hello there, welcome to "newsline." it's tuesday, july 31, in tokyo. i'm catherine kobayashi. syrian rebels are fending off troops at the ground on aleppo. they have stepped up attacks and are blocking essential supplies. an antigovernment activist in damascus says the military is indiscriminately bombing aleppo. he also said they cut off the city's water, electricity and food supplies. residents formed long lines to

buy food on sunday in the rebel controlled areas. military leaders stepped up efforts to retake the district. they are firing on the city from tanks and helicopters. the united nations says at least 200,000 people fled the city of 2 million. prosecutors have charged the former graduate student accused of conducting a shooting spree in a u.s. movie theater. james holmes faces 142 charges, including murder, attempted murder, and possession of explosives. he is suspected of killing 12 people and wounding 58 in aurora, colorado earlier this month. holmes spoke just once in monday's court appearance. he said, yes, when the judge asked fe understood the charges. they are expected to hone in on his state of mind at the time of the shooting. he was facing psychiatric treatment before the crimes.

prosecutors will consult victims' families before deciding whether to demand the death penalty. two of the world's leading tech companies are going head to head over patents. u.s. computer giant, apple, and south korean competitor samsung electronics entered another legal battle over smart phones and tablet computers. jury selection began at the federal courthouse in san jose, california. the firms have fought about 50 similar trials around the world since april of last year. lawyers for apple are asking the court to stop samsung from selling its smart phones and tablet computers in the u.s. and they are demanding compensation for the loss of market share. the apple side says designers at samsung copied the iphone after the smart phone hit the market in 2007. samsung lawyers argue it wasn't an original design. they say apple based theirs from

sony. lawyers claim apple infringed on patents for communication technologies. the trial is expected to take at least four weeks. billions of dollars and control of the u.s. smart phone and tablet market are at stake. romania's president has survived a vote that could have cost him his job. the opposition wants to impeach him. but not enough people turned out for a referendum to remove him from office. >> translator: the people have decided in all good faith to makehis referendum invalid. >> the opposition controlled parliament voted earlier this month to suspend him and hold a referendum on his mandate. central election bureau officials say turnout for sunday's ballot stood at about 46%. that's below the 50 sers needed to validate a referendum. reuters says exit polls suggest more than 80% of voters chose to remove the president.

romania's financial situation has been worsening since 2008. as it has in the rest of europe. the government introduced austerity measures two years ago in return for loanes from the eu and international monetary fund. south korea's largest opposition democratic united party has selected five candidates for its presidential primary scheduled in september. the party chose jane and haku as well as others. the party polled about 5,000 registered members and nonmember voters. it will designate its presidential nominee at a convention in september after collecting party ballots at 13 locations across the country starting next month. likely to become the nominee for the party, the daughter of late

pakchoni. pak is ahead by a large margin. seoul profess hinter hinted at running earlier this month. he is not associated with any party. the election will be held in december. experts with the international atomic energy agency are going inside a nuclear plant in northeastern japan to find out how it weathered last year's disaster. the onagawa plant faired much better than fukushima daiichi. for one, its three reactors shut down just as they are designed to do. nhk world reports. >> reporter: avoiding a total

blackout that could have caused a melt down unlike fukushima daiichi. the iaea team wants to investigate what made the difference. 18 experts arrived monday at the facility in miyagi prefecture. they interviewed plant officials and nuclear regutors. the plant faces the pacific ocean, as does fukushima daiichi. the disaster knocked out power at the fukushima plant leading to melt downs and explosions. own onigawa's shut down prevented major damage. the iaea experts will investigate what impact there was on the demonstration of the pikes and pulls of nuclear fuel. >> when you look at all three units, at this point, because it is the beginning of the mission, we have not any focused area to

look at. so once we look at the information, we will decide where we will look and what areas. >> they will also research the sea wall around onigawa. the structure is believed to have helped the plant with standard tsunami in contrast to the break wall at fukushima daiichi. the iaea experts hope to use their findings to strengthen the quake resistance of plants around the world. nhk world, from onigawa. indonesia, one of the merging economies, wants it maintain an annual growth rate of at least 6%. the government set up a new ministry to help achieve a goal. earlier gene otani asked senior common tator to tell us more about the new ministry and indonesia's ambitious goals. >> how would you describe the current economic situation in

indonesia? >> well, the country has recovered from the political rest it experienced about daek aid ago after the fall of the president. it's been during a -- over the past seven or eight years, between 5 and 6%. now the president wants it take it one step further. >> translator: the fruits of economic development must be fairly distributed. to allow the entire nation to enjoy its benefits. >> indonesia strengths rise in its corporation of 240 million people wbt largest in southeast asia and the youth of its work force. this chart shows how the younger generation has grown over the past 40 years. this kind of demographic provides a great for national

