hello there and welcome to "newsline." it's thursday, june 14th, 8:00 a.m. in tokyo. i'm catherine kobayashi. syrian government strongholds have said the crisis in syria now resemble a civil war. the free syrian army has resumed attacks on government troops following a series of civilian massacres. the country's state television

on wednesday said that government troops had cleansed the northern town of haffa from terrorists and restored calm and claimed huge amounts of weapons had been seized. reportedly resulting in many civilian causalities. meanwhile, air raids have continued on opposition strongholds in central and eastern syria with tanks firing on the ground. a human rights group in syria says more than 100 civilians were killed between tuesday and wednesday alone. russia and iran have, again, rejected any foreign intervention in syria. the two countries have long-standing friendly relations with damascus. russian foreign minister and his

iranian counterpart met reporters following talks in tehran on wednesday. he said russia doesn't support any administration in syria, but he added that it cannot back foreign intervention attempting to bring stability in the country. he accepted an invitation to discuss the syrian crisis. >> translator: the iranian government has announced many times the issue of syria needs to be dealt with in syria by syrians, not with the interference of others. >> he warned against western nations, which he said are increasingly pushing for the end of president bashar al-assad. investigators in japan are trying to figure out if chinese officials broke international rules. u.n. sanctions are designed to keep north korea from building

up its military and have documents that prove a ship transported vehicles from china and say the vehicles could be used as launch pads for ballistic missiles. japan's coast guard, police, and customs officials say they found export documents of the ship in october at osaka port. they say the ship was operated by a company with suspected ties to a trading firm that's been designated for violating u.s. sanctions banning weapons and materials to north korea. they say the paperwork show the ship transported four large vehicles from shanghai. japanese officials say it's likely these vehicles matched those displayed during a military parade in april in north korea and say exporting this type of hardware violates resolutions that ban countries from sending materials related

to weapons of mass destruction to north korea. japanese officials are reporting their findings to the u.n. a chinese foreign ministry spokesperson is denying the accusati accusations. >> translator: china firmly opposing proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. we strictly implement u.n. resolutions. >> he added firms in china do not export goods that are banned by security council resolutions or chinese law. nhk world senior reporter gives us more insight into the special vehicles that have been transported to north korea. >> where the international community has raised concerns over the launch, which for the first time appeared in public in pyongyang on april 15th. this reportedly carries long-range missile, so if the

vehicles were exported to north korea, this could be in violation of u.n. security council resolutions. please, look at these pictures. the first one was taken at a military parade in pyongyang this april. the second picture is of special vehicles being manufactured by china. the shape of the front window resembles that of the vehicle that were parading in april. you can see that the same 16-wheeled vehicles made in china appeared in the military parade. the analysts have been saying this suggests the vehicles displayed in the parade were provided by china. transporting militaries related to weapons of mass destruction to north korea is a clear breach of u.n. security council resolutions. ballistic missiles included in this category making it possible that china violated the

resolutions. this remains unclear why china provided north korea with the vehicles, but shipping materials overseas requires the go ahead from beijing. therefore, it is likely that china, china's leadership approves export of vehicles and the knowledge north korea might use them for military purposes, but, please, look at the photo again as the vehicle seems to be for civilian purposes. china may have thought it did not violate the security council resolutions as it exported the vehicles to the north for the civilian purposes. the next question is, how's the international community react china's suspected breach of the u.n. resolutions? >> nhk world there. the u.s. marines hope a new environmental impact report will lessen opposition to the deployment of a controversial

aircraft in okinawa. the marines plan to deploy 24 mv-22 ospreys, but some are not happy with the idea. the report concludes that the short takeoff and landing aircraft poses no significant environmental impact and says the osprey can climb quickly and it's faster than the helicopter except when landing. it says pilots will use simulate tors in training. it also says the number of accidents over nine years up to 2011 was lower than the number for other helicopters currently in use. the government of okinawa is expected to seek further explanations after examining the report. heading to europe for the first time in nearly a quarter

century. details of the nobel laureate's trip. >> the last time she was in europe was 1988. she spent many of the intervening years under house arrest. leaving the airport on wednesday, she told reporters how she felt. she made her return to the international stage when she visited thailand earlier this month on her european tour, she's expected to seek support for the ongoing democratization of myanmar. she's due to give a an acceptance speech for the nobel peace price she won in 1991. she avoided the award ceremony at the time, concerned myanmar's

