welcome to nhk world "newsline." japanese and north korean diplomats may have inched closer to resolving a longstanding dispute. they met in beijing over the last several days. japanese officials say they hope more senior diplomats will discuss the abductions of japanese nationals in future talks. the government officials were the first from the countries to meet in four years. they agreed to organize higher level talks in beijing as soon as possible. japanese officials want the abductions of their nationals by north korean agents in the 1970s and '80s on the agenda. they want to discuss repatriating the remains of

japanese who have died in what is now north korea around the end of world war ii. and they hope security issues including nuclear and missile development will be up for discussion. meanwhile, a group of japanese civilians who evacuated the korean peninsula in world war ii is back in north korea after 70 years. their main object is to inspect the burial sites of fellow nationals who died there. the four-member delegation entered north korea on tuesday. they visited north hongyong province. officials guide them to the district where many japanese who died during their repatriation are believed to be buried. the officials explained that many succumbed to an epidemic. the japanese group offered sticks of incense to mourn the dead at one of the sites. >> translator: years for this

opportunity. a lot of help from local residents during our visit. we're deeply grateful for their kindness. >> he says he hopes japanese authorities will allow more people to travel to north korea to mourn their relatives. nhk world's takahana joins us from pyongyang where he can covering this issue. you traveled to the northeastern city of chongjiang on friday with the group. what did you see? >> it was not the impoverished city as i thought. i saw many people wearing

crosses. but i could still sense that the city is lagging behind economically. for instance, i saw a car that was being run by burning charcoal. the buildings i saw were mostly old. our movements were not as tightly controlled as they would have been at one time, but we were still not allowed to wander about freely. it was difficult to get the true economical situation. >> north korea has said it's willing to cooperate with japan in recovering the remains of the japanese. why do you think the north has been so open on this issue? >> the man reason is the economic situation facing the country. north korean leader kim jong u.n. is under pressure to

improve his country's economy. that's a tough priority for him in order to win over loyalty of the people. north korean leaders seem to be using the issue of the japanese remains as a bargaining chip with negotiations with japan. by normalization of relations with japan, the country hopes to eventually get economic assistance. for its part japan wants to maintain the path of dialogue. the japanese position is that progress must be made on the issue of japanese abductees in order to conduct negotiations. the issue of the japanese remains seems to be a touchstone in predicting how far dialogue

will proceed. >> all right, thanks for that. that was takahide nagasuma. apple and samsung's patent work continues all over the world. in japan a tokyo court has rejected the u.s. high tech giant's argument that its south korean rival violated its patents. apple filed a lawsuit against samsung electronics japan arguing that samsung infringed on its patents this what is called sin kronization technology. that permits muse ek from other computers to smartphones other other tablet computers. the judge dismissed apple's claim on friday. he said that the two firms use different mechanisms to compare files in the process of synchronization. apple and samsung are suing each other over their patents in ten

nations. this is first ruling by a japanese court on the patent dispute. the tokyo court is now weighing cases and other patents of the two companies. apple in japan did not give a formal statement on the ruling. however, a company spokesperson said that the ruling covered just one of the contested patents and does not mean the u.s. firm lost the entire case in japan. it also cited apple's victory over its rival in the united states. it considers friday's court decision very reasonable. earlier, nhk world's ron madison spoke with chief consultant at infocom research. >> what are the big picture implications really of this verdict today? >> one thing for certain, this was one win for samsung. the stock market reacted 1.5% plus. it seems like they did win this case, but however, it's not the end of it. as you mentioned, there's a lot

of court cases still rising and they've been called copycat in the united states. they won this time but they have to make their brand appear, as they're called copycat, they have to bring it back again. >> help us make sense of these different rulings. six so far. two in favor of apple, three in favor of samsung, then the south korean ruling basically calling it a tie between the two. seems like there's a lot of subjectivity to interpreting these laws where i thought there would be more objectivity. >> one biggest difference, the reason why that happens is the difference between the judicial system in the united states and the uk, there was a jury participating in the court. however, in japan, in this type of case, there's no jury attending. you know? in the united states there's the

