welcome back to nhk "newsline." i'm keiko kitagawa with the latest at this hour. japan's prime minister naoto kan is leaving office barely a year after taking part. he's the fifth prime minister to quit in as many years. he spoke to the nation about a couple of hours ago. here's what he had to say. >> translator: earlier, as of today, i decided to step down as the ruling democratic party

president and also as long as the new leader is elected, i'm going to step down as the prime minister. >> kan apologized for failing to prevent the nuclear crisis that followed the march 11th earthquake and tsunami. he said japan must reduce its reliance on nuclear power. >> translator: japan is a great, proud country, but we do have a lot of nuclear reactors, nuclear plants, in the land, and that is what we have experienced this time, and that is the incident in which i felt the powerlessness as a prime minister because we were not able to prevent losing many lives at the time of the earthquake and how to contain that aggravation of that nuclear

accident that i was full of here every day, to be honest. as the nuclear disaster once started to expand and the large size of the evacuation, as well as the long term of the damage through the local community and how to grapple with that, that the possible distraction of the nation is my conclusion is to create a society that is less dependent on the nuclear energy. >> the outgoing prime minister also urged japan's political parties to work together to help boost the country's lag economy and tackle its deep debt. >> translator: the social security and tax system, the sustainability of social security is very important and this is something that any

government cannot avoid. and so in order to realize the minimum unhappiness society, we need to establish these reforms as the basis, the foundation. when we look at other nations, we cannot postpone the reform any longer. it is a difficult task but we need to obtain the understanding and support of the people and i do hope that the ruling and opposition parties will cooperate with each other to realize this. >> we asked people on the street of tokyo about what they think about kan's resignation. >> translator: if he resigned earlier, the recovery from the disaster would be more advanced. >> translator: that may be public opinion. i personally like him. >> translator: i don't think

foreign countries are particularly interested in the fact that japan is changing leaders again. this concerns me a lot. >> translator: i hope the new prime minister will come up with a plan to deal with the country's fiscal reconstruction and power shortages. >>ralar: ian tew immist tesblh a enenwhee c eil rais o kids. >>ranslator: the new prime minier shouldlarify their vision and take responsibility for it. >> now joining us in the studio is our senior political commentator. so at the moment who is in the running to be japan's next prime minister? >> well, several candidates are

jockeying for position now. they include former prime minister saygy my har ra and economy trade and industry minister banri kaieda. he's been in charge of nuclear policies. the dpj plans to elect its new leader on monday. then on tuesday the diet should approve him as japan's next prime minister. because the dpj has the majority in the more powerful lower house. some may suggest that maehara is the most popular candidate among them, but kaieda is winning support of the biggest faction in the party now, so he could lead the entire race. a power broker who has been a political rival of prime minister kan and also maehara is the owner of the biggest faction. maehara had once tried to exclude ozawa out of the party. >> now, there are several issues the new prime minister has to address. what are the main issues in this

leadership race? >> well, japanese public has been divided since nuclear accident at fukushima daiichi nuclear power plant. many people want a society that does not rely on nuclear power. however, kaeida and maehara both insist the new administration needs to be realistic and needs to continue using nuclear energy, at least for a while. >> now how is the issue of a tax hike playing out in the leadership race? >> prime minister kan insisted on securing post-disaster reconstruction funds through a temporary tax hike. he also indicated a consumption tax hike is inevitable to pay for japan's social programs. maehara, on the other hand, once said that a tax increase might hurt economic growth. he seems to be -- it seems that he doesn't want to raise consumption tax, at least for a

couple of years. he wants to prioritize stopping deflation. k kaeida seems to be also against a tax increase because he thinks -- it seems that he's believing that if the democratic party decides to raise consumption tax, it would be -- it would break campaign -- two break campaign promise or election promise that the party made about two years ago when it shifted into power almost for the first time after the world war ii. >> all right. what about the talk of a ground coalition between the ruling dpj and the opposition parties? >> well, that issue has been discussed in the democratic party members for long time because the party does not have a majority in the upper house although it has majority in the lower house. that condition makes it difficult for the government to

pass bills without the help from the opposition. however, dpj members are split over forming a ground coalition. some say it is vital for the smooth management of the divided indi diet. others say it is unacceptable because the party will have to dramatically review its election promises. kaeida seems to be supporting the latter idea. and the main opposition leader democratic party has yet to support the idea of ground coalition. if maehara becomes the next prime minister, securing leadership with lpj will be difficult because they've been accusing maehara for receiving illegal political donation. that issue forced maehara forced him to down step as foreign minister in march. >> all right, thank you.

