welcome to nhk world "newsline." tokyo's governor used a speech in the united states to reveal he's wading into territorial dispute between japan and china. shintaro ishihara made a surprise announcement about the senkaku islands in the east china sea and says the tokyo metropolitan government is negotiating the purchase of the islands from private owners to keep them in japanese hands. >> translator: it's outrageous for china to say the senkaku are theirs. tokyo will purchase the islands, tokyo will protect the islands. >> ishihara gave a lecture at a u.s. think tank in washington.

he says china's getting tougher in the way it approaches its claim to the senkakus and that the islands are at risk. the senkaku islands are located to the west of okinawa's main island. the japanese government claims sovereignty over them based on historical records and international law. four of the five uninhabited islands are privately owned. the central government rents them but governor ishihara says it should do more than that. he says it is really not tokyo's job to buy the islands, but he maintains the foreign ministry doesn't have the kourcourage to through with the high profile real estate deal. the proposal will go before the metropolitan assembly and the aim is to wrap up the senkaku purchase by the end of the year. people in shinjuku district had mixed reactions to ishihara's remarks. >> translator: it's a godea. the situation would be more stable if tokyo bought the islands instead of having them owned by individuals.

>> translator: i'm against taxpayer money being used to buy them. the money should be used on other things. japan's chief cabinet secretary says the government is looking into ishihara's remarks. osamu fujimura isn't ruling out buying the territory. >> translator: the government currently pays rent for the islands but if the situation demands it, the government could possibly offer to purchase them. chinese government spokesperson say any unilateral action on the senkakus won't be affected. they reiterated the claim the islands are chinese territory and their country has sovereignty over them. now this complicated issue dates back decades. japan's claim to the senkaku islands can be traced to 1895. china began asserting rights over the territory in 1970, that followed research showing the waters around the islands are rich in natural resources.

chinese activists illegally landed on the islands in 2004. six years later a fishing boat from china rammed japan coast guard patrol ships near the senkakus and more recently coast guard officials said chinese vessels violated the territorial waters. japan's central government is trying to maintain control of the senkakus. officials released names last month for four of the islands, china's leaders countered by handing out a list of the senkakus' chinese names. east timor has a new president, the winner of monday's election is a political outsider and former freedom fighter. here is patchari raksawong in our bangkok bureau with the details. former independence leader

ruak won the election, voters turned to an outsider to improve their fortunes. we have this report from the capital delhi. >> reporter: taur matan rauk won 61% of the vote, beat the head of the largest opposition fretilin party, frank francisco guterres, popularly known as lu olo. ruak has no political experience and ran as an independent. by contrast, lu olo had a strong campaign organization and came out on top in the first round of voting in march. ruak is a popular hero who led east timor's struggle for independence. east timor lacks any notable industry except agriculture.

40% of the population lives in poverty. frustration with the established political parties is growing. that led many voters to cast their votes for the outsider. the tenth anniversary is approaching for independence. u.n. peacekeeping forces that have supported reconstruction are expected to leave by year end. the people of east timor have entrusted ruak with the task of ensuring their country can stand on its own two feet. >> translator: i want the new president to help the poor and create a better life for us. i want him to create jobs and enable children to go to school. >> reporter: ruak faces the challenge of maintaining security and improving lives without relying on foreign aid. satoshi iinua, nhk world, delhi.

the philippines has kicked off one of the country's biggest military exercise with the united states, the display of cooperation comes amid rising tensions between the philippines and china over disputed territories in the south china sea. nhk world's charmaine deogracias reports. >> reporter: some 4,500 u.s. troops and 2,300 philippine personnel are taking part in 12 days of war games. the exercises kicked off monday and designed to strengthen ties and improve joint military capabilities to protect philippine borders. the drills include landing practice on the western island of palau in the south china sea. in addition to the bilateral naval exercises, the capital manila will host an earthquake simulation with six other nations, including japan, for the first time. >> this will undoubtedly

constitute or contribute to the nations in the region having increased level of trust and cooperation to ensure regional stability. >> we continue to work together for a secure and stable asia-pacific region. >> reporter: this year's exercises have been marked by political tension following a naval standoff between the philippines and china. on tuesday last week, a philippine navy ship and chinese surveillance vessels faced each other at the disputed scarborough shoal off the philippine island of luzon. diplomatic efforts have failed to resolve the eight-day standoff. on tuesday the philippines said it would call on china to jointly take the issue to the international tribunal on the law of the sea in an effort to quickly and peacefully resolve the issue. the philippines have far fewer

naval vessels and aircraft than china. officials insist the joint military exercises are not a show of force directed at china. but regional experts say the message of the war games is clear. charmaine deogracias, nhk world, manila. >> and that will wrap up our bulletin. i'm patchari raksawong reporting in bangkok. japan's population is shrinking faster than ever. new government figures show a decline by more than a quarter of a million people in 2011. the internal affairs ministry says japan's population as of last october 1st was 127.799 million, a drop of 259,000 or 0.2% from the previous year. both the figure and rate of decline represent the largest ever drop since comparable data became available in 1950.

people in japan's northeast are focused on overcoming the challenges of the 2011 disaster. but it won't be easy. they have to rebuild homes, businesses, entire communities. we'll show you their struggles and their successes on "the road ahead" every wednesday at 1:00 p.m. japan time here on "newsline." the documentary shows what life has been like for people in fukushima ever since the nuclear emergency. the film ordinary life is the work of a cameraman from sapporo in northern japan. nhk world has more. >> reporter: about 400 people turned out for the premiere in late march.

