glat glad to have you with us on this edition of "newsline." it's monday, august 20th. i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. their efforts to reduce the violence have failed. they say government forces refuse to put down their heavy weapons. the observers spent the last day of their mission in a hotel in damascus then got into their vehicles and left for lebanon. they failed in efforts to bring peace between troops loyal to president assad and opposition

forces. civilians worry about what will happen now without an international presence to monitor the fighting. government troops dropped leaflets on areas held by rebels in the northern city of aleppo. members of the assad regime consider the battle to be the most important for the administration survival. the army has sent in reinforcements from damascus. opposition forces are reported to be preparing it attack the capitol to divert the government's focus away from aleppo. president assad made his first appearance in public in more than a month. he attended prayers at a mosque in damascus. he last appeared in public in early july when he gave a speech in parliament. state run television aired pictures of assad performing prayers marking the end of the muslim holy month of ramadan. the president sat in the front row with the prime minister and foreign minister.

a satellite tv channel in the middle east says assad usually attends prayers at a smaller mosque in damascus. this time he visited a smaller mosque closer to the office. assang urged the united states to end their against the oppression. he released documents fwo years ago. authorities want it question assange about sexually assaulting two women. a british court ruled he should be extradited to sweden. assange was in an embassy in june. assange appeared on the embassy balcony on sunday it read a statement. he first thanked ecuador's government and then said free

do. expression is at stake. >> the united states must renounce its witch hunt against wikileaks. the united states must pledge before the world that it will not pursue journalists for shining a light on the secret crimes of the powerful. >> assange added this his arrest was political since it came after wikileaks revealed the confidential u.s. diplomatic document. he insisted he would be handed over to the u.s. once he was extradited to sweden. a british government official says extraditing him is his obligation under international law. police officers are surrounding the embassy to detain him if he tries to leave. foreign executives are sai seeing gold in silver. japan has the highest proportion of elderly citizens in the world. experts predict that by the middle of the century, 39% of the population will be elderly.

managers at one of the biggest industries on the planet see in this grain market. >> reporter: ge healthcare is one of the top in the diagnostic equipment. it is a subsidiary of general electric. the company set its sights on the rapidly aging japanese market. it is developing and manufacturing medical equipment in japan. two years ago bb ge healthcare came up with the slogan silver to gold. it started developing products to meet the special needs of the so-called silver community. >> but i think would he will have much more broad healthcare needs in society. home health. that's our tradition. >> here is one product that

reflects the strategy, pocket size ultra sound scanner. it can produce images of organs using sound waves. the price, $12,500. back in paris and the machines used by hospitals can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. the benefits of the portable scanner can most fully be seen during house calls. the government is promoting home healthcare for its rapidly growing population. good for doctores who make house calls. 1,000 units of the portable ultra sound machine are currently in use. dr. yasakawa is visiting a patient who suffered heart failure five years ago and became bed ridden. yasakawa confirmed that the patient's heart beat is nearly

stable but he found a black shadow that appears to be an accumulation of fluid. he explained to the patient's wife that cutting down on liquids and salt in his diet could alleviate the buildup. >> translator: i can see his heart beating clearly. i was relieved. >> thanks to the compact scanner, the level of treatment we can provide during house calls is close to the care we can provide at hospitals. i believe this does a lot to help overcome patients' worries. >> ge is also putting its efforts into making medical devices more elderly friendly. last year, the company developed an mri machine for use on arms and legs. it's for elderly people who are prone to arthritis. patients formally had to go inside a confining tube like machine. but with the new mri, they can

sit in a reclining chair. the only parts of their bodies that go inside are the legs or arms. >> patients used to have to stay still for a long time. that was a great burden for the elderly. this machine offers a more comfortable environment for them. >> i think the aging society is going to be the issue for everybody. it is for japan. but you will be very important issue for china tomorrow. so once we really work hard to establish the business model in japan, we will be able to explore the business model to other parts of the world. >> so by doing that, i think we can reestablish the position of japan in the global marketplace.

