welcome to nhk world "newsline." chinese leaders are unhappy japanese officials allowed the head of an ethnic minority into japan. uygurs are meeting in tokyo and accuse the chinese of oppression. nhk world reports. >> reporter: these people have a rare chance to discuss face to face. uygurs who live in exile only gather every three years. this is the first time they met in asia. uygurs came from 20 countries. they are here to discuss how to

achieve their goals in china. rebiya kadeer heads the organization. she says chinese government officials are making life harder and harder for uygurs. >> translator: the chinese government must stop oppressing ethnic groups and move ahead with democratic reform. >> reporter: the minority uygurs and the majority people have fought for years in the xinjiang uygur autonomous region. the uygurs say they're fed up with being dominated politically and economically. the uygurs frustration came to a head in rioting three years ago. they attacked han people in the regional capital. chinese government officials said 200 people were killed and hundreds wounded. chinese leaders have urged officials in japan and elsewhere not to support the uygur

activities. they are unhappy japanese officials allowed the uygur leader into the country. chinese premier wen jiabao raised the issue with prime minister yoshihiko noda when they met in beijing. he said the japanese should respect chinese interests. chinese leaders may not be happy to see the uygurs getting attention for the codes. kadeer says the fact the japanese gave her visit shows they support her and her group. misato ishikawa, nhk world, tokyo. the leaders of japan, china and south korea have agreed to start negotiations by the end of the year toward a free trade agreement. but they're having difficulty on how to deal with north korea. a joint statement released after summit talks failed to mention what they would do about pyongyang. chinese president hu jintao hosted south korean president lee myung-bak and japanese prime minister yoshihiko noda in beijing.

chinese premier wen jiabao held talks sunday with noda and lee. >> translator: strengthening cooperation between our three countries is indispensable. the agreement to begin fta talks by the end of this year is a major development, and i'm sure it will benefit the stability and prosperity of this region. >> china's hu said the three are committed to strengthening ties. south korea's lee said a trade agreement in the region would bring about greater affects than one in any other part of the world. the leaders' statement says they share concerns about soaring energy prices and will cooperate in stabilizing the market. but their document made no reference to north korea. all three sides told reporters on sunday that they would work together to prevent any further provocations. japanese government sources say officials from japan and south korea urged their chinese counterparts to include the

north korean issue in the declaration but the chinese opposed the move. beijing has long been a diplomatic ally of pyongyang. last ditch efforts to form a coalition government are under way in greece. public calls for new elections continue to grow. president karolos papoulias met leaders. the leader of the second place radical left coalition alexis tsipras again refused to join a coalition. he cited the party's opposition to austerity measures. the minority democratic left also refused to join. its leader fotis kouvelis says the possibility of new elections is high. the president plans to gather the leaders of the top three parties and the moderate democratic left for a final round of coalition talks late on monday. the deadlock has left the public wary of a prolonged political vacuum in a country with huge fiscal debts.

a local election in germany delivered a harsh blow to chancellor angela merkel's push for austerity. her ruling party was crushed. voters rejected merkel's call for tough measures to rebuild local finances that are among the country's worst. the center right christian democrats gained only 26% of the vote in north rhine-westphalia. the industrial state in western germany is the country's most populous. the outcome represents a drop of more than 8 percentage points from the last election two years ago. it is the party as worst showing in the state since world war ii. the two main opposition parties, the center left social democrats and greens won a combined majority of just over 50%. the social democrats won the support of 39% of voters, up nearly five points from the last election. merkel leads the campaign to respond to europe's debt crisis with austerity measures.

the approval rate for japan's cabinet has fallen to its lowest level since prime minister yoshihiko noda took office in september according to an nhk poll. respondents also commented on the use of nuclear power. 29% of respondents expressed support for the cabinet, down slightly from last month and the lowest level seen since september. the disapproval rate remained unchanged at 53%. of those indicating disapproval, slightly more than a third said they cannot expect much from the cabinet. 33% said it is not capable of carrying out its policies. asked about restarting the ohi nuclear plant in fukui prefecture, 18% gave their approval while the others were either opposed or undecided on starting up the plant which provides power to osaka. all 50 of japan's reactors are now off line.