>> translator: i'm afraid that people will discriminate against me because i lived in fukushima. i'm also worried i'll have to live differently than other people. >> reporter: he interviewed 50 people for his 80-minute documentary. they describe how they cope with radiation. >> translator: we might be able to return home in ten years. we won't be alive then. we'll be dead in a few years. >> reporter: yoshida arrived a month after the disaster. while working as a volunteer, he shot the film. >> translator: people in fukushima have to go about their daily routine while protecting

themselves from radiation. that is their ordinary life now. i think it's hard to put all these feelings into words but if you approach them sincerely, they'll give you good answers. >> reporter: the inviz threat of radiation has affected the people's lives. this woman is measuring radiation levels outside her home. yoshida followed mothers who were trying to protect their children. >> translator: the most shocking thing of all was something my young son asked. mom, how long will we live? he's just a child. much too young to worry about things like that. >> reporter: this is one of the

mothers who appears in the film. her son, a college student, lives outside fukushima. >> translator: even though there's less than a 1% chance radiation could still affect my son, so i keep saying to him for your mother's sake don't come back to fukushima. the last time i saw him was new year's day 2011. >> reporter: suzuki attended the premiere. [ applause ] speaking as a mother, she asked the audience to stay interested in the people affected by the nuclear incident. >> translator: we adults have to think about the future of the generations that follow us. it's our responsibility. i hope that people will continue

to hold on to their memories of the ordeal in fukushima. >> translator: people who live far from fukushima don't understand what it like to deal with radiation every day. eventually they will spend less and less time thinking about it. through this film you can listen to the residents and think about that. >> yoshida is preparing the english translation of this movie. he is hoping to screen the film in canada and the u.s. this summer and he'll keep filming in fukushima for a sequel. online news sites in the united states have won pulitzer prizes in two categories. pulitzers are given every year in 21 categories including journalism and literature. david woodward of "the

huffington post" won his organization its first prize. in the national reporting category. he wrote a series on challenges facing wounded american soldiers returning home from iraq and afghanistan. the editorial cartoon category went to matt wuerker of political news website politico for satirical cartoons. one of the cartoons questions u.s. president barack obama's nuclear policy, which remains unchanged, even after the fukushima daiichi accident last year. online media websites have boosted their presence since won won a pulitzer prize in 2010, involving the media landscape in the spotlight. let's take a look at the latest market figures.

the worst drought in ten ye years is stalking children in northern africa. it left a belt of land to the south of sahara desert parched. harvests have failed. 15 million people are short of food. children are dying one after another. united nations officials have called on countries around the world to send emergency aid. >> we are appealing, all of us, for an end to the global indifference. >> the region is called the sahel. people rarely see any rain. they have suffered through one drought after another. the current drought is the most

widespread in ten years. it spans across eight countries. chad is one of the hardest hit countries. nhk world john baptiste nuard reports. >> reporter: two-thirds of chad is covered by desert. a severe drought affect this region and create a food crisis. the extended drought has left the land bare. last year, almost no rain fell. this has devastated farms across the country. harvests of several crops such as rice and other cereals are less than half the average. >> translator: the crops are not growing. and families have nothing to eat. it is very serious. >> reporter: over 120,000 children in chad are suffering

from severe malnutrition. this medical center is backed by the united nations. every day more than 80 children arrive here from nearby villages. many children have to be fed through tubes. in addition to severe malnutrition, they are suffering from diarrhea and high fevers. despite this medical intervention, one in five of these children is dying. muhammad is 7 months old. it took his mother five days on a donkey to travel the 100 kilometers from her village to this medical center. he was getting weaker by the day. >> translator: there is no food in our village. i can't produce breast milk for

my baby. and i can't find any formula. >> reporter: earlier this month, a u.n. team made an emergency visit to chad. unicef executive director anthony lake appealed for immediate assistance including high nutrient food, medicine and drinking water. >> well, they are in dire circumstances, suffering, you see how underweight they are and how they're struggling for life. >> reporter: this woman says her grandson's legs are paralyzed and he's badly sick. in chad, children are so weakened by malnutrition, they are less resistant to polio, cholera and other infectious disease. >> translator: my grandchild has pain all over the body and can't

walk anymore. his sickness makes us so sad. >> reporter: food reserves are already stretched and the situation will only get worse until the next harvest in the autumn. people in chad will depend on aid from around the world. jean baptiste niard, nhk world, mao, chad. u.n. officials say they need more than $700 million to fund aid operations but haven't brought in even half that amount. when people in china see blossoms on plum and peach trees, many feel spring has arrived. now another blossom new it the country is making the chinese think of spring and other things too. nhk world's maria yamada reports from shanghai.

