hello and welcome to "newsline." i'm keiko kitagawa in tokyo. people in egypt are watching a familiar scene play out on their

he was cautious about the possibility of visiting mandela. he said the last thing he wants to do is be obtrusive. mandela won the nobel peace prize for leading the struggle to abolish apartheid. he's 94 years old. he went into hospital with a lung infection earlier this month. obama has said mandela's effort to achieve reconciliation between blacks and whites after the abolition of apartheid is his ideal. south korean president park guen-hye is building a stronger ties w china. she began a visit to beijing by getting to know president xi jinping. now she's been talking with other chinese leaders and showing how determined she is to

work with them. park spent some of her second day in china meeting senior officials including premier li keqiang. she's believe to have proposed that chinese and south koreans invest more in each other's countries. she's thought to have suggested they work together to transform their economies so they're led by domestic demand. li is thought to have agreed to step up cooperation. park had spoken earlier to chinese and south korean business leaders. she quoted a chinese proverb that making friends brings success in business. the father of the american intelligence leaker edward snowden says he does not think his son committed treason. he went on national tv to explain how he sees his son's actions. >> he has betrayed his government, but i don't believe that he betrayed the people of the united states. >> the elder snowden said he does not want to put his son in

peril but is concerned about people around him. he said he hasn't spoken to his son since april but fears he's been manipulated by the anti-secrecy group wikileaks. the elder snowden said he told u.s. attorney general eric holder, through his lawyer, that his son might return voluntarily on certain conditions. he said justice department official would have to agree not to hold his son before trial and keep the public informed. foreign ministers from the asean nations will soon be sitting down to discuss some of the challenges they face. they'll be sharing the table with their counterparts from japan, china, the united states and north korea. they'll be focusing on maritime security and how to resolve concerns over the north korean nuclear program. the ministers will spend four days talking in brunei's capital bandar seri begawan. their agenda includes disputes over islands in the south china sea. the islands are claimed by

china, the philippines and vietnam. asean foreign ministers couldn't agree how to handle their disputes with china when they met in july last year. that meeting was the first in asean's history to end without a joint statement. observers are focusing on whether chinese and asean leaders can agree on rules for settling territorial disputes peacefully. north korean foreign minister pak ui chun will join the talks on tuesday. observers will be focusing on what he says to help resolve the nuclear issue. rescue workers in northern india are racing to save survivors of severe flooding. more than a thousand people have been stranded for days. and they're facing the threat of disease. teams are rushing to airlift them to safety. days of heavy rain swelled rivers damaging roads and buildings in the himalayan state of uttarkhand. authorities say more than 800 people have died.

but india's home minister says the final number could be above 1,000. landslides have cut off road access to many isolated areas. crews are flying in helicopters to reach some 1,200 people who are trapped. state-run television ddi reports rescue operations picked up pace on friday. aid workers warned those who are stranded face the threat of disease because of unsanitary conditions. they're calling for clean water and food to be delivered to prevent the situation from further deteriorating. india is experiencing its worst floods since at least 2008 when around 500 people were killed. a south korean judge is sending three men to jail for stealing a number of buddhist statues and cultural treasures from shrines and temples in japan. but just where the artifacts will end up is unknown. the district court judge

sentenced the mastermind of the theft to four years in jail and gave accomplices three-year prison terms. south korean police arrested the men and four others in january. they suspect the group stole the treasures from an island in southwestern japan. police have retrieved two buddhist statues that are designated as important cultural assets. the japanese government has asked officials to return the statues based on an international treaty. but that may take time. a south korean temple claims original ownership of them. here's the three-day world weather forecast. ♪

adults and children across japan are looking forward to the summer hol days and special events. we first take you to western japan where people are gearing up for the can na bat ta festival. the tradition comes from a chinese folk legend about a couple separated by the milky way who could meet only once a year. street cars in hiroshima were covered with milky way themed decorations ahead of the

festival on july 7th. >> translator: very cute. >> hanging from the rails are special pieces of paper. they carry wishes of good health and other hopeful messages. the two cars are called after the names of the couple in the folk tale. >> translator: also in western japan children from a kindergarten got a firsthand introduction to horned beetles. 10,000 of them are set free every summer at the beetledome. the structure in the forest is covered with gnats. some children were a bit frightened at first, but soon they started enjoying watching the beetles climb trees. that concludes this edition of "newsline." i'm keiko kit ta ga wau in tokyo. thank you for joining us.