military government wouldn't allow her to return. the newly elected lawmaker will also visit england, where she lived until 1988. there she'll be reunited with her sons and also celebrate her 67th birthday. she leaves myanmar at a delicate time for the country following violent clashes between buddhists and muslims. some muslims have attempted to flee by boat, but many were refused permission to land. reuters reports hundreds have tried to flee myanmar and many headed by boat for bangladesh, but they are apparently being turned away. >> translator: yesterday, we sent them back. they were saying, please, kill us and throw our bodies into the river, just don't send us back. >> one man who made it on to

bangladesh's soil revealed the extent of the violence back home. >> translator: they killed three or four people in front of me. i was scared they'd kill me too, so i decided to flee to bangladesh. this is a muslim country, so i hoped they'd give us shelter. >> most live in the western province, but they are denied citizenship in myanmar. they follow islam, unlike the 90% of people in myanmar who are buddhists. the united nations estimate 200,000 living in bangladesh. they say they often suffer persecution. myanmar's president on sunday declared a state of emergency in rakine. hillary clinton is calling for reconciliati reconciliation.

the violence has clouded optimism in myanmar, even so, many international companies have taken steps to invest in what's being called asia's last frontier. among them is a big trading company from japan, which opened an office in the capital last week. nhk world has more. >> reporter: president and ceo of one of japan's leading trading companies. in june, he visited myanmar's largest city. he met with representatives of the business community to strengthen ties. >> translator: so many people are coming to myanmar from all over the world because the country's politics and economy are changing radically. >> reporter: the main purpose of the visit was to inaugurate his company's new office in the capital.

several high-ranking members of the myanmar government attended the opening. >> translator: myanmar has tremendous potential thanks to its wealth of natural resources and excellent workforce. that's why we view it as one of our top eight strategic partners in the world. >> so all the important decision can be made in the capital. that's why opening the office is very important, very meaningful. >> reporter: one key factor that enabled the opening of the office was the japanese government's decision to resume to myanmar for the first time in 25 years. using loans to develop industrial zones and other large-scale infrastructure projects could create important business opportunities for japanese companies. but other rivals from japan are

also boosting their presence here. so he says he's keen to get to work. >> translator: we need to be proactive in making business proposals. i want to pursue opportunities in myanmar more aggressively. >> reporter: with a population of 60 million and abundant natural resources, myanmar has much economic potential. companies are hoping for continued progress and stability and that myanmar's economic door continues to open. nhk world. and that's going to wrap up our bulletin in bangkok. south korea's economic policy is drawing wide attention ahead of the presidential election later this year. a reporter spoke with professor

from the university on the government's role for the country's sustainable growth. >> what do you think are some of the biggest problems facing the south korean economy? >> translator: the biggest problem is the economic slowdown. there's been a major debate in south korea on whether to focus on economic growth or wealth distribution, but because the average income is only $20,000, we should focus on economic growth until the income figure reaches at least $30,000. >> and what would be some of the solutions? >> translator: currently, south korea's annual economic growth is about 4%, but the economy must grow to a level near its potential gdp. until 1987, economic growth had

been led by the government. since that year, the country had been promoting the democratization of politics and the economy. only when the government hands over the economic role it has been playing to the market, sustainable growth will be possible. to achieve this, south korea needs a process in which the market and the government work together and come up with an appropriate system to deal with various issues. >> with the december presidential election ahead of us, regulations targeting big businesses are one of the areas of key interest for the general public. how do you see that? >> translator: south korean people are very angry now. even if they try hard, they often can't find work. the high unemployment rate among young people has become a major social issue. the issue of wealth distribution is becoming more serious. in the parliamentary session in

april, both parties came up with policies for so-called economic democratization. from an economyist's point of view, it's unlikely to improve the economy or wealth distribution. i think it's clear, however, that the government will move in that direction. >> the professor from sogan university. people in japan's northeast are focussed 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 successes on "the road ahead" here on "newsline." a group of students at a junior high school in northeastern japan were a bit more excited than normal on wednesday when they took to the basketball court.

it wasn't an upcoming game that had them enthused, rather, it was more like a return of a long, lost friend, a basketball that had floated across the pacific ocean. the ball was swept away by last year's march 11th tsunami. after months of being pounded by storms and scorched by the sun, it washed up in alaska in march. on wednesday, it was delivered by two pilots from the u.s. cargo carrier fed ex. the basketball was found on an alaskan island by a high school student. the name of the school was written on it. everyone at the school survived the tsunami, but the building was destroyed. the students are now using an abandoned building at another junior high school.