on the question of whether they should be restarted, about a quarter of respondents called for the abolition of nuclear power. more than half said operations should be resumed to meet minimum requirements. meanwhile, 5% said as many reactors as possible should be back into action. the poll was conducted from friday to sunday. japan's southern island of okinawa observes an important anniversary on tuesday. may 15th marks 40 years since the island was returned to japan. american forces occupied okinawa at the end of world war ii and it remained under u.s. control until 1972. even today, though, okinawa is a base for thousands of u.s. troops. four decades later, people there are reflecting on their past. james tangen has more. >> reporter: 40 years on, an island freed of foreign rule but still struggling with the legacy of occupation. this is ginowan city in central okinawa. i will be reporting from here on monday and tuesday, the anniversary of the handover.

helicopters and planes take off and land here all day long. the base lies smack in the middle of a densely built residential area. this is the sakema art museum located next to the futenma air corps station this building stands on property that used to be a village before world war ii. but the u.s. seized the land during the war, forcing the villagers to leave their homes. after the war ended, those who survived tried to return, but to no avail. the u.s. decided to keep the base here. the museum owner's mother was one of those villagers and he asked the u.s. whether he could buy back his property in the base to build his museum. to his surprise, the u.s. agreed. he opened the museum in 1994. over 47,000 people visited here just last year.

the collection features art pieces protesting against war. this large painting is the collection's centerpiece, and it depicts how the people of okinawa lost their lives in the fierce ground battles. most of the victims were women, children and the elderly. joining me now is the museum's owner michio sakima. we will provide simultaneous interpretation for this portion. >> translator: mr. sakima, why did you build a museum right next to a u.s. military base? >> translator: okinawa was at the mercy of history so i wanted to create a space where we can feel at peace and i thought by using the power of art i could make a museum. >> translator: many children are visiting to study this. what kind of lessons do you want to communicate? >> translator: well, the

japanese children do not know much about the ground war taking place in the world. our experience of ground war is common with asian nations. i want them to learn about the war so they can relate with asians. it has been 40 years since the desertion. was there any changes to the local people? >> translator: the huge bases are still there. our human rights are ignored. nothing has changed. it is regrettable that the central government does not have the perspective of developing okinawa utilizing positive aspects. >> thank you very much. an official ceremony takes place on tuesday to mark the 40th anniversary of the handover on which we will be covering for you live. so do tune in. james tengan, nhk world, ginowan city, okinawa. a controversial new aircraft is to be deployed at the marine corps base in ginowan city.

the japanese and u.s. governments agreed to deploy the mv-22 osprey aircraft starting in july. the osprey was accident prone during its development. 12 ospreys will be delivered to the u.s. marine car futenma air station this year and another 12 next year. the base is located in a densely populated area. the advance transport aircraft can take off and land vertically as helicopters do, but it flies like fixed wing airplane. the ospreys will replace helicopters now in service. but okinawa opposes the deployment. the aircraft has a history of problems and accidents. an osprey crashed in morocco during a drill last month, killing two soldiers on board. to ease safety concerns, the two governments at one time considered deploying the aircraft temporarily at a u.s. base on mainland japan. it was then to be used at futenma but it was abandoned in the face of intense opposition from potential host sites. the u.s. military now plans full fledged use of osprey aircraft

at futenma from october after some trial flights. strong opposition is expected to continue in okinawa. tokyo electric power company has reported a second consecutive year of net loss for the fiscal year that ended in march. the operator of the crippled fukushima nuclear power plant has also announced a new management team. tepco said on monday that its net loss came to about $9.8 billion in fiscal 2011. it blamed the loss on fuel costs for thermal power generation. they climbed by more than $10 billion from the previous business year. for the current business year, the company is hoping to slash the loss to about $1.3 billion by raising electricity rates for companies and households. on the management change, meanwhile, tepco said half its new senior officials will come from outside the company to monitor its business performance

