% more people moved out of the three worst-hit prefectures than moved unduring the last year. their situation in fukushima prefecture since march 11th disaster is especially serious due to the impact of the nuclear accident at the plant. the report says the number of students who hope to find jobs outside the prefecture grew by 35%. the report calls for stepped up reconstruction, warning a plummeting population could undermine the regional economy. the president of the european central bank has expressed his resolve to safe guard the euro. mario draghi's marks lifted the

currency value and boosted sale prices. >> the ecb is ready to do whatever it takes to preserve the euro. and believe me, it will be enough. >> draghi was speaking at a conference in london. he also commented on the high borrowing costs of the bonds. he said they come within the bank's mandate. market players took his comments as suggesting the ecb will buy spanish government bond and bonds of other financially troubled nations. as a result, the euro rallied against major currencies and moved away from a near 12-year low against the yen set earlier this week. yields on benchmark 10-year spanish bonds were lower after draghi's remarks. to the 6.9% level. the rate had recently riz in to its highest level since the introduction of the euro.

syrian government forces have their guns trained on opposition units in the commercial capital. u.s. state department officials are among those who believe the soldiers are preparing to attack aleppo. the secretary-general shares their concerns. ban ki-moon used the site of a massacre in bosnia to call for an end to the civil war. nhk world's jun takahashi reports from srebrenica. >> reporter: ban ki-moon wrapped up his tour of the former yugoslavia by visiting a city that saw the worse atrocities of the war there. he visited srebrenica to remember the past but also to warn of what's happening elsewhere right now. >> international community failed to provide the necessary protection for many people who were killed at the time when they needed our support. >> reporter: troops were stationed in the area as u.n.

peacekeepers, but they were outgunned and outmanned. bosnian serb troops overran srebrenica in july, 1995. they separated man and boys from women and girls. then they slaughtered 8,000 of them on a remote mountainside. 17 years on, people in srebrenica are reminded of the massacre almost daily. scientists are still trying to find the remains of victims who are unaccounted for. this year, families buried 500 bodies in this graveyard.

ban visiting the site where many victims were laid to rest. he pointed to other massacres, the ones taking place in syria. >> when we learn lessons of srebrenica, we have to do, international community must be united not to see any further bloodshed in syria. >> reporter: ban says he and others at the u.n. are doing all they can. he says unless world powers do something, there will be more bloodshed and more innocent people will die. jun takahashi, nhk world, srebrenica, bosnia.

city officials say 77 people died when the storm hit over the weekend. heavy rains lashed the capital for ten hours saturday into early sunday. they inundated roads across the city center and caused floods and mudslides in mountainous subr ssu suburbs. 37 people died. now they put the number at 77. they say the delay in announcing their revised death toll does not mean they were trying to hide the facts. they said the mudslides hamper ed. ic n some cities are running of space for land fills so they're burning it instead. local media reports, there are plans to build 300 garbage incineration plants by 2015. but there are growing fears about the environmental impact and this has led to protests.

his 4-year-old son is unable to walk. the couple first realized there was something wrong with their son when he was just 4 months old. a doctor told them he had cerebral palsy and it might have been caused by environmental factors before he was born. >> translator: my wife cried every day. i didn't know what to do either. i couldn't understand how it had happened. >> xi believes his son's condition was caused by toxic emissions from a nearby garbage incinerator. >> translator: this is where we

used to live. and that is the incinerator. >> reporter: the incinerator stands 200 meters from xi's old house. currently it is being rebuilt to expand its capacity. at the time xi's wife was pregnant the incinerator was operating almost daily. the smell from the emissions was so intense, it was hard for them to sleep at night. two years ago, xi filed a lawsuit seeking damages. but the plant operator argued xi's son was the only one in the area with the issue. xi lost the case. the court said there was no evidence to prove that pollution from the incinerator caused the cerebral palsy. this office focuses on

environmental problems. a member of the ngo. she is gravely concerned about plants to build a new incinerator in beijing. >> the public are -- don't have -- the trust to believe the companies or the government can run the incinerators well. >> reporter: the incinerator will be built in the west of beijing. once it is completed, it will burn about 2,500 tons of garbage per day. the site is just 30 kilometers from the city center. the government has disclosed little information. so it is unclear what kind of equipment will be fitting to protect the environment. chen organized a meeting to get the world out to people about the new incinerator. about 20 people came to the

meeting. some expressed their concern about pollution from the new incinerator. >> translator: we need to campaign to bring more people on board to halt construction. >> chen has the been helping xi and his family. recently, xi visited chen's office to consult with her about suing the local authorities. he wants to force them to reveal emissions data from the incinerator. xi demanded that they release the data, but nay refuthey refu the ground that this is confidential business information. xi feels the only thing to do is to sue them. >> the aim of my lawsuit is to get the government to tighten its regulations over incinerators. and give greater attention to

those who have suffered from pollution. >> reporter: in many parts of china, people are starting to raise their voices to protect their environment and their health. however it remains to be seen if their demands will lead to any fundamental change. >> and now we return to our reporter in beijing. susumu kojima. >> people are becoming increasingly vocal about environmental pollution. but their fight isn't easy. especially in court. xie is not the only person to lose a lawsuit. an expert on incineration issues in china. he told me that companies win 99% of these environmental cases. he says, it's extremely difficult for people to gather the data they need to prove a link between the damage and

pollution. to avoid confrontation, xie is asking the government to be more open about its plans for new incinerator incinerators. >> translator: the government needs to regain the trust of the people. government officials should explain all of the facts and explain the benefits and also the concerns. >> reporter: the chinese government can no longer ignore pollution at the expense of economic growth. as awareness of the issue grows in china, people will be watching to see how the ers add environmental problems. >> thank you, that was susumu kojima in beijing.

