regional solidarity. southeast asian foreign ministers meet to figure out how to settle longstanding territorial disputers with a powerful neighbor. welcome to nhk "newsline." members of the association of southeast asian nations are holding intense discussions in the cambodian capital phom penh. they are trying to deal with territorial skirmishes involving china and the south china sea. the disputed waters are thought

to hold vast reserves of valuable natural resources. the asean foreign ministers will hold a week of meetings and they'll also sit down with chinese and japanese counterparts. nhk world's dhra dhirakaosal has more. >> the code of conduct is what everyone is talking about, otherwise known as the coc, proposed legally set of protocols for resolving disputes in the south china sea. asean foreign ministers discussed the coc. it will also be high on the agenda involving china over the coming days. cambodian prime minister thein sein said they should use this week's meetings with china, the united states and japan and other countries to make progress on regional security. >> reporter: several southeast

asian nations, including vietnam and the philippines are at odds with china over sovereignty of islands in the south china sea. the area is a potential source of oil and gas reserves. at monday's meeting, asean ministers agreed on the basic elements of the code of conduct. a draft of the code of conduct obtained by nhk says nations should respect international law. it adds that the coc should be a way of preventing conflicts and it also calls for a mech noimp review whether participating countries are following the coc. the foreign minister's discussions lasted for longer than scheduled, and in the end, they agreed on key elements of the coc, but failed to announce in joint communique on monday. that suggests differences of opinions exist between asean members. asean nations will bring the issue to the meetings with china over the coming days but it's unclear whether china will agree

to start drafting the code of conduct. >> nhk world's dhra dhirakaosal in phnom penh. china and taiwan dispute the claim. a spokesperson for the prime minister yoshihiko noda says the government is working on a plan to solidify its control of the territory. the five uninhabited islets live off okinawa. the state owns one of them. it's been renting the others from a japanese family since 2002. now the noda administration is considering buying them. >> the purpose is to ensure peaceful and stable management of the islands and surrounding waters. buying them instead of continue the present one-year lease would help do that. >> the chief cabinet secretary

fujimora denies the existence of a dispute over the senkakus. he says international law back ups japan's claim. the government will maintain tight security on the islands. officials are involved in a number of different negotiations. chinese leaders aren't happy about this real estate deal. here's what foreign ministry spokesperson yu wei min had to say. >> translator: no one will ever be allowed to buy or sell china's sacred territory. china will protect its sovereignty over the islands. >> yui said the government told china that japan has owned the islands since ancient times. this is based on historical and legal evidence. china has put pressure on stability ahead of a reshuffle of the communist party leadership slated for this year. they're also wary of rising anti-japanese sentiment among the public. prime minister noda has the sanking feeling again. a new approval poll shows his

rating is low and his disapproval rating is high. voters aren't happy about his leadership or his policies. and more of them disagree with his plan to cover japan's debt and pay for its aging society. noda's approval rating is at 27%. it's the lowest level since he took office last september. his disapproval rating is at its highest level since he became prime minister. it's now 56%. 51% of those expressing disapproval do not expect much from noda's policies. it also looked at the prime minister's decision to raise japan's consumption tax, part of the reform package we just mentioned. 30% of those support the plan. 38% disapprove. nhk world's maioko has been covering japanese politics. prime minister noda facing the same problem as some of his predecessors. we're talking about plunging popularities here once again.

why are the voters not behind it? >> well, noda took office promising to rebuild northeastern japan following the disaster while balancing economic growth and fiscal reform. our po suggests voters don't like how he's following through on those pledges. he's planning to raise the consumption tax from 5% to 10%. noda's popularity has been dropping since he took power less than a year ago. he started out with 60% support rating. that's fallen to less than 30% as we just saw. the prime minister staked his political career on the tax hike and it sparked a revolt within his ruling democratic party. he says the revenue is needed to finance japan's debt and pay growing social security costs. but japanese taxpayers have told us they want noda to do more to cut wasteful government spending before anything else. the results in our poll suggest noda will have to work hard to

