welcome to nhk world "newsline." i'm gene otani in tokyo. here's a look at some of the stories we're following this hour. i special envoy for kim jong un said north korean authorities are ready to hold talks. u.s. president barack obama

has defended the use of drone strikes against suspected terrorists. and exclusive access as impacts of the nuclear disaster are monitored. north korea is apparently ready to resume six party talks. they reportedly made the comment in a meeting with xi jing pink. the director of the general bureau of the korean people's army travels to beijing. president xi told him that china wants parties involved in the six party talks to work for the denuclearization. he called for the talks on the nuclear program. the six countries are the two koreas, china, russia, japan,

and the united states. they said they're willing to resolve problems through the six party talks and through die lolg to security peace and stability. the reported comment would be a reversal for north korea officials have repeatedly said they would never return to six party talks. barack obama has a spirited defense for what he has come to rely on for suspected terrorists. he laid out the case on a speech on his second term counter terrorism strategy. >> we're at war with an organization that right now, would kill as many americans as they could if we did not stop them first. so this is a just war. a war wages proportionally in last resort and in self defense.

>> obama says terrorists threaten americans at home and abroad. he points to last year's attack on libya and the boston bombings in april. he says strieblgs are legal under domestic and international law and he has put checks in place, but he vows his administration will review proposals. the president acknowledges u.s. drones have caused civilian deaths, but he said there would be more casualties if they did nothing. he said it's preferable to a ground war. some have questioned if drone attacks are legal. so politicians in pakistan have spoke out against the drone attac attacks.

pakistani opposition parties in this month's election were critical of the u.s. drone astacks against islamic mill assistants in pakistan. sharif said he will stand against president barack obama's attacks. the drones indeed challenge our sovereignty. also, we have taken this matter very seriously. >> the phrase pakistan's sovereignty is important for people who want to discuss the u.s. and pakistan relations. anti-u.s. sentiments worsened after the u.s. killed osama bin laden two years ago without

informing the pakistani government. the droen strikes that followed fuelled anger. they criticized officials that did not agree with obama's anti-terror policies. pakist pakistan says the unmanned drone attacks were in violation of the country's sovereignty. it also said they need to consider cancelling diplomatic negotiations on the u.s. with shooting the drones down if the u.s. continues the attacks. however, pakistan's military depends heavily on the u.s. for financial assistance. some military officials are opposed to upsetting the relationship with the united states. >> the drone decisions are made by the army. not made by the politicians. and i think that low pressure

continue because the army will continue to cooperate with the americans. >> sharif must first pursue the men in uniform before they can negotiate with barack obama. obama's latest speech on thursday justifying the drone strikes is expected to further ignite anti-u.s. sentiment in pac stan. sharif will feel the pressure as soon as he comes into office. nhk world, islamabad. operations at heath row airport in london are back to normal after a scare in the sky shut things down. the crew of a british airways plane made an emergency landing shortly after takeoff because of what's being called a technical fault. some passengers shot video of the left engine cover open. one of the engines may have sucked in a bird.

a full investigation is under way. the air bus left for oslo. 75 passengers were on board, no injuries were reported. the tokyo stock market has another day of highly volatile trading, but it managed to post a gain after thursday's sharp decline. it ended up 0.89%. they lost more than 1,000 points between the interday high and low. it opened above 15,000 at one stage after u.s. markets didn't fall overnight but they faced strong selling pressure as the yen regained strength.

sources say investors remain cautious following trading. they said that trading may be unstable for awhile. wildly swinging stocks are keeping many on edge. there was a seminar in osaka on friday and 850 individual investors listened to specialists talk about the tokyo market outlook. >> translator: because stock prices plunged on thursday, i came to hear what we can expect to see in the future. i was so worried last night i couldn't sleep a wink. >> stock prices have been going up too fast. i don't think they can just keep on rising like that. they surely will come crashing down one of these days. i'm ready. >> translator: many investors

