welcome to nhk world "newsline." investigators are on the scene of a deadly shooting in a suburb of the u.s. city denver. a gunman open fire at the movie theater in aurora, colorado. police say 12 people are dead and 50 others are wounded. they've arrested a suspect. the shooting happened after midnight. people were watching the premiere of the new batman movie "the dark knight rises." police say the suspect held at least two guns. a local radio station reports he was wearing a gas mask and sent off a smoke or tear gas bomb. emergency crews have rushed the

wounded to the hospital. the injured include those who got hurt while trying to escape from the theaters. this theater attack comes on the heels of a shooting in alabama earlier this week that wounded 17 people. anti-government forces in syria are gaining more ground in the cam pab pain -- campaign to topple president bashar al assad's regime. they have been fighting on a number of fronts in the central part of the country and in the capital damascus. now they've seized several border crossings. the anti-government forces say they've taken control of some positions on the border with turkey. online video shows opposition members destroying a portrait of president assad at one site. a senior government official in iraq says the syrian opposition has also captured a crossing on the border with that country. the violence has been escalating since an explosion in damascus

killed three senior figures, including the defense minister. security forces loyal to assad are retaliating for the attack. state television reports that assad's forces have restored security in the district south of the capital after fierce fighting. a u.k.-based human rights group says at least 280 people died across the nation on thursday alone. that would be the highest daily death toll since the violence began 16 months ago. security authorities in neighboring lebanon estimate 18,000 people fled there from syria over the past couple of days. diplomats at the security council are discussing the extent of the u.n. observers' mission beyond friday. the council is scheduled to vote on the issue today, but members remain deeply divided. russia and china vetoed a resolution that would have imposed nonmilitary sanctions on syria. earlier, shery ahn spoke with an expert on the middle east at the institute of energy economics japan. he analyzed the results of the

security council vote and the impact it will have on the situation in syria and surrounding nations. >> the security council still divided. what lies at the core of the disagreement? >> certainly the russians and chinese are not ready to see a repetition of what happened to libya last year. after the security council adopted a resolution that would allow sort of a no-fly zone to be inplemented over the libyan air space. that is going to be as real issue from the months to come. while the western nations, especially the united states and u.k. government would want to do something to stop the bloodshed of the what's happening today in syria. without sort of a forceful resolution that would pressure the assad regime, that's unlikely to happen again. >> given that, is there anything the international community can do at this point to end the violence? >> at least what i can see is

that if the countries that are supporting the assad regime and also the opposition to stop the supply of weapons, i think that would lead to a de-escalation of the situation. when both parties are full of ammunition, i think there is just -- they will just keep on shooting at each other. and the situation is going to likely go out of hand. >> could the unrest in syria spill over into neighboring countries? >> yes, we are very concerned about that. it could easily happen to turkey. it could affect the stability in iraq. it would also say lead to a political turmoil in lebanon and further to israel, jordan and even to iran, you name it. so once it gets out of hand, the syrian situation will be like sort of a ticking time bomb for all of the rest of the region. >> what do you expect to happen in syria from now on? >> i predicted earlier this

year, or even late last year, that the year 2012 is likely to be the end of the assad regime in syria. i would stick to that. but having said that, it's unlikely, although it's difficult to predict what's going to happen after the fall of the assad regime, it could turn out to be a civil war or turn out to be a situation close to what happened in iraq in years between 2004 to 2007, where there was a multiple arena in the country where there was sort of a civil war situation along the lines of ethnicity, along the lines of political and also religious tendencies. >> so we see an end for the assad regime but then what comes next? >> it's unlikely to say or difficult to say what's going to be then and who's going to rule -- likely to rule syria.

