typhoon roke has swept past tokyo dropping 30 millimeters of rain. this footage was taken earlier wednesday. strong gusts of wind are still pounding the tokyo metropolitan area. many trains are still suspended and millions of people are seeking shelter. >> a rdside tree was kcked down by strong wind near nhk

studio in the district. the tree crashown on t back of a taxi. the height of the tree is 12 meters and the trunk's circumference is 1.6 meters. here again another tree was blown down. people have been paying close attention to typhoon roke tonight as it moves through japan. i'm michio kijima, you're watching "newsline." typhoon roke is whipping through fukushima prefecture in northeastern japan as we speak. the storm pounded central parts of the country earlier today including tokyo. roke has killed six people, seven others are still missing. the typhoon made landfall earlier on wednesday bringing heavy rains and strong winds. officials say landslides could hit many areas. the water level of rivers in central japan is rising significantly. authorities have ordered or advised more than 150,000 people to evacuate their homes.

about 530,000 households in the country are without power now. >> officials in aichi prefecture ordered more than 10,000 people to go to temporary shelters. >> this man shows just how strong the winds were when they blew through the toyohashi city. typhoon roke has slowed transportation across much of japan. airlines cancelled more than 600 domestic flights at kyo's haneda airport. many international flights have also been affected. nhk world's reporter reports from the busiest station here in tokyo. >> reporter: i'm standing in

front of the station in central tokyo. the driving rain and strong winds are hitting this area. the umbrellas are useless. it's even difficult to walk. tens of thousands of commuters have jammed the station. they are eager to get home. the stations have partially closed the entrance to keep the wind out and have put in sandbags to prevent flooding. the storm is even having an impact on many machines and many are out of order. the information on the train service keeps changing. >> typhoon roke caused problems across much of tokyo's transportation system as you just saw in susumu's report. thousands of commuters who wanted to get around or get out of the city could only do one thing. wait. the busy station came to a standstill, stranded passengers jammed corridors. rail officials strung up ropes in front of ticket gates. some people made phone calls, others asked station workers for information.

>> translator: almost all train services in tokyo have been suended. i don't know what to do. >> translator: i left for work earlier, but it was no use. >> some stranded commuters decided the wait was just not worth it. >> translator: i think it will take me about an hour to get home on foot. >> people formed long lines for taxis at the main train stations in tokyo's business district. >> translator: a taxi comes every 20 to 30 minutes. they are rarely here. >> sendai city in miyagi prefecture is one of the areas hit hard by the march 11th earthquake and tsunami. now typhoon roke is approaching the city and people are

preparing so they can avoid further damage from another natural disaster. earlier our nhk reporter had more from sendai. >> the wind and rain are becoming strong from the typhoon. the agency says the typhoon will bring torrential downpours and mud slides and landslides and overflowing rivers. no casualties have been reported. however, miyagi prefecture says sendai city has overflowed. its bank is about 500 meeters from the mouth of the river. after the earthquake and the tsunami, the bank has been built up with sandbags. service between tokyo has been stopped now. >> another concern is that typhoon roke is expected to

reach fukushima prefecture this evening, where the damaged fukushima daiichi power plant is located. the operator of the plant has partially suspended repair work. they're working to securpis d mpas pcaio agnsstngin a hh de we now to rachel ferguson from our weather team for details on the storm. rachel? >> thanks, michio. the storm is in eastern fukushima, going to miyagi and continuing its path ov the pacific edge of japan to eastern tohoku. lots of things to look out for in the next couple of hours as the storm makes progress. it is now moving northeast still but it is 60 kilometers an hour now, so it actually picked up the pace. the winds are now a little weaker at 126 kilometers an hour. those are the sustained winds with gusts at 180 kilometers an hour. still very strong winds. they have weakened off a little bit, though, as i say the storm has picked up the pace for now.

we are still going to be seeing a lot of rain this is the past 24 hour rainfall. to give you an idea. some places picking up over 400 millimeters of rain in just the space of 24 hours. as we head up into tohoku, we are going to have to add to these totals. so it is going to be continuing to move at quite a clip. by tomorrow afternoon, we should be rid of this storm. however, there is going to be a lingering after effect and that is the risk of mud slides. anywhere you're seeing here in the shaded area is at risk for mud slides into the coming days as the water starts to move down off the mountains into lower lying areas and moves down river as well. sout delegate wi ng concern. sungni met f three hours in beijing on wedsday.