concept of trade address, in japan we don't. that makes the situation differently in countries that it's been held with the court. >> i see. so where we stand with things now, we've got a lot of crossover technologies, seeing a lot of similar products. what do these companies need to do to step up their game and grab market share? >> they have to come up with a revolutionary idea, just as iphone did. you can walk outside anywhere in the country, i guess, for example, tokyo, you look at the people wearing smartphones. from far side, you can really tell which one is which brand any more. i went to mobile world congress in barcelona in february and there was new product. there's dual core, also single core still but more faster, there's quad korecore even. other company would do that.

the difference they must make is really revolutionize design. what stands out is one thing. that thing is the most important part. and i believe they have to come up with something that's revolutionary. >> and that's speaking in terms of smartphones or come up with something -- >> i was talking about only a smartphone, but recently there's a smart tv that could actually interact with each other. now, it doesn't have to be smartphone. hardware. it could be you can touch on whatever, you know? it could be nothing, you know? i'm not sure what's the best idea to stand out in the crowd, but i believe something that has to be revolutionary to be on the top of this market. >> right. well none of us were expecting iphone in 2007, so we don't know what's going to be coming up. thanks for your thoughts on this today. speaking with the chief consultant at info com research. unemployment in the euro

zone remains at record levels. the european union statistics agency eurostat says the seasonally adjusted jobless rate in the block stood at 11.3% in july. that's the same as in the previous month. spain's unemployment was the highest in the region, hitting a record 25.1%. more than 1 out of 2 young people couldn't find work during the month. the rate for people under age 25 came in at nearly 53%. the latest data for greece are available only for may. 23.1% of greek people were without work in that month. a leader in japan's securities industry nomura holdings is planning to slash about $1 billion in costs to rebuild its finances. one of its group members, nomura securities has been hit by insider trading scandals. they have shaken investor confidence in the firm and raised concerns about the future of its business. on friday nomura held a meeting

of executives at home and abroad and the ceo presented a restructuring plan. it involved cutbacks in personnel and other costs in the company's corporate trading section by the end of fiscal 2013. nomura plans to downsize its overseas presence including the european unit. it has expanded by buying some operations of lehman brothers four years ago. through these efforts nomuir ra is hoping to boost its interest from some $586 million in fiscal 2011. nomura is set to announce the plan next week. here are the latest market figures.

americans have heard the name mitt romney for years. they've read about him in the papers and seen him on tv. romney has gone before the cameras again to re-introduce himself to voters. he capped off the republican national convention by accepting the party's presidential nomination. nhk world reports from tampa, florida. >> reporter: mitt romney stepped to the stage under the glare of lights and the flash of cameras. >> i accept your nomination for president of the united states. >> reporter: the convention provided republicans with an opportunity for makeover.

voters have seen the candidate. many wonder about mitt romney the man. >> to make that choice, you need to know more about me and where i lead our country. >> reporter: national polls suggest romney is lagging behind the president in likability. pollsters and pundits suggest that he's not approachable, even stiff. convention organizers called in a longtime ally. >> this man will not let us down. this man will lift up america. >> reporter: republican ds their best to redefine romney. he closed the convention defining himself. he spent almost half his speech talking about himself, his upbringing, his family, his faith. he promised he can rebuild the economy and create 12 million new jobs.