officials at japanese automaker suzuki say they aren't sure when their company's subsidiary in india can reopen. they are investigating a deadly riot that erupted at the factory this week. a fight ignited the violence at the maruti suzuki plant in the north state of haryans. 100 workers stormed the office and set it on fire. police have arrested 100 workers on suspicion of arson, attempted murder and other charges. suzuki officials say no serious damage has been done to the plant but add the factory will remain closed for some time as the police investigation continues. india accounts for 30% of suzuki's group net profit. china's near monopoly on the extraction of rare earth

minerals has prompted a worldwide race to secure alternative sources for supply. researchers say japan will be able to exploit massive reserves found beneath its own waters within three years. professor kato at the university of tokyo says the reserves found last month by his team will be highly profitable. he proposes using crude oil exploration methods and magnets to extract the metals. his team uncovered 6.8 million tons of deposits at a depth of 5,600 meters. the site is located near the island some 2,000 kilometers southeast of tokyo. according to the team's calculations, the deposit would cover japan's current consumption needs for the next 200 years. foreign visitors are coming back to japan. this topped the levels before last year's disaster for the first time in june. the japan national tourism organization says an estimated

686,600 people visited japan from other countries for tourism or business last month. that's up 1.4% from june two years ago before the earthquake and the fukushima nuclear next march last year. officials say more visitors arrived from five asian countries, including china and thailand. they note that tours using large cruise ships have become popular in china. on the other hand, travelers from south korea declined about 15%, though they are still the largest group of people coming to japan from one country. officials say south korean people apparently remain worried about the effects of the nuclear accident. major japanese retailer -- rail car maker, rather, has opened a new factory in the u.s.

state of illinois. it's the first overseas facility. illinois governor pat quinn and over 400 other people attended the plant's opening ceremony in rochelle. >> investing in rail, in passenger rail, commuter rail, is a very good investment for jobs in illinois. >> the 140,000-square-meter factory cost about $53 million to build. it has the capacity to make 120 passenger rail cars a year. nippon sharyu will make double decker cars for a railway in illinois. in the future they hope to produce rail cars for export. calls for job creation and the development of local manufacturing plants are increasing in the u.s. in the countdown to the presidential election this autumn. many japanese rail car makers are considering sipth production facilities in the u.s. as they face intense competition for overseas contracts.

here are the latest market figures. officials at japan's space agency are getting ready for a special launch. the h-iib rock set set to lift off on saturday. the rocket has already reached the launch pad at the space center in southern japan. it will carry an unmanned cargo vehicle. its job is to carry supplies to

the crew of the international space station. officials are watching the launch with great interest because the cargo includes an unprecedented experiment. nhk world's daisuke azuma at the space center in southern japan has the details. >> reporter: the iss orbits the earth as an altitude benefit 400 kilometers. it carries an experiment. it is scheduled to dock there in about a week. they can fit in the palm of your hand. astronauts with use of robot arm and module for the experiment. unlike many experiments on the iss, they will not need to venture outside the space station. the satellite will be placed inside a special containers. the orbit arm will release the

satellites. >> satellites are usually launched with rockets, but the massive vibrations caused by rocket launches requires sat rights to be very strong structurally. if japan can release satellites from the experiment module, the small satellites won't need to be so durable. premade parts can be used to prepr reduce production costs. >> reporter: officials hope a successful experiment will add another option for launching satellites. the crew of the iss will share a shipment of supplies. that's why russia and europe are also developing transfer vehicles. if they can carry small satellites to the iss and release them using a robot arm it will increase a number of satellite launches. that would encourage more

private companies to vent sbour such a business. it should enter orbit some time in september. if all goes well between now and then. daisuke azuma, nhk world, tanagashima island. >> if everything goes according to plan, the h iib rock set scheduled to lift off at 11:06 a.m. japan time on saturday. japan will not sent any professional baseball players to the world baseball classic tournament next march. the athletes say they're unhappy with the distribution of revenue from the event. the japan professional baseball players association says the united states major league baseball is refusing to answer requests to distribute revenue more equally. the association calculated japan's share was limited to 13% of revenue against 66% to american players and the major league. >> translator: it was a

