welcome to "newsline." it is friday, august 31. i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. police have spent the week taking calls and making inquiries about a diplomatic incident. the ambassador's car was topped this week and a flag ripped off the hook. police say they've identified all of the suspects. chinese foreign ministry officials notified officials in beijing. police have not arrested no one yet.

officials informed their contacts at the ministry that they want it keep in close contact. the embassy staff say they are waiting for developments in the investigation. on monday, two vehicles followed then stopped the car carrying ambassador niwa. man got out of one of them. then he ripped off the japanese flag on the car and fled. japanese officials say anti-sentiment may have cause he the accident. there is a dispute over the senkaku islands if the east chinese sea. both countries claim sovereignty in the sea of japan. a japanese proposal was rejected to approach the court together. a south korean document handed to the diplomat asserts there is

no territory dispute to settle. south korean president recently visited the islands causing japanese leaders to call for interinterpassional mediation. south korean is offering substantive counter proposal to resolve the issue. they will use historic evidence that the islets belong to japan. icj judges will not accept a trial unless south korea also agrees. but japanese leaders hope to win international support by showing that south korea's claims are groundless. chinese premier and german chance lower merkel met in beijing to discuss the future economic relationship between china and europe pt premier we n

and chancellor merkel spoke about buying european bonds so long as it can eval yit risks. wen said economic powers like germany and france must react to solve the debt crisis. there's a strong political will in her region to make the euro a stable kufrncy again. ceos of major german companies joined merkel in beijing, they reportedly signed business deals worth $6 billion. in teheran, countries not allied to any major global power block are meeting at the summit of the nonaliant movement. >> the meeting held every three years is being attended this time by the leaders of more than 100 states around the world. most of them developing nations. the opening address was made by iran's supreme leader ayatollah. he said he t was time for

countries to break away from the influence of western powers and create a new world order. >> iran considers nuclear weapons a crime and does not possess them. nations with nuclear weapons, such as u.s. and israel, are a real threat to the world. >> also among the attendees were the egyptian president. he became the first egyptian leader to visit iran since the two countries broke off diplomatic ties more than 30 years ago when egypt signed a peace agreement with israel. visit comes after repeated invitations from iran, which is facing increasing isolation in the middle east. the president's aim is to move away from diplomatic icing lags

of president mubarak who strongly favors the u.s. iran hopes the summit will end the isolation amid conflicts with israel over its nuclear development and the syrian issue. the conference will continue through friday. nhk world, teheran. as we've been reporting, egyptian president morecy has become the first egyptian leader to visit teheran since iran cut diplomatic ties with his country more than 30 years ago. morsi traveled on thursday for a summit of movement after repeated invitationes from iran. he expressed support from iran which is to assume chairmanship of iraq. he said bloodshed in syria will not stop unless members act. analyst say the egyptian president was trying to distinguish his foreign policy from the pro-u.s. stance of

former egyptian president hosni mubarak. but the bilateral relationship is complicated by the need for financial aid. the country is counting on aid from the u.s. and saudi arabia, two countries with strained elations with iran. iran broke off relations when they signed a peace accord with israel in 1979. but the collapse of mubarak's regime prompted iran to explore rebuilding ties. u.s. presidential candidates mitt romney will woo undecided voters thursday night with his acceptance speech for the republican party nomination. romney will speak in tampa florida to wrap up the republican national convention. he was officially nominated tuesday as candidate to face barack obama in the november election. the latest abc tv opinion poll suggests the republican leading obama by one percentage point. more u.s. citizens are supporting romney out of discontent over the country's

prolonged economic downturn. but survey respondent's found obama more likeable with the president leading by ten points on that scale. one this three americans also said they don't know romney well. ro romney will attempt to change all that with this speech. many children around the world spend their summer holidays developing special interests. in singapore some ever these youngsters attended a science festival. the government organized this to help children learn about the discipline and at the same time enjoy it. nhk's mark hull reports. iks >> one. >> two. >> three. >> reporter: for the singapore government, science education is an essential for its future. >> i cannot overemphasize the need for singapore to continue to build capabilities and develop its talents in r & d and

innovation. >> reporter: singapore recently held an annual science festival. the aim is to encourage students to develop advanced skills in science and math. an estimated 60,000 people visited the festival. one special guest at the festival came from japan. yuito yoneyama is in his first year of junior high school in tokyo. yoneyama presented a card game he invented four years ago when he was just 9 years old. the game, called chemistry quest, features cards that each shows the symbol for a chemical element. the aim is to collect cards to form molecular bonds. the player who collects the most cards is the winner. >> you have to make a molecule with two cards.