that was our senior political commentator. a huge explosion rocked a united nations building on friday in the nigerian capital of abuja. the blast killed several people. nigerian security authorities told reuters a car rammed into the building and exploded. they say it is the work of an islamist extremist group. officials are saying that the blast killed several people, part of the building was destroyed. reuters also says medical authorities estimate at least ten people have been killed. the building has three floors, and it includes the office of the u.n. development program. several embassies, including the american embassy, are located in the area. more than 2 million people live in abuja. in june islamic extremists

targeted the police headquarters in a suicide bombing. the situation in the libyan capital tripoli remains tense even though opposition forces have transferred their base into the city. groups loyal to libyan leader moammar al gadhafi continue to carry out attacks against the national transitional council forces on friday. this comes despite an early announcement by the council that it had moved its headquarters from the northeastern city of benghazi. pro-gadhafi forces have deployed snipers around the city and infiltrated opposition forces in an attempt to launch surprise attacks. resistance also continues in the besiege leader's birthplace and in a southern military city. on thursday night opposition groups captured a building in southern tripoli after a fierce gun battle. gadhafi and his family members were thought to have been in the building. their whereabouts remain unknown.

the national council's number told reporters on friday that the top priorities are to collect the weapons used by both sides and bring the situation in tripoli under control. north korean leader kim jong-il hasrrived in china. he inspected state-run factories in thecotry's ntheast on friday. following a six-day visit, kim crossed into china on thursday night aboard his special train. after a stop over in the inner mongolia autonomous region, he arrived here on friday morning. a convoy carried him to a factory. he shook hands with plant officials. later in the day, his convoy was seen entering a dairy factory. kim then travel to the site of

some of china's largest oil fields. police officers were seen standing guard every 100 meters around the expressway. observers say by showing his willingness to learn from china's economic delopment, kim is confirming north korean's ledse ties with china. were american-made. let's see what japan is doing to develop disaster relief robots. the huge earthquake followed by giant tsunami on march 11th caused a disaster at the

fukushima daiichi power plant, a level on par with the chernobyl disaster. the first machine to enter the site was a u.s.-made military robot. followed by another foreign-made robot, warrior, which could lift objects weighing up to 100 kilograms. it was four months later that quince, a japanese rescue robot, was finally introduced. why were japanese robots ineffective immediately after the accident? this professor of tohoku university who led the development of quince says japanese robots were not designed to work in a nuclear facility. >> translator: japanese disaster response robots are almost always developed to operate among debris. they were never intended for use in a nuclear reactor. it was beyond anyone's imagination. >> reporter: but there was a time in japan when robots were developed for use in nuclear

reactors. on september 30th, 1999, a nuclear criticality accident occurred at a fuel processing facility facility. it prompted government to start a project, financed with a $32 million subsidy. this man was in charge of the project at the time. he has a video showing robots being tesd which offers insight intohe program. inhis project, four companies, including hitachi and toshiba, employed cutting-edge technologies and created six robots in just six months. but the robs were never used. in 2006, the project disposed of the robots. >> translator: the nuclear industry had a view that robots were not capable of doing things

that were easy for humans. they thought workers could do the job faster, so robots were not necessary. >> reporter: the government project had concluded that human beings could perform the same tasks and that the robots would not be useful at the site of a nuclear accident. refusing to give up on robot development, the professor saved some of the robots and displayed one at a science museum in to nop the efrt wouave been able to improve them to be really useful at accident sites. >> reporter: until then, japan had only concentrated on developing robots that could rescue people from debris caused by natural disaster for exame, hitachi

cotiacry debris with one arm and cuts it with t oerrmutt lacked the ability to perform actions requiring a more delicate touch. the machine did prove its worth in clearing away debris from the tsunami, but better control was needed at the nuclear accident site so it was not used. but finally, after the u.s. robot, one japanese robot went to work at the radiation contaminated site. it is quince, a search robot developed by a semi-governmental research institute. quince was chosen for its operating abilities. it can tread over rubble and go upnd downstairs and can even en doors. in theasfour mohs quince habeupgraded. its camera was mist-proo hmist-

operate in the high-humidity environment and the computer was made heat resistant. the professor comments that in order to respond immediately to a nuclear accident, it is important that a robot is ready to go inside the site rather than waiting for a robot to arrive from overseas. >> translator: the machines would be ready for actual use only with highly trained robot operators. they would need to drill over and over again. i think we need a dedicated government organization to oversea nuclear accident response. >> after the march earthquake, three ministries have started to share information on disaster relief robots. they aim to set up a government organization to develop robots that can respond to nuclear plant accidents. we need to follow this move closely to ensure that japan will be prepared for any kind of emergency that might happen in the future. ""newsline"" is the place to

turn to for the latest on japan, post march 11th. we have two segments offering two unique perspectives on the fallout from the earthquake and tsunami. "nuclear watch" brings you insight and information on the impact of the fukushima daiichi crisis, and "the road ahead" examines japan's efforts to recover and rebuild. don't miss "nuclear watch" and "the road ahead" on "newsline." now to new developments in fukushima prefecture, home of the crippled fukushima daiichi nuclear plant. residents whose homes are within three kilometers of the plant were allowed to briefly return home for the first time since the accident in march. the government allowed residents of the two towns to visit their homes on friday as radiation levels in these areas appear to havestabilized. >> translator: i left my house with the windows open so i want to check the situation there. >> translator: i hate to think i

