Team Korea Wears Shield Against Zika; Yuriko Koike Is Tokyo's 1st Female Governor
ALLEN: Welcome back to our viewers around the world. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Atlanta. I'm Natalie Allen. We want to update you on our top stories right now.</s>ALLEN: Hosting the Olympics takes a staggering amount of infrastructure just getting the spectators from place to place. It's also a major undertaking. Shasta Darlington went for a trial run to see whether Rio is ready.</s>SHASTA DARLINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's a beautiful day. So we're going to head to some Olympic stadiums and test out the public transportation system, which is coming together at the very last minute. Olympic transport tickets cost about $49 for a week, or $8 for a one- day card. So for the first leg we're taking this journey underground on the metro. And here we go. So we're going to head up to the escalator and up to the train that will be our next leg of this journey. So there are no signs yet for the Olympic Parks. A tourist is going to be pretty lost. They would probably head over here to the information booth. So we'll head over here. Which is also empty. So let's ask security if they know. Excuse me, Olympic Park? Olympic Park? Part two, getting on the train.</s>ANNOUNCER: Will depart from platform eight.</s>DARLINGTON: So this used to be the Can of Sardines train. Obviously it's looking better now. They've put more cars on the tracks, especially as we get close to the Olympics, and more security. So if you're coming to see track and field, this is your stop. And let's see if, if you calculate the time to switch trains, it's about 50 minutes from your hotel door to right here at the stadium. If you continue on to the Deodoro Park for BMX or rugby, give yourself a good hour and 15 minutes from the hotel. So if you have just seen an equestrian event or maybe a canoe slalom and you want the get to the main Olympic Park, you're going to take this dedicated bus line. Right now it's empty. In fact, it looks like they're still finishing it. But once the Olympics starts, this is going to be a really important trajectory. It's going to connect to all of the Olympic Park right there, the main one, all of the hotels on Rio's south side. The good news, this has its own exclusive lane. So hopefully, we won't be sitting in traffic. That was fast, comfortable, and air conditioned. I'd be getting on the metro now, but the new line won't be open until four days before the Olympics start. For now, stuck in traffic. Shasta Darlington, CNN, Rio de Janeiro.</s>ALLEN: Well, South Korea is taking extra precautions to protect its athletes in the Olympics. They're wearing special uniforms with built-in mosquito repellent. The idea, to prevent Zika, and they're not talking about how they were able to do that. Paula Hancocks went inside the factory where the uniforms are made there in Seoul.</s>PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The national flag, the team logo, and encouraging messages from people sewn into the lining, this is South Korea's Olympic uniform. 600 are being made here just outside of Seoul for athletes and officials to wear in Rio this August. And there is something else that makes this outfit unique. It is apparently Zika resistant. But aside from the long sleeves and the long trousers, keeping skin off limits to mosquitoes, the rest remains a bit of a mystery. (on camera): The Zika resistant part of this uniform is apparently top secret. All we've been told is once the uniforms are finished, they're shipped off to an unnamed company, and there they coat the uniforms with an insect repellent chemical. We're not allowed to film that part. (voice-over): We're told it has been tested to repel mosquitoes and it works. No lab results or footage available, though. Designer Kim Su Chong says she was going for protection and comfort, and something truly Korean. "I wanted our athletes to look classy and stylish," she says, "as they're on a global stage. Next, I wanted it to be in the unique Korean style. Lastly, it had to be functional and comfortable." South Korea's Olympic Committee says so far no athlete has dropped out through fears of the Zika Virus, but medicine, insect repellent and mosquito nets are being prepared, as well as a uniform that leaves little exposed for the mosquitoes to bite. Paula Hancocks, CNN, Seoul.</s>ALLEN: Japan's foreign defense minister made history when she took that position, and now she can add another historic role to her political career. Voters in Tokyo have elected Yuriko Koike as their first female governor. Anna Fifield joins me now. She's the chief Tokyo reporter for "The Washington Post." We should say the governor elect, 20 years in politics. Prior to that she was a TV newscaster for what it's worth, Anna. That let's talk about her success. In politics, and what got her to the point where she was elected governor, with men as her fellow candidates.</s>ANNA FIFIELD, CHIEF TOKYO REPORTER, THE WASHINGTON POST: Right. Well she achieved the remarkable feat as kind of running as an insider and an outsider at the same time. She has been on the political scene for a long time, more than 20 years. She was a member of parliament. She was defense minister, environment minister. So she has been around and she is a known character here. But she was not chosen by the ruling Liberal Democratic Party as its preferred candidate for this election. So she was running as something as an outsider against the selected candidate. And she said that she could offer a fresh start for Tokyo after a series of scandals involving the two previous governors, both of whom had to step down because of financial irregularities. So Yuriko Koike has come in promising to restore stability to Tokyo, a city of almost 14 million people, and to put the Olympic Games, which is scheduled to come here in 2020, back on track.</s>ALLEN: Yes. She's got a big job there because that's four years away, and she'll be traveling to Rio, I know, to accept the flag and the torch to bring it back to Tokyo. But what else has she pledged to do as far as helping children and women there?</s>FIFIELD: That's right. So Japan is facing those demographic time bombs here. Women are not having enough babies, and the population is aging so rapidly. So to try and deal with this, she has promised to increase the number of day-care centers available to look after young children, to make more nursing facilities available for older people, and just try and make life easier for the residents of Tokyo.</s>ALLEN: All right, thank you, Anna Fifield with "The Washington Post." Thank you for joining us, Anna. Pope Francis says he knows what's to blame for terrorism, and it isn't Islam. We'll tell you what he had to say to reporters, coming up.