is. hello there. welcome to "newsline." it's september 24th, i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. chinese and japanese officials were to celebrate 40 years of diplomatic ties this week with a ceremony in beijing. but organizers have called it off. the two sides can't get past

their dispute over the senkaku islands in the east china sea. the china/japan friendship association planned the event for this thursday. but the organizers said they wanted to postpone the ceremony for awhile. embassy officials sburinterpret that to mean it was canceled. the japanese government had ruined the atmosphere for the anniversary, the chinese say. china's leaders claimed the islands are chinese territory. chinese officials say former foreign minister and other leaders will still meet with japanese members of the association. the state-run xinhua news agency quoted saying that china remains committed to promoting friendship with japan. a senior japanese embassy official said that chinese want to use the proper meetings to reiterate their position and to urge the japanese to compromise.

a japanese government source said the chinese government apparently needs to take a hard line stance. he said chinese leaders are trying to boost public support. the source said it's essential that both sides keep talking. japanese officials are trying to arrange a meeting this woke between foreign minister gemba and chinese foreign minister on the sidelines o the u.n. general assembly. the head of an organization promoted friendship between the countries called for government leaders to repair the friendship. >> translator: i'm surprised that acquiring the senkaku islands has damaged the relationship between japan and china so severely. >> he will travel to beijing on wednesday despite the cancellation of the ceremony. he says he hopes to meet with chinese leaders including former

foreign minister. he wants to explore ways to keep the relationship from deteriorating further. chinese authorities kept tight control of anti-japan demonstrations on sunday. rally organizers used the internet to gain support. they staged protes in seven cities. police set up fences and armed officers were stationed in front of the japanese agency in beijing. triggered daily protests across china. protesters in taiwan have held a rally against the disputed islands. about 1200 demonstrators took part in sunday's protest in taipei, the largest ever held in taiwan on this issue. they include an activist who supports taiwan's sovereignty claim. members of groups who fair with china also took part. the protesters held banner ins over the islands.

they gathered in front of the building that houses japan's liaison office to voice their opposition to the move. fences were put up around the site and about 300 police officers guarded the area. china's navy has received its first aircraft carrier. chinese media say a ceremony to mark the event take place on sunday. the aircraft carry e underwent a series of repairs and test navigation since its purchase from ukraine 14 years ago. chinese media say the carrier will soon leave and will sail to a naval facility for a formal commissioning ceremony. a japanese military analyst says

the commissioning will take place some time around october 1st, the anniversary of china's national foundation day to boost national prestige. the analyst says it is likely to be used for landing and takeoff training missions in preparation of a future deployment. the country's bolstering of the capabilities with the deployment of the carrier is seen as an attempt o expand maritime interest. the free syrian army is expanding its control into northern syria. that's where the anti-government force has moved its command center from its former base in turkey. this was revealed in a statement the rebels posted on the internet. a leader of the free syrian army told nhk by telephone that with more liberated areas in the northern part of the country they can fight better with the support of the people. the move could divide the country into northern and southern regions.

fighting continues in aleppo and damascus. a rebel in aleppo claims the free syrian army shot down a jet and drove government troops out o ft city center. after capturing a government check point along the border with turkey. a major avalanche has swept away climbers on mt. man jaslu. nepali's police say the mountain avalanche killed at least seven climbers including one german national. five others are still missing. so far 13 people have been rescued but bad weather interrupted the search and rescue mission. nepal's government says many people were on the mountain when

the avalanche triggered. troops are taking part in the largest military drill ever held in the persian gulf. the drill is aimed at countering iran's threat to close the strait of hormuz. units left a united states support ship to look for mines planted under water. an unmanned recon innocence plane searched for strange vessels. iran is deepening its rift with the united states and european over the nuclear development. they are threatening to close the strait of hormuz if the country becomes a target of military attacks. the commander of the u.s. navy's fleet said the drill demonstrated the high capability to remove mines in collaboration with many other countries.

a pakistani government minister has promised to pay for the assassination of an american movie producer for insulting islam. the movie's promotional video on the internet triggered outrage around the world. pakistani railways minister told reporters on saturday he would offer $100,000 to anyone who murders the person responsible for making the movie. he said the video made in the united states denigrates the prophet mohammed. and he hopes the pakistani taliban will join the mission. the minister was only expressing his personal opinion. protest against the u.s. movie continue in pakistan. demonstrators and police clashed on friday leaving more than 20 dead. the announcement is said to be politically motivated as a general election will be held next year. however, the minister's remarks

soliciting murder is on show. aung san suu kyi met u.s. president barack obama and secretary of state hillary rodham clinton on monday. she also met moon on friday in new york. she plans to cooperate with myanmar's president to promote national develop. >> i do support the easing of sanctions because i think that our people must start taking responsibility for their own destiny. >> during her visit so far, the opposition party leader has met with people from myanmar who fled government oppression.