might never return home but i want to be able to remember as much as possible. >> some people gathered outside the restricted zone in the morning. they included officials from the retirement home that was evacuated after the disaster. since may, residents living between three and 20 kilometers from the plant have been allowed to make home visits, but those living within the three-kilometer perimeter were not. the group was given two hours to collect necessary belongings before leaving the zone. japan's national police agency is asking china to cooperate in an investigation following a series of cyber attacks that targeted government websites last month. on the 10th and 11th of july, the police agency service responded with large amounts of data forcing the website to shut down for over three hours. the agency traced 85 of the computers involved. it says 92% of the internet

addresses originated in china. investigators also found messages posted last month on a chinese website calling for cyber attacks against the agency. they included a video clip showing japanese fighter jets scrambling after a chinese regions plane approached disputed islands in the east china sea. japanese police filed a request through interpol asking chinese authorities to cooperate in the investigation. the websites of japan's finance and defense ministries were also targeted by cyber attacks about the same time last month. time to check out some of the stories we've gathered from broadcasters around asia. we begin with this item sent by cctv china. the president of china and france have met in beijing on thursday to discuss the ongoing european debt crisis and the gogo-0 summit. france will host the summit in november. hu jintao says china is closely

watching the crisis and expects fsn reforms by some european countries. he added closer cooperation between the two countries will play an important role in the recovery of the global economy. nicolas sarkozy informed the chinese president europe has taken measures to boost financial reform and economic governance in the eurozone. malaysia's efforts to conserve turtles have started bearing fruit with an increase inhe population the species. an east coast state has established a nesting facility for sea turtles and other rare species. it accounts for 80% of turtle eggs in the country. the authorities also conducted measures to stop people from collecting the eggs which are considered a delicacy. poaching has been singled out at the main factor behind the decline of the turtle population. muslims in an eastern turkish province are performing a candle dance to awaken people

for predawn meals during the holy month of ramadan. the or gins of this dance date back to an ancient legend. two lovers living on the opposite sides of a lake used to me at night with the girl lighting a candle to indicate where she was. one day her father discovered the affair and put out the light. her lover lost his way and drowned and she jumped into the since then, the villagers have carried on the tdi candle dance. hi there and welcome back. here's your weather update. start about talking about this typhoon, this is a very strong typhoon, moving in a northwest direction very slowly. residents in low lying and mountainous areas, alerts against flooding is posted widely as well as people living in the coastal areas.

these storms are bringing high waves up to five meters in someplaces so please stay away from those coastal areas. it is heading toward taiwan and as it does it may weaken just a little bit but already affecting taiwan with showers and strong wind. as this typhoon gets close ter will become heavier and stronger and affecting okinawa on monday as well. apart from that typhoon, we have a severe tropical storm talas which is going to be intensifying as well. on saturday morning it will become a strong typhoon and it will be affecting the islands in jan nday. los ket hding tards e nth andowards jap s rely d wto tckhi st a we. w the ti fnt lks like it is ing to be vi ay omjapa wee already had numerous flooding reports in kyushu a region. 94 millimeters per hour, that's record breaking amount of rain.

we've seen 90.5 for the month of august. in haneda, lots of arrivals and departures were canceled on your friday. we are looking at additional ouf millimete inisre ndslides, flooding and ancn. more hvy rain and fod for youasrncha. e isreil seang wa torea io okg vy av rns ll bangkok 33. tokyo 26, so a little bit cooler thanery. beijing at 28 degrees. heading over to north america, let's start off talking about this hurricane irene, a very dangerous storm indeed. this is all the way in -- well offshore of the florida peninsula but now it's category

2 and it looks like it is going to intensify again into a category 3 which is a major hurricane as it approaches and aims towards the eastern coast of the united states. it may even make landfall in north carolina, and then all the way up to massachusetts we've got hurricane warnings and hurricane watches. dangerous storm surges, damaging winds are picking up those waves as well. we really do want to stay away from these coasts as well and really be precautious of this dangerous storm. rainfall accumulation can be up to o 380 millimeters for the st from this storm all the way up to massachusetts until monday morning. very life threatening flash floods could be possible. here in europe, the british isles looking very unstable. we've got aew fnthail bngg srmeaer to central parts of europe. the pluck of heavy rain will be in switzerland. east though looking very hot. budapest, 34. vienna32.

rome at 30 a warsaw at 31. here's our extended forecast. here is a recap on nigeria.

a huge explosion rocked the united nations building on friday in the capital of abuja. the blast killed several people. nigerian security authorities told reuters a car rammed into the building and exploded. they say the attack was most likely the work of an islamic extremist group. reuters quotes u.n. officials as saying that the blast killed several people. part of the building was destroyed. the news agency also says medical authorities estimate at least ten people have been killed. the building has three floors and it includes the office of the u.n. development program. several embassies, including the american embassy, are located in the area. more than 2 million people live in abuja. in june, islamic extremists targeted the capital's police headquarters in a suicide bombing. that wraps up this edition of "newsline." i'm keiko kitagawa in tokyo. on behalf of our team, thank you for staying with us on nhk world.