closely. the new chairman will be kazuhiko shim kobe, he currently heads a committee at a state-backed nuclear compensation fund. tepco executive naimi hirose will be promoted to president. he's been in charge of compensation for victims of the nuclear accident. a record profit for japan airlines which went bankrupt only two years ago. the company reported on monday that its operating profit went up nearly 9% in yen terms in fiscal 2011, totalling about $2.6 billion. jal said its profitability improved after it slashed costs and terminated money losing routes. but the airline is cautious about the outlook for the current fiscal year. that's because of rising fuel and labor costs. it predicts profit will fall over 26% from fiscal 2011 to about $1.9 billion. >> translator: even if the business environment changes quickly, we'll take proper action right away and try hard

to do better than we promised today. >> jal has been attempting to rebuild itself over the past two years after filing for bankruptcy protection. it is aiming to relist its shares on the tokyo stock exchange later this year. singapore is a country with big ambitions with few resources. the island nation has made its name as a center of finance, trade and biotechnology. nhk world yuko funizaka reports on what is next on its list of targets. >> reporter: leading hollywood production company lucas film picked singapore as the site of the first overseas studio. transformers, iron man, mission impossible, some of these digital effects are made here in singapore. singapore is a half day ahead of

the united states. that means lucas film can work 24 hours a day from its base in san francisco. 500 people now work at the singapore studio. 200 more will be hired over the next two years. >> singapore offers very good infrastructure, it intellectual property is protected, which is very important for us, and also we got very good support from the government to develop the entertainment business over the long term. >> reporter: next year, lucas film plans to open a new studio in the same multimedia industrial zone as the government funded mediapolis, now under construction. the singapore government will build state of the art facilities on the 19 acre site, including a special effects studio and a digital media lab. the aim is to bring together

producers with tv and other multimedia firms. established media giants are not the only targets. here, a government official welcomes the head of a japanese venture firm who came to seek advice. the singapore government even has an investment fund to support new content producers. >> translator: they have a variety of plans like hiring support and preferential treatment in finding offices. we hope to build a base here and enter partnership with the local firm to start a new web business. becau >> because we believe very strongly in the international potential of the media industry, we believe we are one of the best places in the world for home grown companies as well as

foreign companies to come and do things and create new media products and services. and this is one of our key tools for developing long-term. >> reporter: dna is a leading japanese provider of mobile phone games. the firm opened an office in singapore last year. this man is the director of market development. he recently invited local developers of game software to a company event. he let them try japanese games hoping to increase their interest in dna. some of the developers were apparently eager to sell their own games to the firm. >> everything is english right now. >> that's okay. that's okay. how much downloaded text?

>> half a million. >> half a million? oh, that's good. >> translator: as the game market expands rapidly in southeast asia, the region's leading talents and firms are gathering here. singapore is most likely to become a hub for the i.t. and game industries. >> reporter: singapore has years of experience attracting global talent and investment to its biomedical and other sectors. it is now hoping to replicate that success in the media industry, targeting both startups and major firms. yukio funazaki, nhk world, singapore. here is the latest market figures.

ninjitsu is a martial art practiced by ninja. the fighters of feudal japan. though ninjas are best known for their appearances in films and fighting moves are finding fans far from tokyo or hollywood. a growing number of women are taking up ninjitsu in iran. nhk world has the story.

>> reporter: once a week as many as 200 women gather in a park on the outer skirts of tehran. in their regular lives, they are housewives, office workers or students. but for now, they are ninja. >> translator: don't take your eyes off your opponent, even when drawing your sword. >> reporter: ninjitsu was introduced from japan about 20 years ago. these days around 3,000 women in iran are learning it as a method of self-defense or as a sport. >> translator: i like practicing self-defense techniques. >> translator: i used to watch ninja movies when i was a child, so i was keen to learn it. i found it is very good fun. >> reporter: one aspect of