>> i wish president obama had succeed, because i want america to succeed. i'm running for president to help create a better future, a future where everyone who wants a job can find a job, where no senior fears for the security of their retirement. >> reporter: romney hopes to use the momentum he gained in the several days. he'll focus his attacks on president obama's record on the economy. he says americans have the choice to put the disappointments of the last four years behind them. reporting for nhk world, tampa, florida. and this just in. a magnitude 7.9 earthquake has occurred in the pacific ocean off the east coast of the philippines at 12:47 utc on friday. there is a possibility of an ocean-wide destructive tsunami in the pacific ocean. the u.s. geological survey in

the pacific tsunami warning center have issued a tsunami warning for the following regions -- the east coast of the philippines, the northern coast of ianjiya, the north coast of papua new guinea and the mariana islands, palau, and the marshall islands. people staying in the coastal regions in the area are advised to move to higher ground as soon as possible preferably to a concrete or brick building that is sturdy. the first tsunami is not necessarily the biggest. once again a magnitude 7.9 earthquake has occurred in the pacific ocean off the east coast of the philippines at 12:47 utc on friday. there is a possibility of an ocean-wide destructive sue nam ne the pacific ocean. the u.s. geological survey and the pacific tsunami warning center have issued a tsunami

warning for the following regions -- the east coast of the philippines, the north coast of irianjia, the north coast of papua new guinea, the mariana islands, palau, micronesia and the marshall islands. people staying in the coastal areas of the region are advised to move to higher grounds as possible if you are near any of the areas we've just mentioned, please move to higher ground as soon as possible to a sturdy concrete or brick building. tsunami comes in sets. the first tsunami is not necessarily the biggest. and we will keep you posted on this as we get more information. video shot immediately after the incident documents how tokyo electric power company responded. on today's nuclear watch we'll review some of the footage and discuss what it reveals. >> tepco released portions of the video earlier this month.

more than a year and a half after the disaster. it was taken during teleconferences between workers at the fukushimaichi nuclear plant and officials at tokyo's tepco headquarters as they struggled to bring the crisis under control. tepco created a 90-minute segment from its hours of footage. it released this to the media for broadcast. the video shows workers panicking in response to a series of explosions at the fukushima daiichi nuclear plant. the video is important because it documents tepco's initial response to the accident. it could help fill in some of the blanks about what went wrong.

>> we covered the fukushima daiichi nuclear power plant accident and its ann aftermath. he's spent the past few weeks reviewing tepco's video footage. tell us what you saw. >> as the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words. there are a lot of written documents about the nuclear disaster, but they did not offer a complete picture of what happened. for this reason, i feel that the video is very important. >> how did tepco make the video available? >> one part consists of 90 minutes of footage taken from the hours of video recorded. tepco released this version to the media on august 6th. some parts of the video were edited to protect the identities of individual workers. tepco is also allowi ining journalists to watch an

additional 150 hours of video at its tokyo headquarters for a limited time. there are conditions. the video is shown on computers. no one may download or record the images. only written memos are allowed. the video is available for viewing only on weekdays and for a maximum of six hours a day. >> 150 hours of video with six hours a day means it would take at least 25 days to watch all of the footage. >> yes, that's right. but at first tepco says journalists could watch the video only for five days. the company later extended the period to one month. i have discovered many things by watching the video. that was just after the number one reactor exploded. a senior officer at tepco's headquarters announces that members of the accident task force can leave.

the video shows most senior members, including tepco's president, immediately leaving the room after the announcement. now, tepco says that these people remained inside the company buildings, but the video raises questions. >> tepco must have more footage. is there any chance they would release all of the video? >> well, tepco is reluctant to make any of the video public. they say the teleconferences are for internal communication. they also say the company does not legally have to release the video, but the video foot anl is a valuable record of the nuclear disaster not only for japan but all over the world. nhk will continue to press tepco to disclose all information about the accident.