it is easier to extract thanks to new technology. the united states leads the world in producing shale gas which makes up 20% of financial gas supply there. but many are concerned about the impact the extraction process has on the environment. two filmmakers in the u.s. exploring both side of the debate. nhk world's correspondent reports. nhk world's rosa sobrino reports. >> reporter: last month, demonstrators hit the streets in the u.s. state of ohio. the object of the protest? extracting shale gas using hydrolic fracturing or fracking. shale gas is found in rock formations more than 2,000 meters underground. much deeper than the natural gas fields that have been used up to now. water containing sand and chemicals is pumped into the layers of shale under very high pressure to crack them open. when the water is pumped out,

the shale gas is released. some people are opposed to fracking. they are worried it contaminates groundwater and harms health. filmmaker josh fox was one of the protesters in ohio. >> i have watched something absolutely remarkable happening across the united states of america. unbelievable. >> reporter: fox has traveled around the u.s. visiting areas where shale gas is being extracted. he looked at how it has affected people's lives. two years ago, fox released a documentary called "gasland," which focuses on groundwater becoming contaminated by fracking. it has generated widespread public debate. in columbus, ohio's capital city, the protesters occupied

the statehouse. >> we continue to frack in the state. my asthma will get worse. >> fracking has changed my life forever. water i thought was safe i drank for a long period of time and developed numerous health problems. >> i'm trying to do everything i can to support those people because they are in the fight of their lives. this is not just environmentalism as an idea. this is literally a threat to where you live. >> reporter: fox is currently working on a sequel to "gasland" and has filmed at sites in europe and australia. he hopes this will spur anti-fracking movements around the world. however, another documentary filmmaker is making a very different film supporting shale gas fracking. phelim mcaleer's film is called "frack nation." mcaleer visited places fox

visited in his movie to re-evaluate the impact of fracking on those communities. he says in some places gas occurred naturally in the water supply before fracking began. >> there is so much stuff in the media. to actually go through and try to combat the misinformation and fear mongering could be a full-time job. >> really, i find a number of significant errors and some lies in gasland. that's it. the silent majority in america support fracking. >> reporter: his film argues only a few people actually claim fracking contaminated their water. and he insists that shale gas is essential for reviving the u.s. economy. >> any growth that's in the american economy has come from fracking. >> reporter: the obama administration believes shale gas will help fuel economic

growth in the u.s., but it is also moving to tighten t environmental regulations on governing the controversial extraction process. rosa sobrino, nhk world. people across japan are honoring a culinary custom. many will spend their lunch or dinner eating eel. it is the day of the ox. people believe the food will give them ox-like stamina in the heat of summer. there is one problem. fewer eels. authorities in taiwan and china and japan have worked together to preserve the declining population. japanese and taiwanese fisheries authorities met in t'aipei. they want to bolster the catches of baby eels. those are known as glass eels. the japanese and taiwanese say they will work with their counterparts in china to see what is happening to eel catches. and they want to better research the biology of the species. fishing crews from the region catch glass eels in the east

china sea. the japanese fisheries authorities hope they can draw up a formal framework for an agreement by september. >> eating eel will certainly help since it is a hot day and the temperature is soaring. for details and more, here is sayaka mori. in fact, the storms will likely become a tropical storms over the next 24 hours. this one right here is approaching the islands and this one too the east of the philippines is already bringing ample moisture to southern half of the country over the next 20 or 24, 4 hours. the system will move towards the north and affect the area with showers over the next couple days. out towards the west, torrential rains in china andthern

indochina. >> towards the north. a series of low-pressure systems has been dumbi idumping rain in northern china over the last several days. it is going to be an ongoing story over the next couple of days. bay shung wieijing will see thu develop into the afternoon. as for japan and korean peninsula, a victim of the high pressure system is in place keeping things dry and extremely hot. okay, heading into the americas. mostly dry out towards the west. and scattered showers for the four corners region and northwestern mexico due to the southern monsoonal flow. meanwhile, a vicious storm is still impacting from the southern plains up into new england states producing severe thunderstorms, large hail, damaging winds, and even a come of of tornados for new york. over the next 24 hours, the system will slowly make its way towards the southeast. and the risk of severe weather

can be found across the ohio, tennessee valley, as well as the the mid-atlantic coast on your friday. similar conditions can be found in the black hills, tornados are not out of the question, because of the separate low-pressure system. okay, temperatures are looking like this. to the south of the front, dangerous heat is still continuing. 37 in oklahoma city. 36 in washington, d.c. but to the north of the front, cooling down to 28 degrees in chicago. that is about 10 degrees lower than early this week. and 24 degrees expected in toronto on your friday. okay. finally, let's go over to europe. the opening ceremony for the olympic games will be held this evening in london. it has the been on the hot and dry side over the past several days. but we are going to see some changes as this cold front swings through. so, some showers expected in the morning and afternoon hours. but it should stay dry in the evening. so it is not going to rain, not

going to bother thepening ceremony. so that is good news. in terms of temperatures with the arrival of the front, temperatures will drop significantly over the weekend. 22 degrees on saturday. and 19 degrees on sunday. as for the rest of europe, heavy rain and thunderstorms, in the iberian peninsula is moving into -- france, the low countries as well as denmark. but the rest of europe staying generally dry under the influence of the big high-pressure system and temperatures are really soaring particularly in the balkan peninsula. 37 degrees in bucharest. 38 degrees expected, 36 degrees expected in athens on your friday. all right that's it for me now. and here is your extended forecast around the globe. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

and that is all for now on this edition of "newsline."

i'm yuko aotani in tokyo. thank you very much for watching.