>> reporter: during the festival, yoneyama introduced his card game to local children. the young players quickly grasped the rules and set to work collecting as many cards as possible to create complex molecules. >> very fun. >> translator: at school we have to study, but this game teaches us chemistry in a fun way. >> reporter: another special guest at the festival was derek low. he is a college student from singapore who is now studying computer science in california. low made a name for himself after he posted a video online demonstrating an application he developed for his smartphone. using voice commands, he can

adjust the lights and curtains, quickly changing his room from sleep mode to party mode. that video led to internship offers from more than 80 companies, including google. low advised yoneyama to create an online version of his game. >> drag and drop. okay. play a game with someone who is on the other side. >> reporter: yoneyama says children of all ages enjoy playing his game. so now he feels confident that it could be successful. >> translator: coming here has made me realize that i need to work on a smartphone application and do more to promote my game. i want to make this game available in more languages and sell it all around the world. >> reporter: yoneyama is now

looking to take his invention to the next level. for singapore, the festival is an opportunity to develop a future generation of scientists. mark ho, nhk world, singapore. economies across the asia-pacific region aim to conclude a pact in 2015 with the final goal of setting up a free trade zone. they say their targets will be more ambitious than those of the existing free trade agreements signed among them. ten asean member nations and six other countries -- japan, china, south korea, india, australia and new zealand -- reached the agreement at a meeting in cambodia. the countries say they aim to cut or abolish tariffs on a range of products while giving

special consideration to farm produce and other sensitive items. in addition, they'll seek to free up trade in services and investments and relax rules on protecting intellectual property. talks on launching the free trade zone are scheduled to start early next year. some firms are planning to produce locally to expand their business in the fast-growing market. japan's mazda is showing its new mazda 6. the company will start producing the model in the far eastern city in october. mitsubishi motors new model, the outlander, will be rolling out of a planned near moscow with productions starting in november. mitsubishi is also showing a new

sports model for production next year. the auto industry expect the russian market to grow over the next three years to one of the largest in europe with annual sales of more than 3 million units. more than 1400 firms are showing items. the south korean maker has a new smart phone that is larger than the standard model with a 5.5 inch screen. users can navigate the variety of features on the phone using a especially designed touch pad. samsung will also be showing a notebook computer with detachable keyboard. the display can be used alone as a tablet. japan's sony combined its smart

phones and tablets under a single brand. the firm is also showing a waterproof tan let for use in the kitchen. sony's lineup includes a desktop computer with a stand. it can be used as large tablet allowing multiple users to play games. competition is getting more intense among electronic makers as the market for tablets is expanding rapidly. now let's take a look at the market figures.

a boat carrying people hoping to get asylum in australia has capsized off indonesia. about 150 people were on board. many of them are missing. private boats rescued 55 people, about 350 kilometers north of australia's christmas island. the details, including where the passengers came from, are not clear. indonesia seau search and rescue teams are looking for survivors. several ships carrying asylum seekers capsized in the area in recent months. most of them have been heading to australia by way of indonesia. reuters reports that nearly 1,000 people died making the journey since 2001. international forces in afghanistan are keeping a nervous watch, wondering about their allies and their enemies. a man wearing an afghan military uniform shot and killed three australian soldiers earlier this

week. it brings the number of foreign soldiers killed in so-called insider attacks to 15 this month. nhk world reports. >> reporter: the latest insider attack happened on wednesday in afghanistan southern province uruzgan. someone appear to be an afghan soldier shot three soldiers. they climbed over a fence and fled. >> an individual wearing an afghan uniform turned his weapon on isef soldiers in south afghanistan. and as a result, three isef soldiers later confirmed to be australian, were killed. this incident is under investigation. >> 45 troops have died so far this year in what has become known as green on blue attacks. the total for 2011 was 35.

general martin dempsey visited kabul last week to see how to handle the situation. after his visit to afghanistan was announced, it would look at its records of 350,000 troops and police officers. international forces are scheduled to leave afghanistan by the end of 2014. training afghan soldiers and police to take over security is an urgent task. but frequent green on blue killings raised questions about the reliability of afghan forces. officials must urgently come up with measures to stop such incident and trust between their troops. nhk world. protesters in malldives are calling on their president to

step down. the island in the indian ocean has been in turmoil since its first democratically elected leader resigned earlier this year. his departure has failed to bring calm. former president stepped down in february following popular demonstrations against him. he and his supporters maintain he was forced to resign at gunpoint. his successor set up a committee in june to investigate. united nations observers monitored the situation. the committee released its report on thursday. it concluded that his resignation was voluntary and not the result of a coupe. several hundred of his supporters have been rallying on n the capitol, calling on president waheed to step down.