ninjitsu that appeals to women is the uniform. in iran, women are required to wear head scarves and loose fitting clothes when they are out in public. the ninja garments meets iran's dress code. they are also considered stylish. this is one of the instructors. she teaches the novices. she was first introduced to ninjitsu ten years ago and was captivated by the elegance of the various moves. it was thanks to ninjitsu that she met her husband. the walls of the apartment are lined with weapons. for them, it is not just the physical skills, they are also fascinated by the underlying

history and culture. >> translator: since i started practicing ninjitsu, i have greater endurance. i hope to visit japan some day. >> reporter: she is keen to teach ninjitsu skills to her 2-year-old son as soon as he is big enough. far from japan, a new generation of ninjas is emerging in iran. nhk world, tehran. >> all right. it has been a beautiful day here in tokyo. that may not continue. robert speta has the weather for here and elsewhere. robert? >> wet and windy conditions on tap for your rest of your monday and then going into tuesday across most of japan here as an area of low pressure does push out of eastern china and already into western portions of japan and also the southern portions of the korean peninsula.

you have been seeing some wet weather throughout your day and going into tuesday, this whole frontal system is expected to push off towards the northeast, so wet weather expected across most of the japanese islands throughout the day on tuesday. this will be sure to have your umbrellas ready, but good news on wednesday, high pressure will start to bridge back in from the west, bringing some fair weather starting by wednesday morning, down there towards the western portions of the japanese islands. now, farther out here towards the west in the southeastern portions of china, you've been see something copious amount of rain due to the rainy season stationary front that has been continuing to linger here. and what this is caused by is the retreating of the siberian high toward the north and the building in of the west pack high off across the western pacific as the summer months start to heat up here. between these two, a trough is really setting up here. this is what is bringing this heavy amount of rainfall. and unfortunately an additional 100 millimeters could be found here in the guangdong and fujian provinces in the next 24 hours on top of the already flooding

rains you have been seeing for about a week now. south of this front, though, in hong kong, you're seeing some thunderstorm activity on your monday going into tuesday. while the philippines and indochina peninsula, some widespread rain showers are going to be popping up here, especially into the afternoon hours, while bangkok remains at 38 for your high. 27 out there in beijing. and ulan batur reaching all the way up to your midteens on your tuesday. now, let's look into the americas. because down here in the southwest, the desert southwest, you've been seeing some widespread dry and extreme heat here, actually about 2700 acres have burned in one particular wildfire, that's moving across here in the arizona desert. so it is going to be continuing to develop into the coming days. and also, this heat is pushing off towards the east and it is colliding with some moist air coming in out of the gulf of mexico. this is producing actually the severe weather risk here across the southern portions of texas and into the rio grande river where you already have seen some severe thunderstorm watches being posted. and going into monday afternoon

and evening hours, you could see a threat of some large hail, gusty winds and also the flash flooding potential as a lot of the rain showers drop really quickly during the course of about one to two hours here. off towards the east, though, in the eastern see board, you're seeing a very slow moving frontal system that is bringing some flood watches actually into the carolinas. and down towards the southeast into florida, even some heavy weather could be expected here, especially in your afternoon and evening hours. thunderstorms will be popping up across much of the florida peninsula, accompanied by warm heat here in miami at 31. washington, d.c. at 22. off towards the west, and los angeles at 23. and phoenix, you're looking at 40 for your high, compared to about july, usually see a temperature of 41. so some very warm temperatures being experienced here. now into europe, we continue to watch this area of low pressure spin just west of the scandinavian peninsula, bringing rain showers on shore across the british isles while into the east, actually the baltic

states, across the northwestern baltics, you've been seeing some unfavorable weather and some snowfall. i want to show you some pictures coming out of sarajevo here. this is just the sights you've been seeing there, up to ten centimeters fell throughout the day on monday. and temperatures dropped down to about negative 5 degrees, very unusual for this time of year as you can see, green leaves on the trees here, on top of snow. so very late season snowstorm being felt here, good news is it is going to slightly warm back up. on wednesday, more cold air will be spilling in, creating another risk of some wet snow out here, while temperatures also remain rather chilly in warsaw, high of 13. out towards the west, madrid, 27. lisbon at 30. here is a look at your extended outlook.

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