win back public support. >> and it's not just voters he has to woo back. as you mentioned, noda is dealing with problems within his own party. what impact could that have on noda as prime minister? >> well, noda faced a rebellion two weeks ago when the lower house voted on the consumption tax hike and other financial reform bills. 73 democratic party lawmakers did not support the bills. some of them quit and are working to form a new party. now the question is what the dpj dissidents and defectors will do if the opposition puts forward a nonconfidence motion against noda. it's considering doing that once the financial reform bills become law. if these disdents and defectors vote in favor of the motion, it could pass. one key dpj lawmaker, a former prime minister, indicated monday he would support the motion. if noda loses the vote, he'll be

forced to call a general election or resign. >> thanks, mayuko ambe. a south korean man has crashed a truck into the embassy in seoul. he was protesting against the issue of so-called comfort women during world war ii. police in the capital say the 62-year-old drove into the embassy's main gate monday at around 5:00 a.m. no one was injured. the man reportedly told investigators he wanted to send a message about japan's handling of issues involving korean women forced to work in brothels for japanese soldiers. a slogan declaring sovereignty over disputed islets in the sea of japan covered the truck. both countries claim islands. japanese embassy staff filed a protest with the foreign ministry urging it to prevent similar incidents.

finance ministers from 17 eurozone nations will be getting together in brussels soon. they'll be discussing how to implement measures that top european leaders agreed last month to contain the debt crisis. the meeting is set to begin at eu headquarters later on monday. up on the agenda is how to use an eu bailout fund to directly inject money into struggling banks and to stabilize bond markets for debt-ridden nations facing high borrowing costs. at a summit late last month, leaders agreed to dip into the stability mechanism to help the region's ailing economies like spain and italy. the finance ministers are also expected to talk about the scale and conditions of assistance for spain. in addition, they plan to take up the greek government's request to relax the conditions for austerity measures the eu has imposed in return for financial support but bailout talks with the spanish and greek

governments aren't going well. and it's not clear how much the ministers can do during their -- or ministers can do during their latest meeting. china's june consumer price index rose at its lslowest pace for nearly 2 1/2 years. the national bureau of statistics said the index grew by 2.2% from the same month last year. that's the lowest level since january 2010. for the six-month period through june, inflation stood at 3.3%, lower than the government's target of 4%. falling commodity prices come amid government efforts to expand food distribution and tame inflation. but consumption itself is also thought to be weakening as the european debt crisis casts a cloud over the chinese economy. chinese authorities cut the benchmark interest rate for the second month in a row to support the economy. observers expect more monetary easing now that consumer prices appear to be stabilizing.

a bit of good news about japan's economy for a change. corporate bankruptcies fell in the first half of this year. that's because of reconstruction demand following last year's earthquake and tsunami. private credit research company says 5,760 companies went belly up between january and june down 1.5% from a year earlier. officials say demand in the areas hit by last year's disaster was a big help for japanese businesses. corporate failures and the construction industry declined 10.3%. while the manufacturing sector showed a 12.6% drop. the officials note a law that allows small businesses to postpone loan repayments is also producing results. but the legislation is set to expire in march next year. officials say they could lead to an increase in bankruptcy later this year. here are the latest market figures.

a lead u.s. negotiator and u.n. weapon trade talks says the united states will oppose regulation of ammunition sales. some countries are calling for restricting of trade in bullets. the u.s. is the bifth arms exporter. thomas countryman made the following comment to nhk. >> ammunition is different from the weapons that we hope to capture in this treaty. ammunition is fungible, it's

expendible. it can be reloaded. it doesn't last forever. so we remain opposed to inclooding ammunition. >> countryman added that large exporters are concerned about the restrictions laid now the the treaty. he said they are worried the document could be an obstacle to legal arms sales. ammunition is just one of the many thorny issues facing the participants in the talks which are scheduled to run until july 27th. diplomats around the world have grown weary with afghan president hamid karzai. many argue he's done little to tackle corruption. still they pledged $16 billion at a conference in tokyo over the weekend toward rebuilding afghanistan. donors urged karzai to make sure the money gets to where it's supposed to. nhk world's hideki yui reports. >> reporter: another flight arrives at kabul international airport. japanese government provided

millions to open the airport here four years ago. it's become a gateway for people, supplies, the things afghans need to rebuild. >> without the help of the international community, we cannot build such a terminal. >> reporter: building the airport was one thing. supplying it with electricity was another. solar panels supply half the airport's electricity. a japanese business set them up. japanese will also contribute to enlargement of the airport scheduled for next year. the construction is going on to expand the taxiways at the airport. this is one of the japanese government's projects. officials with the organization for economic cooperation and development said the japanese government gave up b $2.6 billion over the last 11 years.