development. having young people also means you have to provide them with jobs, every year between two and 2.5 million people enter the labor market. analysts say indonesia needs to maintain a growth rate of a trace 6% to observe this additional work force and that is for the government. >> so what needs to be done to reach this target? >> particular two factors are particularly important. it is increasing productivity meaning that industries need to move toward the creation of more value-added product. the government is addressing this issue both in the field of agriculture, which remains a top sector of the economy and in the service industry. launching a new ministry called the ministry of tourism and create a economy specifically for that purpose. >> i think the challenge with creating different economies, is

how do you create creative ideas, a good idea, to have economic value and become viable commercially. you know, how do you make that step? how do you create entrepreneurs. how do you have financing? how do you protect the intellectual property rights of the music, of the film, of the design. >> all right, what else needs to be done to continue growth for indonesia? >> that they be maintaining stability under the tourism of the president and treated as a process. but this kind of failed to with stand the asian financial crisis and how it is supposed to resign. the current president enjoys a broad and stable sport for now. but it is easy to maintain that

situation in such a vast country and he is well aware of it. to avoid the appearance of his predecessor, usually he is promoting cooperation between the public and private sectors. he his administration is a system of public, private partnerships to boost investment in the countries infrastructure. >> whether it's airports, ports, roads, power generation within water treatment systems, these are all opportunities because we will do public/private partnership. and we want it prior ties accelerating development in the number of locations in indonesia. and have it spread out throughout the country. we've had no chaos, no, you know, violence. so i think this is a very different indonesia. this is an indonesia which is modernizing. it is a country with the largest

muslim population. >> it is relatively safe from the effects of the credit crisis in europe. in fact, the figures indicate that direct investment reach ed record levels. the government is now hoping to expand development efforts outside with the ultimate goal of the sustaining growth across the country. floods are wreaking havoc in the capital, manila, as tropical storms bring heavy rains to large parts of the country. our bureau in bangkok has the details. >> flooding effected millions across the country. officials are warning residents that mass evacuations may be necessary.

tropical storms causing rivers across manila to overflow monday resulting in waist-deep flooding in some areas of the capitol. schools and businesses in affected areas shut down for the day. airlines have cancelled domestic flights and authorities are warning against sea travel. residents living near manila bay were forced to flee their homes as floodwaters rose. many lost all their belongs as their houses went below the water line. >> the waves and the wind were suddenly so strong. so we evacuated immediately. when we came back, everything was destroyed. >> nearly 1,300 people sought shelter in evacuation centers. so far, evacuation is only voluntary.

but centers are already crowded as more and more residents are seeking higher ground. >> translator: we're preparing plans in case the floodwaters continue to rise. we have already advised resident near rivers to be ready for massive evacuation. >> according to the philippine weather bureau, the storm is growing stronger and is expected to unleash heavy rains across the country. especially in the north. >> turning now to india where economic growth continues, but the infrastructure cannot keep up. a power grid failure affected the northern part of the country, including the capitol, new delhi. it has been called the country's worst power outage in a decade. the black out occurred on monday morning across nine states and territories. the failure head offy effect on this morning's rush hour bringing 45 train lines it a halt and greatly destructive new delhi's underground train service.

>> translator: the melt troe had a lot of problems in the morning. i came to the station once, then went back home. when i came again and the trains were still delays. >> india's power ministry says it is worth it to restore power to the areas by funneling electricity from unatekted states. however, it added that blackouts continue in some areas. >> -- with connectivity or any other reason -- having to go into details. >> india often experiences blackouts as its electricity supply cannot meet demand driven by economic growth. next we turn to indonesia where a new expert industry developed to suit japanese

taste. known as onagi under japan, eel is a popular dish set to boost stamina during the hot summer. but with the catchers of baby eel on the decline wrb wb japanese restaurants are turning to supplies from other asian countries. most of these imported eels have can come from china or taiwan but competition is about to get tougher. nhk world reports from indonesia. >> on southern java island, from november to january, swarms of eels venture upstream from the indian ocean. indonesia is a treasure trove for these creatures. there are 19 known species of eel in the world. of them, indonesia is home to 12 according to research by local university. i am now paying a visit to a house located just an hour from

jakarta, and look what i found in their backyard. unagi. this is how they breed unagi in this area. the eels cultivate in this pool belong to the species and their young are captured locally. the owner is one of a few artificial breeders of unagi in indonesia. for the past four years, he has been working to develop his skills as an eel breeder. >> translator: we can't get special feed for eels in indones indonesia. so i've tried all kinds of food. >> he mixes corn oil, shrimp and

crab meat with regular fish feed. the nutritional analyst told him exactly how much fat is needed for the eels to grow. he is especially careful to make them suit japanese tastes. a new device ensures continuous flow of clean water. he says he stops feeding his eels at least four days before shipment to cleanse their bodies of what japanese consumers dislike. his efforts seem to be paying off. an increasing number of japanese firms are approaching him. on this day, a japanese buyer tries his indonesian unagi.