>> translator: i invite you all even if you are outside myanmar to come together and help our country. >> suu kyi will continue to call for reconciliation between the u.s. and myanmar and also among the people of myanmar during her visit to the u.s. which lasts until october 3rd. japan's environment ministry has decided to study wildlife in no entry areas around the crippled fukushima daiichi plant in preparation for the return of residents in the future. the decision follows a number of reports about wild boars and monkeys from people who temporarily returned to their home. experts believe the populations of boars and monkeys which used to be hunted increased and their habitats expanded after people left areas following the accident last year. they plan to study habitat

distributions of animals and seasonal changes in their activities from october to march using cameras equipped with sensors. many chinese migrant workers are losing their jobs as the economy slows. some have become so poor they can't afford to take care of their children. so some parents have abandoned their sons or daughters to child care homes. the trouble is there aren't enough homes. nhk world's mitchika yamaha has more. >> reporter: this is a home for children. it's located on the outskirts of beijing. it is home to about 100 children ranging in 18 months to 17

years. this child is 16 months old. last year his migrant parents took him with them to beijing. but the cost of his care became too much. so his mother placed him in this facility. other children here have a similar story. the number of abandoned children is thought to have doubled over the past five years. >> translator: now our home is inundated with kids. it's been hard taking them in and caring for them. >> reporter: the number of state affiliated orphanages registered with the government is now 400. and the number of foster homes is also growing. but it's not enough. so the state grants to provide

more homes. at the moment, the government pays these facilities $150 a month for the upkeep of each child. even so, many find it too costly to take in more children. among the welfare facilities is this one operated by a foreign couple. robin hill comes from the uk. his wife joyce from australia. they've operated this hall in the beijing suburbs for ten years. every year the hills take in children from crowded facilities run by the state or private owners. right now more than 50 children from two to four years old live in the home. these days the hills have been focusing on medical treatment

for the children. few other homes provide it. joyce hill is a qualified doctor in cooperation with local practitioners, she gives medical care to the youngsters. >> the orphanages, they have so many children sometimes that they cannot manage because the children come in almost every day. >> reporter: the hills face some challenges. if the hills decide to care for more children, they will need more money. they would have to make share service better known. they will also need to find more qualified help. >> really need more medical staff to be working to help us. >> i think it's hard to fix the problem. i don't think anybody can really fix the problem. just a little bit at a time.

if a whole team gets together to help one child, hopefully then more people and more children will be saved. >> reporter: at one time, the future of these children looked bleak. but at this facility, they survive and grow. and so do their chances of a better future. the reporter asked what would become of the children in the hills' home. >> chinese and overseas families adopt most of the children. so most of them should find homes. as for their education, staff say some kids get as far as junior high schools and high schools. and after graduating, some decide to become child care workers themselves. >> now, looking at the bigger

picture, how many children have been abandoned or orphaned? >> for a long time no one knew exactly how many. but after taking a survey in 2004, the government put a number of 573,000. the children didn't always receive the help they needed. and many risked starvation or disease. another survey found the number had risen by about 24%. officials can't get an accurate count because many chinese are often on the move. to make sure children get sufficient care, government officials have budgeted some of the money to set up welfare facilitie facilities. about a year and a half into japan's nuclear crisis, the country is still coping with widespread power shortages.

it was a sweaty summer as people were told to turn down their air conditioners despite the severe heat. but thanks to one engineer, some families were able to stay cool. >> reporter: this summer japan was hit by a continuous heat wave of over 35 degrees celsius. nevertheless, one family was able to spend their days comfortably inside their house. >> translator: in here, it's 28 degrees. in this house, the air conditioner isn't that necessary. the fan has been enough. >> reporter: taking a closer look at the outer wall of the house, we find many rocks embedded into the wall. these are actually natural pieces of volcanic rock. a particular feature of volcanic rock helps to cool down the house. at the beginning of this experiment, the temperature of the wall is 34 degrees.