are experiencing such big fluctuations for the first time in their lives. so they were asking what's going to happen now. >> japan's long-term interest rates have remained volatile this week. the yield on the ten year government bond briefly touched 1% on thursday for the first time in a year. at the end of trading on friday, the yield came off a bit and stood at 0.845%. the rising interest rates prompted some japanese life insurance companies to rethink their investment strategies. they have been investing heavily in japanese government bonds until now. fukoko is one of these companies. the director saying it would be difficult to build on the current holdings. on the other hand, another life insurance company's vice president indicates his firm would shift funds from foreign

bonds to japanese debt because of higher jgb yields. he also asked the government to work out a growth strategy and establish fiscal discipline. here are the latest market figures. members of a government research panel in japan say it's highly likely a powerful earthquake will strike the country in the next 30 years. they revised their forecast for

the tremor that's expected off of the pacific coast. experts on the committee issued their latest projections for the quakes coming from the nankai trough. it runs from central to western japan. one tectonic plate descends below another in the trough. they say there is a 20% chance in the next 10 years, 40 to 50% in the next 20 years, and 60 to 70% in the next 30 years. >> translator: according to our research, it's highly likely that a quake with magnitude 8 are occur in the nankai trough in the next 10 acquires. >> they say that no records exist of a tremor of that size over the past few thousand

years. scientists have carried out survey after survey to monitor the impact of the nuclear accident at fukushima daiichi. their studies on land damage around the city give a relatively clear picture of the contaminated areas. but tracking radio active fallout in the ocean is much more complicated. nhk has been given exclusive access to the latest research effort. first, here is a snapshot where things stand at sea. >> fukushima daiichi is located on the coast. most of the fallout researchers have determines, went to the

ocean. it's thought that the radio active particles in the water have disbursed. in fact, in areas over one kilometer from the plant, radio activity is almost undetectable. the japanese government is lifting entry bands in waters off of fukushima. it was reduced in august last year. this april, it was reduced to five kilometers by five kilometers off the plant. but people are still concerned. local marine life is still showing high concentrations of radio active materials. in august, a fish showing radio activity was caught near the sea floor. the percentage of marine samples exceeding the limit remains above 10% of the total caught off fukushima. fishing and waters off of the prefecture is still restricted. >> japanese and american

scientists started a broad survey of those waters. they want to understand the extent of the contamination and what it means over the long term. they let nhk world join them on their first field excursion. >> reporter: in may, 36 researchers from japan and the u.s. embark on a ten-day survey of the fukushima coast. they want to know why fish would retain high levels of radio activity. >> it's strange, the radio activity level should be much lower. >> the group started work at a point 40 kilometers from the nuclear plant. then they went to 20 kilometers, and then to the edge of the off limit zone.

>> we're just five kilometers from fukushima daiichi power plant. you can see the plant there in the distance. this is the first time researchers outside of japan have come close to the facility by sea since the march 2011 accident. the researchers took samples of water, mud from the sea bottom, plankton, and other organisms at 15 points around the area flp is 24 icylinders. they remotely sank it and controlled each cylinder by remote control. no new radio active materials are entering the ocean from the crippled plant.

the scientists say if that is the case, fish must be accumulating radio activity through the food chain. to test this, the researchers check marine life living on and in the sea floor. they also gather plankton from different depths. >> we want to study possible roots of contamination by checking organize nigh in additions -- organisms near the sea floor and the fish that eat them. >> the scientists use a device used as a core to yachter samples from the sea bottom. they cut them and analyze the levels in each evil. they examine sample after

sample. they will map the contamination and try to determine how it spreads. there is another dimension to the study. one researcher is looking for traces of an element called radium. it's a radioactive isotope that would mark the presence of -- >> we want to use it in the coastal see to see how much ground water is coming into the ocean. and we think ground water is a potential source of contamination from the fukushima site. >> the the group worked day and night gathering samples. they view this as a rare opportunity to find out the

mechanism of radio active contamination in the ocean and contribute to the environmental safety. they collect every single sample possible during the mission. >> this is quite a unique accident in the past history of radio active pollution in the ocean. we don't have much experience in the past. so we need to collect data and preserve it for the future. >> there are questions that we need to be involved in as americans on our side of the pacific and looks at cost and what's happening on this side. it becomes international very quickly. every ocean question is international. because problems move across borders in the water, they don't care.

