> battle for damascus. syrian opposition forces score a major victory in their fight to win control of the capital. welcome to nhk world "newsline." >> people watching are wondering if there is a turning point. observers believe antigovernment forces were behind the blast.

antigovernment forces launched their attack on sunday going after the spokesperson. gun shots and explosions have been going off around army facilities close to the presidential office. military leaders in the assad administration are vowing to defend. information minister says the terrorists under estimate the government's will. workers at japan's fukushima daiichi are starting a delicate operation that's key to controlling the nuclear plant. and decommissioning the reactors. they've started removing unused fuel rods from storage pool in the number 4 reactor. one of the units damaged in last year's accident.

more than 1500 fuel rods are currently stored in the pool. na includes 200 unused ones. workers removed one of the unused fuel rods on a trial basis, safer to deal with used ones because they don't emit much radioactivity. tepco staff are monitoring radiation levels and footage from under water camera to make sure they remove the right rod. they say the operation went smoothly and they'll take another one soon. they'll inspect the metal containers of the collected rods in late august to determine whether there is any corrosion or other damage. they want to begin extracting the remaining rods starting in december of 2013 but they still have to figure out to remove the more dangerous used fuel rods. experts argue tepco workers will face other challenges, for one they say the reactor four building wouldn't withstand a strong earthquake. on top of that, they point out crews will first need to clear the debris around the storage pool.

the fukushima accident forced operators to gradually shut down all of japan's nuclear reactors. the government decided last month to put two units put online at the ohi plant. the first reactor reached full operating capacity nine days ago. engineers just restarted the second one. the ohi plant operator say rods that prevented nuclear fission inside unit four were lifted around 9:00 p.m. japan time. barring any major disruption, it could reach full operating capacity in one week. the government says the plan's output is essential to prevent power shortages and weekly protests were sparked in front of the prime minister's office and culminated monday in a massive demonstration against nuclear power in tokyo. organizers say 170,000 people participated in the rally. they called on the government to

cancel the restarts and phase out nuclear power in japan. announcements out of north korea are often brief and can't be taken at face value. we've learned of a reshuffle in top army generals. the latest revelation is that the leader kim jong-un has earned a new title, marshall of the democratic people's republic of korea. both events point to one outcome, kim now has the country, his father and grandfather led, firmly in his grasp. the korean central news agency made the announcement on wednesday in a special bulletin. it said a decision was made to award the title of marshall of the dprk to kim jong-un. kim became supreme court commander of the nation's military at the end of 2011, succeeding his late father kim jong-il. members appointed him first chairman of the national defense commission, the center of the country's power. kim also assumed the top post of

first secretary of the ruling workers party in april. he's currently the leader of all three branches of power, the state, the military and the ruling party. kim's latest promotion follows a reshuffle within his circle ri was considered a close mentor to kim. earlier i spoke with nhk world's -- what are the implication of the changes involving kim and his inner circles? >> north krooen -- careeren authorities are trying to show people at home and abroad that kim has a complete grip on the country as a whole. this is evident if you look at how they plan the official announcement state-run media said the workers party central commission and central military commission and national defense

commission and the supreme people's assessbly, all applaud the decision. kim jong-un is a supreme commander of the military. his new title shows the key groups are pledging additional support. kim's father and grandfather held the title of marshall of the dprk. this promotion means kim has achieved this acquisition of power within his family, which is rare among social states. >> we've been talking about ri yong ho when he lost his top military post then this announcement comes. what's happening in north korea? >> south korean experts say a new phase of struggles is brewing. >> translator: the workers party and kim's leadership seem to be taking this opportunity to control the military as it has become too powerful. they aim to keep the army in check by dismissing vice marshall ri yong ho. >> south korean president lee myung bak responded to the

announcement by summoning ministers and officials in charge of foreign affairs and security. he instructed them to work closely with other nations involved. kim jong-un emerged as his father's successor nearly two years ago. analysts and politicians considered him inexperienced when he took over last december. but from what we can tell, he's maintained north korea's top-down power structure. university professor told me that kim is also trying to promote younger generations of people to positions. kim is hand picking individuals who are faithful to him to put in key posts to solidify his power base and also trying to put his own stamp on the regime. keep in mind, kim has only been a leader for seven months. his regime will likely go

through more changes as i goes into his role. on wednesday two countries pulled their troops back so welcoming tensions to allow the focus to shift to preparing the site. >> reporter: the temple stands atop a dramatic cliff in north cambodia. the 1,000 year structure is known as the temple in the sky. military clashes between thailand and cambodia have erupted sporadically since 2008. that year they accepted a cambodian application as a war site.