that's second only to the u.s. contribution which was more than $16 billion. some of the aid helps people who live in the suburb of kabul. donors provided the funds for this well and others like it. >> translator: i'm happy that we got water. >> translator: our standards of living are better than before. >> reporter: still more than one-third of afghans live in poverty. residents of the northern province have not received assistance from the government who are from abroad. so villagers went back to an old source of revenue. growing poppies to produce opium. the karzai administration had tried to stop the practice. the taliban rely on opium as a main source of funding. abdul muhammad earned little

income in the five years before he turned to farming. he says government officials have not kept their promise to build irrigation facilities and provide seeds for alternative crops. he has seven children to feed. he says he had little choice but to grow poppies and sell them to the taliban. >> translator: we don't care who buys the poppies. my children would starve to death if i didn't grow the plants. >> reporter: mohammed says public servants and wealthy afghans steal much of the international aid. and people like him are left to struggle just to get by. >> earlier, i spoke with hideki yui, nhk's correspondent in cab pumhe was back in tokyo to cover the international donor's conference. they are turning to like growing

opium, poppies. where is all the money going? >> well, it's going where international donors fear it's going. those looking into corruption in afghanistan said it reaches all the way up. >> i have two cases from two ministers, very serious cases. i have cases from the government -- from the governor of provinces. the most corrupt country in the world. >> once again, international donors said karzai must do more to win back trust. they say he must take a stronger measures to fight corruption. >> karzai also needs to take into account the role of the taliban. why is the taliban still so powerful? >> well, many afghans are frustrated with the delays in reconstruction. some see the taliban as a preferable alternative to the karzai government. these afghans provide them with cover and the taliban can recruit new fighters there. another reason for the

resurgence is that the taliban have a sanctuary in waziristan along the pakistani side of the border. the pakistani military doesn't patrol there and many residents oppose the u.s. military presence. so all these factors contribute to the power of the taliban. >> it appears it's going to be take something time for afghans to stand on their own. how might that be accomplished? >> well, international donors currently provide the bulk of afghan's national budget. the afghans have a need to build up their own industries. farmers make up 80% of the population. so agriculture products would be one area to focus on. the mining industry also provides another hope. afghan government officials want to encourage 40 investors to explore deposits of copper and oil. interest from china and india have already started. but, like many, nthey are worrid about security and afghan officials cannot hope to attract investment until they get --

foreign minister ali akb akbar salehi say they want a negotiated solution to the dispute over their nuclear program. salehi said government leaders have no intention of closing the strait of hormuz. >> we will take good care of the security of the persian gulf because persian gulf and strait of hormuz is important for iran as well as for the regional countries and for the international community. >> salehi said the iranians want regular meetings with their counterparts in the west. he said they're ready to allow the international atomic energy agency to conduct surprise inspections of nuclear facilities. >> we can extend this to additional protocol, additional protocol would give more leeway, but this we can do when we reach

a mutual agreement. >> salehi said they would only allow the inspections if international negotiators acknowledge the iranians' right to a peaceful nuclear program. in cambodia, the government and the world health organization have found a clue regarding the origin of a mysterious disease blamed for the deaths of more than 50 children. they say a virus that causes hand, foot and mouth disease may be responsible. the w.h.o. says the unidentified disease has been spreading in central and southern cambodia since april. it affects children, mainly infants aged 3 or younger. symptoms include a high fever and in serious cases pneumonia and encephalitis. the disease is lethal with 56 deaths confirmed so far. a joint investigation by the cambodian government and the w.h.o. found samples from 15 of the victims tested positive for entero virus 71. the virus causes hand, foot and

mouth disease, a condition with symptoms similar to those affecting the children in cambodia. the country's health minister said investigations are ongoing. he said the government and the w.h.o. hope to conclude their investigation within days. the w.h.o. has ruled out the possibility that the deaths are caused or were caused by influenza. it's calling on parents to seek medicine medical assistance if their children show symptoms such as high fever. mmyanmar's opposition leade aung san suu kyi has taken part in parliament for the first time. she said there was plenty of work still needed to promote democracy in myanmar. the new session of parliament opened on wednesday last week in the capital. around 40 lower and upper house members of the largest opposition national league for democracy have been taking part for the first time. aung san suu kyi arrived to make her debut on monday.

