i'm catherine kobayashi. japan's first quarter gdp shows the economy took a big hit in the immediate aftermath of the quake and the tsunami. our business desk gives us the details. >> thanks very much, catherine. welcome to "newsline" business. the japanese economy shrank 0.9% in the january to march quarter reflecting the broad economic impact of the march 11th natural disaster. cabinet office figures show japan's gdp fell for a second straight quarter. the 0.9% fall translates to an analyzed 3.7% shrinkage. private consumption fell 0.6% as the damage from the quake limited the supply of goods. another factor was that some consumers held back from spending money in the aftermath of the disaster. business investment was down 0.9%, falling for the first time in six quarters. meanwhile, exports rose 0.7%. with the quake's impact on the economy, what can we expect from the coming quarters? we asked the chief economist at barclays capital japan. >> translator: the gdp analyzed. so gdp proved worse than we had expe

i'm catherine kobayashi. >>> kim jong-il and his heir apparent is visiting china, a key ally of the country. south korea government sources say he crossed the border aboard a train on friday morning and arrived in northeastern china. the sources say that the brother-in-law of kim jong-il is likely to be accompanying the heir apparent. last september kim jong un was named the vice chairman of the ruling korean workers party, indicating that he was officially chosen as the successor to his father. observers had been expecting kim jong un's first solo visit to china. >>> tepco will release its earnings report today. ai uchida from the business desk gives us the details. >> hi there, welcome to "newsline business." tokyo electric power company, or tepco, is expected to post an historic loss of around $15 billion in the fiscal year ended march. this is due to the huge cost of recovery efforts arising from the recent disaster. a source close to tepco says the company will allocate $5 billion to stabilize the troubled fukushima daiichi reactors. it also needs to earmark funds for future decommissi

i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. do stay with us. we'll bring you more updates at the top of the next hour. hope to see you then. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com

i'm catherine kobayashi. the operator of the damaged fukushima daiichi nuclear power plant reported high levels of radioactive water that accumulated in the basement of the number one reactor. tokyo electric power company or tepco says a water sample contained 2 million becquerels of radioactive cesium per cubic centimeter. >> translator: we speculate that water affected by the reactor damage is leaking from the pressure vessel and from the containment vessel. >> tepco created a map that shows the distribution of the contaminated water in the plant buildings. it will use this to prevent a recurrence of accident in march. at that time, flthree workers we exposed to radiation by stepping in tainted water. company plans to set up a cooling system to circulate decontaminated water back into reactors. the system is expected to be installed in july. tepco says it will also install equipment to purify contaminated sea water near the water intakes at the number two and three reactors. the purifier uses a mineral to a

i'm catherine kobayashi. the operator of the fukushima daiichi nuclear plant will announce on tuesday a revised plan tcool down the reactors one month after original one. tokyo power electric company says it needs to pour water into the reactors. it had confirmed earlier that the fuel rods had melted and may have burned holes in the number one reactor pressure vessel. radioactive water is likely flowing from the containment vessel into the basement. tepco says it suspects a similar situation is happening in the number two and three reactors. the firm says it's considering pumping water out of the containment vessels and circulating it back into the reactors after cooling it with heat exchangers. it's also thinking of taking water from the basement of the reactor buildings and putting it back into the reactors after removing the radioactive substances. tepco is expected to keep to its original schedule of stabilizing the reactors within six to nine months. >>> the japanese government will announce a plan on tu

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i'm catherine kobayashi. people forced to evacuate from the 20 kilometer no go zone around the fukushima daiichi nuclear power plant are being allowed to make brief home visits for the first time. >>> 93 people from 54 households were bussed to a gymnasium tuesday morning. there they put on protective clothing and received walkie-talkies before being taken to their homes. they are allowed to spend about two hours gathering personal belongings from their homes. they will then return to the gym to undergo screenings for radiation exposure. the home visits were arranged at the request of the evacuees. the government enforced a 20 kilometer radius no go zone on april 22, but many people had fled the area before that under an evacuation advisory in place since the nuclear accident. in total, residents of nine municipalities are expected to make brief home visits by the end of may. but those who live within three kilometers of the nuclear plant will have no such chance due to higher radiation levels. >>> elevated r

i'm catherine kobayashi. the operator of the fukushima plant will install two heat exchangers on the number two reactor building on tuesday to lower the temperature of the spent fuel pool. last wednesday, tokyo electric power company workers entered the building to check radiation levels. but the high humidity prevented them from staying longer than 14 minutes. the humidity is thought to stem from the high temperature of the spenfuel pool and steam from the suppression pool, which may have been damaged by the explosions after the march 11th earthquake and stsunami. tepco plans to reduce the humidity by instalng the heat exchangers in the building next to the reactor. the exchangers will take in the hot water from the pool and circulate it back after it's cooled. the utility says it hopes to start using them this month to reduce the temperature of the pool from around 80 degrees celsius to about 40 degrees celsius within a month. tepco hopes to install the exchangers at the number one and three reactors next m

i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. do stay with us. we'll be back with more of your updates at the top of the next hour. hope to see you then.

i'm catherine kobayashi. the g 8 summit opened and nuclear safety is high on the agenda following the disaster at the fukushima power plant. japanese prime minister said thanks to the international community for its support following the march 11th earthquake and tsunami. he is determined to realize the highest possible level of safety for the nuclear power industry in japan. nhk world has more. >> reporter: the summit is the first meeting of world leaders since the great east japan earthquake. nuclear safety was added to the agenda following the accident at the fukushima power plant. at the beginning of the summit, prime minister kan briefed g 8 leaders to the nuclear crisis. he explained the time table to stabilize the nuclear facility and brings the reactors to call the shut down by january 2012. kan said japan will examine how the crisis occurred and dismiss close the information to the public. he said that he is attaining the highest level of nuclear safety based on the experience. following the nuclear

i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. do stay with us. we'll be back with more of your updates. tx