more than 50 people were killed last year alone. many civilians lost their homes. but, relations between the two nations have improved. in july both governments agreed to withdraw their troops from the disputed region. the withdrawal started on wednesday. on the cambodian side, about 500 troops started to withdraw from an area near the temple throwing a ceremony attended by the defense minister and military officials. the character significance of the temple is often compared with that of -- but military experiences have damaged the structure.

its pyramids are littered with holes from gun fire and shirring. sections of some walls have been destroyed. >> international support is needed to help protect the world heritage site from all forms of violence. >> the military standoff has eased but the political situation remains unstable. the damaged temple is largely deserted, calls are being held to prepare and protect this dedicated site.

the unemployment rate in the european union stood at 10% in may. the commissioner in charge of employment social affairs and inclusion spoke to nhk in tokyo. >> the policies are also contributing to the employment crisis. there was indeed a sharp rise of unemployment resulting in many social difficulties, also some immigration from the countries which is very unfortunate. >> to boost the labor market andor says they need to boost job trading and urged setting up ways to help jobless people find work in other nations across the eu. he emphasized the effectiveness depends on whether economic growth plans can be implemented.

>> it's also very important that there is progress with the macro economic stabilization and the crisis would be handled properly. >> world bank officials say around three-quarters of the global population have access to a mobile phone. a report by the bank released on tuesday says mobile phone subscriptions worldwide have grown to over $6 billion, more than six times the figure in 2000. this suggest the number could soon exceed the human population. out of the 6 billion subscribers, 5 billion are in developing countries in asia and africa. those nations handsets with sim cards and prepaid types are in wide use. world bank vice president for sustainable development says that mobile communications offer major opportunities to advance human and economic development. she says they can provide basic access to health information and making cash payments, spurring job creation and stimulating citizen involvement in democratic processes.

here are the latest market figures. people who run tokyo's international airport are trying to deal with a threat in the sky. they found a new way to stop a bird strike, when birds fly into planes or get sucked into engines. >> reporter: haneda, the busiest airport in japan. hundreds of flights take off and land every day and air traffic

controllers try to keep passengers and crews safe from a number of risks, including the one posed by birds. birds strike the providence in 2009, a u.s. airways pilot drove his plane into a flight of geese after taking off from new york's laguardia's airport, the birds shut the engine down forcing the pilot to make an emergency landing on the hudson river. more than 10% of all bird strike cases at japan's airports have been at haneda, the number surged by nearly 40% after haneda's operators opened a new runway in 2010. this is how they've been trying to prevent bird strikes. the noise mimics the cry birds use when they are under attack.

the sound is not just loud, it also makes birds fear they or other members of their species are at risk. still airport safety officials say more could be done to prevent bird strike. so they've introduced a new system to keep planes safe. now, the transport ministry has invested about $12 million on the new system. airport workers installed six devices and three cameras around runways. the radar can detect flocks of birds up to three and a half kilometers away. the cameras collect information on species. the system is the first of its kind in the world. here's how it works. data gathered is immediately sent to flight information officers. >> translator: you can see the flock of birds flying in this direction.

>> the officers warn captains of potential risks. then they order patrollers to trigger distress sounds and fire scatter guns with blanks to scare away birds. the system is particularly effective at night when 40% of bird strike cases occur. the radar can predict precisely where birds are. >> collecting information about the species of birds and their activities allows us to define preventive measures. i hope they reduce the risk of bird strike. >> the japanese government plans to install the new system of airports across the country if it works at haneda. people who fly would say even if it prevents one incident of bird strike, it's worth of investment. nhk world, haneda airport, tokyo.

the united states european union and other countries have imposed tough sanctions against iran to stop the country's nuclear development. israel's government says the measures may not be enough. some of the country's officials are threatening a preemptive strike on iran's nuclear facilities. in the judicial arena, israeli attorneys are using another tactic. they are imposing legal sanctions on iron and are winning massive financial judgments. from jerusalem. >> reporter: every year a conservative jewish organizations gives awards to people it thinks have made contributions to israel's national interests. earlier this year, this woman was chosen for winning large compensations in lawsuits against countries accused of being state sponsors of terrorism, including iran.