>> nhk world reporting for nuclear watch. the tokyo district court this week ordered tepco to hand over a copy of the video. the court will keep the video as evidence. scattered thunderstorms and central parts of japan, robert speta has the latest. robert? >> yes, gene. storms continue to flare up across japan here, actually in takayama just to the west of tokyo you saw 50 millimeters in just an hour span. you are seeing this blow up across the region here and across japan. farther towards the south we are watching storms blow up across the philippines and this could be rather hazardous. because with a 7.9 earthquake flaring up here, that could bring the risk of landslides along the steeper elevations along the coastline. with these rain showers blowing

up throughout the overnight hour, you will be wanting to watch that very closely here. farther towards the north, we're also watching heavy rain showers in and around central china. this will continue to occur some 100 to 150 millimeters of rain very well could be occurring here as this low continues to push off there towards the east. behind it some cooler temperatures setting in. ulan bator with a high of 12 here for you on your saturday. out ahead of it, beijing at 29 and shanghai with 32 here on your saturday. now over towards the americas, the remnants of isaac continue to drift off there towards the north bringing some rain showers with it as well. definitely going to be seeing a little bit of a dent here for that severe drought that has been taking place all summer across much of this area. unfortunately, it's just going from an exceptional still to an extreme drought. farther towards the south, though, across much of louisiana over towards mississippi, you have them continuing to feel the effects of this, upwards of 510

millimeters of rain fell in new orleans. it was mainly at the main risk of the floods here. some of the levees were breached by the storm surge, 500-feet high storm surnl. some of the levees were about three meters high. you do the math. it does show that you do have that risk of that severe flooding. now going through the next 72 hours, rain showers off to the north, arkansas, missouri, indiana will be experiencing thunderstorm activity as well with this. as far as temperatures, denver with a high of 32, oklahoma city over there at 34 for your high actually for much of the continental u.s. here. throughout the labor day weekend temperatures remaining into about the mid-30s except off to the northwest. vancouver and seattle. over towards europe an elongated area of low pressure across scandinavia and poland and experiencing cloud cover and rain showers. even northern italy due to a stagnant and lingering low

pressure area continuing to spin out across much of this region. behind it high pressure has set in across spain. this is unfortunate because widespread wildfires are currently occurring across much of this area. doesn't look like any rain is going to be on tap in the near future. lisbon at 33, london as well at 22. across much of the northern portions of the uk, i might be experiencing rain showers with cloud cover through the weekend. as far as the paralympics doesn't look like any rain will be on tap for you. eastern europe, much more cooler for you. stockholm with a high of 17 and moscow with 14 on your saturday. here is a look at the extended forecast.

as we've been reporting a magnitude 7.9 earthquake has occurred in the pacific ocean off the east coast of the philippines.

at 12:47 utc on friday. there is a possibility of an ocean-wide destructive tsunami in the pacific ocean. the u.s. geological survey and the pacific tsunami warning center have issued a tsunami warning for the following regions -- the east coast of the philippines, the north coast of irianjia, the north coast of papua new guinea, the mariana islands, palau, micronesia and the marshall islands. a tsunami warning is in effect for japan. people staying in coastal areas in the region are advised to move to higher ground as soon as possible. the earthquake struck 150 kilometers off the coast of samara island in the philippines. the focus of the earthquake is estimate at 33 kilometers deep in the pacific ocean. if you're near the areas on the areas that we've mentioned, please move to higher ground to a sturdy concrete or brick

building. tsunamis come in sets. the first tsunami is not necessarily the biggest. do not attempt to go near the shore. sometimes the water draws back suddenly. once again, a magnitude 7.9 earthquake has occurred in the pacific ocean off the east coast of the philippines at 12:47 utc on friday. there is a possibility of an ocean-wide destructive sue nam ne the pacific ocean. the u.s. geological survey and the pacific tsunami warning center have issued a warning for the following regions -- the east coast of the philippines, the north coast of irianjia, the north coast of papua new guinea as well as the mariana islands, palau, micronesia and the marshall islands. a tsunami warning is also in effect for japan. people staying in the coastal areas of the region are advised to move to higher ground as soon as possible. an earthquake struck 150 kilometers off the coast of samara islands in the

philippines. the focus of the earthquake is estimated 33 kilometers deep in the pacific ocean. more updates are coming up.