a a violin made from debris left by last year's tsunami has been winning over classical music fans in tokyo. french musician gerard poulet played the instrument for disaster survivors at a special concert in the capital on thursday. ♪ the violin was made by a japanese craftsman using pine and maple wood found among wreckage in rikuzen-takata in iwata prefecture. the concert marked the 150th anniversary of french composer claude debussy's birth. the program included a sonata for violin and piano that debussy's said to have played for wounded soldiers. ♪ many survivors from disaster-hit

areas attended the event. poulet told the audience that his thoughts are with the tsunami victims in japan's northeastern region of tohoku. >> i'm moved and feel healed despite the life of an evacuee. >> translator: i remember the huge tsunami and that makes me cry. i'm really touched by the movement of the music. people in gulf states continue to deal with the heavy rain. sayaka mori joins us with more. what's the current situation? >> isaac, the hurricane, has been downgraded into a tropical depression. strong winds and torrential rain as well as risk of tornadoes, actually five tornadoes touched down in the gulf coast.

it looks like it will move toward the north over arkansas on your friday and then reach missouri on your saturday. and then it will be towards the ohio valley afterwards. it looks like widespread thundershowers will continue on its way, so the risk of flooding will likely continue over the next several days. all right, as for the rest of north america then, thundershowers and gusty winds in northwestern quebec will be moving into the new england states on your friday. meanwhile, look dry across the western great lakes region and conditions are favorable for wildfires, particularly from wisconsin down towards kansas. all right, temperatures are still on the hot side in chicago with a high of 35 degrees, but it should u should be cooling down as we head into your saturday. moving into asia, we may see in tokyo, it has been dry and hot but the rest of the area may be seeing some pop-up

thundershowers during the heat of day because this low pressure system is bringing some moisture from the south. this low pressure system is intended yesterday along the korean peninsula. conditions improve along the korean peninsula but weather will continue throughout the day. the ground is very well is the rated so any slight among the rain could trigger further flooding as well as landslides. we can see this showing up, that means torrential rain is falling in mainland china. that is eastern and chongjing and we will likely see more heavy rain coming down on your sunday here. as for the highs cooling down to 27 degrees in chonggi ng. cooler air towards the south adds we head into the next few

days. as for seoul, very cool this time of year, only 23 degrees. but should be warming up by 5 degrees on your saturday. all right, finally, let's go over to europe. we can see long band of clouds through central europe.avia underneath the clouds, lots of heavy rain, strong winds and risk of hail as well. conditions are severe in the alpine region. looks like the system will slowly make its way toward the east. the west balkan peninsula will look west over the next 24 hours. the next system is on its way to across the northern british isles. wet rain and weather will return friday night here. let's look at your temperatures, cooling down to 18 in london. 20 degrees in paris. toward the east, despite sunshine, temperatures will be remaining on the cool side in moscow with a high of only 14

degrees on your friday. here is your extended forecast.

our lead story, police if beijing have spent the week taking calls about an incident ppt vehicles cut off the japanese ambassador's car earlier this week, then a man ripped the flag off the hood. police say they've identified all of the suspects. chinese foreign ministry officials notified staff of the

japanese embassy in beijing. embassy officials say they were told police have not arrested anyone yet. the officials informed their contacts at the ministry that they want to keep in close contact. the embassy staff say they are waiting to hear about developments in the investigation. on monday, two vehicles followed, then stopped the car carrying ambassador niwa. a man got out of one of them, then ripped off the japanese flag on the car and fled. embassy officials say anti-japanese sentiment may have led to the incident. japan and china are caught up in a territorial dispute over the senkaku islands in the east china sea. japan is now preparing to unilaterally refer its territorial dispute with south korea to the international court of justice. both countries claim sovereignty over the takeshima islands in japan. a japanese proposal was rejected

to go to the court to together. japanese diplomat says there is no territorial dispute to settle. it says the islets are the countries's territory. their president recently visited the islands, causing japanese leaders to call for japanese. south korea is failing to offer a substantive counter proposal to resolve the issue. japanese government officials plan to petition the icj over the next few months. they will use his stories evidence that islets belong to japan. judges will not accept a trial unless south korea also agrees. but japanese leaders hope to win international support by showing that south korea's claims are groundless. that's all for this edition of "newsline." i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. do stay with us. we'll be back with more of your updates at the top of the hour.