>> reporter: this gentleman is the plaintiff represented by her in the lawsuit. he lost one of his daughters in a terrorist attack in israel nine years ago. another daughter was seriously injured. here is how the lawsuit proceeded. the attackers were believed to be palestinian militants belonging to the group islamic jihad, but the plaintiff sued the iranian government claiming it was financially involved in supporting the group. the judicial battle took place in the united states. u.s. law allows governments of countries listed as state sponsors of terrorism to be sued. the plaintiff's lawyer called experts to testify at the

hearing at the district court to prove iran's involvement in the case. in february last year, the court partially accepted the plaintiff's argument and ordered iran to pay about $52 million in compensation. >> if everyone with heart and soul countries that are involved, i believe it will minimize countries from being part of terror. >> reporter: when she wins a lawsuit, she searches the u.s. for seized assets of the sued government and demands they hand over. she has so far found and seized $120 million of assets from countries like iran and other organizations. >> the military fights terrorism

militarily. the government fights terrorism diplomatically. both of them cannot do what we do. governments have political constrains. they have foreign relationships they have to take into considering. they have international treatise. we don't. we don't have any constraints. >> reporter: she gets support from jewish americans for her legal battles in the united states. here she's meeting jewish lawyers and judges invited from the u.s. she takes them on a tour of israel's northern border with lebanon. this where the shia muslim movement, hezbollah, is based. iran is believed to be supporting the group. nitsana stressed that fighting and winning compensation from iranian government will eventually bring peace to israel. >> by obstructing iran from using the hard currency, we are

obstructing them from funding terrorism. we all know that money moves everything. it's right for terror organizations as well. in order to collect it, we need long arms in different countries so we bring all these people from europe, from the united states, from canada to build these connections that will help us. >> reporter: taking advantage of u.s. law to put pressure on iran seems to be winning strategy for israeli attorneys. they are using it as another weapon to stop iran's nuclear development. earlier shery ahn spoke with nhk reporter in jerusalem.

what do israelis think of these legal tactics? >> reporter: many people seem to strongly support them. in may this year, a similar lawsuit saw the israeli side beat the governments of iran and syria in court. the media here gave a lot of coverage to the case, and lawyers were treated like national heroes. people i talked to on the streets of jerusalem said the lawsuit was filed to seek justice on behalf of israelis who have been killed in past terrorist attacks. it seems as if the public is supporting this legal fight against iran, not only politically and militarily, but also at the grassroots level. this apparently shows just how much anti-iran sentiment is growing in israel. >> but what about iran? how are officials there reacting? >> reporter: for the most part, iranian government has been trying to ignore these tactics. iranian officials say the claims are baseless, with no concrete evidence. they see no ground for israeli accusations that iran is

supporting organizations that carry out attacks. but iran cannot afford to ignore this development. israeli authorities have successfully seized iran's frozen asset in the united states and elsewhere, so iranian government is now fighting back in court represented by its own lawyers so the judicial arena between israel and iran is set to grow. the u.s. and the e.u. tries to put more pressure on the government of tehran with tougher sanctions. from the weather team here's mai shoji. mai? >> hi. we have been tracking the severe tropical storm. downgraded to a tropical storm on its way towards the southern tip of south korea. it will be skimming across the

northern peninsula. it will bring a lot of down pours. we are talking about in the next 48 hours about 180 millimeters in a lot of areas. some areas could exceed about 200 millimeters. talking about seoul which is the capital of south korea. we can see it reach up to 100 meters. flooding is going to be a huge issue especially in the coastal area. high waves are also picking up. that includes kyushu, as well.

we have a report of 144 millimeters in the past 24 hours in kyushu on top of that 120 millimeters could be falling in the next 24. we really want to be precoshing with flooding conditions. we have high pressure predominant much throughout thursday during the day. however, as we speak in metropolitan tokyo we heard rumbles of thunder here. the atmosphere is very unstable. that is going to be continuing on to tomorrow, as well. evening hours do watch out for sudden weather changes. across china that is good news because torrents of rain will be tapering off. however, across here we have developing low pressure system just over east of the philippines. that could become the next tropical storm. we'll keep a close eye on that. we are seeing a lot of 30s in

this picture. 32 in tokyo here with tropical storm coming in and rains cooling it down. 26 in seoul. it is blow average at 17 degrees. to the americas severe weather could be found in and around the ohio river valley as a cold front descends. the main threat will be large hail, damaging winds as well as locally heavy rain. when the cold front reaches down towards the area where heat is very intense that will be cooling off the temperatures a little bit, giving a short break from that heat. across much of the west still really dry. take a look at this record breaking drought conditions exceptionally really looking at dry here also in and around colorado. temperaturewise it is reflecting here. washington, d.c. 27 degrees on your wednesday. moving to the european continent

we are interested in the weather here in the u.k. because of summer olympics. you can see it is really dry. madrid 38 degrees. this one reaching 31 degrees. here's your extended forecast.

we'll be back with more updates in 30 minutes.