wiai the ntheast must halt it uniumnrhmt pgr d censctns b t internationatoney agency as conditions for restarting the six-party talks. ro said the proam is for peaceful power generation and called for an unconditional resumption of talks. >> translator: today's dialogue was constructive and beneficial. baseon the results, i will continue to makefftso rearthx-rtal without conditions as quickly as possible. >> translator: holding this kind of dialogue will create an atmosphere that could lead to restarting the talks. >> the two envoys are expected toeparately meet china's special envoy who chairs the six-party talks to explain the results of wednesday's meeting. world leaders are increasing their efforts to mediate between

palestine and israel now that they're at loggerheads for a palestinian bid over membership. mahmoud abbas is pushing for a full u. membership for palestine as an independent state. but israel has denounced a move. both sides are expected to explain their stances at the general assembly on friday. on tuesday, abbas met french president nicolas sarkozy in new york. sarkozy is believed to have urged him to compromi. french president had earlier voiced concern the rising tensions between palestine and israel would hamper moves toward democracy in other middle east nations. u.s. president barack obama will also meet aas on wneaynd expected to to dissuade him fromaking the membership bid. japan's foreign minister koichiro gemba expressed caution about a palestinian bid. gemba said japan must understand the palestinians ernest wish for statehood, but that it adheres to its principle that the matter should be resolved through

direct negotiations between the israelis and the palestinians. he said japan will make further decisions on the matter after analyzing the contents of the palestinian bid. the arab spring in yemen will likely stretch into fall. perhaps longer. anti-government demonstrators and security forces have been fighting for months now. protesters want the president to resign but he's refusing to give in even as he recovers in neighboring saudi arabia from an assassination attempt. we wanted to take you inside this troubled country. an nhk crew traveled to yemen during the summer to hear from both sides in this violent conflict. >> reporter: tensions remain high in yemen's capital sana where military clashes between the government forces and opposition forces continue intermittently.

>> reporter: the district where the government buildings are concentrated has been destroyed in fierce battles. some of the buildings are abandoned and government functions have been partly relaxed. as military clashes continue, anti-government demonstrations are being held throughout the country. with people demanding the immediate resignation of president saleh. this is the square in capital sanaa. in the heart of yemeni capital, tens of thousands of citizens have set up camp there to protest against the government. pictures of people who died in military crackdowns are posted. more than 500 people have been killed in such crackdowns by the government.

muhammad ibrahim is a university studen he i aember of the youth group and anti-government demonstration. in may, he lt his younger brother in a crackdn by the government forces when they were taking part in demonstrations. >> translator: it's very painful. we pledged to start a revolution together. >> reporter: anti-government demonstrations began about eight months ago. yemen's protests have lasted a long time and their future course is unclear. >> translator: we have endured

saleh's corrupt government for 33 years. we can hold out until we topple the government. we won't be discouraged after only half a year of protests. >> reporter: president saleh has been recuperating in saudi arabia, but he remains in pourb because his family controls government forces. saleh has refused to step down and he announced that he would return to yemen sometime soon. >> translator: military and tribal forces that betrayed the government are trying to start a civil war by taking advantage of the anti-government demonstrations started by young people. >> reporter: to strengthen pressure on the government, anti-government forces launched a new fight organization, made up of different kinds of groups, including young people as well as opposition and tribal forces.

>> translator: we will not oppose president saleh returning home after he resigns from his post. but we will not allow him to return as president. anti-government forces will join hands and overthrow the government. >> reporter: with tensions running high between the pro and anti-government forces, armed clashes could resume at any time. that would make it even harder for the international community to mediate peaceful settlement through the ongoing crisis in yemen. kinan mousa, nhk world, sanaa. time to check on some of the stories we have gathered from broadcasters around asia. we begin tonight with this item sent by cctv, china. china will launch an unmanned module next week to pave the way for a planned space station. the country aims to build its own space station by 2020. officials said in bji o

tuesy at t heavenly palace one will blast off from the saitlaunch center in gau ptf to tt long-term unmann a orte munmanned module will be launched later this year to attempt to dock with tangun one. rescue operations are continuing in eastern india's quake hit areas as the death toll climbed to 92. workers have cleared the debris from a national highway which connects the site with the rest of the country. it was the epicenter of sunday's earthquake. army personnel have been working to restore power and provide food and shelter to those stranded by the temblor. senior officials from south asian nations including india, past a s lka hav gathered in the bangladeshi capital dhaka to discuss ways to

prevent drug trafficking. bangladesh's home minister called for a strengthening regional cooperation and information networks to deal with the menace. she added that 4.6 million bangladeshis waste $3.3 billion on drugs ery year and that 30% of crimes areind to drug trafficking. other speakers of the three-day seminar also stressed a need to coordinate efforts to control drug smuggling in the region. the march 11th disaster has left affected areas with various challenges, but one of the most daunting ones is how to deal with the farm land that was ruined by the enormous tsunami. nhk world's hiroki yajima reports from sendai. >> the agriculture minister says more than 3,000 hectors of farmland has been affected. farmers believe that the sand and the salt left behind by the sea water will make it difficult to grow crops. one man lived in japan for more than 20 years and came up with