>> translator: so pretty. >> translator: it is so beautiful. it makes me feel that spring is here. >> reporter: the park opened in the suburbs of shanghai three years ago. in china, some places are famous for spring blossoms like plum and peach, but not cherry. so this park made a decision. it was only last year that the park won its reputation as a wonderful place to view cherry blossoms. it was at the same time that the city held its first cherry blossom festival. this year, the park doubled the number of its cherry trees to 12,000. so far this year, 800,000 people have visited. >> translator: cherry blossoms appear passionate, but they are also graceful and pure.

>> reporter: some people find it is more than the blossoms that attract them. taking advantage of the romantic mood created by the flowers, a park organized a match-making party. about 150 people took part. at the end, they all wrote down their wishes and attached them to a cherry tree. then they prayed their wishes would come true. >> translator: i wrote that i want to get married this year. >> reporter: nurseries are cashing in on the popularity of cherry blossom. shuyang grows many of china's trees. nursery owner arrives in style.

>> translator: this is my nursery. as far as you can see. it's 40 hectares big. >> reporter: he used to produce a kind of box wood for hedges. now it is mainly cherry trees. in recent years, the price has risen sharply. last year, he netted about $150,000 in profits. this year he expects to sell 80,000 young cherry trees, 60% more than last year. it is no wonder that he can afford three cars and three phones. >> translator: cherry trees have given me a better life. and filled my wallet. >> reporter: other cities like guangzhou and chongqing have joined shanghai in holding similar festivals.

and cherry blossoms are now become china's new symbol of spring. mari yamada, nhk world, shanghai. most of the rain is gone in central tokyo. but more precipitation south of japan. mai shoji with the details. mai? >> yes, gene, that's right. in southeastern china, as we speak, stormy weather is targeting the area. and we're talking about very heavy rain accumulation. for the past few days we have been seeing heavy ongoing rainfall in the southeastern coastal areas of china. and this is going to be upping the risk of flooding, landslides and mud slides. as you can see, 50 to 100 millimeters of additional rain could be possible in guangdong and jong shui provinces. and in and around macau, a report of already 100 mill meeters in the past 24 hours. so this just ups the risk of flooding, landslides and mud slides. we'll definitely keep you updated with this situation. now, stepping back to our bigger

picture here, here, upper disturbances over northern japan and the atmosphere is very destabilized. it helps to develop pop-up thunderstorms and isolated heavy showers across much of the country, especially in central japan. but high pressure will be predominant, so clear skies will be dominant across much of the country as well as the korean peninsula and northeastern china. out towards the north here in mongolia, however, we have a developing low that will be moving across the country. that surge is a lot of cold air so that reflects in the temperatures and precipitation will be mixed precipitation, wintry here in ulan batur. 12 for wednesday but dropping down to just 5 for thursday, keeping it warm in beijing at 25 with lots of sunny spells as well as seoul at 22 and tokyo at 18 degrees for wednesday. heading over to the americas. well, we did see destructive damages over the weekend from that storm system. that will be finally moving off

shore. it is now heading towards canadian maritimes bringing mixed precipitation. that will be tapering off. the cold front that is stretching all the way down toward the gulf states, this is where we may find severe activity yet to talk about on tuesday. now, we're talking about tornadic activity still not yet to be ruled out. and hail as well as damaging gusts and also lightning. that could be severe. thunderstorm activity in south carolina as well as georgia, warm air surges from the south and then the cold air here clashing over to this area. and locally heavy rain could be found in mississippi as well as louisiana. mid-20s in new england. northeastern areas, new york at 26. washington, d.c. keeping it at 24 as well as atlanta. but toronto, returning back to the normal territory here at 12 degrees. all right, heading over to europe now, we do still have three systems to talk about.

thunderstormic activity here in -- over the mediterranean sea region. yugoslavia, a report of 73 millimeters in the past 24 hour. rainfall accumulation. it looks like it will be continuing for the next two days in and around the midmediterranean region and the balkans. towards northern scandinavian peninsula, we may see snow showers up there. and messy picture here in the west. british isles and then in towards central areas, unstable and wet weather will be continuing and gusts could be very, very strong in some portions. london at 13 degrees with wet conditions and moscow hitting 12 as well as warsaw. here is the extended forecast.

we'll be back with more news in 30 minutes. i'm gene otani in tokyo.

thank you very much for joining us on nhk world.