water is then poured over the wall. the surface of the wall immediately starts to cool down. just ten minutes later, the temperature drops all the way down to 21 degrees. volcanic rock has the ability to cool down its surroundings after water is poured on to it. the key lies in the numerable holes in the rock. which is created through the process of solidify kags. these holes first absorb water. as the water evaporates, heat is abso absorbed. there's also one more secret. before the water evacrates, it accumulates in the holes. this makes it easy for

vegetation to thrive blocking out the sunlight and assisting the overall cooling effect. sato has been trying hard to make the best use of this natural material. running his own construction materials company, the engineer is a pioneer in creating volcanic rock panel products. >> translator: i built this concrete wall about 25 years ago. even then i felt uncomfortable with inorganic concrete in the midst of nature. i wanted to find an organic material that blends in with the scenery. >> reporter: this is a forest lying on a volcanic plateau in the foothills of mt. fuji. the volcanic rock has fostered many forms of vegetation.

to allow some echoes o the norgeal nature to remain. these blocks first gathered attention for their greening effect. the material has been utilized in over 10,000 riverbanks nationwide. these panels are gathering attention. since offering these to regular house holds from july, ten houses have so far used them. it's a small number, but sato hopes they will be used more in urban areas which have been stripped of nature. >> translator: as a result of development, aspects of the environment and natural scenery have been disappearing. using natural materials, it's possible to recover what's been lost. >> reporter: little by little, these volcanic rock panels are making their ways into people's lives. helping harmonize man-made structures with nature.

>> and making people's lives a little bit more comfortable. all right. let's go to the world weather forecast with sayaka mori. looks like there is a powerful storm east of the philippines. tell us what's happening there. >> yes, catherine. typhoon jelawat has been bringing inwinlds. it is a very strong typhoon packing sustained winds of 180 clkilometers per hour. it looks like it's going to become a violent typhoon within the next 24 hours which is the highest category for typhoon. it's going to move over the north/northwest over the next several days. as it does so, it's going to produce storm forced winds in the eastern parts of luzon. and it looks like it's going to make a move through the southern japanese islands by this

weekend. as for rainfall, bulk of heavy rain should stay over the waters. but the east coast of the northern half o of the philippines will see in the region and the south coast is expecting to see heavy rain. and we have another tropical system just to the east of jelawat. this is a tropical depression at this moment. we'll keep you posted on the progress. further to the north, this system which brought rain across japan yesterday is moving out to sea. but still stormy conditions. and waves of over six meters throughout the day. out west, heavy rain will impact the eastern half of seschwan.

today the heaviest rain is on the gulf of the coast of thailand. here temperatures then 33 degrees in bangkok. 29 degrees in hong kong. in tokyo yesterday only 20 degrees during the daytime hours. it will be jumping up to 30 degrees today. and cooling down into tomorrow. all right. moving into the americas. we can see this rotating cloud just to the southwest of mexico. this is tropical storm miriam. will likely become a hurricane within the next 24 hours but stay over the waters for the next several days. up towards the north, these clouds could produce know showers in the higher elevations in the central rockies. then a front line affecting the northeastern corner of texas. that is producing critical fire

weather that will be shifting towards oklahoma as we head into monday. then a big storm of high pressure is in place for the eastern half of the u.s. and because of the dry conditions and less windy kns, temperatures may drop below freezing in the ohio valley. frost advisories are in place here. temperatures are as follows. looking quite seasonal across many locations. but exception is going to be the south. 33 in houston and 28 degrees expected in los angeles on monday. here's the extended forecast.

our lead stories this hour, chinese and japanese officials were to celebrate 40 years of diplomatic ties this week with a ceremony in beijing but organizers have called it off. the two sides can't get over their dispute on the senkaku islands in the east china sea. the association had planned the event for this thursday but staff say the organizers said they wanted to postpone the ceremony for awhile. embassy officials interpreted that to mean the event was canceled. the organizers said the japanese government had ruined the atmosphere for the ceremony.

had china's leaders claim the island were chinese territory. former minister and other leaders will still meet with japanese members of the association. the state-run xinhua news agency quoted a spokesperson saying china remains committed to promoting friendship with japan. a senior japanese embassy official said the chinese want to use the private meetings to urge the japanese to compromise. the head of the japanese organization promoting friendship between the two countries called for government leaders to repair the relationship. >> translator: i'm spriessed that acquiring the senkaku islands has damaged the relationship between japan and china so severely. >> he will travel to beijing on wednesday despite the cancellation of the ceremony.

he says he hopes to meet with chinese leaders. he said he wants to explore ways to keep the relationship from deteriorating further. and that's all for this edition of "newsline." i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. thanks for joining us.