Yuriko Koike is Tokyo's First Female Governor
ALLEN: And welcome back to our viewers around the world. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Atlanta. I'm Natalie Allen. Here again our top stories. Syrian rebels are trying to break a government siege of Aleppo. They launched a major assault on the southwestern parts of the city. Syrian forces have the flash point city surrounded. Witnesses say people are setting fires to fill the skies with smoke so Syrian warplanes can't see their targets. The fight for Aleppo goes on. The Taliban has claimed responsibility for a suicide truck explosion targeting a hotel in Kabul, Afghanistan. The militants say the truck exploded at a gate to the hotel. Afghan security forces have closed off streets around the site. No word on casualties or damage. With the Olympics starting on Friday, people in Rio de Janeiro are demonstrating in favor of making suspended President Dilma Rousseff's removal from office permanent. The country's political turmoil has long been a point of concern for the Rio games. South Korea is taking extra precautions to protect its athletes in Rio. They have designed special uniforms with built-in mosquito repellent. The idea to resist the Zika virus. CNN's Paula Hancocks went inside the factory in Seoul where the uniforms are made.</s>PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INTERNATIONAL 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 that once the uniforms are finished, they're then 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 has 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: Voters in Japan's capital Tokyo have made history, electing the city's first female governor. Former Defense Minister Yuriko Koike defeated her closest rival by more than one million votes. Anna Fifield joins me now. She's the Tokyo bureau chief for "The Washington Post." Anna, thank you for being with me. And how big of a deal is this, the first female elected. And she won by a wide margin.</s>ANNA FIFIELD, TOKYO BUREAU CHIEF, WASHINGTON POST: That's right. I mean, it is a really big deal. And Yuriko Koike was leading in the polls in the run-up to this. But nobody expected the kind of landslide victory that she won. There were 21 candidates running, and Koike alone got 49 percent of the vote. So obviously it's a big deal that she is a woman, the first woman governor of Tokyo. But I think more of the support came to her not because she is a woman so much, because she presented herself as something of an outside candidate. Even though she has been around for a long time, she was an MP, she was briefly defense minister, she did not have the backing of the ruling liberal Democratic Party, and she beat the candidate who did. So she offered to mix things up a little bit after a series of scandals involving the previous governors.</s>ALLEN: Right. I was going to talk to you about that. The scandals were related to the Olympics, correct, which Tokyo hosts in 2020.</s>FIFIELD: Well, that's right. It was two previous governors had various financial scandals that they became embroiled in. But the Olympics themselves have just been one misstep after the other. There have been allegations of plagiarism, allegations of corruption, stadium designed by Zaha Hadid had the plans torn up and they started over again. So the first order of business for Yuriko Koike is to try and get the Olympic planning back on track, to instil some confidence in the people again about this. Because a lot of hopes are riding on the Olympic Games to inject some momentum back into the Tokyo and the broader Japanese economy.</s>ALLEN: And is she going to Rio to spy on how Rio pulled it off?</s>FIFIELD: Yes. She will be visiting Rio later this month, together with the prime minister. She will be representing Tokyo there, of course. So she will be getting straight on to that. But she also has a very busy agenda. She had pledged to try to create more day care facilities for children, more nursing care facilities for elderly people. So she has a big inbox to deal with.</s>ALLEN: All right. We'll wait and see how she does. Anna Fifield from Tokyo for us with "The Washington Post." Thank you, Anna. A typhoon is headed for Hong Kong, but its track could prove crucial in terms of its impact on the city. Our meteorologist Karen McGuiness has been following this storm for about two or three days now. Hello, Karen.</s>KAREN MCGUINESS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hey, Natalie, yes. There are some critical things, critical aspects to this typhoon. Aside from the fact that there is a typhoon that is bearing down on Hong Kong. But depending on where it makes landfall will significantly change what kind of storm surge, what kind of wind damage, what kind of rainfall amounts that you can expect. We were watching this as it was moving across the Northern Philippines. Staggering rainfall totals, but that's a tropical storm intensity. Now this is at typhoon intensity, supporting winds of 120 kilometers per hour. Looking better and better, at least as far as the typhoon is concerned. When it has a ragged eye, that tells us it's not very well-organized. But when you start to see that eye looking a little more symmetrical, that tells us it's winding up more and more. All right. Just generally speaking, here we have this cone of possibility of where this could be making landfall. And right now the computer models are saying right over Hong Kong. But maybe it will go a little bit further towards the east, maybe a little bit further towards the west. If it makes that more westerly landfall, that means there will be enhanced moisture, enhanced storm surge. That's going to present greater danger. Just because of where the winds are going to be rotating around Hong Kong. A little bit further towards the east, and we've got an offshore flow. A little further towards the west, and those winds will bring that moisture and pushes that wall of water into some of those beautiful bay areas. Maybe Victoria Harbor a little bit protected. Not entirely, though. So if you haven't battened down the hatches and there is a tropical cyclone, wind signal number three, which means some of the schools are not going to open for tomorrow, if some of the shipping vessels and the small craft have not taken shelter yet, that's what you need to do. Because fairly soon, there is going to be a signal 8 that's going to be issued for this region. How much precipitation Hong Kong is looking at the potential for, up and over 200 millimeters. So Natalie, we'll stay on top of it. And we'll bring you some updates. Back to you.</s>ALLEN: Karen, thanks very much. More than one million young people listened to Pope Francis deliver a message just for them. How he told them to live their lives in a troubled world. We'll share that with you in a moment.