difficult decision, but we had no choice. it's for the sake of all future baseball players. >> japan won both previous tournaments in 2006 and 2009. 16 national teams took part in the event. about 100,000 people are still forced to live in evacuation shelters and temporary housing due to radioactive fallout from last year's nuclear next japan. the government has compiled new guidelines to speed up compensation claims addressed to the plant's operator, tokyo electric power company. evacuees who cannot return home for at least six years should be paid the full value of their houses. they also recommend setting compensation for old properties to at least 20% of their initial value. people who lost their job or business in the evacuation should receive a lump sum adjusted to their line of work. the compensation process has been delayed by differences between evacuee claims and the amounts the utility was willing

to pay. tepco says it will present next week a new set of compensation standards that reflect the government's guidelines. japan will dispatch two maritime self-defense force ships to the persian gulf in september to take part in a multinational mine sweeping exercise. the country's defense minister says the drill will help contribute to international security. morimoto says japan will provide a mine sweeper, a tender and 180 sailors for the exercise around the strait of hormuz. more than 20 countries, including the united states, will take part. >> translator: the drill will strengthen the japan/u.s. alliance and contribute to the security of international ship i ing. >> the strait is the key oil shipping route for the middle east. about 90% of japan's crude oil imports pass through the strait. the drill is apparently aimed at keeping iran in check.

the country has threatened to lay mines to block the strait. it's the second time that japan will take part in the exercise following one last october. chinese are drinking more wine than ever as their thirst grows, winemakers at home and abroad are sniffing a good business opportunity. already some chinese vintners are making wine so good that overseas customers are buying it. nhk world's susumu kojima reports on china's growing wine industry. >> reporter: even though wine cultivation is not part of china's culture, scenes like this have become more common in recent years. chinese are drinking twice as much wine as they did five years ago. >> translator: i love wine. i always drink it.

>> reporter: amid the boom, some chinese have been putting up their own version of a building seen in france's wine growing areas. these chateaus, as they are called, indicate the owner has both a vineyard and facilities for processing wine. i'm in shangdong province, a coastal region of southeastern china. wine production is increasing here to meet the strong demand from chinese consumers. china's biggest wine producer with a history of 120 years owns the chateau. built ten years ago, it's the country's first. the chateau attracts tourists by the droves. last year, more than 120,000 people visited. >> translator: first, you check

the color of wine. please tilt your glass at 45 degrees. you can enjoy the ruby red color. >> reporter: the tour ends with wine tasting. the guide explains how to drink it and what to appreciate. this helps visitors understand the wine culture. >> translator: this place made me feel like i'm deep in wine culture. >> reporter: the company exports some of its premium wines to more than ten countries. the winemaker operates five other chateaus in china and plans to build two more in four years. >> translator: by visiting our chateaus, tourists will understand more about the role of the chateau and wine culture. this will lead to further development of china's wine market.

>> reporter: now foreign companies are coming to china to grow wine. a french wine group that owns one of the most popular brands among chinese consumers started planting this vin glaeyard in shandong province in march. john heads the project. he also helped find the location. >> how long does it take for you to find this place? >> three years. four years. >> reporter: he says shandong's climate and soil are suited for wine production. the brittle soil does not lap up water and lets the roots grow deep. >> 15 years ago when i come in china, all my friends tell me, you are crazy. you cannot make a good wine in china. now he said all people come and

we can make a good wine, sure. >> reporter: the owners plan to start selling rolely made wine in four years. they aim to produce quality wines. they also want to show crazyc -- chinese consumers how wine is made. >> chinese people understand how to -- and need to understand how to drink wine, how to know this wine is good or not. and these need time. but we want want our vineyard also to explain. >> reporter: chinese and foreign winemakers work hard to spread the wine culture among the chinese. hoping to encourage them to buy more wine. earlier, susumu kojima joined us from our beijing studio. we asked him about the prospects for china's wine market. >> people from the wine industry