>> translator: i'm confident of the quality of my eels. most people say they taste better than way chinese or tiyjs ones. >> he expects to ship two tons of eels to japan this year and he plans to increase that to a hundred tons within two years. that might just make eel frs in other countries squirm. nhk world, jaba island. >> and that wraps up our bulletin from bangkok. >> now let's take a look at the market figures.

it's not just olympic athletes that are wowing crowds in london. the city's most famous statues are also entertaining visitors with their new looks. nhk world reports. >> here we are in london, where people are on their way to work.

but there is something slightly different about this place today. admiral nelson is sporting some new headgear. the iconic statue is wearing a union hat made by london's oldest hat maker. the company actually designed nelson's original hat more than two centuries ago. >> it's very good. looks very good. wish i had a cap like that. look very good. yeah. very impressive. >> wow. >> oh, that's pretty cool. >> that is cool. >> head designer. that's awesome. >> how do you think he would look like w a hockey helmet on? >> the company made a life size replica of the statue's head. it is used to place the hat on the 50 meter high monitor in london, the nags magazine and

leading british hat makers collaborated to give 20 london statues a make over. >> it was important for us. there are a lot of dynamic and fantastic talents working in the industry in england and it was important for us to give them a showcase when they are also the unsung heros behind the designers. it was good to get tlhem out there and on a stage. >> also statues of winston churchill, william spaks spear and queen victoria. they are aware of the headgear until thus. nhk world, london. >> making some fashion statements there. all right, let's bring in another fashionable person. rachel furgason joins us now with the world's weather forecast. rachel, there or two tropical storms in the pacific. we have seen flooding in the philippines from one of the storms. what's the latest?

>> absolutely correct. we have two storms in the western pacific and let's start off with damry. this one is just sitting over the ogasawara islands. really bringing in the stormy conditions right now. it is moving about 30 kilometers an hour. that's good news. no prolonged heavy rains. wind gusts are at 150 kilometers, almost, powerful enough to generate high waves along the eastern seaboard of japan already. as that system moves closer, of course, those waves are going to get higher and we're going to see potential for land fall towards the end of the week, either in southern japan here or if it moves a little bit further towards the south and views around to the yellow sea, it'll be northeastern coast of china. once it enters the yellow sea, it'll weaken off. i don't know if this one will be reaching typhoon status. severe tropical storm right now

should be wakening. we have another tropical storm and it is expected to inveg rated to become strong tie poon within the next 24 hours. already this has done a lot of damage in the northern parts of the philippines. it is now moving very slowly in towards tyjuan and also effecting the okinawa island here as well as taiwan. in addition, we also have the rain. unlike the other system we just mentioned, damrey, this is moving slowly which means fro longed rain. we could see as much as 300 millimeters for the northern half of taiwan, that includes the tap can kol, taipei. as the system moves on, we expect land fall somewhere along the eastern coast of area. we just need to keep an eye on it. quite difficult to see exactly what it will do at the moment. more heavy rain will be affecting northern china.

we will see anything from about a hundred to 250 millimeters of rain in provinces. that could definitely exacerbate any flooding situation here. the land is already saturated and really coming down for the last several days. south of that, things are looking high and dry. that means h heat. 35 for you in shanghai and temperatures are widely in the low to mid 30s across much of japan as well. with the potential for thunderstorms during the heat of the day. more thunderstorms in east portions of the u.s. we have storms right through ontario into northern quebec and down through the great lakes region. towards the west, mostly dry and calm. monsoonal rate to the three corners. there is the potential for flooding in some areas. okay, let's talk about temperatures though. 42 degrees in oklahoma city. that is not going to change for the next several days.

through thursday, a high of about 3 '42. as we head on into europe, things are getting quite unsettled across the british aisle and through scandinavia as well pch we have thunderstorms moving through the batic seas and toward the balkans. let's talk about your olympic weather. can you see this rain, quite blustery and showery on tuesday. those showers should settle down by the afternoon hours. wednesday, cloudy. up to 23 degrees. cooler once again with rain coming through wednesday. very hot towards the south. we have 38 in madrid and 37 in athens. here is your extended forecast.

and that's all for this edition 6 "newsline." i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. please, stay with us. o6 "newsli" i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. please, stay with us. f6 "newsli" i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. please, stay with us. "newsline" i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. please, stay with us.