she was absent for the first three days citing exhaustion and other public duties. >> aung san suu kyi listened to proceedings but did not speak at monday's session. deliberations focused on myan r myanmar's infrastructure including airports and roads. their stated goal is to have parliament revise the pro-military constitution. the party may explore the possibility of joining hands with other opposition forces as it occupies less than 10% of the seats in parliament. it was a hot day here in tokyo with highs reaching the upper 20s. robert speta has the weather for here and elsewhere. rob snert. >> gene, a big dome of high pressure is what is causing all this beautiful weather across most of japan. tokyo seeing temperatures into the high 20s. some areas seeing them into the low 30s as well.

good news, though it does look like this is going to be persisting going into your tuesday. may see isolated pop-up thunderstorms in the interior of honshu here. the weather will be continuing. remain rather great across most of the region here. farther off towards the west, the rainy season boundary in central and eastern china bringing heavily rainfall. about 100 millimeters of rainfall could be expected in some areas in the next 24 hours here. this is bringing the risk of flooding and even further landslides here. on your tuesday, though, you can see this area of low pressure is expected to develop up and push off towards the east into the korean peninsula. and going through wednesday morning, could be seeing some scattered thunderstorms. could be severe at time across most of this region. then into the evening hours, expect that to clear up, specifically in seoul as that front continues to push off toward the east. toward the south and southeastern china, warm weather is beginning to dominate this region. over toward the philippines and southwest monsoon. still bringing heavy rain

showers accompanied by isolated thunderstorms. and there's that risk of a localized flash floodings. now looking at temperatures, hong kong with a high 363. shanghai, above average by about 5 degrees with a high of 37 for you. and tokyo, sunny skies on your tuesday with a high of $29. over towards the americas, let's first talk about the eastern pacific here. a couple of swirls down here. this is amelia. and danielle further off toward the west. amelia and danielle, it's brother storm really here. they are both fish storms that we call them. that means they'll not be impact anything land masses at all. this one continues to be a hurricane but is pushing toward the west while danielle is continuing to weaken actually as it continues to push off there just south of the big island of hawaii. could be kick up high seas there across the southern portions of the state here. it doesn't look like any severe weather will be occurring as that continues to weaken out to a tropical depression. may see high waves, even rain

showers with the outer rain bands of this. back to the mainland. frontal boundary. you could be seeing some thunderstorm activity. monsoonal rains as well over towards portions of new mexico, texas and oklahoma. risk of flash flooding is also persisting there. but heat is still remaining here in towards arizona. actually phoenix, you could be seeing a high into the mid-40s. extensive heat warnings. look at the northeast. last week seeing highs into the 40s across portions of chicago, even towards new york. now at 30 and 31 on your monday. now in europe, the iberian peninsula, high pressure is dominating most of the region here bringing hot weather. but fair weather. north of that, though, a low pressure area is spinning, keeping it cool. heavy rain showers toward the scandinavian peninsula. central europe, you could be seeing rain showers due to an upper level disturbance that's continuing to push through this region. but temperatures as well across

most of the mediterranean, hot, hot here. rome with a high of 30. athens, take a look at that. 39 on your tuesday. out there toward the west, london only a high of 19 with that low keeping it rather cool for you. now here's a look at your extended outlook.

once again our lead story -- foreign ministers of asean have kicked off a four-day meeting in the cambodian capital. one of the main items on the agenda is the creation of rules to govern territorial disputes in the south china sea. cambodian prime minister called for an adoption of the code of conduct among the nations involved in the disputes. it would act as a framework to prevent conflict and include a mechanism to monitor the behavior of both countries. they'll discuss the idea on wednesday with chinese representatives. they'd also hold security talks at the asean regional form on on thursday together with their counterparts from the united states, china and japan. we'll be back with more updates in 30 minutes. i'm gene otani in tokyo.

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