across party group of japanese lawmaker says the visit by some japanese nationals to one of the senkuku islands is a domestic issue and they say the it is japanese territory. they are also claimed by china and taiwan. ten japanese landed on the island in okinawa prefecture sunday morning. they held a service in waters near the islands for people who died in the area during world war ii. the group's second is also a lower part member for the democratic party. he told a news conference that visiting a japanese island is a domestic issue. >> translator: i suppose there will be strong reactions from the chinese people. but the japanese government and our group should respond

resolutely as this is a domestic issue. japanese police are to question the ten for entering an area that's off limits. china formally protested the landing by the ten japanese. a chinese foreign ministry spokeperson says a high ranking pe figures launched a protest with japan's ambassador to china. spokesperson said that japanese that landed on the islands violated sovereignty. china ordered japan to deal with the issue properly. they do not want it see any worsening of the bilateral relationship over this issue. the japanese authorities arrested them on suspicious of illegal entry. they were deported to hong kong on friday. the incident sparked anti-japan protests across china.

nhk world reports from beijing. >> social networking with posts urging people to join the protests across china on sunday. there are people demonstrating in front of the building that houses the japanese cons late. they demanded the return of the islands. i found out about this rally while searching for information on the senkaku islands on line. >> we should boycott japanese and put pressure on japan. >> for people gathering, under the city in guandong province. it turned violent. demonstrators overturned press

cars made in japan. some of them broke the windows of the building with japanese restaurant. rallies were also held in the province. they stood guard outside the japanese supermarket. they blocked off streets to stop the protest from expanding. other demonstrations were held in beijing, shanghai and hong kong. >> if the rallies continue, there's concern the protesters could start on the chinese government. chinese leaders fear the possibility of chaos and the parent related to take steps to demonstrations. nhk world, beijing. >> the japanese government is dealing with another territorial dispute. this one with its closest neighbor to the west. south korea is claiming

sovereignty over islets in the sea of japan and erected a stone monument on one of them. south korean officials attended sun di's unveilinger is menny on takashima. the government commissioned the monument. it is engraved with the name on the front and republic of korea on rear based on the handwriting. >> the islands belong to south korea from a historical standpoint. geography and international law. erecting a monument on the islands is no different than doing so on the korean peninsula. >> he became the first south korean president to visit takashima on the 10th. the government has proposed

filing a joint request with south crkorea to peacefully resolve the dispute. >> a presidential election will take lace place in south korea in december. in preparation members of the governing party voted to choose their candidate on sunday. the party is scheduled to hold a national convention on monday to announce the winner. the result will be based o on sunday's vote and opinion polls conducted by the party. a south korean president is elected to a single five-year term with no possibility of seeking reelection. five candidates are in the primary race. they include former party leader. pak is seen as the front-runner. her father saw economic growth in the 1960s and 70s. members of the opposition parties are speaking out against the late president's background.

that's because he was an officer in the imperial japanese army. doctors in japan are using heart cells to improve cardiac function. if the new technique fulfills its potential, doctors could save lives without resorting to heart transplants. nhk world has the story. >> hyper plastic heart syndrome is a serious condition that affects 1 in 10,000 people. this girl was diagnosed right after she was born. the left ven trickal of her heart was not functioning. left untreated this condition is usually fatal. she can't live a normal life. to prevent her from contracting pneumonia or other illnesses,

she is not allowed to play outside. her liquid intake is restricted. it puts stress on her heart. >> she keeps telling me, i want to gargle or i want to drink some tea. it's really stressful for me, and for her as well. >> up to now, the most effective treatment for this condition has been heart transplants. however, organ donationes from children are very rare in japan and there has only been one child heart transplant in the country. so it's not an option for this child. >> as an alternative approach, okayama university hospital began conducting research into regeneraltive therapy last year.

first, some tissue is taken from the patient's heart. these are the cells and this is what they look like after being for ten days. they look like fibers, cells that have multiplied. they are put back into the patient's heart. >> regeneral rattive medicine takes sense because you are using the person's own cells so there is no need for medication to prevent rejection. >> the 3-year-old girl underwent this treatment in february. after replacing heart cells, the doctors are hoping this will boost her cardiac muscle. and allow her heart to pump more slowly.