expect the market to grow quickly, just like the beer market did. chinese now buy more beer than any other people in the world. and already the wine market is the world's fifth largest. a source inside the industry tells us the market will keep expanding. >> translator: per capita wine consumption in a developed country like france is 50 to 60 liters a year. in china, it's only about 1 liter. if you think of how big china's population is, you understand how big the market potentially is. >> although many chinese have never drunk even one sip of wine, the chateau is one way of attracting their interest. the chinese winemaker in the report says it is investing about $940 million to build a so-called international wine city. the company expects to attract a lot of tourists, and it wants to

introduce more people to wine. meantime, the industry is promoting the health benefits of drinking wine as chinese people have become more health conscious. so the prospects for china's wine industry look very bright indeed. >> all right. and for an update on the weather forecast, here's mai shoji. mai? >> heavy downpours have been affecting much of the eastern continental asia. especially in kyushu region as well as kinku region. let me show you a video from fukuoka region. the visibility almost close to none with this really heavy downpours. 137 millimeters has been accumulating in the past 24 hours here in fukuoka. in hiyogo, 87 millimeters in just one hour span have targeted the region. so if we can pull back i can show you that this is going to be an ongoing situation across much of the western half of

japan due to this high pressure just sitting over water, bringing all the ample moisture and dumping buckets full of rainfall. now the additional accumulations could be as much as 150 millimeters in the northern kyushu region. kinku has already seen its peak and that's going to be gone. however, short time heavy rain could also be possible in and around these regions. about 50 millimeters in an hour. across much of the eastern and northern japan, we have a high pressure that is lingering around this area bringing a lot of cool air around the ridge this high pressure system. so temperatures are still going to be on the cooler side, especially in kanto region as well. you can see this tropical state farm here. that's a tropical depression as of now but will be intensifying in the next 24 hours as a tropical storm. and that's going to be moving across the luzon area affecting heavily with those downpours especially on the western

seaboards of luzon. already 100 millimeters of accumulation has been saturating the land and rising the water levels. but additional of 150 to 200 millimeters could be possible across much of northeastern china as well. this heavy rainmaker band will be bringing 250 millimeters, especially in and around beijing region. temperaturewise, we're looking at a pair of 31 in seoul and in beijing with chances of thunderstorms. tokyo just seeing 22 degrees. that's about the same as today. what a huge drop from what we saw thursday which was about 36 degrees. moving over to the americas now, the midwest and across the mid-atlantic regions, this is where the severe weather would be found for your saturday. now this low pressure system will be bringing tho ining shor heavy rain which is going to be really dangerous for flash flooding. it's going to be upping the risk of it. it will be settling in toward the appalachians and where the

severe weather could be also be found. the dakotas and minnesota, you'll also be targeted with a few thunderstorms. across much of the rest of the continent, looking at still record-breaking drought conditions where we really want that rain, it's here in the arklatex region but you can see you'll be seeing none to very low percentage of rainfall accumulation there in the next 24 hours. heating up in oklahoma city at 41 degrees. also all the way up to winnipeg at 27. denver reaching 38, well above average but staying cool in new york at 23 degrees. moving over to the european continent, a lot of you are worried about the weather here in london as there is the olympic hype. but it looks like it's going to be a really sunny and warm weekend ahead of you. temperatures are going to be rising. london at 21. but early next week you'll be seeing that in the mid-20s. here's our extended forecast.

in indonesia, millions of muslims are getting a jump on this year's ramadan celebrations. a large islamic organization has told its members to begin fasting on friday, one day ahead of the official start of the holy month. ramadan is a time when followers of islam show devotion by fasting from dawn to dusk. it's also an opportunity for prayer, self-reflection and doing good deeds. >> translator: i'm especially grateful this ramadan because natural disasters that killed many of our brothers in recent years didn't happen this year. >> malaysia and bangladesh have declared ramadan shall start on saturday. and india on either saturday or sunday. we'll be back with more updates in 30 minutes. i'm gene otani in tokyo.

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