>> the results of the survey are expected by the end of the year. scientists say this is only the beginning. they say their work must continue for years to come so people around the world can understand the true exact of one of the world's worst nuclear accidents yoichiro tatewa. fukushima, japan. ♪ we all heard this one before. 19th century german com poser richard wagner was born 200 years ago this month. fans of richard wagner have marked the 200th anniversary of his birth. but it raises debate about his controversial past. we have more from leipzig.

>> the mood is festive at the birthplace of richard wagner. a series of performances, concerts, and ceremonies are taking place to commemorate the composer. >> conductor timm says wagner's music appeals to audiences in a unique way. >> his music elevates our feelings like no other music can. it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say he is a genius. >> but he also has a negative connotation to his name. for his 200th birthday, they

unveiled a statute. >> the shadow in this sculpture shows his influence over germany. but wagner was anti-jewish. hitler enjoyed his music and used it for nazi propaganda. a university recently had an open seminar on wagner and his impact on german history. >> carmen beckmann works at a museum and she has taken an interest and is preparing an

exhibit on the composer. she thinks that people should not let their praise of his music change his part in history. >> people should make the anniversary a good opportunity to review his works and personality in a critical manner. >> nearly 70 years after the end of nazu rule, germans still consider their praise for the german composer. a former russian spy who became an international sensation a few years ago has a new job. anna chapman is now a board member at a bank in moscow.

bank officials say shareholders appointed her to the seven-member board. media around the world covered the story of her arrest in 2010 and deportation. she returned home after the u.s. and russian governments made a spy swap. she became an advisor to the president of a bank who is a mid-sized lender known for it's connections to the russian space industry. she is a celebrity at home. she has appeared on tv and modelled for magazines. a hot summer-like day in tokyo. robert speta has the details on that. >> it was a gorgeous day across much of japan if you like the sunny and clear skies out here. it looks like it will remain in place through the remainder of saturday. korea will start to see cloud cover push overhead, but what we

are seeing is widespread rain showers and it's farther to the west. you could still see about 100 millimeters of rain. upwards of about 250 millimeters expected by your sunday evening as this low does continue to push overhead. especially down towards southeastern china. by next week it will impact you to korea and across most of japan here as it pushes off toward the east. saturday and sunday into tokyo, you will see partly cloudy skies. there is the risk of an afternoon thunderstorm. tropics still afternoon thunderstorms for you as well. let's take a look towards europe though and really, the topic here is just messy across the most of europe. we have several low pressure areas that are continuing to rotate here along the western

peripheral. you have a blocking high, and it's just keeping all of this foul weather out here. in some areas it's causing some flooding. i want to show you this video from norway. up to 250 people were evacuated due this flooding river and a mud slide there. many people had to be forced out, and as you 1993 this footage, just absolutely incredible. many homes continue to be flooded here and roads washed out. unfortunately conditions are still persisting here throughout the next several days. the heavier stuff farther towards the south though. france, western germany, low pressure lingering here, gusty winds, but the other areas are italy, the balkin peninsula, and then into eastern europe, through poland, you could see 20

to 50 millimeters localized. there is the risk of flooding across this area. as far as your temperatures into the west, we're seeing them continue to linger around the ten degree mark. thankfully they will start to warm up by the end of the weekend. high pressure from the west. let's take a look at the americas. you have a holiday weekend coming up here for memorial day. it does not look very well out here as far as the severe weather. northern texas and through south dakota, we do have severe thunderstorms here, golf ball sized hail and winds up to 100 kilometers per hour. also, we're seeing summer-like temperatures out here into the high 20s and low 30s. and that's going to help them trigger up as well. things looking rather fowl if you're out here in oklahoma city. 25 for your high, houston at 22,

farther towards the north here, chicago cooling for the time being. but we are going to be seeing cloudy skies and temperatures into the teens for the weekend. we'll warm up by monday, seattle as well seeing showers throughout the weekend. washington dc, sunny skies and warm weather. here is your extended forecast.

that's "newsline" for this hour, i'm gene otani in tokyo.

♪ 35 years since introducing its open market policy, china has risen to become the second largest economy in the world.