>> three months after the procedure, the can child was brought back to be examined. >> there was an increase in the heart's ability to pump. this means the child's restrictions on liquid intake may be removed soon. this is a case treated at the hospital. the other children have made similar progress. >> we think that regeneral rattive medicine could be used to help those in need of heart transplants. >> the new approach is attracting interest overseas. the doctor recently presented

his research results at harvard oofrt university. he is also considering teaming up with hospitals in the united states.university. he is also considering teaming up with hospitals in the united states. a small village in new zealand launched an unusual world heritage campaign. the villages are trying to preserve their night sky. if they succeed, a new cause will be born. star renovation. >> a lake by new zealand's south island. is the skies here are pristine. astronomers come from around the world to use the observatory. at night, the sky is playsing with stars. it is the ideal place to observe the southern cross and nebula,

only visible in the southern hemisphere. >> ozawa works as a tour guide to the stars. ozawa became enchanted with the village 20 years ago. so enchanted, he moved here from japan. the tour bus brings to the mountain top. from this spot, a hidden universe comes alive pt. the fillingy way stretches across the heavens. that kind of reaction is making the tourist popular.

but ozawa is worried about the future of star gazing. his big fear is light pollution. the village has grown, meaning more lights from households and commercial buildings. >> how can the natural beauty be preserved? ozawa came up with the deal of applying for the world heritage listing. international recognition will make residents proud of their natural treasure and encourage them to protect it. >> star conservation took hold,

the idea of the world heritage listing has grown support. in this house, the residents use as little light as possible. >> that is the most important thing is to make sure that light doesn't reflect into the sky. that's quite smbl for us. we don't need a lot of light. >> the local government is also supporting activity. the straight light has been lowered and bulbs point downward so less light disturss into the sky. last month, international body recognized a poll as one of the most beautiful star watching locations on the planet. it shares with just three other places.

>> unesco doesn't have a category for star filled skies in its world heritage list but that could soon change things to the efforts of ozawa and new zealand's government. rachel furg sorn joins us now with the weather world forecast. rachel, there's a storm approaching taiwan. what can we expect? >> all right. this is moving actually just here towards the east of the philippine. now this one is already affecting eastern luzon with the outer bands of the storm, outer bands of rain. but what it is also doing is helping enhance the monsoon across the northern half of the philippines. it is moving. north the northwest up towards

pie waun but it is moving fairly slowly, seeing an seeing quite a bit of tropical activity this season and japanese islands are close too. we are keeping a close eye on this system as we go ahead. 120 mill meet rs for parts of eastern luzon and northern luzon over the next 48 hours. we have another tropical system sitting further towards the east. this is just a depression right now but again, another one to keep an eye on as we heed into the rest of the week. more heavy rain is spread out i cross this front line right up through in towards northern japan here. now, what's happening is we are just seeing new low pressure systems formed along the front and then they just travel up through the part of the korean peninsula and up through in orders japan. so we've been having ongoing heavy rain here. north korea had it bad over the

weekend. again, if you remember the last several weeks have been extremely bad in terms of heavy rain and flooding here. there are warnings and watches are for heavy rain today as well. meanwhile the rest of the country is pretty hot and dry. in fact, there are warnings for heat intensity as well. then to the south of the front, it will stay pretty hot for much of central and eastern china. 35 degrees in shanghai and also in chong ching. let's go now to our hurricane. this one, sitting in the atlantic and heading in towards the direction of the iberian peninsula. doesn't like it will reach that far. it is moving 33 kilometers an hour. those wind speeds at 140. we are expecting hurricane conditions overnight sunday into monday. by monday night, should become a depression. still we are expecting 75 to a hundred millimeters of rain and also potential for storm surge.

so something else to just keep our eye on in the next 48 hours. it has been very stormy down towards the deep south here and in fact, sunday into monday overnight you are still looking at intense thunderstorms for eastern north carolina. it was pretty unsettled. up into this comes and loops around and in towards the atlantic coast. this is your monsoonal rain. also parts of nevada seeing the potential for flash flooding and in towards the intermountain west is dry and gusty with lightning as well. so that spells fire danger. things are looking very cool for the northern half of the continent. getting into 25 in chicago. just 21 in new york city. but staying in the low to mid 30s for places like houston, oklahoma city and also miami. as for europe, it has been a hot weekend. up to 38 in paris on your saturday pl wipe we head on into

our monday down to 30 degrees. but we are still seeing 35 in berlin. 31 in warsaw. 37 in vienna, to the north of the jet stream. just in upper teens in stockholm and moscow. i will leave you now to your extended forecast.

that's all for this edition of "newsline." i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. thanks for joining us.