they are considering putting the returned basketball on display at the school. people forced to move after the nuclear accident left behind homes, possessions, and livelihoods. many had to give up their animals, too, pets or livestock. on "the road ahead," we have a story of a cattle farmer that refused to leave his herd behind. >> reporter: he is back in business, sent into exile by a nuclear disaster, he is raising cattle again 200 kilometers from his hometown. and the herd came with him, a brand of japanese black cattle. kobayashi ran his farm in

fukushima prefecture for 23 years. he had 120 animals when the accident happened. kobayashi's entire village was designated an evacuation zone. saving his herd was all that mattered. leaving the cattle with friends outside fukushima, he searched for a new place to raise them. >> translator: if it wasn't for the nuclear accident, my life would have gone on just as before, normal and peaceful. >> kobayashi had help getting back on his feet. a stock breeder, when he heard about the distressed farmers up north, he started searching around for vacant homes and cow sheds. >> translator: i wanted to do all i could to bring the animals and farmers down here to join us in chiba prefecture.

>> kobayashi relocated three months after the accident. he is the only one back from the village still operating a full cattle operation, breeding, raising, and shipping. but radioactive material has been detected in pastures even outside fukushima prefecture. the straw kobayashi feeds his cattle is all carefully screened. >> people are staying away from things grown or raised in fukushima, so i've been very careful to give safe feed to the cattle. >> kobayashi made his first shipment in april. he was happy with the sale price, which was close to the pre-disaster rate. here is where some of that shipment ended up, a temporary housing site in fukushima city.

kobayashi wanted people from his village to be the first to eat the evacuated beef. kobayashi's wife joined the cook up, offering her former neighbors a taste of home. >> translator: delicious. >> translator: this tastes great. >> other doors are opening up for kobayashi. this convenient store chain is supporting the recovery effort. they have offered to sell his beef on the internet. >> translator: kobayashi's effort really moved us, so we offered to sell his beef on our web shop and give many people a chance to buy it. >> reporter: but selling is only half the business for kobayashi. he says it's now his business to keep the breed alive. he is working for the farmers who had to give up raising cattle. >> translator: i really want

these cows to survive. i evacuated them all the way here to keep them alive, so i want to continue to take good care of them. >> reporter: good care and careful breeding, kobayashi has expanded his herd to 170. he is aiming to sell around 40 head by the end of the year. all right, time now to take a look at the market figures.

all right, rachel ferguson joins us now with the world weather forecast, good morning, rachel. >> good morning, catherine. >> you've been talking about the storm developing in the pacific, what's happening with it now? >> all right, yes, we have a storm in the pacific, as you mentioned. it's a tropical storm, and it is strengthening. we've seen the winds increase, intensify, now moving west at 20 kilometers an hour and the gusts are up, so it looks like it's going to be curving in towards the northern philippines, perhaps making landfall on sunday. that's 18 utc, but actually it will be becoming a typhoon by saturday morning. landfall is possible here, but

also possible it could swerve further to the east and head towards taiwan. now, a tropical system like this is always a concern, but particularly for taiwan. it has been receiving astronomical amounts of rain over the last several days, extreme heavy rain totaling over a meter and a half has fallen in parts of the island. there's a severe flooding situation right now, but as you can see, the front that's been supplying the heavy rain has not moved very far, so we're continuing to see the heavy rain coming down in taiwan, and down in towards the southern coast of chi china. you could see up to 250 millimeters of additional rainfall on your thursday. now, up towards the north there's also some heavy rain falling. this system is going to be lingering for the next day or so in and around northern china, so ongoing rain with some short-time bursts of heavy rain

as well in that and thunderstorms. most of japan seeing clear skies today, but we'll see rain moving into the south, once again, from friday. all right, here are your temperatures, looking quite dry in much of central china and out towards the east is helping the temperatures to rise, 30 degrees in shanghai, even up to 30 in seoul. little cooler, clear skies and good spells of sunshine in tokyo at 24. 24s also the expected high in bator. north america now, talking about what's going on in the plains, some severe storms just along the new mexico border into te we've also got severe storms targeting central canada. that's going to move further towards the east during the course of the day, coming into the upper midwest. staying very dry to the southwest around the four corners, severe fire danger from new mexico up through into wyoming. it looks like there's rain falling here, but it really is

not a significant amount of moisture coming in, so seeing very dry with drought conditions in the southwest. out to the east, the rain is starting to move out finally after a very soggy week, although showers will remain along the gulf coast there towards the east and through florida. the heat is building in the south, 41 in phoenix and down in towards the south of texas, those heat indexes will be reaching up above 100 fahrenheit. as we head into europe, another storm is bringing heavy rain and strong winds here and in across parts of france and into the low countries over the next several days, so not a great start to the weekend. another storm system moving across poland and western russia, those staying mostly clear and dry with still a lot of heat building to the southeast in and around the black sea region.

and that wraps up this edition of "newsline." i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. thanks for joining us.