the idea of finding farmers for the abandoned fields. the project is breathing new life into local communities that were once thriving villages. nhk world has more. >> reporter: the town in miyagi prefecture was battered by the march disaster. it was a 900 people are dead or missing. agriculture used to thrive here decades ago, but in the 1980s, many farmers shifted to agriculture to earn stable incomes. over 450 hectares of farm land were abandoned. the land cght the eye of this woman. she used to work as an english teacher in tokyo. soon after the march disast, she visited the city to do

volunteer work. >> translator: i have to work hard. >> reporter: angela started working the farm land in june th owner gave her free use of the land and she now has 1.5 hectares of land under cultivation. >> translator: at first i thought it would be impossible to plow the land. but once i started, i made progress every day. people can do anything if they try. >> reporter: several disaster survivors started helping angela out. this man lost his home andarm and now lives in temporary housing. he was inspired by angela's proactive stance and can-do attitude. >> translator: i was reminded that this town has so much fallo

land. it is fun to work outside from the morning. >> reporter: at harvest time, the newly cultivated land produced many vegetables, including green peppers and okra. he sold the fresh produce at the temporary housing. residents there have problems going shopping. >> translator: it is helpful. the fresh veggies are a source of energy. i'll use them for my meal. >> translator: i'll cooperate with abi and other residents. i want to learn more about agriculture from them and work together for the town's future. this city will be a better place than before the disaster if everyone works hard. >> reporter: angela and her fellow volunteers are turning

the abundant crops to help rebuild the town. nhk world. >> in the studio is angela ortiz who appeared in the report. angela, thanks for joining us today. in the video, you're seen using the cultivator and did you have farming experience before and what drove you to start in the field? >> i had no experience working on farms or with farm equipment. oga for aid is an npo, which was established in response to the tohoku disasters of march 11th. after we began initiating recovery support in the city, we understood that farming was a form of viable trade. we thought initiating projects such as this, which is an agricultural project, would be a support for the local residents and perhaps even help them create a new industry in

their -- in their own right. >> so when you were farming, what was the situation surrounding the people affected by the disasters and what kind of help did you think was needed at the time? >> they needed ample supplies of food and water and other daily essentials. not just enough to get by every day, but enough to bring levels back up to what they used to be. moral support as well. people were dazed and confused and life was beyond trying. more than anything, they needed a reason to get back up and keep moving forward with recovery. we realized that to make a true difference to the people here we needed to remain and offer long-term support. >> well, i want to ask you about your future plans. what do you want to do with your farm in the long-term? how long are you going to work there? >> over the next year we plan to grow a variety of different vegetables and we hope to sell

these -- this produce locally, nationally and through the internet. so that individuals everywhere can support the recovery of the economics. a lot of people feel that they themselves can't do much for tohoku, that their energy and money alone is not enough. but when you sit back and see the bigger picture, you realize how everyone's ongoing energy and money is connected and can be funneled. and like the residents here just one initial effort of support is not enough. they are showing a continual effort every day to live and rebuild. and our mission down here is to remain and offer a support system for them so that none of them fall through the cracks because no one should be left behind. >> thank you so much, angela. >> thank you. that wasok yajima reporting for us tonight from sendai.

and here are the latest market figures. > hello and welcome back. let's take a look at what is happening across other parts of the world in terms of weather. well, as we head into north america, the tropics are getting very active once again. we have a low pressure system, i should say a tropical depressia

south of mexico, off the coast here. this one looks like it does have the potenti to become a tropical storm later on today. so we are watching this one for strengthening as it moves along the southern coast here. it is going to continue and we'll be seeing plenty of showers, storms and strong winds kicking up along that southern coast of mexico. we'll bring you more on that as we go through the next couple of days. we are seeing pretty clear and dry conditions across much of western parts of the u.s. as well as canada. but what we do have out to the east, though, is ongoing showers for the southeast here and then this low pressure system moving through ontario, coming into quebec as well and alongt vehico fnt sotorms vi tir w a the y down towdstes. this low pressure is gng tbe inngaiy hvyin yb50 millimeters of ra, ro gts o. hi, vy cd a i that's going tbe a probl i terms ofos

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a io tueyer potent storm system is bringing lots of thunder and lightning, heavy rain and strong winds as well. temperatures are looking just abt on average. we do see a cooling downn atns at 25 keepin t ht imaidt deee

that's our broadcast for this hour on "newsline." we'll be back with more news in

half an hour. i'm michio kijima in tokyo. good-b